BOHOOL-BOOKS.
In the series of "Arnold's School Shakespeare," edited by J. Chnrton Collins (E. Arnold), we have Hamlet, edited by W. Hall Griffin, and King Henry V., edited by S. E. Winbolt. Mr. Griffin gives a highly interesting account of the growth of the Hamlet legend, and compares the play, as to its dramatic treatment and tone, with other tragedies of the time. He also gives in his intro- duction a useful account of the text. The structure of the play is analysed, and there is an essay on the character of Hamlet. (As to Horatio's age, we are inclined to think that in "remembering events that accompanied the Prince's birth" is a carelessness in the dramatist. The impression left on the reader is that as " fellow-students " they were of about the same age. In King Henry V. Mr. Winbolt has a far less fertile subject, and his introduction is consequently less interesting. It supplies, how- ever, what is wanted, and we have no further criticism to make on it than that Henry is not fairly treated. It is certainly hard on him to say that the slaughter of the prisoners was a "piece of unnecessary cruelty." With so great a dis- parity of numbers a rally of the French with the help of the prisoners released might easily have changed the for- tunes of the day.—In the same publisher's "British Classics for Schools" we have Milton's Paradise Lost, Books I. and II., edited by J. Sargeaunt. The notes here are on a smaller scale, which might, we think, have been extended with advantage. One book with a fuller annotation might have been preferable ; and indeed one book of Milton is enough for tho purpose of these text-books. It is only fair to say that Mr. Sargeaunt has put as much matter into his limited space as a severe compression could get there.—In the "Pitt Press Series" (Cambridge University Press) we have Pope's Essay on Criticism, edited by Alfred S. West. The introduction here is particularly ample and thorough. We would call special attention to the exhaustive treatment of Pope's versification. The notes are very full ; the editor even apologises, though quite unnecessarily, for the length to which his commentary has run, as compared with the space occupied by the essay itself. It is true that the introduction runs to fifty-nine pages, and the notes and appendix to eighty-two, as against twenty-five of text; but there is little that is superfluous, unless it be the ironical compliment which Mr. West pays to the modern critic, "so genial, so urbane, so free from partiality and prejudice, so intelligent and acute."—In the same series we have also The Lay of the Last Minstrel, edited by J. T. Flather, a useful piece of work.—Cowper's Shorter Poems. Edited by W. T. Webb. (Macmillan and Co.)—Here we have some thirty poems, the best known being "Alexander Selkirk," "Boadicea," "John Gilpin," "The Loss of the Royal George." We have no fault to find with the choice or with the treatment, except that we should have been inclined to omit "The Castaway,"—a poem which is, or ought to be, well-nigh incomprehensible to young readers.— The Plutus of Aristophanes. Edited by M. T. Quinn, M.A. (G. Bell and Sons.)—The introduction describes in a concise and convenient form the Aristophanic comedies. (Mr. Quinn might have used stronger language than "it is to be feared' that the dramatic vilification of the "Clouds" had something to do with the prosecution of Socrates. The philosopher is represented as directly asserting it in the "Apology.") We do not see why, after stating that the political allusions are few, he should go on to say, "We might expect it to have been otherwise." Subsequently he assigns the Plutus (in its present form) to the Middle Comedy, from which political allusions were commonly banished. The annotation is satisfactory, and the edition will be found useful. Mr. Quinn also publishes in a separate volume A Translation of the Pint us.—The Orestes of Euripides. Edited by N. Wedd. (Cambridge University Press.) —The introduction is more than commonly full and interesting. The section dealing with "The Attitude of Euripides towards the [Orestes] Myth" is a valuable contribution to the history of Greek ethics. Another specially useful part of the edition is the " Metrical Appendix."—Euripides : /on. Edited by C. S. Jerram. (Clarendon Press.)—Mr. Jerram is an expert in editing the classics for the use of schools. We cannot altogether approve of the choice of the Ion for this purpose. We do not want more Euripides than can be got in the plays which every one recognises to be of the first merit. But if the thing was to be done, doubtless it has been satisfactorily done by Mr. Jerram.—Another of the adaptations from Thucydides about which we have expressed our opinion already is The Retreat from Syracuse, edited by W. H. D. Rouse (Rivington, Percival, and Co.)—In the "Classical Series" (Macmillan and Co.) we have Ovid : Metamorphoses, Book VIII., edited by Charles Heine Keene, and in the " Elementary Classics" of the same publishers, Livy Hanniba/ian War ; Selections from Books 11.111.-MV., edited by E. P. Coleridge. The latter is furnished with all the abundant helps, geographical index, vocabulary, &c., with which the path of classical learning is now made smooth.—A First Greek Reading-Book, by A. Sidgwick (Rivington, Percival, and Co.), is furnished with an introduction into which the editor, whose skill in this matter is not easily sur- passed, has compressed many useful hints. There are special vocabu- laries and a general vocabulary. The extracts havebeen chosen with care, and, on occasion, manipulated to snit the needs of young scholars.—Res Romanae. By Edward P. Coleridge. (G. Bell and Sons.)—These "Brief Aids to the History, Geography, Litera- ture, and Antiquities of Ancient Borne" will be found of service. A few omissions may be supplied in later editions. If "N. L." is given for "' non liquet," why not "A." for " absolvo," and "C." for " eondemno " ? We see no mention of " velites " among the military terms. It might have been as well to explain that in the Imperial time " cohortes " means "auxiliaries." We miss " diploma" in the "Various Technical Terms" (a special division might have been given to " Travel "). " Versura " practically means "compound interest." The somewhat puzzling division of the Roman day into hours of varying length might have been explained.—An Index to a Selection of Greek Passages. Compiled for the Use of Students of Composition in Greek Iambics by E. F. M. Benecke. (Blackwell, Oxford.)—Greek Unseens in Prose and Verse, Junior Section. Selected by A. C. Liddell. (Blackie and Son.)—In French classics we have :—Michelet's Louis XI. et Charles Le Temeraire. Edited by Arthur R. Ropes. (Cambridge University Press.)—La Siege de Paris. Par Francisque Sarey. Edited by F. B. Kirkman. (Blackie and Son.)—We have also _received :—A Historical Grammar of the French Language. From the French of Auguste Brachet. Re- written and enlarged by Paget Toynbee. (Clarendon Press.) -,--French and English Idioms and Proverbs. Vol. I. By Alphonse Mariette. (Hachette.)—Exercises for the Study of French. By E. E. Brandon and H. E. Duriaux. (Macmillan and Co.)—The Preceptor's French Reader. By Ernest Weekley. (W. B. Clive.)--First German Exercises. By H. W. Eve and F. de Baudois. (D. Nutt.)
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