y by assuming an air of virtue
not natural to him, he anticipated the modern journalist.

[Sidenote: Polydore Vergil]

So much more modern in point of view than his contemporaries was
Polydore Vergil--whose _English History_ appeared in 1534--that the
generalizations about humanist historiography are only partially true
of him. Though his description of land and people is perhaps modelled
on Herodotus, it shows a genuine interest in the life of the common
man, even of the poor. He noted the geography, climate and fauna of
the island; his eyes saw London Bridge with its rows of shops on either
side, and they admired the parks full of game, the apple orchards, the
fat hens and pheasants, the ploughs drawn by mixed teams of horses and
oxen; he even observed the silver salt-cellars, spoons and cups used by
the poor, and their meals of meat. His description of the people as
brave, hospitable and very religious is as true now as it was then.
With an antiquary's interest in old manuscripts Vergil combined a
philosopher's skepticism of old legends. This Italian, though his
patron was Henry VIII, balanced English and French authorities and told
the truth even in such delicate matters as the treatment of Joan of
Arc. Political history was for him still the most important, although
to one branch of it, constitutional history, he was totally blind. So
were almost all Englishmen then, even Shakespeare, whose _King John_
contains no allusion to Magna Charta. In his work _On the Inventors
{582} of Things_ Vergil showed the depth of his insight into the
importance in history of culture and ideas. While his treatment of
such subjects as the origin of myths, man, marriage, religion,
language, poetry, drama, music, sciences and laws is unequal to his
purpose, the intention itself bears witness to a new and fruitful
spirit.

[Sidenote: French Memoirs]

Neither France nor England nor Germany produced historians equal to
those of Italian or of Scottish birth. France was the home of the
memoir, personal, chatty, spicy and unphilosophic. Those of Blaise de
Montluc are purely military, those of Brantome are mostly scandalous.
Martin du Bellay tried to impart a higher tone to his reminiscences,
while with Hotman a school of pamphleteers arose to yoke history with
political theory. John Bodin attempted without much success the
difficult task of writing a philosophy of history. His chief
contribution was the theory of geography an