472 



LITEEATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1874. 



beyond, the orange and lemon groves; and 

 nearer the coast the bananas, guayabas, cotton, 

 sugar-cane, and other tropical plants. The 

 flowers and fruits of the Alpujarra are consid- 

 ered the finest of the province of Granada. 

 Few places have witnessed so many varied 

 and romantic events as those which have taken 

 place there. 



Dramatic works of high order have been 

 very scarce this year an unusual circumstance, 

 for the average of Spanish modern dramatic 

 literature has, up to the present time, been 

 equal to that of other countries. 



The literary societies which have been formed 

 lately in Spain to promote the publication of 

 manuscripts or scarce books have printed this 

 year several interesting volumes. The " Socie- 

 dad de Bibliofilos " has published two volumes, 

 and a third is daily expected, of " Las Oam- 

 pafias del Emperador Carlos V.," by Cerezeda, 

 edited by Cruzada Villamil. No contemporary 

 documents have appeared down to the present 

 day concerning the history of Charles V.'s 

 campaigns which are equal to this narrative, 

 and it is strange that it should have remained 

 so long unknown to students of this period. 



Another society of bibliophiles, who edit 

 their books under the name of "Libros de 

 Antano," has just printed a most important 

 historical work, which, like Oerezeda's inter- 

 esting account, has remained unpublished for 

 the last three centuries. The title is " Oronica 

 del Eey Enrico Otavo de Inglaterra." This 

 chronicle appears to have been written by a 

 contemporary author, whose name has not yet 

 been certainly ascertained. 



There are many points of contact between 

 the " Oronica " and Father Rivadeneyra's " Cis- 

 ma de Inglaterra, 1588." They both teU the 

 same story, although from a different point of 

 view. The anonymous author of the history 

 of Henry VIII., although undoubtedly a Ro- 

 man Catholic, is a partisan of the King's, al- 

 though the greatest enemy of Catholicism, and 

 praises him as much or more than English 

 writers of the time, and in the same manner 

 is lenient toward other historical events which 

 appear abominable to Rivadeneyra. The notes 

 which accompany this volume are due to the 

 profound researches of the Marquis de Holms, 

 and are of the greatest historical importance. 

 The editor compares the text with Riva- 

 deneyra's book, with documents from Siman- 

 cas and other Spanish archives, and the prin- 

 cipal English historians. 



POKTUGAL. The Government long ago pro- 

 posed as a subject for an historical work, "The 

 History, Military and Political, of Portugal, 

 during the XVIII. and XIX. Centuries." The 

 task was intrusted to M. Latino Coelho, and he 

 has. just published his, first volume. If one 

 formed an opinion of the book by the preface 

 only, M. Coelho's history would.be a first-class 

 production, for the author shows a considerable 

 knowledge of the scientific methods followed 

 by European historians. Unfortunately, the 



work itself has none of the merits of the pref- 

 atory remarks, and its execution is not at all 

 in harmony with the theory. M. Lobo d'Avila, 

 an ex-Minister of Finance, has just issued the 

 first volume of his " Studies on the Public Ad- 

 ministration of Portugal." The work is di- 

 vided into two parts : the one historical, in 

 which the author reviews all the financial sys- 

 tems of our country since the beginning of the 

 monarchy ; the other analytical, in which he 

 examines, in a scientific manner, all the features 

 of our public economy down to modern days. 

 For the early portions of the history of our 

 finances, M. Lobo d'Avila has made no original 

 inquiries. For the history of later times there 

 is a great deal more information obtainable, 

 and M. d'Avila has used his material with the 

 skill that his knowledge and ability led the 

 public to expect. 



In novels, if we except translations from the 

 Spanish and the French, I can hardly name 

 three original stories. 



M. Vilhena Barbosa has just issued the first 

 volume of his " Archaiological Essays," a col- 

 lection of articles on various antiquarian mat- 

 ters that have appeared in literary journals. 



RtrssiA. Not long ago I asked the editor of 

 one of the leading Russian journals why there 

 had been such literary dearth in Russia during 

 the last year. He alleged the censorship as 

 one reason, and said that he had been unable to 

 print the best articles which had been offered 

 to him. That the censorship does have a cer- 

 tain repressive effect cannot be denied, when 

 we remember that one of the numbers of the 

 Messenger of Europe was stopped for some 

 days, and two of the best articles were cut 

 out, and that the business of two other journals 

 was suspended for a whole month, so that a 

 double number had finally to be published. 

 The censorship in its desire to prevent " at- 

 tacks on the existing order of things," and " the 

 fomenting of discontent," often prevents the 

 truth from being told, and this cannot but be 

 detrimental to the interests of literature. At 

 times the article or book may have nothing 

 objectionable in itself, but be merely mal- 

 apropos. This was the case with one of the 

 articles above referred to, which was on Little 

 Russia, but was considered out of place by the 

 censorship, in consequence of some talk in the 

 newspaper about a separative movement in the 

 Ukraine. At the same time we must not give 

 too much importance to the action of the cen- 

 sorship when we recollect that it is something 

 to which Russian literature is accustomed, and 

 that the greatest works of Russian writers 

 were produced at a time when the censorship 

 was the most severe. 



Of late, Russian literature has fallen into 

 two camps. For a long time there have been 

 the liberal and reactionary schools in literature 

 as well as in politics ; the artistic and the re- 

 alistic schools ; but there are now the schools 

 of Moscow and of St. Petersburg. Strict geo- 

 graphical division is, of course, impossible, as 



