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the person by whom the family is supported. I have read Virgil," where Virgil by metonymy is put for "the works of Virgil." "He drank the cup," where by the same figure, the Cup is put for the liquor, which it contained. "Warlike Rome," where, by metonymy also, the city is put for its inhabitants. "The keel plows the sea," the keel, a part of the ship, being used by Synecdoche to "Annibal was express the whole. conquered," where Annibal is put for the Carthaginian army. They drink the Tigris," the whole, by the same figure, being taken for a part. We say also, "The angry sea," "The tide rages," "A tenacious memory," "A solid judgment." These expressions all admit a literal translation into Latin, the correspondent terms having, in both languages, the same literal and figurative acceptation; thus, "Columen familia." Ter. "Virgilium legi." "Poculum

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bibit." Tibul. "Ferox Roma." Hor. "Carina sulcat." Virg. "Annibal victus est." Liv. "Tigrim bibunt." Virg. "Iratum mare." Hor. "Estus furit." Virg. "Tenax memoria." Quint. "Mens solida." Hor.

In these, and numberless other examples, which might be adduced, the two languages concur in respect to the literal, and the figurative, acceptation of the terms. But this coincidence does not universally obtain. Were we, for example, to render Obtusa pectora, "Blunt breasts." Acutum caput, "A sharp head." Ferro flammaque," With iron and flame." Calix fæcundus, "A fruitful cup;" our translations would be obscure, if not completely unintelligible. On the other hand, a figurative expression, in English, will not always admit a literal translation into the Latin language. We say of a person, endued with great affection and benevolence, " He has a warm heart;" but were we to render this by Calidum cor, we should convey a very different idea from that, which the original expresses. The word sail, in English, is by Synecdoche, frequently employed to denote the whole ship-and we say in our language,

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"I perceive two sail," or "three sail." But can this be rendered in Latin by Duo vela, Tria vela? Certainly not. The term velum denotes simply the "sail," or canvass," and is never figuratively employed to signify the whole ship. Or, to borrow another illustration from sea language, we may say, in English, "All hands went on board," where the term Hands is by a Synecdoche put for Mariners; but in Latin we must render it by Omnes nautæ, and not Omnes manus. pp. cii-cv.

The Preliminary Observations are concluded with a few admonitions, respecting perspicuity and precision.

Having presented our readers with this brief analysis of the preliminary matter, we cannot so well point out the nature of these volumes as by inserting the Author's Preface.

PREFACE.

It will not be questioned by those, who are conversant in the study of philology, that the most successful means of acquiring a correct and critical acquaintance with a dead language, is to employ it, either in composition or translation, under the direction of a skilful master. Nor will it be doubted, that a capacity to express our own, or the sentiments of others, in a foreign language, with accuracy and elegance, is the most unequivocal proof of a perfect acquaintance with its grammar, its idiom, and its purest phraseology. A knowledge of the vocabulary, combined with a slender proficiency in the etymology and syntax, aided by a tolerably acute judgment, will enable a person to translate a foreign language into his own, with considerable correctness. Where a critical knowledge of the principles fails him, the context will frequently direct him to the meaning of the author; and, what the scientific translator executes by his critical skill, the other frequently is able to accomplish by the aid of sagacity, and an ac

quaintance with the subject. But the converse operation is a more arduous task. In translating into a foreign language, or employing it as the vehicle of our own thoughts, neither intuitive sagacity of intellect, nor the most intimate acquaintance with the subject will avail, without a perfect knowledge of the grammar, the idiom, and the elegancies of the language. Hence we find many capable of translating a Greek or a Roman classic, with considerable facility and correctness, into their vernacular tongue, who are confessedly unable to render, with tolerable accuracy, a few sentences of their own language into Greek or Latin. To clothe Cicero or Virgil in an English dress is an office, to which many may be fully competent; but to render the most correct translation of these into Virgilian hexameter, or Ciceronian prose, would surpass the powers of the most accomplished classical scholar.

poet, it is to be observed, adopts a vocabulary, which, either in respect to the words themselves, or the sense in which he employs them, may bc justly regarded as peculiarly his own. His diction possesses more of elevation and magnificence, than is suited to the grave and simple style of the philosopher, or the historian; and, when he condescends to employ, or is by necessity compelled to use, the humbler vocabulary of prose, he invests his words with a figurative meaning. His language is the expression of ardent feeling, vehement passion, or fervid imagination. The cause he denotes by its effect, the genus by the species, the whole by a part, and conversely, substituting also one symbol of thought or perception for the sign of another, if the subjects are related by resemblance, or contratiety.

