NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.
The Members of the Camden Society have just received two volumes, with which we doubt not all will be well pleased. The first is a farther portion, namely, from M to R, of Mr. Way's most valuable edition of the Promptorium Parvulorum. A glance at the foot-notes, so rich in philological illustration, and a knowledge that Mr. Way's labours have been greatly impeded by his removal from London, where only he can meet with the authorities which he is obliged to consult, may well explain the delay which has taken place in its publication. But we doubt not that the Camden Council are justified in the hope which they have expressed that the favour with which the present portion is received, will encourage the editor to proceed with all possible dispatch to the conclusion of the work.
Rich, like the Promptorium, in philological illustration, and of the highest value as a contribution to the social history of the thirteenth century, is the next work; and for which the Camden Members are indebted to the learned Vicar of Holbeach, The Rev. James Morton. The Ancren Riwle; a Treatise on the Rules and Duties of Monastic Life, which he has edited and translated from a Semi-Saxon MS. of the thirteenth century, is a work which many of our best scholars have long desired to see in print,—we believe we may add, that many have thought seriously of editing. The information to be derived from it, with regard to the state of society, the learning and manners, the moral and religious teaching, and the language of the period in which it was written, is so various and so important, that it is clear the Camden Society has done good service in selecting it for publication; while the manner in which it has been edited by Mr. Morton, and the translation and complete Glossarial Index with which he has enriched it, show that the Council did equally well in their choice of an editor. The work does the highest credit both to that gentleman and to the Camden Society.
Mr Bridger, of 3. Keppel Street, Russell Square, is desirous of making known to our readers that he is engaged in compiling a "Catalogue of Privately Printed Books in Genealogy and kindred subjects," and to solicit information in furtherance of his design,
more especially with regard to privately printed sheet pedigrees. The Catalogue will be printed for private distribution, and he will be happy to give a copy to any one who may favour him with communications.
Books Received.—As usual, we have a large item to enter under this head to the account of that enterprising caterer of good and cheap books, Mr. Bohn. We have two volumes of his Standard Library, namely, Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments; and Dissertation on the Origin of Languages, with the Biographical and Critical Memoir of the Author, by Dugald Stewart—and a work of greater present interest, though in itself of far less importance, namely, Ranke's History of Servia, and his Insurrection in Bosnia, translated from the German, by Mrs. A. Kerr, and the Slave Provinces of Turkey, chiefly from the French of M. Cyprien Robert, a volume which will be read with eagerness in the present condition of the political world. Justin, Cornelius Nepos, and Eutropius, literally translated, with Notes and a General Index, by the Reverend J. Selby Watson, M.A., forms the new volume of the same publisher's Classical Library. Mr. Bohn has this month commenced a New Series under the title of Bohn's British Classics. The first work is an edition of Gibbon's Decline and Fall, with the notes of Guizot, Wenck, and other continental writers; and farther illustrations by an English Churchman. In thus choosing Gibbon, Mr. Bohn has not shown his usual tact. He may not mean his edition to be a rival to that published by Mr. Murray under the editorship of Dean Milman; but he will find much difficulty in dissuading the reading world that it is not so intended. We speak thus freely, because we have always spoken so freely in commendation of Mr. Bohn's projects generally.—Catalogue of my English Library, collected and described by Henry Stevens, F.S.A., is a catalogue of the books essential to a good English library of about 5000 volumes, and such as Mr. Stevens, the indefatigable supplier of book rarities and book utilities to his American brethren, feels justified in recommending. It would be found so capital a Hand-book to all classes, that we are sorry to see it is only printed for private distribution.—The Botanist's Word-book, by G. Macdonald, Esq., and Dr. James Allan. This little vocabulary of the terms employed in the Science of Botany, which may now almost be described as the science of Long Names, will be found most useful by all who pursue that fascinating study.