The Press. — London, England, 1856-01-19 00:00:00

All former editions for ix o:.,T,;iy have either a'3o6alov or ix4:".o-,oy, the latter of which is Herumum's. But, as Mr. Paley observes, neither gives at all a satisfactory sense to the passage; whereas i'x OLlerf:, involving only the change from o to 0, gives at once a simple and natural one, and appropriately refers to Agamemnon's attempt to give a religious sanction to the expedition. In the speech of Cassandra (A.g., 1293) Mr. Paley has adopted two laudable emendations of Hermann, though he shrinks from the somewhat wholesale alteration proposed in a third. In lino 1293, for jl7ll/ r 14 " ivOY he reads p;;(7,10 OLi L;;;:iyoy ; and again in 1299, xpi4..1,11 , for Ti;4m But We are rather surprised at his remarks on the famous /ocus A/putt:tut in the last four lines : l'w iSpOTties 71p11 . ) , F4CiT ' ' fhiV crx-tei" Tic isr if t 3i444/1/ • t: a; Li-rtc;i, Aokesic :qptu'cro-cur cririyy3; W'Xscrtv Tctier' ktirwr t i.iihNoy The true reading of this much disputed passage, says Mr. Paley, is due to Professor Conington. Now here there certainly seems t) us to be a double mistake. For neither the reading nor the interpretation given are Mr. Coniugton's, nor is the interpretation, in our opinion, the true one. Mr. Conington under stands the it N h(TTUX;I clause, of death simply ; that man has got a worse change than that from adversity to prosperity hanging over him, viz., that from life to death. Mr. Paley seems to suppose that the second alternative is intended to be advantageously contrasted with the first—that, whereas prosperity is un stable, in adversity we know the worst, and end it by death. Of these two we certainly prefer Mr. Conington's reading, who had not, when he wrote, the advantage of Hermann's emendation, 7r,q44,1y ; but we think both commentators have been led astray by under standing the last line of all, x%l iXtiV , V I 9 to refer to the two states of man just described, Mr. Paley further supposing that there is a contrast intended between the speaker and Aga memnon. But we think Hermann's transla tion of this passage much more simple and natural. He would make imivwv refer to line 1272, where the chorus expresses pity for Cassandra, wTx;ip.o7, otxzti i w (71 eloves . Tou p.Opou ; and the sense would then be, " How mise rable is the condition of humanity ! Pro " sperity, at the best, is as vague and evancs " cent as the outline of a picture (vita) ; yet "even that little is liable at any moment to be "completely swept away by the stroke of ad " versity, as the picture is with the sponge. " And this state of things is, in my opinion, " much more deplorable than my own particu " lar fate, which you say you pity." This read ing obviates the necessity of reversing the usual signification of and IXISYWV. Our general conclusion from the perusal of this work is, that it will decidedly sustain the high character of the " Bibliotheca Classica." The emendations are, on the whole, both numerous and cautious, and contain all the pith of Hermann's critical sagacity, with out being infected by his rashness , and, to sum up our judgment in one word, it is, we should say, the safest edition that can be put into the student's hands. Lectures to Ladies on Practical Subjects. Cam bridge : Macmillan and Co. Tan names which appear in the " Contents" of this volume will be a warrant to the public fo its, excellence. Messrs. Maurice, Kingsley, Trench Dr. Chambers, and Mr. Tom Taylor, form a phalanx of supporters which promises well for the success of the institution which these lectures are intended to promote. Where all are so good, it would perhaps be invidious to make a selection ; yet we cannot re • fraiu from expressing our sense of the extreme appropriateness of such subjects as that taken up by Dr. Chambers—i.e., " The Influence of Occupation on Health "—in which he dwells upon the various spe cial causes of disease to which the different trades and callings of the poorer classes are liable, and points out simple and efficacious precautions against them. Knowledge of this kind will be invaluable to a lady district visitor. 