Of the Polymicrian Lexicon, we cannot but speak with admiration. Elegance and accuracy of typographical execution, and the extreme smallness of the volume, which renders it a curiosity, are but the least of its recommendations. The work has, as a lexicon, very great merit, and does the highest honour to the Editor's fidelity, competent learning, and sound judgement. It is no meagre abridgement. The best Greek lexicons have been laid under contribution; and besides Parkhurst and Schleusner, Mr. Greenfield acknowledges his especial obligations to Wahl's Lexicon, as translated and improved by Professor Robinson of Andover, Massachusetts. Originality is disclaimed. The de'finitions', the Editor remarks, must in most cases be substantially the same; though, in their clearness, simplicity, and 'precision, as well as in the mode in which they are exhibited, they may be greatly diversified.' The qualities here specified, are precisely those which we should have fixed upon as the characteristics of the volume-clearness, simplicity, and precision; to which we may add, typographical accuracy. As far as we have examined the definitions, and compared them with those of the larger lexicons, we have been struck with the happy manner in which every real variation of import is succinctly expressed. We shall give two or three specimens.

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• Δικαιόω, ω, f. ώσω, p. δεδικαίωκα, a. 1. εδικαίωσα, to acknowledge and declare any one to be what he ought to be, and to treat him as such, Mat. 11. 19. Lu. 7. 35; to declare one to be blameless or innocent, and to treat him as such, acquit, absolve, Mat. 12. 37. 1 Co. 4. 4; to declare free, set at liberty, Ro. 6. 7; to declare one to be good, upright, pious, and to treat him as such, commend, applaud, Lu. 7. 29; 10. 29; 16. 15; to bestow approbation and favour, pass. to obtain approbation and favour, so as to receive benefit, Lu. 18. 14. Ro. 4. 2; spc. to grant forgiveness, pardon sin, free from its consequences, justify, Ac. 13. 39. Ro. 2. 13; 3. 20, et al.; to do that which is right, act virtuously; pass. or mid. to be upright, righteous, virtuous, Re. 22. 11.*

· Επιλαμβάνω, f. λήψομαι, & mid. ἐπιλαμβάνομαι, (ἐπὶ & λαμβάνω) το take, take hold of by the hand, Mat. 14. 31. Mar. 8. 23; to lay hold of, seize, Lu. 23. 26. Ac. 16. 19, et al.; met. to seize on one's words, catch in one's words, i. e. to cavil, carp at, Lu. 20. 20, 26; to get possession of, obtain as if by seizure, 1 Ti. 6. 12, 19; to take hold of, i. e. protect, afford assistance to, He. 2. 16.'

• Τελειόω, ω, f. ώσω, p. τετελείωκα, a. 1. ἐτελείωσα, to perfect, complete, i. e. to bring to an end, finish, close, Lu. 2. 43; 13. 32. Phi. 3. 12; to accomplish, fully perform duties, &c. Jno. 4. 34; 5. 36; to accomplish, fulfil predictions, &c. Jno. 19. 28; to render perfect, bring to a state of perfection or completeness, Jno. 17. 23. 2 Co. 12. 9; spoken of the

The only error of the press we have detected, is λów for Aciw at p. 289, under the word Nizw.

mind, &c. to render perfect in respect to sin, i. e. to render pure from sin, make sinless, spotless, He. 7. 19; to render perfectly tranquil as to the consequences of sin, remove the fear of punishment on account of sin, He. 9. 9; 10. 1. 14; spoken of state or condition, to render one's condition such that nothing more can be desired; render perfectly happy, advance to a state of perfect happiness, glory, &c. He. 2. 10; 5.9, & al.'

