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LITERATUEE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1891. 



LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1891. 



During the present year literature has flourished, 

 on the whole, and manifested about its usual 

 vigor. The state of political and civil affairs 

 was mostly favorable, and authors and publish- 

 ers availed themselves thereof with profit in both 

 directions. We give the record, as heretofore, 

 in the alphabetical order of countries on the 

 Continent of Europe. 



Belgium. History and historical research 

 maintain in Belgium the high position of former 

 years. M. Piot, Keeper of the National Records, 

 has printed Vol. VIII of the " Correspondence 

 of Cardinal Granville," who was a somewhat fa- 

 mous ecclesiastic in the Low Countries when 

 religious troubles broke out under Philip II. M. 

 Vander Haeghen, M. Arnold, and M. Vanden 

 Berghe are continuing the publication of the 

 admirable bibliography of the Low Countries, 

 entitled "Bibliotheca Belgica." So valuable 

 was the work esteemed to be that it secured the 

 quinquennial prize of 5,000 francs awarded by 

 the Belgian Government for the best publication 

 of the year dealing with national history. A 

 Jesuit father, C. Sommervogel, has undertaken 

 to supply a work of hardly less importance, to 

 be issued under the title of " Bibiotheque de la 

 Compagnie de Jesus." M. Nameche, the veteran 

 worker in this department, has brought out two 

 new volumes of his large " Cours d'Histoire 

 Nationale," begun in 1883, and now nearly fin- 

 ished. Canon Daris, also a veteran laborer in 

 this field, has added a new volume to his " His- 

 tory of the Diocese and Principality of Liege." 

 The most important contribution to Belgian 

 history is pronounced to be the " Introduction a 

 1'Histoire des Institutions de la Belgique au 

 Moyen Age," by Prof. L. Vanderkindere, of the 

 University of Brussels. The author has brought 

 the narrative down to the Treaty of Verdun in 

 843. Under the title of " La Renaissance des 

 Lettres et 1'Essor de 1'Erudition Ancienne en. 

 Belgique," Prof. Felix Neve, of the University 

 of Louvain, has collected in a volume essays 

 previously printed on Erasmus, Sir Thomas 



More, and some other humanists of the sixteenth 

 and seventeenth centuries, who left marks of 

 their influence on the literature of the Low Coun- 

 tries. Pupils of the state universities at Liege 

 and Ghent have shown zeal and ability in various 

 historical publications, such as the " Quarrel 

 about Investitures in the Dioceses of Liege and 

 Cambray (1075-1107)," by M. A. Cauchie, of Lou- 

 vain, and the " Election of Pope Clement V," by 

 M. L. Leclerc, of Brussels. In connection with 

 these historical notes we must not omit to state 

 that two eminent workers have been taken away 

 by death, viz., Baron de Lettenhove, who was just 

 finishing the ninth volume of valuable records 

 relating to the Low Countries and England dur- 

 ing the reign of Philip II, and M. Van Weddin- 

 ghen, court almoner, and distinguished among 

 the Roman Catholic clergy of Belgium, who was 

 at work to the very last. Weddinghen was in 

 the prime of life, while Lettenhove was seventy^ 

 four years old. In political economy M. E. Ma- 

 haim, though a beginner, has shown real ability 

 in sketching annals of the colleges of Roman 

 artisans, of the corporations of workmen in 

 the middle ages, and under the ancien regime, 

 of the professional syndicates in France, the 

 trade unions in England, the societies of work- 

 men in Germany and Austria, and the profes- 

 sional unions of Belgium. Baron II. de Royer 

 de Dour's book on " Workmen's Dwellings in 

 Belgium," with appropriate plates, was es- 

 teemed to be so good that it was crowned by 

 the Royal Academy. M. E. de Laveleye has 

 issued an interesting monograph on " La Mon- 

 naie et le Bimetalisme International," and has 

 also brought out new and revised editions of his 

 " Contemporary Socialism " and " Property and 

 its Primitive Forms." M. de Harlez's mono- 

 graph on " The Modern Philosophical School of 

 China " is noteworthy, as is also Prof. P. Hoff- 

 man's volume " Religion basee sur la Morale.' 

 The topic is rather new on the Continent, and 

 the author draws material from American writ- 

 ers as to the point of framing a new religion 

 based mainly on morality and the like. The 

 book is practically a supplement to Count G. 

 d'Alviella's " Contemporary Religious Evolution 

 among the English, Americans, and Hindus," 

 published in 1884, and spoken of at that date. 

 A work by Messrs. L. and E. de Taye, on " The 

 Plastic Arts in Belgium," has been considered 

 worthy of the prize of 25,000 francs founded by 

 Leopold II. A superbly illustrated volume on 

 towers and belfries has attracted much attention. 

 In belles-lettres "Young Belgium" still stands 

 prominent, and both claims and receives a large 

 share of public consideration. The chief of the 

 school, Max Waller, died a year ago. M. Mae- 

 terlinck, a Fleming of Ghent, broxight out a play, 

 " La Princesse Maleine," in the summer, written 

 in French, about which the Paris " Figaro " 

 talked very extravagantly, even averring that it 

 ,was " superior to the best of Shakespeare's " ! Lit- 

 erature in the Flemish language continues to 

 flourish in verse and prose. Several works of 

 the year have attained popularity, such as M. 

 Gittens's historical drama of the times of Napo- 

 leon I, " De Maire van Antwerpen," M. Styns's 

 little volume " In de Ton," M. Brans's " Geclich- 

 ten in Proza," etc. M. F. de Potter has done 

 service to archeology in adding a new volume to 



