The earlier struggle enjoyed the favor of France, whether in assemblies of learning or of fashion, in spite of its King.  It remains to be seen if the present struggle must not ignobly fail in France, still mindful of its early vows, in spite of its Emperor.

Where duty and honor are so plain, it is painful to think that even for a moment there can be any hesitation.

Alas for France!

* * * * *

REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES.

History of Spanish Literature. By GEORGE TICKNOR.  In Three Volumes.  Third American Edition, corrected and enlarged.  Boston:  Ticknor & Fields.

The first edition of this work was published in 1849, in three volumes octavo, and it is hardly necessary for us to add, that it was received with very great favor both at home and abroad.  Indeed, we may go farther, and say that it was received with the highest favor by those who were best qualified to pronounce upon its merits.  The audience which it addressed was small at home, and not numerous anywhere; for the literature of Spain, in general, does not present strong attractions to those who are not natives of the Peninsula.  In our country, at the time of its publication, there was hardly a man competent to examine and criticize it; and in Europe, outside of Spain itself, the number of thorough Spanish scholars was and is but small, and of these a large proportion is found in Germany.  But by these, whether in Germany, France, or England, Mr. Ticknor’s History was received with a generous and hearty admiration which must have been to him as authentic a token of the worth of his book as the voice of posterity itself.  But, of course, it was exposed to the severest trial in Spain, the people of which are intensely national, loving their literature, like everything else which belongs to them, with a passionate and exclusive love, and not disposed to treat with any tenderness a foreign writer who should lay an incompetent hand upon any of their great writers, though in a friendly and liberal spirit.  But by the scholars and men of letters in Spain it was greeted with a kindliness of welcome which nothing but the most substantial excellence could have assured.  Universal assent to the views of a foreigner and a Protestant was not to be expected:  this or that particular judgment was questioned; but no one said, or could say, that Mr. Ticknor’s History was superficial, or hastily prepared, or prejudiced, or wanting in due proportions.  On the other hand, a most hearty tribute of admiration was paid to its thorough learning, its minute and patient research, its accurate judgments, its candid temper and generous spirit.  Cultivated Spaniards were amazed that a foreigner had so thoroughly traced the stream of their literature from its fountain-heads, omitting nothing, overlooking nothing, and doing justice to all.