MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 623 



work out the system ; by doing which he will confer a national benefit 

 upon us. We would in every possible instance make boys acquainted 

 with the beauties of the Latin language ; but rather, as Milton observes in 

 his Tract on Education, ** than spend seven or eight years merely in scrap- 

 ing together so much miserable Latin and Greek, as might be learned 

 otherwise easily and delightfully in one year," we would wish to see it 

 entirely excluded from popular education. 



Dr. Nuttall's interlinear translation of the Bucolics is at once gram- 

 matical and musical ; and is so well and clearly given, that any boy 

 having a knowledge of the simplest elements of the Latin language, will at 

 once be able to read and to understand his author, with a veiy small 

 amount of labour. Thus a boy on the first form of a public school, pro- 

 vided this plan is followed, will, in the course of one year, become a better 

 scholar than if he had pored his way through the ordinary routine for 

 half a dozen years. Mr. Hamilton, who had taken up the same idea, was 

 to some extent highly successful : but then Mr. Hamilton had but a very 

 limited knowledge of the classics ; and hence the translations read by his 

 pupils were often barbarous, and absolutely unintelligible, because he 

 gave the words disconnectedly, just in the same way as a schoolboy would 

 have translated them by the help merely of a dictionary. Not so, Dr. 

 Nuttall ; his translation takes in the sense and beauty of the original ; and 

 they are so easy and measured, that to some very considerable extent 

 they read musically, like their context. Read and compare, for example, 

 the following lines from the seventh Eclogue : 



" Populus gratissima Alcicla?, Baccho vitis, 

 The poplar is most grateful to Hercules, to Bacchus the vine. 



Myrtus formosa? Veneri, Phoebo sua laurea ; 

 The myrtle to lovely Venus, to Phoebus his own laurel. 



Phyllis corylos amat ; dum Phyllis illas amabit, 

 Phyllis the hazels loves ; whilst Phyllis these shall love. 



Nee myrtus, nee Phcebi laurea, corylos vincet. 

 Neither the myrtle nor Apollo's laurel shall the hazel-trees surpass. 



Fraxinus pulcherrima in silvis, pinus in hortis, 

 The ash is the fairest in the woods, the pine in the gardens. 



Populus in fluviis, abies in altis montibus ; 

 The poplar by the rivers, the fir-tree on the lofty hills. 



At si, formose Lycida, sgepius revisas me, 

 But if, my fairest Lycidas, you oftener visit me. 



Fraxinus in silvis, pinus in hortis, cedet tibi. 

 The ash in the woods, the pine in the gardens, shall yield to you/' 



It is not, however, alone to junior learners that we should recommend 

 this most able book as a guide and instructor. To individuals wishing to 

 resume their knowledge, or to commence an acquaintance with the classics, 

 it is invaluable, and will speedily enable them to reap the fruits of their 

 labours namely, the understanding the beauties of writers, whose works 

 transcend all the compositions which have appeared since their date. 



The " Treatise on Latin Versification " is exceedingly simple and lucid, 

 and contains a mass of useful information, which will be sought for in vain 

 in every grammar that has hitherto been published. 



The Poems of EBENEZER ELLIOTT. Vol. III. Kerhonah, Win- 

 Hill, &c. Steill, London. 



This volume is marked by all Elliott's peculiarities; strong sense, 

 vigorous and occasionally good poetry, and furious politics. We wish they 

 were separated, in so far as the last item is concerned. The preface is 



