Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

which has been much overlooked, though perhaps the most important of any. We have, indeed, already touched upon it in a previous part of this paper, but not with the emphasis it deserves, -that this system of voluntary churches would be absolutely fatal to all efficient pastoral intercourse of the minister with his people; that however it might provide places of worship for the Sunday, it would provide no adequate parochial superintendence during the week; for the class and band-meetings of the Methodists amount to nothing of the sort, and produce none of its fruits. As it is, there are some ten thousand men circulating throughout this country for two or three hours most days of their lives, upon various home-missions of charity, of pity, of exhortation, of reproof, -each man of them all knowing precisely the district within which he has to walk; confident in the soundness of the warrant by which he enters every house in it uninvited; and, in general, hailed by the welcome of all, as one of those whose feet are beautiful. What a mass of misery is thus daily explored and relieved! what heart-burnings are quenched! what complaints hushed! what follies withstood what knowledge imparted! what affections stirred up! Who would rashly disturb this under-current of goodwill which is diffusing itself, silently and secretly, throughout all the darkest and most dismal recesses of society, and mitigating so much that is evil in this hard-hearted world? Yet, withdraw the Church Establishment, and it is done. There will then be no minister who has a district assigned to his peculiar care and keeping, where he individually feels himself answerable for the souls that are therein. He will share it with other parties of other persuasions. The latch of the door will no longer be lifted with the same boldness as now. The whole parish will be debateable ground, and no man will know in it his own. The several mini-. sters will find it no pleasant thing to encounter one another in the sick-man's chamber, under a temptation, perhaps, to wrangle out points of divinity over the couch of death; or, at all events, each uncertain whether he is not trespassing on the province of the others; and so the patient will probably be abandoned altogether. This is no speculative objection: the inconvenience is already felt, in a small degree, in parishes where Dissenters abound; and the. ministers of such parishes feel themselves under some embarrassment in the discharge of their pastoral duties to that portion of their flock, even with the advantage of their present position; and yet we believe, were they to abstain from making their call upon such persons through any false fear of intrusion, their absence would not often be supplied from any other quarter. We are most anxious to press this consideration upon all whom it may

concern,

concern, that perhaps the most comely parts of the Church of England are those which are least displayed. Doubtless her ritual is spirit-stirring her pulpits are fountains of religious knowledge -her ceremonies full of solemnity-her temples worthy of being dedicated to God; but these are only the grosser features of her beauty: they may be all done away, and some calculation be made beforehand of the amount of that portion of the loss; but the unobtrusive provision she makes for the perpetual disasters of a working-day world-for the things which are happening out of sight-this is the province in which she wanders amongst the people unseen; her services here are not easily appreciated, because noiseless; in this department, even more than in the pulpit or the senate, she repays the State for its protection and support; and whatever power for good of this kind she possesses, be it never forgotten, she owes entirely and altogether to the situation in which she stands as the sole accredited guardian of religion in this land, according to its parochial divisions.

Dritte

ART. VII. 1. Griechish-Deutsches Wörterbuch. Von J. G.
Schneider, Professor and Oberbibliothekar zu Breslau.
Ausgabe. 2 bde. 4to. Leipzig. 1819.

2. Handwörterbuch der Griechischen Sprache, von Franz Passow. Vierte Ausgabe. 2 bde. 8vo. Leipzig. 1830-1831.

3. Thesaurus Græcæ Linguæ, ab Henrico Stephano constructus. Post Editionem Anglicam novis additamentis auctum, ordineque alphabetico digestum, tertio ediderunt. Carolus Benedictus Hase, &c. &c. &c. Parisiis. 1831.

4. A New Greek and English Lexicon; principally on the plan of the Greek and German Lexicon of Schneider; the words alphabetically arranged; distinguishing such as are poetical, of Dialectic variety, or peculiar to certain writers and classes of writers; with examples, literally translated, selected from the classical writers. By James Donnegan, M.D. 1 vol. 1 vol. London. 1st Ed. 1826. 2d Ed. 1831.

8vo.

WHILE we pride ourselves, and with reason, in having left our

continental neighbours at an immeasurable distance behind us in all the great branches of the arts, and are at least keeping pace with them in the different departments of science, we are contented, it seems, to hold, in our classical knowledge, a quite secondary rank. In the study of the dead languages in general, but more particularly of the Greek and Latin, the Germans have

taken

taken the lead, not only of us, but of all the rest of Europe, and have gained such a decided ascendancy, that their neighbours appear to have given up all hope of rivalling them, and are satisfied to follow as mere servile imitators of their triumphant career. Some splendid exceptions may be found in the names of Porson, Elmsley, Gaisford, Blomfield, Mitchell, and perhaps one or two others, who have ventured to think and examine for themselves, and whose exertions in the service of Greek literature have placed them on a level with the most distinguished of their contemporaries; but when we consider how universally ancient Greek is studied in this country, it seems surprising that such instances of acknowledged superiority should be so rare amongst us. But the fact is that the study of Greek with us is anything but critical, and it must follow, as a necessary consequence, anything but deep and accurate. With some it is the fashion to look down on the labours of the critic as beneath the notice and even incompatible with the character of the elegant scholar; others are satisfied with a very superficial knowledge of the classics, preferring to rove through the modern languages or some of the numerous branches of science-ambitious perhaps of being what is termed general, scholars; and others again are cut short in their classical career, being obliged to dedicate their time and talents to the particular studies of some profession. Whatever the causes may be, the fact cannot be denied that we have comparatively few really classical scholars, few who enter deeply into the study of the Greek language, into the examination of its structure, of its formations, of its analogies. In proof of which we need say no more than this, that for the best edition of almost every Greek classic, and the best notes of every edition, we are generally indebted to our German neighbours; that the best, nay the only Greek grammars worthy of the name, are those of Buttmann, of Matthiae, of Thiersch; and the only Greek lexicons of any value since the time of Stephanus and Scapula, are two of those named at the head of this article, the recent works of Schneider and Passow.

