WHEELER'S GEOGRAPHY OF HERODOTITS. * MIL WHEELER'S volume ought to have
been noticed months ago among our "Publications Received"; but it was laid aside to be treated, with any other kindred books that miv'i t turn up, in an article of greater length. No other books of the kind have recently come before us, and we can no longer delay saying a few words in Mr. Wheeler's behalf, especially as the production of such a work by a young man till recently engaged in the business of bookselling, and under the pressure of no ordinary discouragements, deserves recognition, even if the work itself had less merit than it actually has.
Mr. Wheeler scarcely does justice to his book in calling it the " Geography of Herodotus." It is rather a general companion to Herodotus; arranging methodically according to countries the miscellaneous, historical, antiquarian, and topographical informa- tion with which the pages of Herodotus are indiscriminately crowded ; and interweaving such accounts of later investigators as are necessary to confirm or correct the impressions however de- rived of the old Greek traveller and chronicler. With all the prin- cipal recent writers, German, French, and English, whether of books or papers in periodicals, upon the questions that come within. his scope, Mr. Wheeler appears to be well acquainted ; and the la- bour expended on his work must have been very great. It is not a book to be read continuously, or from which interesting extracts for the columns of a newspaper can be selected ; but in our student days we should have eagerly welcomed such an aid in mastering systematically the whole body of knowledge contained in the nine books of Herodotus. An ample apparatus of maps and topogra- phical and ethnographical diagrams, with voluminous and clearly- arranged indices, contributes greatly to the utility of the work ; and we can have little doubt that it will obtain immediate and ex- tensive acceptance in schools and among students of Greek litera- ture. Mr. Wheeler announces as preparing for publication a more popular work, to be called " The Life and Travels of Herodotus." We would warn him against some tendency to over-fine writing, more likely to develop itself in his popular than in his scholastic volume. Clear and animated presentation of facts needs no ficti- tious and strained rhetoric. The simpler the language, the more condensed the writing, the more acceptable will his coming vo- lume be to all judicious and well-informed readers. He should aim at making a vivid and authoritative sketch, rather than a diffuse and rhetorical amplification of facts within the reach of every reader now-a-days.
• The Geography of Herodotus, developed, explained, and illustrated from Mo- dern Researches and Discoveries. By J. Talboys Wheeler, F.R.G.S. With Maps and Plans. Published by Longman and Co.
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