LITERATURE, BRITISH, IN 1881. 



497 



lasquez, Gainsborough, Constable, and Sir D. 

 Wilkie. The biographies are by different hands, 

 arid of diverse merit ; but, as a whole, the series 

 seems likely to be of permanent interest and 

 value. Professor S. Oolvin translates and ed- 

 its Drs. Woltmann and Woermann's " History 

 of Painting " (0. Kegan Paul & Co.). The 

 first volume gives a comprehensive account of 

 the early efforts of Christian painters and their 

 forerunners in Egypt, Asia, Greece, and Rome. 

 The second volume is to deal with their suc- 

 cessors in the Renaissance. Messrs. Audsley 

 and Bowes furnish a charming book on a sub- 

 ject just now of much popular interest ; its 

 title is " Keramic Art of Japan " (Sotheran & 

 Co.). It is a very handsome volume, as well 

 as a work of solid value. " Architecture, 

 Gothic and Renaissance," by T. R. Smith 

 (Sampson, Low & Co.), is one of a series of 

 popular treatises on this subject. It is clear, 

 simple, and excellently well done. The Rev. 

 R. St. John Tyrwhitt's "Greek and Gothic 

 Progress and Decay in the three Arts of 

 Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting" (W. 

 Smith), is a book of real merit, and may be 

 consulted by students and general readers to 

 advantage. The writer's ability, taste, and 

 learning are abundantly evident throughout 

 the volume. In regard to music, there is " A 

 Dictionary of Music and Musicians," by emi- 

 nent writers, English and foreign, edited by 

 George Grove, D. 0. L., vols. i and ii (Mac- 

 millan & Co.), to be completed in three vol- 

 umes. This is rightly considered to be a work 

 of great value and excellence. It is well di- 

 gested, candid, and thorough in its treatment 

 of the subject-matter in hand ; and it combines 

 instruction and amusement in a capital man- 

 ner. Numerous art text-books and art hand- 

 books are published, and valuable illustrated 

 biographies of the great artists and the great 

 musicians are the product of the year. " The 

 Magazine of Art" (Cassell & Co.) and "The 

 Art Journal " (Virtue & Co.) continue to ap- 

 pear at regular intervals. They are rightly 

 regarded as exercising a wide-spread and ben- 

 eficial influence in behalf of art. H. S. Ed- 

 wards's " The Lyrical Drama, Essays on Sub- 

 jects, Composers, and Executants of Modern 

 Opera " (Allen & Co.), is a very readable work, 

 and contains much useful and interesting in- 

 formation. "The Great Musicians" (Samp- 

 son, Low & Co.) is the title of a collection of 

 biographies, from the German of Wagner, We- 

 ber, Schubert, Rossini and his school. They 

 are carefully prepared, and well calculated to 

 meet the popular demand for condensed rather 

 than expanded lives of distinguished men and 

 women. " Dictionary of Musical Terms," by 

 Messrs. Stainer and Barrett (Novello & Co.), in 

 its present abridged form, is very useful for 

 students and others interested in music. 



The sciences of Law and Medicine^ display 



about the usual activity this year. Most of 



the publications in the former relate rather to 



local and occasional matters, or to points in 



VOL. xxi. 32 A 



which her Majesty's subjects are specially con- 

 cerned. No work of great moment has ap- 

 peared devoted to topics of larger or extra- 

 national interests. Medicine, as in past years, 

 has its earnest and able body of students and 

 workers in behalf of suffering humanity. It is 

 needless to attempt to enumerate here works in 

 this department. A few are named on a previ- 

 ous page, under the general head of science. 



In Fiction the product of the year 1881 is 

 very large. Generally it is of a good, respect- 

 able quality, some of it very superior, though, 

 at the same time, it must be admitted that a 

 great deal of poor, even worthless matter, finds 

 its way into print. The amount of production 

 keeps pace with the demand, and the appetite 

 of readers for this kind of gratification seems to 

 increase from year to year. The older writers 

 share, to a greater or less extent, in this fond- 

 ness of the public for fictitious and exciting lit- 

 erature. New editions of Scott, Miss Austen, 

 Bulwer, Marryat, Thackeray, Dickens, etc., 

 are called for ; but it hardly admits of doubt 

 that the crowd of new aspirants for honors 

 and success in this field will be disappointed in 

 any expectation of taking the place held by 

 authors belonging to former generations. The 

 conservative character of British ways of doing 

 things manifests itself in the clinging to the 

 fashion of publishing novels in three volumes, 

 at corresponding cost ; but there is evidence 

 to show that the demand for cheap issues is 

 making itself heard and felt. Probably it will 

 not be long before the practice, now so com- 

 mon in America, of cheap republication of all 

 kinds of books will come into vogue in Eng- 

 land. The re-issue of Lady Brassey's " Voyage 

 in the Sunbeam " (Longmans), at the marvel- 

 ously low price of sixpence, is significant in 

 this connection ; also, " The Ingoldsby Le- 

 gends" at the same price, illustrated (Bentley 

 & Son). " The Autobiography of Mark Ruth- 

 erford, Dissenting Minister " (Trubner & Co.), 

 is powerfully written, but rather sad and 

 gloomy in its tone. It undertakes to discuss 

 several of the deep and perplexing questions 

 of human life and destiny, and delineates the 

 struggles of a soul attacked by unbelief and 

 despair, or, as the writer phrases it, "per- 

 plexed by many problems I have never solved, 

 disturbed by many difficulties I have never 

 surmounted, and blotted by ignoble concep- 

 tions which are a constant regret." Anthony 

 Trollope, in his " Dr. Wortle's School " (Chap- 

 man & Hall), and " Ayala's Angel " (same 

 publishers), maintains his reputation for story- 

 telling. The books named are amusing, ingen- 

 ious, moderately exciting, and not deficient 

 in skill and ability. "The New Virginians " 

 (Blackwood) is of trifling merit as a novel ; its 

 main purpose seems to be to give vent to the 

 writer's dislike of the North compared with 

 the South of our country. Miss E. F. Poyn- 

 ter's " Among the Hills " (Hurst & Blackett) 

 is a fair specimen of the every-day novel : it is 

 worth reading, if one has nothing better to do, 



