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NATURE 
[ Dec. 2, 1869 
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
CASIMIR MAREMMA. By the Author 
of ‘‘ Friends in Council,” ‘‘ Realmah,” &c. 2 vols. post 8vo. [Shortly. 
HORACE, THE SATIRES AND EPIS- 
TLES. Translated into English Verse by the late J. CONINGTON, 
M.A., Corpus Professor of Latin in the University of Oxford. Fcap. 8vo. 
6s. 6d. 
THE EPIGRAMMATISTS: a Selection 
from the Epigrammatic [Literature of Ancient, Medieval, and Modern 
Times, with Notes, Observations, Illustrations, and an Introduction. By 
the Rev. HENRY PHILIP DODD, M.A., of Pembroke College, Oxford. 
8vo. ros. 6d. onmediately. 
WEAPONS OF WAR: a History of Arms 
By AUGUSTE 
and Armour, from the Earliest Point to the Present Time. 
DEMMIN. With nearly 2,000 Illustrations. 8vo. 12s. 
DEDICATED BY PERMISSION TO HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN. 
CHARLES KEMBLE’S READINGS, 
SHAKSPERE. A Selection of Seventeen Plays as read hy him before 
Her Majesty and the Public. The Plays are carefully freed from all 
improprieties, and by judicious excisions each is brought within the compass 
of aneyening’s reading. Mr. Kemble’s accentual marks enable the amateur 
reader to see at a glance what words are emphasised by him. Edited by 
R. J. LANE. 3 vols. crown 8yo. 6s. : 
HISTORICAL MAPS OF ENGLAND 
during the First Thirteen Centuries. With Explanatory Essays and 
Indices. By CHARLES H. PEARSON, M.A., Fellow of Oriel College, 
Oxford ; late Professor of History in King’s College, London; and Author 
of a ‘‘History of England during the Early and Middle Ages,” &c. Im- 
perial folio, £1 11s. 6d. 
A HISTORY OF THE DECLINE OF 
THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. By GEORGE LONG, M.A. Vol. III. 
8vo. 145. 
GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY as 
exhibiting the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God. By the Very Rev 
WM BUCKLAND, D.D, F.R.S. With Additions by Professor Owen, 
Professor Phillips, and Robert Brown. Edited by Frank BucKLAND, M.A 
Vol. I. post 8vo. Vol. II. post 4to. (containing the numerous beautiful 
Illustrations). Price 155. 
“Tt was the happiest of thoughts to reproduce this happiest of conceived 
and executed works. All the old Annuals that used to appear when this 
‘Essay’ was first published, are not worth one of its sublime and cheerful 
chapters,”"— Atheneum. 
A CRUISE IN THE ‘GORGON;” or, 
Eighteen Months on H.M.S. Gorcon, in the Suppression of the Slave Trade 
on the East Coast of Africa. Including a Trip up the Zambesi with Dr. 
Livingstone. By W. COPE DEVEREUX, Assistant-Paymaster, R.N. 
8vo. price ros. 6d. 
A MEMOIR OF W.H. HARVEY, M.D. 
F.R.S. Author of ‘‘Phycologia Britannica,” late Professor of Botany in 
Trinity College, Dublin. With Extracts from:his Journal and Corre- 
spondence. 8vo. with Portrait, res. 
““We close this book with the sense of having been the better for reading 
it, It is the record of the beautiful life of a true and a good man.”—£ai- 
burgh Evening Courant. 
FAITH AND SCIENCE. A Series of 
Essays. By GILBERT SUTTON. Post 8vo, gs. 
Lonpon; BELL & DALDY. 
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ANCIEN P2GEASSVGS 
ENGLISH REARS: 
EDITED BY 
REV. W. LUCAS COLLINS, 
Author of “‘ Etoniana,” ‘‘The Public Schools,” &c. 
Advertisement. 
It is proposed to give, in these little volumes, some such introduction to the 
great writers of Greece and Rome as may open to those who have not received 
a classical education—or in whose case it has been incomplete and fragmen- 
tary—a fair acquaintance with the contents of their writings, and the leading 
features of their style. 
The constant allusions in oyr own literature, and even in our daily press, to 
the works of the ancient classical authors, and the familiarity with the whole 
dramatis persone of ancient history and fable which modern writers on all 
subjects assume on the part of their readers, make such an acquaintance al- 
most necessary for those who care not only to read but to understand. 
Even in the case of readers who have gone through the regular classical 
course in their day, this acquaintance, if honest confession were made, would 
be found very imperfect. Itis said, of course, that ‘‘every English gentleman 
reads Horace ;” but this is one of those general assertions which rest upon very 
loose ground. An ordinary observer of the habits of the class might find him- 
self somewhat at a loss for instances. 
In the case of ladies, and of the large body of general readers who have 
received either no classical education, or a very imperfect one, probably less 
is now known of Homer, Virgil, or Horace than in the days when Pope’s, 
Dryden's, and Francis’s translations were first published, and took their place 
for the time on every literary table. 
‘There appears a strong probability that the study of Greek and Latin, which 
has so long been our exclusive idea of a “‘liberal” education, will hereafter be 
confined within a narrower circle. Yet some knowledge of the ancient classics 
must continue to be the key to much of our best English literature. If, as 
some educational reformers suggest, a systematic course of English reading 
be substituted for Latin and Greek in our ‘‘ middle-class’”’ schools, such a 
training will necessarily involve the careful study of the masters of English 
thought and style, and more especially of those earlier authors whose taste — 
was formed very much upon the old classical models, and whose writings are 
full of allusions to their characters and imagery. 
It may be said that we have translations of all the best and most popular of 
the classical authors, and that many of these are admirable in their execution. 
This is quite true. The Iliad, the Odyssey, the A‘neid, Horace, and some 
of the Greek Dramatists, have lately found translators who, in point of taste 
and general accuracy, leave little to be desired. But the results of their work 
will be best enjoyed and valued by those whose acquaintance with the origi- 
nals enables them to appreciate not only the positive beauty of the English 
version, but its relative merit as conveying the spirit and sense of the Greek 
or Latin author. Even the best translation (especially of the classical poets) 
may fail to have a continuous interest for the merely modern reader, unless he 
has some previous familiarity with the argument of the work, the personages 
introduced, and the characteristics of the age in which the scene and action 
lie. 
To meet, in some degree, such want as it has been here sought to explain, 
is the aim of the present series. It appeals to a circle outside that of classical 
scholarship ; though possibly some who have all legal claim to rank as scholars, 
but who now stand rather on the “‘ retired list” of that service, may in these 
pages meet some old acquaintances whom they have almost forgotten. If, in 
any case, they find our re-introduction unsatisfactory, none would advise them 
more heartily than we do to renew the old personal intercourse for themselves. 
VOLUME I., CONTAINING 
THE ILIAD OF HOMER, 
WILL BE PUBLISHED ON IST JANUARY. 
The following Authors, by various Contributors, are in preparation :— 
HOMER—THE ODYSSEY. | ZESCHYLUS. 
VIRGIL. SOPHOCLES. 
HORACE. | ARISTOPHANES, 
HERODOTUS. CICERO. 
Others will follow. 
W. BLACKWOOD & SONS, Edinburgh and London. 
Orders received by all Booksellers. 
