PREFACE
It has been difficult to find a title modest enough for a
book which in no way claims to be a chronicle of events,
political or military. It is merely a personal history—an
effort to recall a few of the less-known figures that moved
and had their being in France, in the first half of the six-
teenth century.
My best thanks are due to Mr. J. G. Ritchie for the
help he has given me in making my “ Historical Sum-
mary ”; and also to Mr. Henry Newbolt, editor of the
“Monthly Review”, for his kindness in allowing me to re-
print part of Chapter XVII from an article (“ The Religion
of Rabelais”) which appeared in the number of that periodical
for December, 1900.
M. de Maulde’s new book, “ Les Femmes de la Renaissance,”
which (though written from a very different point of view)
covers much the same period as my own, unfortunately ap-
peared some time after I had written my volume—too late
for me to profit by its store of information.
London, February 28th, 1901.
It has been difficult to find a title modest enough for a
book which in no way claims to be a chronicle of events,
political or military. It is merely a personal history—an
effort to recall a few of the less-known figures that moved
and had their being in France, in the first half of the six-
teenth century.
My best thanks are due to Mr. J. G. Ritchie for the
help he has given me in making my “ Historical Sum-
mary ”; and also to Mr. Henry Newbolt, editor of the
“Monthly Review”, for his kindness in allowing me to re-
print part of Chapter XVII from an article (“ The Religion
of Rabelais”) which appeared in the number of that periodical
for December, 1900.
M. de Maulde’s new book, “ Les Femmes de la Renaissance,”
which (though written from a very different point of view)
covers much the same period as my own, unfortunately ap-
peared some time after I had written my volume—too late
for me to profit by its store of information.
London, February 28th, 1901.