SCHOOL Boons. — Matthice's Greek Grammar Abridged. (Murray.) — Thin abridgment was originally made
by the late Bishop Blomfield, revised by the Rev. J. Edwards, and now appears with further alterations by Mr. E. S. Crooke. These alterations are, we think, certainly improve- ments. Notably so are certain changes made in the arrangement of the tenses, the transference, for instance, of the so-called perfect and pluperfect middle to their proper places in the active voice. On the whole, we should say that the book as it stands is as good a one as could be found to take the middle place in the learning of Greek between the Primer which should be put into the hands of the beginner, and the elaborate treatise intended for the advanced scholar. We should cer- tainly prefer it to Dr. Wordsworth's, a grammar which gives a very great amount of information in a very unattractive shape.—Elucida- tion of the Student's Greek Grammar. By Professor Cortina. Trans- lated by Evelyn Abbott. (Murray.)—Dr. Cortina represents the more philosophical grammarians. The volume before us will be a welcome supplement to a very valuable work.—Dr. De Fives' Grammaire des Grammaires (Lockwood) has had a success which renders any recom- mendation from us superfluous.—We have before us another French grammar, which comes with a recommendation in its title, The Wellington College French Primer. By H. C. Eve, M.A., and M. De Baudin. (Nutt.)—Schneider's First Year's French Course (Oliver and Boyd), in the thirty-third edition, is a book of exercises:—We have also to notice the third volume of M. Gustave Masson's French Classic-a. (Clarendon Press.) This contains Moliere's Les Fourberies de Scapin and Racine's Athalie. M. Masson is very sparing, perhaps almost too sparing, with his notes ; but it is, of course, only the more advanced students who will be reading Mellen and Racine. -Short Extracts from French Authors (Parker) is sufficiently described by its title.- In this same Clarendon Press Series, we have also an edition of Milton's English Poems, 2 vols., edited by Mr. R. C. Browne.-We have examined the notes to some of the shorter poems, and found them to be what was wanted. The editor prefixes a life of Milton, in which he follows, as far as that guidance avails him, Professor Masson's life of the poet ; and an introduction, in which he gives some sensible criticism on Milton's character and literary genius.-We have also received an edition of the Lycidas and Samson Agonistes, by the Rev. J. Hunter (Longmans), the editor of a useful series of English school books.- To the same class may be referred the Rev. E. R. De Levante's Orthoepy and Orthography of the English Language. (Itongmans.)- Dr. Cornwell's Poetry for Beginners and Spelling for Beginners. (Simp- kin, Marshall, and Co.)-Spelling and Dictation Exercises, by J. Douglas. (Oliver and Boyd.)---The Technical Readers, edited by J. Stuart Lawrie. (Marshall and Laurie.)-First Steps to English Litera- ture, by Arthur Gillmann (New York: Hurd and Houghton), aims at giving a sketch of a very large subject in a very small compass. It is of necessity cursory and superficial, but it is written in a lively style, and its criticism is of a sensible kind.
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