366 HUGH ANDREW JOHNSTONE MUNRO. 



Whewell's views on some passages of Aristotle. The Master of Trinity 

 occupied at that time a very distinguished position, and it was not well 

 for any one to encounter him who was not sure of his ground. But 

 Munro had pre-eminently the Cambridge characteristic, that he would 

 not publish except when he did feel sure of his ground ; and, on this 

 first appearance, even those who disputed his conclusions could not 

 question his perfect familiarity with his matter. 



In 1854 was started the " Cambridge Journal of Classical and Sacred 

 Philology," which ran through four volumes, the last appearing near 

 the beginning of 1860. Munro was from the first a most important 

 contributor to its pages ; and when, after an intermission of nine years, it 

 was resumed under the name of the " Journal of Philology," he renewed 

 his articles, and continued to write for it at intervals until his death. 



These articles took a sufficiently varied range in classical criticism, 

 both textual, philosophical, and literary ; and they exhibit throughout 

 one of Munro's marked traits, that he was a student of literature in 

 general. He was as familiar with Spenser, with Dante, and with 

 Goethe, and as thoroughly provided with all the linguistic, historical, 

 and aesthetic tools needed for their comprehension, as with Euripides 

 and Catullus ; and while his studies fell into the line of poetry rather 

 than prose, no one who ever discussed a philosophical problem with 

 him could doubt that the toughest reasoning was as handy to him as 

 the tenderest melody. Shrewsbury, like the other great English schools, 

 holds closely to the tradition that the practice of writing Greek and Latin 

 verse is the best method for teaching accurately the form and body of 

 those languages; and the volume of such compositions by her alumni, 

 entitled Sabrince Corolla, contains many admirable pieces by Munro. 



Among his earliest contributions to the above-named periodicals was 

 an article " On some Passages in Lucretius." The recent editions 

 of Lachmann and Bernays had directed the attention of scholars all 

 over the world to this most remarkable writer, of whom English 

 scholars could not exactly be said to be ignorant ; but they knew 

 him chiefly from the uncouth volumes of Wakefield. An entire revo- 

 lution in the criticism of the text had been hinted at by Madvig, and 

 fairly created by Lachmann ; and many were disposed — as some are 

 disposed even now — to accept the edition of the latter as a practical 

 finality. Munro, in his first and subsequent articles, paid all possible 

 honor to the learning, the diligence, and the intelligence of the great 

 Prussian ; but he showed plainly that his recension of the text was 

 far from a final one ; that in the interpretation of the poet Lachmann 

 had done comparatively little, and that little very seriously in need of 



