learned Profeffor of Germany has actually taken upon him to alter a whole paffage in Xenophon's Apologia Socratis, from ignorance of its existence. The words in all the MSS. and printed copies ftand as follows; and, from what has been already faid, it is evident they stand in need of no emendation : -εφ' οις γε μην εργοις κείται θάνατος και ζημιά, ιεροσυλίας τοιχωρυχία, απ δραποδισις, πόλεως προδοσία, εδ' αυτοι οι αντιδικοί τέτων πραξαι τι κατ Eus Pari. Ap. Soc. 25. Now, Profeffor Zeunius, of Wittemberg, in his edition of this part of Xenophon's works, has deliberately turned all these nominatives into datives, that they might agree with gys in the beginning; and applauds himself very much for the correction; obferving, vulgari lectione nihil ineptius fingi poteft.' Such is ftill the diffidence of these reformers! Upon the subject of punctuation, Dr Hunter refers, in his Preface, to the following paffage of the First Georgic, which ftands thus in Profeffor Heyne's, and the greater part of the earlier editions: • Semina vidi quidem multos medicare serentes, The fourth line of this paffage, which, by this punctuation, is connected with the latter claufe of the fentence, has given infinite trouble to the commentators. A verbal critic may indeed be excufed for being ignorant of the mysteries of agriculture; but it is fcarcely poffible to reprefs a fmile, when Profeffor Heyné gravely informs us that beans, which have been boiled till they are foft, will grow fafter than any other. Dr Hunter removes all this perplexity, by taking away the point from the end of the third line, and putting a full ftop at the end of the fourth. When this puzzling verfe is connected, in this way, with the three preceding ones, the meaning turns out to be, fimply, that beans are thought to require lefs boiling if the feeds. from which they were produced had been fprinkled with nitre before fowing. This interpretation, which the new pointing fuggefts most obviously, is confirmed, in a very fingular way, by a paffage in Palladius, which feems to have escaped the notice of Profeffor Heyné and all the other commentators. This writer, without any allufion to Virgil, fays exprefsly, Græci afferunt fabæ femina nitratâ aquâ refperfa, cocturam non habere difficilem.' We We look upon this as a very happy and fatisfactory explication of a paffage, which Brunckius thought it neceflary to interpolate, before he could make any fenfe of it whatfoever. The punctuation of this edition, indeed, fo far as we have examined it, appears to be peculiarly judicious and correct. There is only one paffage in which we fufpect it to be inaccurate. We allude to thefe lines, towards the end of the Third Book of the Eneid: • Praecipites metus acer agit quocumque rudentis Excutere, et ventis intendere vela fecundis. Contra juffa monent Heleni, Scyllam atque Charybdim Ni teneant curfus; certum eft dare lintea retro.' The whole of this paffage, we think, is full of difficulty; and it is one of thofe upon which we expected fome elucidation from Dr Hunter: but, without pretending to reconcile all the parts of it, we are very clearly of opinion, that there ought to have been a comma after contra in the third line, as juffa feems evidently to be the nominative of the fubfequent verb monent, and not in conftruction with contra as a prepofition. In the close of his Preface, Dr Hunter has introduced, perhaps not quite regularly, nor by any very obvious connexion, a fhort differtation on the ancient form of the genitive case, which he conceives to have terminated, originally, in all the declenfions in is. As a fpecimen of his acuteness and latinity, we shall subjoin this paffage in the original. Genetivus in -1, nominum in -as definentium, in Virgilio frequens eft; in cujus rei rationem indagandam viri docti, Heynius et Heinfius, fruftra operam fuam infumferunt, parum aut nihil proficientes. Itaque genitivi formam antiquiffimam, unde omnes deinceps aliæ quæ in ufu funt, levibus admodum mutationibus, gradatim provenerunt, rem Grammaticis, tam veteribus, quam recentioribus, adhuc intactam, paucis indicare operæ pretium erit. Hæc igitur genitivi forma antiquiffima, quam declinatio tertia adhuc plerumque fervat, definebat in -1s; ut eura, aura-ts; animos, animo-is; labor, (olim labors) labor-1s; fructus, fruau-xs; dies, die-1s. Poftea