ART. VI. LITERARY NOTICES. By the Editor. ORIENTAL LIterature. Vendidad, Zend-Avestae Pars XX. adhuc superstes. E Codd. Mss. Parisinis primum edidit, varietatem lectionis adjecit JUSTUS OLSHAUSEN. Partic. I. Hamb. 1830. Ever since the publication of the French version of the Zend-Avesta (1771) by the enterprising, persevering, and enthusiastic Anquetil du Perron, it has been the subject of dispute and controversy in the theological world, similar to that excited by the poems of Ossian in the literary community. It has been stoutly maintained, principally by English writers, (who are but too prone to detract from every literary as well as scientific merit of their neighbours,) that no such work existed in the East, and that it was therefore a mere romance got up by the professed translator; or at least, if such a work were current among the Parsees, it was merely a collection of legends of the middle ages, and was therefore of no value as a work of antiquity or authority. As no other person had investigated this subject on the spot, there could be opposed to all these assertions in Europe, only the authority of Anquetil himself, and the manuscripts of various kinds (180 in number) which he had brought from India; and these, as they were not in England, were treated as of no account. Thus matters have remained until within the last few years. In 1819 the enterprising and indefatigable Prof. Rask, of Copenhagen, undertook a journey over land to India, with the purpose of investigating this among other subjects. He visited the places where Anquetil du Perron had been; and found still alive several of the priests who had known him and given him instruction. He was able to bring home thirty-three very ancient manuscripts of the Zend-Avesta and its literature, nineteen of which are in the Zend language; the rest in Pehlvi. The result has been, fully to establish the veracity and integrity of Anquetil. Prof. Rask, in his work entitled: On the Atiquity and Genuineness of the Zend Language and the Zend-Avesta, has demonstrated the genuineness of that work, or at least of portions of it, leaving however the question as to the author undecided. It would seem therefore to be now settled, that the Zend-Avesta is a work of great antiquity, containing an important and interesting exhibition of the religion and philosophy and language of a portion of our race, respecting which, apart from this source, we have very little information. The French version was a first attempt, and would naturally therefore not be without its faults. It is evidently made in accordance with a traditional interpretation which was far from fixed; and the chasms or deficiencies left by this, are often supplied in a very arbitrary manner. Since the return of Prof. Rask, the subject has assumed a new degree of interest on the continent, and the learned have long been wishing to have the original of the Zend-Avesta before them. This wish Prof. Olshausen, of Kiel, has now undertaken to gratify. Supported by the liberality of the Danish government, he resided for a long time in Paris, pursuing the studies connected with this object, and obtaining meantime copies of Anquetil's Mss. of the work, now deposited in the royal library. The part Vendidad is the only one of which the manuscript is complete. It is intended to publish this first; and then the other portions in succession; comprising the Vistasp-Jesht, which is wanting in the Paris manuscripts, but is contained in those of Copenhagen. The text is printed in the litho-autographic manner, i. e. written with a pen and then transferred to the stone; in the manner of Semelet's edition of the Gulistan. A grammar and lexicon of the original language will be appended to the work. It is also hinted, that Prof. Rask is also preparing a complete grammar and lexicon of the Zend language, so far as the remains of it are known. The Editor is happy in being able to lay before the readers of this work, the following extract of a letter from Prof. HAHN of Leipsic, dated Dec. 23, 1830. "Your kind invitation to afford you occasional contributions for your new work, (the annunciation of which I have read with pleasure,) I gladly accept, so far as the difficulty of correspondence between two countries so remote, will permit. I intend, accordingly, soon to send you an historical account of the present contest within our church, which now divides our theologians into two great parties; exhibiting the causes, the commencement, and the progress of it, and the various aspects of the struggle, at different times and in different places." FLAGG & GOULD INTEND SPEEDILY TO PUT TO PRESS THE FOLLOWING WORKS. I. A GREEK AND ENGLISH LEXICON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. A new Edition, on the basis of the Works of Wahl, Bretschneider, and Passow. By EDWARD ROBINSON, Prof. Extraordinary in the Theol. Seminary, Andover. For a more full announcement of this Work, see No. III. of the Biblical Repository, p. 553. II. BUTTMANN'S GREEK GRAMMAR, translated from the thirteenth German edition, by EDWARD ROBINSON, Prof. etc. This work is ready for the press, having been prepared by the Editor during his residence in Germany. The printing of it has been delayed hitherto, in order to obtain new founts of Greek type from Leipzig. These have now arrived, and the work will be put to press without delay. It is proper to state, that this is the original Grammar of Buttmann, by which his fame was established, and on which it mainly rests. It was intended for Students at the Universities, and those more advanced; and holds a place in Germany, which no other Greek Grammar has been able to gain. It went through thirteen editions during the author's life time; while the similar works of Matthiae, Rost, and Thiersch, have reached only the second edition. An abridgement of this Grammar was made by the author himself for the use of schools and beginners, of which eight editions have been published; and this is the work formerly translated and published in this country. It may be said without discourtesy, that the scholars of our land were disappointed in that work; and that their desires have ever been turned towards the larger Grammar of the same author. To meet these wishes was the object of the Editor in undertaking the translation. III. NEWCOME'S HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS in Greek. A new edition on a new and smaller Greek type, and in a more compact form. To be revised and arranged by EDWARD ROBINSON, Prof. etc. FLAGG & GOULD HAVE NOW IN PRESS THE FOLLOWING WORKS. A GRAMMAR OF THE HEBREW LANGUAGE. By MoSES STUART, Associate Professor of Sacred Lit. in the Theol. Seminary, Andover. Fourth edition, revised by the Author.The sections in this Edition remain the same as in the third. The work will be published about the first of September next. PLAN OF THE FOUNDER OF CHRISTIANITY. By F. V. REINHARD, D. D., Court Preacher at Dresden. From the 5th German edition, with Notes and an Appendix, by H. L. HEUBNER, D. D., Prof. of Theol. at Wittemberg, 1830. Translated by OLIVER A. TAYLOR, A. M. Res. Licentiate, Theol. Seminary, Andover. NEW WORK, DESIGNED FOR THE USE OF ACADEMIES, HIGH SCHOOLS, &c. FLAGG & GOULD, Andover, and J. LEAVITT, 182, Broadway, New-York, have just published THE RHETORICAL READER; consisting of Instructions for Regulating the Voice, with a Rhetorical Notation, illustrating Inflection, Emphasis, and Modulation; and a Course of Rhetorical Exercises. By EBENEZER PORTER, D. D., President of the Theological Seminary, Andover. This Work is the execution of an intention announced by the author, in the 2d and 3d editions of his ANALYSIS OF RHETORICAL DELIVERY, to prepare a smaller work on the same general principles." This has been done in compliance with solicitations from Teachers and others, desirous of having a book on the plan of the Analysis, but in a cheaper form, and adapted to a younger class of learners. |