mologies of many words of frequent occurrence, as well vulgar as technical, which owe their etymon to this learned language: V.G.

6

xéμn, Coma, hair. xopów, Comatus sum, Comam alo, to have or ·be adorned with long hair, to improve or COMB the hair, form it in ringlets.xons,,, Comans,. Comatus, crinitus, having waving hair, wearing bushy tresses, hairy. xoμnins, subauditur, asne, a Star, Cometa, stella, Comata, a Comet, hairy or blazing

star.

This, however, seems to us merely what ought to have been done in the present work; and, when it is done, it will render this lexicon of comparatively small value.

A most important feature in Mr. Booth's publication is one in which we cannot think that he has been eminently suc cessful:

Let it be further noticed, especially among the substantives and adjectives, that those words which are without a mark, are, generally, the best in the language; those with an asterism (*) are, for the most part, somewhat inferior; any with an obelisk (†) are more inferior still; and such as have the obelisk inverted (+), rank the lowest of any in this collection.'

.

*

་

If well executed, and none but a very good scholar should attempt it, this would be a very useful performance. With regard to the unmarked words, though they are not in all in stances free from objection, we do not deem it necessary to make any animadversion: but, with respect to the marks, they sometimes appear placed improperly, and sometimes placed where none ought to be. Thus we find 'Agaxns Araneus, Aranea, a spider, an Aran: (which latter phrase, by the way, is new to us:) agbúan +, calceamenti genus, a kind of shoe: avrun, haletus, &c.: Boast, saltus, &c. Now we are at a loss to understand why these words are thus differently marked. Αράχνης (or αράχνη and ἄραχνος which are the same primitive) is used by Hesiod, Dies 777., Bacchylides, fragm. de Pace, Sophocles, fragm. Inachi, Eschylus, Supplices 900., Euripides, fragm. Erecthei, and Pindar, fragm., who are all unquestionably good and antient poets, veteres atque probi, as Horace would call them; to say nothing of those who have written in the Anthology, and may belong to a later age. Aristotle, Plutarch, and Dioscorides, use the word in prose, and therefore we cannot call it merely poetical; we presume that it is the best word in the language to express a spider; and we cannot see why it should be marked as a somewhat inferior term.

The next word is agbuan +, calceamenti genus, which is marked as the lowest admitted into this collection. Now it is

to

to be found in Eschylus, Ag. 953., where the reader may see Stanley's remarks; in Euripides, Orest. 140., and seven times more; and agús in Theocritus, Idyll vii. 25. After such authority, we should scarcely call the word one of the lowest in the language. It may be elevated by poetical usage, but it is repeatedly adopted by the best writers in the best ages, and therefore cannot well be called low Greek.

4

* Next, 'Aurun is marked as a somewhat inferior word: but it occurs in Homer not less than twelve times, in Hesiod, and in Apollonius Rhodius. It may be poetical, but why inferior? Βῆσαι t, or as it is commonly written βῆσσαι, which is marked as a still lower word, and in the lowest class but one, is used in Homer still more frequently, in Apollonius Rhodius twice, and in an anonymous fragment in Hephæstio, c. 15.: so that, if it be a poetical, we see no reason for calling this also an inferior word; and still less why it should be marked lower than run, when it rests on nearly the same authority,

We have taken these words in their order, as mere specimens: but, had we selected the most objectionable, we should have been able to make a much stronger case. Thus we have Sixeλλ +, which occurs in Eschines in Ctesiph. c. 39.; aixia*, so constantly familiar to the readers of attic Greek; αἰκια άριςον *, μέδιμνος +, όν t, and a great number more, which are all proper words, used by the best writers in the best ages, and yet are here marked with a greater or less intensity of degradation, as inferior to the words in common use.

Mr. B. seems in these and innumerable other instances to have affixed his marks (if he be the original inventor of them) without sufficient consideration, or at least without sufficient explanation. Had he used the asterisk to mark poetical words, the obelus for words introduced by late or inferior writers, and the inverted obelus to mark those which have been adopted from extraneous languages into Greek, the learner would have been led to affix precise and definite ideas to the symbols, and have been gradually made acquainted with the purest and most original words. At present, we consider the marks as too vague and arbitrary to be of essential use; and we offer these hints for Mr. Booth's consideration, if he should have occasion to publish a second edition. At the same time, we must acknowlege that we do not see the superior excellence of his system; and we fear he will find that he has employed his valuable time, and a considerable portion of learning, on an object which is not attended with commensurate advantages.

ART.

ART. XII. Travels through France and Germany, in the Years 1815, 1816, and 1817; comprising a View of the Moral, Political, and Social State of those Countries. Interspersed with numerous Historical and Political Anecdotes, derived from authentic Sources. By J. Jorgenson, Esq. 8vo. pp. 416. 9s. Boards. Cadell and Davies. 1817.

THE

HE pretensions of this traveller are not few, nor moderate; and yet we must at once declare that we have been neither amused nor edified by him. If, indeed, in our perusal of his book, we have been conscious of any thing like amusement, we must avow it to have consisted of that mixed sentiment which the contemplation of prejudice and ignorance, combined with high-sounding pretensions, can scarcely fail to inspire.

