Philo gradually extended the views of his pupil on the natural furface of the world, and the productions and animals about him, till he thought his understanding might comprehend fome very familiar illuftrations of the first truths of geography. He gave fome reafons for the general opinions which are held of the shape of the world; and its relation to other bodies in the folar fyftem. He found that all he faid, though illuftrated in a great variety of ways, was not perfectly understood, but he wanted only to make his child avoid the general idea of children, that the world is flat and terminated by their horizon. He took pains therefore, to change that horizon, by taking even long journies to prove what he had faid. This was fufficient to procure him the best kind of credit; for what he was further to fay on the fubject of geography. He taught him the ufe of the globes and maps; and made him conceive a general idea of the world as divided into continents, feas, kingdoms, and provinces; all furnished with materials of knowledge, in the fame manner as the spot they inhabited, and which had afforded them fo much inftruction and pleafure. It was eafy, therefore, to excite his moft ardent curiofity to know every thing they contained. Philo told him this was impoffible in the way they had begun, as he might eafily fee by the time they had already fpent in their own neighbourhood; and he was capable of forming fome judgment of the fmall proportion of a province or a parith to the furface of the whole globe. Philo, however, encouraged him by letting him know, that fome people had always been employed in the fame manner with themfelves, and committed all their obfervations to writing. Nothing more was neceffary to induce his pupil to go through every book that Philo fet before him on natural hiftory. And his mind retained all thofe truths and facts which are fo apt to escape perfons who have been educated otherwife, with as much fidelity as other children do the circumstances of their play and misfortunes at fchool. Before he purfued natural hiftory into natural philofophy, he found he must have recourfe to arithmetic; in which his pupil had hitherto received only a few occafional leffons. He foon led him through all the general numerical operations, and through the first and perhaps the most important in algebra, not with any view to make him a mathematician, but to enable him to compound and generalize his ideas in an accurate manner. Philo himself was furprized at the ease with which his fon learnt the elements of geometry, and they were now prepared for mechanics. A fruitful fource of entertain ment and health. Their own experiments and trials, as in natural history, gave them not only exercife, but prepared them in the best manner to take pleasure in and to judge of thofe of others.

They returned to natural hiftory; and Philo's pupil found his progrefs much facilitated by the methods which had been taken to refer all objects of the fame nature to general terms.—It created a kind of alliance between them in his mind fimilar to that in nature; and he feemed to allot diftinct repofitories for them in his head. Thus mineralogy, botany, anatomy, &c. became terms for confiderable portions of diftinct knowledge.

Natural history is the object of retention: its fats must be ordered and arranged by reafon to form natural philofophy; the moft

important

important principles of which, relating to fire, air, water, and earth, Philo explained to his pupil as well as he could. The general experiments of electricity, of the air pump, of statics, and of chemistry, afforded them infinite entertainment. And being fituated near the capital, they wanted no affiftances from inftruments and machines.Philo now led his pupil to obferve nature in her deviations and monfters; and natural philofophy in its abuses; as chemistry giving rise to alchymy, natural magic, &c. He then pointed out thofe principles which had been made use of in the arts for the ornament and convenience of life. The fmelting and ufe of metals; the method of making glass; the employments of the jeweller, tanner, and clothier; the great bufinefs of agriculture; the arts of the potter, fculptor, painter, and architect; and all thofe numerous means which have been invented for our fupport and convenience. Philo exhibited thefe as much as poffible in all their best effects; and having accuftomed his pupil, not only to fee but to copy the principal fubjects in natural history, his eye was well educated, and his taste was well formed.

He was now capable of philofophical faith. Philo made the certain truths of aftronomy as intelligible as he could; but he was obliged to mention others as things which he gave credit to himself, because they were the difcoveries and conjectures of wife and good men. He made him also acquainted with the abuse of this science, and diverted him much with the extravagancies of aftrology. His pupil was now commencing philofopher; and ufing, not his me. mory only, but his reafon, in comparing, judging, and forming opinions. The first acts of reflection feem to point out the principles of logic. For the mind, when it has treasured up fimple ideas; arranges and compounds them; and thereby forms new ones; which are again treafured up for the ufe of the genius or imagination. By delineating the powers of apprehenfion, judgment, induction, and demonftration, Philo taught his pupil the art of ufing his reasonable faculties. This led to the principles of obligation and duty; and Philo began with thofe which are concerned in adjusting the affections. He proceeded to domestic obligations; and then to all the focial and civil duties. It is not eafy to conceive the pleasure he felt at finding the mind of his child alive to all the impreffions of goodness; and, like a well-tuned inftrument, yielding only proper and melodious founds. He eafily raifed his views to general ideas of good and evil; to the laws of nations, and the principles of war, commerce, &c. This was done by a judicious application to civil, and what may be called literary hiftory; the hiftory of the world, and of all its greatest benefactors.

