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The blood-red banner floating o'er their van,
All madly blithe the mingled myriads ran:
Impatient Death beheld his destined food,
And hovering vultures snuff'd the scent of blood.
Not such the numbers, nor the host so dread,
By northern Breun or Scythian Timur led;
Nor such the heart-inspiring zeal that bore
United Greece to Phrygia's reedy shore!

330

There Gaul's proud knights with boastful mien advance,
Form the long line, and shake the cornel lance;
Here, link'd with Thrace, in close battalions stand
Ausonia's sons, a soft inglorious band;

There the stern Norman joins the Austrian train,
And the dark tribes of late-reviving Spain;
Here in black files, advancing firm and slow,
Victorious Albion twangs the deadly bow:-

Albion, still prompt the captive's wrong to aid,

340

And wield in Freedom's cause the freeman's generous blade!

329. Banner.]-Objective absolute. In the Anglo-Saxon language, the Dative was the case that was used in absolute clauses, corresponding to the Latin Ablative, and the Greek Genitive absolute. As the Objective and not the Nominative has in our Pronouns, where alone it can be traced, replaced the lost Dative, or, to speak more correctly, as the Dative and Accusative cases have become merged in one case which we call Objective, it would be more reasonable to believe that it is the Objective case that in modern English is used absolutely. Milton has been often blamed for writing "us dispossessed" in an absolute clause, but he was probably right.

333. Not such.]-These words with the suppressed copula form the Predicate. The same is the construction of the words so dread. Led in the next line is attributive to the Subjects numbers and host. 343. Firm and slow.]-Adjectives used adverbially. What is meant by this phrase is that the adjectives complete a verbal idea, not that they are used instead of, or even that they have the same force as, the corresponding adverbs. Adjectives may be used either attributively or predicatively, and any verb which will, when in a finite tense, admit a predicativc adjective, will admit the same adjective as a complement to its participle. It may indeed happen that the adjective so used conveys exactly the same meaning as the corresponding adverb, but it will generally be found that there is a sensible difference between them.

345. Prompt to aid.]-Adjectives which denote Readiness, inclination, fitness, &c., are completed by the Prepositional Infinitive.

Ye sainted spirits of the warrior dead,
Whose giant force Britannia's armies led!
Whose bickering falchions, foremost in the fight,
Still pour'd confusion on the Soldan's might:

347. Sainted.]-Implies a verb to saint.

350

Warrior dead.]-Dead is the Participle used substantively, warrior a substantive used attributively, being equal in meaning to warlike. 349. Bickering.]-The constant meaning of this word, from the earliest writers to modern times, is quarrelling. Thomson, however, in the Castle of Indolence seems to use it in the sense of quivering or flashing, in a passage which Heber may have hadin view.

Meantime unnumber'd glittering streamlets play'd

And hurled every where their waters sheen;
That, as they bicker'd through the sunny shade,

Though restless still themselves, a lulling murmur made.

Notices of Books.

Greek Lessons. By W. H. Morris. T. B. Bateman, London.-This little work is intended to facilitate for beginners the study of the Greek language. It is Reading-book, Dictionary, and Grammar, in less than ninety pages. It is so arranged as to form a series of lessons, each lesson being preceded by its own bit of Grammar and scrap of Dictionary, and succeeded by a list of the English words formed from the Greek words used in that lesson. The arrangement is very good, and we believe that, honestly worked through, the little book would give any one a very wide knowledge of the Greek element existing in the English language, and a very sound elementary knowledge of the structure of the Greek language. The compiler's main aim is to help those who desire to read the New Testament in the original Greek, and we believe that any one who accepts his help will find it efficient. The Ladies' College and School Examiner. By M. A. Johnston.-Key to the above. By M. A. Johnston. Longmans and Co.-The first book is one of questions, the "Key," one of replies. The questions range over a wide area. Any teacher capable of directing the studies of young ladies in the subjects here dealt with, could be at no loss to frame suitable questions for herself. But these books do not convey a favourable impression as to the author's notions of what should be the education of young ladies. The answers are superficial. The show of knowledge, without its possession, is here deemed satisfactory. Education must be in a more backward state in Ladies' Schools than it is even accredited with, if the teachers need such books as these.

Repetition and Reading Book. By Chas. Bilton, B.A. Longmans and Co.We expressed a favourable opinion of this book on its first appearance. We are

glad to see that it has reached a new edition. Teachers would do well to place it in the hands of their Pupil-Teachers, and practise them daily in reading and reciting from its pages. Few Pupil-Teachers-as far as our observation extends--even at the end of their apprenticeship, can read well, and fewer still have any literary tastes. Yet these are essential qualities both to professional success and growth in ability and intelligence. No one may hope to reach a high standard without them, and certainly no one can secure a high condition of intelligence and attainment in school, who is himself destitute of these instruments.

