I.ITKK.VITKK, CONTINENTAL. 



LOUISIANA. 



arc !]. Limdqvi-t's Viil A f ton lam pan "; 

 Vilniii Lindhe's - Mot \iinl"; " BrpttsjOar," by 

 A. .litdcrin: " Nya I'.criii tclscroeh Ski/./er," by Tor 

 :-g. a young author wlio delights in ps\dio- 

 , studies: " Ufsmal," by Llin Aineen; a 

 new volume on certain aspects of student life, 

 by N. I'. Ordinal!, in which, as usual, kindly hu- 

 m'or and a lively style are displayed on a back- 

 ground <>f thoughtful seriousness; "Med Sor- 

 diu," by liiist Kr>t ; and Anna Wahlenbcrg's 

 Siora I'.ani och Snia." It might be added 

 that, while truth to nature has become a recog- 

 ni/ed desideratum here in prose fiction, toe 

 Swedish novel, redeemed from the extreme of 

 idealism by the wholesome influence of the real- 

 i>tic tendencies of the last twenty years, does 

 not err on the side of ultra-realism, but seems to 

 piv-erve a happy medium. Sweden has lost one 

 of her greatest novelists, whose works were trans- 

 lated into all the principal languages of Europe, 

 and whose fame was world-wide Emilie Fly- 

 garc-Carlen. Among the works of this author- 

 MB, who lived to a green old age, but had long 

 ago ceased all literary activity, are "Enslingen 

 pa Johannesskiiret," " Tistelon," and "Ett Kop- 

 manshusi SkUrgarden." 



In lyric poetry, as already indicated, produc- 

 tiveness seems to have been most marked. Both 

 nature and man, in all their varieties of mood, 

 feeling, and thought, have formed themes 

 for these northern singers. V. Rydberg, men- 

 tioned before, has published a new collection of 

 poems, in which the realities of modern life are 

 depicted with deep feeling. Thus, "Grubbla- 

 r'ii " deals with various questions in the domain 

 of moral and mental science ; " Grottesangen," a 

 lengthy poem founded on an old myth of the 

 north, is directed especially against what we in 

 America would call the "race for the dollar," 

 etc. Similarly, Ernst Beckman has also occu- 

 pied himself with questions of the day in his 

 " Skilda Toner." 0. Levertin's " Legender och Vi- 

 sor " (already mentioned) displays an exuberant 

 fancy, which is no doubt to be traced to the au- 

 thor's Oriental descent. W. von Heidenstainiu's 

 -Hans Alienus," which is partly written in 

 prose, abounds in fine description and charming 

 poetry, but it also gives evidence of a rather ex- 

 travagant fancy, and must be received mainly 

 as a protest against " materialistic " tendencies 

 of the day and the desire to apply the principle 

 of analysis to every manifestation of thought 

 and feeling, (instaf Eroding, on the other hand, 

 takes a humorous view of things, and has won 

 favor especially by the sketches of life in a re- 

 mote province, in his (iuitarre och Dragharmo- 

 nika. 1 ' K. A. Melin, a well-known and clever 

 writer, Wirscn. Baath, and Snoilsky are among 

 those who have helped, by their contributions, to 

 foster the love for poetry in these eminently 

 practical times. Of dramatic literature there is 

 little to say, and, in fact, this nation does not 

 seem to have a special bent for the drama. 

 " Himmelrikets Nycklar." a legendary play by 

 Ain:. Striudberg, and ' En Tvekamp," a play, by 

 Tor lledberg these, together with a few com- 

 edies and dialogues, make up the list of the 

 year in this branch of literary art. 



The Apocryphal Gospel and Apocalypse of 

 St. Peter. A manuscript on parchment found 

 in the winter of 18bO-X7 in a tomb at Akhmin, 



in Upper Egypt, and published in 1892 by the 



French arch'a-ological mission, contains three 

 documents, two of which are of much value in 

 their bearing on our knowledge of the history of 

 early Christian thought. The writing of the 

 manuscript fixes its probable date as between the 

 eighth and the twelfth centuries. The most im- 

 portant of the documents is a part of the apocry- 

 phal "(iospel according to St. I'ctcr," and. with 

 the "Revelation or Apocalypse of St. iVn r." 

 which accompanies it, is supposed to have been 

 composed in the early part of the second century. 

 Both of these works, bearing the name of I'ctcr. 

 though not in fact his, are referred to by Kiu-ebius 

 and other early Christian authors. The fragment 

 of the Gospel of Peter which is preserved contains 

 an account of the passion, the crucifixion, and 

 the ascension. The narrative is founded directly 

 upon the accounts given in the four gospels, 

 and the simple diction of the New Testament is 

 preserved with more fidelity than is usual in 

 apo'-ryphal works. Variances appear in it of two 

 kinds those which have no particular value, 

 but are employed to give greater similitude to the 

 story, and those which are incorporated to fur- 

 ther the particular purpose of the writer. He 

 belonged to the sect of the Docitae, who denied 

 that the Godhead, though incarnated in Jesus, 

 suffered on the cross, and maintained that the 

 divine nature of the Saviour descended upon 

 him in his baptism by John, and reascended 

 when he came to the cross. Accordingly, the ex- 

 pressions relative to suffering are omitted or 

 changed, and the statement is added that when 

 our Lord was crucified he " held his peace, as 

 having no pain." The relation is further marked 

 by animosity against the Jew's, which appears in 

 the statement that Herod did not, like Pilate, 

 wash his hands. Another peculiar characteristic 

 of the work is the emphasis that is put upon our 

 Lord's descent into hades and his preaching to 

 the dead. The feature in this " Gospel " of most 

 interest to modern biblical critics is the fact 

 that while the writer formally quotes none of the 

 gospels, he uses them all, including John's, as 

 when he speaks of the nails of the crucifixion, 

 which are mentioned only by John. In this is 

 seen confirmatory proof, in addition to the new 

 evidence afforded by Tatian's "Harmony," that 

 the fourth gospel was in canonical honor as early 

 as the middle of the second century, and an ad- 

 ditional argument against the theories preva- 

 lent several years ago that it was of later com- 

 position. " The Apocryphal Revelation or Apoca- 

 lypse of St. Peter," or that portion of it which 

 is now recovered, describes the author's vision 

 of the rewards of the blest and the torments of 

 the damned, and furnishes an explanation of the 

 probable origin of some of the beliefs concern- 

 ing the future state which have prevailed in the 

 Christian Church, and particularly of some of 

 the descriptions imagined by Dante. A third 

 work contained in the manuscript is a part of 

 the Greek text of the apocryphal " Hook of 

 Enoch," a writing hitherto known only in seven 

 Ethiopia manuscripts and the Syriac version. 



LOUISIANA, a Southern State, admitted to 

 the Union April 30. 1812; area, 48,720 square 

 miles. The population, according to each de- 

 cennial census since admission. \\a- l.YJ.'.W in 

 i; 215,731) in l^I": o-VJ.411 in 1840; 517.7:20 