We turn from the books before us to the recollection of their lamented Editor. And we do so, not for the purpose of expatiating upon his talents and amiable character,-another opportunity will ere long occur of placing these in a proper light,—but with a view to press upon the attention of our Readers the claims of the Widow and the Fatherless. The Appeal that has been made to the Christian and Literary Public on behalf of the Widow and Five Children of Mr. Greenfield, has not hitherto, we regret to say, been responded to with that liberality which, on such an occasion, becomes almost a point of honour, as well as of duty. The Dissenters, we have been informed, have as yet contributed little, with a noble exception or two, in aid of the object of the trust. Yet, may we be allowed to remind them, that William Greenfield is a name that reflects no little honour upon the denomination to which he had conscientiously attached himself? Nor will they escape just reproach, if they prove themselves insensible to the strong appeal which has been made to the religious public at large, and especially to the friends of the Bible Society, to concur in an act of justice to the dead, and of kindness and philanthropy to the bereaved family. We hope that we shall be excused for earnestly requesting the attention of our Readers to the advertisement which will appear upon our cover, from the Trustees who have kindly undertaken the management of whatever funds may be raised by contributions for this object.

As a memoir of Mr. Greenfield is in preparation, we have deemed it proper to reserve for a future opportunity, a notice of his literary attainments and performances.

Art. V.-1. Geological Sketches and Glimpses of the ancient Earth. By Maria Hack. 12mo. pp. 394. Plates. Price 9s. London, 1832.

2. Letters to a young Naturalist on the Study of Nature and Natural Theology. By James L. Drummond, M.D. Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the Belfast Academical Institution, &c. &c. 12mo. pp. 342. Price 9s. London, 1831.

MRS.

RS. Hack is so well known, we hope, to our younger readers, as the Author of the Stories from the History of England and some other well written and well adapted publications,

VOL. VII.-N. S.

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that a new work from her pen will scarcely need our recommendation. They will be glad again to meet with their young classfellow, Harry Beaufoy,' and to join the family party in which his Mother is the intelligent instructress. Mr. Beaufoy himself, we are told, was too closely engaged in professional duties, to undertake the education of his son; and was at the same time' reluctant to deprive his wife of the pleasure and occupation afford'ed by the society of her child.'

Harry, therefore, except for about two hours in the morning, when he went to receive instruction from the curate of the parish, was generally the companion of his mother; and she, devoting that interval to the arrangement of her domestic affairs, had ample leisure to read or walk with him, and a powerful motive to improve her own mind, that she might assist in the cultivation of his. She often, indeed, distrusted her ability for the office; and one day said to her husband: "I wonder you are not afraid that Harry will be spoiled by remaining so long at home with me." "I trust it will keep him from being spoiled," replied Mr. Beaufoy. "With Harry's disposition to learn, he does not require the stimulus of emulation; and I have no doubt he will obtain a respectable share of school learning, as his progress since he has regularly attended Mr. Green, is very satisfactory. As for the rest, surely you are a more improving companion than the common herd of school-boys. If you were weakly indulgent, or Harry rude and petulant, there would be no remedy-he must then go to school, and take his chance. But, with his gentle temper and ardent desire for knowledge, I think he may safely remain under your mild government, till it is time to commence his professional education". Introduction, p. xviii.

Was Mr. Beaufoy right? Possibly, in Harry's case, we hear some reader reply; but he was a boy so out of the common way, so superior to most children of his age, as to be an exception to all general rules. And then, with such a mother, how 'great his advantages!' It is thus that the force of beneficial example is often eluded by a compliment to the superiority of those who merit no other praise than that of having performed, with the success which awaits consistency, a common duty. In the paragraph we have cited, there is compressed the substance of a whole essay on the comparative advantages of home and school education. One half of education is government, and both boys and girls must be governed, either by their parents or by the vice-parents, yclept tutors and schoolmasters. The weakly indulgent cannot govern, cannot educate; and for the misgoverned child, there is no remedy but the public reformatory called a school. The boy must take his chance'; and an awful chance it is. At school, he will be governed; but, while this part of his education is secured, how is the other part of the parent's duty discharged by his professional proxy? As well, possibly, as it would have been at home, where be might equally

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have had to take his chance': in many instances, far better. But in the beginning, it was not so." If education be taken as including the development of the mind and the formation of the character, by whom are our children educated? Less by their teachers than by their associates; less by their tasks than by their amusements; less by reading than by converse; less by direct instruction than by influence. And if this be true, into whose hands does the greater part of the process fall, when the child leaves his natural guardians and companions, to be the charge and associate of strangers. Not into those of the master. He becomes one of a 'herd', and, how faithful soever the shepherd, must take the chances of promiscuous association. He has entered upon the world.

