Glossary of Terms and Phrases. Edited by the Rev. H.
Percy Smith. (Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co.)—Mr. Percy Smith has been assisted by some able contributors, among whom may be mentioned Sir George W. Cox and Mr. Fennell, the editor of " Pinder." The Glossary of Terms and Phrases is intended "to bring together such words, expressions, quotations, &c., English or other, as are among the more uncommon in current literature, and required not for the scien- tific, but for the ordinary reader, explanations for the want of which the meaning of a sentence or a paragraph, even the drift of an argument, is often missed." We may take instances at random. The item " Brief " is explained to mean (1) Pontifical letters, which are either addressed to individuals or bodies, or, more solemnly, to the whole Church ; and (2) in the Prayer-book, Queen's Letters, author- ising collections, now discontinued. Under "Brigade," again, we learn that in the Artillery alone the word corresponds to a battalion of Infantry. The meaning of "Bristol flay" is given as the poet Thomas Chatterton, and that of "Broad-Bottom Administration" as that of H. Pelham in 1744, as having been a grand coalition of parties. The utility of the book is manifest ; that it is done by competent hands, we do not doubt. The reputation of the writers is sufficient guarantee, and all our examination of the items has tended to con- firm the belief. The scholarship in particular, so generally deficient in books of this kind, is exact.
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