LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1875. 



451 



without interest monographs written by Sat. 

 Ciuffa, upon the grammarian Marco Mastro- 

 fini; by Antonio Zanolini, upon Gioachino 

 Rossini ; by Ernesto Marsi, upon Camillo Ca- 

 sarini. Speaking of biography, I must not for- 

 get to name the "Ricordi," an autobiography 

 of the celebrated physician Maurizio Bufalini, 

 published by Le Monnier at Florence, under 

 the care of Deputy F. Mariotti. I am told 

 that the venerable Gino Capponi is also occu- 

 pying himself in writing the recollections of 

 his long and glorious existence, while enjoying 

 the legitimate success of his great work, " Sto- 

 ria della Repubblica di Firenze," written in 

 the style of a master, and worthy henceforth 

 to take its place beside the classic histories of 

 Florence. Perugia will also have her own 

 eminent historian, as the first volume of " La 

 Storia di Perugia," by Luigi Bonazzi, which 

 has just appeared, amply proves. The learned 

 history of Casteltermini in Sicily, by Gaetano 

 di Giovanni, continues to be published. Fa- 

 ther Raph. Garrucci continues his monumental 

 "Storia dell' Arte Cristiana nei Primi Otto 

 Secoli della Chiesa." I shall content myself 

 with announcing two recent works which treat 

 history from a high point of view, and which 

 prove that in Italy there are noble thinkers as 

 well as skillful writers. Tullo Massarani, a 

 man of a high order of intellect and an admi- 

 rable type of a Lombard citizen, has published 

 at Florence, through the publisher Le Mon- 

 nier, under the title "Studii di Politica e di 

 Storia," a work that will convey an idea of 

 what have been the thoughts and opinions of 

 the best and noblest Italian patriots of the 

 present century. The mere fact that certain 

 scientific works are now published in Italy, 

 and can command a public, attests the great 

 progress of Italian culture during the last 

 twenty years. Perhaps there is in the pres- 

 ent day less regard to elegance of style and 

 form, which is to be regretted; but that is 

 compensated by the tone of thought, which 

 is now much higher, and the works in which 

 the public take an interest are of a higher 

 class. 



NOEWAT. In lelles-lettres the most remark- 

 able productions issued during the year are 

 two dramatic works by B. Bjornson, which 

 appeared at the same time, "En Fallit" and 

 "Redaktoren." The former of these pieces 

 has been received with great applause through- 

 out Scandinavia, and also met with success on 

 the stage of Vienna; but "Redaktoren," no 

 doubt with good reason, has been regarded as 

 a failure. 



To turn to historical literature, I may men- 

 tion that the two great collections of original 

 materials, called " Diplomatariuin Norvegi- 

 cum," and " Norske Rigsregistranter," are still 

 being continued. Of the former work, edited 

 by Prof. 0. R. Unger and H. J. Huitfeldt, nine 

 bulky volumes have appeared, containing doc- 

 uments illustrative of the history of Norway 

 up to the middle of the sixteenth century. Of 



the latter, which may be said to correspond 

 to the so-called "Domestic Series" of the 

 English State Papers, the sixth volume is print- 

 ing. M. Yngvar Nielsen has published " Grev 

 v. Platens Statholderskab (1827-'29)," an in- 

 teresting contribution to the political history 

 of the kingdom during the reign of Bernadotte 

 (Carl Johan XIV.). Another important ad- 

 dition to our knowledge of the same period is 

 to be found in the memoirs of the renowned 

 statesman P. 0. Hoist. 



The greatest theologian of Norway, Prof. 

 C. P. Caspari, has lately published the third 

 part of his ample collection, " Ungedruckte, 

 unbeachtete und wenig beachtete Quellen zur 

 Geschichte des Taufeymbols und der Glaubens- 

 regel," the result not only of extensive studies, 

 but also of the numerous visits he has paid to 

 almost every library of importance on the 

 Continent. A juridical work of high value is 

 " Norges offentlige Ret," by Prof. J. H. Asche- 

 houg: the first part, published in the year 

 1866, treated of the constitutional history of 

 Denmark and Norway; the second, which has 

 appeared this year, contains a commentary on 

 the present fundamental law of Norway. 



An important volume, with numerous illus- 

 trations, "Die Pflanzenwelt Norwegens, ein 

 Beitrag zur Natur- und Culturgeschichte 

 Norwegens," by Prof. F. C. Schubeler, has 

 been published at the expense of the Univer- 

 sity. Prof. Ossian Sars has likewise published, 

 in English, an essay entitled " On some Re- 

 markable Forms of Animal Life from the Great 

 Deeps of the Norwegian Coast." M. Robert 

 Collett has, under the auspices of the Scientific 

 Society at Christiania, brought out "Norges 

 Fiske " (" The Fishes of Norway "). Lastly, 

 I may mention a couple of pictorial works, the 

 highest value of which consists in their illus- 

 trations, viz., " Billeder fra Norges Natur og 

 Folkeliv " (" Pictures from the Nature and Na- 

 tional Life of Norway"), edited by Chr. Tons- 

 berg; and "Norsk Portrset Galleri" ("Nor- 

 wegian Portrait-Gallery "). 



RUSSIA. Among all the 3,141 books which 

 have been published in Russia during the last 

 year, to say nothing of the literary journals, 

 how little is there deserving of notice for its 

 literary merit! And yet we cannot quarrel 

 wholly with the year 1875 in literature, when 

 it has given us even the half of such a work 

 as the new novel of Count Leo Tolstoi, "Anna 

 Karenina." For once all parties are agreed, 

 and even the most hostilely disposed critics 

 have been compelled to bow in admiration to 

 the talent of a great writer. The key-note of 

 this remarkable book is probably struck in the 

 opening sentence, "All happy families are 

 alike ; every unhappy family is unhappy in its 

 own way ;" and it is one of these unhappy fami- 

 lies which the author at once presents to us. 



But this gain to Russian literature is per- 

 haps more than counterbalanced by the loss sus- 

 tained in the death of Count Alexis Tolstoi, not 

 only because he might have yet done much 



