eclectically and pragmatically from the continental Reformers. Hooker’s writings were actually no less polemical than those of his predecessors. In fact they were all the more effectively polemical for being couched in a vein of studied moderation, calm reasonableness and unfeigned charity. Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity is a ruthlessly effective work, though the elevated tone of the argument helps to disguise this fact. Speed-Hill speaks of Hooker’s ‘underlying aggression’ (McGrade, ed., 1997,