The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-03-18

| dedicated TO the author lndian tflehus
Boston: Small Maynard & Co. Sl.50)
| FroiSsnrt.
The abridgemont of medieval chronicle
which Henry Newbolt has given to th'
public is one Of the compilations whicl
really have an excuse for being It j
evident that the author of that stirring
ballad, "Admirals All" has a taste an,
discernment which stand him in goo,
stead. even outside Of ballad making. Tn
most notable feature of this new blazonr.
in which the Herodotus Of a barbarou
age has been tricked out, is 4 certain
aspect of modernity which may seen
! strange indeed when We think Of the 60'
years which have elapsed since Froissar
/ penned his last line. Mr.. Newbolt in his
admirable introduction, says:
In those stories from Froissart Will D.
found not only history. tragedy. comedy
fairy tale and romance, in delightful med
! ley. hut many curious parallels between ON
I own and other times. and some passages su!
! more suggestive. hearing on problem, which De
1 long 10 the life ct man. and DO not really chang
! with the passing Of centuries. From the begin
ming We shall be struck with the evident persist
! oucc OF national types OF character: the CoulHcs
! 81 the Anglo-SlNun 20 fight NOT more nor lees
! than an the square at Waterloo: CrcS>y. vhcu
: the arcAcrs forced horde Of yelling enemies ant
| stirred not for all that was the very counter
! part Of pmdUm3n: and the EuEii>hmru Uh.
shot so wholly together" at AlIhatota were th,
! true forctathcrs Of the gmncrs ~ santiago and
! Manila Bay, before whom the SPuuiards were one
I more. for all their pride and h,rceEc-s "discom
/ fitted without recovcTy.'
This persistence of national types
cannot fail to be interesting when we read
! from the text Of Froissart himself Of the
I threatened invasion Of England by King
/ Charles VI of France. and then turn to
/ the current news from Paris and learn
| OF the French naval programme for a war
| in 1900 When His Gallo Majesty, togeth-
er with his uncles, arrived at Sluys, in
Flanders. TO the intent to pass into Eng
land" the knights and squires who were
in the train exclaimed with true French
| fervOr, Now let us go on these cursed
| Englishmcn. who have done so many evils
and prosecutions in France" How well
the hereditary antagonism has been pre-
served may be gathered from an article
in recent number OF the Revue des
Deux Mondes." in which General de Ia
ROGUE minimizes the Importance OF his
country's navy. and declares that il will
be chiefly useful for the purpose Of con-
voying transports on which will be en-
barked half a million French soldiers.
comprising an army of invasion which is
to strike the vulnerable points on the
shores OF the British Isles" How far
these types" persist may be gathered
again from the fact that when King Don
John Of CASTLE besieged His Portuguese
Majesty before Lisbon the strength of
France was soon found on the side OF the
Castilian sovereign, and the BritOns came
to the aid of Portugal. The sympathy for
the Spanish cause during our recent con-
fict was only too odiQusly manifested on
the part Of France. while Portugal's re
fusal to obstruct English operations in
South Africa are matters OF common re-
port Thus we see that during six cen
turtles the same national alignments have
been maintained and, over all, the antip-
athy of Jean Crapaud to anything that
savors of John Bull is still dominant.
The text which Mr.. Newbolt has adopted
in his compilation is hardly in keeping
with this modern spirit. It is the trans
lation Of Froissart which Lord Berniers
made at the request Of Henry VIII II
preserves the idioms and obsolete words
and phrases which marked the original,
but is not so satisfactory to the average
reader as the more modern though some
what more difiuse, translation Of Thomas
Johnes
Sidney Lanier has made a modernized
version of Froissart. but IL Is eo1fessedly
fer the benefit Of children. and does not
pretend to give anything more than the
substance Of the Chimay canon's stories.
The voluminOus Chronicles" which con-
sist of nearly 500 chapters. make it prac-
tically impossible for the reader TO famil-
iarize himself with the rich original, where
the Walter Scott Of the Middle Ages"
the Balzac OF history, the might-erraut
OF annals, has photographed the infinite
details OF the foundation period which lay
between the sluggish years following the
fall OF Rome and the revival Of civiliza- I
ton. Il is therefore, a fortunate circum-
stance that this opulent treasury Of the
manners and customs Of the times when
the creed of chiyalry-not yet laughed I
away by Cervautes-was 20 love God |
and The ladles''-should he given TO the |
public in a form which preserves with !
rare fidelity the spirit Of the original. and |
brings out the enmity which has existed I
for many centuries between the 1escen- |
dants and followers OF Charles OF France |
and the followers and descendants Of Rich- /
ard II of England. tNew York: The Mac !
milan Company. $lJ0D