CURRENT LITERATURE.
The Universal Review for July has a paper by Mr. Laurence Housman, " The Green Gaffer," which might be called a poem if, which we do not admit, poetry can be indepen- dent of metre. The scene is laid in a Bavarian forest, and the story of the way in which a young Scotchman meets with the god Pan in the depths of the woods, is worthy of Fouque. One feels something like an affection for .the forlorn god, and for the youth who reminds him of Pheidippides. Under the title of " The Referendum," which will probably convey little meaning to most. readers, Professor Freeman writes on the Swiss Confederation, the only Government that is without a personal head in any shape :—"The United States are- regularly
convulsed at fixed intervals by the personal question Who shall be President P' England, Italy, every constitutional Kingdom is irregularly convulsed at uncertain intervals by the personal question : Who shall be Prime Minister ? ' So is the Common- wealth of France, with the further chance of another personal question : Who shall be President ? '—in other words, Who shall be temporary King ?'—turning up quite unexpectedly. Switzer- land, on the other hand, is never convulsed by any of these ques- tions; for it has a form of executive under which none of them can ever be put." Mr. Freeman thinks that the study of Swiss politics is of great moment, and calls on Mr. Bryce to write fully upon the subject. His article, however, shows that he "is quite as capable of doing so himself. In an essay on " Westminster Abbey "—which, by-the-way, is admirably illnstrated—Dr. Lbe, Vicar of All Saints, Lambeth, expresses much affection for 'the Roman Catholic Church, and something like contempt for the Church which he has vowed to maintain and to defend. Not a word has he to say against the cruelties practised under Mary Tudor, who, according to a sermon quoted, was as devout and patient as an angel ; while Elizabeth is described by Dr. Lee as a " fearful woman," who was alike cruel and unscrupulous. Then we are told that John Hampden " began his opposition to authority because he had himself been evidently refused a peerage;" and that Cromwell, " originally an obscure beer-brewer obtained by fraud and force a kingly style and title." Dr. Lee, who anticipates a return to the "old order of things," has at least the merit of originality. Mrs. Crawford writes a second article on "The Rival Salons," and Archdeacon Farrar a highly interesting paper on " The Painter Bernardo Luini."
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