462 



LITEKATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1874. 



appeared the fifth part of vol. vi. Dr. Em- 

 ler, keeper of the Archives of Prague, is pub- 

 lishing "Fontes Rerum Bohemicarum." We 

 have also "Reliquiae Tabularum Terra? Regni 

 Bohemia anno MDLI. igne consumptarum," 

 "Regesta Diplomatica Bohemias et Moravise," 

 and " Libri Citation um et Sententiarum," by 

 Brandt, while a " History of Moravia," by B. 

 Dudik, has reached its sixth volume. Zeleny"s 

 "Life of Jungmann" is an interesting account 

 of one of the most stirring times of Bohe- 

 mia. The second volume of Dr. Czupr's work 

 on "Old Indian Lore" ("Uczeni Staroin- 

 dick6 ") contains interesting particulars on the 

 development of the European religions. 



As regards the classics, we have Prof. Nie- 

 derle's "Grammar of the Greek Language," 

 comparing it directly with the Slavonic tongue, 

 a work valuable in preventing the necessity of 

 studying books which treat Greek from a 

 German point of view. The connection of the 

 Slavonic languages, as exemplified by the old 

 Slavonic, is well brought out by Prof. Geitler's 

 book on the phonology of Old-Bulgarian or 

 Church Slav. 



The Society of Bohemian Mathematicians 

 (connected with many foreign ones) edits sev- 

 eral periodicals, the only mathematical jour- 

 nals in Austria, under the direction of Prof. 

 Studnicka and Dr. Weyr. Many publications 

 in the area of natural science have been issued; 

 the best known is the " Scientific Exploration 

 of Bohemia," published by order of the Bohe- 

 mian Diet, of which vol. ii., " Prodromus Floraa 

 Bohemicaa," by Prof. L. Czelakovsky', has ap- 

 peared. 



The political journalism of the country has 

 considerable influence ; I may mention Cza- 

 sopis Czeskeho Musea, (Journal of the Czech 

 Museum), published by Dr. Ember, exclusively 

 scientific, and Osveta (Enlightenment), includ- 

 ing novels and poetry, and edited by V&cslav 

 Vleck, and many other more special ones, while 

 journalism for the people, helped by compul- 

 sory education, has attained great results. 

 The "Poesie Svetova" ("World's Poetry") 

 is engaged in completing our translations of 

 the best foreign authors, and the "Nadroni 

 Bibliotheka " (" National Library "), conduct- 

 ed by Zakrejs, is doing the same for native 

 literature. We have also the collection of V. 

 Vleck's novels and tales; the poetical works 

 of B. Janda, etc. Svatopluk Czech's poems 

 show considerable talent, and we have also 

 poems by Mdlle. Krasnohorska, Hejduk, and 

 Jaroslav Goll. 



DENMARK. This year has been still less pro- 

 ductive than 1873. Not one notable work of 

 imagination has appeared. Some volumes of 

 lyrics have been issued, and a number of novels 

 and tales, none of which it is necessary to 

 dwell upon. Bergsoe's " Rome under Pius IX." 

 (not finished) is a large illustrated medley of 

 descriptions. Of more interest is a small, live- 

 ly volume, by an anonymous tourist, "Traits 

 of Life in America." 



In history, we have but two notable books : 

 a large volume by C. Paludan-Muller, on " The 

 First [Four] Kings of the Oldenburg Family," 

 containing "outlines and thoughts" that put 

 many things in a new light, A small volume, 

 by General C. Hegermann-Lindencrone, on 

 " The Year of War, 1864," contains an attack, 

 couched in moderate terms, on the policy of 

 the dominant "national" party, on the way 

 in which the ministry meddled with military 

 operations, and on the pernicious influence of 

 the Copenhagen press. 



G. Brandes's " Reaction in France," the most 

 interesting book of the year, is vol. iii. of his 

 " Great Currents of Literature." He and his 

 brother, E. Brandos, in October, began a lit- 

 erary periodical, the Nineteenth Century, on 

 whose prospects I cannot yet pronounce an 

 opinion; yet signs of a coming change of 

 " currents" are not altogether wanting. Dan- 

 ish literature is chiefly an offshoot of German 

 " Romanticism," and of ideas originating in 

 Schellmg's philosophy which came in above 

 seventy years ago, and coalesced with the 

 "bardism" of the Klopstock school previously 

 introduced. As the productiveness of this 

 "current" is dying out, something must fill 

 the void; and there is no resource except 

 the newest European " currents," to which 

 Brandes wants to lead his unwilling country- 

 men, who fear that their nationality, with all 

 their virtue and religion, will be drowned in 

 them. 



Of II. Scharling's "Humanity and Chris- 

 tianity," a "philosophy of history," the con- 

 cluding vol. ii. has been given to the world. 

 The work contains sketches of non-Christian 

 religions and of the chief Christian Churches, 

 with remarks on ancient civilization, and a 

 chapter on modern Humanism. How this can 

 constitute a "philosophy of history," is not 

 clear to me, if indeed it has ever been discov- 

 ered what the " philosophy of history " really 

 is. The book, though rich in materials, can 

 scarcely be said to contain any thing new, but 

 it is written in the lively, popular style char- 

 acteristic of the author. He is a most ortho- 

 dox Lutheran, and speaks rather contemptu- 

 ously of modern researches regarding the 

 antiquity of man, etc. R. Nielsen's " Condi- 

 tions of Vigorous Volition " is one of his quasi- 

 popular books not those in the philosophic 

 dialect, where not a sentence is comprehensi- 

 ble to common mortals, but those that are, 

 linguistically, rather more intelligible. Yet I 

 approach it with diffidence, expecting the com- 

 mon fate of being convicted of misunderstand- 

 ing Nielson toto ccelo. Let me venture to state 

 that the professor divides a human being into 

 three parts body, soul, spirit so that reason 

 belongs to the soul ; and that in his system the 

 condition of invigorating, i. e., Christianizing, 

 the will is, raising it above reason (and above 

 the "soul") into the "spirit." Many may 

 possibly suspect our great philosopher of hav- 

 ing risen so far above reason as to mistake the 



