of the works named below.* No one is safe in pronouncing decisively on the merits of a school-book till he has applied to it the practical test of the school-room. We are sorry to say that the first-named work does not bear this test. The general plan is good, but it bears marks of having been got up too hastily and carelessly. The work is illarranged, without sufficient regard to philosophical method or the natural development of the subjects treated; the examples are often poor; too many new words and new topics are crowded on the mind at once; the notes are not good; peculiar and idiomatic expressions are used in the very first lessons; the Vocabulary is very imperfect, — words are omitted, and the definitions are incomplete, and often different from the expressions used in the English sentences given to be turned into Latin, so as seriously to puzzle the scholar; typographical errors are by no means uncommon, and the references to the grammar are occasionally incorrect. On the whole, the book seems to have been prepared by some one who could have done much better if he had allowed himself more time; but as it is, we cannot give it high praise.

The work of Mr. Richards was published so lately that we can speak of it only from examination, and not experimentally. Of the author we have never heard before, but he is evidently a good scholar, as well as a teacher of ability and experience. We have carefully examined the book with special reference to the defects noted in the other work, and have found very much to praise, and nothing seriously to blame. It gives indications everywhere of careful thought and conscientious fidelity. Mr. Richards evidently made his book to use, as well as to sell. Among the features which seem to us specially worthy of commendation are a clear logical arrangement; systematic treatment of topics; a carefully devised plan for committing to memory the grammar; admirable notes; rules for the euphonic changes of consonants, and, based upon these, laws for the formation of the theme in the third declension, and of the second and third roots of verbs; the clear analysis of verbs, with mode, tense, and personal signs, and the special significance of the several terminations; a well-arranged Synopsis of Syntax; some excellent hints on English etymologies; and a Vocabulary, which, so far as we have examined it, is accurate, scholarly, and complete. We ought to add our thanks to the publishers and printers for the typographical execution of the work, which, for a school-book, is absolutely faultless. It is electrotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry. Teachers will differ in judgment as to the best mode of teaching Latin. But those who believe, as we thoroughly do, that a boy should not begin the study

The New Liber Primus: a Practical Companion for the Latin Grammar, and Introduction to the Reading and Writing of Latin; on the Plan of Crosby's Greek Lessons. Boston: John P. Jewett and Company. Cleveland, Ohio: Henry P. B. Jewett. 1859. 12mo. pp. 126.

Latin Lessons and Tables: combining the Analytic and Synthetic Methods; consisting of Selections from Cæsar's Commentaries, with a Complete System of Memorizing the Grammar, Notes, Exercises in Translating from English into Latin, Tables, and a Vocabulary. BY CYRUS S. RICHARDS, A. M., Principal of Kimball Union Academy, Merideň, N. H. Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Company. 1859. 12mo. pp. 129.

till he is at least thirteen years of age, and who are persuaded of the superior advantages of this method, can hardly fail to use this little book with exceeding satisfaction.

We have examined, with great satisfaction, a Latin Lexicon recently published by Lippincott & Co.* Both in plan and execution it is excellent. A good School Lexicon is a rarity. In its preparation are needed skill and judgment, as well as sound scholarship; and few persons possessing those qualifications have been willing to employ them in such work. Occasionally, a "Vocabulary," at the end of an elementary text-book, is prepared with fidelity and accuracy, as in the excellent edition of Sallust edited by Messrs. Butler and Sturgus; but for the most part, the compilations put into the hands of the young student are miserable abortions. We regret to be obliged to name, as among the poorest of the class, the list of words, called a Vocabulary, in Felton's Greek Reader. No better, generally, have been the School Lexicons; and the result has been disgust, discouragement, and inferior scholarship.

