20 MARCH 1909, Page 28

Pisa. By Janet Ross and Nell; Erichsen. (J. M. Dent

and Co. 4e. 6d. and 58.6d. net.)—This volume belongs to the "Mediaeval Towns" Series, an excellent set of books which will be made more useful by this the latest addition. First we have a sketch of the city's history from the legendary times, which might, perhaps, have been treated more fully or omitted altogether. The authors show bow industriously they have studied their subject by refer- ence to the recent edition of Namatianus. The poet, it will be remembered, started from Pisa on his return to hie Gallic home. The mediaeval history is not of the first importance. Pisa was nevsr in the front rank. Still, she was a Power who had to be reokoned with on land, and oven more on the sea. The end of her independence came early in the fifteenth century. In later days her greatest name was Galileo, but Pisa got but little credit from her treatment of her illustrious son. When the authors reach their chief subject, the city as it stands now and its treasures of archi- tecture and art, they have one unusually rich even for Italy, and they have evidently taken the greatest pains to give it an adequate treatment