80 MEMOIR OF PLINY. 



cuted works which we have heen able only imper- 

 fectly to imitate. Here again, however, the diffi- 

 culties of his nomenclature present themselves ; he 

 mentions numerous substances which must enter in- 

 to compositions, or be subjected to the operations of 

 the arts, and yet we know not what they are. The 

 nature of a few may with difficulty be conjectured 

 by means of certain equivalent characteristics that 

 are related of them ; but still even at the present 

 day, when almost eveiy department of letters has 

 its patrons and its cultivators, it may be said that we 

 are without a proper commentary on Pliny's Natu- 

 ral History, a work which is a desideratum in our 

 literature, and which would be a task of no small 

 labour and acquirement, since besides a critical 

 knowledge of the Greek and Roman tongues, an ex- 

 tensive acquaintance with every department in phy- 

 sical science would be essential in him who should 

 undertake it.* 



The only English version, as has been already 

 stated, is that executed by Dr Philemon Holland, 

 and published in London in 1601. As a translation 

 it is generally accurate, but its style is antiquated, 

 and it fails in the nomenclature of the plants and 

 animals. This curious performance is dedicated to 

 the famous Cecil, secretary to Queen Elizabeth, and 

 Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, and was 

 ushered into the world with the following proem : 



* Biographie Universelie, torn. xxxv. Anthon's Lamp. 

 Classic. Diction., vol. ii. Art. Plinius. 



