The Mediceral Empire. By Herbert Fisher. - 2 vols. (Macmillan and
Co. 2ls.„ net)—.-Mt risbefhaa.Vritten a iwned !old valuable work on the Medisevil Empire, of the sort -which Ought to be common in England, but Which is rather of the German type, without, however, the cumbrous character 'of German works of research. Mr. Fisher is minute in detail, as; for instance, in the chapters on the German races, and yet at the same timeoompre- hensive in his survey, as in the chapters on "The Survival of the Imperial Idea" and on "The Empire and Culture." The work is not merely'Ont of the numerous treatises_ on the general outlines of Mediaeval history, but it is an elaborate account of the details and structure Of—the Imperial Government. The chapter on " tegislation"in Germany" is an excellent piece of 'work, and there is im _other English book, so far as we are, aware, which contains such complete information on a difficult subject as the chapter on "Imperial Finance." In -.considering the Medieval Empire, we have generally been engaged in the study of its more superficial aspects, but in' this chapter we go down into the roots of the great system, and we see clearly why the Empire was bound to fail, since the Emperors failed to make justice popular and cheap, and failed to develop any general scheme of taxation. The part played by the Church in securing the fall of the Medieval Empire touches on more familiar ground, but even here we find no little help in understanding the era. -The chapter on "Imperial Legislation in Italy" opens with a very clear comparison between Latin and Teutonic, peoples, and deals with the singular fortune by which the Teuton found himself called upon to assume the political direction of a Latin country, and "to police with his rude but honourable vigour an old but demoralised civilisation." The attitude of the Italian people towarda the German rulers was that of contempt for them as .an inferior race, but of respect for -them as a political necessity. - For a general conspectus of the Mediaeval Empire, this work of Mr. Fisher is probably , the best in English, since, though learned and painstaking, it suceeeds, when once we have got over the German races with all
their bothering details, in being interesting. .
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