To boldly declare in favor of any one dictionary at the present day, would be as bold, and we may add as untimely and illogical a proceeding as to endorse any one grammar, when nothing can be clearer to the student of language than that our English tongue is more unfixed and undergoing changes more rapidly than any other which boasts a truly great literature.  The scholar, consequently, generally pursues an eclectic system, if timid conforming as nearly as may be to ’general usage,’ if bold and ‘troubled with originality,’ making up words for himself, after the manner of CARLYLE, which if ‘apt,’ after being more or less ridiculed, are tacitly and generally adopted.  But, amid the ’war of words’ and of rival systems, people must have dictionaries, and fortunately there is this of WORCESTER’S, which has of late risen immensely in public favor.  We say fortunately, for whatever discords and inconvenience may arise at the time from the rivalry of different dictionaries, it can not be doubted that each effort contributes vastly to enrich our mother-tongue, and render easier the future task of the ‘coming man’ who is, years hence, to form from the whole one perfect work.  Our own verdict in the matter would, accordingly, be, that we should most unwillingly dispense with either of the great candidates for popular orthographic favor.

     RELIGIO MEDICI, A LETTER TO A FRIEND, CHRISTIAN MORALS, URN BURIAL,
     AND OTHER PAPERS.  By Sir Thomas Browne, Kt., M.D.  Boston:  Ticknor
     and Fields. 1862.

Beautiful indeed is the degree of typographic art displayed in this edition of one of the raciest and most readable of our sterling English classics.  The antique lettering of the title alone, in which words of carmine-red alternate with the ‘letters blake,’ the counterpart portrait, and the neat red-illumined capitals of every chapter, not to mention the type and binding, all render this volume one of the most appropriate of gift-books for a friend of true scholarly tastes.  Few writers are so perfectly loved as Sir THOMAS BROWNE is by such ‘friends;’ as in BACON’S or MONTAIGNE’S essays, his every sentence has its weight of wisdom, and he who should read this volume until every sentence were cut deeply in memory, would never deem the time lost which was thus spent.  Yet, while so deeply interesting to the most general reader, let it not be forgotten that it was with the greatest truth that Dr. JOHNSON testified of him that ’there is scarcely a writer to be found, whose profession was not divinity, that has so frequently testified his belief of the sacred writings, has appealed to them with such unlimited submission, or mentioned them with such unvaried reverence.’

     TRAGEDY OF ERRORS. Aux plus desherites le plus d’amour.  Boston: 
     Ticknor & Fields. 1862.