DOERING'S HORACE, WITH ANTHON'S NOTES.
HERE IS a literary novelty, though the literature is as old as HORACE. Mr. PRIESTLEY'S object is to furnish the public with a school-book of a higher class, the cheapness of which shall recom- mend it to youth, whilst its elegance shall entitle it to a place on the shelves of those who though young no longer, are still perhaps tyros in Latinity. The plan is judicious, and worthy of encou- ragement. There is no reason why the task of construing HORACE should perforce be undertaken from a copy which tempts a lad to dogs-car it; and many a one of man's estate would prefer the assistance of explanatory English notes on difficult passages, to the more minute and elaborate verbal criticism of deep scholars, drawn up in crabbed Latin,—if they were not scared by " school- book " so distinctly stamped upon the volume. The present edition, however, has other claims to notice, than mere elegance of getting up. Though intended to facilitate the study of the author, there is nothing about it scholastic in the bad sense of the term. The illustrative matter is conceived in the tone of our own time ; especially in the essays on HORACE'S dif- ferent classes of composition; and in the Life of the bard, which is drawn chiefly from his works, and has caught, though at a due distance, something of his spirit. The verbal explanations of the text are numerous and clear; sometimes, perhaps, overdone,— e. g. "Linde et quo, Catius ?" is intelligible enough by a literal translation, "whence and whither," without understanding venit and tendit. The more general notes, though simple, and intended for students, are of a higher and more valuable character; throw- ing light upon the text, not merely by explaining the meaning of a passage, but entering into the meaning of the author. With four exceptions, the text is DOERING.S. The notes are mainly those of ANTHON, the well-known American commenta- tor. But they have been revised, pruned, enlarged, or expanded, as the case seemed to require ; and whilst his slips have been cor- rected, considerable additions have been made to his original matter.
Previous page
