In the English Historical Review for July Dr. C. H.
Haskins gives an interesting account of the elaborate and practical treatise on falconry compiled by the Emperor Frederick II., the astonishing man whom thirteenth-century Europe and the Near East regarded as "stupor mundi," a world's marvel. The book as a whole has not been printed, though it exists in several manuscript copies, some of them with contemporary drawings of birds which arc " extraordinarily lifelike." Dr. Haskins cites passages to show that Frederick took infinite trouble to master his subject ; he imported falconers from the East and caused one at least of them to write a book on falconry, the translation of which the Emperor deigned to correct with his own hand. Frederick's insatiable curiosity led him to bring up infants in strict isolation so that he might discover from their first utterances the nature of primitive speech. So, too, he investigated for himself the habits of the cuckoo, the assert ion that the vulture only lays one egg, the legend of the barnacle goose, and the story that the sun's heat in Apulia was strong enough to hatch eggs. Frederick had a modern mind. Dr. Haskins would regard him as an initiator of the Renaissance, though it is to be remembered that his empire did not survive his death and that his brilliant .court was soon dispensed by the brutal Ai‘pvin. Another good article, by Miss Lillian Penson, deals with " The London West India Interest in the Eighteenth
Century " ; the planters in the colonies and the merchants at hinie co-operated in defence of their common interests," and gradually developed the society known as the West India Committee which has survived to this day and is still doing excellent work.
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