Messrs. Methuen have added to their fine series of books
on Italy an excellent volume by Mrs. Laura Ragg on Crises in Venetian History (12s. 6d.). The story of the Republic abounds in dramatic episodes which have provided themes for poets and painters—such as the Fourth Crusade, the execution of the aged Doge Marin Falier, the desperate war with Genoa in 1379 and Vettor Pisani's siege of Chioggia, the treason of Carmagnola, the loss of Cyprus, the Spanish plot of 1618, and the brief dictatorship of Manin in the revolu- tion of 1848. Mrs. Ragg handles these and other topics competently and attractively, for she knows her history and she loves Venice. She ends her book with two interesting chapters on the fall of the Campanile in 1902 and its rebuilding, and on Venice during the war. The photograph of the bronze horses of St. Mark in the gardens of a Roman villa is a curious souvenir of the war period.
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