CURRENT LITERATURE.
CosmopoZis (T. Fisher Unwin) came out too late this month to be reviewed among the other magazines. The belated number is hardly as interesting as usual. " Interim " and " —n— " supply the places of M. de Pressens6 and " Ignotus." Per- haps the most entertaining paper in the November number is a French one by M. Victor du Bled on "The Salon of Madame Swetchine." This lady, a Russian by birth, held a successful salon in Paris for nearly forty years between 1816 and 1857, entertaining not once a week, but every day. She her- self was devote, and the whole atmosphere of her salon distinctly religious. In a private chapel attached to her house Lacordaire and Dupanloup used to preach and say Mass. Of her many witticisms and clever sayings as told by M. du Bled, we quote one at random. Apparently, Madame Swetchine had a poor opinion of actresses. Hearing one day of one who had married and become an excellent wife and mother, she exclaimed with annoy- ance, Such good conduct will prove a very bad example."
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