"A dictionary of a given date is in the full sense a contribution to the history of language, a fact the full significance of which philologists have now realized. The idea of tracing that history by means of quotations successive in date belongs wholly to to-day. In few things is the dictionary before us more instructive than with regard to the growth of accents. The very first word in the preface, itself unaccented, is aprés, with the accent acute. Among the words unaccented on the first page are rhetorique, premiere, celebres, siecles, &c. In poëtique and similar words diæresis takes the place of other accent. A study of the first and following editions might help to settle the time when the acute accent or the circumflex took the place of the elided s in words such as estourdi, ctourdi; arrest, arrêt.
"The charge that the dictionary makers had too far expurgated the language by omitting expressive words employed by early writers was often advanced, La Bruyere and Fenelon being among those by whom it was brought. La Fontaine, a constant attendant at the meetings of the Academic, could not obtain admission for words from Marot and Rabelais. Froissart was too early, the dictionary beginning practically with Montaigne. Among the words that appear is effervescence, under 'ferveur.' It should be remembered, however, that Madame de Sevigne, on hearing it employed by her daughter, said, 'Comment dites-vous cela, ma fille? Voila un mot dont je n'avais jamais oui parler.' Savoir-faire, according to Le Père Bouhours, is a new term, which will not last is perhaps already out of date."
The review closes with warm words of commendation of Prof. Paul Dupont, who owns his indebtedness to M. Leon Moy, who died doyen of the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lille.
'HYPNEROTOMACHIA POLIPHILI.'
'Hypnerotomachia Poliphili'Knight was a thorough bibliophile, and this side of his character is exhibited by a review which appeared on the 31st of December, 1904, of a book which he characterized as "an unprecedented boon to the scholar and the artist. No lover of fine works will be content to be without it." This was the famous 'Hypnerotomachia Poliphili; or, Strife of Love as seen in a Dream by Polifilo,' issued for the first time in facsimile by Messrs. Methuen:—
"Over a book of the kind the scholar will rejoice and the artist jubilate. The work, though virtually unread, is known to be in many respects unique. It is a notable product of the Aldine press, and the masterpiece of Venetian book-illustration. Everything about it is mystery and problem; its authorship, long obscure, was only ascertained when a close student discovered that the first
