subject of the description may be brought, in consequence of going, or being led astray, as in the case of a sheep. But certainly, the Jewish captives in the land of Assyria had not strayed or wandered into it. A wandering Syrian' is a very unsuitable translation of the words in Deut. xxvi. 5. Nor is unfortunate or unhappy more appropriate in respect to the passages in Job and Proverbs. In all these instances, the language of the Common Version is correct and forcible, 'lost,' ready to perish.

This is not the only instance in the volume, to which we could refer as evidence that the Author's judgement has sometimes slumbered, or misled him in the account which he gives of particular words. The office of the Lexicographer has not always, in the labours of the Author, been kept distinct from that of the Commentator. From the latter, we expect to receive the most pertinent explanations of the sacred text; while we look to the former only as the interpreter of its terms and idiomatical expressions. On turning to the article, p. 34, we find Job xii. 6. ine aiba sen , who bears the divinity in his hand, i. e. 'whose fist is his God. Comp. Hab. i. 11.' There is nothing in this reference to support this explanation, or to furnish a parallel to the passage: and the sense given to the verb, is without authority: 2 never means to bear. We shall add another example.

Gen. vi. 3.

ibi, my spirit shall not al

ways rule or act in man. The Spirit of God appears here, as in Psalm civ. 30., to be the animating principle in creatures; hence this meaning: I will take away from man the breath of life, they shall live no longer.' p. 132.

The difficulties of this passage are admitted, and it is for the expositor to solve them. In the Lexicon, we look simply for the meaning of the verb, which is never applied in the manner here used, in any part of the Scriptures: my spirit', in a declaration coming from God, is not the same as the breath of life in man. Spirit',, is very strangely explained as occuring in 1 Kings xi. 5,-then there was no more life in her; i. e. she was beside herself! The meaning is very evident, but it excludes madness and stupidity. The phrase occurs in Joshua v. 1, where the sense of beside ones-self' is out of the question: the hearts of the kings of the Canaanites melted, "neither was there spirit in them any more.' They were, however, perfectly sane. There are other examples in the Lexicon, on which we might comment; but we forbear to animadvert on the faults or imperfections of a truly meritorious work, and one which, to the English student, is an acquisition of great value. The instances are certainly much fewer than the Editor's com

mendatory statement would seem to represent, of the satisfactory deduction, in regular gradation, of the various meanings to be. attributed to a word, from the physical acceptation in which it was first used to designate an object. To expect, indeed, to find the work replete with this kind of excellence, would be to look for the proofs of discoveries in Hebrew philology which have not yet been made, and which, it is very probable, never will be made. The significations of words as they are used by the sacred writers, are defined with clearness, and illustrated by a sufficient number of examples in the Lexicon; and an account is given of the construction of verbs with prepositions and particles; phrases and idioms are explained; poetical words and inflexions are noticed, with the corresponding prosaic expression, as are also the peculiarities of the more modern Hebrew, in distinction from the more ancient; and an account of those words which are defective in some of their forms, is given as they occur. Proper names of persons and places are introduced; and the work is well furnished with all the necessary requisites of a Lexicon intended for practical purposes, without the encumbrance of extraneous or superfluous additions. It cannot fail of obtaining the place which it merits among the books of the Hebrew scholar.

From the evidence on which our judgement of the question must be formed, we conclude that the patriarch Job (p. 27.) was a real person. The opinion of the people of the East, who, at the present day, represent the patriarch as having truly existed, may not be conclusive evidence; but we do think that, in the accounts of the sacred writers which refer to the man of Uz, there is enough to prevent our adopting the Author's opinion, that the name is most probably fictitious, having reference to the description which is given of his life and fortune, and signifying persecuted.

Art. V. The Book of Job, in the words of the Authorized Version, arranged and pointed in general conformity with the Masoretical Text. 8vo. pp. xxxiv. 109. London, 1828.

IN a translation of any ancient work, it is desirable, not only that the sense of the original should be given, but that the energy and beauty of the diction, and other peculiarities of style which may distinguish it, should be preserved. The most important object to which a translator's attention will be directed, is unquestionably the faithful conveyance of his author's meaning; but this requires, not only an accurate acquaintance with his language, but also the nicest observation of the manner in which he has employed it. The import of a passage may be

not only more forcibly, but it may also be more justly expressed, by a particular arrangement of the words used by the translator, than by any other distribution. In reading the classic authors, especially the poets, how frequently are we delighted with the inimitable beauty, the curiosa felicitas of their expressions, and feel as if the form of words before us was the only one in which the sentiment of the writer could be appropriately presented. And when, in a translation, we find the spirit and gracefulness of such passages exhibited, we receive new pleasure from the manner in which we see the words of one language correspond in power and order to those of another. In the English Public Version of the Scriptures, compared with the original, many examples of this correspondence may be observed. The Editor of the Book of Job in this separate publication, remarks, that if, in the poetical books of the Old Testament, our Translators had more scrupulously arranged the collocation of the words in conformity with the Hebrew, as far at least as the English idiom would have permitted, and had also more rigidly adhered to the principal pauses of the Masorets, the English reader would have been enabled to form a more correct idea of that peculiarity which characterizes the diction of the original, as well as to develop with greater accuracy and facility, the true meaning of the inspired writers. His design is, to present an arrangement of this kind, for the purpose of correcting and amending the Common Version; the words of which he retains, except in such instances as required a slight change in the construction to adapt them to his purpose. Where the words in the original are thrown out of the usual prose, into a poetical arrangement, the Translators have occasionally followed the order of the Hebrew; it is the object of the Editor to render the version generally conformable to this order.

