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was also the home of the Renaissance in France ; and it 

 has a still earlier interest for the modern English tourist 

 who rides through Touraine by the Loire to Saumur, for 

 as Mr. Green says, ' Nothing clears one's ideas about the 

 character of the Angevin rule, the rule of Henry II., or 

 Richard or John, so thoroughly as a stroll through 

 Anjou.' Another charming chapter is 'The Florence of 

 Dante.' In fact, I have most thoroughly enjoyed this 

 little gem of desultory information. 



For serious modern criticism of Italian painters and 

 their work, I have found nothing that has interested me 

 so much and which seems to me so new as Mr. Bernhard 

 Berenson's three little volumes ' The Venetian Painters 

 of the Renaissance,' 'The Florentine Painters of the 

 Renaissance,' and 'The Central Italian Painters of the 

 Renaissance.' The author evidently aims at represent- 

 ing the modern scientific school of art criticism, started, 

 as far as I know, by Giovanni Morelli. The indexes at 

 the end of each volume will be found valuable, though 

 many of Mr. Berenson's conclusions will be cavilled at ; 

 and his attributions of pictures, differing, as they do, 

 from the official catalogues, raise much antagonism. 



Where doctors differ, the public may be amused, and 

 art critics of the future must worry out their various 

 opinions. 



'Italian Literature,' by Richard Garnett, is one of 

 those books for which the public ought to feel grateful, 

 as it condenses an incredible amount of labour and 

 study into a very small, convenient volume. It brings 

 us down to the present day, D'Annunzio's novels, etc. 



In 1897 Mr. John Morley published one of his bril- 

 liant lectures, delivered in the Sheldonian Theatre, on 

 Machiavelli. He begins by a reference to Dante's liken- 

 ing of worldly fame to the breath of the wind, that 

 blows now one way, now another, and changes name as 