'Mr. Kingsley's and Mr. Trench's are both in their way most excellent and interesting essays—the one on j" The Country Parish," the other on " Teaching by Words." In point of fact, however, every one of the subjects touched on would furnish matter for a separate review ; and we must content oursel‘es with recom mending the work most heartily to a'l our readers, and especially ladies resident in town. I THE PRESS. The Heroes; or, Greek Fairy Tales for My Children. By the Rev. C. Kingsley. Cambridge : Macmillan and Co. THERE is no living writer batter qualified for such a work as this than the author of " Westward Ho " The present volume contains the three legends of Perseus, the Argonauts, and Theseus ; and, instead of any comments on the method of treatment, we prefer giving our readers one or two extracts which will show the singular charm of Mr. Kingsley's style when devoted to what is purely poetical and fanciful. Here is the journey of Perseus through the air : But Perseus leaped away to the southward, leaving the snow and the ice behind ; past the isle of the Hyper boreans, awl the tin isles, and the long Iberian shore ; while the sun rose higher day by day upon a bright blue summer sea. And the terns and the sea-gulls swept laughing round his head, and called to him to stop and play, and the dolphins gambolled up as he passed, and offered to carry him on their backs. And all night long the sea•nymphs sang sweetly, and the Tritons blew upon their conchs, as they played round Galatsea their queen, in her car of pearled shells. Day by day the sun rose higher, and leaped more swiftly into the sea at night, and more swiftly out of the sea at dawn ; while Perseus skimmed over the billows like a sea-gull, and his feet were never wetted ; and leapt on from wave to wave, and his limbs were never weary, till he saw far away a mighty mountain, all rose•red in the setting sun. Its feet were wrapped in forests, and its head in wreaths of cloud ; and Perseus knew that it was Atlas, who holds the heavens and the earth apart. The contest of Orpheus with the Sirens . Then Orpheus spoke, the king of all minstrels—" Let them match their song against mine I have charmed stones, and trees, and dragons, how much more the hearts of man !" So he caught up his lyre, and stood upon the poop, and began his magic song. And now they could see the Sirens, on Authemousa, the flowery isle ; three fair maidens sitting on the beach, beneath a red rock in the setting sun, among beds of crimson poppies and golden asphodel. Slowly they sung and sleepily, with silver voices, mild and clear, which stole over the golden waters, and into the hearts of all the heroes, in spite of Orphena's song. And all things stayed around and listened; the gulls sat in white lines along the rocks ! on the beach great seals lay basking, and kept time with lazy heads ; while silver shoals of fish came up to hearken, and whispered as they broke the shining calm. The Wind overhead hushed his whistling, as he shepherded his clouds toward the west; and the clouds stood in mid blue, and listened dreaming, like a flock of golden sheep. And as the heroes listened, the oars fell from their hands, and their heads drooped on their breasts, and they closed their heavy eyes ; and they dreamed of bright still gardens, and of slumbers under murmuring pines, till all their toil seemed foolishness, and they thought of their renown no more. What became of the heroes:— Then Prometheus answered, the good Titan, whom Heracles had set free from Caucasus, " I will take your im mortality and live for ever, that I may help poor mortal men." So Cheiron gave him his immortality, and died, and had rest from pain. And Heracles and Prometheus wept over him, and went to bury him on Peliou : but Zeus took him up among the stars, to live fur ever, grand and mild, low down in the far southern sky. And in time the heroes died, all but Nestor the silver tongued old man ; and left behind them valiant suns, but not so great as they had been. Yet their fame, too, lives till this day; for they fought at the ten years' siege of Troy ; and their story is in the book which we call Homer, iu two of the noblest songs on earth; the Iliad, which tells us of the siege of Troy, and Achilles' quarrel with the kings; and the Odyssey, which tells the wanderings of Odysseus through many lands for many years ; and how Alcinous sent him home at last, safe to Ithaca his beloved island, and to Penelope his faithful wife, and Telemachus his son, and Euphorbus the noble swineherd, and the old dog who licked his hand and died. We will read that sweet story, children, by the fire some winter night. And now I will end my tale, and begin another and a more cheerful one, of a hero who became a worthy king, and won his people's love. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.