SCHOOL BOOKS.
The Alcestis of Euripides. Edited by W. S. Hadley, Fellow and Assistant-Tutor of Pembroke College. Cambridge. (Cam- bridge University Press.)—This play, one of Euripides's master- pieces, has received careful study from Mr. Hadley. He has prepared an interesting introduction, which first gives much useful knowledge concerning the Greek theatre and drama, and then goes on to discuss the question of the true conception of the parts of Admetus and Heracles and the object of the play itself. Is it a hit at Apollo and the State religion,—a view so powerfully advanced by Dr. Verrall in his "Euripides the Rationalist " ? Or is it, as Mr. Hadley thinks, a drama of manners, a play freed from the restrictions of tragedy, a forerunner of the comedies of Menander ? The notes, explanatory and critical, are excellent, and show the sound scholarship of the editor.— Lawn : Pharsalia VII. Edited by J. P. Postgate, Litt.D. (Same publisher.)—Dr. Postgate's introduction is quite admirable, as far as it goes. On the topography and general history of the battle of Pharsalia he leaves nothing to be said. His exegesis and his criticisms are such as we should expect from a scholar of such repute. The questions of reading are not of any great moment. The editor, indeed, transposes with some freedom, but not with- out solid reason. No one can object to his substituting " u " for "v" in his orthography when the book is intended for advanced students. There is, however, a practical difficulty. Where is the line to be drawn in school-books ? On junior forms one would not inflict the puzzle of determining whether " uoluit " represents, to use the common spelling, " volvit" or " voluit." On line 18, Dr. Postgate has the note, "Pura, 'plain,' opposed to the purple- bordered toga (praetexta) of magistrates and the toga pieta worn at triumphs." But if Pompey as a Romanus eques (line 19) wore the narrow purple stripe, could his toga be called pure? It was opposed, we should say, to the picta rather than to the praetexta. On line 17, Tecate, we have appropriately quoted "solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant."—Tacitus : Histories, Book I. Edited by G. A. Davies. (Same publisher.)—This is an excellent piece of work, showing the hand of a very acute and resourceful scholar. The prolegomena and the notes are all that could be desired. When the editor deals with critical questions, he exercises a cautious and sound judgment. His principles and practice of interpretation are sound. We do not know why he supposes the Annals to have been left incomplete. Jerome speaks of Tacitus having written the history of the Cs:tsars in thirty books. Allowing twelve for the Histories, we have eighteen for the Annals.— Casey: De Bello Gallic°, Chaps. 1-29. Edited by E. S. Shuckburgh, M.A. (Same publisher.)—The story of the Helvetian War forms a useful little reading-book. It has a completeness of its own, and it is here illustrated by an introduction, notes, and vocabulary. In the first may be noted, with other contents, many useful facts about the Roman legion and camp. — Cornelius Nepos, Vol. III. (Same editor and publisher). — This book, containing the lives of Lysander, Alcibiades, Thrasybulus, Conon, Dion, Iphierates, and Chabrias, treats of that interesting period of Greek history from 415-355. These histories, told by Nepos in his simple style, are very attractive. The notes and vocabulary are all that could be desired. We can recommend these two volumes as being just what is wanted for junior forms. — Stories of the Cxsars from Suetonius. By Herbert Wilkinson. (Mac- millan and Co.)—We cannot but think that there are Latin classics of unquestionable merit in quite sufficient quantity to enable us to do without Suetonius. Suetonius has to be "bowdlerised," he has to be transposed, and his Latinity has to be corrected. And when all is done we get, among things of un- doubted value, a quantity of trivialities and gossip which we could very well do without. What does it matter that Augustus used to hide himself in a cellar when there was a thunderstorm, and carried about the skin of a sea-cow to protect him when there was not a cellar at hand ? Mr. Wilkinson has done his best for his author, unless, indeed, the best would have been to leave him alone.—In English we have :—Selections from Chaucer's Canter- bury Tales. Edited by Hiram Corson, LL.D. (Same pub- lishers.)—Dr. Corson's introduction contains much valuable critical matter, besides giving the available biographical facts. The notes on pronunciation may be specially men- tioned. Comparatively few readers of Chaucer know how to pronounce him. Chaucer's grammar is another subject about which the editor has something useful, indeed indispensable, to say. A vocabulary gives much necessary information in a small compass. We can imagine a page or so being written on "She was a prymerole, a piggesnye." Just three lines suffice in the vocabulary. —Pope's Essay on Criticism. Edited by the Rev. Henry Evans, D.D. (Blackie and Son.)—We may specially commend the account of "The Metre," and an ingenious essay on the poet's varied use of tho word " wit."—A Midsummer Night's Dream. Edited by Edmund B. Chambers. (Same publishers.)— One of the useful series of the "Warwick Shakespeare."— Paradise Lost, IX. and X. Edited by A. W. Verity, M.A. (Cambridge University Press.) —Another instalment of an edition of acknowledged excellence.—Hamlet, Questions and Notes. By Stanley Wood, MA. (J. Heywood.)—Of French classics we have :—Lucien Biart's Quand Tetais Petit. Edited by James BoIelle. (Cambridge University Press.)—A quite delightful book, which has been adequately handled by the editor. M. Boielle, however, does not reconcile us to vocabularies by what he says of his own practice. They should be limited to books for the use of beginners.—Another charming book, though the charm is of a very different kind, is About's Le Roi des Montagnes, edited by Arthur R. Ropes, M.A. (same publisher). The notes are laudably brief, to the point, and sufficient.—Les Trappeurs de l'Arkansas. Par Gustave Aimard. Edited by Marguerite Ninet. (Blackie and Son.)—A Higher French Reader. By Ernest Weekley, M.A. (W. B. Clive.)—A volume almost equally divided between prose and verse, and limited, quite rightly, for examination purposes, to modern authors.—French Plays for Schools. With Explanatory Notes by Mrs. J. G. Frazer. (Macmillan and Co.)—The Beg;nner's French Grammar and Exercises. By H. R. Harper, M.A.. (Rirington, Percival, and Co)
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