Alcala, in Spain, a magnificent edition of the whole Bible in several languages. In this edition was contained a copy of the New Testament in Greek, which was made from a collation of various manuscripts, which were then thought to be of great authority, but which are now known to have been of little value. This edition, which is commonly called the Complutensian Polyglot, from Complutum the Roman rame for Alcala, was not licensed for publication till A D 1522, though it had been printed many years before. The manuscripts, from which it was published,are now irrecoverably lost, having been sold by the librarian to a rocket-makerabout the year 1750*. A. D. 1516, Erasmus, residing at Basle in Switzerland for the purpose of superintending the publication of the works of Jerome, was employed by Froben the printer to publish an edition of the Greek Testament from a few manuscripts, which he found in the vicinity of that city, all of which were modern and comparatively of little value. Erasmus was not allowed time sufficient to revise the publication with that attention and care,which the importance of the work required: he complains that the persons, whom he employed to correct the press, sometimes altered the copy without his permission, and he acknowledges,that his first edition was very incorrect. He published a fourth edition, A. D. 1527, in which, to obviate the clamour of bigots, he introduced many alterations to make it agree with the edition of Cardinal Ximenes.

A. D 1550, Robert Stephens, a learned printer at Paris, published a splendid edition of the New Tes

See Dr. Marsh's edition of Michaelis's Introduction to New Testament, vol. ii. p.

441.

tament in Greek, in which he availed himself of the Complutensian Pol. yglot, and likewise of the permission granted by the king of France to collate fifteen manuscripts in the Royal Library. Most of these manuscripts are to this day in the National or Imperial Library at Paris, and are found to contain only parts of the New Testament: and few of them are either of great an tiquity or of much value. They were collated, and the various read. ings noted by Henry Stephens, the son of Robert,a youth about eighteen years of age. This book, being splendidly printed with great professions of accuracy by the editor, was long supposed to be a correct and immaculate work : but, upon closer inspection, it has been discov ed to abound with errours. The text, excepting the Revelations, in which he follows the Complutensian edition, is almost wholly copied from the fifth edition of Erasmus, with very few and inconsiderable variations +

A. D. 1589, Theodore Beza, professor of theology at Geneva, and successor to John Calvin, published a critical edition of the Greek Tes tament, in which he made use of Robert Stephens's own copy, with many additional various readings from the manuscripts collated by Henry Stephens. Beza was also in

+ Robert Stephens was the person whe divided the New Testament into verses. He performed this task, while he was upon a journey from Lyons to Paris, in order to adapt it to a Greek Concordance, which he was then preparing for the press. He placed the figures in the margin of his page. The first edition, in with the number prefixed to each, was which the verses were printed separate the English New Testament, printed at Geneva, A. D. 1557. The division inte chapters had been made in the thirteenth century by Cardinal Hugo, to adapt the New Testament to a Latin Concord

ance.

:

possession of two most ancient and most valuable manuscripts; one of which, containing the Gospels and the Acts in Greek and Latin, he afterwards gave to the University of Cambridge and the other, called the Clermont manuscript, which contained the Epistles of Paul, was transferred to the Royal Library at Paris. Beza took but little pains, and exercised but little judgment, in the correction of the text, and the selection of the best readings. Nevertheless the text of Beza, being esteemed the most accurate of those, which had been then published, was selected as the standard of the English version published by authority. Beza's text, however, appears, in fact, to be nothing more than a republication of Robert Stephens's, with some trifling variations.

A. D. 1624, an edition of the Greek Testament was published at Leyden at the office of the Elzevirs, who were the most eminent priuters of the time. The editor, who superintended the publication, is unknown. This edition differs very little from the text of Robert Stephens. A few variations are admitted from the edition of Beza, and a very few more upon some unknown authority; but it does not appear, that the editor was in possession of any manuscript. This edition, however, being elegantly printed, and the Elzevirs being in high reputation for correctness of typography, it was unaccountably taken for granted, that it exhibited a pure and perfect text. This, therefore, became the standard of all succeeding editions, from which feweditors, till very lately, have presumed to vary and this constitutes the "Received Text,"

Thus it appears that the Received Text stands upon the authority of the unknown editor of the Elzevir edition, who copied the text of Robert Stephens, introducing a few variations from that of Beza. The edition of Beza was also taken from that of Robert Stephens, with a few trifling, aud sometimes even arbitrary alterations. But Robert Stephens's famous edition of A. D. 1550 is a close copy of the fifth edition of Erasmus, with some alterations in the book of Revelation, from the Complutensian Polyglot, and the addition of a few various readings, collected by a youth of eighteen, from fifteen manuscripts of little value. And, finally, Erasmus's edition itself, which prototype of them all, was formed hastily and negligently from a few manuscripts of little authority, which accidentally came into his possession at Basle, where he was engaged by Froben in editing the works of Jerome, and where he had no further assistance than what he could derive from the Vulgate Version, and from inaccurate editions of come of the early ecclesiastical writers.

the

From the few advantages, which were possessed, and from the little care, which was taken by the early editors, it may justly be concluded, not only that the Received Text is not a perfect copy of the apostolick originals, but that it is still capable of very considerable improvement by the same means, which are adopt. ed by men of learning and sagacity for correcting and restoring the text of other ancient writers.*

See Griesbach's Prolegomena, sect. i.; Dr. Marsh's Michacli,, vol. ii. chap. xii. sect. i.

