434 



LITERATURE AND LITERARY PROGRESS IN 1870. 



that an increased attention is attracted to the 

 higher departments of political inquiry. 



A change in the law of copyright has been 

 made, enlarging the subjects of copyright and 

 making some changes in the method of secur- 

 ing its benefits. To "books, maps, charts, 

 musical compositions, prints, cuts, engravings, 

 dramatic, compositions, and photographs," are 

 now added, as subjects of copyright, negatives 

 of photographs, paintings, drawings, chromos, 

 statues, statuary, and models, or designs, in- 

 tended to be perfected, as works of the fine 

 arts. To obtain a copyright, application is 

 now to be made to the Librarian of Congress, 

 and not, as formerly, to the Clerk of the Dis- 

 trict Court. The applicant sends to the ad- 

 dress of the Librarian, by mail, a printed copy 

 of the title of the book, or other article, or a 

 description of the painting, drawing, etc., for 

 which a copyright is desired ; and, within ten 

 days after publication, two copies of the book, 

 or other article, and a photograph of the paint- 

 ing, etc. These go free of postage, if the 

 words "copyright matter" are written upon 

 the package. By the same law, the records of 

 copyright that have been heretofore preserved 

 in the Clerks' offices are transferred to "Wash- 

 ington. However the convenience of the Gov- 

 ernment may be promoted by these changes of 

 process, that of authors and publishers would 

 have been more consulted by leaving the old 

 machinery of the law untouched. So large a 

 proportion of the copyrights on record has 

 been obtained at New York and Boston, that 

 the removal of the records to Washington does 

 not by any means increase the facilities for 

 consulting them. One incidental benefit re- 

 sulting from the change is, that the direct 

 communication with the Librarian makes it 

 more certain that the Library of Congress will 

 have every copyrighted book. Already the 

 effect is shown in the steady increase of the 

 collection. 



In the law of international copyright, no 

 change has taken place, and the state of things 

 alluded to in last year's review of literary move- 

 ments is not altered unless for the worse. The 

 competition in republishing the writings of 

 popular English authors has increased to such 

 a degree that only a very large demand could 

 render their publication here profitable. But, 

 with the large and increasing number of read- 

 ers, the sale of some books is large enough to 

 admit a not unprofitable division of the re- 

 ceipts among two or more rival houses. It is 

 no doubt true, also, that the result of such 

 competition is to make some classes of books 

 cheap, to the advantage of readers with slen- 

 der purses. But such benefit is dearly pur- 

 chased by a system which denies the claim of 

 literary property as such to protection, virtu- 

 ally offers a bounty on English over American 

 literature, and thus tends to the discouragement 

 of American authors. 



In reviewing the literary product of the 

 past year, we give for obvious reasons the 



first place to books written, not merely pub- 

 lished here. And among these, if we have re- 

 gard to the quantity produced, the prece- 

 dence clearly belongs to 



Theology and Religion. Including popular 

 and juvenile books, the volume of literature 

 under this head is relatively large. " Essays 

 on the Supernatural Origin of Christianity," 

 by Prof. George P. Fisher, is the reissue of a 

 work that had merited and received a very 

 favorable public estimate, with additional mat- 

 ter bringing it up to the latest developments of 

 opinion and criticism on the topics it embraces. 

 " Primary Truths , of Religion," by Bishop 

 Clark, of the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of 

 Rhode Island, is a discussion of some of those 

 principles the acceptance of which is antece- 

 dent to and is implied in a faith in revealed 

 religion, marked by an absence of conven- 

 tional phraseology, and by a tone of candor, 

 and a style combining ease of expression with 

 due seriousness and weight of thinking. Of the 

 same general description is " Steps of Belief," 

 by Dr. James Freeman Clarke, who by a some- 

 what similar path would lead from atheism or 

 secularism, through deism, to Christianity, to 

 Protestant Christianity, and to Liberal Protes- 

 tantism as the ultimatum. " Letter and Spirit," 

 by the Rev. Richard Metcalf, applies the dis- 

 tinction intimated in the title to vindicate the 

 Unitarian interpretation of "the letter." 

 " Pater Mundi ; or, Modern Science testifying 

 to the Heavenly Father," by the' Rev. E. F. 

 Burr, is an attempt to make science in its re- 

 cent developments serve the argument of Nat- 

 ural Theology. It shows a command of scien- 

 tific knowledge, and a skill in using it, which 

 are of advantage to the force of the argument, 

 an advantage subject to some deduction, from 

 a sometimes unchastcned luxuriance of style. 

 "Every-Day Subjects in Sunday Sermons," by 

 the Rev. R. L. Collier, without any special 

 profundity of thought, connects moral ideas 

 in very pleasing association with the observa- 

 tions and experiences of daily life. " The 

 Doctrine of the Holy Spirit," by James B. 

 "Walker, is offered as a second volume of "The 

 Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation," a re- 

 markable book, still deservedly popular ; "Liv- 

 ing Questions of the Age," by the same au- 

 thor, falls below the reputation gained by his 

 earlier work. The Rev. II. W. Beecher's " Ser- 

 mons" and "Lecture-Room Talks," though not 

 productions likely to add to his reputation, ex- 

 hibit the qualities which account for and sus- 

 tain it. An indifferent theologian and a rash 

 exegete, and inclined to dispute the jurisdic- 

 tion of logic in religion, his power of imagina- 

 tion and breadth of sympathy, his capacity 

 for intense passion, and versatility of resource, 

 give him an unequalled influence in the pulpit, 

 on the platform, or through the press. A re- 

 markable exemplification of his hold on men's 

 minds is seen in such a phenomenon as a volume 

 of " Morning and Evening Exercises " selected 

 from his writings. " Music Hall Sermons," by 



