The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-10-14
LrTERAxuRu.
REVIEW OF VIEW BOOKS.

.
-One of the most notable and praiseworthy
features of the curriculum of Lafayette Col
lege is the attention which is given to the
pathological study of the English language.
The reputation of the college in this particu-
lar is owing in great measure to Professor
Francis A. March, a philologist of great
learning and ability, who in his speciality as a
student of the English languagea and its litera-
ture has q reputation of the highest character,
both in this country and in Europe. We
noticed with great pleasure few months ago
Professor March's ''Anglo-Saxon Grammar, I"
and we are gratified to receive from Claxton,
Remsen & Haffelfnger a supplement to that
work in the shape of AN Anglo-Saxon Reader, :"
which has Just been issued from the press of
Harper g. Brothers. Admitting all that can
be Justly said in favor of the classics, we sin
cerely believe that there is as much mental
discipline and elements of high culture in the
pathological study of our own language and
literature as there is in Greek and Latin, and
it is not creditable that our colleges and uni
versities have adhered with such bigoted
pertinacity to monlish traditions in devoting
most of their attention to the dead languages.
The example that has been set by Lafayette
College in this respect is one that deserves
to be more extensively followed than it has
been, and the ''Anglo-Saxon Grammar" and
"Reader' of Professor March are works that
well deserve to be introduced as text
books into all our colleges and
high schools. The "AngloSaxon
Reader" is made up of representative pas
sages from Anglo-Saxon authors, and are so
arranged as to exhibit all the characteristics
of the language and its progressive forma-
tion. brief grammar is appended for the
benefit of less advanced students who may
hesitate about attacking the larger and more
elaborate work on that subject, and the va
rious extracts are illustrated by such philolo-
gical notes as are necessary for the assistance
of the student. The book is made complete
by full vocabulary. We cordially recon-
mend this "Anglo-Saxon Reader, as we'll as
Professor March's Comparative Grammar of
the Anglo-Saxon Language" not only to
teachers but to all who are at all interested
in the study of the English language.
Claxton, Remsen e. Haffelfnger also send
us '"The Heir Expectant" and tEstelle Rus
sell, couple of interesting novels of Eng
lish society, which have just been published
by Harper e. Brothers.
From Porter e. Coates we have received
Companions of my Solitude" by Arthur
Helps. Published by Roberts Brothers. Mr..
Helps is an essayist of peculiar kind, who
has many admirers, but about whose writings
the majority of readers will not be able to
get up much enthusiasm. We find them, de-
spite numerous fine thoughts and passages
that attract attention, much more
wearisome than edifying, and ''The Compan-
ions of my Solitude, which, as the American
is reprinted from the seventh London edi-
tion, must have found many appreciative
readers, is to our taste not more entertaining
than the previous performances of the same
pen. Mr.. Ruskin has set forth the dogma
that appreciation of Helps was the true
test of culture, but at the risk of falling
under the ban of the infallible high priest of
literary and artistic criticism, we are obliged
of necessity to confess that we are of the
unelect who do not appreciate Helps, button
the contrary find him an inexpressibly dull
writer, whose dullness is not compensated for
by sufficiently high qualities in other particu-
lars to make study of his works either plea
SAINT or profitable.
From Mckinney & Martin, No. 1908
Chestnut street, we have received almost a
Priest" by Mrs. Julia McNair Wright. We
noticed this book few days ago, and can
only repeat the opinion then expressed, that
it is coarse and bigoted attack upon the
Catholic Church that Is utterly unworthy of
the notice of intelligent readers, ana that IT is
calculated to do far more harm by keeping
alive the fires of religious prejudice than it is
to do good by the expose of the crooked ways
of the Catholic priesthood it processes to
make.
u. B. Lippincott & Co. send us Part No.
% 10 of 'The Universal Pronouncing Dictionary
of Biography and Mythology" by DIR. j.
Thomas, which brings the work down to the
title Thomas Corwin."
Turner & Co. send us AppIet0n's Journal,
Ecery Saturday, and Our Boys and Girls.
The latest numbers of Punch and Fun
have been sent us by the Central News Com
pany, No. 505 Chestnut street
WHAT pEOpTE PEAD