474 



LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1880. 



wrote a pregnant study on the political history 

 of ancient Rome. 



Bibliography has been cultivated by Vander- 

 haegen, Alphonse Willeuis, and others. Guil- 

 laume de Coster has written a systematic trea- 

 tise on aesthetics; E. Leclercq, some fine stud- 

 ies of the Flemish painters ; and E. Vander- 

 straeten, an account of music in the Low Coun- 

 tries before the nineteenth century. "Over 

 de Alpen." the account of the art critic Max 

 Rooses of his aesthetic observations in Italy, is 

 the finest literary production of the year, and is 

 to be translated into English. Vanden Brande 

 is at work on a fine history of the Antwerp 

 school, in Flemish. 



Among philological works are Scheler's dic- 

 tionary of the Walloon language ; the transla- 

 tion from the Sanskrit of the " Story of Rama " 

 of the poet Bhavabhuti ; the manual of the 

 sacred Persian language, or Pehlevi, by C. de 

 Herlez, etc. An important treatise on inter- 

 national law is being written by Professor Lau- 

 rent. Emile de Laveleye has published in book 

 form his " Lettres d'ltalie." Burdo has written 

 an account of his travels in the Niger region ; 

 Dr. Dutrieux published a book on the commer- 

 cial resources of Africa, and in favor of an 

 international league for their development. 

 Baron Lahure has published a relation of his 

 sojourn in Dutch Malasia before 1830. In 

 poetry and fiction in French may be men- 

 tioned the poetical writings of J. Demoulin, 

 Bailly, Verde vaine,De Baillet, Gillion, and Nizet, 

 the poems and dramas of Comte Maurice Du- 

 chastel, and the historical plays and dramatic 

 sketches of Charles Potvin, the first of living 

 Belgian poets ; and in prose fiction the stories 

 of 0. Lemounier, and of Emile Leclercq. In 

 Flemish literature, the tender poems of Gentil 

 Antheunis, " Leven, Lieven, en Zingen" ("Life, 

 Love, and Song "), and E. Kiel's u Songs for 

 Great and Small Children," are noticeable for 

 freshness of manner and originality. Hendrik 

 Conscience, the great novelist, has written two 

 sketches based upon his personal reminiscences. 

 " Uit het dagelyksch Leven " (" From Daily 

 Life"), by Vander Ven, is a naturalistic story. 

 " Baas Colder," is a collaborated novel, by Teir- 

 linck and Styns. In dramatic compositions 

 the Flemish literature is as prolific as ever: 

 the best productions are a comedy (" Three 

 Old Friends") and a proverb ("A Cloudlet 

 before Marriage "), by Emiel van Goethem. 



HOLLAND. A number of the prominent Dutch 

 authors have died during the year. Cremer, the 

 writer of didactic fiction, left a fine tale on the 

 evils of gambling, called " Monte Carlo." Dr. 

 van Vloten has published a second volume of 

 old Dutch farces, and the expected edition of 

 Maerlant's " Merlin." A few poems of Honigh 

 and Miss Stratenus are the only noticeable con- 

 tributions to poetical literature. The principal 

 productions in fiction are Bruning's u Alice"; 

 Mrs. van Westhreene's " Philip's Eerzucht " ; 

 "Zyne Zuster," by the lady who uses the 

 pseudonym of " Van Walcheren " ; " Konings- 



droom," a satirical novel by Jan Holland; 

 and Mrs. Bosboom-Toussaint's "Raimond de 

 Schrynwerker." Vosmaer's "Amazone " is also 

 a notable production. 



GERMANY. The enormous volume of litera- 

 ture of every class which issues from the press- 

 es of Germany seems to be still swelling. But 

 this productivity is hardly a sign of greater in- 

 tellectual activity ; for it is the lighter, popu- 

 lar literature which makes up the increment. 

 In philosophy, if extreme diversity in the fun- 

 damental positions is a sign of fruitfulricss, 

 German speculative thought was never more 

 prolific. " To return to Kant " seems to be the 

 watchword of all the schools ; but each sets up 

 a Kant of its own. Duhring, of the material- 

 istic school; Hartinann, the mystic philosopher; 

 and Liebmann, Vaihinger, and other followers 

 of the " critical " school of Lange, have pub- 

 lished works during the year. Gustav Bie- 

 dermann has constructed a scheme of all the 

 knowable in his "Philosophic als Begrift'swis- 

 senschaft." Lotze, the most distinguished Ger- 

 man philosopher of the time, has completed his 

 system, which commenced with the " Logik," 

 with the publication of the " Metaphysik." Ed- 

 uard von Hartmann presents the evidence of 

 his assertion of the disruption of Christian 

 theology in "Die Selbstzersetzung des Chris- 

 tenthums." Zahnsen, in his " Realdialektik," 

 expounds a new paradoxical philosophy. 



Popular scientific lectures are a new phe- 

 nomenon in Germany. Not less than five col- 

 lections of these have been published during 

 the year. Helmholtz, Zeller, and other dis- 

 tinguished professors give explanations of sci- 

 entific principles before popular audiences. 



A number of interesting historical mono- 

 graphs have been published, among which G. 

 Wolf's tract upon the relations of Prussia and 

 Austria in the time of Joseph II, Adam W oil's 

 " Culturbilder aus Oestreich," and the history of 

 the city of Berlin, by Adolf Streckfuss, may be 

 noticed. Bruno Bauer, the philosopher, has 

 arraigned in a tone of bitter condemnation the 

 new German Empire and its founder in his 

 tractate "Zur Orientirung iiber die Bismarck- 

 sche Era." 



The autobiography of Louis Schneider is a 

 singularly frank recountal of the life of a man 

 who was first a subordinate actor in a second- 

 rate theatre, then a servant in the Prussian 

 King's household, then a spy of Russia, and 

 finally the confidant and military adviser of the 

 Czar Nicholas. The record of a nobler life is 

 given in the memoir of Gottfried Semper, ar- 

 tist and patriot, by his son. New letters of 

 Goethe and of his mother have been brought 

 to light in Pirazzi's " Aus Offenbach's \\-r- 

 gangenheit," and in the La Roche family cor- 

 respondence, and others have been published 

 in Geiger's "Goethe Annual," which contains 

 also a life of Bettina von Arnim by her son-in- 

 law. 



Soberer is engaged upon a history of German 

 literature. Otto Brahm has published studies 



