This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
PREFACE
v

perceive how much superior it is in every respect. Geoffrey lived to see the death of King Richard, and the accession of his brother John, and it is much to be lamented that he breaks off his history, somewhat abruptly, just at the moment when the Crusaders embark on board ship to leave the Holy Land, at the end of the year 1192. The original of this interesting record was printed for the first time complete in the second volume of Gale and Fe1l's Collection in 1687, but fragments had previously been given by Bongars in his "Gesta Dei per Francos." The present translation is the conjoint labour of a classical scholar and a gentleman well read in Mediæval history; a mode of proceeding which, after some experiment, it was found advisable to adopt, our author's corrupt Latin being frequently so vague and uncertain as to defy the best scholar who has not made the lore of the middle ages his particular study.

The third and last, and by no means the least interesting work in this volume, is Joinvil1e's Memoirs of Saint Louis, the crusading king of France. The translation is by Colonel Johnes, of Hafod, and is given entire, with all the notes which are really illustrative of the author. Head-lines, dates, and an index have been added; which have, at least, this merit, that no previous edition, either English or French, has any of these useful accompaniments. The Biographical Sketch of Joinville is compiled from Colonel Johnes's materials, the Biographie Universelle, and other sources.

H. G. B.

August 1849.