Produced by Ian Deane, Ethan Kent, Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) THE ANGLO-FRENCH ENTENTE IN THE XVII CENTURY BY CHARLES BASTIDE [Illustration: ON THE ROAD TO CALAIS] THE ANGLO-FRENCH ENTENTE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY BY CHARLES BASTIDE Even as a hawke flieth not hie with one wing, even so a man reacheth not to excellency with one tongue. ASCHAM. LONDON JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD NEW YORK JOHN LANE COMPANY TORONTO BELL & COCKBURN MCMXIV _Printed by_ MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED, _Edinburgh_ INTRODUCTION Of late there have appeared on the literary relations of England and France some excellent books, foremost of which may be mentioned, besides the now classical works of M. Jusserand, Dr. A. H. Upham's _French Influence in English Literature_ and Sir Sidney Lee's _French Renaissance in England_. The drift of the main argument set forth in those several volumes may be pointed out in a few words. Up to the death of Louis XIV., France gave more than she received; but, in the eighteenth century, England paid back her debt in full. France, intended by her geographical position to be the medium through which Mediterranean civilisation spread northwards, continued by her contributions to the English Renaissance and the influence of her literary models on the Restoration writers, a work that historians trace back to Caesar's landing in Britain, Ethelbert's conversion to Christianity, and the triumph of the Normans at Hastings. But ere long the native genius of the people asserted itself. Thanks to a series of lucky revolutions, England reached political maturity before the other Western nations, and, in her turn, she taught them toleration and self-government. The French were among the first to copy English broad-mindedness in philosophy and politics; to admire Locke and Newton; and to practise parliamentary government.