par with that of most continental countries; the scientific and literary reviews and magazines are yearly increasing both in numbers and in value. This sketch, however brief, would be incomplete without a glance at what may be called the provincial literature of Spain. The publishers of Barcelona, especially in illustrated works, vie with those of Madrid. It is not in the Castilian tongue alone that the awakening is apparent. In Catalonia and in Valencia the study of the native idiom and of their ancient authors has been taken up with zeal, and with happiest results in history and philology. Victor Balaguer, the Catalan poet and dramatist is equal to all contemporary Spanish poets save Nunez de Arce. The dramas of Pablo Soler (Serafi Petarra) are received with an enthusiasm unknown to audiences in Madrid. Mila y Fontanals, Bofarull, and Sanpere y Miquel are investigating with success the language, history, and archaeology of their country. A like, though necessarily a less important, movement is taking place in Andalusia, in the Basque Provinces, in the Asturias, and in Galicia; everywhere what is worth preserving in these dialects is being sought out, edited, and given to the press. The archives of Simancas are at length thrown open to the world, and guides and catalogues are being industriously prepared. Sevillian scholars are also studying the archives of the Indies, and the treasures of Hebrew and Arabian lore. Thus, if Spain can at present boast no writer whom we can place undoubtedly and unreservedly in the very first rank, she shows an intellectual movement which, though confined at present to a comparatively small portion of her inhabitants, may, if it spread and continue, place her again in her proud position of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as one of the first of European nations, not perhaps in arms and power, but in literature, if not in science. CHAPTER IX. EPILOGUE. A few words in conclusion. Spain is far from being a worn-out country. On the contrary, both in the character and capacities of its varied populations, in the mineral riches of its soil, in its agricultural wealth, in industrial resources, and in the artistic taste of its workmen, it is capable of vast development.