460 LITERATURE, AMERICAN, IN 1880. LITERATURE, BRITISH, IN 1880. 



matic in conception, and rich in descriptive 

 beauties and fine delineations of character, by 

 Constance Fenimore Woolson (New York, Ap- 

 pletons). " Odd or Even? " is a story of New 

 England, by Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney (Boston, 

 Houghton). "Confidence" (Boston, Hough- 

 ton) is one of Henry James, Jr.'s, analytical 

 studies of Americans abroad. Sylvester Judd's 

 " Richard Edney and the Governor's Family " 

 is a tale of the New England of the last gen- 

 eration, truthful in incident but speculatively 

 psychological (Boston, Roberts). "Louisi- 

 ana," by the popular Mrs. Frances Hodgson- 

 Burnett, has for its theme a subject which 

 she has before treated of, the transition of 

 a girl from homely surroundings to metro- 

 politan elegance (New York, Scribners). "A 

 Hopeless Case," by Edgar Fawcett (Boston, 

 Houghton), is a delineation of the artificiali- 

 ties of Knickerbocker society. " Mrs. Beau- 

 champ Brown " (Boston, Roberts) is a less 

 refined and less truthful picture of the fash- 

 ionable life of Boston. "Rudder Grange," by 

 Frank R. Stockton (New York, Scribners), is a 

 delightful extravaganza written in a rich and 

 original vein of humor. " Unto the Third and 

 Fourth Generation," by Helen Campbell, is a 

 fatalistic romance, containing some strong life- 

 like traits of a crime and its results (New York, 

 Putnams). " From Madge to Margaret " depicts 

 the growth of a woman's character, by Carrol 

 "Winchester (Boston, Lee & Shepard). Henry 

 James, Jr., lays the scene of " Washington 

 Square" in New York a generation back; it is 

 published with Du Maurier's illustrations by 

 Harpers. " The Diary of a Man of Fifty, and 

 A Bundle of Letters " are two short stories by 

 this keen analyst of character (New York, Har- 

 pers). " A Fair Barbarian " is one of the most 

 powerfully written of the stories of Mrs. Fran- 

 ces Hodgson-Burnett; it is a novelette dealing 

 with the life of Americans in Europe, and can 

 be compared with the best of Henry James's 

 for excellent characterization (Boston, Osgood). 

 "Hope Mills" (Boston, Lee & Shepard) is a 

 story of American factory-life, by Amanda M. 

 Douglass, resembling in plot and treatment the 

 English story, "Probation," by Miss Jessie 

 Fothergill. Colonel Forney's novel, entitled 

 " The New Nobility : A Story of Europe and 

 America " (New York, Appletons), is stamped 

 with the enthusiasm of a democratic thinker. 

 44 A Day of Fate " is another successful novel 

 by the popular Rev. E. P. Roe (New York, 

 Dodd & Mead). "Mashallah! " is a pleasant 

 story, describing incidents of Egyptian travel, 

 by Charles Warren Stoddard (New York, Ap- 

 pletons). '' Poverina " is a delicious story of 

 Italian life (New York, Appletons). The most 

 popular of the other novels of the year are 

 Miss S. Warner's "End of a Coil" (New York, 

 Carters) ; the " Head of Medusa," a striking 

 story, by Miss Fleming (Boston, Roberts) ; Wal- 

 lace's religious historical romance of "Ben 

 Hur," in which the action is placed in the age 

 of Christ, and in which all the knowledge bear- 



ing on the life of the founder of Christianity 

 that can be collected from pagan sources is 

 made use of (New York, Harpers) ; Miss F. W. 

 Peard's entertaining and wholesome story of 

 "Mother Molly" (New York, Putnams); the 

 anonymous novel entitled " Beauty's Daugh- 

 ters " (Philadelphia, Lippincott) ; and " Roy 

 and Viola," a successful novel by Mrs. Forres- 

 ter (Philadelphia, Lippincott). The "Twins 

 of Table Mountain, and other Stories" is 

 a collection of tales by Bret Harte (Boston, 

 Houghton). " Manch " is an entertaining 

 story of the South by a Southern lady, Mary 

 E. Bryan (New York, Appletons). Among 

 the most interesting foreign novels which 

 have been translated for the English- read- 

 ing public are the following from French 

 authors: Theophile Gautier's " Capitaine Fra- 

 casse," one of the masterpieces of historical 

 romance-writing, as vivid and natural as it is 

 artistic and picturesque, which is given to 

 English readers for the first time, in two trans- 

 lations, with the indelicate scenes of the origi- 

 nal left put, that of M. M. Ripley (New York, 

 Holt), and Ellen Murray Beam's (New York, 

 Putnams). Rene de Pont Jost's "No. 13 

 Rue Marlot," translated by Virginia Champ- 

 lin, is an exceedingly well-constructed detec- 

 tive story (Boston, Lee & Shepard). Edmond 

 About's " Story of an Honest Man," which 

 conveys moral lessons in an agreeable manner 

 (New York, Appletons) ; as a presentation of 

 the intrinsic worth and honor of the simple 

 obedience to the dictates of civil duty and benev- 

 olence in humble station it has never been 

 surpassed ; " Angele's Fortune " is one of Theu- 

 riet's smooth and refined stories, translated by 

 Mary Neal Sherwood (Philadelphia, Peterson) ; 

 another of Theuriet's productions is published 

 in Appletons' "Handy Volume Series," under 

 the name of "Young Maugars." "Nana" 

 (Philadelphia, Peterson), translated by John 

 Stirling, is one of the most vivid and successful 

 of Zola's portraitures of vice. " The Sisters " 

 and " Homo Sum " are translations of the fine 

 historical romances of the Egyptologist, Georg 

 Ebers (New York, Gottsberger). Auerbacli's 

 simple and charming tale of "Brigitta" has 

 been translated and published by Holt & Co. in 

 their "Leisure-Hour Series"; his "Foresters" 

 has also been translated (New York, Apple- 

 tons). "The Spellbound Fiddler" (Chicago, 

 Griggs) is a Scandinavian romance by Kristofer 

 Janson, translated by Auber Forrestier. 



LITERATURE, BRITISH, IN 1880. In 

 Great Britain, as on the Continent, there is an 

 abatement of power and originality in works 

 of imagination and invention, without any dim- 

 inution in quantity. In fiction a greater num- 

 ber of productions attain a fair and tolerable 

 degree of excellence than ever before, but none 

 have the impress of great genius. In poetry a 

 good number of finished products appear, but 

 the general want of vigor and spontaneity, tho 

 cultivation of difficult versification, and the 

 search for new models in other literatures, be- 





