5 DECEMBER 1908, Page 10

Mid Clash of Swords. By George Surrey. (Henry Frowde and

Hodder and Stoughton. 5s.)—There is much colour and picturesque incident in this tale of an Englishman's adventures in Rome and Florence during the turbulent times of the early sixteenth century. Mr. Surrey is too deliberate over his descrip- tions of fights and quarrels, and they are drawn out to the point of tediousness. He takes forty pages to describe the hero's fight with the lanzknechts ; we follow it with interest, but the conviction that it was only an affair of minutes impairs the effect .

of the narrative. The episodes at Giuliano de' Medici's Court are excellent reading, and if we can forget the author's long-windedness we get a vivid and interesting glimpse of some of the prominent figures, and of the manners of the times.