It is not our present intention to examine into the causes of this superiority of the German classics over all their neighbours, though we do hope, at no distant time, to dedicate a few of our pages to a subject which we have much at heart; at present we will confine ourselves to one point of primary importance-that which must be the first step to any decisive advance in our knowledge of ancient Greek we mean the possession of an accurate and comprehensive lexicon of that language explained in our own tongue.

Until within a very few years it has been impossible to get at Greek but through the medium of Latin. No Greek lexicon

VOL. LI. NO. CI.

L

nay,

nay, no Greek grammar* has been composed but in that language; and every commentator and almost every translator has been forced to adopt it, as the only vehicle by which he could venture to explain his author, as the only armour in which he could dare to enter the lists of criticism. Had an English scholar proposed, but a few years ago, to publish a Greek-and-English lexicon, his adventure would have been received with either disregard or contempt, his scholarship would have been called in question because he had condescended to use his mother-tongue in preference to a dead language, and the whole host of university tutors and country schoolmasters would have taken fright at so degrading a novelty. But the opinion of the English classical world has of late undergone, in this particular, a complete revolution. We have begun to acknowledge that the short and straight course is preferable to the longer and devious one; that our own mother-tongue is a better medium for expressing our ideas clearly and definitely than any dead language can be; and that by rendering a Greek word at once into English, instead of tracing it through the intricacies of Latin, (a language certainly less analogous to it than English,) there is a much better chance of the original idea being preserved exact and accurate; any fine and delicate distinguishing points are less liable to be rubbed off; and shades of difference, which would very probably be lost in the uncertain obscurity of a dead language, are seen more plainly and can be marked more distinctly. In this, as in almost every other part of classical literature, the Germans have led the way, and set us an example which at last we seem anxious to follow.

We propose in this article to examine what progress the Germans have made in this their new line of lexicography, and whether the steps which we are taking in imitation of them (few and feeble they have hitherto been) are those best calculated to lead to excellence-most likely to advance us, be it ever so little, in the road towards perfection. For, in the commencement of this new career, it behoves us most especially to remember the old maxim, ap TO GU. If we set out on true principles, our knowledge and our studies will all turn to good account, and even any errors we may make, not being fundamental, will be easily corrected; whereas, if our first principles be erroneous, whatever time and talents we afterwards bestow, must be in a great measure thrown away, and even that which is intrinsically valuable will be comparatively of little service. We intend, therefore, to examine minutely the different lexicons named at the head of this article, *The Port-Royal is an honourable exception, and we might perhaps name one more; but such rare exceptions are not enough to invalidate our assertion.

in order that, having seen their merits and defects, how far their authors have succeeded, and in what respects and why they have failed, we may be able to profit by experience, and to lay down such rules for the direction of future lexicographers, as may enable them to avoid the faults and improve on the excellences of their predecessors. For be it always remembered, that no single scholar, however great his talents and perseverance, can hope to produce at once a lexicon which shall make any near approach to perfection: it is only by repeated attempts, each improving on the former, that this most desirable object can, if ever, be brought about.

The lexicon of Professor Schneider has been in general use for some years in Germany, and-in name, at least-is well known to the scholars of this country. Its author was principal librarian at Breslau, and the well-known editor of some of the best editions of different classics. The first idea of a Greek lexicon, interpreted in German, did not emanate from Schneider. It would be unfair to pass over, in total silence, the names of Dillenius, Vollbeding, and Haase, who at different times meritoriously preceded him, and set him that example which he has so well followed up, that his name must always be known as the father of Greek-andGerman lexicography. The first edition of Schneider's Lexicon appeared in 1806; but that was only in octavo, and did not profess to be more than a manual for younger students. In a few years appeared a second edition, considerably improved and enlarged; and in 1819 came out the third and last edition, in two thick and closely-printed quarto volumes, followed, in 1821, by an Appendix, containing 180 additional pages. This last edition, which is a stupendous example of German industry, perseverance, and research, combined with an extensive knowledge of the Greek language, superseded at once, in the German universities, the use of every other lexicon, and fairly drove them all out of the field, -so much so, that Scapula's, even the Elzevir edition of 1652, we have seen sold in Germany for a few shillings.

The superior excellence of Schneider's lexicon consists in the amazing copiousness of its valuable matter; but this excellence is wofully counterbalanced by a total want of arrangement. Wherever a word, from the uncertainty or from the variety of its derivation or meanings, admits of, or requires a lengthened discussion, we have generally almost everything which can be desired, and sometimes a great deal more: but whether we find the original meaning at the beginning, middle, or end of the article,whether the primary sense comes before or after the derivative, seems to be a mere matter of chance, according as Schneider met with it earlier or later in the course of his reading. Schneider's

L2

first

« AnteriorContinuar »