The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-05-04

in the seventeenth century and Is st proceeding in
the nineteenth-the first volume appearing in 1919,
and the iity sixth IN 1853. The CyclopGdia merely
tells that this "chief modern objection Of lives ot
saints and martyrs collated"- probably q mis-
print for collected-"by society OF learned JeS,itS
ut Antwerp in the seventeenth century" In the
tcle on 1.-THE Arabic Language and Literature" the
amount Of recttcation required IL endless Zenkers
"Bibliotheca Orientals' ia described IAN index
all printed Arabian works, instead OF catalogue of
all printed Arabic Persian and Turkish works, Ara,
bian and Arabic being, moreover IA little equivalent
as catalogue and index Hadji Khalfas great work
IL described al "A History OF Arabian, Persian aud
Turkish Literature" instead of dry photographed
catalogue OF socks in alphabetical order, and
told that i was published by Fhgel, vok. ID, in
stead of that it was published by Flugel with Latin
translation an important piece of information ~
these who do not read Arabic-in six volumes the
last issued in 1852. Won Hammers History of
Arabian Literature figures ~ a work completed III
1912 in two Volumes II Ia in seven, rather seven
had appeared at the time Of the authors death in
1857, the plan being then about bali carried out.
Some mention might have been made OF the i'm
mense scale Oh which the book IL constructed the
seven volumes extending to about seven thousand
pages, and containing notices Of about eight thou
fahd authors. We are told Of Ibn Batuta that hs
travelwere transated-it Is not said into what Ian
guage-by Mowra (Moura) at Lisbon, IN lS40, but
we not told that they were previously translated
into English in 1929 by DR.. Samuel Lee All, or
nearly ALL the scattered fragments of this article on
Arabian literature to be found in the article Of
the Conversations Lexicon" but in better NJ
rangement and accompanied by fuller Information
Surely, OF the two, the plan Of the old Encyclopedias
Americana was preferable-tO take the articles AZ
;bey were found, translate them, and say 40.
A general incorectness seems to pervade the
printing OF the volume, evil the more serious
the Americans are very fond OF perpetuating what
ever they print by means of stereotype-an inven-
ton which however useful in other respects, seems
destined tn become the bane OF cyciop@dlas In the
arHic Iao Hxy nraA
Praise Of Mohammed" by Busir " said "a have been
published by Rozenweig at Vienna, in 1924, instead
Of 1924 in another part of the article 1874 given
as the date o. an edition Of Omar lbnat Wardi
published ut Lund. if Arabic works were likely to
issue from the press of Scana in the sixteenth cen
fury. In the life Of AIdridge the Mulatto Roscius
among the Continental capitals at which he appeared,
We find Perth instead OF Pesth One of his favorite
characters il said IN be Hugo in 1.-The Paddock"
Certainly, the best known fact IN connection with
the Negro IN The Paddock" is that he is
Mungo here, Mungo there,
huDgo, Aungo, everywhere,
except in the pages of the New American Cyclic
pGdia." With rare felicity, after commencing his
Representation OF Hugo" the writer adds that
Aidridge il Afro good comedian apparently SUP
posing that his acting in :" The Paddock" is Of
deeply tragic cast.
One of The larger articles is on the interesting
subject Of " Amercanisms." 1t IL mentioned in the
course of it that 1.-TWO vocsbularies of Amercanisms
have been published, one at Boston, by John Picker
ing. IN 1916, and the other at New York, by John
Russell Bartlett in ls4s" IL might have been added
that an abridged translation OF B.rtlett's book has
appeared In Dutch-a singular fact-and that there
il dictionary of English and German. by Elwell,
published at New York in 1850, in which many Anne
ricaDisms included aud pointed out by distin-
gushing mark. To put this distinguishing mark.
and put il rightly, to b. q task transcendiDg
the powers Of any individual, and we would recon-
mend the Pathological Society, when they have sui
8cient leisure from the labors Of their gigantic
dictionary, to appoint q mixed commission OF Eng
lsb and Yankees to endeavor, If possible, tn draw
the boundary line To the satis action OF both nations
The best way to begin would, perhaps, be to take
each word or phrase that sounded strange to an
Enghsh ear. would probably be found that ma
ny of them were equally strange to natives OF dit
ftYent portions OF the United States; and on the
oil er hand. it would certainly be found that many
phrases which Americans would set down "a Anne
ricani.ms were az English as Addison. In the ar
tice on Amercansms in the CyclopGdia II Ia anus
ing TO see what odd misconceptions on that score
occur. Politician" we are told, :" in the United
States, means person who busies himself with the
management and contests Of a political party. In
England il means a statesman" In England there
Of The Village Politicians" which shows that the
term IL not Of 30 stately character. Again, Stage
il the American term for stage-coach, and 1t u
sometimes, but rarely, used in that sense by the
English" "Stage IL certainly now used but rarely
in that sense because stages themselves rarity
but the word only disappeared with the thing.
Further, we told that Ride In the United
States, means riding either in wagon on horse
back. The English restrict ride" 70 horseback.
Ride was formerly used by the English a. IL IL now
used by the Americans" One would like extreme
ly 10 know when English people ceased to ride in
COACH" and what is the word that has displaced IL.
But the richest piece Of information for the English
reader is that contained in the notice Of the word
"ticket"-
"Tcket "a used by the Americans In many ways IN
known 10 the English When an American engages a
passage railroad purchases . ucke'-ths Eng~h
man booked the boz 1nce The American purchases
. "tbrousb ticketp or "way tcket-thc Eng nnman D
booked portion whole distance OF his Intended
journey"
II the writer OF "Amercanisms" should ever take
a journey " England, which be evidently has not
done hitherto he will find that his "Amercanisms,"
way ticket" excepted. are the current language OF
every railway station IN out OF Cockneydom.
To sum up, as an American Cyclopgdia, the new
wsrk will be welcome from the fulners, Of the In
formation IL supplies In accessible form on Anne
rican topics, but gene raj cyclopedia IL fails lts
longer articles seldom rise above the level OF medi
ocrity its shorter ones are compressed that In
many instances they might with advantage I've
cancelled.
Carbon Letter "a the Orsini and P,srss De-