324 MORE POT-POURRI 



productions of this period will have passed into the un- 

 known. They are full of study, thought, and knowledge, 

 and it is not only a knack of beautiful writing which is 

 their chief attraction and merit. 



Many years ago two old ladies, Susan and Joanna 

 Homer, lived in Florence, and wrote one of the first and 

 the most satisfactory of the detailed guide-books I have 

 ever seen, called ' Walks in Florence.' An interesting 

 new French book by A. Geffroy, called ' Etudes Itali- 

 ennes,' published in 1898, 1 thought worth reading, as it 

 gives another historical view of the Renaissance ; Art 

 being only indirectly alluded to. The chapters are on 

 ' Les Grands Medicis,' 'Savonarola,' 'Guichardin.' He 

 quotes of 'Laurent,' 'Ce refrain reste populaire qui 

 resonne encore comme un e"cho lointain et gracieux de 

 la Renaissance ! 



Quanto fe bella giovinezza 

 Che si fugge tuttavia ! 

 Chi vuol esser lieto, sia, 

 Di doman non c' e certezza.' 



The second part of the book is called ' Rome Monu- 

 mentale.' In this there is a chapter on ' La le"gende de la 

 Cenci,' in which he also sweeps away the whole story. 



Only last summer a book appeared called ' Tuscan 

 Artists, their Thought and Work,' by Hope Rea. Sir 

 W. B. Richmond writes the preface, and says : 'I desire 

 success to this little volume, so interesting, so full of 

 sympathy with those various emotions whose expression 

 in all forms of art has made Italy their foster mother.' 



A book has just been sent me, called ' Stray Studies 

 from England and Italy,' by John Richard Green, the 

 author of the famous 'Short History.' The title is not 

 quite correct, as there is an excellent chapter or two on 

 the south of France, and an exceedingly interesting his- 

 torical paper on the home of our Angevin kings, which 



