LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1874. 



461 



des Souvorains dans lo Pays-Bas," by Gachard, 

 U worthy of notice. This work contains the 

 travels of the Emperor Charles V., and gives 



curious dot ails, among other things, of 

 the profit-ion with which the Emperor's table 

 was served ; all the animals in creation would 

 seem to have appeared upon the board. Dioge- 

 rick has published "Documents of tho Six- 

 ('. -ninny," taken from the archives of 

 -, a most important collection. They show 

 mmencement and progress of tho reli- 

 reformation in Flanders. Alph. Wanters, 

 iven us tho fourth volume of his excellent 

 Talilo Chronologique des Chartes et DiplO- 

 mes concernant 1'IIistoire de Belgique." This 

 volume comprises the thirteenth century. In 

 nn introduction, full of erudition and research, 

 tho K-arned archivist of Brussels clears up sev- 

 eral obscure points of our history in the middle 

 ages, and ho treats us to much sound criticism 

 in his disquisition upon the relative values of 

 contemporary chroniclers. 



Among tho publications on judicial matters, 

 the most important are the three new volumes 

 of " Principes du Droit Civil," by F. Laurent, 

 Professor at the University of Ghent (forming 

 vols. x., xi., xii.). This work, which bears in- 

 contestable marks of learning and originality, 

 bids fair to be one of the best books which 

 the present century has produced on this 

 subject. 



We must not close this notice of Belgian 

 works, written in French, without calling at- 

 tention to the reorganization of the Revue de 

 Belgique, which has greatly increased in its 

 circulation. It has become the organ of differ- 

 ent shades of Belgian Liberalism, in opposition 

 to the two reviews, La Revue Catholique and 

 the Revue Generale, which are the organs of 

 the rival party. 



In the present year, as in all previous ones, 

 novelists have written the greater number of 

 tho books which have been published in 1874. 

 The first place among them must be accorded 

 to a remarkable work, which has made a great 

 sensation both in Belgium and Holland, called 

 "Ernest Staas, Advocaat," written by Tony 

 Anton Bergmann. This book has been, like 

 the Song of the Swan, of the most ethereal and 

 original of Flemish prose-writers. He had al- 

 ready achieved a reputation as an historian 

 and author of short, spirited, detached stories, 

 and now " Ernest Staas" has crowned his fame 

 in literature. The death of Anton Bergmann 

 has left a void in tho literature of the Neth- 

 erlands. The " Novellen," by Rosalie and 

 Virginio Leveling, are also remarkable works. 

 These two sisters were, until lately, only known 

 by their poems, fall of a freshness and simpli- 

 city which remind one of the shorter pieces of 

 Uhland and Longfellow. Their volume of sto- 

 ries, which are pictures of peasant-life in Flan- 

 is distinguished by the same literary qual- 

 ities, and has achieved a great success, espe- 

 cially in Holland, where the public scorns to 

 h u- 1 thoroughly recognized the delicacy and 



good taste which aro developed with charming 



simplicity. 



Hendrik Conscience, tho novelist, has not 

 allowed his pen to be idle. Besides two ito- 

 ries of contemporary manners (" De Kuesvdes 

 Harton," and "Eeno VerwardeZaak"), he has 

 written an historical novel, called "Everard 

 't Sorclaes," the subject of which is taken from 

 an incident that occurred in the Brabant Com- 

 munes during the fourteenth century. 



In the domain of poetry, the place of honor 

 must be given to the " Gedichten" (" Poems") 

 of Emmanuel Hiel, which appeared in the Bi- 

 lliothequt Neerlandaite, published in Germany 

 by a firm well known in Leipsic, F. Brock- 

 haus. This collection is marked by brilliant 

 lyrical qualities; it possesses real originality 

 of thought and profound poetic sentiment; 

 and it is also remarkable for the wonderful 

 richness and variety of its rhymes. 



Among the literary annuals, there are two 

 which are indissolubly linked with Flemish 

 history and Flemish literature one is "Le 

 Jaarboekje," of the venerable poet F. Rens, 

 which has appeared now for more than forty 

 years. This year it contains the whole of tho 

 last lines written by Anton Bergmann. They 

 describe a beautiful journey to Venice, and are 

 called " Marietta la Bella," and were written 

 by the poet on his death-bed. " De Studenten 

 Almanak" ("The Almanao of the Students of 

 Ghent ") is perhaps the oldest and most curious 

 publication of its kind. Many of the Flemish 

 and Dutch writers have made their first appear- 

 ance in its pages, for this work is open to the 

 students of all the universities of Belgium and 

 Holland. The Roman Catholic students of the 

 University of Louvain, whose political and re- 

 ligious opinions keep them aloof from the An- 

 nual of Ghent, published an interesting volume 

 of their own for 1874. 



Dramatic literature has shown signs of life in 

 1874. 



BOHEMIA. Czechs are naturally proud of the 

 fact that their nation has twice taken the lead 

 in European thought, i. e., in the Hussite wars 

 and in the Thirty-Years War. When the Bo- 

 hemian kingdom was crushed at the calami- 

 tous battle of the White Mountain, it seemed 

 as if the nation must disappear ; but, thanks 

 to the efforts of patriotic men, well supported 

 in their arduous task by the nation, it was in 

 truth remade, and this position gives a pecul- 

 iar interest and stamp to the whole of Czech 

 literature. 



We turn to the productions of the expiring 

 year, commencing with that branch to which 

 most attention is paid in our literature. Pa- 

 lacky"s historical work continues to appear, the 

 latest publication being that of the second part 

 of vol. v., containing the period of the Jagellons 

 down to 1526. The collecting of historical 

 materials has also found assiduous workers. 

 The Bohemian Archives are a magnificent 

 compilation, edited, since 1840, by Palaky', at 

 the expense of the Bohemian Diet This year 



