27 MARCH 1926, Page 22

f. JUSSERAND is, in more ways than one, an ambassador

between France and the English-speaking peoples. His standard literary history of the English people, now revised and brought into line with the latest researches, takes into account the fortunes of the nation, both culturally and socially, during the period leading to the Renaissance. It is in many ways the most interesting of all periods, since the national spirit was then emerging from its Latin and French bondage into the form, in which Chaucer gave it _European currency. Mr. Jusserand makes a picturesque story of his material without loss of accuracy and documentation.