out of the Codex Sinaiticus and of a more close collation of the Codex Vaticanus." Prof. G. would, indeed, have published his Harmony more than a year ago, but waited till opportunity could be given for consulting this last edition of Tischendorf. It is an obvious merit in this Harmony, that the student can see at a glance whether or not the text of Tischendorf agrees or conflicts with that of Griesbach, Lachmann, and Tregelles in places where there is a difference of opinion. It is another excellence of the work that the Greek text is so accurate, evincing the most scrupulous care and thorough scholarship on the part of the editor.

Much less space is given up to Notes in this work than in that of Dr. Robinson. There would seem to be no call in a Harmony for notes of the nature of commentary; a principle which Dr. R. appears sometimes to have disregarded.

Chronological arrangement is another most important matter in a Harmony. The labors of no two of his predecessors agreeing with each other, in this respect, Prof. G. has pursued an independent course; never allowing himself, however, to repeat the same passage in different connections. His judgment and skill are signally manifest in this department of his work.

The Harmony in English, the title of which is given above, is a reproduction of the Harmony in Greek; no other changes being made than such as were required to fit the work for the use of the English reader who desires to learn some of the improvements which modern criticism has made in the authorized English text.

These books, we cannot doubt, will be highly valued by all students of the New Testament; the Greek Harmony will become a Text-book in Theological Seminaries, and perhaps in some Colleges; the English will be introduced into Bible-classes and some Sabbath-schools.

DIATESSARON. THE LIFE OF OUR LORD IN THE WORDS OF THE GOSPELS. By Frederick Gardiner, D.D., Professor in the Berkeley Divinity School, etc., etc. 16mo. pp. 259. Andover: Warren F. Draper. 1871.

This volume, like the Editor's English Harmony of the Gospels, presents some of the improvements, which have been adopted by common consent, in the authorized English version of the New Testament. It continues in one connected narrative the various accounts which the evangelists give of our Lord's life. It has the instructiveness of a commentary, and the fascinations of a new history. It has become common to write the Life of our Saviour, and to intermingle with the narrative many theories and conjectures. This volume dispenses with all uninspired speculations, and gives us the historical narrative in the words of the original writers. It suggests, of course, to the scholar many questions which are yet undecided, and many results of study which are now well established. But it does

not interrupt the progress of the narrative by any discussion. It gives us the fruits of scholarship, without describing the process of growth. It is well adapted to the convenience of pastors, to the needs of teachers in the Bible-class and Sabbath-school, to the religious instruction of families. It bids fair to introduce improvements into the style of teaching the Bible to the young. Prof. Gardiner has placed the churches under lasting obligation to him for this, and the two above-named volumes which he has just sent from the press. They are the result of conscientious painstaking. In a future edition of the Life of our Lord, we hope that he will publish a verbal Index, which will facilitate references to particular passages of the Gospels. The Table of Contents is full, but an Index referring to persons, places, deeds, speeches, etc., would augment the practical value of the work. Cicero says: "Commoditas homines studiosos invitavit librorum indices comparare, quibus minimo labore ad id quod quisque quaereret, tamquam manu duceretur." See Allibone's Dictionary, p. 3140.

A CRITICAL DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE AND BRITISH AND AMERICAN AUTHORS, living and deceased, from the earliest Accounts to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century. By J. Austin Allibone. 3 vols. Royal octavo. pp. 3139. Philadelphia. 1859-71.

The first of these volumes was published in 1859, by Childs and Peterson, and is dedicated to Mr. Childs. It contains 1005 pages. On the title page is the promise that the Dictionary will contain thirty thousand biographies and literary notices. The second and third volumes were published in 1871, by J. B. Lippincott and Co., and are dedicated to Mr. Lippincott. The second volume contains 1322 pages; the third, 812. On the title pages of these two volumes the Dictionary is said to contain over forty-six thousand biographies and literary notices. Thus is the promise of the first volume more than fulfilled. The work was projected in 1850. The preparation of it for the press was commenced August 1, 1853. The proof-sheet of the last page of the text was corrected, Oct. 11, 1870; and the last page of the entire work, December 31, 1870. Thus about twenty years have been devoted to the Dictionary. In all probability it will be a standard critical dictionary of American authors for many years; and when in its popular use it shall have been superseded by the dictionaries of coming times, it will still be a basis on which those dictionaries are constructed. Few works have so fair a prospect as this of usefulness through the ages.