Fettered also by the metrical laws of his art, he assumes a licence to deviate from certain syntactical rules, to which the prose writer is strictly confined. Such are the idiomatic licences of the poet; and, when the scholar has been early and much habituated to these, it is not to be wondered, if he transfer them into a species of composition, in which they can be regarded in no other light, than as palpable incongruities, or meretricious embellishments. In this way, perhaps, we may account for that grotesque commixture of poetic and prosaic idioms, which disfigure the diction of many of our modern writers of Latin prose.

To facilitate the attainment of a correct Latin prose style, as far as it is acquirable by us moderns, is the principal aim of the following pages. How mortifying soever it may be to our national pride, the charge alleged against us by some foreign critics, that the Latin prose, which has lately issued from the British press, is, with a few exceptions, glaringly disfigured with poetical idioms, palpable inaccuracies, and solecistic phraseology, is unquestionably an imputation, which, without the blindest partiality to ourselves, cannot be pronounced to be entirely groundless. Whether this impurity of diction be ascribable to a premature initiation into the practice of versification, or to an excessive attention devoted to this exercise, while Latin prose is comparatively neglected, the author does not presume to determine. Thus much is certain, that there is a freedom of diction permitted to the poet, which is denied to the prose writer; and that, when this licence has been early and habitually indulged, it requires more than common vigilance in the translator, to prevent its insinuation into a species of style, from which it ought to be most carefully excluded. The VOL. I. NO. II.

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By these observations, however, the author would not be understood to signify, that the study of prosody, or the practice of versification, is either useless, or unnecessary. Though, in estimating the merit of prosodical science, either by the talents necessary to acquire it, or by its tendency to improve the intellectual powers, or by its general comparative utility, the mere prosodian may, perhaps, be regarded as occupying a subordinate rank in the literary scale, yet surely no person can be entitled to the appellation of "classical scholar," who has neglected the study of this

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science. To the skill of the prosodian we are indebted for many valuable emendations of the ancient poets; and he, who reads Horace without a correct acquaintance with his metres, tastes but imperfectly the beauties of the poet. And, though a knowledge of quantity, and the rules of prosody in general, may doubtless be acquired by other means, than the practice of versification, it must be admitted that this exercise is not devoid of utility, having a direct tendency to invigorate the imagination, and improve the taste. But still, if we consider, that the principal advantages, resulting from this practice, are attainable by other means, and if we reflect, how few there are, who are by nature qualified to become poets, and how rarely occasion presents itself for exhibiting a skill in the composition of Latin or Greek poetry, we cannot help regarding the art of versification, in its most classic style, as comparatively of secondary importance. Though Latin prose has now ceased to be the general medium of communication in the literary world, to write it with correctness is surely an accomplishment, which every classical schofar should be ambitious to attain. In translating a Greek author, and in critical annotations on a Roman classic, Latin prose is almost universally employed. And nothing, it is conceived, can be less consistent with propriety, or less creditable to the writer, in a work professedly critical on some ancient classic, or in a translation of some Greek author, than for the critic, or the translator, to betray in every page, an ignorance of that language, in which he undertakes to exhibit his own sentiments, or to express the meaning of his original. Yet this is no uncommon fact. To produce examples would be invidious. The object of the author is not to offend, but to admonish.

In the execution of this work, the author has endeavoured to accommodate his observations, as far as possible, to the capacity of the junior scholar, for whom chiefly this work is intended. In his selection of exercises, he has exemplified the several

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species of style, the colloquial, the epistolary, the historical, and the oratorical. He thinks it necessary, at the same time, to observe, that, though the exercises are chiefly extracted from the Latin classics, they are not to be regarded as mere translations. He has abridged the original, wherever it was necessary, in order to adapt the length of the exercise to the capacity of the scholar; and he has, on the contrary, occasionally introduced passages, which might serve to illustrate the critical observations. If, in the syntactical remarks, a few repetitions occur, he trusts the attentive and judicious reader will perceive, that they are found chiefly in those cases, in which, as the experienced teacher well knows, the young pupil is most prone

to err.

In the explanation of synonimes, two different modes present themselves to our choice. The one is to exhibit the primary idea annexed to the word, and then to evolve the accessory conceptions belonging to it. This very often necessarily requires a detailed explanation. The other is to display, and to contrast with each other, the two principal subordinate conceptions. Each of these two modes possesses peculiar advantages. The latter recommends itself by an epigrammatic conciseness, which seizes the attention, and assists the memory. But it is liable to this great objection, that, when the term involves more than one accessory idea, this mode of distinguishing is necessarily defective; for it is an error to imagine, that in all cases, there is only one subordinate conception attached to a word. Were this the fact, it cannot be questioned, that the epigrammatic mode of distinction, if it may be so denominated, would be far the preferable one, and would be in all cases perfectly comprehensive. But, when along with the primary conception, the word includes several secondary ideas, it is evident, that the complete evolution of these is to be effected only by specific explanation. Each of these modes the author has adopted, as the case required. And, if he has occasionally differed from some learned

philologists and critics in this, as well as in other parts of his works, he hopes the candid reader will not ascribe it to the arrogance of presumption, or to an overweening confidence of the author in his own judgment. Where there is so much scope for diversity of opinion, and so great room for misconception, concurrence among critics is not to be expected, and error may reasonably claim forgiveness.

