444 



LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1875. 



the country and the consequent disputes have 

 by no means been propitious in their influence, 

 still our literary activity remains as great as 

 ever. 



Of original work in the way of poetry the 

 more important may be singled out. Heyduk's 

 " Cymbal a Housle " (" The Cymbal and the 

 Fiddle ") consists of a series of admirable 

 pieces, which depict with great force the life 

 and sufferings of the North Slav of Hungary. 

 The striking descriptions, deep feeling, aston- 

 ishing naturalness, and the national tone the 

 author exhibits, combine to stamp this volume 

 as the most remarkable of the year. 



In history there is most to report. The col- 

 lections of " sources " go on which I mentioned 

 last year. Of Palacky"s great work another 

 volume has appeared ; and so, too, of B. Du- 

 dik's " History of Moravia." There is no need 

 dwelling on the high value of both these pub- 

 lications for the history of Central Europe. A 

 model of historical research is furnished by W. 

 W. Tomek's "History of the City of Prague." 

 The publishing firm of T. L. Kober is contin- 

 uing the popular " Ceskomoravska Kronika." 

 The young scholar, Konstantin Jirecek, has 

 published a " Dejiny naroda Bulharskeho " 

 ("History of the Bulgarians"), founded upon 

 original researches. It is the first attempt of 

 the kind, and is all the more important just 

 now that the eyes of politicians are fixed on 

 the Balkan Peninsula. I hear that a French 

 translation is in preparation. 



In philosophy, besides minor publications, 

 we have Dr. J. Durdik's " Vseobecna Aes^he- 

 tika " (" Universal ^Esthetics "), which has at 

 last appeared. The author has striven to keep 

 abreast of the newest results, and has based 

 his theories on those of Herbart, and the sub- 

 sequent labors of Zimmermann, Helmholtz, and 

 Hanslick. 



In philology I may mention that a large 

 English-Bohemian and Bohemian-English dic- 

 tionary, compiled by Prof. Mourck, is printing. 



DENMAKK. Since last Christmas the litera- 

 ture of Denmark has lost one of its chief orna- 

 ments, the renowned Hans Christian Andersen, 

 who died in the month of August, seventy 

 years old. 



In the field of poetry, our literature of the 

 past year has given us but little. 



In novels, the year has been more fertile, 

 even if it cannot boast of any work of great 

 and lasting significance. This branch of lit- 

 erature seems to be that in which our authors, 

 especially the younger, feel most inclined to 

 exercise their powers a circumstance owing, 

 no doubt, partly to the large number of for- 

 eign novels which have in later years been 

 translated into Danish. 



To turn to history, Bishop Monrad has add- 

 ed to Church history by describing " The First 

 Combat about the Origin of the Apostolic 

 Creed." From Prof. E. Holm we have a work, 

 in two volumes, on " The External History of 

 Denmark and Norway during the French Rev- 



olution and the Wars of Napoleon (1791-1807)," 

 giving valuable information about the situation 

 of the united kingdoms in those eventful times. 

 Another of the Professors of History in our 

 Danish University, F. Schiern, has just pub- 

 lished the first of two volumes of "Later 

 Historical Studies," containing, among other 

 things, an essay on the Scottish Earl of Both- 

 well. T. Lund has given us a collection of four 

 historical sketches. 



In criticism, Kr. Arentzen has continued his 

 valuable work, "Baggesen and Oehlenschla- 

 ger," so abundant in literary materials, and 

 given us the fifth volume. But of greatest and 

 most lasting importance is volume four of G. 

 Brandes's " Main Currents of the Literature of 

 the Nineteenth Century," lately published, 

 with the separate title of " Naturalism in Eng- 

 land: Byron and his Group." Having in the 

 earlier volumes gone through the literature of 

 France and Germany at the opening of this 

 century, the author in this volume, besides 

 Byron, treats the whole contemporary poetical 

 literature of England the Lake-School, Scott, 

 Keats, Moore, Landor, and Shelley. 



FRANCE. It is impossible to run through 

 the catalogue of French books published during 

 the last twelve months without a feeling of 

 deep melancholy. The press is as active as 

 ever, but the works registered in the Bulletin 

 de la, Librairie, or criticised in the reviews 

 and newspapers, are sadly deficient in character 

 and originality. 



If metaphysical literature has sunk to a state 

 of decay which we never had to notice before, 

 theology in all its branches, exegetical and 

 apologetical, is lower still. M. Louis Veuillot's 

 splendidly illustrated " Life of Jesus " is a work 

 absolutely destitute of criticism, and thorough- 

 ly leavened with the spirit of bitterness so 

 characteristic of the author. The Renaissance 

 and Protestantism are denounced as equally 

 responsible for the corruption which is eating 

 up society, and Calvin is represented as walk- 

 ing hand in hand with Rabelais in an attack 

 upon Christianity. If M. Michelet's theologi- 

 cal v,iews are rather wild, the journalist of the 

 Univers is equally startling in his theories of 

 Church history, and the famous axiom about 

 extremes meeting finds here a most amusing 

 realization. 



The publication of state papers and political 

 documents naturally reminds me of the efforts 

 made by M. Armand Baschet to open up the 

 arcana of the French Foreign Office. Thanks 

 to M. Baschet, the restrictions imposed by 

 over-cautious ministers have been partly re- 

 moved, and his interesting octavo on the papers 

 of the celebrated "Due et Pair" gives us an 

 idea of the treasures now at the disposal of 

 competent editors. Let us also name the same 

 gentleman's monograph on the origin, forma- 

 tion, and development of the " Archives des 

 Affaires Etrangeres : " it is full of most valua- 

 ble information, and it shows that, whatever 

 may have been the faults of the ancien regime, 





