M. Hetzel upon having to do with Madame Henri Gréville. The authoress of "Dosia," of "L'Expiation de Savéli," and some ten other volumes which are about to appear consecutively for they are already completed-is a lady of about thirty, rather under the middle height, very lively, and overflowing with goodhumor.

Speaking of M. Plon, I may say that he is at the head of one of the most active and varied businesses in Paris. He publishes, at one and the same time, novels, almanacs (fancy over twenty almanacs!), memoirs, the travels of the Marquis de Compiègne and of Viscount Melchior de Vogué, the "Souvenirs of the Levant Station," by the Vice-Admiral Jurien de la Gravière, two highly-interesting volumes, and some magnificent publications in which literature and art join hands-as, for instance, "Amsterdam and Venice," by M. Henry Havard. The author of the "Voyage aux Villes Mortes du Zuyderzee," and the "Frontières Menacées," is exiled for the same errors as M. Elisée Reclus.

The author of that splendid book, the "Ornement Polychrome," M. Racinet, has undertaken to carry this new publication through. It will contain 500 plates, of which 300 are in colors, gold and silver, and 200 in cameo. The first number, which appeared in the autumn of last year, is above all praise. I say nothing of the letter-press, for the historical essay which is intended to precede it is still in the press, and the pictures are only accompanied by explanatory notes of laconic brevity.

Those books which appeal to the eyes, and leave to the spectator the pleasure of commenting upon them himself, are beginning to be appreciated in France. Thus, M. Goupil, the famous publisher of engravings and photographs, has set to work to bring out the annual Salons in large volumes of photogravure, without any other text than a sonnet to each picture. Besides, the sonnets, written by M. Dézamy, are excellent in point of style, and most agreeable; but does it not seem rather like the world being turned upside down, that in this library of pictures, instead of the engraving illustrating the text, the text should be made to illustrate the engraving with a few lines of prose or verse?

Works on art abound. Never has been written so much about art, for art, and about everything connected with art; while M. Charles Blanc has collected in one very handsome volume the quintessence of all that he has published in his lifetime upon the artists of his day.

The "Public Works of France," studied and described by the ablest of engineers, will form five volumes, of ten parts each, and will be finished at the end of 1877, to be sold at the trifling price of 600 francs. As I remarked before, we no longer consider the expense. The "Grand Dictionnaire Universel," of the nineteenth century-at length complete - is

being sold at 579 francs, in paper covers. It is a gigantic encyclopædia, in fifteen volumes, that it is impossible to do without when one has not got it, and which one does not know where to put when one has it.

History, philosophy, and science, compose a vast domain belonging to M. Germer Bailliere. His happy lot it has been to publish this year the Synthèse Chimique," by Berthelot-one of those books that honor not only the author and publisher, but which do credit to the country and to the age. M. Fuchs's work on volcanoes, that of M. Vogel on photography, and M. Luys's treatise on the brain, have come to enrich the International Scientific Library.

The same publisher produces every two months a Revue Philosophique, conducted by M. Ch. Ribot, and every quarter the Rerue Historique, conducted by MM. Monod and Fagniez; and we are looking forward to the Revue Géographique M. Ludovic Drapeyron has promised us for a New-Year's gift.

Religious and political polemics seem to have found refuge with a débutant in book-selling, M. Decaux. In one year this young and enterprising publisher has effected great things, and obtained a series of considerable successes: "La Vraie Marie Antoinette," by George Avenel; "Le Prince de Bismarck," by M. Antonin Proust; "Les Fédérés Blancs," by M. Edouard Siebecker; Cinq Ans après,” “Alsace et la Lorraine après l'Annexion," by M. Jules Claretie; "Les Prisonniers du 2 Décembre," by M. Hippolyte Baboux; "L'Histoire Populaire du Consulat, de l'Empire, et des Cent Jours," by M. Hippolyte Magen.

GERMANY.-The epics of 1876-the year which has witnessed the performance at Baireuth of Wagner's "Nibelungen-Festspiel❞—go back to the old German and Norse times, which, thanks to W. Jordan, R. Wagner, and G. Freytag, are again the fashion, as they were after the War of Liberation.

