LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1879. 



end of its first tome. M. de Valroger publishes 

 1 rc'si-archi's on the origin and character 

 of (Yltir civilization ("Los Celtes et la Gaulo 

 (Yltiqiu-"). M. Gebhardt, in "Lea Origines 

 de la Renaissance en Italic," treats of tho vari- 

 ous causes which led to the outburst of tho 

 intellectual revolution to which the name of 

 Ki-n.-iissanco has been given. The publication 

 of tho famous recueil of satirical songs col- 

 : l>y Gaignieres and Clairambault will do 

 much toward making us acquainted with the se- 

 cret history of the eighteenth century. M. de 

 Lomenie's work on the Mirabeaus, the memoirs 

 of Mme. de R6musat, Mrae. de Bloqueville's 

 biography of Marshal Davout, and the life of 

 General Dessaix, are useful contributions to 

 the history of the Revolution and of the Em- 



Eire. M. Dareste has completed his popular 

 istory of France by two volumes on the Res- 

 toration. Henri Martin's large work is con- 

 tinued down to tho Treaty of Oampo Formio. 



The furor which exists at present for pro- 

 ductions of the last century, such as the poems 

 of Dorat and of Bernis, the tales of Crebillon 

 the younger, and even the very free novelettes 

 of La Morliere, lies at the door of Arsene Hous- 

 saye and MM. de Goncourt, who have made 

 the eighteenth century their favorite theme 

 for historical and biographical sketches. The 

 authors of " Henriette Marechal " and " Ger- 

 minie Lacerteux" especially enjoy the talent 

 of making the most of inedits documents, and 

 their history of the Duchesse de Chateanroux 

 and her sisters is the natural accompaniment 

 of the previous volumes on Mme. Dubarry aud 

 Mme. de Pompadour. Coming to our own 

 times, we find a memoir of the caricaturist 

 Gavarni, and one of Theophile Gautier, both 

 interesting, but witli such an abundance of de- 

 tails never meant for publication that, if tho 

 fashion sets in for biographizing great men 

 after that style, the lives of our future great 

 men will be as unreadable as the novels of 

 MM. Zola ("Nana"), Huysmans ("Les Soeura 

 Vatard,"), or Ernest Daudet ("Lea Roia en 

 Exil "). M. Pona is still more to be blamed 

 for his exposure of the worst side of his hero's 

 character in " Sainte-Beuve et sea Inconnuea. " 

 Alphonse Karr's log-book (" Le Livre de Bord ") 

 is extremely amusing, and full of noteworthy 

 particulars about the history of French litera- 

 ture during the last fifty years. Tho same 

 praise can be bestowed upon the reminiscences 

 of M. Werdet. 



Victor Hugo's "Pitie" Supreme" ia the only 

 poetical composition of importance. 



Besides the outrageous productions of the 

 realistic novelists mentioned above, Belot of 

 the same school has produced the " Femme de 

 Glace," in which ho outdoes his master. The 

 novelists of the more refined class, such as Hen- 

 ry Greville, Mme. de Chandeneux, and Mme. 

 Th. Bentzon, seem to lack the vigor and origi- 

 nality of these dissectors of morbid morality. 



GERMANY. Although the materialistic teach- 

 ings of Haeckel and his school, or the less pos- 



itive materialistic skepticism of Dubois-Rey- 

 mond, have taken possession of the minds of 

 a largo number of thinkers, yet the philosophy 

 which occupies the strongest position to-day 

 in Germany is a revival of the Kantian doc- 

 trines. A school of thinkers have assumed the 

 designation of Neo-Kantian, and occupy them- 

 selves with logic and the problems of the mind. 

 An important treatise on inductive logic has 

 been written by W. Wundt. Kehrbach ia at 

 work upon a commentary on Kant's " Critique 

 of Pure Reason." The history of philosophy 

 is being treated by W. Windelband. 



Valuable materials are placed at the disposal 

 of the new school of history by the issue, un- 

 dertaken at the expense of the German Empe- 

 ror, of an accurate edition of the correspon- 

 dence of Frederick the Great, as well as by the 

 memoirs of Prince Metternioh, which his son 

 promises. The liberal opening of the Record 

 Offices at Berlin and Vienna, so long jealously 

 closed, will make possible in the future an im- 

 partial history of the ancient rivals. To im- 

 partiality H. von Treitschke's " German His- 

 tory in the Nineteenth Century" makes no 

 pretense. A band of historians, at the head 

 of which stands W. Oncken, has undertaken 

 a comprehensive " Universalgeschichte in Ein- 

 zeldarstellungen," which is designed to fill 

 forty volumes. The first installments, "Egyp- 

 tian History," by Johannes Dummichen, and 

 the " Ancient Persian History to the Extinc- 

 tion of the Kingdom of the Sassanid," by 

 Ferdinand Justi, are all that could be wished. 

 Carl Ilillebrand is writing a history of France 

 from Louis Philippe to Napoleon III. Follow- 

 ing upon the magnificent illustrated work on 

 "Egypt" by George Ebers, has appeared a 

 similar book on " Hellas and Rome," by Falke, 

 the art-historian. 



Gottfried Semper's great work on " Style 

 in the Fine Arts " is being reissued. Hermann 

 Hettner has treated of art and literature in 

 Italy in his "Italian Studies." 



Oscar Lenz and Hubbe-Schleiden have both 

 produced "Studies of West Africa," the one 

 from Senegal, the other from Ethiopia. The 

 " Wanderbuch " of Field-Marshal Moltke would 

 attract attention on account of its authorship, 

 even were its contents less valuable. 



The autobiographical sketches with which 

 Franz Dingelstedt, under the title of "Mun- 

 chener Bilderbogen," has supplemented bis 

 " Bilderbuch " of last year, closely resemble a 

 novel. The daughter of Dingelstedt's former 

 associate, the powerful minister of the literary 

 King Maximilian, has published from her re- 

 tirement in America a revelation of her rela- 

 tions to the agitator Lassalle, which has had a 

 remarkable run. The " Bismarck Letters " are 

 letters of the Prince to his wife, his friends, 

 and his sister and confidante Malwina. The 

 political life and activity of Bismarck is revealed 

 in L. Hahn's collection of his speeches, his dis- 

 patches, and diplomatic acts arranged in chrono- 

 logical order, without note or comment. *' Die 



