First published in 1969, this book studies the years of decline in the Victorian Church between 1868 and 1882. It centres on the Archbishop Tait, who was paradoxically the most powerful Archbishop of Canterbury since the seventeenth century, and follows the policies he pursued, the high church opposition it provoked and the involvement of Parliament.

This book will be of interest to students of history and religion of the Victorian era.

Introduction, P. T. Marsh; Chapter 1 The Disestablishment of the Irish Church, 1868-1869, P. T. Marsh; Chapter 2 Theological Paralysis, P. T. Marsh; Chapter 3 No Longer England's Schoolmaster, P. T. Marsh; Chapter 4 Reforming the Church under Gladstone, 1869-1872, P. T. Marsh; Chapter 5 Ritualism and the Courts, P. T. Marsh; Chapter 6 The Tenacity of the Establishment, P. T. Marsh; Chapter 7 The Public Worship Regulation Act, 1874, P. T. Marsh; Chapter 8 Reforming the Church Under Disraeli, 1875-1879, P. T. Marsh; Chapter 9 The Failure to Put Down Ritualism, P. T. Marsh; Chapter 10 Conciliating the Nonconformists, P. T. Marsh; Chapter 11 Pushed Aside, P. T. Marsh;