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LITERATURE, AMERICAN, IN 1884. (IIiSTOBY.) 



later to Sweden, John L. Stephens. His his- 

 tory of Gustavus Adolphus, one of the greatest 

 of European heroes, is really a history of the 

 times that gave him birth and opportunity. 

 It can hardly be said that the author has cast 

 any fresh light on the life and achievements of 

 the great Swedish king, but he presents a very 

 clear and readable record of his career and of 

 his influence as a factor in European politics. 

 The occasion of the book's being was the au- 

 thor's long residence in Sweden, and the schol- 

 arly reader is somewhat disappointed that the 

 book does not show more palpable fruits of 

 original research. An addition to the litera- 

 ture of the late civil war was made in Col. Ro- 

 man's " Military Operations of General Beau- 

 regard in the War between the States, 1861- 

 '65." The author was a personal friend and 

 staff-officer of Gen. Beauregard's, and presum- 

 ably writes from the stand-point of friendship, 

 but this strong coloring does not give enough 

 bias to prevent the author from making an im- 

 portant contribution to a subject the literature 

 of which is already becoming enormous. Other 

 war histories, from the Federal stand -point, are 

 Gen. James Fry's " Operations of the Army 

 under Buell," and "McDowell and Tyler in 

 the Campaign of Bull Run," while Stevenson's 

 u Battle of Stone River " presents a picture of 

 a battle and the campaign that preceded it 

 worthy of the student's attention as a hitherto 

 underrated portion of the great civil conflict. 

 The " American Commonwealth " series has 

 justly been regarded as one of the most im- 

 portant ventures of recent years. Each State 

 is to some extent a community by itself, and 

 with its colonial or territorial records furnishes 

 in many cases a curious and individual history 

 differing widely from its fellows, however simi- 

 lar it may now be in its nominal forms. The 

 additions for 1884 were Shaler's Kentucky and 

 Browne's Maryland. The latter is specially 

 worthy of the student's attention in its account 

 of the early institutions of Maryland, and their 

 yet palpable influence on local habits. Young's 

 " History of the Netherlands " was a not un- 

 successful attempt to give a fresh presentation 

 of the achievements of a people who contrib- 

 uted so many striking episodes to medieval 

 history. Though the names of Motley and Pres- 

 cott are so brilliantly connected with this field 

 of research, the author of this new study suc- 

 ceeds in showing good reason for his book's 

 being. Yet it can not be said that he plucks a 

 single leaf from the laurels of his predecessors. 

 An interesting work was issued in Weise's 

 " Discoveries of America to the Year 1525," 

 giving a well-digested compendium of all that 

 was known either in myth or in fact of this 

 continent to the ancients, and to the early 

 explorers and voyagers. The account of the 

 Norse discoveries is very complete and well 

 told. Among other historical works may be 

 mentioned James Freeman Clarke's study of 

 u Anti - Slavery Days," and Lieut. Bourke's 

 ethnological sketch published under the title 



of the " Snake-Dance of ttie Moquis of Ari- 

 zona." Gen. W. W. Loring gave, in his " Con- 

 federate Soldier in Egypt," some readable 

 sketches of ancient and modern Egyptian his- 

 tory, interspersed with vivid pictures of man- 

 ners and customs. The " Johns Hopkins Stud- 

 ies" of history, one of the most interesting 

 series published in recent years, and pecul- 

 iarly valuable as throwing light on local insti- 

 tutions and customs, received several valuable 

 additions. Of American reprints of foreign his- 

 torical works there are several worthy of pass- 

 ing mention in this connection. Green's " Con- 

 quest of England " was a fascinating book 

 worthy of the works by the same author that 

 preceded it. Justin McCarthy produced a very 

 readable and well-written book in his " History 

 of the Four Georges." M artel's " Military Ita- 

 ly " gave an account of the recent exploits and 

 present resources of a power rapidly growing 

 in strength and importance. One of the most 

 timely and interesting histories of the year was 

 the story of the "Coup d'Etat," translated 

 from the French of De Maupas, Minister of 

 Police under Napoleon III, one of the con- 

 spirators who helped in the perpetration of 

 that crime. We get from this an inside view 

 of the event, though, of course, strongly col- 

 ored with apology and even justification. Prof. 

 A. H. Sayce, of Oxford, gave the world, in his 

 " Ancient Empires of the East," a work of great 

 value, which embodied all the most recent 

 fruits of scholarly research and criticism. The 

 important revisions of opinion that extensive 

 discoveries in archeology and philology have 

 caused made a restatement necessary. One of 

 the most important features of the book is the 

 large place that the author gives to the em- 

 pire of the Hittites, to which he ascribes an 

 immense relative importance in the ancient 

 civilization of the East. " Prehistoric Amer- 

 ica," by Marquis de Nadaillac, a French au- 

 thor, translated and published in this coun- 

 try, is a work of careful and enthusiastic schol- 

 arship which entitles it to be called one of the 

 important historical productions of the year. 

 It is a brilliant yet sound exposition of all the 

 most trustworthy results of archaBological la- 

 bors in America. In Prof. Gindely's " Thirty 

 Years' War " is found the most able, compre- 

 hensive, and perhaps accurate estimate ever 

 made of the causes, course, and consequences 

 of the events that immediately followed the 

 German Reformation. The volumes are pro- 

 fusely illustrated with maps and engravings, 

 and are worthy to be considered a final au- 

 thority. Other important German works in 

 history, translated and published in English, 

 were the first part ("The Oldest Historical 

 Group of Nations and the Greeks ") of Leopold 

 von Ranke's " Universal History," and Ploetz's 

 " Epitome of Ancient, Modern, and Medireval 

 History." Lady Jackson added to her other 

 volumes on French history " The Court of the 

 Tuileries," which possesses the same qualities 

 of bright and picturesque narrative as its pro- 





