But, despite these defects, here is a lively, intelligent and
most attractive version of the story of France, full of scholarly learning and penetration, and spiced with wit and the telling phrase. Some of M. Maurois's judgements are memorable, " Fleury preferred good sense to beautiful thoughts, and he excelled at ' saving candle- ends '—a happy fault in a court where so many others were burning them at both ends." What could sum up more succinctly the place of Fleury in the reign of Louis XV 7 He hardly ever introduces the name of an important man without adding, in a few incisive phrases, a description of his character and personality. He has the knack of asking the right question: " Was the Renaissance in France merely an interlude, without effect on the main course of the drama ? " " Where, after 1870, did the country's power really lie ? "
Everyone should be much wiser after reading it, and more sympathetic to the difficulties facing our greatest friend and ally in Europe. For this reason it is excellent that the book should
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