444 



LITERATURE AND LITERARY PROGRESS IN 1871. 



thoughtful quality, and are enriched with the 

 fruits of much study, with a little more nerve, 

 as might be looked for in one who has been 

 more a man of action. If Gibbon gained some- 

 thing of qualification for his historical labors 

 from being drilled with the militia, Mr. Hig- 

 ginson may well be the gainer in the use of 

 the pen, from having drawn sword in a great 

 war. Not that he atiects martial airs or meta- 

 phors, but he writes as one who knows man 

 from having known men. He is a persuasive 

 example of the culture for which he pleads. 

 " Success and its Conditions,'' by Edwin P. 

 Whipple, ranks with popular rather than with 

 critical essays, though Mr. Whipple is no mean 

 critic. He writes forcibly indeed, in his ear- 

 lier productions, the force of style was rather 

 in excess of the requirements of his thought, 

 but his writing has grown at once stronger 

 and more chastened. The thought is weight- 

 ier, and the expression more nicely adjusted 

 to it. A new edition of Ticknor's "" History 

 of Spanish Literature," with the author's last 

 corrections and additions, fixes in its perma- 

 nent form a work which has had the fortune 

 to be recognized as a standard not only here 

 and in England, but also in Spain. 



Under this head may fitly be ranked critical 

 editions of standard authors. A new variorum 

 edition of Shakespeare has been undertaken 

 by Mr. H. H. Furness, of which, he has pub- 

 lished " Romeo and Juliet." The editor has 

 shown the possession of rare qualifications for 

 his work, and abundant resources. If completed 

 in the same style with the specimen now of- 

 fered to the public, the edition will have a very 

 high place among the critical elucidations of 

 the great dramatist, and it is to be hoped that 

 the work will receive the encouragement it 

 deserves. A new impression, with improve- 

 ments, of the Rev. Henry N. Hudson's edition 

 of Shakespeare indicates, we trust, a growing 

 popular taste for the higher literature. It is 

 one of the best editions in circulation, for the 

 general reader. Mr. Hudson has also issued a 

 selection from Shakespeare for schools and 

 families. A work of more than ordinary merit, 

 for its purpose, is Mr. W. J. Rolfe's edition of 

 some of Shakespeare's plays for the use of 

 schools. Each play is published separately, 

 with such notes and explanations as are needed 

 by young readers and students under instruc- 

 tion in English literature. The publishers 

 have given it a convenient shape and clothed 

 it in an elegant style of typography and illus- 

 tration. ""The Merchant of Venice" and 

 " The Tempest" have appeared, and have been 

 received by the public with deserved favor. 



The space now filled in the regard of readers 

 by reviews and magazines makes the essay 

 almost the normal form for the expression of 

 thought. The number cf those who succeed 

 by thoughtful labor in giving to the essay 

 qualities that make it worthy of a place among 

 the successes of literary art, though not large, 

 is increasing ; and the fact, together with the 



existence and influence of enlightened and fear- 

 less criticism, is of good omen to our literature. 



The following works in this department also 

 deserve mention : 



Americanisms. By Prof. Schele De Verc. 



Among My Books. (An unfortunate coincidence 

 with the title of one of Mr. James Russell Lowell's 

 volumes. This volume has too much merit to be in 

 this way made as good as nameless.) 



Sober Thoughts on Staple Themes. By Richard 

 Randolph. 



Studies in Literature. By G. W. Griffin. New 

 edition. 



Odd Hours of a Physician. By John Darby. 



Rip-Raps : or, Drift Thoughts Wide Apart. By 

 Will C. Kerr. 



Topics of the Time. By James Parton. 



HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. Of histories 

 proper, none were published during the year 

 worthy of special notice except a second vol- 

 ume of Broadhead's "History of New York," 

 a work that has received and deserves high 

 commendation for the combination it exhibits 

 of diligent research and of felicity in narra- 

 tive. Mr. S. S. Randall has published a " His- 

 tory of the Common-School System of New 

 York," a subject of which he has ample knowl- 

 edge, and on which he has produced a stand- 

 ard work of reference. A monograph of great 

 value in relation to the diplomatic history of 

 the United States is the address by Mr. Charles 

 Francis Adams before the New York Histori- 

 cal Society on " The Struggle for Neutrality in 

 America." Mr. Charles Sumner publishes 

 "The Duel between France and Germany, 

 with its Lesson to Civilization." Mr. J. F. 

 Meline's " Mary Queen of Scots, and her Latest 

 English Historian," is a searching and in some 

 points damaging criticism of Mr. Froude's His- 

 tory of England as it bears upon the Scottish 

 queen. Whether he has done as much to vin- 

 dicate her as to criminate the historian, may 

 be doubted, without any impeachment of his 

 ability. New evidence there is little or none, 

 and the old evidence has been so thoroughly 

 sifted as to leave little for new workers to 

 hope for. 



Among the biographies of the year there 

 have appeared several of historical importance, 

 as for example, the Life of John Adams, begun 

 by John Quincy Adams, and completed by 

 Charles Francis Adams; the Life of General 

 Nathaniel Greene, by G. W. Greene, which 

 has been completed in three volumes, executed 

 in a style that does honor to both the author 

 and his subject; Life and Writings of Alexan- 

 der J. Dallas, by George Mifflin Dallas ; The 

 Domestic Life of Thomas Jeiferson, by his 

 granddaughter, S. N. Randolph, an admirable 

 picture of the man, as he appeared in that in- 

 ner circle where political animosities and dis- 

 quietudes could not follow him; Life and 

 Speeches of John J. Crittenden, a man who 

 deserved a more enduring memory than the 

 vrorld has leisure to bestow on even very dis- 

 tinguished lawyers and politicians, especially 

 on those who nourished antebellum; a bi- 

 ography of William Winston Seaton, so long 



