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THE TARTARIAN TONGUES.

the copies of these versions have been destroyed by the Jesuits. Wendish is spoken in Lusatia by a people now under the dominion of Saxony and Prussia; portions of Scripture were printed as early as 1574, but it was not till 1706 that the New Testament was published. This edition was prepared at the cost of the lady Gersdorf. the grandmother of count Zinzendorf, for gratuitous circulation. Several editions of a version of the entire Bible, prepared by some> Lutheran pastors, have also left the press; the whole of those issues are Protestant. A translation was prepared long ago for the use of the Roman Catholic population, but was never printed. It was found, in fact, more effective to destroy existing copies than to circulate an adverse version. Translations were made into Wendish and Lithuanian by disciples of Luther during the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Bohemian we have already noticed. The Bulgarian version belongs to the nineteenth century.

It is a fact familiar to scholars, that many of the languages of Europe are closely allied to the Sanscrit. They agree in many of their words and inflections-that is, in matter and in form. From London to Calcutta, the IndoEuropean class of languages, including nearly all we have mentioned in this chapter, prevail. A class equally wide is the TARTARIAN It includes the Basque of western France and Spain, the Magyar of Hungary, the Lapponese of Lap

BASQUE, FINNISH, ESTHONIAN.

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land; and nearly all the languages spoken between Finland and China. The poor Fin. lander speaks a tongue akin to that spoken by the Mantchou conquerors of the celestial empire. It was part of the business of the reformers to give to the people speaking some of these tongues also a portion at least of the Bible.

In 1571, the entire New Testament, in Basque, was printed at Rochelle. It was translated by a minister of the reformed church, and was dedicated to Jeanne d'Albret, queen of Navarre, and brought out at her expense. For more than two centuries no other edition in this tongue was published, and it was long thought that the whole had perished. Happily, however, a single copy had been deposited in the library of the university of Oxford. From this copy two editions have been printed in our own day. The first was bought up by the Roman Catholic bishop of that part of France, who destroyed upwards of eight hundred copies. The effect, however, has been to facilitate the reproduction of the second edition, and to call attention to the importance of truth. Into the Finnish tongue the New Testament was translated by a disciple of Luther, M. Agricola, whom the reformer recommended to Gustavus I. When the Lapponese version was made is not known, but the first printed edition was published in 1755, various tracts and portions of Scripture having been issued in 1648. A translation in Esthonian was made

by John Fischer, a German divine, in 1586, the Old Testament being published three years afterwards. The most important, however, of these Tartarian versions is the Magyar. The Magyars, originally from Scythia, are the most influential race in Hungary, and give their name to the Hungarian tongue. They are said to be, in physical and intellectual qualities, among the foremost nations of Europe. They number nearly five millions, of whom half are Protestants. The earliest Magyar version of part of the Scriptures was made in the year 1541, by John Sylvester, a native of Hungary; and Le Long speaks of three editions of the New Testament as published by the year 1574. The whole Bible appeared in 1589. It was translated by Caspard Carolé, the pastor of the church at Gonz. He had imbibed the principles of the Reformation at Wittemberg, and was prompted to undertake this work by a desire to give the gospel to his country. The seventh edition was printed at Capel, in 1704. Two Romanist versions, in the Magyar language, have also been executed, but only one published. Of that version but few copies have been put into circulation.

Such are the versions of the Tartarian class of languages which we owe to the Reformation. It may give some idea of the extent to which the Scriptures have been printed during the two hundred and fifty years subsequent to the appearance of Luther's Bible, to examine the following table. It is taken from the catalogue

NUMBER OF VERSIONS.

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of the library of the king of Würtemberg, as published by Adler. That library was formed by him with much care, and contained upwards of nine thousand different editions of the Scriptures. The date of the publication of this list is 1787. There were then in his library,

This enumeration, which is confessedly imperfect, comprises near y three thousand different editions of Scriptu e in languages spoken on the continent;* and though by no means giving a complete view of all that was done, it may be regarded as accurately representing the comparative prevalence of copies of Scripture * See Townley's Illustrations, vol. ii. p. 280.

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BIBLICAL CRITICISM,

in the various languages which it includes. Had the Reformation done no more for the progress of religion and learning than put into these various tongues the great truths and lessons of the Bible, it would have deserved the everlasting gratitude of our race.

While these efforts were made for the translation of Scripture into the vernacular languages of Europe, the learned were busy revising the sacred text, printing versions in ancient tongues, and in writing commentaries on the meaning of the inspired volume. A threefold work had in truth to be done. It was necessary first of all to settle the text both of the Old and of the New Testament; then to ascertain the meaning of words; and lastly, to give the general sense. Criticism is the first precess, exegesis the second, and exposition the third.

At first all parties engaged in every department of this work with equal zeal. The first editions of the Greek Testament were published by Roman Catholics, and of the Hebrew Bible by Jews; though, in both cases, after a very imperfect examination of authorities. The text of the "Complutensian Polyglot" (printed at Alcalá anciently Complutum-in Spain,) was founded on a partial examination of four manuscripts only; while the text of Erasmus (1516) was based on a similar examination of sixteen. The "London Polyglot" greatly extended these examinations; and through the successive