LITERATURE AND LITERARY PROGRESS IN 1876. 



445 



from the county of Oavan, as a Conservative, 

 but during his parliamentary career was an 

 adherent <>t' Sir Robert Peel, by whom he was 

 appoint.-. I u Lord of the Treasury in 1841. In 

 1SH In- \vas appointed Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury, which position he held until the retire- 

 ment of Sir Robert Peel. He was Chief Sec- 

 retary for Ireland from 1852 to 1855, and 

 Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands 

 from 185.') to 1859. In 1861 he was appointed 

 Governor of New South Wales, and, returning 

 to England in 1867, was soon after nominated 

 Govern or-General of Canada, which position 

 he hold until 1872. He was the oldest son of 

 Sir William Young, Bart., and succeeded his 

 father in the baronetcy in 1848; was sworn of 

 the Privy Council in 1852, nominated a G. C. 

 M. G. in 1855, and a G. C. B. in 1868; and 

 was raised to the peerage, as Baron Lisgar, in 

 1870. 



LITERATURE AND LITERARY PROG- 

 RESS IN 1876. Another year of unalleviated 

 depression in all branches of commerce and 

 industry has had its natural effect upon the 

 book-trade. Production has been limited, and, 

 so far as activity in the supply of literature de- 

 pends upon the popular demand, it' must be 

 expected to be somewhat narrowly restricted 

 until readers have more ability to purchase. 

 And yet the sale of costly and valuable works, 

 cyclopaedias, and works of research, is so ex- 

 tensive as to be an encouraging indication of 

 the taste and liberality of large numbers. The 

 preoccupation of the public mind with the 

 celebration of the national Centenary, and 

 with the issues of a presidential election, must 

 have tended to withdraw attention from gen- 

 eral literature, while creating a special demand 

 for certain classes of books, a few of perma- 

 nent and many of transient interest. The 

 Centennial commemoration has not only di- 

 rected the eyes of all other nations to this 

 country, but it has stimulated a patriotic inter- 

 est in our own national history ; the great 

 events in our annals, and the principles that 

 they expressed, have been brought freshly to 

 the consciousness of the people. And while 

 fewer original works of high character have 

 appeared, there has been a marked and bene- 

 ficial activity in the production and circulation 

 of the writings of standard authors in popular 

 editions. 



HISTORY. Among the more important works 

 suggested by the Centennial commemoration is 

 a new " Popular History of the United States," 

 under the joint authorship of Mr. William ( 'ul- 

 len Bryant and Mr. Sydney Howard Gay (Scrib- 

 ner), of which one volume has been published. 

 Any literary undertaking for which Mr. Bryant 

 makes himself responsible is sure of a favora- 

 ble reception from the public. There is some 

 reason to doubt whether the work has not been 

 begun upon so large a scale as to make its bulk 

 inconsistent with the popular character sug- 

 gested by the title, but that it will be in other 

 respects worthy of the prestige with which it 



comes out may be looked for without misgiv- 

 ing. A new and thoroughly revN : d i:<litn>n <.f 

 Mr. Bancroft's " History of the United Stolon " 

 (Little, Brown & Co., Boston; has been oppor- 

 tunely issued. This "Centennial Edition, 11 bj 

 the omission of the foot-notes, i.s brought with- 

 in six portable volumes. The historical scholar 

 will of course desire to know by what authori- 

 ties the historian supports his statements, and 

 for this purpose the larger editions are indis- 

 pensable, but for popular reading this cabinet 

 edition leaves nothing to be desired. And, 

 though some of Mr. Bancroft's conclusions 

 have been challenged, great resp>ct is due to 

 the results of forty years 1 investigation, pur- 

 sued with unequaled advantages, embodied in 

 a narrative everywhere warm with the spirit 

 of patriotism. Another work called forth by 

 the national commemoration, or rather a col- 

 lection of essays, bears the title " The First 

 Century of the Republic." The papers of 

 which the volume is made up appeared in Har- 

 per's Magazine, and are by Profs. T. D.Wool- 

 sey, F. A. P. Barnard, Francis A. Walker, 

 T. Sterry Hunt, W. G. Sumner, and Edward 

 Atkinson, Hon. D. A. Wells, E. P. Whipple, 

 Esq., Charles L. Brace, Esq., and others, each 

 treating a topic for the effective handling of 

 which his qualifications are well known, the 

 whole forming a very interesting and instruc- 

 tive comparison between the state of our 

 country a hundred years ago and at the pres- 

 ent time. The several religious denominations 

 have taken the occasion to record their prog- 

 ress during the century past. "Methodism 

 and the Centennial of American Independence: 

 or, The Loyal and Liberal Services of the 

 Methodist Episcopal Church during the First 

 Century of the History of the United States," 

 by Rev. E. M. Wood, Ph. D. ; "A Hun- 

 dred Years of Methodism," by Bishop Matthew 

 Simpson (Nelson & Phillips) ; " The Baptists 

 and the National Centenary," edited by Lem- 

 uel Moss, D. D., President of the Indiana State 

 University, and contributed to by several lead- 

 ing scholars and writers in the denomination 

 (Baptist Publication Society) ; and " Centennial 

 Historical Discourses delivered in the City of 

 Philadelphia, June, 1876, by appointment of 

 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 

 Church," by the Rev. Drs. A. T. McGill, S. M. 

 Hopkins, S. J. Wilson, E. P. Humphrey, and 

 E. D. Morris (Presbyterian Board of Publica- 

 tion), are examples of a species of literature in 

 which are preserved features of the national 

 history that should not be neglected. Among 

 other works bearing upon the national history 

 may be mentioned the following: 



Centenary History. A Hundred Years of Ameri- 

 can Independence. (A. 8. Barnes <fe Co.) 



A Paragraph History of the American Revolution. 

 By Edward Abbott. Revolutionary Tim**: Sketch- 

 es of our Country, its People and their ways, On 

 Hundred Years Ago. By Edward Abbott. (Roberta, 

 Boston.) 



American Progress. A National Handbook. Ed- 

 ited by . 0. Haven, D. D., LL. D. 