Greenwich, 10th March,

1812.

We have now only to add, that the author, in the year 1792, published "An Essay on Philosophical Necessity," in one volume, 8vo. pp. 508.; and in the year 1802, "A Treatise on the Etymology and Syntax of the English Language," of which a second edition was published in the year 1809, in one volume. 8vo. pp. 425. Printed for Johnson, in St. Paul's Church Yard.

MATHEMATICAL LECTURES. By Professor B. BRIDGE. 2nd Edition. 2 vols. 8vo. London, Cadell. 1812. Pr. 15s.

These Lectures, though bound up together so as to form one work, consist of three tracts or small treatises entirely independent of each other. The first of them contains fifteen lectures on the principles of Algebra; the second, six lectures on the elements of Plane Trigonometry; the third, eight lectures on the construction, properties, and analogies of the three Conic Sections; and in conjunction with the Elements of Euclid they are intended by the author "to furnish young persons with a compendious course of Mathematical reading, preparatory to their entrance upon the Study of

Natural Philosophy." We shall therefore give some account of each tract separately.

1. The Algebra. The lectures on this subject are confined entirely to what is commonly called the first part of Algebra, without at all adverting to the higher or more abstruse branches of the science, and we are informed in the Preface, p. 7. that, "in the general plan of them, the introduction of any perplexing or intricate questions, which might tend to disgust or dishearten the learner at first entering upon his Mathematical course, has been carefully avoided."

In the first or introductory lecture, after having defined and explained the use of the most common Algebraic signs, symbols, &c. Mr. B. proceeds to exemplify his subject by showing the method of solving the following question, viz. "To divide the number 35 into two such parts, that one part shall exceed the other part by 9."

A person unacquainted with Algebra would most probably set about the solution of this question in the following manner. 1. It appears, in the first place, that there must be a greater and lesser part. 2. By the hypothesis, the greater part must exceed the lesser by 9. 3. But it is evident that the greater and lesser part added together must be equal to the whole number 35. 4. If then we substitute for the greater part its equivalent, viz. the lesser part increased by 9.," it follows, that the lesser part increased by 9, with the addition of the said lesser part, is equal to 35. 5. Or, in other words, that twice the lesser part, with the addition of 9, is equal to 35. 6. Therefore twice the lesser part must be equal to 35 with 9 subtracted from it. 7. Hence, twice the lesser part is equal to 26. &. From which we conclude, that the lesser part is equal to 26 divided by 2; i. e. to 13. 9. And consequently, as the

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science. To the skill of the prosodian we are indebted for many valuable émendations of the ancient poets; and he, who reads Horace without a correct acquaintance with his metres, tastes but imperfectly the beauties of the poet. And, though a knowledge of quantity, and the rules of prosody in general, may doubtless be acquired by other means, than the practice of versification, it must be admitted that this exercise is not devoid of utility, having a direct tendency to invigorate the imagination, and improve the taste. But still, if we consider, that the principal advantages, resulting from this practice, are attainable F other means, and if we reflect, F few there are, who are by n qualified to become poets, an rarely occasion presents itself hibiting a skill in the comp Latin or Greek poetry, help regarding the art of in its most classic s paratively of second Though Latin prose to be the general m cros nication in the lit M. Humbolt affirms, that in 1793 it with correctn antities; the population of New Spain amountplishment, wh on Arithmeti ed to 4483529 persons; and having far should be rical progression; found, from authenticated registers of translating the arithmetic of surd births and deaths, that the former are critical ar these lectures, like the about th, and the latter about th sic, Lat emplo ound with a variety of easy of the whole population, he estimates ceive

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sud familiar questions to the learner upon the sebjects contained in them. rithms form the subject of 14th lecture, upon which Mr. observes, Pref. p. 5. that, "in an entary treatise of this kind, he As not thought it necessary to trouble the learner with rules for the construction of Logarithmic tables; but that his object is to explain the nature and properties of the logarithms themselves as they stand in those tables, and to apply them to several very useful arithmetical purposes." The principal purposes to which Mr. B. has applied them, are, the summation of Geometric series, the calculation of

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