JS29.] 



Domeslie and Foreign. 



459 



j'ose V0U9 supplier, Monsieur, comme tel, 

 da me faire la faveur de me permettre I'ac- 



ces a votre , et de signifier vos ordres 



pour men admission, en cas que vous ayez 

 cette complaisance. J'ai I'honneur d'etre. 

 Monsieur, votre tres-humble et tres-obeis- 

 sant serviteur — A. B." Can any thing be 

 prettier, or politer ? 



Herodotus, translated from the Greek, 

 with Notes and Maps, by Isaac Taylor, 

 1 vol. 8yo. ; 1829. — Translators, for the 

 most part, hitherto, by a strange perversity, 

 have worked more for the learned than the 

 unlearned — mainly, perhaps, to shew off 

 their own skill and dexterity ; and even 

 when the exigencies of the unlearned have 

 been at all regarded, it has been more to 

 assist them in the career of acquirement, 

 than to introduce them famiharly and effec- 

 tually to the author. For the general read- 

 er — for him who has no knowledge of the 

 original language, nor any view to the at- 

 tainment of it — for him who alone has any 

 real occasion for translations — to supply his 

 genuine wants, scarcely any, from the 

 heights of their learning, have thought it 

 worth their wloile to descend. There are 

 thousands who would be glad to refer to 

 these original authorities ; and we are 

 heartily glad that at last one person has pre- 

 sented himself willing and able to gratify 

 them. Herodotus is the oldest, and, in 

 some respects, the only authority for an- 

 cient history ; and ]\Ir. Taylor is the first 

 person who has brought him within the 

 ready and satisfactory use of an Enghsh 

 reader. Beloe had scholarship enough, we 

 have no doubt, though Jlr. Taylor seems 

 to think he understood French better than 

 Greek ; but he was clearly defective in taste 

 and tact, and quite incapable of distinguish- 

 ing between finery and simplicity. Mr. Tay- 

 lor has accomplished his ta:k admirably. 

 The translation is plain and simple, and 

 thus resembles the venerable original. It 

 is neither literal nor paraphrastic — deviating 

 from the former only in obedience to the 

 demands of the varying idioms of the two 

 languages; and approaching the latter, 

 only where it was desirable, or rather impe- 

 rative, for distinctness sake. The due me- 

 dium is very happily hit ; and the general 

 execution shews not only considerable know- 

 ledge of the Greek language, but a com- 

 plete command of his own. 



The digressions of Herodotus — of which 

 he is full, and which he defends and prose- 

 cutes upon principle — the translator has se- 

 parated from the narrative, by printing them 

 in a smaller, but still very legible type. The 

 reader may thus pursue the narrative with- 

 out interruption, and recur, or not, to the 

 digressions, as liis fancy bids liim. Many 

 of them arc higlily interesting and impor- 

 tant, and contain the valual)lc results of the 

 autlior's researclits ; while some are calcu- 

 lated only to claim the attention of the 

 learned, and others can . attract neither 



learned nor unlearned. This separation was 

 a happy thought of the translator. He has 

 also carefully and very judiciously abstained 

 from rendering the few broader phrases 

 which the unrefined age and manners of the 

 times permitted, and the retention of which 

 would have only been offensive, while the 

 number is small, and never essential to the 

 conveyance of his meaning. Anybody now 

 may read the book, and in company with 

 anybody. 



The whole performance — preface, transla- 

 tion, notes — are all indicative of the sound 

 sense and liberal acquirements of the author; 

 and we were the more surprised at one httle 

 scrap of nonsense, which he has plainly 



adopted without his usual reflection " The 



history of Herodotus has not improperly," 

 says he, " been called an epic — he evidently 

 keeps the Homeric poems in view as a mo- 

 del." This, it must be confessed, is piorely 

 imaginary. The author's object was to 

 trace the origin and course of the wars be- 

 tween Greeks and "Barbarians;" and, in 

 the details of his narrative, he tells all he 

 knows of the Persians, fliedes, Egyptians, 

 Syrians, Scythians, &c. ; and no propor- 

 tions are thought of. He is short or long, 

 according to the amount of his materials, 

 and grows more minute as he approaches 

 to his own times. 



Nobody, after reading Herodotus in his 

 present easy and modern dress, will ever 

 think of reverting to the smooth generalities 

 of any ancient history ; and especially to the 

 OutUne of History recently issued by the 

 " Diffusion Society," which is so fiill of 

 names and bare of details, that by no pos- 

 sibihty can ifr lay hold of the memory. 

 Here it is all clear, explicit, and at least un- 

 diluted by passing through the hands of 

 twenty successive abridgers. 



The Manual of Invalids, by a Physi- 

 cian ; 1 829 Full of excellent sense as is 



this little volume, it scarcely corresponds 

 with the title ; for the consulter will in vain 

 look for lists of diseases, and descriptions of 

 symptoms to discover his own case ; nor 

 will he have better luck in searching for 

 specific remedies. But, though these things 

 he will not find, he may find something bet- 

 ter ; and he will do so, if he suffer the con- 

 vincing ungency of the author to teach him 

 to distrust quacks and quackeries, and con- 

 fide more upon his own observations. The 

 frank and, intelligent writer presses, again 

 and again, the undoubted but neglected 

 truth — that all rests upon experience ; and 

 nobody, of course, can be better ])laccd for 

 self-observation than the patient himself. 

 With general resemblance and analogy, 

 every man lias his peculiarities, which none 

 are so likely, if his attention be turned at- 

 tentively to the discovery, as himself to de- 

 tect ; <md these peculiarities are what mo- 

 dify disease, and ri()uire corresponding 

 modifications in remedies. Let him then 

 keep a sharp look out upon his own seiua- 

 8 N 2 



