to catch hold of.

Lately, at a sitting of the Norwegian legislature at Christiana, a
petition was presented from the world-known fiddler, Ole Bull, in which he
solicited the creation of a national theatre in that town, to receive a
subvention from the government, and to which a dramatic school was to be
attached. The Assembly voted that the petition should be taken into
consideration, and appointed a committee to draw up a report on it. M.
Bull has already founded, at his own cost, a theatre in his native town,
Bergen. M. Bull visits this country now in search only of pleasure.

AUTHORS AND BOOKS

GUTZKOW'S _Ritter vom Geiste_ (Knights of the Spirit) is at last finished,
the ninth volume having made its appearance. It has faults of detail, and
there are deficiencies in spots, but as a whole it is praised as eminently
successful, and truly a new work. The idea in some respects recalls the
Wilhelm Meister of Goethe, and the Nathan the Wise of Lessing, but the
execution has more force and a larger and more imperious movement than
either. The Knights of the Spirit are a body of men who are combined in an
order to which they give that name, and this book is their history and
that of the order. At the same time there is nothing mystical,
supernatural, or merely fantastic about it, though its spirit is
humanitary and even socialistic. The scene is in modern times, but though
the names of the heroes are German, and the circumstances in which they
are placed German, the author has succeeded in producing a truly
cosmopolitan romance. The nine volumes are sold in Germany for about $8
00.

HENRY TAYLOR, the author of Philip Van Artevelde, is the subject of an
article in the _Grenzboten_. The writer takes him, as the acknowledged
first living dramatic poet of England, to be the best illustration of the
nature and characteristics of the English drama. This drama is said to be
more remarkable for sharply-outlined and detailed characters, than for the
invention of exciting and consistent action. The characters in all their
peculiarities are first created, and situations are made and arranged for
them afterward. The evil of this is, that the whole thus becomes
fragmentary, and the particulars outweigh and obscure the general spirit
and intention of the piece. Even Shakspeare, with his gigantic genius, was
not free from this defect. His Merry Wives of Windsor, for instance, is
rich in comic situations and f