The Press.
London, England, 1855-09-08 00:00:00

could make Thucydicles speak to us in no less
bold and vigorous, but more pure, English
than could even old Hobbes of Malmesbury.
But in the etymological* part of the under-
taking much was likewise required. The
labours of Bopp, carried out by Donaldson,
Max Muller, and others, have thrown a new
light upon many points of the language, and
have proved that " Grttcia in GrEecii non
" swum qmerenda est." Accordingly, we
find a constant reference to Sanskrit, and not
unfree uently an interesting comparison with
Anglo-Saxon and other languages, while the
careful manner in which the separate articles
on each letter is drawn up proves the polyglot
capabilities of our editors
In recent editions the grammatical and
dialectic portion has been increased and im-
proved by countless references to the Rev. W.
E. Jelrs edition of Eiihner's grammar ; but,
to say the truth, the information given in the
lexicon itself is generally so clear-headed and
satisfactory, that a student needs but little
further assistance. Furthermore, although
not in any way professing to be a dictionary
of antiquities, the incidental notices on such
subjects are of infinite use to those whose
shelves must remain unburdened lest their
pockets suffer the reverse, while references
are everywhere given to fuller sources of in-
formOion.f
We cannot now do better than advert to the
plain and conscientious statement of the
editors in their carefully-written preface:—

Our plan has been that marked out and begun by Pas.
sow—viz., to make each article a history of the usage of the
word referred to. Then, if no change was introduced by
later writers, we have left it with that early authority
alone—adding, however, whether it continued in general
use or no, and taking care to specify whether it was com-
mon to prose and poetry, or confined to one only. In
most cues the word will tell its own story: the passages
quoted will themselves say whether it continued in use,
and whether it was used or no both in poetry and prose
for there are few words that do not change their significa•
Lions more or less in the downward course of time, and
few therefore that do not need any references.

As to the claims of originality (a question
which is almost set aside by the ever-progress-
ing nature of lexicography) nothing can be
more candid than the modest asaertion that
" in calling this work a lexicon based upon the
" work of Passow," tl4' have the same (we
might say a better) right " than Passow ha 4 to
"eject the name of Schneider from his title-
" page. Their object is not to claim undue
" honour, but to give as accurate a title as
" they can "
It is useless to speak of the excellent
arrangement and " getting up" of a book so
well known, still less necessary to eulogise the
admirable co-operation of the Rev. Prebend
Scott, or the painstaking accuracy of the fellow-
collegian of both, the Rev. George Marshall.
It is of the probable result of such a combina-
tion of labours in the old and new schools of
Greek criticism that we would speak. That
two men both so eminent in Greek scholar-
ship should have succeeded one another, we
hail as a happy omen that no radical system
of mere utilitarianism will readily pull down
and destroy those tastes for the puro and the
beautiful—that love for the flowery beauties of
Hellas—whether in her art, her poetry, or
even in her but too wayward philosophy—
which, since civilisation burst forth in the
fairest lands of the South, have been the in-
spiration of the young, the delight and con
solation of the old.

Of the future plans of the head of the
noblest college in Oxford we can say nothing ;
we can only augur that his practical and
governing influence in the promotion of Greek
scholarship will be as great and as successful
RS has been his literary. In his predecessor
learning was unbounded, perseverance untir-
ing, steadfast honesty ever unshaken; in the
present ruler of Ch►ist Church we trust
to look for all these qualities, but com-
bined with the no less important ones of
a willingness to progress forward, to throw
open every opportunity of this splendid founda-
tion alike to the student and the servitor, when
they shall have earned their 'need of honours:
we look to him to show himself the living and
active representative of that thoroughly prat•
• Cf. articles, XI:otito;,

+ See, for example, the articles Xsixo;, Aotrxil, isiancrin,
cti+assc. But it la almost unnecesaitrY luOt•
4
naniPlielirkfß 1•7 4401144 Oa every page. T