The dramatic literature of the year has been of little importance, and it has been quite thrown into the shade by the proceedings at Baireuth. With the performance of the Nibelungenring, if we are to believe the followers of Wagner, begins a new era, not for music only, but also for the drama. The first sketch of Wagner's libretto dates from 1851; the complete text was published as early as 1862. But the "Art-work of the Future" can only be criticised as a vehicle for the common working of all the arts when it has been bodily placed on the boards. That the old Norse saga of the Nibelungen Treasure and Siegfried the Dragon-slayer contains a strong dramatie element has been shown by the numerous dramatic versions it has given rise to: for instance, those of Raupach and Hebbel. But this dramatic element rests essentially upon the mighty ethical pathos that the saga contains-a pathos inferior in greatness to that of none of the ancient sagas, while it in terror surpasses them.

The Roman tragedies of Wilbrant, especially his "Nero," have found a successor in the tragedy of the same name by Martin Greif. The author of Mirza Schaffy," as his tragedy "Kaiser Paul" was for intelligible reasons refused by the Court Theatre, has tried his luck with a harmless drama, "Alexander in Corinth," an imitation of an old English original. The fashionable rage for the North is so prevalent in Germany that the German dramatists are driven off the field by Björnson and Ibsen.

Of novels properly so called, "Die Ideale unserer Zeit," by Sacher - Masoch; "Ein Kampf um Rom," by Felix Dahn; "Aspasia," by R. Hamerling; and "Sturmflut," by F. Spielhagen, are the most notable. G. Freytag's "Ahnen," which in former years has regularly added annually a branch to the parent stem, has halted this year; another volume, Marcus Koenig, is announced. Sacher-Masoch made himself a reputation all over Germany by his "Don Juan von Kolomea; " but also, unfortunately, he wrote the "Venus im Pelz," and his new novel has more of the latter than the former about it.

The novels of Dahn, the learned Germanist, and Hamerling, the philosophical epic poet, belong to the class of tales in which, as in Eber's "Aegyptische Königstochter," archæological erudition, or, as in Wieland's "Aristippus," Greek metaphysics plays almost as great a role as the imagination. Dahn's book is an historically correct picture of the struggles between Byzantium and the Ostrogoths for the dominion of Italy, which are grouped round an imaginary hero, "the last of the Romans," Cethegus. Veterans, like Gutzkow, Auerbach, Storm, appear again upon the scene. The collected works of the first named are in course of publication: a new tale, "Die Serapionsbrüder," is advertised. After many "nationalliberal" aberrations, Auerbach returns to his own field-a field he had better have never quitted-in his new "Schwarzwälder Dorfgeschichten," which would be still prettier if he had not written the old ones. That minute painter of the human heart, Theodor Storm, has added a new and lovely leaf to his laurels, in the tale "Aquis Submersus." Another great success is the "Bozena" of the Baroness Marie Ebner-Eschen, known through her "Erzählungen," published last year by Cotta. The Novellen aus Oesterreich" of Ferdinand von Saar have, with one exception, appeared before; but they are real gems.

Unquestionably the greatest success among books of travel is Payer's account of the Austrian Arctic Expedition. No less than 50,000 copies are said to have been sold. Wilhelm Lang's "Transalpinische Studien," though full of information, and Heinrich Noes's "Gasteiner Novellen," excellent in their way, must content themselves with a more modest sue

tess.

Two exiles of the year of revolution have

written a narrative of their experiences in foreign parts. C. Hillebrand, who sought an asylum in England, declares that England is Americanizing. Fr. Knapp, who went to the States, warns his emigration-loving countrymen that America is not Germanizing.

