77e Public School Latin Gcammar. (Longmans.)—Ilere we have, after an
interval of about four years, the larger grammar which was promised us when the "Public School Latin Primer" appeared. To that latter work many objections were made, some of them with a haste which proved that the only efficient test in such cases, practical experi- ence, had not been applied. Many of these have been found to be erroneous. Some of them were just, and are applicable with equal, perhaps, greater force to its more copious and ambitions successor. Both books are, in fact, compromises. They attempt to substitute a mere philosophical method for the system of the old grammars ; but their philosophy is not sufficiently developed to suit the more advanced thinkers in these subjects. They fall, therefore, so to speak, between two stools. As a matter of fact, however, the Primer, which has alone been subjected to the test of use, has worked a con- siderable improvement in the teaching of Latin, has lightened the work of masters and scholars. Fault may be found, doubtless, with many things in it. The syntax, for instance, might be more logical. But, on the other hand, it is never, as the syntax of the Eton Grammar not unfrequently was, purely arbitrary. We do not find in it such a rule as " Quum duo substantive diversi genesis concurrent, posterius in
genitive ponitur." The book before us is a filling-in of the outline of the shorter manual, and has, on the whole, the same excellencies and the same defects. The most obvious objection that we have to make to it is of a certain want of clearness ; not so much in the arrangement of the matter, though this is not perfect, but in its mechanical setting forth ; the pages are unduly crowded, a thing of less importance than it would be in a manual intended for beginners, but still of some weight. We have, of course, an advantage on the other side, in the great quantity of matter which we get for the price. Something, again, may be said against the technical terms which may have admitted of some simplifi- cations, though these really present less practical difficulty than is com- monly supposed. But the book has considerable merit. The first part, with its title, somewhat affected, we must say, of "Word Lore " is re- markably copious and exact. And throughout the student is furnished with all the technical information that he requires for advanced scholarship.
Previous page
