ScHooL-Boons.—Andocides de Mysteriis. By W. J. Hickie, M.A. (Macmillan.)—This volume
is, or should be, a welcome addition to our slender stook of good and easy Attic prose. A short speech—its length is about two-fifths of that of the " De Corona"—and remark- able for its simplicity of style, it supplies the young student with as good an introduction to Attic oratory as can be imagined. The matter, too, is interesting. It touches on one of the most curious episodes in Greek history, the mutilation of the Hermie ; and it contains some striking pictures,—the story of Diocleides, how lie saw the actual perpertrators of the outrage by the light of the full moon, and the scene in the prison. Bat Mr. Hickie's notes are not exactly what we should choose for practical purposes. What, for instance, is the utility of the following ?—" Cf. Cobet, Var. Lect. p. 113-114. Nov. Lect. p. 371.414. Pfluk ad Eur. Here. F. 73. Kruger Gr. Gr. § 47. 28. obs. 3, § 57, 8 obs." It cannot be too much insisted upon that in a school edition everything referred to should be quoted. What are the chances that even the average teacher will have these books ? The next note gives two-thirds of a page a propos of cro'loov to the usage of the prohibitive imperative, which does not occur in the passage. This might pass ; but the second half of the note, giving three passages where i.Lb with the 2nd pers. aor. imp. is used, is quite beside the mark, and can only confuse the young student. A little before, we have half a page upon the point whether .prpds us or yobs ?I.L4 should be read, a discussion quite above the heads of the readers for whom this volume is meant. Professor Jebb, who is competent as any man to deal with such points, has quite a different idea of what is wanted, and Mr. Hickie could not do better than compare the notes in "Attic Orators," Vol. II., with his own.— Xenophon : Selections from the Cyropsdia, by Alfred Hands Cooke, M.A. (Macmillan), is intended for the use of boys who " have just began to make the acquaintance of the declensions and regular verbs." It is furnished with a vocabulary which is conveniently arranged, according to sections. There is a convenient statement of the usages of prepositions, and notes.—Plutarch's Lives of the Gracchi. By Herbert A. Holden, M.A. (Cambridge University Press.)—This is one of the thorough and excellent editions which Dr. Holden knows so well how to execute. The introduction gives some account of Plutarch as a biographer, with a special reference to these particular Lives, a notice of what we know from other sources of the Gracchi, and a particularly valuable history, illustrated by a long quotation from Appian, of the Agrarian Laws. The notes are fall—Dr. Holden's notes are always examples of what notes should be for the readers for whom these books are intended— and there is a "Complete Lexical Index," which, without indulging a learner's indolence, will materially lessen his labour. Every attentive teacher knows the lexicon difficulty. In the large lexicons, a boy loses his way ; and the small ones necessarily fail, sometimes at least, to give the usage required. A special index is particularly required when the author to be studied lies outside the familiar range of classical writing.—Livy, XXL-XXLIT. By M. T. Tatham, M.A. (The Clarendon Press.)—Mr. Tatham, in acknowledging his obliga- tion to Mr. Capes's excellent book (" Livy, XXI.-XX[I."), describes his own edition as intended for scholars less advanced. As far as we have examined his notes, we find them well adapted to this end. They are simple, sufficiently detailed, and give the things that are wanted. A map of Spain and Italy has been added. Plans of the great battles would have been a welcome and useful addition.— P. Terentie Andria. Edited by C. E. Freeman and Rev. A. Stoman. (The Clarendon Press.) — Messrs. Freeman and Sloman are Assistant-Masters of Westminster School, and both have and employ a great advantage in that position. Terence has for many years been what we may call a dramatic reality at Westminster. A play actually put upon the stage must be very different from a play, however amply illustrated and carefully studied, in the closet, and of this the present editors are fully aware. Their stage directions are copious, and embody the best traditions of Westminster acting. This may be called the special raison d'dtre of their volume, though it has other merits. It is a careful and scholarly edition, with an introduction, giving (1), a brief account of Roman Comedy and Terence ; (2), the Plot of the Andria ; (3), the Metres and Prosody of the Andria; (4), the MSS. of Terence, &c.— Selections from Martial. Edited by J. R. Morgan, M.A. (Riving- tons.)—Thera is some very pretty reading in Martial, as there is some that is not pretty at all ; " Sunt male plora," as he candidly says of himself, though he did not use main in the same sense. Mr. Morgan has chosen seventy-five epigrams, furnished them with notes which seem to give all that the young readers for whom the book is meant will want, and also adds three very seasonable excursus, on "The Roman Day," i.e., the employments or amusements in which a Roman gentleman spent his time, " A Roman House," and " Roman Books." He scarcely does justice, by the way, to the cheapness of books in Rome. "All the seventy-five epigrams in this little book might have been bought for three denarii or less." Martial says that his " Xenia" (the thirteenth book) might be bought for four seduces, or, if the purchaser thought that too much, for two, "and the bookseller will still make a profit," i.e., 274 lines for 7Icl., or, in the cheaper edition, 3id. The epigrams in Mr. Morgan's book con- tain something less than seven hundred lines, and could have been sold for very little more than one denarins.