Home studies and school studies will of course widely differ in their nature and intensity. The undivided attention of the learner being fixed, at school, upon advancement in some one or two branches of technical knowledge, he is likely, if clever and diligent, to make more rapid strides in acquisition, than the one who is at home laying in a stock of general knowledge. The habit of close application is, perhaps, more certainly acquired at school, than elsewhere, though too often at a serious cost to either the health or the moral character. But the habit of observation, which is scarcely less important, and which has its proper stimulus and salutary sphere in the wide field of natural phenomena and physical science, as well as the not less important habit of meditation, can scarcely be formed in the public seminary. Compare the young Grecian with the young naturalist,-the boy who can scan Greek metres, with the one who has learned to interpret, by the discoveries of modern science, the appearances of the material world,-and then, let it be determined, which mode of study works best, as regards its effects on the intellectual powers and the moral habits. Not that the two branches of learning are incompatible: quite the reverse. Opposite studies relieve, and, in some way, either illustrate or correct each other. But at school, what a boy does not learn in class, he stands little chance of learning at all; and the consequence is, that, taken off from the line of his studies, the ordinary school-boy is as ignorant of nature, general history, geographical science, and biblical knowledge, including the evidences of Christianity, and the nature of its doctrines, as a child wholly uneducated. These things are not in the terms'; and if they were, at what time could the requisite instruction be communicated?

But the truth is, there are few Harry Beaufoys, simply because there are few such mothers as his. Home education is, in many cases, impracticable from circumstances; and when this is the case, the parent who, instead of unreluctantly sending forth his half-spoiled boy to take his chance, conscientiously and with

regret devolves on others, duties he would gladly fulfil if it was in his power, committing the little exile to the care of the Divine Guardian and Teacher, may honestly expect the blessing of Heaven upon a school education and discipline. But, in most cases, parents like so many things far better than the 'delightful 'task which the Poet sings of, that they cannot bring themselves to make the requisite self-sacrifice. It is impossible to educate a child, without carrying on simultaneously a process of self-improvement, which is its own reward; but the trouble, the time, the restraint and confinement, the mental effort, are greater than enter into romantic anticipations; and hence, the disappointment which often leads those who have begun a system of home education, to grow weary of well doing. The promise applies to this sort of service, as well as to others: "In due time ye shall reap, if ye faint not." But no mother who does not feel this to be the chief end for which she is a mother, and who cannot enter into the sentiment of the noble matron,—' These are my jewels',-will sustain the burden, and submit to the conditions, of carrying forward the education of her children to the period at which their principles ought to have become fixed, and their intellectual powers and affections will at least have been developed.

And yet, it is one of the most legible lessons of nature, that, our chief business in this world is to reproduce ourselves;-not, like the ephemeron which deposits the seeds of a multitudinous progeny, and dies, not like the animal races, by perpetuating the mere forms of sentient existence,-not by simply becoming parents of heirs to mortality; but by reproducing the noblest, the distinguishing part of our nature, the intellectual and spiritual man, whether in our own children,-put directly into our power for this very purpose, or in the minds of others. The highest duty of one generation is to prepare for the next,-to endow posterity with all its intellectual and moral wealth,-to reproduce its own accumulations in an augmented and improved form. And what is the common duty of the whole community, is the individual duty of each. The instinctive love of posthumous fame, might teach us, that the social economy has been designedly constituted upon that principle of successive reproduction by which mind perpetuates itself;-by which the parent lives on through the child he has trained, the author survives in his works, and, above all, the spiritual parent*, the instrument of regenerating the souls of others by imparting the spiritual life he has himself received, secures in them and with them a glorious immortality. Were every true Christian duly emulous of thus adding

* Gal. iv. 19. 1 Cor. iv. 15.