LITERATURE AND LITERARY PROGRESS OF 1861. 



423 



quarterly review, some of them, indeed, more 

 than one ; most of them ably edited, and some 

 of them having an extensive circulation ; " The 

 Methodist Quarterly," the " Boston Review," 

 the " Christian Review," the " Presbyterian 

 Quarterly," the " Mercersburg Review," and 

 the "Free Will Baptist Quarterly," are the 

 most widely known of these. 



The interests of science were promoted by the 

 " American Journal of Science," a bi-monthly 

 now approaching its fiftieth year, and which, 

 by the aid of its numerous collaborators, fully- 

 represented every department of general sci- 

 ence. The medical profession possessed an able 

 quarterly, " The American Journal of the Medi- 

 cal Sciences," devoted to their interest, besides 

 numerous monthly journals, and one semi- 

 monthly ; the mechanical, engineering, rail- 

 way, banking, insurance, and mercantile inter- 

 ests had each their periodical or periodicals, 

 all conducted by men of high reputation in 

 their several professions. The number of strict- 

 ly literary magazines, monthly or weekly, was 

 not so great in the United States as in England, 

 but the number of newspapers and their circu- 

 lation -was far greater, and their influence over 

 the people fully equal. In the case of the reli- 

 gious press, the contrast between the two coun- 

 tries is very strongly marked. The number of re- 

 ligious newspapers in England, aside from those 

 which are the organs of some of the great relig- 

 ious benevolent societies, is small ; they are all, 

 or nearly all, in part political, and their circu- 

 lation is of very moderate extent. The leading 

 religious papers here have a very large circu- 

 lation, and, except in the case of the present war, 

 \tlien they have mostly entered with zeal into 

 the discussion of the causes and consequences 

 of the war, they have usually abjured questions 

 of party politics. The " Independent," the 

 family of " Christian Advocates," the " New 

 York Observer," and, we believe, also several 

 others of the religious papers, each have a cir- 

 culation nearly or quite equal to the aggregate 

 of any two or three of the English religious 

 newspapers. 



The so-called literary papers of New York, 

 Boston, and Philadelphia, have also a greatly 

 larger weekly sale than that of papers of a cor- 

 responding class in Great Britain, and though 

 some of them have fallen off during the past 

 year, the pictorial war newspapers having 

 taken a considerable share of their circulation, 

 the aggregate is still counted by millions. 



II. Lv GREAT BRITAIN-. The year was one 

 of extraordinary activity in every department 

 of literature. In the department of religious 

 and theological works, the publication of the 

 " Essays and Reviews," in the autumn of the 

 preceding year, and the circumstances which 

 gave notoriety to that work, led to the publica- 

 tion, throughout the year, of numerous works 

 bearing directly or indirectly on the topics 

 treated in the " Essays." The range of these 

 topics was extended so far, that it admitted 

 very considerable diversity in the subjects of 



the replies, and while one class occupied them- 

 selves with the defence of the chronology and 

 authenticity of the historical books of tl>e Old 

 Testament, or with those of the Pentateuch, or 

 the Kings or Chronicles, in particular, another 

 class discussed the inspiration of the Scriptures, 

 another the chronology, another the character 

 and fulfilment of the prophecies ; while others 

 still gave their attention to the events of the 

 New Testament history, to the alleged mythical 

 or allegorical character of Christ, to his divin- 

 ity, and to the various theological questions 

 connected with these. A collection, said not 

 to be complete, of the various works called out 

 by this book, had over sixty titles. The mil- 

 lenarian views urged so persistently by Rev. 

 Dr. Gumming, and reiterated with more than 

 his previous eloquence early in the year in 

 his " Great Tribulation," and " Great Prepara- 

 tion," also elicited several replies, either in the 

 form of commentaries on Daniel and the Apoc- 

 alypse, or in direct controversy with the views 

 he had maintained. The two controversies to 

 which we have referred, enlisted many of the 

 ablest theological writers of Great Britain ; 

 among them were the Archbishops of Canter- 

 bury and Dublin, several bishops, especially 

 those of London, Ripon, Chester, Killaloe, &c. 

 Profs. Rawlinson, Ellicott, &c., and numerous 

 clergymen of the Established Church ; among 

 the members of the Scottish and dissenting 

 Churches, Rev. Donald McDonald, and such 

 laymen as Edward Miall and the venerable 

 Isaac Taylor. The essayists and reviewers and 

 their friends were also active in defending the 

 views they had put forth, and numerous ser- 

 mons, essays, and dissertations maintaining one 

 or other of their positions appeared. Aside 

 from these discussions, the number of works in 

 this department was not very great. The most 

 important were " The Lost Tribes and the 

 Saxons of the West, with new views of Budd- 

 hism, and readings of the Rock-records," by 

 George Moore, M. D., well known as a psycho- 

 logical writer ; " English Puritanism and its 

 Leaders, Cromwell, Milton, Baxter, Bunyan," 

 by Principal Tulloch ; " Lectures on the His- 

 tory of the Eastern Church," by Arthur Pen- 

 rhyn Stanley ; " The Providence of God Mani- 

 fested in Natural Law," by John Duucanson. 

 M. D. ; " Creation in Plan and Progress," by 

 Prof. Challis, of Cambridge; "The Sanskrit 

 Text, part III., The Vedas," by J. Muir ; "Life 

 of Rev. Dr. Doyle, Roman Catholic Bishop of 

 Kildare," by W. J. Fitzpatrick ; " Notes on 

 Hebrews," by Rev. E. H. Knowles ; " Life and 

 Letters of Rev. John Angell James," by Rev. 

 R. W. Dale ; " The Epistles to the "Seven 

 Churches in Asia," by R. C. Trench, D.D. ; 

 " The Acts and Writings of the Apostles," by 

 C. P. Clarke ; " The Missionary in Many Lands," 

 by Erwin House ; " The Platonic Dialogues for 

 English Readers," by W. Whewell, LL. D. 



In the department of politics, sociology, itc.. 

 the American war called out a very consider- 

 able number of pamphlets and some works of 



