A highly significant re-interpretation of nineteenth-century Anglicanism. Burns has carried out formidably detailed and impressive research in initially unprepossessing territory ... He marshals this evidence to show convincingly that during the first two-thirds of the century there was a comprehensive revival and reorganization of diocesan institutions and a renewed clerical and lay consciousness of the diocese as an essential feature of Anglican church order ... His careful and lucid reconstruction of the complicated parliamentary debates and legislation on clerical discipline is a particular tour de force. All this material is set in a stimulating and innovative overall framework ... Burns's meticulous work provides a firm basis in evidence and interpretation for important new directions in the study of nineteenth-century English religion.