PREFACE.
The first words in this volume must, of right and of piety, be about the late Editor, Henry Melvill Gwatkin. He had been one of the Editors from the first: he had brought to the help of the undertaking not only his own unrivalled mastery of the earlier period but also a singularly wide and accurate knowledge of history at large. This meant a great deal, and was generally known. But a constant colleague, in work which often called for large decisions and always for care in details, can speak, like no one else, of the time and trouble he freely spent even when he might sometimes have spared himself. Nobody else can know or judge of these things, and it is fitting therefore that I, who can, should pay the tribute of justice which memory demands. He had read with his usual care and judgment most of the chapters in this volume, and he was looking forward to their publication. But this he was not to see, although this volume owes him much. It will be difficult to fill his place in future volumes, for literary skill such as his is not so often added to an almost universal knowledge as it was with him. To me, after so many hours spent with him over the Medieval History, fellowship in our common work had grown into friendship, and during it I had learnt many things from him on many sides. All who knew him, and all who have read his own masterly chapters, will well understand the sadness which I feel as we give to the public part of a work in which he had shared and which owes him so much.
The volume was nearly ready when the War began, and, after delaying to begin with, necessitated large changes in its plan and execution. Since the War ended other causes have, to the great regret of the Publishers and Editors, delayed it further, and for this long delay an apology is due to our readers. The fact that some chapters have, for these reasons, been long in type, has hampered both writers and editors and made it peculiarly difficult to make the volume uniform in scale and execution. To all our contributors, foreign and English, the Editors have been much indebted, and must here express to them most grateful thanks.
