Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-09-25
BOOK NOTICES.

PRosouScIs0 DIcTIoSARY: Revised. corrected and
enlarged, by q. p QUAoKEsBos, A. NJ New York
APPLETON Co.. Washington, TAYLOR s. MAURY.
LExIcooRApHy is in sooth fair, sonorsus Greek com
pound Indicative however Of the most oilsome rugged
and thorny path leading up to the temple of fame All
avenues conducting the wayarer Parnassus are
OF festooned with the flowers of imagination or rnged
with the eyer-budding blossoms Of hope The poets eye
I'm hne phrenzy rolling peoples the regions Of fancy
with bright beings OF his creation and the novelist
spurnng the dull realities Of fe reves in the enjoyment
Of abstract beauty and perfection The historian in lofty
sran congns to future ages his name blended with
the fall of monarchs and the wreck of empires The as
ronomer launched the eecy plains mitless space
that wn-dea of eternitydsplays to the wondering eyes
of the path of comets the orbits of globes and the
tardy return Of weared worlds from the fardstant fields
of ether. And his name likewise scars aoft with those
of Newton and Laplace
But to the patient Flooding compiler of dictionaries
the exercise of genius the soace of imagination the
aspirations of ambition forbidden His highest aim
correct the errors supply the deficiencies of his
predecessors and his cherished reward exemption from
censure.
Goldsmith was incapable of compiling dictionary, as
Johnson Of making the of Europe relying his
German flute Yet would prefer the lot of the volatile
poet piping to the rude peasantry Of Asace that of
the great photographer enyeoped in learned dust elabo
| ing the canons of photography
The task however, repusive though be, has become
necesary and honor is due to the scholar who has the
rmness of purpose and the of soul to
counter and overcome its difficulties
But dismssing prolegomena The dictionary before us
been published in France under the auspices Of the
Government and enriched by the contributions the
eminent scholars Of France and England Its peculiar
claims to patronage well forth in the preface to
the Paris edition. and the ruefu blunders perperated by
those who put their trust in Boyer and Cha5aud are
shown up in light calculated set all seriousness at
defiance.
Nor has the American editor been idle In wel-wrt-
ten introduction he that three thousand errors
which still deace the Paris edition. have been corrected
in this and that upwards of four thousand new phrases
and French dioms have been incorporated Many thou
sand definitions and have also added and
the editor has adopted the notation of Srenne to that
language which he justly regards 'de vernacular of
| European Continent
CICERo's TUscULAN DESIGNATIONS, with English
Notes, Critical and Explanatory. BY CHARLES ANrHoN,
| LII. d. New York, HARPER BROTHERS Washing
ton, TAYLOR MAURY
This small volume presents certain philosophical dis
cussons held by Cicero with several friends at his de-
ghtful country seat Tusculum the modern Frasca The
scope of their inquiries appears to be how attain hap
piaess in this i and the indicated conducive to
that end are Peace of mind The subsection of the
passions to g. Contempt of death Patience
der bodily suffering s. And finally the proof here exhibit
cd that virtue of itself is sufficient happy fe
The arguments in support of these topics of
derived from Greek sources, Plato, Aristotle and Chry
sippus the great mental and moral philosophy
To his studies Of Greek literature does Cicero appear to
owe that boundless sway which he exercised over the
From he toh ova
acquired the faculty of combining and moulding clauses
and periods into all the varieties of harmonious cooca
ton Hence his became auned musical cadences
of which cadences hail the oftrecurrng sse pdea
as Of our earliest acquaintance.
Passing strange does it appear that eminent Roman
writers, contemporary literally educated and filing the
highest Offices of the State should differ so widely in
taste, judgment andStyle, did Salust and Cicero
the one bending language grave, stately and impera
tora into subserence the laws Of euphony and the
graces of rhetoric the other INDUCING Archasm and
in the Of phraseoogy portentous and absurd
Sallust the pioneer Of corrupt latnity His ungrace
full and unroman position of Lgtr" at the beginning Of
sentences his constant Of the fequentatye verb for
the primitive without regard meaning his absurd
of morales for homiae, and his uniform neglect Of the
copulatve, all tend to show depraved TASTE and pen
utterly regardless not only Of the Of compost
ton but even Of the proprieties Of language.
Cicero, the other hand is scrupulousy in the
Of words and singuary happy in their arrangement
The genius Of the latin language like the process equa
ons permits the Of transpositon limited only by the
correct judgment and just taste Of the writer OF this
property the Roman orator has uniformly avaed himself
in the position Of words Thus for the common stereo.
typed FORM Delubrs fruestos naros gnes izterre
cond sunt Cicero thus marshas his words SO that the
poysyllable may close the sentence: "DeiJris sunt
nestos Hefarios gnes ere conat" For non teren-
dus sim, )" " Non sim Lerendus," SC.
In the management Also Of the relative and onecedent
that pivot upon which, in all languages perspicuity or
ambiguity turns Cicero stands unryaled An inspection
Of any page will show the anxious care employed TO bring
those important words into juxtaposition.
To conclude the thanks Of the classic student are due
to the learned editor for the udcous notes with which
this little gem is embelshed O.
A Treatise on analytical Geometry bv Rev BENE-
SEsTISr s. j., Professor Of Natural PAiosoply and
Astronomy n Georgetown College 1852.
The work Of the Rev. Father Sestin purports to be
part Of complete Of mathematics, destined for
the Of the students Of Georgetown College We have
examined its pages with care, and find its parts
ranged in the order which best calculated to
render easy and agreeable the study Of the Cartesan
Geometry. Dispensing with the usual preminares Of
the application Of algebra to the solution Of problems Of
geometry the author enters the region Of pure