of age.  The book is interesting from Dryden’s connection with it, but still more so—­considering how slight that connection was, his only contribution to it being the Life of Plutarch—­from the fact, that the translations of some of the Lives were made by famous men, as that of Alcibiades by Lord Chancellor Somers, and that of Alexander by the excellent John Evelyn; while others were made by men who, if not famous, are at least well remembered by the lovers of the literature of the time,—­as that of Numa by Sir Paul Rycaut, the Turkey merchant, and the continuer of Dr. Johnson’s favorite history of the Turks,—­that of Otho by Pope’s friend, the medical poet, Dr. Garth,—­that of Solon by Creech, the translator of Lucretius,—­that of Lysander by the Honorable Charles Boyle, whose name is preserved in the alcohol of Bentley’s classical satire,—­and that of Themistocles by Edward, the son of Sir Thomas Browne.

[Footnote A:  For the sake of illustration of the care and labor given by Mr. Clough to the revision, we open at random on the Life of Dion, Vol.  V., p. 291, and, comparing it with the original Dryden, we find, that in ten pages, to the end of the Life, there are but three, and they short sentences, in which changes of more or less consequence have not been made.  These changes amount sometimes to entire new translation, sometimes consist merely in the correction of a few words.  Throughout, the hand of the thorough scholar is apparent.  The earlier volumes of the series would, probably, rarely exhibit such considerable alterations.]

But Mr. Clough’s labors have not been merely those of reviser and corrector.  He has added greatly to the value of the work by occasional concise foot-notes, as well as by notes contained in an appendix to each volume.  So excellent, indeed, are these notes, so full of learning and information, conveyed in an agreeable way, that we cannot but feel a regret (not often excited by commentators) that their number is not greater.  In addition to these, the fifth volume contains a very carefully prepared and full Index of Proper Names, which is followed by a list for reference as to their pronunciation.

When this version, to which Dryden gave his name, was made, there was no other in English but that of Sir Thomas North, which had been made, not from the Greek, but from the French of Amyot, and was first published in 1579.  It was a good work for its time, and worthy of being dedicated to Queen Elizabeth, although, as the knight declares, “she could better understand it in Greek than any man can make it English.”  Its style is rather robust than elegant, partaking of the manly vigor of the language of its time, and now and then exhibiting something of that charm of quaint simplicity which belongs to its original, Montaigne’s favorite Amyot.  “Of all our French writers,” says the incomparable essayist, “I give, with justice, I think, the palm to Jacques Amyot";[B] and thereupon he goes on