Editions of English, French, and German Classics are now so
numerous, that it is quite beyond the power of a critic to appre- ciate them. Their value can really be tested by use alone, and that is impracticable. In English we have :—Milton's Samson Agonistes, and Lycidas and other Poems. By A. Wilson Verity. (Cambridge University Press.)—We think that the Samson was written earlier than the date assigned by Mr. Verity,—" a little later than 1665." It bears marks of a very unquiet temper, of the still fresh disappointment caused by the downfall of the Common- wealth, and of private bitterness. There are lines which would hardly have been written after his third marriage. Mr. Verity sees the reference in 11. 75-78, but does not recognise that they are inconsistent with the fact of a happy union, such as he himself tells us the third marriage was. The =notation seems to be careful and good; possibly the grammatical constructions might have had more explanation.—Wordsworth's White Doe of Bylst one. Edited by William Knight. (Clarendon Press.)—We are glad to find so eminent a Wordsworthian as Professor Knight utilising the results of his study for the benefit of young scholars. The introduc- tion is peculiarly interesting. The "White Doe" is not a general favourite with students of the past; but his own views of the poem, and its purpose and meaning, give a special interest to it. Professor Knight gives in foot-notes many of the earlier readings. He adds the "Founding of Bolton Priory" and the "Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle."—From Messrs. Macmillan we have received three volumes of their series intended primarily for the use of Indian scholars. These are : Tennyson's Aylmer's Field, with Introduction and Notes by W. T. Webb, MA.; Tennyson's Enoch Arden, by the same editor ; and Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel, i.-vi., with Introduction and Notes by G. H. Stuart, M.A., and E. H. Elliot, BA. We may point out in the first two volumes some useful hints about the rhythm of Lord Tennyson's verse, which is not always so obvious as not to need some explanation. It is not, for instance, every one who could scan the line,— " With aweird, bright eye, sweating and trembling,"
the secret being the trisyllabic use of the last word.—In the series of "English Classics for Schools" (Percival and Co.), we have, for Grade I., Scott's Lady of the Lake, with Introduction and Notes by W. J. Morice, 3 vols.; Scott's Ivanhoe, by the Rev. E. Gilliat, 2 vole.; for Grade IL, Prescotes Conquest of Mexico, by R. P. Horsley, 2 vole. ; Pope's Iliad of Homer, by H. L. Earl, 3 vole.; and .Longfellotes Evangeline, by R. P. Horsley ; for Grade
More's Utopia, by T. Latimer.—From the same publishers we have English Literature-Teaching in Schools, by H. Courthope Bowen, M.A., a little volume containing two lectures, which may be read with great profit, Mr. Bowen being emphatically one who teaches teachers.—Along with these may be mentioned : The Structure of Sentences, by B. Somervell, M.A. (same publisher) ; A Short Analysis of English History, by T. F. Tout (Mac- millan) ; and Great Deeds in English History (Bell and Son).— In French Classics we have received from Messrs. Percival a Graduated Series, entitled "Modern French Series." First come the "Beginners' Texts," Ce Qu'on Voit, par Mademoiselle C. de Ponrpery, edited by W. S. Lyon, M.A.; and by the same author and editor, Petites Histoires Enfantines. Then "Elementary Texts," Histoire de la Mere Michal et de son Chat, by E. de la 1:1•Sdolliere, edited by W. H. Wrench, BA.; and Grandes Decouvertes Modernes, by C. Muller, edited by F. E. B. Wale, M.A. The "Intermediate Texts" comprise Yvan et Finette, par Edouard Laboulaye, edited by W. S. Lyon; Le Dec tie Reichstadt, par I. de St.-Amand, edited by E. Ingall ; and L'Evasicm. du Duc de Beaufort, par Alexandre Dumas, edited by D. B. Kitchin, M. A Finally, in "Advanced Texts," we have L' Orient, par Theophile Gautier, edited by W. S. Lyon, M.A.; La Veillee de Vincennes, par A. de Vigny, edited by J. S. Farley, M.A.; Le Nolan de Faience, par Jules Champfleury, edited by Clovis Bevenot ; Pierre et Camille, et L'Histoire d'un Merle Blanc, by A. de Musset, edited by W. Dewar, M.A.; SteUe, by A. de Vigny, edited by P. Desages and C. H. Steel, B.A. ; Le Cure de Tours, by H. de Balzac, edited by C. R. Carter, B.A.; and .Pecheur ceIslande, par Pierre Loti, edited by R. I. Morich (the last-named editor having the superintendence of the whole series).—Messrs. Hachette send us, in their series of "Elementary French Readers," De= Enfants de Charles I., par Madame Louise Colet, edited by H. Testard, B.A. ; G. Brerno's Les Dews Petits Patriotes, edited by H. Attwell; and Van der Berg's Napoleon I., edited by A. P. Huguenet.—We have also received : Moliere's Le Misanthrope, edited by H. W. Gegg Markheim, M.A. (Clarendon Press, Oxford) ; Hector Haloes Bur Her, edited by H. Testard, B.A. (Hachette) ; and Victor Hugo's Hernani, edited by John E. Matzke, Ph.D. (Heath and Co , Boston, U.S.A.)—Of graduated books of ex- tracts for translation, we have : A Fri parry French Translation-Book, by W. S. Lyon, M.A., and G. de H. Larpent, MA.; and three volumes of French and English Passages, Junior, Intermediate, and Senior, edited by Eugene Pellissier, M.A. These are intended for "unseen" translation, and for rendering into French. They are supplemented by grammar-papers. All are published by Messrs. Percival ; as also are Intermediate French Prose Composition, by Hugh Fraser Stewart, M.A.; Primary French Exercises, by A. A. Somerville, M.A.; Junior French Exercises, and A Junior French Grammar, both by Eugene Pellissier, M.A.—/French Ex- amination Papers, 1881-1890, set in the Cambridge Local Examina- tions, have been collected and edited by 0. Baumann, B.-es-L. (Crosby Lockwood and Co.)'—Of German books we have :—Goethe's Hermann lend Dorothea, edited by Watermann T. Hewett, Ph.D. (Heath and Co., Boston, U.S.A.); and from the same publishers, Selections from Heine's Poems, edited by Horatio Stevens White. —German Military and Naval Beading-Book, edited by H. S. Beresford-Webb (Percival and Co.)—Advanced Passages for German Unseen Translation, edited by A. H. Fox-Strangways (same publishers).—Historical Grammar of the German Language, by Emil Trechmann, M.A. (Macmillan).
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