12 OCTOBER 1912, Page 16

THE EMPEROR FREDERICK THE SECOND. [To THE EDITOR OF THE

" SPECTATOR."] SIB,—In your interesting review of Mr. Lionel Allaborn's book on the Emperor Frederick the Second (Spectator, October 5th) you say that in England the famous Emperor is known to most readers only from the pages of Bryce and Freeman. May I point out that there are accounts of this extraordinary man in Gibbon and Milman, and that he was made known more fully to English readers a good many years ago by Mr. T. L. Kington's admirable " History of Frederick the Second, Emperor of the Romans" (2 vols., Macmillan, 1862). Mr. Alishorn in a footnote (p. 138) mentions Mr. Kington's " History " (which is now, I believe, out- of print) as a detailed and dispassionate work to which he is much indebted, adding that it is based upon the collection of original authorities and documents formed by H. Hnillard Breholles. It is a book which well deserves to be reprinted.—.