He was now qualified to turn his thoughts to religion; and the ardour and fincerity with which he directed them to that Being, whose wonderful works he had ever been contemplating, are totally unknown to those whose minds are too foon perplexed with notions of his nature and attributes. When he first conceived of the univerfe, as a family under the care and goodnefs of an almighty parent; and Philo read to him fome of the devotional compositions which had been formed on that principle;-his raptures were exceffive; and it

was.

was thought neceffary to be fparing on the fubject. Philo led him into ecclefiaftical hiftory; to mix a little regret with his pleasure. He prepared him to allow for human infirmities in all human inftitutions, and not to expect civil or facred customs to be formed on perfect principles. This was perhaps among the nicest and most difficult parts of his management. For young people are often made vicious, by being difappointed in the expectations they had entertained of feeing the world perfectly virtuous. He thought it the most important bufinefs of a tutor to prepare his pupil to allow for infirmities in others which he would not bear in himself. He took care, therefore, that he fhould confider fuperftition, divination, and even bypocrify and irreligion, as he had alchymy, natural magic, and aftrology, and the several abuses of natural philofophy and aftro

nomy..

Grammar, as a philofophical art, had been no part of Philo's plan. He had taught his child on the first use of his speech the general distinctions and variations of words. He now made him reflect on grammar as it was formed into an art; and rendered it a fubject of great curiofity and entertainment. His pupil was now capable of confidering the general nature and ufe of letters; the art of articulating them, called pronunciation; the methods of applying them to the different views of the mind called fyntax; and the manner of placing them in a difcourfe or converfation, which is called conftruction. This led our philofophers to rhetoric; and the methods of aiding the voice by gefture and action. The province of the ora tor and actor borders on that of the poet; and Philo conducted his pupil to the enchanted regions of poetry. He firft explained to him the general machinery of this art; beginning with the mechanism of verification. He inftructed him in the general nature of poetry, which is the produce of genius or imagination from the ideas of the mind; as painting is from the objects of nature. He began with the art of perfonifying properties and qualities in fables and allego. ries. He then confidered thofe imitations of manners, customs, and opinions which are to be found in paftorals, comedy, and tragedy. And concluded with the imitations of civil and facred history, which are called Epic poems; and contain the fates of imaginary nations; and the hiftories of imaginary heroes and gods.

Philo thus finifhed what might be called his education; and his fon is just turned of fixteen, with a mind as well formed; in a better way to improve in knowledge, and to render it useful; and more difpofed in every way to the duties of goodness, than most men at

forty.'

Our Readers will, in the above extract, fee many inftances of that good fenfe, and attention to Nature, of which we have taken notice; and on that account they may be inclined to make fome allowance for thofe untenable opinions diftinguished by ita.ics.

ART.

ART. III. The Old Teftament, English and Hebrew, with Remarks critical and grammatical on the Hebrew. And Corrections of the English. By Anfelm Bayly, LL. D. Sub-dean of his Majesty's. Chapels. In 4 Vols. large 8vo. 21. 2 s. Boards. Evans, &c.

1774.

