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LITEKATUKE, ENGLISH. 



found in the ranks of the contestants. Per- 

 haps they do only their duty to their time and 

 country; all the same, the eye that surveys 

 the sum of literary ventures for a year is com- 

 pelled to pass over the most as necessarily 

 ephemeral and phenomenal. And yet it will 

 be conceded that there is no lack of ability, 

 information, and earnestness in the writers, 

 and that their writings are excellently adapted 

 to their ends. 



HISTORY. Although no historical work of 

 the first class has made its appearance, several 

 have been published of decided value. Among 

 these may be mentioned Mr. W. E. H. Lecky's 

 "History of England in the Eighteenth Cen- 

 tury." It is rather an historical essay or series 

 of essays than a proper history ; but the thor- 

 ough research and sagacious judgment and 

 clear exposition, by which the author is honor- 

 ably conspicuous, give more than ordinary in- 

 terest to his representation of what is generally 

 esteemed the least picturesque and least spir- 

 itual era of English history. "Democracy in 

 Europe," by Sir T. Erskine May, while labor- 

 ing under the disadvantage of a certain inde- 

 terminateness in the conception of the subject, 

 and a corresponding defect in its treatment, is 

 on the whole not unworthy the author of the 

 continuation of Hallam's " Constitutional His- 

 tory of England." A third volume of the 

 " Constitutional History of England," by Wil- 

 liam Stubbs, carries forward, with undimin- 

 ished evidence of large learning and excellent 

 judgment, a work that is worthy to stand in as 

 intimate relations to Hallam's as does Sir T. 

 E. May's continuation. Mr. J. R. Green's 

 "History of the English People," of which 

 two volumes have appeared, is an expansion 

 of his popular "Short History," having the 

 merits and some of the defects of that, but 

 bids fair to prove, when completed, deserving 

 of the widespread approval his previous work 

 received. Professor Masson's "Life of Mil- 

 ton," so entitled, of which two additional 

 volumes have appeared, is, in fact, a history of 

 England in the seventeenth century, with the 

 figure of Milton in the foreground. The plan 

 of the work is faulty, but there can not be any 

 question of the ability with which it is exe- 

 cuted, or of its value as a contribution to our 

 knowledge of an important epoch of English 

 history. Mr. J. Gairdner's " History of the Life 

 and Times of Richard III." is a monograph show- 

 ing sound judgment on a subject upon which 

 writers have so often given way to extreme 

 views. "History of the Church of England, 

 from the Abolition of the Roman Jurisdiction," 

 as the title suggests, is the work of a conser- 

 vative churchman, and is conscientiously and 

 ably done. " Carthage and the Carthaginians," 

 by R. Bosworth Smith, deals with an obscure 

 subject on which the details of history are scant, 

 but makes the most of them, and is an addition 

 to our stock of serviceable works on the his- 

 tory of the ancient world. " Cyprus," by Gen- 

 eral di Cesnola, has the advantage of a revived 



antiquarian and a new political interest, and 

 is intrinsically very interesting. Archbishop 

 Trench's " Medieval Church History " was 

 written for the pleasure and profit of some 

 young lady pupils. It might have been made 

 a more valuable work for the general public if 

 the materials had been recast ; but the proverb 

 which forbids looking a gift-horse in the mouth 

 has its application in its utmost force to the 

 publication of a book by Dr. Trench. We are 

 thankful for comparatively small favors from 

 him. A new edition of Finlay's " History of 

 Greece, from its Conquest by the Romans to 

 the Present Time," recalls public attention to 

 a work that, while it records but too faithfully 

 the author's prejudices, fills most worthily a 

 place for which there is not even a claimant 

 besides. The " War Correspondence of the 

 Daily News " brings down the history of the 

 Eastern war to the fall of Kars, and is a narra- 

 tive that deserves the more permanent form in 

 w hich it is published. " China : History, Laws, 

 Manners, and Customs of the People," by John 

 Henry Gray, is a timely book. Since Dr. S. 

 Wells Williams published his admirable work, 

 "The Middle Kingdom," not only has a fuller 

 knowledge of China become possible, but the 

 empire has passed through changes needing to 

 be authentically recorded. Mr. Gray's work 

 is as good for the present time as that of Dr. 

 Williams was thirty years ago. 



In literary history two or three works claim 

 notice. The "History of Roman Literature," 

 by Charles T. Cruttwell, is happily adapted to 

 produce, as it is evidently the fruit of, accurate 

 knowledge and sympathetic appreciation of the 

 subject. As much may be said of " The Trou- 

 badours: History of Provengal Life and Lit- 

 erature," with the further advantage of being 

 on a less familiar line of research. " History 

 of English Humor," by the Rev. A. G. L'Es- 

 trange, though on a subject which the author 

 had pretty much to himself, and of which the 

 materials are abundant, is a work the exist- 

 ence of which need not deter a more compe- 

 tent writer from doing it over again. 



BIOGRAPHY. Every man, it has been said, 

 lives at the center of a world of his own, a 

 world to which his life is of special conse- 

 quence ; and, when his world is sufficiently 

 extensive, his life is likely to be written. Bi- 

 ography is thus a large department of book- 

 making. But comparatively few are the 

 " Lives " that in a literary point of view can 

 be said to have a lasting value. For the light 

 which they cast on the politics of England in 

 the reigns of George IV. and William IV., and 

 the earlier years of Victoria's, the " Memoirs 

 of the Second Viscount Melbourne," by W. M. 

 Torrens, M. D., are valuable. They embody 

 materials of history. It is to be regretted that 

 the skill of the editor has fallen below his op- 

 portunity. A third volume of Mr. Martin's 

 " Life of the Prince Consort," in which the pe- 

 riod of the Crimean war is largely illustrated, 

 had a less favorable reception than its prede- 



