LITERATURE AND LITERARY PROGRESS IN 1870. 



the public as a poet before giving himself to 

 sculpture, published, in England, " A Roman 

 Lawyer in Jerusalem," a poem which made no 

 sensation, but was highly appreciated by select 

 circles of readers. Mr. 0. G. Leland has con- 

 tinued the series of Breitmann ballads, giving us 

 u Hans Breitmann in Church," etc. The vein 

 has been pretty well worked, but as long as 

 the public does not weary of it the author has 

 obvious inducements to persevere. "Warp 

 and Woof, a Book in Verse," by S. W. Duffield, 

 shows force of thought, feeling, and of expres- 

 sion, with an ear attuned to metrical harmonies. 

 The author is not one of the poets of whom 

 Wordsworth speaks, who fail of recognition be- 

 cause "wanting the accomplishment of verse." 

 His versification is sometimes very effective. 



" Miriam, and other Poems," by John Green- 

 leaf Whittier, though not enough to enhance, 

 may help to diffuse the poet's well-earned fame. 

 The poems are suffused with the calm religious- 

 ness, the tender "Indian summer" feeling, so 

 characteristic of his later verse. Rev. Charles 

 T. Brooks has followed up his previous suc- 

 cesses in the same line by the translation of 

 Schiller's "Homage of the Arts," with miscel- 

 laneous pieces from other German poets. To 

 the admirable versions of Dante and Homer, 

 by our two chief poets, is now to be added a 

 translation of Goethe's "Faust," by Bayard 

 Taylor the first part of which has been pub- 

 lished, and which bids fair to distance any 

 former attempts in the competition for public 

 favor. Mr. Taylor's original poems have not 

 much impressed the public, but his success as 

 a translator is unquestionable. James Russell 

 Lowell and John G. Saxe have sent out com- 

 plete editions of their poems, though their 

 readers, while grateful for the largess, are 

 hoping that their works are yet far from being 

 complete. The publication of a cheaper edition 

 of Mr. Longfellow's noble version of Dante 

 gives opportunity, if possible, to popularize the 

 great Florentine ; though, while our own Milton 

 is more talked about than read, it is not likely 

 that the reading of Dante will become "the 

 rage." 



It would gratify Mr. Carlyle to learn that 

 the cultivation of verse, if the number of printed 

 volumes were a test, is declining among us. 

 That may, however, prove only greater caution 

 in the trade. We note the following titles : 



Poems by Julius Eodenberg. Translated into Eng- 

 lish verse, and the Original Metres, with the German 

 Text on the opposite page. 



Haydn and other Poems. By the author of " Life 

 Below." 



Euthanasia, and other Poems. By Lavima J. Law- 



The Koyal Decrees of Scanderoon. Dedicated to 

 the Sachems of Tammany. 



Poems, by George A. Townsend. 



Begimen Sanitatis Salernitanum. Code of Health 

 of the School of Salernum. Translated into English 

 Verse by John Ordronaux. 



The Golden Crop, and other Poems. By Irving 

 Van "Wart. 



Poems, by Emma C. Embury. 



A Chaplet of Leaves. By Jeanie T. Gould. 



Ivy Leaves. By Mary Ellen Atkinson. 



Poetical Works of David Bates. Edited by his Son. 



Albion and Kosamond, and Lesser Poems. By 

 Eobert Burton Eodney. 



Episodes and Lyric Pieces. By Eobert Kelley 

 Weeks. 



Verses, by II. II. 



HISTOET. Less has apparently been done, in 

 a department for which the American mind 

 has shown special aptitude, than in past years. 

 Mr. Francis Parkman has revised his first his- 

 tory, " The Conspiracy of Pontiac," and indi- 

 cated his purpose to continue the narrative of 

 the French colonial history to its natural ter- 

 mination, in the period covered by this work. 

 Completed according to his plan, he will have 

 given to the world a series of historical studies 

 worthy of comparison with any of the ad- 

 mirable works scholars have added to the 

 literature of the English language. Rev. E. H. 

 Gillett, D. D., undismayed by the merciless 

 criticisms his " Life and Times of John Huss " 

 underwent, has revised, improved, and reissued 

 his volumes with the confidence of a deserved 

 success. Dr. J. W. Draper has completed, by 

 the publication of the third volume, his labo- 

 riously-studied and carefully -wrought "History 

 of the American Civil War," a work in some 

 respects superior to any previously attempted 

 on that subject. His view of the causes of the 

 strife is open to criticism, and will certainly 

 be questioned by all who have not as yet ac- 

 cepted the philosophy of Buckle. But, when 

 he gets out from the theory to the facts of the 

 war, he shows a narrative and descriptive 

 power not easily matched. Mr. Alexander H. 

 Stephens has completed in two volumes his 

 review of "The War between the States." 

 The title shows the writer's Secession or State- 

 rights point of view. The national Govern- 

 ment is not recognized as a party to the con- 

 test. The work is an able plea for the " lost 

 cause." Perhaps the fact that the cause it 

 pleads is lost has led to an unwise neglect of 

 this defence. The cause of national unity 

 has been vindicated by the sword to which 

 its foes appealed. But it is also needful that 

 it be vindicated at the bar of history, and an 

 earnest and skilful impeachment of it deserves 

 attention. 



Of special and local histories several deserve 

 mention. Mr. Frederick Bidder's " History of 

 the Boston Massacre" brings together the full 

 documentary evidence in the case, a topic of 

 less interest now even in Boston than in the 

 years when the only wars in our experience 

 that had much power to stir the people's 

 pulses were wars with Great Britain, but not 

 to be forgotten while memory of the Revolu- 

 tion survives. " Rome and Italy at the Open- 

 ing of the (Ecumenical Council," translated by 

 the Rev. George Prentice, from the French of 

 Edmond de Pressense, D. D., depicts a moment 

 of history a moment before the opening of a 

 new act. Mr. S. S. Randall's " History of the 

 State of New York," intended as a school 

 text-book, may not unprofitably become a 



