Chap. xviii. In giving a verfion of this very obfcure portion of prophecy we could have wifhed that Dr. Stock had taken fome notice of an excellent verfion given of it by the late worthy bishop of St. Asaph. "The object of this chapter," fays the prelate laft mentioned, "the end and deSign of it-the people to whom it is addreffed-the hillory to which it belongs-the perfon who fends the meflengers, and the nation to which the ineffengers are fent, are all obfcure and doubtful.

V. 1, 2. "Woe to the land fhadowed with fails, which is on the brink of the rivers of Cush, which fendeth out on the fea its rafts, and in vessels of bulrufh on the face of the waters." Dr. Stock.

"Woe to the land fhadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in veffels of bulrushes upon the waters." Pub. verf.

The fenfe given here differs materially from that which the authorized tranflation reprefents. The learned bishop understands Meabar, which in our verfion is rendered beyond, as a fubftantive compounded with the prepofition a, denoting border or brink. Admitting this rendering, we are unavoidably confined to Egypt, which certainly borders on Ethiopia. Tzirim rendered rafts is fpecious, particularly when this is fupported by a note, telling us that this being a defcendant from the root to comprefs, aptly denotes planks of timber lafhed together, on which goods are very generally wafted on the Nile. But a fingle inftance adduced where Tzir denotes a raft, would have outweighed ten thous fand etymological deductions.

V. 2d. "Goto a nation meted out by line and trodden down, whofe land the rivers create." Dr. Stock.

"Whofe land the rivers have spoiled." Pub. verf.

The verb w has occafioned great difficulty to commentators, in so far as that it is contrary to fact. So far are the rivers from fpoiling the land of Egypt that they fatten it. The Nile, fays Seneca, adeo nihil exedit nec abradit, ut contra adjiciat vires. No collation of MSS. affords the leaft opening for an emendation. Dr. Lowth takes hold of the Syriac fertility, and hazards the conjecture that from this

a was formed, and renders" have nourished." Dr. Stock ventures to change the into "have created," which, to be fure, fuits the natural hiftory of Egypt; but of what weight is it, if totally unfupported by MS. or ancient verfion? For," says Dr. Horley, "if the text has been

corrupted

corrupted by the error of a fcribe confounding fimilar letters, it might be expected that in fome of the multitude of copies from the MSS. in which the error was first committed, the true reading would regain its place by the same contingency of error by which it had loft it. If a conjecturer of the prefent day propofes to change a z into r in any of the numerous MSS. that have been collated, he ought to give up his conjecture, whatever difficulty he may find in the text as it flands.' We think the Arabic fubjecit fibi gives the true fenfe here, "Whofe land the rivers (fubjecerunt fibi) have covered."

Chap. xix. 1. "Behold Jehovah rideth on a fwift cloud, and cometh to Egypt, and away flit the idols of Egypt from his prefence." Dr. Stock.

And the idols of Egypt fhall be moved at his prefence." Pub. verf.

Upon this the note of Rofenmuller is, that if we admit the

This מפניו not לפניו common verfion it fhould have been

66

is rather rafhly afferted. "Neither," fays Rahab to the fpies, did there remain any courage in any man because of you." Joshua ii. 11. Bifhop Stook's rendering alfo poffeffes its beauty, and by it we are put in mind of the heathen oracles ceafing, and the Pythones or fpirits of divination being by the Hebrew Boy, commanded away, and to give no more answers.

V. 5, 6. Then fhall the waters fail from the fea, and the river fhall be wafted and dried up, and the ftream fhall grow noisome and be emptied and exhausted shall be the embanked canals." Dr. Stock.

"And they shall turn the rivers far away." Pub, verf.

"And the ftreams fhall grow noifome." The reafon on which this verfion of the words is founded is quaint and far-fetched. The verb in hiphil fignifies, fhall caufe to turn away; "that is," fays the learned tranflator, “the waters by their putridity becoming offenfive caufe people to turn away." Dalelu has not, as in the tranflation, the copulative, nor ought it to have been in the line in which it is placed, but to have run in this manner:

"Emptied and exhausted shall be the embanked canals."

Chap. xxi. 7, 8. "And he faw riding a couple of riders, one mounted on an afs, one mounted on a camel, and he cried a caravan! fir, on my watch I ftand conftantly during the day." Dr. Stock,

« And

"And he faw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of affes, and a chariot of camels. And he cried, a Lion my Lord, I ftand continually on my watch-tower in the day-time." Pub. verf.

The public verfion here totally mifleads the ordinary reader, who is ready to imagine here is a couple of fingle riders then one chariot drawn by two affes, and another by two camels, whereas in fact the original prefents no fuch thing, but two men riding, the one on a camel and the other on an afs. The miftake arofe from taking recheb in the fenfe of a carriage, whereas its primary meaning is riding, whether on the back of a beaft or in a carriage. I faw," fays the watchman, "the riding of a couple of riders, (not horfemen, for there was not a horfe prefent) the riding of an afs, and the riding of a camel."

V. 9th. "And behold here cometh riding one of the two riders, and he answereth and faith, Babylon is fallen, is fallen." Dr. Stock.

"And behold here cometh a chariot of men with a couple of horsemen, and he anfwered and faid, Babylon is fallen, is tallen." Pub. verf.