The spirit of the work is liberal and catholic. Mr. Allibone writes not as a dogmatist, not as a friend or an enemy of the men or the measures described by him, but as a lover of the truth, an impartial historian. We feel a sympathy with him, because he writes con amore. We feel a sympathy for him, because he must have expended on this work an amount of care and toil for which he will never receive an adequate degree of

gratitude. The Dictionary, however, will find a place in every well-assorted library of an American student. It is invaluable, not only for editors and essayists, lawyers and clergymen, but for private students who love to know the history of the men whose words or deeds have awakened a public interest.

It is easy to say that some names which ought to have been inserted in this Dictionary are omitted, and other names which might well have been omitted are inserted. It is impossible to satisfy every reader of a lexicon, whether verbal or biographical. It is impossible, also, to avoid real mistakes. If a writer desires to be severe in his animadversions on a work, he may gratify his desire by taking up a dictionary. He is sure to find in it some errors, either of commission or omission. The positive faults of this Dictionary, however, are remarkably few; so are the defects. The biographical sketches are interesting as well as instructive, are copious and generally accurate. The criticisms on books are acute and sensible. Many of the articles are written with enthusiasm; some of them are amusing. The reader often forgets that he is perusing a dictionary, and imagines himself absorbed with a collection of choice sayings, or a narrative of surprising events. The select quotations illustrating the life and genius of authors are of great value. Mr. Allibone has performed a good service to the literary public by his zeal in recommending the preparation of indexes for all books of value. During the last fifteen years he has labored assiduously in urging authors to append to their works these valuable directories. In vol. i. pp. 84-86 of this Dictionary he gives many illustrations of the worth of indexes. He speaks of Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, "where to eight volumes of text we have more than fourteen hundred columns of index." "In 1778," he says, "there were paid for compiling indexes to the Journals of the House of Commons, the following sums: To Mr. Edward Moore, £6,400, as a final compensation for thirteen years' labor; Rev. Mr. Forster, £3,000 for nine years' labor; Rev. Dr. Roger Flaxman, £3,000 for nine years' labor; and to Mr. Cunningham £500, in part for labor; making a total of £12,900." Although this whole Dictionary is an index of authors, yet, in the third volume of it, 228 pages are devoted to the index of the Dictionary. We have forty indexes of the subjects, besides the sub-indexes and indexes of the authors who have written on each of these subjects. The names of the authors are 46,499; these names as first given and afterwards repeated are 75,158. Twice in the work Mr. Allibone quotes the words of Mattaire, and they might fitly be quoted oftener in relation to indexes: "In construendis aedibus, operarius bajulusque, non minus architecto, prodest."

UNIVERSAL PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY OF BIOGRAPHY AND MYTHOLOGY. By J. Thomas, A.M., M.D., Author of the System of Pronunciation in Lippincott's Pronouncing Gazetteer of the World, and of

the Pronouncing Vocabularies of Biographical and Geographical Names in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. 2 vols. Royal octavo. pp. 1236, 1109. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott and Co. 1870.

If a reviewer praises a work like this without qualification, he is thought to be an unfaithful critic. If he exposes its faults, he is thought to be ungrateful for the immense labor expended upon it, and unmindful of the fact that no such work can be free from blemishes. One of the most accurate scholars of modern times, after expending an almost incredible amount of care and toil upon the proof-sheets of his Greek Lexicon, published it, and requested various literary men to note any errors which might have escaped him. He was mortified at finding these errors amount to three thousand. We have noticed in Dr. Thomas's Dictionary some faults of style and of proportion; some omissions and misstatements; yet the work is on the whole uncommonly accurate. It is very complete. It appears the more admirable, when it is compared with the Biographical Dictionaries of Lempriere, Gordon, Johnston, Cates, and others. It is particularly adapted to the needs of the American student; and as it is an honor to American literature, it deserves a place in the library of every American clergyman. It differs from Allibone's Dictionary as it does not confine itself to authors, does not aim to be critical in respect to literary works, includes mythology as well as biography, and pays especial attention to the pronunciation of proper names.