—Plutarch on the Dslay of the Divine Justice. Translated, with an Introduction and Notes, by Andrew P. Peabody. (Little, Brown, and Co., Boston, U.S.A..) — This is one of the most interesting of the moralia of Plataroh, treatises which scarcely meet with the attention that their value deserves. We may give a specimen which may serve to show Mr. Peabody's style :— " When a man, either from inordinate desire of wealth, or from envy of those possessed of civil honour and power, or for sake of some sensual gratification, commits an unlawful and abominable deed, and after the thirst and madness of passion have subsided, sees in due time the vile and fearful traits of character which lead to crime established permanently within him, while he can discern in himself nothing useful, or serviceable, or profitable, is it not probable that the thought often occurs to him that for vainglory, or for slavish and fruitless pleasure, he has set at naught the greatest and best things that are accounted right among men, and thus whelmed his life in shame and trouble ? For as Simouides said in jest that be found the chest of money always full, that of thanks empty, so the wicked, having a clear view of their own guilt, find themselves—after the indulgence which yields for the moment an empty pleasure—utterly devoid of hope, and always laden with griefs and fears, with cheerless memories, suspicions of what the future may bring, and distrust of the present."—Easy Pieces for Latin Prose, by A. C. Champneys, M.A., and G. W. Randall, MA., Second Series (Rivingtons), is a sequel to a former work published by the same editors. It is graduated so as to lead boys on to the translation into Latin of passages selected from ordinary English books. A selection of passages, made, of course, on the principle that the subjects should be such as are common to modern and ancient life, is given in Part III.; and for these the editors have properly supplied abundant help. The passage of the student from turning English words to turning English sentences—if the distinction may be so expressed— will always be a difficult one ; but careful text-books of this kind, the outcome of practical experience, may give considerable assistance. —We have received the Key to Mr. Bryan's Latin Prose Exercises, based upon Comar's Gallic War (Macmillan and Co.) We wrote of the Exercises with the commendation which they seemed to deserve. Mr. Bryan's prose is scarcely above criticism—whose prose is ?—but it will meet the requirements of teachers and learners satisfactorily.— Macmillan' s Shorter Latin Course, by A. M. Cook, M.A. (Macmillan and Co.), is an abridgment of " Macmillan's Latin Course, first year," and reduces that useful book, which adopted, in a degree, the Prendergast system, within a more practicable compass.—We have also received the thirteenth edition of The Student's Latin Grammar, by William Smith, D.C.L., and Theophilus D. Hall, M.A. (John Murray). It is described as "thoroughly revised and partly rewritten," both accidence and syntax having received careful attention.— We have also to acknowledge a new edition of The Trial and Death of Socrates, being the Euthyphra, Apology, Crito, and Phasdo of Plato, translated into English by F. J. Church, M.A. (Macmillan and Co.) —Of French class-books, we have received Racine's Britannicue, with Introduction and Notes by Eugene Pellissier (Macmillan and Co.) The introduction gives an interesting account of the great dramatist and his works, with some judicious criticism of his merits and defects. The notes, though perhaps a little slender in quantity, will be found useful, and, for students at all advanced, probably sufficient.—Hints on French Syntax, with Exercises, by F. Storr (William Rico), a " second edition, revised."—In German, we have Macmillan's Pro- gressive German Course, "a new edition, enlarged and thoroughly recast," with A Teacher's Companion, by G. Eugene Fasnacht (Mac- millan and Co.) ; Schiller : Selections from Lyrical Poems, edited by E. J. Turner, MA., and E. D. A. Morehead, M.A. (same publishers); and Freytag's Aus dem Staat Friedrichs des Grossen, by Herman Hager, Ph.D. (Rivingtons).—We have also to mention :—A Con- densed Russian Grammar. By F. Freeth, B.A. (Trtibner and Co.)— Lessons in Elementary Dynamics. Arranged by H. G. Madan, M.A. (W. and R. Chambers.)—Easy German Stories. By B. Townsan, B.A. (Rivingtons.)—Elements of Plane Geometry, Part II. (Swan Sonnenschein and Co.), " Prepared by the Committee of the Associa. tion for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching."—The Object and Use of Test Questions on the Latin Language, by F. W. Lavender (H. K. Lewis) ; and, from the same editor and publisher, Matricula- tion Questions in History and Geography,—sufficiently indicate by their titles their use and object. The latter is a second edition, revised and brought down to the present time.
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