CURRENT LITERATURE.
The British Quarterly Review, April. (Hodder and Stoughton.)—For solid value, this is an excellent number, though it might have been ad- vantageously relieved by an article of a lighter kind. Mental science is represented by a thoughtful article on the " Theories of Matter, and its Relation to Life ;" physical science, by one on "Astronomical Explanations of the Force of Inertia." In literature, we have a noticeable essay on "The Influence of the Italian Renaissance on the- Elizabethan Stage." It gives a very striking picture of Italian life in the fifteenth century. Mr. Vernon Lee, its author, has already made for himself a reputation in this subject. Dr. Gustav Hirsch- field, who directed the German explorations at Pergamon, summarises the results of his work in a most interesting account, of which we are promised a continuation. The Pergamene School of Sculpture carried to its perfection the style which Dr. Hirschfield describes by the term "rhetorical pathos." There is an appreciative criticism of the excellent translation of the .De Imitations Christi, lately pub- lished by Messrs. Began Paul and Trench. Ireland, of course, has an article. Mons. de Pressense takes a generally hopeful view of the prospects of " Democracy in France," though he does not conceal the danger with which the militant atheism of such statesmen as Mons. Paul Bert and of the Municipal Councils of the great cities threatens religion. An article on " Mahommedanism and the Ottoman Turks" —in which the extravagancies of such writers as Mr. Bosworth Smith are justly censured—and a close analysis of the results of the late Imperial elections in Germany, complete the number.
Previous page
