Titus Livius: Selections from the First Five Books, together with the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Books entire; chiefly from the Text of Alschefski. With English Notes for Schools and Colleges. By J. L. LINCOLN, Professor of Latin in Brown University. With an accompanying Plan of Rome, and a Map of the Passage of Hannibal. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1847. 12mo. pp. 329. To the teachers and lovers of classical literature, as well as to those of the rising generation who are destined to cultivate an acquaintance with the Latin language and authors, we think Professor Lincoln has rendered an acceptable service. Some thirty years ago, and until a much later period, a volume containing the first five Books of Livy, without note or comment, was the first Latin classic put into the hands of the student after entering college. Provided with an abridgment of Ainsworth, Adam's Latin Grammar, and a translation, if he could get it, though this was a thing not of easy acquisition, he commenced his labors upon the author who held him longest and on whom the greatest amount of diligent, profitable study was bestowed. Mr. Folsom's publication afforded some relief in this state of need, but, as intimated in the preface of the present volume, it lacks that copious provision of notes which is believed to be necessary to supply the wants of the student. Professor Lincoln's notes are probably the result of difficulties gradually and successively observed, mastered, and noted down, as occasions presented them in the course of his instruction; in which work, as well as in settling the text, he has been assisted materially, no doubt, by the recent edition of the "distinguished European scholar" (Alschefski) to whom he refers. He acknowledges his indebtedness to many other restorers and expositors of Livy of high credit. His map, showing the route of Hannibal over the Alps, and another exhibiting a plan of ancient Rome, we conceive to be valuable helps, for which the student will thank him. The notes possess one admirable characteristic in their brevity. Of all the obstacles which have served to paralyze the interest of the student and to obstruct the progress of classical knowledge, we think those interminable pages of rubbish and stupidity with which critics and commentators have loaded the text they have undertaken to explain are the most lamentable. Classical learning will never have a true existence till critics, editors, and lexicographers can, in a few clear, intelligible, vernacular words, tell us what little their labors have brought to light. If they have found out any thing worth knowing, they can communicate it without what the aborigines call "a long talk." Every intelligent reader knows what a clog it is to his progress in attaining the sense or preserving the interest of his author, to be incessantly bothered 1848.] Notices of Recent Publications. 147 with references to the bottom of the page or the end of the book, when both text and notes are in his own tongue. The most desirrable editions of Shakspeare we conceive to be those recent ones, in which, in the majority of cases, a single word gives us all the light we want. Who, then, will wade through an endless jargon. of Latin annotations, for modern Latin deserves no better desig nation, to get what information five words or lines of modern English, French, or German might communicate? It is worse than searching two bushels of chaff to find two grains of wheat. Gray's Latin morceaux have been much admired, but only as imitations of Horace and Lucretius, as specimens of the ingenuity and taste of an accomplished man of letters. Few will regret that his "Ars Cogitandi" was left unfinished. Buchanan's version of the Psalms, executed with Horatian felicity, is a tedious book to read. Why attempt to resuscitate a dead language? Have we not a whole Babel of spoken and written tongues, with their respective literatures, now? Even the classics themselves are valuable chiefly as relics of what was once, in ages of a far remote antiquity, the intellectual and literary life of their times, times connected with succeeding periods down to our own, and casting back a faint glimmer of light into times earlier still and illuminated only by the uncertain rays of tradition and fable. B. Britt F. Practical Physiology; for the Use of Schools and Families. By EDWARD JARVIS, M. D. Philadelphia: Thomas, Cowperthwaite, & Co. 1847. 12mo. pp. 368. THIS work deserves, and will undoubtedly obtain, a high rank in that class of productions among which it is the author's intention that it shall be placed. It is a hand-book of physiology, and compliance, from youth to age, with its instructions will tend to guide us healthily and happily through life, enabling us to avoid many of the rough paths and painful incidents which we are too apt to consider as inseparable from our earthly pilgrimage. With some of the most important precepts which this science inculcates, all who are capable of understanding them should be perfectly familiar; for without such knowledge we are as unfit to take proper care of ourselves, or of others, as we were before our release from the nursery. If instruction of the kind given in this book were more widely diffused, and made to hold a more prominent place in early education, many an hour of suffering and much sickness would be prevented. That these evils are often unnecessary, and are the penalties we pay for our ignorance on this important subject, is a fact on which we cannot too strongly in sist. A treatise like the present must comprehend a certain amount of information concerning the structure of the human frame, those chemical laws which are more immediately connected with the changes constantly going on within us, and the influence which these exert upon the whole physical system, with an especial reference to their effect upon the mind itself. The work before us is peculiarly adapted to enlighten the youthful reader on these points. It is full of valuable information, and contains many useful facts, drawn from a great number of larger volumes, and freed from the abstruse and complicated matter with which, in works of a more purely scientific character, they are necessarily mingled. These are presented to the youthful reader in a style at once attractive, clear, comprehensive, and practical. 