vel duæ vocales in unam fyllabam coibant, vel s elidebatur, vel denique utrumque fimul. Ita, ex aura-is factum eft vel aur-As, ut paterfamili-as, vel aura-1, et poftremo aur-AE, quod enunciatum videtur aur-A1: ex animo-is, elifo s, anim-01, quod eft anim-1, ut, in plurali etiam numero, ex avμ-01 et aru-01 facta funt anim-1 et anim-1s. In declinatione tertia s plerumque retinetur; interdum, ut in Achill-1, Oront-1, &c. eliditur. In quarta cornu facit vel corn-us, contractum pro cornu-is; vel, abfque 8, corn-u, contractum pro cornu-1. Eodem modo ex die-1s factum vel di-Es, (vid. A. GELL. ix. 14.) vel die-1; et, poftremo, vel di-1, vel di-E, prout vocalis vel prior, vel pofteVOL. 111. NO. 5. E rior, rior, ab altera abforpta fuerit. Uniufcujufque autem formæ exempla, præteris, -ois, et -kis, quarum, quod fciam, exempla non extant, ex Ruddimanno, aut Voffio, petenda relinquimus; hic enim de hac re fufius agere non patitur inftituti nostri ratio. The theory contained in this paffage appears to us to be at leaft very probable. All languages are naturally quite regular and uniform in their ftructure. The idea of relation, denoted by the genitive cafe, would therefore be expreffed, it is most probable, in every word, by the fame adjunct or variation; and, where varieties exift that cannot be referred to the intermixture of another language, it is moft reasonable to afcribe them to fome fuch procefs of abbreviation as Dr Hunter has indicated in the foregoing paflage. There is one form of the genitive, however, which he has omitted to fpecify, or account for: we mean the termination of Achillei and Ulixei, which occur five or fix times in the writings of Horace. It feems eafy, however, to reduce this alfo under the fyftem of Dr Hunter. The original genitive was Achille-ïs, which, with the dropt from the end, gave Achille-i, afterwards contracted into one fyllable, Achillei. This is fometimes Latin by the editors of Horace (as in Epift. lib. I. 6. v. 65. and I. 7. v. 40.) Achilli; the long being the general reprefentative of thofe dipthongs of which it originally formed a part; daza forming dice, in this way, and as, animis. The ancient Latins, indeed, appear to have had a great partiality for this vowel, as they have made it the common fubftitute for alfo, in words derived from the Greek. Arvos, in this way, becomes Apollinis; Ayous is changed into legimus; and, according to Dr Hunter, all the Greek genitives in es into the correfponding Latin termination of is. Upon the whole, we can fafely recommend this as one of the moft correct editions of Virgil that has yet been offered to the public. We do not know, indeed, that it contains a fingle typographical error; and in the reading and punctuation of the text, it is fufficient to fay, that Profeffor Heyne has publicly declared it to be fuperior to any that he had previously examined. We cannot conclude, however, without again expreffing our regret that Dr Hunter did not find it convenient to add to its value, by a more copious collection of thofe critical remarks, of which his Preface contains fo favourable a fpecimen. ART. ART. VI. Modern Geography, a Defcription of the Empires, Kingdoms, States, and Colonies, with the Oceans, Seas, and Ifles, in all parts of the World: including the most recent Difcoveries, and political Alterations. Digefted on a new plan, by John Pinkerton. The aftronomical introduction by the Rev. S. Vince, A. M. F. R. S. and Plu mian Profeffor of Aftronomy and Experimental Philofophy in the Univerfity of Cambridge. With maps, drawn under the direction, and with the latest improvements, of Arrowsmith, and engraved by Lowrie. To the whole is added, a catalogue of the beft maps, and books of travels and voyages, in all languages. London: Cadell & Davies, and Longman & Rees. 2 vol. 4to. about 1600 pages; and abridged, Bvo. 700 pages. THE HERE is no science so attractive as geography. It requires fcarcely any preparation of previous ftudy; and deals in a fort of information fo popular and various, as to recommend itfelf even to thofe who have but little relifh for literary occupations. It is indeed a kind of condenfation of books of travels, and exhibits the moft captivating collection of marvellous truths that ever yet were affembled, to excite or to gratify curiofity. Of its fubftantial