opinions we have quoted? So far, indeed, from assenting to their truth, in how many instances will not the observer of nature be compelled to admit a counter-testimony in the deficiency of grace and symmetry in form, and of fragrance and beauties in the blossom. The Stapelia fetida, the Hibertia volubilis, the Phallus, with numberless others, would rise up in judgment against the incautious botanist, who should assign reasons for their formation by the Deity which were so obviously at variance with the qualities they possessed. That these, and all that we behold, are the works of the Great Creator's hands, and replete with proofs of his intelligence and power, is a fact we should be the very last to controvert; but it is not for us, or for any sublunary beings, to say why and wherefore they were created; -whether for man alone, or for purposes utterly beyond our cognizance. Let us be satisfied with the certainty, that in wisdom He hath made them all. We regret indeed that our author did not confine himself to this more comprehensive and more satisfactory view of Divine interference, capable as he is of expressing it so correctly as he has done in the following passage: "From the starry concave, from the spheres of the revolving planets, to the most minute particles which are linked by chymical affinities or by the peculiar laws of vegetable and animal assimilation, he demonstrates the boundless extent of productive and conservative power. Innumerable diversities shew that the ordaining principle is not necessarily limited to any conditions of exertion. Innumerable manifestations of delight amongst all beings to which a sentient faculty of any kind is probably attributable, are proofs of goodness to the utmost extent of our narrow observation, and progressive time continually demonstrates its existence, where human ignorance, impatience, and presumption could see only evil." P. 84. Having candidly, and we hope impartially, fulfilled our duty as reviewers, " nothing extenuating nor setting down aught in malice," in presuming to point out, if not the objectionable, at least the less satisfactory and useful portion of the volume before us, we gladly hasten to the more pleasing task of concluding our article by offering that tribute of praise which is justly its due, and pointing out a few passages calculated to leave a favourable impression, as far as regards not only the benevolent feelings, which, we repeat, are perceptible in every page, but the style and power of this anonymous writer. As a favourable specimen of his style, we extract the following, relating to the trunk or stem, whose office " Is to receive from the root the juices imbibed from the soil; to conduct these juices to the leaves and flowers and fruits, elaborating in their course from the liquid or gaseous ingredients, such as are adapted to the developement, the colouring and the maturing of all; and to reconduct the juices to the root for its hybernal use, whether as a reservoir of vital heat, and by consequence assisting as a preservative from the power of frost, or as an appointed supply of nutrition during the season when the organs of introsusception * are in a state of torpor." P. 26. Under the head of flowers we meet with this beautiful and just remark : " It has never been my lot to meet with any healthy child" (and he might have added unhealthy) " having the use of eyes, which was insensible to the beauty of flowers. The extasies with which most children contemplate rich nosegays, or run from flower to flower, through sunshiny meadows, copse or hedge-rows, may awaken cheerful sympathy in breasts which grief, disappointment, and the stings of unkindness have rendered torpid and insensible to most of the higher objects of the pleasure-hunter's desire." P. 30. Upon the subject of natural history in general he thus expresses himself: "It blends, as might be expected, with primitive tradition and record, affording to our heart sustaining faith, a basis of previous probability, with evidence on every side, in our paths, in our fields, in our gardens, in our woods. In cultivation, and in the desert, in every fibre, every root, every stem, every leaf, every flower, every fruit, demonstrating the omnipotent, all-sustaining, omnipresent God, alluring and compelling our attention, rousing the torpid, and overawing the proud by his terrors, but cheering those who seek him with unbounded beneficence, and filling the heart of the humble with rapture and with love." P. 89. Three Appendixes complete the work. The first of these is an attempt to class objects of consciousness, which, in our author's opinion " admit of arrangement as well as the objects of our senses." We confess that we have not, in a mere cursory view of the subject, found sufficient grounds to give it that approbation to which he conceives such an arrangement is entitled. However, as we are by no means inclined to judge hastily, or insist that others should think with us, we deem it but fair to offer a sample of this classification for the benefit of better judges. We fear Dr. Johnson would have been at a loss in his authorities for this word "introsusception," and we would recommend that in another edition a few more novel words were revised, for instance as in p. 87, "scrutinization," for "scrutation." Class 1st. DEFINITE. "Changes referrible to particular parts, or to all parts of any form. "Order 1. Externa. "Changes referrible to parts exterior, of any form, and to parts beyond any form. Divisions of relations, 5. Senses. "1. Seeing. 2. Hearing. 3. Smelling. 4. Tasting. 5. Feeling. "Genera, 6. Perceptions. "1. Colours. 2. Sounds. 3. Scents. 4. Flavours. 5. Pressure. 6. Heat. "1. Red, green, &c. Fumete, rose scent. 4. roughness, moisture, &c. "Species. 2. Groan, shriek, musical notes, &c. 3. Sweet, bitter, &c. 5. Hardness, softness, 6. Degrees of heat and cold. "Aggregates. "Forms. External motions. "Cessation of Change. "1. Blindness. 2. Deafness. 3. Aosmia. 4. Ageustia. 5, 6. Anæsthesia. A Hebrew Lexicon to the Books of the Old Testament: including the geographical Names and Chaldaic Words in Daniel, Ezra, &c. By D. WILHELM GESENIUS, Doctor and Professor of Theology at the University of Halle. Translated from the German, by Christopher Leo, formerly Teacher of Hebrew and German in the University of Cambridge, and late Professor of German at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; Author of Remarks on the Traditions of the Rabbins, and of an Examination of Fourteen Verses selected from Scripture, of an Emendation of the Bible; and one of the Editors of the Berlin and Konigsberg Journal Der Lamenter, המאסף. Part I. - 4to. Pp. 390. 