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Among the historical publications of the year, not including the publications of numerous academies and historical associations which have only a value as sources," the "Byzantinische Geschichte" of the late Gfrörer deserves an honorable place. It has been edited by his friend J. B. Weiss. Max Duncker has issued "Denkwürdigkeiten" of the time of Frederick the Great and Frederick William III., from the last of which it appears that the French, between 1806 and 1813, extorted from the diminished kingdom of Prussia, which counted little over 2,000 square miles (German), two milliards of francs in money and money'sworth. Wilhelm Oncken has thrown new light upon the relations between Prussia and Austria in the Wars of Liberation, 1813-'15— light chiefly derived from the hitherto unused state archives of Vienna, and much more favorable than former accounts to the Austrian court. Upon the recent history of the two great German powers two valuable works have seen the light in the one, Ferdinand Fischer describes, more in the spirit of a publicist than an historian, the state of Prussia at the close of the first half of this century. The writer is an ardent patriot, but he is fully alive to the misgovernment of the clerical conservative Reaction. The Austrian Freiherr von Helfert took a prominent part in most of the events which he details in the fourth volume of this history of the recent fortunes of the Austrian monarchy, and he has had excellent materials to work upon; but he is a great deal too lengthy.

Biography, the history of literature, and that of art, have received rich accessions. A new volume has come out of the valuable "Denkwürdigkeiten" of the former Prussian minister, Theodor von Schön, the friend and fellow-laborer of Freiherr von Stein in the restoration of Prussia after the Peace of Tilsit. The paper-basket of Varnhagen appears to be inexhaustible; but it is to be hoped that the nineteenth volume of his "Ausgewählte Schriften" will be really and truly the last. The son of Friedrich von Hurter, once the President of the Protestant canton of Schaffhausen, afterward a "vert" and Imperial Historiographer at Vienna, has begun issuing out his father's biography, which promises to give much interesting information on the efforts of the Ultramontane party in Switzerland and Austria. The homely autobiography of the Tyrolese painter, Karl Blaas, has been edited by A. Wolf, to whom biographical literature is already indebted for valuable contributions; among others for the discovery of a charmingly naïve autobiography of the sixteenth century—that of Lukas Geizkofler, of the Augsburg family of that name.

To the history of literature belong the profound commentary on "Faust"-how many commentaries are there?-which that able writer on æsthetics, Vischer, has produced-a work not very intelligible to any but the initiated. As masterpieces of elegant and learned oratory should be mentioned the academical speeches and addresses which the historian of Greece, Ernst Curtius, has collected under the title of" Alterthum und Gegenwart."

At last, but not least, comes philosophy. In the ten years after Hegel's death sadly fallen, philosophy has lately taken a new start. But in this department, too, the race of great original thinkers is gone, and we are busy celebrating their centenaries: in 1862 Fichte's, in 1870 Hegel's, in 1875 Schelling's, and in this year Herbart's the founder of a school of philosophical realism in Germany, which of all the German schools is most akin to the English-in psychology to Locke, in morals to Clarke. During the predominance of the Schelling-Hegel philosophy, Herbart long stood alone; but since the fall of the Hegelian school, and the growing study of the empirical sciences, the Königsberg professor has enjoyed an ever-increasing number of adherents. The most important philosophical productions of the year come from the Herbartians: Volkmann's "Psychologie," a work as exact as it is learned; and the second edition of Lazarus's "Leben der Seele," one of the most able and thorough treatises on psychological questions that exist. Lazarus also, in company with Steinthal, ranks among the main promoters of a new science that owes its origin to Herbartthe "Völkerpsychologie," which, like Comte's "Sociologie," recognizes the natural laws in the spiritual life of the "Volksseele." The last word, of course, is taken in a somewhat different sense from that in which Ed. Reich employs it in his bizarre "Studien über die Volksseele." Lazarus attributes to the " people," as a collective whole, a soul only in a figurative," Reich, on the contrary, in a "literal" sense. Besides, the former takes the word "soul" in a spiritual, the latter, on the contrary, in a material sense, and recommends for the improvement of the "souls" of the people the "Crossing of the Races." In his judgment of the different "Volksseelen" the writer is very impartial in regard to his own countrymen, the Germans, or rather he is very partial against them. He puts them, so far as national character goes, below the French and the German-Austrians-who, however, be

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Upon the whole, philosophy shows a decided leaning toward empiricism. The starting of a new journal for Empirische Philosophie, and E. Dühring's newest "Philosophie, der Wirklichkeit," are proofs of this. But, while the philosophers descend from metaphysics to experience, certain followers of the natural sciences seem inclined to set out on metaphysical quests.

