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LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1881. 



a full index to the seventy volumes of which it 

 is composed. 



Poets lyrical and dramatic abound in Spain. 

 "Within the year were issued, among others, 

 'Poesias Festivas," by Blasco, besides another 

 volume of " Epigramas," and " Aires d'a Mifla 

 Terra," by M. Curros Enriquez. This is the 

 second edition, the first having been denounced 

 and suppressed and its author excommunicated. 

 The collected works of the late Duke of Rivas 

 have been reprinted, with an introductory no- 

 tice by Don Antonio Canovas del Castillo, the 

 late Premier. J. B. Enscfiat, Garcia Lavin, 

 and Marin y Carbonel at Saragossa, Trueba 

 and Verdaguer at Barcelona, Velarde at Seville, 

 and a host of other poets, show that the taste 

 for rhyming is not extinct. Campoamor's lit- 

 tle volume of poetry entitled " Los Buenos y 

 los Sabios," Echegaray's "Gran Galeoto," and 

 Zorrilla's " Recuerdos del Tiempo Viejo," must 

 be mentioned with praise. 



Fernandez y Gonzalez, Valera, Alarcon, Blas- 

 co, and Pereda have long amused the public 

 with their fictions. Two new novels by the first 

 named are entitled " La Sobrina del Cura " and 

 " La Leyenda do Madrid." " Medina Zahara," 

 an historical legend by Alcalde, is deserving of 

 notice, as well as his " Canto Epico de Lepan- 

 to," perhaps the sole attempt in epic poetry 

 made this year in Spain. u Nuevos Cantos," 

 by Narciso Campillo, "El Primer Loco," by 

 Dona Rosalia Castro de Murguia, and " Helio- 

 dora,"an operetta by the son of Hartzenbusch, 

 are other productions in light literature. 



The u Cervantistas," as they style themselves, 

 have been comparatively idle of late, and the 

 affections and sympathies of Spaniards would 

 appear to have been suddenly transferred to 

 another national idol, the great Don Pedro Cal- 

 deron de la Barca, whose second centenary was 

 celebrated in May. Innumerable compositions 

 in prose or verse poured in from all parts ot 

 the ancient Spanish monarchy, from America 

 and the Philippine Islands, as well as from 

 Portugal and Germany ; and the festival has 

 brought forth a selection of Calderon's dra- 

 matic works in four volumes, by Menendez 

 Pelayo; an "Album Calderoniano," by Span- 

 ish and Portuguese poets ; " Homenage a Cal- 

 deron," anonymous; and several more works. 

 In September the Congress of American Schol- 

 ars and Writers (Congreso de los Americanis- 

 tas) met. It was attended by delegates from all 

 quarters of the globe, especially from France, 

 Belgium, and Germany, as well as from re- 

 mote parts of America where the Spanish lan- 

 guage is still in use. The Government pub- 

 lished a splendid volume entitled " Relaciones 

 Geograficas de Indias," for distribution among 

 the members of the congress. The editor is 

 Marcos Jimenez de la Espada, the indefati- 

 gable writer on the geography and history of 

 South America. The " Relaciones-" are all 

 original, and taken from the Archive de Indias 

 in Seville, a vast repository of papers and docu- 

 ments relating to America and Asia in general 



and to the West Indies in particular. They 

 form part of a collection prepared in Philip 

 Il's time, with a view to a statistical and polit- 

 ical survey of the Spanish monarchy. 



In the department of history a few valuable 

 works have appeared, such as "Las Ordenes 

 Religiosas," by Antequera; " Historia Critico- 

 Filosofica de la Monarquia Asturiana," by Me- 

 nendez V aides ; " Galeria de Jesuitas Ilustres." 

 by Father Fidel Fita; " Historia de los Hete- 

 rodoxos Espafioles," by Marcelino Menendez 

 Pelayo ; " Dofia Ana de Silva y Mendoza," by 

 Julian Saenz de Tejada ; " Bosquejo Biografico 

 de Don Beltran de la Cueva," by Rodriguez 

 Villa ; and " Boceto Historico : Canovas, su 

 Pasado, su Presente y su Porvenir," by Saurin. 

 The " Cancionero Basco " by Monterola, " La 

 Danza, Poesia Bable" by Cuesta, "Las Liber- 

 tades de Aragon " by Danvila, the " Discurso de 

 la Comunidad de Se villa " by Benitez de Lugo, 

 "La Inundacion de Levante " by Bermejo, and 

 "EstudideToponomasticaCatalana"bySanpere 

 y Miguel, a work of great research, demonstrate 

 that Galicians as well as Asturians, the Basques 

 and the Catalans, are doing all they can to pre- 

 serve their languages or dialects, and save their 

 separate histories from oblivion. Laudable ef- 

 forts of this sort are being made at Barcelona, 

 where the cultivation of science and literature 

 has lately made such progress as to render this 

 great commercial city in many respects almost 

 a rival to Madrid itself. Tarragona, Lerida, 

 Gerona, and other towns of Catalonia, and 

 generally of the " Coronilla de Aragon," are 

 likewise making rapid progress. 



SWEDEN. Count Carl Snoilsky has issued 

 a volume, "Nya Dikter " ("New Poetry"), 

 which must be considered as the most notable 

 collection of verse published in Sweden during 

 the year. Its spirit is in an eminent degree 

 patriotic. He deals with topics derived from 

 Swedish history. The volume contains, besides, 

 a great many poetical idyls and sketches of 

 travel in Europe and Algeria. Noteworthy is 

 a commentary, as it were, published by the lady 

 who shares his wandering life. 



Another younger poet, A. U. Baath, not 

 equal to Snoilsky but yet a genuine poet, has 

 published a new volume. A mixture of verse 

 and prose fills a volume entitled "Recollec- 

 tions from Youth and Travels," by the popular 

 author N.P. Oedman, a work distinguished for 

 vivacity and humor. 



Two works of the older poets are worthy of 

 mention, the first installment of F. W. Scho- 

 lander's posthumous writings and G. "Wen- 

 nerberg's collected works. C. W. Bottiger's 

 "Valda Dikter" ("Selected Poetry") and 

 " Sjelf biografiska Anteckningar och Bref" are 

 posthumous publications. A memoir was 

 published of Peter Fjellstedt, the missionary, 

 by Mrs. Emilia Laurin. 



In political history F. F. Carlson's great 

 work, "Sveriges Historia under Konungarne 

 af Pfalziska Huset," has now reached the be- 

 ginning of the reign of Charles XII. Schinkel's 



