80 
MEMOIR OF PLINY. 
cuted works which we have been 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 every 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 : — 
* Biographic Universelle, tom. xxxv. Anthoii’s Lamp. 
Classic. Diction., vol. ii. Art. Plinius. 
