Retrospect of Domestic Literatwre—Drama. 
Sternys inthe ayre flean’d 
Was sene, as fawys of fire brynnand, 
The fyrst nycht of Januere, 
All that nycht owre schynand clere, 
Cron. vi. 1. 75. 
“ Their Su. G. name, nordsken, norr- 
sken, corresponds to that of norihern 
lights, q. north shine. 
“« ScowmaR, s. A scowmar of the se, a 
pirate, a corsair. 
Thai had bene in grat perell ther; 
No wat [a] scozumar of the se, 
Thomas of Downe hattyn was he, 
Hard that the ost sa straytly than 
Was stad; and salyt wp the Ban, 
Quhill he come wele ner quhar thai lay. 
; Barbour, xiv. 375. MS. 
“ Bele. zee-schuymer, a sea-vover; Tr. 
escumeur de mer, itl. from escumer, to skim, 
whence the phrase, escumer des mers, to 
scour or infest the seas. 
“Tn the laws of the Lombards,and wri- 
tings of the middle age, robbers are often 
denominated Scamart, scamares, Scama- 
tores; whence Fr. escamott-er, to steal, 
Ipse quantocius Istri fluenta preter- 
‘means latrones properanter insequitur, 
quos vulgus Scamares appellabat. Eugip- 
pius, in Vita S. Severini, cap. 10. Et 
plerisque ab actoribus, Scamarisque et la- 
tronibus undique collectis, &c. Jornan- 
des de Reb. Getic. c. 58. V. Du Cane. 
These terms Ihre views as from the saine 
origin with Su. G. skam, diabolus, caco- 
demon, Is]. shteman, maletactor. I sus- 
pect, however, that scowmar, although 
nearly allied in sense, has no etymological 
affinity.” 
That a critical reader may here and 
there-discover a fault,in awork of such ex- 
“tensive reference, will not be wondered 
at. We might ourselves, perhaps, ob- 
ject to the admission of such a word as 
OMNEGATHERVM. But, upon the whole, 
jt will be found that Dr. Jamieson has 
published a dictionary which will prove 
a standard work, A few articles occur 
inan extended form, containing several 
very valuable disquisitions. See particu- 
larly under MAIL, PaxS EGGS, POWIN, 
suw, (a military engine), scuL, and 
YULE,. 
A work of some interest will likewise 
be found in “ The Grammar of the Gaelic 
Lunguage,” the introduction to which, 
dated Charleville, August 8, is signed 
E.O'C. vis divited into five'parts :— 
1, of pronunciation and orthography ; 
2, of the parts of speech; 8, of syntax ; 
4, af prosody; and, 5, of contractions 
and ogham ; followed at the end of veca- 
bulary. 
635 
M. Lenorr’s “ Logographic Emblema- 
tical French Spelling Book” has reached a 
third edition, Its utility is so far known 
that we think the certificates of different 
persons whose children have been bene- 
fited by it in a comparatively small num= 
ber of lessons, if they were ever neces 
sary, are new peculiarly needless. : 
In the month of December 1807, Mr. 
Boorn, published “ A Prospectus of an 
Analytical Dictionary of the English Lan- 
guage.” In announcing which, it was- 
proposed toa arrange the vocables into 
classes ; beginning with its compounds, 
Circumstances having hitherto retarded 
the dictionary, and rendered the period 
of its appearance uncertain, Mr. Booth 
offers the introduction. Having a sepa- 
rate title, he says, it may be considered 
either as an independent work, or as an 
advanced part of that of which it is the 
harbinger. Its principal ebject is to 
avoid the repetitions, which would oc- 
cur in a dictionary, by the explanation 
of all the prefixes, affixes, and common 
endings of compounded words. 
Herealso we have to mention “ Latium 
Redivivum ; or a Treatise on the Modern 
Use of thé Latin Language, and the Pre- 
valence of the French. To whichis added, 
_@ Specimen of the Latin Language accom. 
modated to modern Use;” by Mr. SryeR, 
in which much will be found that is cu- 
rious and interesting, as. well as much 
that wants qualification. We fear ne 
great advantage would be found to arise 
from the encouragement of Latifj@onver- 
sation in our schools. Mr. Sej@'s own 
Latin is extremely good. 
Mr. Grant’s“ Institutes of Latin Gram- 
mar,” is both a learned and elaborate 
work, though perhaps too extensive for, 
an initiatory treatise: we shall give a 
fuller notice of it in another Retrospect, 
Last, though not altogether of the 
slightest conscquence, we mention the 
second volume of Mr. f. B. Gricurist’s 
‘ British Indian Monitor.” A work highly 
creditable to the talents of its author. 
DRAMA. 
In regard to the more serious produc- 
tions of the Drama, we have no publica-’ 
tion of particular consequence to notice: 
and only Mr. Commay’s Farces, in the 
hyhter class. . 
These have all been so long before the 
public on the stage, that we have little 
more to do than to notice their tiles, 
“Blue Devils;” tivst acted so lony ago as 
1798, appears to bea loose version of a 
French piece, in one act, writtey by 
M. Patvat, the title of which, as the ad- 
“ vertisem@nt 