-TAN. 17. BOOKS. Means of Insuring Uniformity oflite of Adequacy of Supply. Longnians. Man in Paradise. A Poem. J. E. Reade. Ditto. The Lump of Gold, and Other POCIII . Charles Mackay. Roudedge. Claude de Traci. Bell and Daldy. Hardu•icke's Shilling House of Commons. Hardwicke. Hardwicke's Shilling Peerage. Ditto. Punishrnent is not Education. J. W. Parker and Son. The Book and its Mission. Hatchard. Peace in War. Macmillan. The Merchant's Daughter of Toulon. A Play in Five Acts. Mrs. Ed. Thomas. may. The English Press and Its Poets. A Satire. Cordrac Verdello. Whittingham. The Quarterly Review. Murray. The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine. No. I. Doll and Daldy. SATURDAY, E,t trams. DRURY-LANE THEATRE. Mn. CHARLES Meruews displays a new phase of his versatility in The Great Gun Trick. A very perfect imitation of the grandiloquent hautetts of the Wizard of Covent Garden, nightly draws crowds to the rival house; where, somewhat to their surprise they witness, as well as an amusing transcript of the manner, voice, stately march, and, in short, of the lofty tout ensemble of Mr. Anderson, a clever per formance of some very good conjuridg tricks. A sheriffs officer, in pursuit of Mr. Mathews, is extin guished, and entirely disappears, and air implacable creditor, who emerges from the stalls in the person of Mr. Tilbury, is not only rendered helpless and in nocuous by the paralysing influence of a magic chair, but actually wheedled out of a hundred-pound note, and his daughter into the bargain ; while his coat, torn into shreds, is magically made whole, and his pet dog, made up in a brown paper parcel, suddenly vanishes, and turns up iu a basket at the other side of the stage. The irate bailiff is ultimately discovered in a chest of drawers, and presented with the hundred-pound note in return for a " little bill " for the amount which he holds against the wizard. He is allowed to depart on his way rejoicing, when the hero of the farce displays to the audience the note which, by some sleight of hand, has been retained, the officer unconsciously carrying away in triumph the bill, and nothing else, to his employers. The plot of the piece is very slight, and serves indeed only as a peg on which to suspend Mr. Mathews's excellent mimicry, by which he keeps his audience thoroughly amused from the beginning to the conclusion of the performance. COVENT GARDEN. MR. ANDERSON'S Rob Roy is really a very capital bit of melodramatic acting. He looks the brawny out law to perfection, and swaggers about among the t‘ lesser " characters of the opera, the champion, in a muscular sense, of distressed virtue, towering a good head and shoulders at least above the tallest actor on the stage. This personal pre eminence satisfies completely the anticipations of the spectator, and, in a play where furious combatants have to be separated by Rob Roy's unaided aim—where he has to bur,t free from the iron embrace of at least a half dozen grenadiers, and so forth—it is quite as well that there should be no very obvious incommensurability between the tour de force to Le performed, and the personnel of the actor who performs them. Mr. Anderson, everybody feels quite assured, conk! " floor" any number of his puny antagonists at any moment of his melodramatic career, were he disposed to be tractions. The great fault of the performance is the excessive violence of the actor in the declamatory passages, which, though it call forth, as a matter of course, the most gratifying thunders of applause from pit and gallery, yet cannot fail to "make the judicious grieve," and mars the good impression lett by the quieter scenes, where, in spite of an unnecessary slowness and monotonousness of delivery, Mr. Ande son displays a thorough intelligence of the part. In the scene with Bailie Nicol Jarvie, in the Tolbooth, he earns especially well•merited approbation. The "animal emotion" of Rob Roy, when surrounded and hemmed in, is very well expressed ; and the "grandiose" way in which Mr. Anderson stalks round the closely-drawn circle of his enemies in con temptuous silence, with " crest erect," heaving chest, and tightly-folded arms, though really only an ex pansion of a very common melodramatic "dodge," yet produces an excellent effect, from its pecul►ar appropriateness to the romantic character and des perate situation of the hero. The mice-en-scene of the opera is very effective. The crowds—instead of the usual half-dozen indi vidual human " nouns of multitude, signifying many"—are honest mobs, masses which till the stage from front to back. The concerted music is well executed under the direction of Mr. Loder; and the two singing parts of Die Vernon and Frank Osbaldurton are tolerably filled by Miss H. Gordon and Mr. Perrin. The plaintive wail for Rob Boy's capture—a wild " Ohone a rie "--is given with a really "thrilling" effect. The other per sonages of the piece are generally well represented. A Mr. Gourley making good fun out of the irascible and humorous Bailie, in spite of some unnecessary self-tortures undergone iu extra-Scotticising the language of the part. Mr. Pearson makes a good shock-headed savage of Dougal; Mr. Sam Cowell ornaments the part of Major Galbraith with au amount of buffoonery quite unnecessary to his suc cess; and Mrs. J. W. Wallack, as Helen Macgregor,i, so everybody seems to agree, "dignified and un pressive," without being at all " stilted." ■