Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/144

 136 BE VIEWS OF BOOKS January the English back a spear's length. Had Dr. Wylie worked from a plan I do not think he could have maintained his conclusions. The nature of Dr. Wylie's book compels a critic to concentrate on one incident. So much of the value of his work consists in the collection of minute detail that extended criticism is diflScult. Nor indeed is it necessary to say more than that this volume, like those which preceded it, will always remain an invaluable storehouse of information. A few instances may be given of the way in which isolated material is brought into its proper relation. Gilbert de Lannoy's account of his experiences at Agincourt, though not otherwise important, throws light on the massacre of the prisoners (p. 172). The unsigned letter to Henry V from a chaplain, which is printed in the Letters of Margaret of Anjou (pp. 1-6), is boldly attributed by Dr. Wylie to Elmham (p. 247) ; but since the letter was clearly written from England early in November 1415, and Elmham was present with the army, this seems doubtful ; it is not, however, clear that it is anything more than a rhetorical exercise. Earle, in his Philology of the English Tongue, p. 73, printed another letter which he describes as one of the earliest extant letters in English, and supposes to have been written to Henry IV by his eldest son in 1402. Dr. Wylie has no difficulty in showing that it belongs to 1420 and attributes it to Humphrey of Gloucester (p. 378). The letter begins ' my soverain lord and fader ' and ends * your liege man and sone H.G.' It is certainly genuine, but there is something wrong about it as printed ; Earle unfortunately did not state where it came from ; Dr. Wylie adds a reference to ' Kluge, 52 ', which I am unable to interpret. (The obscurity of many of the references in the foot-notes is a serious defect.) The editors in a preface state that Dr. Wylie had corrected the proof sheets up to page 96, and hope that any errors in the remainder may be pardoned. The editing has certainly been done as well as circumstances permitted and the errors do not seem to be numerous or serious. I have noted a few. On p. 248 there is a misreading of the text of the London Chronicle in my English Historical Literature, p. 294, which erroneously makes the clergy at Calais sing ' This is the day that the Lord hath made ' when Henry entered the town on 29 October 1415. On p. 274, line 9, Michael de la Pole is an error for William. On pp. 306-7 Manley is a mistake for Mauley. On p. 329, line 10, the date should be 11 November 1415 not 1416. I must not in conclusion omit to call attention to the great quantity of valuable material which is brought together (chiefly from records) in the chapter on ' The Navy '. C. L. Kingsford. Korrespondenzen Osterreichischer Herrscher. Die Korrcspondenz Fer- dinands I. I : Familienkorrespondenz bis 1526. Bearbeitet von WiLHELM Bauer. {Veroffentlichungen dcr Kommission fur yeuere Gesehichte Osterreichs. XI.) (Vienna : Holzhausen, 1912.) The family correspondence of Ferdinand I, now in course of publication, is certain to be of capital importance for Habsburg history. It is true that many of the letters are already in print, but they are scattered through collections of documents or monographs not always easily obtainable.