Making pronunciation a specialty, it exhibits a vast amount of learning, and will be the chief authority in this department. The principles of pronunciation which Dr. Thomas adopts are liable to certain objections, but on the whole are sound and right. Like many other principles, they must be applied with good sense, and must admit occasional exceptions. We cannot here perform a better service for our readers than in quoting Dr. Thomas's remarks on this subject. He says: "In pronouncing modern proper names there are only three courses which can by any possibility be pursued: 1. To blunder over or pronounce them at random, like a barbarian who should attempt to speak a language of which he knows nothing; 2. To endeavor to pronounce all names, foreign as well as English, according to the principles of our own language, giving each letter its proper English sound; or, 3, To adopt the system of pronunciation now generally recognized by the more highly educated classes not only in England and America, but also in Germany, and most other parts of Europe;—that is, to pronounce all names, as nearly as possible, as they are pronounced by the well educated people of the different countries to which such names belong, with the exception of those very few celebrated names, such as Calvin, Cervantes, Galileo, Luther, Napoleon, Petrarch, etc., which may be said to have acquired an established English pronunciation."-- Preface, p. 111.

Of these three methods the third is adopted in this Dictionary. As we VOL. XXVIII. No. 112.

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have stated above, there are objections to it, but there are weighter objections against each of the other methods. On the second method Dr. Thomas says: "A few examples will suffice to show the utter absurdity of attempting to pronounce foreign names according to the English sounds of the letters. How, for example, should we pronounce the name of the celebrated German poet Heine, according to such a system? Should the ei be sounded like ee, as in the English words seize, ceiling, etc.? or like long a, as in vein, weight, inveigh? or like long i, as in height, sleight, etc.? Should Heine then be pronounced heen, hän, or hin? or should we sound the final e and make it hee'ne, ha'ne, or hi'ne? Or take, if you choose, another name, equally well or better known, that of Schiller. Now, the proper English sound of sch is sk, as in school, scholar, schooner, etc. We have no genuine English word in which sch has the sound of sh, although we have some, as schism, schismatic, etc., in which it sounds like simple s. Yet would any one in his senses seriously advocate pronouncing the name of Germany's most popular poet either as Skil'ler or Siller? Innumerable instances, moreover, occur, in which it is very difficult, if not impossible, to pronounce the names of other countries according to the English sounds of the letters, as Bjornson, Czajkowski, etc., although there is not the slightest difficulty in pronouncing them according to the sounds of the languages to which they belong. A multitude of instances also occur in which the English mode of pronouncing, though not difficult, would be far less euphonious than the native pronunciation. Cagliari (kal'-ya-ree) and Borgognone, (bor-gen-yo'-na) two distinguished painters of Italy, and Carvalho (kar-val'-yo), a Portuguese bibliographer, may serve as examples. Another insuperable difficulty in the way of pronouncing many foreign names according to the sounds of our own tongue, arises from the fact that in some languages the same sound is often represented by different letters. Thus oe and ō in German are sounded precisely alike; hence, Goethe and Göthe should clearly have the same pronunciation. Again, the Spanish j and x are, in sound, exactly equivalent to each other; therefore, Caravajal and Caravaxal should be pronounced exactly alike. So also the Portuguese ch and x, having the same sound (that of our sh), were formerly often interchanged, as in the names Xaves or Chaves, Xingu or Chingu, Xoa or Choa (written in English, Shoa, etc.). Innumerable examples of this kind might be adduced. It must be obvious even to the least intelligent mind that the attempt to pronounce names so differently written according to the English sounds of the letters would lead to endless confusion.". Preface, pp. iii, iv.

We have often called attention to the fact that the library of a clergyman needs books of reference. One such book saves a large amount of tedious labor. It is suggestive, and thus it quickens thought. We rejoice, therefore, in the enterprise of the publishers of this Dictionary, and hope that it will be liberally rewarded.