466 



LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1876. 



central theme of the hook is the development 

 of two young men, about at the close of their 

 teens. Such a book as this would be a more 

 valuable representative of Danish novel- writing 

 to English readers than Scharling's compara- 

 tively insignificant " Nicolai's Marriage." We, 

 besides, this year have had collections of 

 smaller stories by Carit Etlar, Erik Bogh, 

 Bergsoe, Tolderlund, Budde, Thyregod, and 

 Schandorph. 



In history I may mention " Six Lectures on 

 the Antiquity of the North," by our veteran 

 historian, Fr. Barford ; " The external Political 

 History of Denmark during the Time from the 

 Peace of Lubeck till the Peace of Prague (1629 

 -1635)," forming the first volume of a larger 

 work, by Fridericia; a book by A. Thorsoe, 

 on the renowned Swedish historian, " Erik 

 Gustaf Geijer's Lectures on ' The History of 

 Man,' with especial Regard to their Place in 

 the Course of Historical Development." 



In philosophy, Hoffding, who has before now 

 contributed to that branch of study, has this 

 year published an able work, " Human Ethics," 

 in which he maintains a natural development 

 of ethical ideas, these being law -bound links 

 in the whole existing world of phenomena. 

 The book is written in clear and plain language, 

 free from all technical terms. The author in 

 his views has been influenced by the modern 

 English philosophers, on whom, a couple of 

 years ago, he published a book. 



Among other works of different kinds may 

 be noted the completion of the edition of 

 Hoyen's writings ; a new volnme of Arentzen's 

 " Baggesen and (Ehlenschlasger ; " the conclu- 

 sion of the seventh volume of the history of 

 "The Danish Stage," by Th. Overskou, after 

 the author's death, in 1873, edited by E. Col- 

 lin ; a philosophical work by T. Paulsen ; 

 " The Old and New Society," by Fr. Krebs. 



FRANCE. In one of my letters recently, I 

 mentioned the saying of an old academician 

 who, when he was visited by a candidate for 

 the Academy, whose books he had never read, 

 remarked in a haughty tone: " Depuis tingt 

 ans, monsieur, je ne lis plus ; je relis" France 

 which is not at all academic, and laughs at 

 the Academy, except when two men of ability, 

 such as M. Boissier and M. Legouv6, make it 

 smile pleasantly France is in some degree fol- 

 lowing the method of the old pedant. She re- 

 reads more than she reads, and the literature 

 put before the public is always, if not that which 

 it deserves, at least that which it asks for and 

 pays for ; the caterers for the libraries reprint 

 more old books than they publish new ones. 



People were much astonished and almost 

 frightened when, fifteen or twenty years ago, 

 the Hachettes began the publication in octavo 

 of " Les Grands Ecrivains de la France." The 

 friends of these honorable and learned publish- 

 ers asked, not without some show of reason, 

 where the public was to be found who would 

 buy these handsome volumes, the texts of 

 which were edited so carefully and printed 



with such perfection. The fact is, that at that 

 very time the chief bookseller in Marseilles 

 said to me in confidence, " Monsieur, je tends a 

 peine un Molidre par an, d Vepoque des etren- 

 nes." It would seem, therefore, that our tastes 

 have happily changed for the better since then, 

 for the first volumes of the Hachette collection 

 are not to be had. The Moliere is easily to 

 be got, for the third volume of it appeared in 

 1876, but if you want the Malherbe, or the 

 Corneille, or Madame de S6vigne, you must 

 wait for the death of some one of the biblio- 

 philes who possess them. 



The prodigious success of an enterprise 

 which at the outset seemed Quixotic has not 

 failed to excite competition. Some men of taste, 

 first and foremost of whom should be men- 

 tioned M. Jouaust, a scholar of most refined 

 taste, have set themselves to reprint the classics 

 and the semi-classics, the great masters and the 

 little masters of the national literature. In 

 1876, M. Jouaust has launched the first of the 

 intended eight volumes of his Moliere in oc- 

 tavo, with most lovely designs from Leloir, 

 engraved by Flaineng. He has produced, at 

 the same time, the first three volumes of a 

 beautiful Rabelais, the second and third of 

 the "Colloquies" of Erasmus, with the vi- 

 gnettes of Hans Holbein, the " Contes " of Per- 

 rault, illustrated by Lalauze, without counting 

 interesting curiosities, such as the reproduction 

 of three of Moliere's comedies, "Sicilien," 

 "Tartuffe," and " M. de Pourceaugnac," after 

 the original editions, and a little classical li- 

 brary, which already includes all Boileau, the 

 dramas 'of Regnard, the "Satire MSnippee," 

 the first volume of Paul Louis Courier, Ham- 

 ilton's " Memoirs of Grammont," and the 

 "Grandeur et Decadence des Remains," the 

 masterpiece of Montesquieu. 



French publishers do not content themselves 

 with reprinting old books ; they reengrave old 

 engravings of the sixteenth,- seventeenth, and 

 eighteenth centuries. M. A. Levy, a man pos- 

 sessed of knowledge and taste, does scarcely 

 anything else. After having recommenced 

 the work of Du Cerceau on the ." Chief Build- 

 ings of France," the etchings of Rembrandt, 

 and many other collections which had become 

 very rare, he has just reproduced in colors the 

 very interesting gallery of costumes of the 

 Revolution which belongs to M. Victorien 

 Sardou. All is illustration in this volume ex- 

 cept a pretty preface by M. Jules Claretie, the 

 youngest and most fertile of our polygraphs. 

 Three quarto pages comprise the entire letter- 

 press, after which it is the burin that speaks. 



The taste for books well made I mean care- 

 fully corrected, printed in handsome types, 

 and on papier de Hollande has become so 

 keen among the bourgeoisie that they pay no 

 heed to price. A simple octavo issuing from 

 the presses of Jouaust or Clay is sold for thirty 

 francs, or even for fifty, without the public 

 finding anything to complain of in it. 



But it is time to speak of original works 



