Mediaeval France : a Companion to French Studies. Edited by
Arthur Tilley. (Cambridge University Press. 25s. net.)—This valuable and interesting work consists of essays by English and French scholars on different aspects of mediaeval France. Professor Gallois and Professor Langlois write on geography and political history with their accustomed compet- ence. English readers will find more novelty in the chapters on the army and navy, by M. Caron and M. De la Roncierc respec- tively; the early French navy was usually outclassed. It is curious to learn that the captain of the royal ships was sent in hot haste to Cape Verde in 1483, when Louis XI. was dying, to fetch turtles ; the King thought that he was suffering from leprosy, and it was believed that a bath of turtle's blood was a cure for the disease. Professor Halphen's chapter on industry and commerce is excellent. - He explains, for instance, why the fairs of Champagne in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were the chief trading-centres of Europe ; it was there that the great roads, from north and south, east and west, intersected, so that merchants of all nations assembled at Troyes or Provins, Bar-sur-Aube or Lagny-sur-Marne, until the Hundred Years' War brought ruin upon prosperous France. Professor Jeanroy deals with language, M. Foulet with literature, Mr. A. G. Little with the universities, while Sir T. G. Jackson writes on the glorious architecture, Romanesque and Gothic, and the Provost of Eton on the not less wonderful sculpture, glass and painting. Such a book as this has long been needed.
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