felt the ambition of writing a Greek play and calling it the Supplices of Eschylus,* he naturally despised what he did not understand, and as he was unable to pen a long Latin note,† for, unlike Porson, he was never satisfied with a short one, he was anxious to direct the attention of scholars to the neglected prose-writers of Greece; of which the public orations of Demosthenes, the Cyropædia of Xenophon, and the treatise of Longinus on the sublime formed the sum total of his knowledge; and, by way of smoothing the road to information to things instead of words, he not only wrote his own remarks in English, but insisted upon the folly of using any other language; and by way of she wing the kind of things that scholars ought to look at, he published dissertations on the howling of dogs,' 'on the use of bells among the ancients,' and 'on the

respect paid to old age;' these were in his eyes the points of primary importance, and "all the rest but leather and prunella."

+ This is an allusion to Mr Burges, whose skill in restoring corrupt passages in the Greek plays, which he edited, caused those plays to assume so different an appearance that he was said by the critics to have re-written them altogether.

In a Ms note, which I find in the copy of the Gentleman's Magazine lent to me, the author corrects this statement. "This is, however, scarcely true to the letter: see his Epistolæ Criticæ addressed to Gaisford in the Classical Journal."

Next to his Thesaurus, for, though it did not bear his name, he had all the feelings of a father for it, Mr Barker used to point to his notes on the Etymologicon Gudiarum, sent to its editor Sturz, as evidence of his Classical ability and attainments; and though he may have said no more than the truth, when he promised that, if there should be a Jack of contributors to the Classical Journal, he would himself write enough to fill whole numbers, yet he certainly would not have ventured on any subject which required original genius, nor have belonged to that class of scholars who think it the height of excellence to correct a corrupt passage in a Greek play, or to ascertain the principles, upon which the rules of Greek prosody are constructed. These merits are perhaps the more conspicuons, when they are confined to a few: for one or two such scholars are sufficient to maintain or restore the purity of diction, whilst many laborious students are required, to investigate the history, mythology, geography, laws and natural sciences of the Greeks and Romans, of which our knowledge is still far too limited. In all these subjects Mr Barker felt especial interest; and he cortainly ought to have been born in Germany, where his pains-taking habits and amiable disposition would have met with a more congenial atmosphere and a more kindly soil.

Those who have examined the Thesaurus, with its 11752 pages of double columns, would fancy that Mr Barker

would have quite enough to do in preparing such a work for the press, or, at any rate, that he would scarcely look into the passing literature of the day. But he was such an economist of his time, so methodical in the employment of it, that he never permitted a moment to pass without some occupation of a literary kind. If not writing, he was reading; and, if not poring over the dead, he was looking into modern works, and especially all kinds of Magazines, Reviews and Newspapers. Every speech in every debate of importance was perused most carefully, and, if necessary, extracts were made from them. In fact, except when he was asleep, his eye was never off a book, nor his hand without a pen in it. Hence he was enabled to edit a number of works in succession, or simultaneously, with the rapidity of a locomotive engine. But, though he devoted his greatest work to the edification of scholars, he was equally ready to employ his talents and his pen in the service of children. He edited several juvenile books among which are the following-1. The Toy-shop, or the Sentimental toy-man. 2. The Picture-exhibition. 3. Juvenile Rambles through the paths of Nature. 4. Mrs Brown's Crooked Sixpence, with some others, the titles of which I have not been able to ascertain. All of them were reprints of old works, and possessed great merit in their subjects, but the style, in which they were written, was too antiquated to suit the taste or requirements of the pre

sent day they are consequently almost sunk into oblivion, from which they can only be resuscitated by being entirely re-written in a more modern style.

Mr Barker may certainly claim the credit of having been one of the first, if not quite the first, who edited schoolbooks with English notes. It will hereafter be thought an inconceivable act of folly that our forefathers, even down to our own times, used the Latin language to explain the difficulties which surrouded a Latin author; and thus the unfortunate school-boy, who had to translate the difficult but elegant text of Cicero, Cornelius Nepos or Virgil, was compelled into the bargain to puzzle out the meaning of a commentator whose language was infinitely less elegant without being at all less difficult. Mr Barker saw this anomaly and published editions of the Latin Æsop, Cæsar, Cicero, Tacitus, Demosthenes and Xenophon with English notes. He also edited a translation of Buttman's Greek Grammar, and in conjunction with Professor Dunbar, of Edinburgh, published a Greek-English and English-Greek Lexicon, which was well received by the public, and maintained its place, until it was finally abandoned by its joint-authors, who preferred to appear separately as claimants for lexicographical reputation.

The other works which, as far as I have been able to learn, were written or edited by Mr Barker, whilst he was at Thetford, were

1. A volume to disprove the claims of Sir Philip Francis to the authorship of Junius's letters.

2. An English re-print of Dr Webster's American Dictionary of the English language, in 2 vols 4to.

3. A letter to the Rev T. S. Hughes, occasioned by the perusal of the Address to the people of England in the cause of the Greeks, 1823.

4. A reprint of South's sermon, and other papers in favour of Latitudinarianism.

5. An edition of an unpublished Greek author, Arcadius de accentibus. and

6. An English reprint of Professor Anthon's American edition of Lempriere's Classical Dictionary.

The last of these works had an extensive sale, and, having passed through three editions, still maintains its ground in the face of several competing works, as a valuable addition to the classical school-boy's library.

These literary labours must have entirely filled up Mr Barker's time during the years which he spent at Thetford; and, notwithstanding the rude handling which he met with from the Quarterly Review, he still went plodding on with his labours, as if unconscious of the attack that had been made upon him. Painful as was the laceration inflicted on him in the eyes of spectators, it is probable that Mr d