f
the "Archaeologia" has given us the story of the Good Parliament, another
account is preserved in the "Chronica Angliae from 1328 to 1388," published
in the Rolls Series, and fresh light has been recently thrown on the time
by the publication of a Chronicle by Adam of Usk which extends from 1377 to
1404. Fortunately the scantiness of historical narrative is compensated by
the growing fulness and abundance of our State papers. Rymer's Foedera is
rich in diplomatic and other documents for this period, and from this time
we have a storehouse of political and social information in the
Parliamentary Rolls.

For the French war itself our primary authority is the Chronicle of Jehan
le Bel, a canon of the church of St. Lambert of Liege, who himself served
in Edward's campaign against the Scots and spent the rest of his life at
the court of John of Hainault. Up to the Treaty of Bretigny, where it
closes, Froissart has done little more than copy this work, making however
large additions from his own enquiries, especially in the Flemish and
Breton campaigns and in the account of Crecy. Froissart was himself a
Hainaulter of Valenciennes; he held a post in Queen Philippa's household
from 1361 to 1369, and under this influence produced in 1373 the first
edition of his well-known Chronicle. A later edition is far less English in
tone, and a third version, begun by him in his old age after long absence
from England, is distinctly French in its sympathies. Froissart's vivacity
and picturesqueness blind us to the inaccuracy of his details; as an
historical authority he is of little value. The "Fasciculi Zizaniorum" in
the Rolls Series with the documents appended to it is a work of primary
authority for the history of Wyclif and his followers: a selection from his
English tracts has been made by Mr. T. Arnold for the University of Oxford,
which has also published his "Trias." The version of the Bible that bears
his name has been edited with a valuable preface by the Rev. J. Forshall
and Sir F. Madden. William Langland's poem, "The Complaint of Piers the
Ploughman" (edited by Mr. Skeat for the Early English Text Society), throws
a flood of light on the social state of England after the Treaty of
Bretigny.

The "Annals of Richard the Second and Henry the Fourth," now published by
the Master of the Rolls, are our main authority for the period which
follows Edward's death. They serve as the basis of the St. Albans
compilation which bears t