HOLLAND. In my review of last year I mentioned a work that was then on the eve of publication-Schimmel's "Sinjeur Semeyns," an historical novel, in three volumes. The great expectations formed by critics and readers have not been disappointed; the book has proved a splendid success. Schimmel's genius has made the glorious times of William III., De Ruyter, and Tromp live again, the days when Louis XIV._had_penetrated into this country as far as Utrecht, and the banner of the Bourbons was flying from the cathedral, where mass was once more said. As in his other novels-" Mary Hollis," for instance, which has been honored by an English translation-we must admire the author's deep knowledge of the times, his historical characters, and psychology.

M. Vosmaer, the chief art-critic, of whose French work on Rembrandt a second and enlarged edition is going through the press, has issued a new collection of his essays and shorter poems under the title of "Birds of Different Feathers," the first "flights" of which appeared some time ago. Especially the humor of M. Vosmaer's earlier essays, slightly tinged with melancholy as they are, reminds us of Hawthorne. A conspicuous feature in our novelistic literature of the year was the completion of P. van Limburg Brouwer's collected works of fiction. This author, who died long since, was professor at Leyden, and one of our best classical scholars.

Some volumes of lyrical poems have appeared in the course of 1876, which contain fair promise for the future. Those of Holda, a pseudonym, and De Rop, prove that the poetic vein that runs through the works of the old and modern painters still contains ore of the purest quality.

An event which may prove propitious to the stage is the leasing of the Amsterdam and Hague Theatre to a company of gentlemen, who intend to influence the actors and the repertory. The literary fertility of this small country makes it impossible even to give the titles of the most important publications relating to the stage and its history, theology, and philosophy, history, Oriental and classical languages and literature, geography and travels, local history and topography, and art.

HUNGARY.-In philology, the learned acad

emician and professor, Budenz, has produced, in one volume, a grammar of the Mokscha and Erza-Mordvin languages, and effected a unification of these two dialects, which have been hitherto separately treated by Finn-Ugrian philologists, such as Ahlqvist ("Versuch einer mokscha mordwinischen Grammatik, nebst Texten und Wörterverzeichniss," St. Petersburg, 1861) and Wiedemann ("Grammatik der erza - mordwinischen Sprache, nebst einem kleinen mordwinisch-deutschen und deutschmordwinischen Wörterbuch," St. Petersburg, 1865).

In connection with philology, I may mention M. Paul Hunfalvi's "Ethnography of Hungary," which treats of the origin of the Magyar race, as well as the early history of the nonMagyar population of the country, such as the Germans, Slavonians, Roumanians, Armenians, Gypsies, and Jews, the latter in their quality of integral parts of the crown of St. Stephen, a proceeding which deserves approbation, since the ethnological conditions of these last-named nationalities have been already amply treated by Rössler, Häufle, Miklosich, and Czoernig.

Dramatic literature can boast of two eminent products: "Milton," by Maurice Jókai, a work defective in dramatic construction, but thoroughly poetic; and "Ishkariot," a Biblical tragedy, by the young Anthony Várady. A lofty and poetic mind pervades the dramatic poem, "The Day of Judgment" ("Az itélet napja "), by Baron Ivor Kaas. The greater part of the products of dramatic literature are composed to supply daily demand.

Fiction is represented only by our genius, Maurice Jókai. To him we are indebted for "The Comedians of Life” (“Az élet komédiásai "), a social novel, "The Lunatic of Debreczen" ("A debreczeni lunátikus "), an interesting and humorous tale, and "To the North Pole" ("Egész az ésszaki pólusig "), a fantastic novel in the style of Jules Verne.

