462 



LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1872. 



served to modern times, the good sense of her 

 old writers is really to be wondered at. In 

 order to commemorate their merits, the cen- 

 tenary of the revival of Hungarian literature 

 has been celebrated in the person of Bessen- 

 yei, a poet of the past century, and a carefully- 

 revised edition of the earliest Magyar poets 

 down to Zrinyi, is planned. 



In novels the present year cannot be reck- 

 oned fertile, and, as usual, the greater part of 

 those published is due to Mr. lokai, whose 

 " Golden Man " has become the favorite of the 

 reading public. Equally well received was the 

 novel, "Az en ismeroseim" (" My Acquaint- 

 ances"). The author, Mr. L. Tolnai, has a 

 predilection for Hungarian topics, and we 

 must acknowledge that his sketches are as 

 clever as they are faithful, and that they are, 

 above all, thoroughly Hungarian. 



In history I have to note the continudtion 

 of some important works begun during the 

 last few years. The third volume has appeared 

 of " Pazman es kora " (Pazman and his Age "), 

 by Dr. Frankel, in which we again encounter 

 many interesting details, hitherto unknown, 

 of the laborious and stormy life of that famous 

 Hungarian prelate, and some new volumes 

 have been issued of "Monumenta Hungarica," 

 containing official documents for the elucida- 

 tion of single periods, collected and edited by 

 the best writers in history. 



I will conclude my report on Hungarian lit- 

 erature with a short list of the best transla- 

 tions of the year. Mr. lones Arany has suc- 

 cessfully rendered into Hungarian Burns's 

 "Tarn o' Shanter;" Mr. Doczy has just fin- 

 ished Goethe's "Faust;" and Mr. Charles 

 Szaz, the most fertile of Hungarian writers, 

 has favored his countrymen with a good trans- 

 lation of Dante's u Divina Comrnedia." His 

 translations and original works have just been 

 published complete in three volumes. Prof. 

 Augustus Greguss has likewise collected his 

 various writings on aesthetics and philosophy, 

 as well as his masterly essays and reviews, 

 which are a good specimen of Hungarian 

 prose, and contain valuable hints on the art 

 of poetry, and on the Fine Arts in general. 



Imperfect as this sketch is, it would be 

 much more so were I to omit to mention the 

 scientific investigations laid before the public 

 in such periodicals as the " Termeszettudom- 

 anyi Kozlony," the report of the Geological 

 Society, and the weekly or monthly papers of 

 the Hungarian lawyers, engineers, and medical 

 men. 



ITALY. After a year's silence, I am glad to 

 be able to say that, during the interval, we 

 have made progress. Twelve months ago I 

 complained of the epidemic of verse-making, 

 which seemed to me to have a tendency to 

 produce a general softening of brains. During 

 the past year, this epidemic, though it has not 

 altogether ceased, has at any rate considera- 

 bly abated. I must ask readers to pardon me 

 if I tell them but little about fine poems or pa- 



thetic romances. I shall only mention the 

 drama of "Nerone," written inverse, by Si- 

 gner Pietro Cossa, of Rome (who has just com- 

 pleted another play on the subject of Plautus). 

 Last year I announced the approaching publi- 

 cation of a journal for women, directed by a 

 lady, Aurelia Cimino, called La Cornelia. It 

 has encountered many difficulties and delays 

 in seeing the light, and has only appeared 

 within the last few days. The first number 

 seems to promise well ; and, while giving time 

 for this promise to ripen, I will tell you of 

 two excellent Italian publications which re- 

 late especially to schools and teachers "La 

 Storia della Pedegogia Italiana," by Signor 

 Emanuel Celesia, the learned historian am" 

 librarian of Genoa, and a recent work 

 Count Charles Belgioioso, of Milan, entitle< 

 "La Scuola e la Famiglia." An education* 

 purpose and design may be discerned in manj 

 of the works recently published in Italy the 

 " Cronache del Villaggio," by Antonio Cacch 

 niga, which contains lively pictures of run 

 life; "I Padroni, gli Operai e 1'Internazic 

 nale," in which Prof. Ignace Scarabelli has 

 forth, in an agreeable and popular form, th( 

 broadest and healthiest principles of politics 

 economy; the "Prediche di un Laico," in 

 which Geralamo Boccado, the learned politic* 

 economist of Genoa, preaches morality, am 

 the art of knowing how to live happily, wi 

 wit and earnestness combined ; " Gli eroi d< 

 Lavoro," by Gustave Strafforello, of Poi 

 Maurizio, the history of seven - and - twenty 

 workmen who have made themselves remark- 

 able. I must not omit to mention the gn 

 success of another work, by Mr. Smiles, on 

 " Character," translated by P. Rotondi, am 

 edited by Barbera, with an unpublished auto 

 biography, written by Mr. Smiles for the Ital 

 ian edition. While on the subject of transla 

 tions from the English, I should mention Dr. 

 Smith's " History of the East," translated 

 M. J. Carraro; also a new translation of 

 Shakespeare, made under the supervision of 

 Prof. Christophe Pasqualigo. I do not fe* 

 sure that I am not committing an indiscretion 

 in telling you that the celebrated translator, 

 Andrea Maffei, has just completed a version 

 of the last canto of Lord Byron's "Childe 

 Harold." Another work well worth mention- 

 ing is one that has had some success in Italy, 

 " A Comparative View of the Municipal Sys- 

 tem in England and our Commercial Law," by 

 Signor Manfrin. 



The Professors Paul Mantegazza, of Lom- 

 bardy, and Paul Lioy, of Venice, do the world 

 of science for us all. The first is a distin- 

 guished anthropologist, and the director of our 

 Anthropological Society. He is the Professor 

 of Anthropology at the Institute of High 

 Studies at Florence. Signor Lioy is a natural- 

 ist, full of poetical feeling and talent. These 

 qualities shine forth brightly in the curious 

 work he has just published, "Sulla Letrge della 

 Produzione dei Sessi." It cannot be asserted 