Old Jonathan, October 1867. Collingridge.-As full and as fresh as ever. We can but repeat our recommendation-Teachers! read it! for it contains hints, incidents, and lessons that will greatly aid you in your work; and promote its circulation! for it will do work like yours in the homes of your children.

Man, his Frame and Wants. By Chas. Baker. Macintosh.-This is the first of a series of reading books for pupils who are proficient in the art of reading, and whose stay at school is long enough for them to apply their skill to the attainment of knowledge. The lessons have been already published. They "are those of "The Scientific Class Book,' and most of them were originally drawn from the writings of authors of acknowledged eminence in their respective departments of science." This volume may be recommended for the use of Pupil-Teachers, as no teacher should be ignorant of the matters of which it treats; and nowhere else, as far as we are aware, will they find so much in so small a compass, and so well put together. In its method it is not unworthy of the veteran teacher whose name it bears.

Edited by

Chambers's Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. James Donald. W. and R. Chambers.-Here we have a Dictionary containing the etymology, pronunciation, and meanings of words, comprising much research and scholarship-the editor having availed himself of the labours of the most eminent scholars-at a price within the reach of the poorest student. As a dictionary it may not be all that one could desire, but it is much more than any one could have hoped for at the price. It may not deserve unqualified commendation--exception, for instance, will be taken south of the Tweed to some of its pronunciations-but it will be heartily and thankfully received by that "public" for which the Messrs. Chambers have so long and so worthily laboured.

English Grammar simplified. By J. S. Laurie. Marshall and Laurie.-This is Part I. of a book with a catch title. That it is "Grammar simplified" no one competent to give an opinion will grant. Corresponding with the title we have a pretentious preface, and a laughable introduction. In the latter Mr. Laurie shows his fitness for his assumed task of simplifying grammar, by saying that words like 66 pan ” and “kettle” express thoughts, and that "kettle boils" are "two words expressing two distinct thoughts." In another place we find him designating phrases not according to their office, but by the word that introduces them. But though we do not think our author is the man to simplify grammar, and think that his book is altogether a mistake in its principle and construction, yet to those who think with him that a child should learn grammar as it learns speech, this may be recommended as comparing favourably with others of a similar cast.

Infant Primer. By Charles Bilton, B.A. Longmans & Co.-"The object of this Introductory Primer," we quote from the Preface," is gradually and systematically to teach young children to read monosyllables at sight, and at the same time to know the letters of which the words are composed, so as to be able to spell and write them readily and correctly." We doubt the expediency of placing in the hands of young children lessons made up of words of similar formation, and in

which the changes are rung on the same sounds. Contrast is a more powerful aid in teaching reading than similarity. For spelling lessons the opposite plan is the more effective one. Here similarity aids to the attainment of the literal contents of words which the eye by other means has learnt to recognize. The author of this Primer has constructed a series of lessons which secure both these advantages. The words of like endings are arranged through the book separately on a well graduated system, while the reading lessons are so constructed as to secure contrast and variety. Outlines of Geography. By J. C. Curtis, B.A. Simpkin, Marshall & Co. -Outlines of geography usually consist of strings of names or of the driest facts. This book is an exception. Here we have crowded into a small space a large quantity of valuable information, arranged after a good method, and put in a way that will be intelligible to the class intended. To teachers choosing geography as their extra subject and Seventh Standard, this book will be found very suitable, as containing just the sort of matter that may be got up at home, and built upon at school.

John Heywood's National Atlas. Simpkin & Co.-Here we have a very opportune companion to Mr. Curtis's outlines. Its price places it within reach of the poorest. There are thirty good maps for a few pence. Two or three of the impressions are rather faint, but the majority are bold and distinct.

On Synthesis as taking precedence of Analysis in Education. By Henry M'Cormac, M.D. Longmans & Co.-This is a pamphlet of ten pages, and is intended for the enlightenment of Educational Commissioners, School Inspectors, and Teachers. That the author considers himself the right man to do this we gather from the opening sentence of his Preface. "If I have not discovered a new principle in education, I at least lay claim to set forth an old one more lucidly and distinctly than has ever been done before." A careful perusal of what he has so ushered to our notice has convinced us that never was the advice of Apelles more needed than in his case. In sober truth he knows nothing of what he has undertaken to instruct us in. Every line contains evidence of utter confusion of thought, and every paragraph that he is unacquainted not merely with what has been achieved in the way of method, but with the educational use and force of the very terms, synthesis, and analysis. To those, who from previous reading are able to enjoy it, we recommend the perusal of these lucubrations as an aid to digestion.

