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30 Vilmos Voigt (pp. 70-71). The several regions of France are described as being very different from one another. She has not one, but two seas: the Ocean and the Mediterranean, offering thus contacts also with Spain, Africa, and Egypt ... She has occupied several other provinces: Lombardy, Naples, Sicily, etc. The hospitality of her inhabitants is graceful; they do not measure from which country someone comes, but according to the spirit and merits of the individual ... They give citizenship not only to noblemen, but also to anyone who asks for it. French maintain the privileges of the nobility, but accept the role of commerce (and of the middle social class) as well ... In France people do not use the competition to select officials. They do not break the joy of the spirit, and are not afraid of excelling knowledge (pp. 72, 77, 81-82) (In order to show how erudite the style of Barclay is, I quote here his statement in Latin: quae nec Gallis certe deest, laetitia capacis animi exuberans, eique non efficta prudentia fraenum imponens [p. 88]). As for their weaknesses, French persons gossip, especially at the theatre and banquets (p. 93). Overall the spirit of the “Galls” (Gallorum animus) is positive. There is nothing more comfortable in human society than to accept the traditions of the state, in a decent form (Nec aliquid in humana societate felicius quam consuetudinis tam politae erecta, virilisque suavitas {p. 94]). We might add here that the book includes similar summaries about the other chapters. But instead of repeating them all here, I want to show only some of the remarks by Barclay as regards other Europeans. Chapter IV concerns the British Isles and speaks about the three groups of their inhabitants: the English, Scottish, and Irish. Their basic and characteristic feature is their “insularity”: the country is more typical of an island than is Sicily, Crete, or Cyprus. In Wales and Scotland, there still live more of the ancient inhabitants than of the later invading Saxons and English. Picts were also a very old population. The land is best for pasture and not for agriculture. Barclay also describes the feudal rank titles. The spirit of the Englishmen is grave (p. 107), and they tend to be seamen. Their laws originally came with the Normans from Normandy and were practiced first in the French language (Gallica lingua). English people use mathematics, geometry, and astronomy for pragmatic purposes and their religion coincides with reason. There are three major trends in the religion, and their followers struggle fiercely with each other. The main controversies in the religion are concerning the relation between the Father and the Son and about the form of the communion (p. 115). The mob, especially when drunken, tends to attack the foreigners (p. 116). On the other hand, immigrants can defend themselves also before the judges. In the same chapter there is a concise description of Scotia and Hibernia: the Scots “never give up hope” and the Irish “stick to their vices” and do not like to work, focusing instead on the future (pp. 129-130). In Chapter IV, there is no direct or detailed comparison of the three peoples. Germans and the Low Countries (referred to as Belgii) are the topic of Chapter V. The core of the region is the river Rhine, fluctuating from the Alps to the