11. 4s. London, Treuttell and Wurtz. 1825. HEBREW, and Oriental literature in general, has been much more successfully cultivated in Holland and Germany, during the last three centuries, than in any other part of the western world. What may have been the reason of this remarkable circumstance we shall not at present stop to enquire; but to prove that such is the fact, we need only adduce the names of Erpenius, Golius, De Dieu, the two Buxtorfs, Alting, Reland, Ravis, Shickart, Cunæus, Leusden, Ludolph, Schaaf, Schindler, Gusset, Clodius, Schultens, Schroeder, Michaelis, and Wilmet, all belonging to Germany and Holland. At the present day, the important study of Oriental literature is pursued, in Germany especially, with a degree of enthusiasm and success little, if at all, inferior to that of former times. The name of GESENIUS, who is acknowledged to be an excellent Hebrew scholar, and his LEXICON, the work now before us, may be referred to in confirmation of this statement: and we may further observe, in the words of the translator, that, "At a period when the utmost regard and attention are bestowed on the Hebrew language by this nation, and the learned works of those celebrated men, Lightfoot, Castellus, Poole, and Lowth, are so eagerly sought after, when the desire of reading the Bible in the original tongue begins to increase, when the utility of the vowel-points appears to be appreciated, and the study of the sacred language is patronized by the most eminent divines of the nation; at such a time the translation of a Hebrew Lexicon, which has met with unanimous approbation from biblical and oriental scholars on the continent, and extended its reputation to this, as well as to other countries, may naturally be expected to obtain a favourable reception from the British public." Amongst the causes which have hitherto much retarded the general study of Hebrew in this country, notwithstanding we have some celebrated Orientalists to boast of, the want of a good Hebrew and English lexicon may certainly be considered as one much to be lamented. The only book of the kind, indeed, which is at all worthy to be mentioned, is that of Parkhurst; which, notwithstanding its numerous and very great defects, must still be considered as a valuable Hebrew dictionary, and as possessing many claims upon the attention of Biblical and oriental students. The defects of Parkhurst's work, without speaking of its want of the vowel-points, are chiefly to be attributed to his Hutchinsonianism, his extreme fondness for puerile etymologies, and his ignorance of the principal cognate tongues, particularly the Arabic. Etymology is at all times an amusing study, and acquires a still more interesting character, when we consider that "to form correct ideas of things, it is necessary to have a correct knowledge of words, by which things are designated; and this is best obtained by an acquaintance with etymology."-" I know," says Volney, who was a good scholar, although he applied his knowledge to a very bad purpose, "that such inquiries into etymologies have been much decried: but if, as is the case, words are the representative signs of ideas, the genealogy of the one becomes that of the other, and a good etymological dictionary would be the most perfect history of the human un derstanding. It would only be necessary, in this inquiry, to observe certain precautions which have hitherto been neglected, and particularly to make an exact comparison of the value of the letters of the different alphabets." Etymology, indeed, is the clue by which we are enabled to trace a connection between nations the farthest removed, and apparently the most distinct from one another in every respect whatever; by which we discover numerous remarkable coincidences in their habits of thinking, in their philosophical deductions from the observation of nature, and in various other phænomena of the human mind, as well as in their vocabularies and grammars. Etymological inquiries, therefore, when properly conducted, constitute a very important branch of philological knowledge, and one which has hitherto been too much disregarded; a circumstance caused, no doubt, in a great measure, by the injudicious methods pursued by Parkhurst and others, who had but a very limited acquaintance with the oriental languages. We could have wished that this Hebrew Lexicon of Gesenius, who is so well qualified for the task, had, together with the other advantages which it possesses above its rivals, given us something of the etymological connection of the Hebrew and the other Semitic tongues *, with the languages of the East and West, both of ancient and modern times. There appears the less reason to regret this circumstance, however, when we consider that such discussions would have much increased the size of a book, which is certainly large enough already; but we cannot dismiss the subject without seriously recommending it to the attention of philologists in general, and of Oriental scholars in particular. With regard to the great utility of an intimate knowledge of the cognate dialects to a Hebrew scholar, and especially to a Lexicographer, we were much inclined to suppose, that there could be but one opinion. So much, in fact, has this been considered as a decided point with all Oriental scholars, that Christian Ravis has long ago given us one Grammar as quite sufficient "for the ready attaining of the Ebrew, Samaritan, Calde, Syriac, Arabic, and the Ethiopic languages." *" The Hebrew language," says Mr. Campbell, " is a dialect of a primitive Asiatic speech, that was once diffused over Palestine, Phœnicia, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and Arabia, and that even extended to Æthiopia. The Fathers of the Church used to call this parent speech the language of the East. Some modern philologists have termed it the Semitish, on the assumption that it originated with the immediate descendants of Sem; but the propriety of this appellation may fairly be disputed."-Vide New Monthly Mag. No. IV. April, 1821, p. 377. |