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LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1887. 



lisher retired from business, entitled "Bouw- 

 stoflfen voor eene Geschicdenis van den Ned. 

 Boekhandel van 1830-1880," is timely and of 

 real interest to the general reader. It discloses 

 many curious matters in regard to quarrels of 

 authors and publishers, and famous lawsuits 

 about copyrights, etc. Besides " Oud Hol- 

 land," which continues to furnish many good 

 things respecting old art and artists, mention 

 should be made of Mr. Bredius's publications 

 about the masterpieces in the Ryks Museum of 

 Amsterdam. The early numbers treat of the 

 predecessors of Rembrandt as well as of the 

 great master himself. Mr. Opzoomer the 

 Younger has brought out a revised edition of 

 the manuscripts of the old nunnery of Diepen- 

 veen, and gives many choice specimens of the 

 old vernacular, as well as glimpses of mysti- 

 cism and life in the cloister and out of it in 

 the days of Brincherink, one of the earliest 

 Dutch humanists (fourteenth century). Mr. 

 B. Hettema is editing specimens of Old, Mid- 

 dle, and Modern Frisian. The second volume 

 is completed. Messrs. Craandyk and Schip- 

 perus have undertaken to explore and picture 

 forth the beauties of Holland in a new volume 

 of " Wandelingen." The student, however, 

 will find it well to examine Mr. Beekman's 

 useful books "Nederland als Polderland" and 

 u De Strijd om het Bestaan." The death of 

 Douwes Dekker early in the year is perhaps 

 the greatest event in the Dutch literary world. 

 Hungary. Literature in Hungary seems to 

 keep moving at its usual pace. Publications 

 have been comparatively few and not very 

 important. Historical studies have been pur- 

 sued with zeal, and collections of records and 

 documents have been freely made and careful- 

 ly annotated by native scholars. Of this sort 

 we note the "Codex Diplomaticus Hungaricus 

 Audagavensis," by Emeric Nagy, the fifth in- 

 stallment of that great work, comprising the 

 period between 1347 and 1352, and filled with 

 the remarkable events of the reign of the House 

 of Anjou in Hungary. Of like value and impor- 

 tance is the "Codex Diplomaticus Comitum 

 Karolyi de Nagy-Karoly," edited by Count 

 Tibor Karolyi, aided by M. K. Geresi ; Volume 

 IV comprises the seventeenth century, and fur- 

 nishes a valuable record of history of a great 

 aristocratic family in Hungary. With this may 

 properly be ranked the history of the diplo- 

 matic relations of Gabriel Bethlen, a posthu- 

 mous work of John Mirese, collected in the state 

 archives of Venice, and edited by L. Ovari. 

 Another work, " The Election of Stephen Ba- 

 thori as King of Poland," is based on documents 

 hitherto unedited and unknown, and is admira- 

 bly edited by Ludovic Szadeczky. M. K. Thaly's 

 " The History of the Family of Count Bercsenyi 

 de Szehes" gives an account of the vicissitudes 

 of one of the richest and most powerful of the 

 Hungarian families until the year 1703. In the 

 way of memoirs we may mention Baron Pod- 

 maniczky's " Fragments of a Journal," from 

 1824 to 1886, containing a large amount of 



interesting matter relating to social, literary, 

 and political life in Hungary. In bibliography 

 M. Aladar Gyorgy has done good service by 

 his work on " The Hungarian Private and Pub- 

 lic Libraries in 1885," and M. Joseph Ferenczy 

 has sketched for the first time the history of 

 Hungarian journalism. It is very carefully 

 wrought out and highly instructive. The same 

 writer publishes the " Life of Count Aurelius 

 Dessenby," a somewhat famous politician, and 

 the great antagonist of Louis Kossuth. As a 

 contribution to natural science we may put on 

 record the work of M. Otto Hermann, " A 

 Magyar Halaszat Konyve," which supplies a 

 valuable history of fishing and its adjuncts in 

 Hungary. It is said to be delightfully written 

 and very reliable as to facts in the line of which 

 it treats. In the belles lettres not much is at 

 hand requiring notice. Miss Stephania Wohl's 

 novel " Aranyfust," or " Goldswohe," is highly 

 praised, and adds to the accomplished writer's 

 reputation. M. G. Csiky (noted in last year's 

 record) has published a new play entitled "A 

 Jo Fulop," i. e., " The Good Philip," of which 

 the critics speak very favorably. M. Vlassics 

 has given a full exposition of the criminal law 

 in most European countries, under the title, 

 " A Biinkiserlet is a Bevegzett Buncselek- 

 veny " ; and Mr. R. Renyi has written effective- 

 ly of "Italian Poetry in the Middle Ages." 



Italy. Literary activity has been of a marked 

 character during 1887, there having been pub- 

 lished between eleven and twelve thousand 

 books on the vast variety of topics which oc- 

 cupy attention in Italy. Of this huge number 

 we can of course specify but a small portion at 

 the present time. Ethnology receives atten- 

 tion in Prof. A. Galanti's " I Tedeschi sul ver- 

 sante meridionale delle Alpi." In this able 

 work the writer discusses the question as to 

 the populations of German origin on the Ital- 

 ian slope of the Alps. Pietro Feo's work of 

 five hundred pages, "Narrazione storicae mili- 

 tare " of A. Farnese, Duke of Parma, is highly 

 praised for its thoroughness and for the excel- 

 lent style in which it is written. Other pro- 

 ductions of value and interest are Col. C. B. 

 di Perrero's critical study of Charles Emanuel 

 III of Savoy, and his famous defense of the 

 Alps in the campaign of 1744; Achille Dina's 

 entertaining picture of a youthful Florentine 

 prince, Ludovico il Moro, in the latter part of 

 the fifteenth century; F. Savio's account of 

 the Marchese Guglielmo di Monferrato, influ- 

 ential in Lombard politics in Frederic Barba- 

 rossa's time ; Prof. Vito Cusumano's document- 

 ary history of the private banks of Sicily, a 

 work of real and permanent value, though not 

 yet fully completed. A new work on the Em- 

 peror Tiberius, evidencing careful scholarship, 

 and presenting some novel views of that infa- 

 mous emperor's character and conduct, has 

 been brought out by Prof. I. Gentile, of Padua. 

 One other book on ancient history may be 

 noted, viz., G. Stocchi's "First "War of the 

 Romans in Mesopotamia," where Marcus Cras- 



