by the less-than-satisfactory evidence. It is fragmentary, often slender, even minute, and its survival frequently a matter of chance. Conflict itself generated sources – legal documents, above all. But were the antagonistic and vocal representative of a whole community? Do periods without documentation betoken good confessional relations, or were mutual antagonisms bubbling silently, powerful then, undetectable now? In due course, as further research is undertaken on this volume’s themes, it may be possible to draw some more generalized conclusions about confessional relations in rural and urban communities in early modern England. Did small religious minorities provoke friction (they were insignificant, and so could be abused) or were they frequently ignored (they were insignificant and represented no threat)? Were large religious minorities confronted (they seemed aggressive and dangerous) or conciliated (they were too strong to antagonize)? One hears much today of ‘recreational’ rioting. How often did ‘recreational’ religious feuding, harassment, and satisfying malice trump neighbourliness and pragmatism, enlivening the dullness of early modern villages? How accurately can changes in attitudes be discerned and charted over time or in different ranks in society? Overall, then, this is a thoroughly rewarding volume which asks important questions and provides a range of interesting, though not uniform, answers. One small complaint: legal toleration was not extended to Catholics under William III as is seemingly implied in the introduction (p. 5): the terms of the Toleration Act and William III’s Act against Popery denied that.
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