8. Editors. B-n. The Gospel of To-day. A Discourse delivered at the Ordination of T. W. Higginson, as Minister of the First Religious Society in Newburyport, Mass., Sept. 15, 1847. By WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING. Together with the Charge, Right Hand of Fellowship, and Address to the People. Boston: Crosby & Nichols. 1847. 8vo. pp. 63. Dangers of a Business Life. A Sermon preached at the Church of the Saviour, Brooklyn, N. Y., Sunday, September 19, 1847. By FREDERIC A. FARLEY, Pastor. New York. 1847. 8vo. pp. 8. The Death of Little Children. A Sermon, preached at Brigh ton, Sunday Morning, September 19, 1847. By FREDERIC A. WHITNEY, Minister of the First Church. Boston: Crosby & Nichols. 1847. 8vo. pp. 15. Two Years in the Ministry; or Farewell Discourses, comprising, I. Views of the Nature and Sources of True Christian Theology; and, II. Views of the Nature of the Christian Religion, and Salvation by Christ. Delivered September 26, 1847, on leaving the Second Congregational Society in Southington, Conn. By JAMES RICHARDSON, JR., A. M., Pastor of the First Congregational Society, Haverhill, Mass. Boston: Crosby & Nichols. 1847. 8vo. pp. 58. Relation of Christianity to Human Nature. A Sermon preached at the Ordination of Mr. Frederick N. Knapp, as Colleague Pastor of the First Congregational Church in Brookline, Mass., on Wednesday, October 6, 1847. By HENRY W. BELLows, Pastor of the Church of the Divine Unity, in New York City, Together with the Charge and Right Hand of Fellowship. Boston: Crosby & Nichols. 1847. 8vo. pp. 47. The Good Judge. A Sermon preached at the Federal Street Meetinghouse, October 17, 1847, after the Death of Hon. Ar- . 1848.] Notices of Recent Publications. 149 temas Ward, LL. D. By EZRA S. GANNETT, Pastor of the Federal Street Church. Boston: Crosby & Nichols. 1847. 8vo. pp. 24. A Discourse delivered before the Autumnal Unitarian Convention, held at Salem, Mass., Wednesday Evening, October 20, 1847. By GEORGE W. BRIGGS, Junior Minister of the First Church in Plymouth, Mass. Boston: B. H. Greene. 8vo. pp. 31. The Guilt of Contempt. A Sermon, preached in the Union Street A The American Citizen; his True Position, Character, and Duties. A Discourse, delivered before the Senate of Union College, at Schenectady, 26th July, 1847. By THEODORE SEDGWICK. New York: Wiley & Putnam. 1847. 8vo. pp. 36. Fame and Glory. An Address before the Literary Societies of Amherst College, at their Anniversary, August 11, 1847. By CHARLES SUMNER. Boston: W. D. Ticknor & Co. 8vo. pp. 51. An Introductory Lecture, delivered at the Massachusetts Medical College, November 3, 1847. By OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, M. D., Parkman Professor of Anatomy and Physiology. Boston: Ticknor & Co. 1847. 8vo. pp. 38. MR. CHANNING's Discourse is marked by great vitality and energy; it is full of "thoughts that breathe and words that burn"; many will pronounce it visionary, or describe it as tinctured with a subtile mysticism, yet few can read it, we should think, without finding their souls stirred and elevated. Mr. Farley's is a purely practical discourse. The "dangers of a business life" are pointed out, being its tendencies to promote selfishness, to cause religion to be separated from "common occupations," the standard of character to be lowered, and the future to be forgotten in the present. Mr. Whitney's Sermon on "the death of little children " opens those Christian views on the subject which appeal at once to the affections and to faith, and which, duly meditated upon, become a source of strength in trial and means of growth in the spiritual life. Although we by no means coincide with some of the views presented by Mr. Richardson on subjects of which, though requiring profound thought and careful analysis, he has disposed in a somewhat summary manner, there are parts of his Discourses which are very effective, his warm and glowing style adding to the natural force of the thought. If we understand Mr. Bellows, of which we are not quite sure, we cannot accept all his statements, at least without important qualifications; but he may, possibly, be right and we wrong; at all events, we like his free, earnest utterance. - Jesus, says Mr. Briggs, did not directly assail error, but made his appeal to great spiritual truths, and we must do the same; this is his first topic: his second is the "regeneration of the life," by bringing the "heart into direct contact with the eternal truth," or the "direct application of truth to the principles of the individual and the age.” His Discourse is marked by great fervor, the sentiment is pure and reverently Christian, but one or two points we should prefer to state in a somewhat different form. — The Sermon by Mr. Giles on "contempt of humanity in any form of man" is marked by his peculiar and fervid eloquence, his keen power of analysis, and vivid conceptions of the fit, the beautiful, and the good. Mr. Waterston speaks of the source of a true theology, to be found in the Gospel of Jesus miraculously attested; he then turns to the “civilization and philanthropy of the times," and the position of the church in regard to them, noticing especially slavery and war; and lastly refers to the "wants of individual man,” — a reverential faith and Christian seriousness being prominent characteristics of the Discourse. Mr. Sedgwick's Discourse, on "the true position, character, and duties of the American citizen," is full of wisdom drawn from the storehouse of history and from careful meditation; it is rich in thought and appropriate illustration, and altogether we hesitate not to pronounce it a noble discourse on a noble theme.— Mr. Sumner, in his brilliant Address before the "Literary Societies of Amherst College," passes in review the common notions of fame and glory; he then discusses the questions, —“ to what extent, if any," glory is "a proper and commendable motive of conduct, or object of regard,”— and “what are true fame and glory, and who are the men most worthy of honor." The performance is rich in historical and classical allusions, and in its tone eminently Christian. — Dr. Holmes, in his Introductory Lecture, touches upon many topics connected with the present state of the medical profession in this country, the honorable position which Boston is entitled to hold for the encouragement she has always given to discoveries in medical science, the history of the medical department of the University, and the principles and purposes with which he enters on the duties of his office, the whole written with a rare union of the pleasant and the dignified in style. |