LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1873. 



427 



The chief literary achievement of the year 

 is G. Brandes'8 " Great Currents of Literature 

 in the Nineteenth Century, "Second part, "On 

 the Romantic School in Germany." The 

 school is not treated in a flattering way, yet 

 this volume, like the first, has in Germany 

 found the most friendly reception. The post- 

 humous concluding volume of Overskou's 

 " History of the Danish Royal Stage " has be- 

 gun to appear. 



The second and last volume of posthumous 

 memoirs by Orla Lehmann is, like the first, 

 light and readable, vain and flippant not of 

 so mnch value to the historian as the disclos- 

 ures of H. J. A. Raasloff (" My Policy "), 

 which ought to be consulted by students of 

 the sad story of the blundering policy pursued 

 by Denmark in modern times. The historical 

 works of Hansen, Vaupell, Rordam, Schmidt, 

 etc. (Athen., Nos. 2253, 2305, 2351), are being 

 continued. O. Roeder, in his " German and 

 Northern Nations," tries to establish our "na- 

 tional " theory of a peculiar personal intensity 

 and of a peculiar personal relation to God, in 

 the character of the northern nations ; but I 

 wish the learned author had first proved that 

 there exists a common " northern " national 

 character that the Danes do not differ in 

 character from the Swedes and even from the 

 Norwegians as much as from almost any other 

 European nation. 



FBAXOE. There has been no sign of falling 

 off in the different departments of French lit- 

 erature. The history of the ancient world has 

 been abundantly illustrated during the past 

 year by French tavanU, not only through the 

 medium of monographs and special histories, 

 but also with the help of topographical re- 

 searches and explorations. Let us mention, 

 among other works of that kind, MM. Le Bas 

 and Waddington's " Voyage Archfiologique en 

 Grece et en Asie Mineure," and M. Perrot's 

 " Archaeological Exploration of Galatia and 

 Bithynia, Cappadocia and Pontus." In these 

 costly and magnificent volumes graphic art has 

 been profusely employed to elucidate the text, 

 nnd the latest results of the excavations, con- 

 ducted by accomplished antiquarians, are sat- 

 isfactorily described. The philological produc- 

 tions which have appeared during the present 

 year do not amount to much, nor do they in- 

 clude any thing of transcendent merit. The 

 fourth volume of M. Brfial's translation of 

 Bopp's " Comparative Grammar," together with 

 the index, which adds so materially to its use- 

 fulness, should not be forgotten ; it treats, 

 however, of only the Indo-Enfbpean languages, 

 and therefore it leaves unnoticed a consider- 

 able portion of the philological ground. 



The list of historical productions I have to 

 enumerate is rather a poor one, nor can I men- 

 tion any work equaling in value M. Georges 

 Picot's ' Histoire des Etats G6nranx; " His- 

 torical science has lost one of its most distin- 

 guished representatives in M. Jal, whose pa- 

 tient researches contributed so much to our ac- 



quaintance with the annals of the French navy, 

 and who, in his " Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de 

 Geographic," has rectified so many popular 

 errors. The last work published by this gen- 

 tleman, " The Biography of Du Qnesne," forms 

 part of a series which the author was not 

 spared to finish, and, while professing to be 

 nothing else but a monograph, it describes, as 

 a matter of fact, an important part of Colbert's 

 administration. If you would see what can 

 be done to rehabilitate in public opinion per- 

 sons whose fair name has been for centuries 

 stained by calumny, read M. de BarthClemy's 

 " Life of Charlotte de la Tr^moille, Princess 

 of Cond<5 ; " if you want to admire the spirit 

 of impartiality which should be the distinguish- 

 ing mark of all historians, turn to M. Guizot's 

 " Vies de Quatre Grands Chretiens Frai^ais." 

 Among historical works of a general character, 

 let me mention also the amusing and instruc- 

 tive compilation to which M. Challamel has giv- 

 en the title of " Mfimoires du Peuple Francais ; " 

 here we have less the results than the materials 

 from which these results are derived ; it is a 

 vast quarry full of stones, to be afterward 

 hewn and shaped by some competent artist. 

 The sixth and last volume of the " Corre- 

 spondence of Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, 

 and Madame Elizabeth," published by M. 

 Fenillet de Conches, is composed chiefly of 

 documents which had already appeared in 

 print. The memoirs of General Grouchy, and 

 those of Count de Sfigur, both treat spe- 

 cially of the empire, and are of unequal inter- 

 est. The former of these works is particular- 

 ly designed to justify the general's conduct at 

 Waterloo. M. de SCgur's voluminous work 

 includes a new and revised edition of that 

 "prose epic," as M. Vinet called it, the "His- 

 toire de Napoleon et de la Grand Armfe pen- 

 dant I'Annee 1812." M. de Vielcastel's con- 

 scientiously written but dull " History of the 

 Restoration " has reached its fifteenth volume, 

 and brings us to the Greek insurrection of 

 1826 ; then comes M. Taxile Delord's " His- 

 toire du Second Empire," followed by a host 

 of volumes, pamphlets, state papers, atlases, 

 etc., on the events of the years 1870-'71. The 

 International Society had already begun its 

 operations at the period when M. Delord 

 closes his fourth volume, and the Mexican 

 Expedition was shedding an ominous gloom 

 over France. But the catastrophe could not 

 long be put off, and disasters ensued such as 

 the country had never witnessed before. Ev- 

 ery political personage who had a share in all 

 these events is now anxious to explain what 

 that share really was; M. Glais-Bizoin apolo- 

 gizes for the dictatorship of M. Gambetta; 

 Generals Vinoy and De Wimpffen propound 

 their views on the reorganization of the 

 army ; M. Dnvergier de Hauranne sounds the 

 ptean of a Conservative republic ; while M. 

 Naquet eulogizes Radicalism, and M. Eugene 

 Pelletan endeavors to show that writers and 

 politicians on the royalist side are persons 



