Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/132

 124 REVIEWS OF BOOKS January But it is really on the financial and economic side that Mr. Brodie's work has proved most fruitful, though undoubtedly the Pardon Rolls will be of considerable value to the genealogist. The most interesting information is derived from the Exchequer Accounts, the T. R. Calais Comptr. Accounts, and the Stowe MS. 146, none of which, we believe, has been printed or calendared before. Though the Calais Accounts are perhaps the most interesting, because from them can be drawn such a complete picture of the financial side of the government interests in that town, the Exchequer Accounts are far more varied ; they include the accounts of the hanaper, butlerage, and mint, the warrants on the great wardrobe for clothing and furniture of every description (especially significant are nos. 394 and 381 (95), where preparations are ordered to be made for the birth of a prince, though the king knew that this was at the time no longer possible), and the expenses, both naval and military, of the wars against France and Scotland, 1 which supplement the accounts printed by Brewer in the old edition from the State Papers of Henry VIII and the T. R. Misc. Books. Not only have we now the possibility of under- standing the finance of Henry's early wars and the activities of such useful officials as John Daunce, one of the tellers of the exchequer and paymaster of the war, or John Heron, treasurer of the chamber, but upon purely political matters such as the number and equipment of the English troops at the battle of Flodden much fresh light is thrown. The calendaring is decidedly well done, though occasionally there is a little confusion between the use of the first and of the third person in the summarizing of a document. 2 We have noticed few misprints : ' Bodoer ' instead of ' Badoer ' (no. 463, ii) ; Julius I should be Julius II (no. 748) ; no. 914 is printed in the Venetian and not in the Spanish Calendar ; the foot-note to no. 1067 has been omitted ; the reference to no. 2090 (9) under ' subsidy ' in the index is meaningless ; the Andrew Barcarii referred to in no. 285 is undoubtedly Andrew Barton. The introduction errs, if anything, on the side of brevity, for it does not even give a list of the new authorities consulted ; and the strength of the binding is wofully insufficient to bear the weight of even the least of these three volumes. E. R. ADAIR. Catherine de Medicis (1519-89). Par JEAN-H. MARIEJOL. (Paris : Hachette, 1920.) IT is fortunate that the first author to utilize Catherine de Medicis' letters to the full should be M. Marie jol, who is not only a recognized expert on her period, but who can treat a baffling and much-disputed character with true historical impartiality. Miss Edith Sichel, it is true, took early advantage of their publication in the second volume of her Catherine de Medicis, and the present writer contributed an article on the ten volumes to the Quarterly Review of October 1911, but almost every one of M. Marie- jol's 431 pages is instinct with life drawn from the letters. He does not profess that they add very much to our knowledge of the incidents of the wars of religion, but they are essential to our valuation of the character 1 e.g. nos. 1453, 2304, 2480, 2651-2, 3612-14. See no. 1764.