Optima Silvarum.

SAUL.

The poem of Saul contains many passages that justify any expectations, that the high reputation of the author may have raised. His heart is alive rather to the gentler tones of feeling than to swelling sublimity, and in that department some of the most beautiful specimens in our language are contained in Saul. Though the characters of sacred story are not very proper for epick productions, that of David is perhaps an exception. David was an hero, and, in the modern dialect, a gentleman. His character combines almost every thing to interest: the sweet simplicity of his original state first catches the attention; his call by the immediate voice of heaven to the throne of Israel elevates the feel: ings to awe, yet this sensation is alleviated and harmonized, when we see the youthful monarch assume the character of the sweet musician, the elegant bard, the warm and unfortunate lover, the ardent friend, and, finally, the successful conquerour. Such a character cannot but awaken interest. In the following lines the poet describes his sensations on returning to his native shades after the conquest of Goliah.

Ah, in vain thy favourite grot Invites thee to repose. The fresh springs gush Pleasantly round; and sweet the noon breeze sings

Juvenal, 1 Sat. 135

On the dark ivy mantling round the wall Luxuriant. Minstrel! 'tis the grot

wherein

Thy melody so oft with praise awoke The dawn and closed the evening shades These, all, have ceased to breathe on thee delight,

with song.

They sooth not woe like thine.

The character of Samuel, though not dilated, is marked with strong touches. It is one almost unknown to the walks of poetry. It has something indeed in common with the prophets of antiquity; the Cas sandras, the Pythias, &c. But the conception is infinitely more grand and solemn of a man, from very birth devoted to a holy mission, filled through the course of life with the immediate dilating inspiration of heaven, and whose voice was the organ of Deity. He was

A venerable man that had out-lived Many a generation. Hoar with age His unshorn hair, and white as snowy flake

The beard that swept his breast. Yet

firm his foot

Stept without staff, and his dark eye, undimmed, Shot forth celestial fire that gave cach

word

Strange force.

The requiescat of the poet over his grave is worthy of its object.

Rest, venerable prophet, rest in peace,
Thou hast fulfilled thy mission-
Rest, venerable seer, brow hear with age,

tomb,

Till from the bond of death God calls thee forth

A spirit unflesh'd, once more to rise on earth,

And pour heaven's judgment on the unrighteous king.

MODERN ENTERPRISE.

PERHAPS in nothing is the superiority of the moderns over the ancients more apparent, than in that enterprising spirit, which leads them to explore the most distant and barbarous countries in the pursuit of knowledge, or of wealth. The national vanity of the Greeks prevented their attention to the laws, customs, or manners of foreigners, who were indiscriminately stigmatised with the epithet of barbarous. The knowledge of the Romans was bounded by the pillars of Hercules. "Solis cubilia Gades" were the words of Statius, to express the ter mination of the earth. The follow ing inscription, said to have been found at Cadiz, is preserved in the supplement to a work, entitled, "Theatrum Orbis, auctore Abramo Ortelio."

"Heliodorus Insanus Carthaginiensis ad extremum orbis sarcophago testamento me hoc jussit condier; ut viderem, si me quisquam insanior ad me visendum usque ad hæc loca penetraret."

LOVE.

In allusion to les sept alegresses de la Sainte Vierge of the Romish ritual, Lorenzo has decribed le sette allegrezze d'amore, of which the following is the second. It is translated in the measure of the original,

"THE death of Peiresc," says Dr. Johnson, in one of his letters, "was celebrated in forty languages." This hero, at whose death the muses of every clime were in mourning, was a nobleman of Provence, in France, of the sixteenth century. His great reputation was created and supported by an astonishing versatility of powers, that attempted and succeeded in every department of science. In his travels through every part of Europe, he was courted and caressed by the literati wherever he went. After conversing with Fra Paolo, at Florence, with Spencer and Camden, in London, with De Thou and Casaubon, at Paris, with Joseph Scaliger, at Leyden, and Hugo Grotius, at the Hague, admired and caressed by them all, he returned to Aix, where he received the dignity of counsellor of parliament. The numerous eulogies written at his death were published in a volume entitled Panglossia. The academy at Rome paid him distinguished honours, and his funeral oration was pronounced at Paris. The only monument, how