A Grammar of the Latin Language, for Schools and Colleges.
By Albert Harkness, Ph.D. (Bell and Sons.)—We do not exactly see what place this grammar, for which we are indebted to one of the Professors of Brown University (Providence, Rhode Island), is de- signed to fill. The idea set forth in the preface, that it is " to present a clear, simple, and convenient outline of Latin grammar for the beginner," and at the same time to be "an adequate and trust- worthy grammar for the advanced student," seems to us impractic- able. Unless beginners at Providence are very different from begin- ners here, they will be infallibly bewildered by the mass of informa- tion supplied ; nor will the help afforded by the use of varieties of type suffice to guide them". We may take the book as an "advanced" grammar. In this character it has doubtless considerable value, though we should not be inclined to place it above all those with which students are familiar in this country. Mr. Roby's " School Grammar" and Dr. Smith's "Larger Grammar" need not fear com- parison with it. Still, it has the advantage, which teachers cer- tainly will appreciate, of presenting things from a somewhat different point of view. The chapter on "Indirect Discourse," for instance, will be found to put things in a way that may be made readily avail- able. The etymological portion, too, is good, and brought up to the latest advance of philological knowledge. On the whole, we should say that it is a book which teachers would do well to possess them- selves of, and which students will not do wrong in perusing.
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