436 



LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1887. 



future, entitled " The Service of Mac." Some- 

 thing of the same nature is the Rev. Dr. R. T. 

 Smith's " Man's Knowledge of Man and God." 

 The Rev. Mr. Danks has published a volume 

 of sermons entitled "The Church on the 

 Moor " ; The Rev. Dr. Hugh Macinillan in 

 "The Olive-Leaf" draws analogies between 

 natural and spiritual laws ; and Mr. Arthur 

 Lillie has published " Buddhism in Christen- 

 dom." In philosophy, we have, first, Part II 

 of Fowler and Wilson's "The Principles of 

 Morals"; then Prof. Sidgwick'a "Outlines of 

 the History of Ethics"; Mr. Courtney's vol- 

 ume on "Reconstructive Ethics"; Gurney, 

 Myers, and Podmore, of the Psychical Research 

 Society, on " Phantasms of the Living " ; 

 Frith's " Life of Giordano Bruno, the Nolan " ; 

 the second and third volumes of Schopenhauer's 

 " The World as Will and Idea," translated by 

 Haldane and Kemp ; and Fischer's " Descar- 

 tes and his School," translated. The total 

 number of new books published in Great Brit- 

 ain last year was 4,410, and of new editions 

 1,206, being an excess for both of nearly 500 

 over the previous year. Theology shows an 

 increase of 60 or 70, and there are more than 

 100 educational works over the product of 

 1886. Novels, mostly of a very ordinary 

 standard of ability, were up to an average of 

 more than two per diem, Sundays included. 

 In voyages and travels, there are about 50 

 more than were published in 1886, while in 

 history and biography there are more than 

 100. Some of the total numbers, as classified 

 by the " Publishers' Circular," are as follow : 



LITERATWE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1887. As in 

 the preceding year so in this, political troubles 

 and excitement have had a rather depressing ef- 

 fect upon literature. Nevertheless, authors and 

 publishers have been busy to a considerable ex- 

 tent, and in some cases with marked results. 

 In accordance with our usual plan, we give the 

 record in the alphabetical order of countries on 

 the Continent. 



Belgium. History has received a moderate 

 share of attention this year. Protestant mar- 

 tyrology in the sixteenth century is well set 

 forth by M. F. Vander Haeghen, the learned 

 librarian of the University of Ghent, and a like 

 setting forth of Roman Catholic martyrology 

 is promised at an early day. M. Nameche car- 

 ries forward with spirit his " Cours d'Histoire 

 Nationale," which has reached its eighteenth 

 volume, and includes the history of the Nether- 

 lands in the sixteenth century, under the re- 



gency of Don John of Austria. Documents 

 and materials of national history have been 

 published by several writers as by Lettenhove 

 on " Political Relations under Philip II." ; by 

 M. L. Devillers, in his " Cartulary of the Counts 

 of Hainault " ; by Canon Reuseus, in relation 

 to the ancient University of Louvain (1425- 

 1797) ; by Victor Vander Haeghen, in an " In- 

 ventory of the Archives of the City of Ghent," 

 etc. Biography has received a fair share of at- 

 tention, and to bibliography several valuable 

 additions have been made. The " Bibliographic 

 Nationale " contains a complete catalogue of 

 publications of Belgian authors from 1830 to 

 1880. A few not very important contributions 

 have been made to philosophical and social 

 sciences, and one fervid Romanist seeks to vin- 

 dicate the Inquisition, and to prove that the 

 Roman Church has been the founder of liber- 

 ty of conscience. In the domain of art, M. 

 Rooses's "The Work of P. P. Rubens," a his- 

 tory of this great master's paintings and draw- 

 ings, with superb phototypes, is very highly 

 praised by the critics, and is a publication of 

 deep interest to all the admirers of that emi- 

 nent head of the Antwerp school. Educational 

 questions have been ably discussed by Gillet, 

 Keelhoff, Wilmotte, etc., and several interest- 

 ing works on literary history have appeared. 

 Among these may be named "French Litera- 

 ture of the Seventeenth Century," by the Abb6 

 Stiernet ; a short study on " Victor Hugo " ; a 

 critique on the school of Young Belgium, by 

 M. C. Tilman, under the title " Realism in Con- 

 temporary Literature," etc. Flemish litera- 

 ture, properly speaking, has made but indiffer- 

 ent progress during 1887, and seems to be rather 

 on the decline compared with former years. 

 M. F. de Potter is still at work on his elaborate 

 history of " Ghent from Early Times to the 

 Present Day " ; the Abbe Am. Joos has brought 

 out " Treasures of the Popular Language," in 

 which several thousands of familiar proverbs 

 and popular modes of speech are given and 

 explained ; and M. K. Stallaert has begun the 

 issue of a learned " Glossarinm " of terms of 

 jurisprudence during the middle ages, as they 

 are found in the ancient charters and docu- 

 ments of Flanders, Brabant, and Limburg. In 

 light literature there has been the usual amount 

 of production, but nothing of very special mo- 

 ment. We name here only one volume, enti- 

 tled " Through the Life," by M. E. de Geest, 

 which traces with a powerful realism various 

 scenes in the life of the workmen of Ghent and 

 of the collieries of Hainault. Several new vol- 

 umes of verse have appeared, and a few dramas 

 have been produced by different authors; 

 among these latter, M. H. Baeldere's historical 

 drama in verse, " Christina Borluut," is deemed 

 to be specially noteworthy. 



Denmark. The loss to Danish literature by 

 death since last year's record has been un- 

 usually severe. Just before the close of 1886 

 the eminent Latin philologist and author, J. N. 

 Madvig, passed away, aged eighty-two. He 