The work we are noticing we are almost afraid to praise as highly as it seems to us to deserve. The authors say: "It has been the [our] aim to make it conform precisely to its title, that of a School Lexicon. In executing this purpose, we have endeavored to keep in view the wants of students, rather than those of teachers and philologists, and to prepare a hand-book for daily use, rather than a work of reference for the scholar's library." They have certainly succeeded, and produced a work which no scholar need be ashamed to use, and which the teacher will find a most valuable aid. It claims to contain every word, and to explain "every passage peculiar or important lexicographically," used by "the prose-writers and poets who are universally acknowledged to be the first among the classic writers of Latin literature, and as the most important to be read in colleges and schools." We are not able to affirm that the claim is made good; but from what examination we have made, we hazard little in saying that a majority of young scholars, in reading the works of Cicero, Tacitus, or Horace, would use with more ease and profit this book, than the larger Lexicons of Leverett, or Andrews, or Freund. The advanced scholar must have the fullest and most complete works; but the inexperienced student is more often perplexed by the over-fulness, than helped by the exhaustive scholarship, of the great lexicons; just as an average boy of fifteen would find more to his purpose in Worcester's Academic Dictionary than in Richardson's Quarto.

The compilers of this Lexicon have shown admirable judgment, both in what they have omitted and in what they have included. Confining themselves to the Golden and Silver Ages of Roman literature, the

* A New Latin-English School-Lexicon, on the Basis of the Latin-German Lexicon of Dr. C. F. INGERSLEV. By G. R. CROOKS, D. D., late Adjunct-Professor of Ancient Languages in Dickinson College, and A. J. SCHEM, A. M., Professor of Hebrew and Modern Languages in Dickinson College. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1859. 8vo. pp. 982.

bulk of the work is materially diminished by the omission of very many words that are never met with in an ordinary Latin course. Instead of long quotations and references to authors, so confusing and useless to a young scholar, whatever is needed for illustration is given in the briefest possible form. And in general, the last results of ripe scholarship are imparted, while the processes and the minuter details are omitted.

On the other hand, the important subject of etymology is thoroughly treated, and the latest discoveries of comparative philology are in all cases noted. Another very important and valuable feature is the insertion of all names of any note in mythology, geography, and history. The scholar in his study, with the works of Smith at his side, is needlessly embarrassed by the presence of proper names in his general Lexicon. But the young student, who needs the information at every step, in reading such an author as Virgil or Ovid, cannot have three or four other books of reference on his desk; or, if they are there, it is at least an equal chance that he will not use them. We esteem it, therefore, essential, that a school lexicon contain all proper names; and in this department the work we are noticing is admirably complete, containing, in a very compact form, a great fund of information, both as to individuals and places, and including also adjectives derived from proper names, in alphabetical order.

It has seemed to us, also, that the arrangement of the several articles, both general and special, is remarkably clear and logical. The divisions and subdivisions are few, but very distinct, and arranged with great care to show the gradual development and changes of meaning. The typographical execution is excellent. The book is printed in double columns, with clear type and white paper. The leading significations are marked by heavy, broad-faced type, so that the eye catches at once the direct English equivalents of the Latin; and the other devices of the printer for designating the leading features of the articles are all that could be desired.

The authors of this work have done good service to the cause of letters, and deserve the thanks of all friends of sound classical culture. the thanks of

BERNHARDY's Roman Literature is one of that class of German books of reference which is designed for the use of scholars, and which aims, therefore, at absolute completeness, and as great compactness as is possible. Here we have in eight hundred pages everything which is known about Roman Literature, well arranged, briefly stated, and all supported by a list of references appalling to look at. At the lowest estimate, these references and citations occupy as much space in fine print as the text in coarse, and they are not placed at the foot of the page, but each paragraph of the body of the work is followed by two or three pages of these. One hundred and forty-five pages of introduction are devoted to the general characteristics of Roman Literature,

* Grundriss der Römischen Litteratur. Von G. BERNHARDY. Dritte Bearbeitung. Braunschweig: C. A. Schwetschke und Sohn. (M. Bruhn.) 8vo.

pp. 814.

the character of the people, language, etc., and the method of the study. The history which follows is divided into two parts, Internal and External, the latter again into the history of Poetry and Prose. The External History contains the statistics of the subject, the growth of the different branches, Drama, Epic, History, Oratory, etc., and a special account of the individual writers; the Internal traces the development of the literature, its sources, and the causes that stimulated it. "If," says the author, "as is now more than ever acknowledged, a history of civilization is contained in the Literature, and this is exposed to the changing influences of society, how much more must this be the case in the literature of the Romans, who were the narrowest political association of antiquity!" The history written from this point of view-far most important except for mere reference is therefore a sort of history of civilization, bringing prominently forward the eminent writers, not so much for the value of their own literary works in themselves, as for the influence they exerted on their age and those who came after them. This inner history is divided into the following periods: Five centuries, containing merely the elements of literary culture or expression, such as we imagine to have been sung in the "Lays of Ancient Rome"; the first period of written literature, from the appearance of Livius Andronicus, B. C. 240, to the death of Augustus, A. D. 14, commonly called the Golden Age; the second, or Silver Age, comprising the century from the accession of Tiberius to that of Hadrian; the third, that of literary anarchy, which reaches to the "rule of plebeian Latin, about the Gothic time, and is indicated by the name of Cassiodorus, about A. D. 500”; and fourth, that of the Middle Ages. An Appendix, on the writers on Jurisprudence, and the Fathers of the Church, closes the volume.

