LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1881. 



509 



vitch Dantchenko, hitherto known as a traveler 

 and novelist, has also added his name to the list 

 of poets. 



The drama has been equally sterile. Ostrov- 

 sky has completed another comedy, his forty- 

 third, "Obedient Wives." Palm's new comedy, 

 " The Electors," is a lively piece. A play by 

 Kryloff, entitled "The Municipality Dissolved," 

 is full of scenes from provincial town life and 

 very humorous. 



In the domains of learning and research Rus- 

 sian writers have devotad themselves lately 

 more particularly to the past, present, and 

 probable future condition of their own country. 

 Count Ouvaroff has published " Archaeology of 

 Russia : the Stone Age." Contributions to the 

 ancient history of Russia have been made by 

 Professor Drozdovsky in his researches on the 

 chief monument of ancient Russian legislation, 

 the so-called Russkaya Pravda ; by Bogolyeg, 

 " History of the Principality of Tchernigoff " ; 

 and Professor Klyoutohevsky in his work on 

 ' The Council of Boyars in Ancient Russia," 

 which not only gives a history of that legisla- 

 tive assembly, but also of the society of the 

 period. " The Power of the State in Rus- 

 sia in the Eighteenth Century," by Professor 

 Dityatyn, and a very good work by B. Semeff- 

 sky, "The Peasants during the Reign of Cathe- 

 rine II," are the only two books treating of 

 the eighteenth century. Senator Rovinsky's 

 "Russian Popular Woodcuts" is valuable to 

 the student of the history of manners and cus- 

 toms; it describes nearly five thousand wood- 

 cuts, and includes about four hundred repro- 

 ductions. Among other historical works may 

 be noted Preobrazhensky's " Moral Condition 

 of Russian Society according to Maximus Gra> 

 cus and other Contemporary Authorities," 

 Prokhoroff's " Materials for the History of 

 Russian Costume," and Soumtzoff's " Marriage 

 Rites of Russia." An interesting addition to 

 the history of the nineteenth century has been 

 furnished by Zablotsky-Desyattoffsky in a bi- 

 ography, " Count Kissyelyeff and his Times." 

 The author has been able to make some remark- 

 able disclosures. No insignificant number of 

 memoirs has been published, among others 

 those of Boutyenyeff, a diplomatist of the time 

 of Catherine II and Alexander I, of Madame 

 Karatygin, and the letters of Count Rostop- 

 stchine, the Metropolitan Filaret, etc. Pro- 

 fessor Ivanyoukoff's latest work is entitled 

 "The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia." Pro- 

 fessor Kotlyarevsky has published a "Biblio- 

 graphical Essay on Early Russian Literature," 

 Professor Alexander Vyessyelovsky "Research- 

 es upon Russian Popular Religious Songs," and 

 Vyessin a " History of Journalism in Russia." 

 Parts of Professor Korsch's " General His- 

 tory of Literature," and the second volume of 

 Porfiryeff 's " History of Russian Literature," 

 have appeared. In Professor VinogradofF s 

 " Origin of Feudalism under the Lombards," 

 the principal conclusion at which the author 

 arrives is, that in Italy, in the ninth and tenth 



centuries, the connection between the depend- 

 ence of the vassal and the beneficium had not 

 yet become necessary. On ecclesiastical his- 

 tory the most important book is the second 

 volume of Professor Goloubinsky's "History 

 of the Russian Church." Znamyensky's book 

 on " The Ecclesiastical Schools of Russia before 

 their Reform in 1802" is also an interesting 

 addition to church history. Toward univer- 

 sal church history Lybydyff's book on tho 

 '(Ecumenical Councils of the Fourth and Fifth 

 Centuries " is a valuable contribution, as is 

 also Professor Ivantzoff-Platonoff's " Religious 

 Movements in the Eastern Church in the Fourth 

 and Fifth Centuries." " Russian Religious 

 Sects," by Youzoff, is a work of great interest. 



Philosophy has not been fruitful, and with 

 the exception of Professor Vladislavlyeff 's 

 " Psychology " and " Lectures on the Philoso- 

 phy of Religion," by Professor Koudryatsyeff, 

 there has been nothing original. 



Some interesting works of travel and geog- 

 raphy have appeared, notably, a work by Pro- 

 fessor Minayeff on "Ancient India." This 

 is a detailed review of the notes of a Rus- 

 sian traveler in India in the fifteenth century, 

 one Nikitin, which have been translated into 

 English by Count Vyelgoursky. Potanin's 

 " Sketches of Northwestern Mongolia," a de- 

 scription of a trip taken in 1876-'7T, and 

 Kal'kovsky's "Round the World," are vivid 

 descriptions of the countries they deal with. 

 The same may be said of Colonel Kaoul'bar's 

 "Notes on Montenegro," and Ogorodnikoff's 

 " In the Land of Freedom," the result of the 

 author's travels in North America. Ragozin 

 has published the second and third volumes 

 of his " Geographical and Ethnographical De- 

 scription of the Volga." 



In political economy, Professor Yanzhul's 

 treatise on " The Salt Duties and the Result 

 of their Abolition in England and Russia," 

 may be mentioned. Professor Yanson's " Sta- 

 tistical Investigations of the Imposts paid by 

 the Peasants," Odartchenko on "The Russian 

 Village Community in Connection with the 

 National Character," and a work by IsayefF 

 and Stcherbin on Russian artyels (a sort of 

 co-operative labor mutual liability association), 

 are important economical works. 



SPAIN. The Madrid "Bibli6filos," after re- 

 printing Padilla's " Romancero," have pub- 

 lished for the first time the " Relacion de la 

 Jornada de Pedro de Ursua a Omagua y al Do- 

 rado," by an anonymous writer, a faithful pict- 

 ure of the atrocities committed in those parts 

 by Pedro de Aguirre, followed by the " Canci- 

 onero General de Hernando del Castillo," first 

 printed at Valencia in 1611. 



Of the " Documentos In6ditos para la His- 

 toria de Espafla " two more volumes, " Gner- 

 ras del Peru," by Pedro Cieza de Leon, and a 

 history, hitherto inedited, of the reign of Phil- 

 ip IV, have appeared. 



Aribau and Ribadeneyra's " Bibliotheca de 

 Autores Clasicos Espanoles " terminated with 



