426 LITERATURE, AMERICAN, AND LITEEAEY PROGRESS IN 1876. 



tion for age, but act on the maxim so effec- 

 tively uttered by one of the most honored of 

 them, that " age is opportunity no less than 

 youth." But they are in no apparent danger 

 of being jostled by younger aspirants. We 

 must not, indeed, judge too absolutely from 

 appearances. Comparative inactivity in pub- 

 lishing does not authorize the positive conclu- 

 sion that there is a corresponding inactivity in 

 literary production . What is going on in men's 

 minds, or may be hidden in their portfolios, 

 cannot be conjectured. More, we may hope, 

 than the press gives signs of. But, tried by 

 the only test it is in our power to apply, the 

 year 1875 must be pronounced a season of 

 comparative barrenness. A good deal of in- 

 tellectual activity goes to the furnishing of 

 our magazines and journals. Our satisfaction 

 at the excellence attained by some of these 

 ephemera does not diminish our concern lest 

 too many vigorous and cultured minds should 

 be content with a too easily-won success, and 

 fall short of that sustained effort which is re- 

 quired in order to attain the higher honors of 

 authorship. 



HISTORY. The centenary of American Inde- 

 pendence has naturally suggested increased 

 attention to our country's history, not merely 

 of the epoch of the Revolution, but of its en- 

 tire historic period. It is gratifying to notice 

 that the national commemoration has called 

 forth very little of that style of patriotic effer- 

 vescence that was once inseparable from the 

 Fourth of July. A soberer self-consciousness 

 gives character to our review of the past. The 

 chastened eloquence of Dr. Richard S. Storrs's 

 historical address on "The Early American 

 Spirit and its Genesis" worthily struck the 

 key-note of our u centennial " oratory, and the 

 addresses of Mr. Dana at Lexington, Mr. Cur- 

 tis at Concord, and other occasional speeches 

 that have at the present writing been evoked 

 by anniversaries of events in 1775, have been 

 worthy expressions of national feeling. Among 

 the manuals for men of scanty leisure to re- 

 fresh their memories withal, a very useful one, 

 and creditable to the author, is the "Para- 

 graph History of the United States, with Brief 

 Notes on Contemporaneous Events," by the 

 Rev. Edward Abbott (Roberts, Boston). The 

 following books, completed or publishing in 

 parts, and pamphlets, belong peculiarly to the 

 department of centennial literature : 



The History of our Country, from its Discovery by 

 Columbus to the Celebration of the Centennial An- 

 niversary of its Declaration of Independence. By 

 Abby Sage Richardson. (H. 0. Houghton & Co., 

 Cambridge, Mass.) Illustrated. 



Our Country. A Household History for all Read- 

 ers, from the Discovery of America to the One Hun- 

 dredth Anniversary of the Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence. By Benson J. Lossing, LL. D. Illus- 

 trated by F. 0. C. Darley. Publishing in parts. 

 (Johnson, Ward & Co.) 



Pictorial History of the United States. With 

 Maps and Illustrations. By John A. Stewart. (J. 

 H. Butler & Co., Philadelphia.) 



Ballad History of the American Revolution, by 



Contemporary Poets and Prose Writers. Collected 

 and arranged by Frank Moore. Publishing in 

 parts. (Johnson, Ward & Co.) 



The German Element in the War of American 

 Independence. By George W. Greene. (Hurd & 

 Houghton.) 



Proceedings at the Centennial Celebration of the 

 Battle of Lexington. April 19, 1875. Illustrated. 

 (Lockwood, Brooks & Co., Boston.) 



A Brief Narrative of the Principal Transactions 

 on the Morning of the 19th of April, 1775. By 

 Jonas Clark Pastor of the Church in Lexington. 

 With Heliotype Fac-similes of Four Engravings of 

 Scenes in Lexington and Concord, made and pub- 

 lished in 1775. (Osgood, Boston.) 



History of the Battle of Lexington, on the Morn- 

 ing of the 19th of April, 1775. By Elias Phinney. 

 Boston, 1825. Reprinted. (Noyes, Holmes & Co., 

 Boston.) 



Concord Fight, April 19, 1775. By Rev. Grindall 

 Reynolds, Concord, Mass. (A. Williams, Boston.) 



The Address of the Hon. William A. Graham, on 

 the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence of 

 the 2'0th of May, 1775. Delivered at Charlotte, on 

 the 4th day of February, 1875, by Request of the 

 Citizens of Mecklenburg County. With Accompany- 

 ing Documents. (Hale.) 



Celebration of the Centennial Anniversary of the 

 Battle of Bunker Hill. With an Appendix contain- 

 ing a Survey of the Literature of the Battle, its An- 

 tecedents and Results. By J. M. Bugbee. (Wil- 

 liams, Boston. 130 printed.) 



The Battle of Bunker Hill. With a View of 

 Charlestown in 1775, Page's Plan of the Action, Ro- 

 mane's Exact View of the Battle, and other illus- 

 trations. By Richard Frothingh am. (Little, Brown 

 & Co., Boston.) 



Bunker Hill Memorial. Grandmother's Story of 

 Bunker Hill Battle, as she saw it from the Belfry. 

 (Poem.) By Oliver Wendell Holmes. And, A Nar- 

 rative of the Battle. By James M. Bugbee. (Os- 

 good.) 



Brochure of Bunker Hill. With Heliotype Views. 

 Compiled by George A. Coolidge. (Osgood.) 



History of the Battle of Bunker's (Breed's) Hill, on 

 June 17, 1775 ; from Authentic Sources in Print and 

 Manuscript. By George E. Ellis. With a Map of 

 the Battle-Ground. (Lockwood, Brooks & Co.) 



An Account of the Battle of Bunker Hill. Com- 

 piled from Authentic Sources, by David Pulsifer. 

 With General Burgoyne's Account of the Battle. 

 With Maps. (Williams, Boston.) 



Bunker Hill. The Story told in Letters from the 

 Battle-Field by British Officers engaged. With an 

 Introduction and Sketch of the Battle. By Samuel 

 Adams Drake. With an Illustration of the Battle 

 from an Old Engraving never before published in this 

 Country. (Nichols & Hall, Boston.) 



General Israel Putnam, the Commander at Bunker 

 Hill. By Samuel Adams Drake. (Nichols & Hall, 

 Boston.) 



Colonel William Prescott, Commander in the Bat- 

 tle of Bunker Hill. Honor to whom Honor is due. 

 A Monograph. By Francis J. Parker. (Williams, 

 Boston.) 



Of works bearing on the civil war, the most 

 important, perhaps, is the u Memoirs of General 

 W. T. Sherman" (D. Appleton & Co.). The 

 indisputable authenticity of his narrative, found- 

 ed as it is upon the most trustworthy mate- 

 rials, will make it indispensable to the future 

 historian of the war, while the vigor and sol- 

 dierly frankness of the style must make it 

 permanently attractive to the general reader. 

 The attacks that have been made upon it 

 notably in the volume entitled " Sherman's 

 Historical Raid," by General H. V. Boynton 