Scala Nova; a Ladder to Latin. By D'Arcy W. Thompson, Professor of Greek in Queen's College, Galway.-Mr. Mill in his inaugural address to the University of St. Andrew's, speaks very severely (not we think a whit too much so), of the method of teaching Latin and Greek employed at our principal public schools; and he says that the only tolerable Latin Grammars for school purposes that he knows of, which had been produced in these islands until very lately, were written by Scotchmen. We are not indeed sufficiently versed in the bibliographical part of the history of education to know what grammars they are to which Mr. Mill refers; but we think that he would welcome the appearance of the book we now introduce to our readers' notice, as a step in the right direction. Here at least is a book which any beginner may take up with confidence, assured that, while he will have nothing to unlearn, he will have spent his time in a manner sure to strengthen his understanding and increase his capacity for learning other matters. The old system of teaching, by which every thing was done by the memory while the understanding was left undeveloped, finds no favour in the eyes of Professor Thompson. Recognizing, apparently, the fact that memory is the faculty which is the strongest in children, and therefore the faculty which is least in need of development, he proceeds from the very beginning on the principle of explaining all he teaches, frequently illustrating what he is explaining by reference to the correspond

ing usage in English or French. We are not indeed sure that this principle of illustration has been carried quite so far, with advantage, as it might have been; and of course there are many parts which, with all deference to the known good judgment and experience of the author as a teacher, we should like to word a little differently. But we are anxious to draw our readers' attention to a book which we confidently recommend, either to an adult wishing to teach himself Latin, or to a person teaching it to beginners. The book is not indeed suited to be placed in a child's hands with so many pages marked to be learned. It supposes that the child has an intelligent teacher to guide and to explain; but there is not the slightest reason why a pupil teacher or schoolmaster who may wish to acquire Latin in his leisure hours should not do it by means of "Scala Nova," with occasional reference to a Latin Dictionary. Our youngsters now need not be set to browse on Etonian thistles, as were their fathers; nor need they be turned adrift to lose themselves in the labyrinth devised by the famous nine. Under the kindly guidance of Professor Thompson, they may climb the rounds of the new ladder, one by one, every step placing them nearer to the top of the house. Under any circumstances Professor Thompson may feel that one "Day Dream" has been fulfilled; he has gone far to remove from children the awful burden of learning Latin. The idle will not find it easier to learn Latin under Professor Thompson's method than under any other; but the least intelligent need not fear Latin now. There is one point mentioned in the preface, in which we are unable to agree with the author, and that is with reference to the pronunciation of the Latin tongue. Professor Thompson says:

"With regard to the pronunciation of the ancient tongues of Italy and Greece, there exists as much diversity of opinion in the three kingdoms, as is the case, alas! with regard to matters of more serious, vital, and national importance. I am far from arrogating to myself an apostleship of phonetic uniformity. I am only thankful that my own one boy is, God willing, to receive his education in that learned metropolis of the North, wherein the accentuation of Greek speech is not wholly strangled, and out of which the echoes of Italian word-music have not yet wholly died away.

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I would recommend that the five vowels-a, e, i, o, u,-when long, should be pronounced in Latin, as the vowels or vowel sounds-a, a, ee, o, u,—are sounded in the respective English words, father, late, sweet, wrote, lute; and that the five vowels when short, should be sounded as they are themselves sounded in the respective English words, man, let, hit, not, put.”

This advice is especially addressed to those who are not "under the necessity of following the traditions of any great educational institution." We venture to dissent from it, having never seen any valid reason for pronouncing Latin in any respect differently from English. We are not prepared to read the first line of the first Eclogue, after that fashion. We presume that no one knows precisely how the ancient Romans pronounced their language, and we can not see, failing that knowledge, which of the continental nations is entitled to set itself up as the standard. We have heard Virgil read by a Frenchman and by a German, both men of good education, and the difference of pronunciation was certainly as clearly marked in Latin, as it would have been if the one had read Moliére, and the other Schiller. The truth is, we take it, that all nations do and should pronounce dead languages (where the native pronunciation is a matter of conjecture), just as they pronounce their own. The chance of using Latin as a medium of communication with foreigners, is very slight. But if it should occur, a man who has learned to pronounce Latin French-fashion will not find it easier to talk Latin to an Italian on that account. The real difficulty will always be the vocabulary; that being

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