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Contents.
The Congress of Philologists, the Congress of Historians, the Folklore Congress, the Congress of Librarians.
Studies of the Greek Poets.—A diagrammatic treatment of English Literature.—A condensed history of the Italian Republics.—More portraits of Women of the French Court.—A guide to reading and making verse.—Beautiful reprint of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament.—Narrative of a Polish adventurer.
A YEAR OF CONTINENTAL LITERATURE.
For some time past "The Athenæum" has published annual summaries of the current literature of Continental Europe, each country of importance being represented by a special article. To the year just ended are devoted no less than thirty-two pages of the issue for July 1 of our English contemporary, and the information given by this series of communications is of such interest that we feel justified in devoting considerable space to a summary of their contents. There are in all thirteen articles, the countries represented being Belgium, Bohemia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, and Sweden. This list includes, it will be seen, every European country of any literary importance, with the two exceptions of Norway and Portugal.
M. Joseph Reinach, who is the French contributor to this symposium, thus comments upon the general literary situation in France:
"The word crisis is, indeed, the most applicable to the present state of French letters. They are on a field of battle where two different mental tendencies are struggling for mastery: science and metaphysics, criticism and belief, realism and idealism. Fifty or sixty years ago the same phenomenon appeared, and then romanticism triumphed over classicism, positivism over spiritualism, liberal ideas over the old principles of absolutism. Which will triumph to-day cannot be predicted with certainty. Perhaps neither of the tendencies which I have indicated will be victorious; perhaps the two currents of existing thought will continue to run parallel. At most one may discover under the vacillations of the moment an uneasiness in matters of social action, and in regard to letters in particular a growing belief that they are not merely a relaxation, an amusement, or a consolation, but that they ought to result in some direct teaching and help to man, tracing for him a line of conduct in life. This will be better understood after a rapid glance at the principal works of French literature during the last twelve months."
After a few comments upon the influence exerted over French thought by the two great men of letters who have recently died—Renan and Taine—M. Reinach begins his review with some remarks about M. Ernest Lavisse, whose "Jeunesse de Frédéric II." is one of the notable books of the year.
"His talents as a sagacious historian and a fascinating writer have often been remarked upon, but he is, perhaps, less known as an educationalist to those who are not familiar with the progress and history of schoolmastering. M. Ernest Lavisse has in this department left a very deep impress on the generation of young professors and their youthful auditors of the Faculty of Letters at Paris, where he teaches. After 1870 he held that it was the mission of the Ministers of Public Education, and especially of the professors of history, to know and make known the secret of our conqueror's power. That is why all his endeavors have been concentrated on the annals of Prussia and Germany. His success has been so signal, both in the quality of the matter and the excellence of the manner of his work, that the author of 'Etudes sur les Origines de la Prusse' is recognized to-day as an incontestable authority on the point."
Studies of the French Revolution have figured