This verfion of the words is executed both with per fpicuity and juftnefs. Confufion pervades the common tranflation. A chariot of men with a couple of horsemen must suggest to an ordinary reader, a carriage attended by two fervants on horfeback. In the claufe beginning with "Babylon" we could have wifhed that the learned bifhop had kept in the track of the Hebrew, as there is fomething mournful and elegiac in the very found: Naphelah naphe lah Babel. "Fallen, fallen is Babylon. This did not efcape St. John in the Revelation Επεσεν, έπεσε Βαβυλων.

Chap. xxii. 5. "For this is a day of trouble-before the Lord of hofts-of making walls to refound, and of shouts to the mountain." Dr. Stock.

"Breaking down the walls and of crying unto the mountain." Pub. verf.

7pp feems defcended from пp to meet, and may denote that bustle and fhouting occafioned by the hoftile encounter of the oppofite fides, and is here exemplified in the facking of a city.

V. 6. And Elam beareth the quiver, with chariots cometh Syria, and with horsemen." Dr, Stock,

And Elam bare the quiver, with chariots of men and horfemen." Pub. verf.

Dr. Lowth conceived fomething aukward in the word men coming between the names of two countries Elaun and Kir, and he, on this account, adopted the correction of Houbigant, in which he is followed by Dr. Stock, changing the into, which is done by only obtufing the angle, then the word becomes n Aram, Syria.

Chap. xxiii. 12. "And he hath faid, thou fhalt exalt no more, O thou much courted virgin, the daughter of Sidon.** Dr. Stock.

"O thou oppreffed virgin, &c." Pub. verf.

It is difficult to conceive how peron Hammenfhakah, which usually denotes oppreffed, came to be rendered much courted. Perhaps the learned Bifhop conceived that pwy alfo fignified to be crouded or fqueezed, and that this might refer to her trade. If her bafon was full of foreign veffels, her warehouses diftended with merchandize, her exchange thronged with merchants. This, undoubtedly, conveys the idea of her being much courted by the nations.

[To be continued.]

ART. II. Memoires d'un Voyageur qui fe repofe; contenant des Anecdotes Hifloriques, Politiques, et Literaires, relatives, à plufieurs des principaux Perfonages du Siecles.

3 Vols. 8vo. Allo in English. 12mo. 5 Vols. Dulau. 1806.

BIOGRAPHY fupplies authentic and valuable fources of hiftory, and at the fame time furnithes a confiderable fund of entertainment for the ftudious and retired. It is a pleafing employment, in the repofe of fecluded life, to examine the fecret fprings which have influenced the actions, and have affifled or thwarted the efforts of the hero, or the Latefman, in the fucceflive ages of the world. It fhould, however, not be forgotten, that there are objections to contemporary biography. If given with careleflnefs or want of fidelity, if material facts are fuppreffed or palliated, it becomes a wilful and unjustifiable impofition: its fources are corrupt, and its ftream is impregnated with error and falfity. If, on the contrary, it is faithfully and minutely given, there must be many little details in the life of every man, that will supply food for envy, and be liable to farcalm and mifreprefentation.

There

There are few who have been fortunate or eminent in life, and at the fame time exempt from the malice of open or concealed enemies, and fecure from the fhafts of the anonymous calumniator, difcharged from the obfcure recesses of concealment. It has been said that no man ever was a hero to his valet de chambre. The beft and ftrongest minds have at times their caprices and weakneffes, which, if detailed with all their concomitant circumftances, would afford fubject of triumph to feeble and little men, who have not even a pretence to enter into competition with the object of their cenfure.

In addition to these objections, it will be obvious that the history of a man's own life must neceffarily involve in it many incidents relating to his intimate friends; incidents which (however truly and correctly flated) they would not have wished to have feen thus fet forth; and, in truth, there' are many narratives which are proper and delightful in the eafe and confidence of felect and focial intercourfe, which are unfit to be offered indifcriminately to every reader. The well known expreffion of Cicero refpecting the publication of his private letters, will apply with ftill more force and effect to the publication of confidential anecdotes. "Quam multa loca folent effe in Epiftolis quæ prolata fi fint, inepta effe videantur? quam multa feria, neque tamen ullo modo divulganda ?"

There is another objection to contemporary biography which applies only to literary and scientific men. It is, that their history ought to be found in their works. The author of the Inquiry into the Origin of the Discoveries attributed to the moderns, and the collector and editor of Leibnitz, has there, and in his other works, left an indelible record of himself, and his literary character. He who, for half a century, has been efteemed and loved by fome of the moft eminent and learned men in Europe, and whofe fociety is now courted by all who have the pleasure of knowing him, had no call to write his own life; but might have left it to be hereafter gleaned from the private letters and papers of fome of the most refpectable characters of the present age.

Thefe were our general objections, before we peruled Mr. Dutens's work: and though they have fince been in fome measure removed, yet we cannot help wifhing that fome few paffages had been omitted, and others curtailed. Mr. Dutens's flyle is a fuccefsful imitation of Le Sage; and many of the defcriptions, particularly thofe of the earlier period, are given with a truth and felicity of expreffion, not at all inferior to the hiflory of Gil Blas. As a specimen of the author's manner, we shall transcribe his account of

an