The Sun.
London, England, 1835-06-23 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

GREEK AND ENGLISH LEXICON.
Tegq. London, 1835.
The most valuable Greek Lexicon we have ever
seen, notwithstanding we have a lively and respectful
recollection of the labours of those able lexicographers,
Schrevelius, Ainsworth, and Jones. The pains be-
stowed on it must have been immense ; for on looking
into it, we find that it gives us—what Ainsworth and
Jones do not often attempt—an interpretation of by
far the major part of the obscure words employed in
the chorusses of lEschylus and Sophocles. These
interpretations, too, arc in English, which is a great
improvement on the old Etonian system, where it not
• unfrequeody tliat '' the interpr3t!!r
to be understood than the original." A gentleman
named Wright is the editor, and shows us, in every
page of his introductory essay, that he is a sound
Greek scholar. We should not omit to add, that the
work is a neat portable duodecimo ; that the Greek
characters are printed in the clearest and handsomest
type ; and that, considering the mass and value of its
materials, it is by far the cheapest work that has been
published for many years.

PERILS IN THE WOODS.
E. Wilson—London, 1835.
We have not, since the publication of Prfiscilla
Wakefield's Juvenile Travellers, met so delight-
ful a child's book as this. The 'style is clear and
familiar, and, in places, granbilc, and even impassioned;
the sentiments, sucl: as every parent would wish his
child to cherish ; and the incidents, ever strange, ever
varying, yet ever true to Nature. To make the charm
complete, the book is penned in the dialogue form,
which gives it a stirring, dramatic air, and enables the
author to avoid sameness, by the introduction of cha-
racters. The story is that of a Hampshire farmer's
family, who, from the pressure of the times, have been
induced to try their fortunes among the back-woods in
North America ; but having been disappointed in all
their hopes, return home with the firm intention of
never again quitting England. Just as they have
landed at Portsmouth, they happen to light on some
old friends and neighbours, to whose house they im-
mediately adjourn ; and to whom, in return for their
hospitality, they recount their " Perils in the Woods."
These are just of a character to captivate young and
inquisitive minds, being made up of adventures with
Indians—" hair-breadth 'scopes" from assassins in the
shape of servants—battles with panthers—dangers
from burning woods and foaming floods—unexpected
interviews with crocodiles—and risks run from sailing
in inefficient rafts on the broad sea of the Mississipi.
In fact, all the natural phenomena of the New World
are pressed into the service of this little narrative ; and
lest the too frequent repetition of these might tire, the
author has judiciously relieved his work by throwing
in, here and there, fine touches of incredulity, and
racy marks of wonderment, on the part of the untra-
yelled and unsophisticated party who are supposed to
be listening to the " Perils." This is a happy idea,
but difficult to execute with propriety; when we say,
therefore, that it has been accomplished with consum-
mate tact, we know not that we can give the book
higher praise. Perhaps there is no composition that
requires the union of so many contradictory qualifica-
tions as a child's book. It must combine skill with
simplicity ; knowledge with a familiarity and unassu-
mingness not often found in company with it ; and
show that it is the work of a practised observer, even
while it is adapting itself to the level of the juvenile
intellect. The reason why so many authors fail in
this useful department of literature, is, because they
do not know how to bring sufficient freshness to their
subject. They write, as if it were an act of conde-
scension on their parts. They do not sit and chat with
their young readers on the same bench, but discourse
with them, gravely and oracularly, from the school-
master's desk. Hence they are listened to with reve-
rence, not delight. The author of the present work is
too wise to put forth any pedantic pretensions of this
sort. He smiles—gossips—wonders—and admires—
just as if he were as young as the youngest of his
readers. His work, therefore, cannot fail to become a
favourite. Indeed we predict that it will soon attain
the enviable honour of being as well thumbed and dogs-
eared, as ever was a copy of the " Arabian Nights"
by the fingers of a whole school.

LAMB'S DRAMATIC SPECIMENS. 2 Vols.
Moxon. London. 1835.
The benefits which the late C. Lamb conferred on
the literature of his country, are not yet sufficiently
appreciated. But for him, many of the best dramatists
of the Elizabethan age would have still remained un-
known to us, even by name. He was the first to point
out the neglected beauties of Heywood, Cyril Tour-
neur, Marston, and Webster; and dig up the immense
masses of intellectual wealth that lay buried in the old
musty folio editions of the plays of Crowne, Fountain,
and a host of equally gifted play-wrights. Never was
man better qualified for this task than C. Lamb. He
had consummate tact, unwearied diligence, a subtle
and graceful fancy, and a mind imbued and saturated
with the keenest possible relish for the quaint, but
vigorous, productions of our racy old English authors.
That a work was ancient, and had lost the gloss of
popularity, was quite enough to ensure it respectful
treatment at his hands. His tastes were of a retrospec-
tive character, fonder'of looking back than for ward. He
had little sympathy with the writers of the present
day ; no sanguine hopes of those who were to arise
among us ; but this from no jaundiced feeling of dis-
appointment, but simply because in the now and the
hereafter, he saw—or fancied he saw—the successful
rivals of the past. He was jealous of every thing
that stood between the public and his old Elizabethan
favourites. Hence it was with difficulty that he per-
suaded himself to admire even Scott, whom in his
love of antiquity he strongly resembled—with this dif-
ference, that the fancy of the one was of a homely,
every-day caste, while that of.. the other was of a
dreamy, romantic, and chivalrous character. The phi-
losophy of Lamb has been much dwelt on by his
admirers. We have read his " Elia" with some at-
tention, but can find little or nothing of the sort in
it. 'Wit indeed the work has, and pathos of the
subtlest edge ; but as for philosophy, that loftiest
facility of the human mind, which furnishes the
world with new and important truths, as Bacon did,
and as Brougham is doing, by his unanswerable sys-
tem of Theology ;—to attributes of this sort " Elia"
can put forth no pretensions. The utmost we can say
of it is, that it is original in its turn of expression, and
sometimes also in the quaint and subtle cast of its
thought. Its most thoughtful essay is that on " Po-
pular Fallacies ;" its shrewdest and most uniform in
keeping, " Mrs. Battle's Opinions on Whist ;" its
most humorous, " The Dissertation on Roast Pig."
We say nothing of Lamb's noble criticisms on " Lear"
and " Hogarth," for they are (or should be) in every
one's hands ; while of his " Rosamond Grey" we are
equally disposed to be silent, because we feel it impos-
sible to praise a tale which, while it professes to deal
with every-day life, goes to the very verge of the im-
probable. Rosamond and her seducer could never
have been the beings they are depicted ; for if so, the
one would never have betrayed, nor the other have fallen.
But to return to the work before us. Weh4ve here,
intellectual
in two cheap, portable volmes, a mine of
i,vealth, such, as it were vain to seek in any similarly-
sized work of the present day. A banquet is here
spread, which may provoke the palate of the roost