25 MAY 1918, Page 16

Rabelais in his Writings. By W. F. Smith. (Cambridge Uni-

versity Press. 6s. net.)—Serious readeis of Rabelais will find Mr. Smith's learned commentary highly instructive. First comes a short biography, followed by a running analysis of the history of Gaegantua and Pantagruel, and then we have a discussion of separate topics—Rabelais as lawyer or physician or humanist, his language and style, his historical allusions, his references to art, and so forth. Mr. Smith has drawn freely on the researches of French and British students of Rabelais and the Renaissance, and summarized the results in a convenient form. He remarks on Rabelais's keen, in- terest in architecture and music ; some features of the Abbey of Thelema were suggested by the famous château then newly erected at Blois.