Essays on literary history are mostly published in periodicals. As separate volumes, we find "The Ballads of Arany" ("Arany balladái "), expounded by Augustus Greguss; "History of our Literature, 1711-"72" ("Irodalmuuk története, 1711-72"), written with great care by Joseph Szinnyei, junior; and "The Two Kisfaludy" ("A két Kisfaludy"), by Thomas Szana, of which the latter describes two interesting individuals in Hungarian literature, viz., Alexander Kisfaludy, one of the most eminent representatives of erotic poetry, and Charles Kisfaludy, the founder of Hungarian comedy. The valuable work of Francis Toldy, "A Manual to Hungarian Poetry" ("A magyar költészet kézikönyve "), is only a second and enlarged edition of the original book.

Turning to history, I may begin with the publications of the Academy, which, edited by a special committee, mostly refer to the investigation of our original resources. That committee, presided over by Bishop Horváth, the eminent historiographer of this country, enjoys an

annual subsidy of 50,000 florins from the Government, and unites our best scholars on the field of historical resources. The publications called "Monumenta Hungariæ Historica" consist of two different groups, those relating to parliamentary matters, and the " Acta Extera." In the past year came out the following noteworthy work: "Diplomatic Monuments of the Time of the Anjou Dynasty," by Prof. Gustavus Wenzel, extending from 1370-1426; “Diplomatic Monuments from the Time of our Great King Mathias Corvinus," edited by Iván Nagy and Baron Albertus Nyáry, comprising the time between 1458-'70. As particularly interesting, I have to mention "The Correspondence of Nicolaus Oláh," published by Bishop Arnold Ipolyi, a book which throws an essential light upon one of the most interesting periods of Hungarian history. Nicolaus Oláh was a private secretary of Queen Maria, the wife of our unfortunate King Ludovic II., who fell at the disastrous battle of Mohács. Queen Maria having been obliged to emigrate after the Turkish occupation of Hungary, her secretary, N. Oláh, followed her, with a noble attachment, to the Netherlands, and the correspondence which he kept up, from that country, with his friends in Hungary, is rich in details concerning the diplomatic transactions of those times between Charles V., Ferdinand I., and Clement VII. We get from these letters an insight into the great panic which Europe experienced with regard to the Turks; but, at the same time, we see how mutual rivalry and total ignorance of facts stood in the way of an energetic and combined defense. Bishop Ipolyi's book, comprising 621 letters in Latin, fully deserves the attention of foreign scholars.

This year the congress for prehistoric archæology and ethnology held its eighth meeting, at Buda-Pesth. England was represented by Messrs. Franks, Evans, and Grote; France, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Holland, and the different provinces of ancient Poland, sent their most distinguished savants to our capital; Vienna, Russia proper, and Roumania, were absent. The principal feature of the congress was a noble exhibition of the most important prehistoric remains found in Hungary, which gave a correct idea of the different types of Hungarian finds.

ITALY.-Guasti, of Prato, near Florence, has recently published the forty-sixth and fortyseventh portions of the monumental "Storia dell' Arte Cristiana nei primi otto secoli della Chiesa," by Father Raffaele Garrucci, of the Company of Jesus. These two portions complete the third folio volume, which treats of miniatures and painted glass. The fourth volume is now commencing, which will describe the mosaics. This work is now about half finished, and all those persons who are engaged in the history of art ought to express the desire that it may be carried on to the end; they should also give it their best encouragement.

Some of Father Garrucci's opinions may be disputed, and some of his interpretations may seem somewhat arbitrary; and it would have been as well had the illustrations been strict fac-similes, and not undergone any arrangement whatever; but this fault is not for a moment to be weighed against the immense archæological erudition of Father Garrucci, the great importance of some of the illustrations, which are now for the first time given to the world in his book, and the subtile ingenuity of some of his remarks; above all, there is the very solid and important fact that never, until now, has so rich or so interesting a collection of materials been brought together to illustrate Christian art from the earliest ages of the Church. This work, to which all the great libraries of Europe have subscribed, will, when complete, contain one hundred parts in folio, and the price will be five hundred francs.

