"De Phillide et Flora," a Latin poem of the twelfth century, perhaps, was translated about 1595 by George Chapman. In 1598 a certain "R. S." republished this translation with a few minor changes, but the work is essentially Chapman's. The present reprint follows the text in Thomas Wright's "Latin Poems commonly attributed to Walter Mapes." Camden Society, Vol. XVI. London, 1841. The translation reproduces the stanza and rime form of the original. Although the Elizabethan language may present some difficulties, they are not very serious to any one who will read slowly enough to enjoy "the proud full sail of his great verse" who may have been the rival of Shakespeare, and who was certainly one of the inspirers of John Keats. The poem itself is of significance because, as forerunner of poems of the order of "The Romance of the Rose," it illustrates significant mediæval traits. The attitude towards nature, classicism, love, war, and learning is of great interest, and so, too, is the position of women in that sophisticated world. The disputation gives a pretty picture of the seriousness of feminine thought. The account of the court of the god of love and the power ascribed to him are a good introduction to the conventions of love poetry. Readers of Theocritus will recall how his shepherds contend in song over the charms of their beloved maidens, in Idyll V and elsewhere. (See Lang's translation, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1889.) A study of the evolution of the debate, or disputation, will prove a good introduction to the world of late classical and of mediæval literature. There are many examples of debate, such as those between "The Heart and the Eye," "The Body and the Soul," "The Water and the Wine," "The Owl and the Nightingale," "The Thrush and the Nightingale," "The Debate of the Carpenter's Tools," "The Dispute between Mary and the Cross," and many others. Birds, flowers, animals, inanimate objects, human beings, and even virtuous abstractions were turned into mediæval disputants. For information regarding debates, and for bibliographies of edited debates, see MERRILL, E. The Dialogue in English Literature. Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1911. WELLS, J. E., Editor. The Owl and the Nightingale, p. liii. D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1907. SCHOFIELD, W. H. English Literature from the Norman Conquest to Chaucer, p. 485. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1906. The Pleading of the Rose and of the Violet Jean Froissart (1338-1410) was a distinguished French author who is best known for the famous "Chronicles of England, France, and Spain," which picture with extraordinary vividness scenes which Froissart actually witnessed.