utility, it is unneceffary to fpeak. In this country, it is confidered as a neceffary part of the most common education; the elements of it are taught in our parish schools; and, accordingly, there are scarcely any, except thofe in the lowest ranks of fociety, who are not acquainted with the relative pofi tion, diftance, and comparative fize and advantages of moft of the nations of Europe; with the names and fituation of some of their principal cities, mountains, rivers, &c.; with their natural productions, and the principal articles of their manufactures and commerce and to whom, those parts of the other quarters of the globe, where their own nation has fettlements or trade, are totally unknown. On the Continent, however, the cafe is remarkably different. There, particularly in France, it is not uncom mon to meet with perfons who have had a liberal education, and who difcover confiderable information on other fubjects, profoundly and laughably ignorant of countries adjoining to their own, clofely connected with it in the annals of history, or allied in commerce or friendship. It is not surprising, therefore, that the continental writers fhould have produced but few fyftematic works on geography. If we except d'Anville, there is fcarcely one name, in this department of fcience, of which they are entitled to boaft. The French works of La Croix, &c. are too brief, and by no means adequate to convey that portion of graphical knowledge which will refcue that nation from the charge of comparative ignorance. The German works of Bufch E 2 geo ing ing, Fabri, Ebeling, &c. are dull and taftelefs, and executed too much in the manner of the country in which they appeared, to render the study of geography easy, ufeful, or interesting. In this country, we have long been poffeffed of geographical grammars: most of them indeed differ little more than in name: they have all adopted the fame plan; purfued the fame arrangement; and even copied mutually their mistakes and errors. While many effential and highly ufeful parts of geography are omitted, or carelessly and imperfectly treated, their pages are filled with a detail of events and circumstances totally unconnected with that fcience they feem to have forgotten what the term Geography means and comprehends. We fhall in vain look in them for an account and defcription of the different productions of the earth; of the varied or peculiar appearances of its furface; or even for accurate and scientific information refpecting the boundaries and extent of the different countries. On the contrary, we should be inclined, from the perufal of these works, to conclude, that they contained a meagre and ill-digefted history of the world, interfperfed with a few incidental patches of geographical information. So little fkill has been exercifed in forming the plan, and arranging the materials of thefe grammars, that every addition that fucceffively fuggefts itself is inferted in the moft clumfy and careless manner; and, not unfrequently, the information given in one part, is directly oppofite to that which we receive from another. We have ftated the defects of thefe fyftems the more fully, because we cannot characterise the modern geography of Mr Pinkerton more precifely, and at the fame time more justly, than by ftating it to be free from these defects. The former writings of this gentleman, and the whole courfe of his reading and studies, had qualified him for the neceffary, but inglorious drudgery of laborious compilation. The maps, charts, and books, which he muft not only have confulted, but ftudied and compared, before fuch a fund of materials could have been collected, muft have been very numerous. No expence appears to have been grudged; no pains or labour, however conftant or tedious, to have been fpared, in order to render the work a complete fyftem of modern geography, according to the plan which, after mature deliberation, the editor thought proper to adopt. According to this plan, objects moft effentially allied with each other, inftead of being difperfed as fragments, are here gathered into diftinct heads or chapters, arranged in uniform progrefs, except where particular circumftances commanded a deviation: and instead of pretended hiftories and prolix commercial documents, the chief attention is devoted to objects strictly |