A

N acquaintance with the Hebrew language is an acquifition that may be made without very great difficulty, and Dr. Bayly hopes to promote and facilitate the knowledge of it by the publication now before us; concerning which we are told that,

if the Reader, learned or unlearned, would but imagine the pains, expedition, and expence, that have been taken for his ufe in this edition of the Old Teftament, he would readily befriend and admire it.' We cannot convey a better idea of this performance than by inferting a few extracts from the Editor's preface; in which we have the following information :

It was propofed to give the points called 1 complete with the accents called 'py, and notes under the Hebrew as well as under the English; but on trial it was found, that the accents would confuse the eye of the English reader, and that the notes crowding the Hebrew, fpoiled the beauty of the page: for which reasons the former, as alfo the maforetical small and great letters, are omitted, excepting the atnach) anfwering to our flops (; and :) which is carefully inferted, and the latter are referved for a volume by themfelves. The Editor therefore hopes this apology will be fufficient to appease the favourers of the points, and their opponents. Doubtlefs they who read without the points, diflike to be embarraffed by them, and would have been better pleafed with their absence than their prefence; but then they, who ftand up for their ufe, would have complained. Taking the cafe, therefore, as aftronomers do the year, at a medium, for the fake of public utility, neither party hath any great occafion to be difpleafed; and perhaps both fides will like it, that they are left to their own judgment of the text without notes.'

This is a general account of the state of the Hebrew text in this edition of the Old Testament. As to the English text it remains as before, excepting, fays the Editor, fome few errors which are corrected, and the ftops which are very much altered, it is hoped, greatly to the clearing of the fenfe; obfolete and vulgar expreflions are alfo remarked. The defign of giving a portable fized Bible would not admit but few notes and short; fome are only hints, of which it may be faid at least in their behalf, that they are original:-The notes are confined to three points, 1. Miftranflations: 2. The difpofition of things with refpect to time: 3. Pointing out the connection and ufe of the parenthefis.'

The notes, as Dr. Bayly obferves, are fhort and comparatively very few; they are fometimes, we think, omitted in places where they might have been usefully inferted, without adding materially to the bulk of the volumes; or the alteration of a word in the English text might have anfwered the purpose;

7

as

as in the account of Jepthah's vow, Judges xi. 31, where the infertion of (or) I will offer it, &c. instead of (and) I will offer it, &c. makes an important difference in the fense of the pasfage, and appears to be juftified by the manner in which the vau is used in the Hebrew language. On which subject Dr. Bayly very properly remarks that, The connection of fentences and the tranfition from fubject to fubject appear more evident and eafy in the original than in the tranflation, from an inattention. of the tranflators to the Hebrew manner of expreffing the time of an action, not by adverbs of time, but by the tenfes of the verb with the infeparable particle vau, prefixed to the noun or verb, answering to our adverbs conjunctive, and, also, likewife, fo, thus, moreover; adverfative, but, now, though; caufal, wherefore, therefore, feeing, fince, that; disjunctive, or, either, nor, neither; an adverb of time, now, just now, then, the inftant, immediately, as foon as, juft as, when, at what time, at the fame time, while, until, in the mean time, fince, after, afterwards, foon after, fometime after, after this, before, as yet. When therefore, it is added, in the notes the reader fhall find thefe particles inferted to point out the connection, he is not to look on them as any improper liberties, but as explications warranted by the original itfelf; and if thefe particles were occa-' fionally and properly ufed, as they are in other writings, according to the idiom of the English language, instead of and (1) fo continually, the tranflation would read more agreeably, freely, and fenfibly, even without any, or with very little alteration of other words, as thus the first chap. of Gen. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, when the earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep: then after the spirit of God had moved on the face of the waters, God faid, Let there be light, and there was light. And God faw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness: moreover God called the light day, and the darkness he called night: thus the evening and the morning were the first day. Next God faid, The vau might fometimes be omitted, turned by that with the verb in the fubjun. mood, or by to in the infin. as Ġen. i. ver. 6, that it may divide, or to divide the waters.'

Thefe general remarks, attended to, will enable a person who has fome acquaintance with the Hebrew language often to correct with propriety our English verfion; they may also affift the mere English reader fometimes to make useful amendments: accordingly Dr. Bayly obferves, If the reader will only caft his eye over the notes, few and fhort as they appear, among which are many criticifims on the Hebrew, he may perhaps find himself enabled to difcern the meaning and connection, and even to rectify feme mistranslations himfelf, which were forced to be omitted, much better than by commentaries and paraphrafes, that work out a fenfe generally very tedious, feldom clearer than the tranflation, and very often unfupported by the original. Nothing hinders a reader from investigating the fenfe of an author more than confulting a multiplicity of notes. For which reafon it were to be wished, that the original of the fcriptures was ftudied more, and the commentators

lefs;