"Sirmio, fairest of all isles that be, Or all peninsulas that ocean laves, Whether around them roll the mighty sea, Or a lake's placid waves. Thee with what joy, what rapture do I view, Returned from Thynia and Bithynia's plain! I scarce can credit that the bliss is true Thee to behold again. Oh! what more blessed is than labours past! In weary wanderings abroad we roam, Then spent with toil we come again at last, Seeking our rest at home. This for our toils the sole reward is found, Hail, lovely Sirmio, and thou Lydian mere! And now, my home, let all thy laughter sound, Now is thy master here." Mr. Hart Davies's temporary exile has obviously the solace of scholarship. * * * * * If a wide divergence from the beaten track into fresh fields and pastures new be a merit, as it must be to jaded schoolmasters, if not to school-boys, some praise should be accorded to Mr. Heitland, a Fellow and Lecturer of St. John's, Cambridge, and his coadjutor, Mr. Raven, for having furnished the Pitt Press Series with so good an edition of that part of the _History of Quintus Curtius_, which relates to the Indian expedition of Alexander the Great. The subject, author, and hero are to modern readers novel and unhackneyed: and there is that suspicion of imperfect knowledge attaching to all three which sets the mind on the qui vive to acquire what is knowable about them. For such an undertaking no better guides could be needed. An introduction primes the student with the needful information (α) as to Curtius and his book; (β) as to Alexander's career; while Appendix D (187-9) supplements from Mr. Talboy Wheeler's "History of India from the Earliest Ages" the general and current information as to the plan of his Indian campaign. Anent the date and authorship of Curtius's history, it is shown to be the work of Q. Curtius Rufus, a rhetorician of the reign of Claudius, and referable to the silver age of Latin literature. His transparent imitation of Livy has suggested the not improbable supposition that he may have been even that historian's pupil, nor is it an impertinent criticism of the editors' that in common with that master Curtius seems to ignore the "high aims and farsightedness which give its grandeur to Alexander's character." The string of notable usages in Curtius's style, given in pp. 14-15, exhibits more than one palpable Livianism; and the use of poetical language bespeaks his attentive study of Virgil. Tiros will be comforted by hearing that "if Curtius is less pleasant to read than Livy, he is also less difficult." The criticisms of the editors on the grounds of his historical value at the revival period are interesting and perspicuous, and the special interest of the particular portion of history adopted as a specimen of the author needs no apology in a country where the reigning sovereign has the collateral title of Empress