26 JUNE 1915, Page 24

The story of the lost provinces of France has been

scarcely less eventful on its military side than that of the Low Countries. Lance and Lorraine : from Caesar to Kaiser, by Ruth Putnam (G. P. Putnam's Sons, Is. net), gives an inter- esting sketch of their history from the time of the Roman conquest of Gaul down to the granting of the Constitution in 1911. The author emphasizes the failure of the German attempts to absorb a people who can still cry:— " Vous area pu germaniser In plaino,

Mais notro corer, vows ne Faure. jamais."

—A slighter work upon the same subject is The Story of Alsace-Lon aine, by Leslie F. Church (Charles H. Kelly, la. net).