Mr. Jorgenson is pleased to inform us in his preface (p.xv.) that, brought up in the arms of Neptune, and torn from the bosom of his friends at the early age of fourteen, he has been unable to acquire that literary knowledge and grammatical perfection which might render him eminent as a writer; and as the following narrative of his travels is given nearly as it was written in Germany, whence he has but very lately returned, he is apprehensive that some verbal inaccuracies may have escaped him.' - The inference is very modest; and we should readily have forgiven so pardonable a delinquency, considering especially the plea that has been offered in palliation of it, had we discovered much of those redeeming qualities of truth, simplicity, and perspicuity' to which he immediately afterward proceeds to lay claim. It unhappily turns out, however, that the verbal inaccuracies' make up in number what they want in weight; and that the truth, simplicity, and perspicuity,' are too often little else than vulgar national prejudice, frivolous anecdote, and the usual insipidities of a verbose and trite phraseology: but our chief object of remark is the very different kind of sentiments which this gentleman entertains with regard to certain classes in society, from those by which most of his professional brethren are said to be actuated. In common with the rest of mankind, we have hitherto been accustomed to regard the character of a British sailor as distinguished not less for sentiments of generosity and independence than of bravery; and above all as possessing, on the one hand, the most cordial sympathy with all the wants and wishes of the people, (particularly the poorer and more suffering part of them,) and, on the other, something very like contempt for the factitious dignity of mere wealth, title, or power. This son of Neptune, however, cherishes the converse of these sentiments, and holds that men are to be suspected

suspected and despised, or lauded, flattered, and admired, iu proportion to their inability or their power to confer favours. Speaking of the lower orders of the people of Europe in general, he remarks:

With very few exceptions, the author has found the lower classes to be envious, deceitful, fawning when they expect to gain something, and insolent when nothing is to be gotten, cherishing a perfect contempt for every thing which has the appearance of poverty; discontented, filthy in their houses, and disgusting in their manners. We read much in novels about that content and happiness which are only to be found in the cottage: it is said that the cheerful and healthy peasant, or day-labourer, free from care, anxiety and distempers, and from the disquietudes of ambition, enjoys more real and heartfelt satisfaction than the king on the throne. Nearly two years has the author been travelling in quest of some cottage in which he might find this picture verified; but he has not hitherto attained the object of his research. On the contrary, whenever he has had any intercourse with persons of higher rank, he has found them less inclined to envy, affable in their manners, easy of access, ever ready to render a service, and free from that baseness of character which distinguishes the lower classes. (Preface, p.ix.)

Accordingly, he does not fail to introduce, in the course of his narrative, abundance of egotistical anecdotes regarding the number of times that he was cheated, or suspected that he was going to be cheated, by jew-pedlars, petty shopmen, and publicans of the lowest order; (whose cabarets, in virtue of his quality as a foot-traveller, he appears chiefly to have frequented;) as if any countenance were thus afforded to his heartless proposition:- while sovereigns, diplomatists, and prime-ministers, Mr. George Rose, jun., the King of Prussia, and Lord Castlereagh, are the only honest and praise-worthy personages in the worldof his book.

We decline to enter into any detail of the national prejudices and antipathies with which this volume abounds. The French, in particular, appear to be the objects of Mr. Jorgenson's especial aversion; and, accordingly, all the vulgar and groundless common-places of abuse, with which that people have been so liberally treated in this country for the last quarter of a century, but which we thought were at length disappearing, and a distinction admitted between the people themselves and the revolutionary governments of which they have so long been the victims, make a very prominent feature of his journal. The inhabitants of Saxony, too, both prince and subjects, possess no good quality whatever, but are in every respect, whether moral or physical, historical, political, or religious, in times past, present, and future, perfectly detestable, because, having

once

-

once deemed it essential to their safety, like the greater part of the rest of Europe, to ally themselves with Bonaparte, they adhered somewhat longer to their engagements than their neighbours. We rather proceed to take notice of one or two instances of that presumptuous pretension to which we have alluded. Thus he assures us in his préface (p. xiv.), that he is about to give a developement of Bonaparte's gigantic plan against the British possessions in India, which will fully account for all the contradictions apparent in his line of policy for a series of years;-that he will, secondly, detail the true history of the Tugenbund, or Bond of Virtue, from which sprang, as he has chosen to remark, (with an absurd substitution of cause for effect,) all that enthusiasm which inspired the Prussians when they rose in a body to oppose the French; and, thirdly, that he will disclose to us certain clauses of the Secret Treaty formed between Bonaparte and the King of Saxony, on the return of the latter from his interview with the Emperor of Austria at Prague. These different communications, he says, are dervied from original and inedited documents, and from sources of the highest autho rity. We were impatient, accordingly, to arrive at those pages of the publication in which such interesting and authentic information was to be imparted; though, from what we had already perused of the book, we can scarcely say that we were disappointed on finding neither statement nor authority beyond the forgotten newspaper-trumpery of the times, from which the whole appears to have been collected. A short extract on the subject of the Secret Treaty, the ground on which the severity measured out to Saxony by the allied Sovereigns has been justified, will suffice as a specimen both of the importance and the authority of Mr. Jorgenson's communications.

The King of Saxony,' says he, left his capital, and proceeded to Prague, in order to have a personal conference with the Emperor of Austria, professing, at the same time, a wish to abandon the cause of Napoleon: the negotiation, however, failed; and his Saxon Majesty returned to Dresden, where he was received by the French Emperor with all possible demonstrations of joy and sincere friendship. It is said, that the King imparted certain secrets to Bonaparte, which he had drawn from the Emperor of Austria, and which enabled Napoleon to take such measures as had nearly frustrated the plans of the allies. When two sovereigns have a personal interview, it is generally held as a maxim of honour, that nothing should transpire which has been imparted in confidence. Buonaparte certainly obtained some knowledge, which he never could have acquired, except through the medium of the Saxon king. I will not, however, go so far as to say that

his