In the twentieth verse of the fifth chapter of Job, the prose arrangement of the words would stand thus: " He shall redeem thee from death in famine, and from the power of the sword in war." But there is a poetical transposition in the Hebrew, which our translators have strictly preserved. Their version is: "In famine he shall redeem thee from death, and in war from the power of the sword." In the very next verse, however, a similar transposition occurs, which they altogether disregard. For where the Hebrew has, " From the scourge of the tongue shalt thou be hid;" they adopt a different arrangement of the words, and place them thus: "Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue." But, in the first part of the twenty-second verse, they again precisely follow the order of the original, and say, "At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh;" disregarding it nevertheless in the latter part of the same verse, in which they put, "Neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth", instead of, "Neither of the beasts of the earth shalt thou be afraid.”

In like manner, numerous passages may be quoted, where the transposition of the words in the original is correctly preserved, either in the whole, or in a part of a verse; but our translators seem not to have proceeded upon a uniform principle in this respect. Sometimes, indeed, they adopt a transposition where there is none in the Hebrew; as in c. xv. v. 30, where the Authorised Version has, "And by the breath of his mouth shall he go away;" although, according to the Hebrew arrangement, it should have been, " And he shall go away by the breath of his mouth." So also in c. xxxvii. v. 5, the clause "Great things doeth he ", exhibits a transposition not found in the Original, which simply has, " He doeth great things."

In the structure of the Original, the usage is for the nominative case to follow the verb, where both come together without intervening words, And saw God the light-and was the even'ing, and was the morning.' This collocation is not observed by the Editor, but the English position of the nominative case before the verb is retained. The Translators are inconstant in

this respect.

Another particular in the text before us, is the adoption of the Masoretical system of pauses. Job. xii. 5, in the Common Version, is without any distinction of stops, except the final one. "He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease." This is amended by the Editor, whose correction and remarks are as follows.

This, when literally translated, and the words properly placed, stands thus: "As a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease; as one ready to slip with his foot." Job in the preceding verse had complained, that he was " as one mocked of his neighbour", to whom he was not inferior in understanding; and here adds, that he was "as a lamp despised in the thought of him that was at ease; as one ready to slip with his feet;" meaning that his wisdom was despised by his friend, and that he was considered as a man of a stumbling intellect. A little more attention to the collocation of the words, and to the accent in the middle of the verse, would have prevented this incorrect translation.' p. xix. Introd.

In conformity with the system adopted, the comma is wholly rejected, and the end of each line is marked by a semicolon, as the full stop is placed at the conclusion of every verse. A halfpause is besides introduced in every line, without reference to its length. This distinction serves to point out precisely the parallelism; as in the example adduced, (p. xxii.) of Ps. cxiv.

"1. When Israel went out of Egypt; the house of Jacob·from a "people of strange language;

2. Judah was his sanctuary; Israel his dominion.

"3. The sea saw it and fled; Jordan was driven back.

4. The mountains skipped like rams; the little hills like "lambs."

The instances are but very few, in which this new arrangement of the Book of Job presents any variation in the sense: occasionally we find a passage in which the meaning is altered, and more of perspicuity introduced into a verse; but the merit of the publication before us consists in its being a substitute for the Original in respect to the peculiar features of composition which distinguish it, for the use of the English reader. It will also be useful to the Hebrew scholar in his labours as a translator, in inducing him to render his version, in the respects pointed out, as close a representative of the Original, as may consist with the language into which he is rendering it. We shall extract a specimen of the Masoretical system as used by the present Editor: it is from the xxiid. Chapter.

22. Receive I pray thee from his mouth the law; and lay up his words in thine heart.

23. If thou return to the Almighty thou shalt be built up; for thou shalt put away iniquity from thy tabernacles.

24. Then shalt thou lay up as dust gold; and as the stones of the brooks the gold of Ophir.

25. Yea the Almighty shall be thy defence; and plenty of silver. shalt thou have.

26. For then in the Almighty shalt thou have thy delight; and shalt lift up unto God thy face.

27. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him and he shall hear thee; and thy vows shalt thou pay.

28. Thou shalt also decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee; and upon thy ways shall the light shine.

29. When men are cast down then shalt thou say: there is lifting up; and the humble person he shall save.

30. He shall deliver the island of the innocent; and it is delivered. pureness of thine hands.'

by the

Art. VI. A Tour in Italy and Sicily. By L. Simond. 8vo. pp. 629. Price 16s. London. 1829.

WE are glad to meet M. Simond again, and on classic ground.

He is a shrewd and active observer, a clear and unaffected writer; and it adds to our satisfaction, that he is neither a virtuoso nor a savant. We are sick of empiricism in all its shapes. We have had more than enough of the airs and high pretensions, the superficiality and ostentation, the prejudice and bad temper, the want of learning and discrimination, which pervade so large a portion of the published works of modern travellers; and we feel quite refreshed by a few hours' reading of this interesting and unpretending 'Tour.' The Author of Italy as it is', would at once and peremptorily exclude M. Simond from the privileged class of accredited travellers; and we admit that he is