From Naples we have received the first part of another archæological work, "Le Rovine di Pompej;" the illustrations are drawn and engraved by Giuseppe Solari and Eugenio Leone. This work, when finished, will contain upward of a thousand woodcuts, distributed through sixty sheets of letter-press. The present specimen-number does not give promise of much learning; but it is, at all events, well illustrated, the objects are carefully described, and the book will be suitable to general readers, on account of the cuts and of the extreme, almost elementary, clearness of the explanations.

Two excellent archæological monographs, in quarto, have recently appeared: one of them, I Sigilli Antichi Romani raccolti e publicati da Vittorio Poggi," with eleven pages of illustration; the other, "Le Antiche Lapidi di Bergamo descritte ed illustrate dal Canonico Giovanni Finazzi." Both of them are works of solid erudition and conscientious labor.

In this place I must especially mention the last volume in quarto of the "Documenti di Storia Italiana," published by the Historical Commission of Tuscany, Umbria, and the Marches. I must not omit the first volume in quarto of the "Biblioteca Historica Italiana," published in an elegant form by the Lombard Historical Society. It has an instructive preface, written by A. Cerruti; and it also contains chronicles and historical monographs.

Last year I announced the first volume of the "Storia della Diplomazia della Corte di Savoia," by Domenico Carutti. This eminent historian, who is a member of the Council of State at Rome, has now lately given to the world the second volume of the work. This volume treats of the events of 1601-'63, that is to say, the stormy period for the House of Savoy during the reigns of Charles Emanuel I., of Victor Amadeus I., and of Madama Reale. Sgr. Carutti always goes for his materials to trustworthy sources, and turns to the best account the dispatches of embassadors.

Almost at the same time that Sgr. Bianchi is introducing us, through his most inestimable

work, to the treasures of the Piedmontese archives, two archivists of Venice, Sgr. F. Toderini, and Sgr. Bartolomeo Cecchetti, the present excellent keeper of the Venetian Archives, have given to the world an account of the archives under their care, in a volume which is worthy of all commendation. It is entitled "L'Archivio di Stato in Venezia nel Decennio 1866'76." It gives evidence of the immense interest possessed by the mass of historical papers which are kept in Venice, and it also bears witness to the care and pains that have been bestowed upon them since the deliverance of Venice from the Austrian yoke.

It is thus that Sgr. Domenico Berti, deputy to Parliament, and also Professor of History of Philosophy at the University of Rome, has at last given to the world, for the first time, an exact and complete copy of the "Processo Originale di Galileo Galilei," with an excellent commentary upon the same. Certain orthodox critics, who have not seen the work, have precipitately declared that the announcement of this book is merely an Italian hoax. The same author, some months previously, published a perfect model of an historical monograph, under the title of "Copernico e le Vicende del Sistema Copernicano in Italia nella seconda metà del Secolo XVI e nella prima del XVII." Thus the two grand characters of Copernicus and of Galileo are both faithfully delineated in these eloquent and masterly histories by the same writer.

Among the best works of history that have appeared in the course of the present year is the first volume of a very important work, by Prof. Bartolomeo Malfatti. It is entitled "Imperatori e Papi ai Tempi della Signoria dei Franchi in Italia." Immense labor has been bestowed upon this first volume; it is written in the highest style of criticism, and every page bears the impress of impartiality. I must also mention the recent numbers of the always attractive "Cronistoria dell' Indipendenza Italiana," by our aged but still indefatigable and illustrious historian, Cesare Cantù; and the eighth edition of Sgr. Amari's celebrated work, entitled "La Guerra del Vespro Siciliano," with many important additions and corrections, which may now be considered as final.

All that can be said on the whole of Italian publications is, that the book-trade in Italy seems to be growing more and more brisk, owing to several circumstances, which may be briefly summed up as follows: first, the gener al awakening of Italy; secondly, the number of publishers, which is always on the increase; thirdly, the public becomes more eager after new works; fourthly, there are authors who are content to receive a nominal price for their work, sometimes they are content to receive nothing at all, and sometimes they even gladly pay the expense of publication, for the sole pleasure of seeing their book well got up, and brought out by a good publisher. It is seldom,