REV. MR. CLARK'S History of Norton* bears marks of extensive research, great industry, and an enthusiastic devotion to minute antiquarian studies. It is a remarkable fact, that so large a volume has been made from so small a variety of material; that a town in no wise remarkable, socially, commercially, or politically, should offer so affluent a record. The positive story of Norton, certainly, might have been told in less than half the space here occupied. But it has been the purpose of Mr. Clark to gather all the facts, however unimportant, that might illustrate the character or the work of the town which he loves. Even the record of the Census of 1855, and the names of all the town officers for a century or more, will not seem superfluous, when one remembers the risks to which town records are exposed, and the fate which has befallen the public documents of more than one town in Bristol County. Perhaps the personal genealogies might have been somewhat abridged, and more abbreviations profitably used; yet the

* A History of the Town of Norton, Bristol County, Massachusetts, from 1669 to 1859. By GEORGE FABER CLARK. Boston: Crosby, Nichols, & Co. 1859. 12mo. pp. 576.

numerous repetitions have the advantage of making the statement clearer. The subscribers cannot complain that they have less than they expected, or that anything which they would know about Norton has been omitted. Its streams, its ponds, its hills, its mills, its churches, schools, ministers, doctors, lawyers, college graduates, soldiers, old people, slaves, and rum-shops, all receive most ample attention. Fifteen portraits of distinguished citizens adorn the pages; and the liberality of the heirs of the immense Leonard property, in contributing ten dollars towards the engravings of their ancestors, is impartially mentioned. Mr. Clark is a just and fearless man, and leaves no one in doubt as to his own opinions.

A few instances of incorrect English, and some passages in doubtful taste, we have noted, as well as one or two mistakes of fact; but in the main, the work is well executed, and the plan is a good one. Mr. Clark judiciously refrains from stating all the circumstances which led to the formation of the Orthodox Society, and so entitles himself to the gratitude of more than one whom the full exposure of that case might seriously annoy. A novel feature of his plan is an "Index" at the beginning, instead of an Index at the end of the volume. We trust that the list of subscribers at the end does not include all who mean to buy the volume; and we cannot believe that the town of Norton will, for one who has labored for them so hard and so well, allow this task of love to become a pecuniary loss.

THE name of the translator of "Ettore Fieramosca" is not given; but unless we had learned in the anonymous Preface that the author was a foreigner, we should never have suspected it. There is no need of an apology for such choice and idiomatic English, and only in two or three instances have we detected even slight inaccuracies. The present interest in Italian affairs makes the translation timely; yet we cannot see how the supplementary titles which have been appended to the original designation are borne out by the story itself. It does not tell the struggles of one or of many Italians "against foreign protectors," but rather their alliance with such protectors. There is nothing here to show that the Italians hated the Spaniards, or fought against them. Nor is "Italy and France in the Sixteenth Century" a proper heading for a book, no scene of which is laid in France, and which deals, moreover, with matters so local and special. D'Azeglio's own title is far more exact, and is quite sufficient for the purposes of art. The sounding additions excite hopes which the performance itself does not bear out, and which do great injustice to the plan itself of the author.

As a novel, Ettore Fieramosca has some merits, but many defects. It was the earliest work of its author, written before practice had matured his style, and it has long ago fallen into neglect in his own land. Though twice honored by a French translation, it is at least twenty years, we think, since the last French translation appeared. It is, as

*Ettore Fieramosca, or the Challenge of Barletta. The Struggles of an Italian against Foreign Invaders and Foreign Protectors. By MASSIMO D'AZEGLIO.