447 Dialogues d'une mère, &c. .... ......... 61 6377 .... ...... Desormeaux' Dictionaire de Legislation, 446 Institutiones Grammaticæ, a scarce Work ..... .... Gerning's Travels in Austria, &c.. .. 382 61 ....... 254 Izarn' Lithologie Atmospherique, ..... 699 508 61 61 Koeler's Coins of the Crimea, 509 253 Memoires de l'Institut National, -Another, ... 671 6.2 Liverpool Meteorological Table 1803, 123 549 -Latin translation of a tale of Prior, 125, 249, 443 Popham's, Sir Home, embassy in Egypt, 742 Maid of Bristol, a drama, critique on, 283 Quarto Poems of merit, too much neglected, ....... 320 288 Remarks on the alteration effected in our 177 Marine Spencer for preservation against Russia, Emperor of, benevolent exertions, 320 482 543 Demidoff's Munificence at Moscow, Mineral Cabinets, office for exchange of, 62 E. nel to canvas, 555 115 Shower of seeds which fell in Spain, 638 103 511 Smithfield Cattle Club, prizes for 1804, 767 255 256 678 167 426 226 F. 383 486 320 Ecclesiastes, new Version of Chap. 12, 103 Egypt and India, hint for an historical Fontana, Abbé, death of, Forcellini, Egidius, memoir of, 677 103 Spain and Portugal, observations, by E. D. Clarke, Esq. Fredenheim, Charles Fred. account of, 103 invasion in 1743, anecdote of, G. 281 504 Timber, increase in price of, ..... 383 101 606 .... 640 Olivieri, Chevalier, memoir of, 510 ..426 Hints for laying out the ground in public POETRY, ORIGINAL,-Prophecy of Nereus, 41. 1. 486 Insects, two new ones found at Bourdeaux, 255 -Ode written at Eaglehurst, 42.—Ad- from corn, 2. 379 VOLUME II.] THE LITERARY JOURNAL. LITERATC REVIEWS OF BOOKS. JULY 16, 1803. Observations upon some Passages in Scripture, which the No writer of the present age hath contributed so much to overthrow an objection often raised against the clergy, and their defences of Revelation; that they proceed from interested motives; because no lay-man hath written so much in behalf of revelation, as our author. Exclusive of his immortal work on mythology, the main drift of which has that tendency, we have a considerable quarto of observations before, besides one treatise, expressly on the evidences of christianity, and another in defence of the miracles of Moses. This volume, though published, as we understand, in the author's eighty-seventh year, will in no respect lessen his reputation. The subjects professedly discussed by him are the four particular histories, in the sacred writings, which relate to-Balaam and his ass ;-Samson, who with an ass's jaw-bone defeated the Philistines;-The standing still of the sun and moon, at the command of Joshua; -and the swallowing up of Jonah by a whale. Upon these topics it would not be easy to collect the sneers and ribaldry which infidelity has at various times disgorged; nor has it been the object of Mr. Bryant to collect them. On the contrary, his efforts have been applied to shew their impertinence, and that their proper effect is to recoil upon their authors. There is an old aphorism," understand first, and then rebuke," which is appropriate in this instance, and we doubt not, though our readers, who are competent to decide on these discussions, should not see all Mr. Bryant's statements in the same light with himself, they will so far concur with him, as to perceive that what he hath advanced is more than sufficient to efface every imputation of absurdity and ridicule, which have so abundantly been thrown on those jects; and to be convinced that these attach only to the ignorant self-sufficiency of their authors. [NUMBER 1. which he finds, from various authorities, to have been Ad fontem, quæso, dic mihi qua sit iter. Thus was this animal considered in these countries as oracular; and for the like reason employed at Athens in the mysteries of Ceres, to bear the sacred vessels and appendages at her festival; as well as transferred to the heavens. "But it was at Pethor that the idolatry was established, and a deity worshipped την ΟΝΟΥ μορφήν έχων," under the Ass's form. As now it was a rule with the God of Jacob to display his supremacy to his people, by making all other deities and their agents subservient to his will; he, on this, as on other occasions, forced their representatives and prophets to become the ministers of his commands, and to bear witness of his controlling power. Nor is there any example more striking of the fact, than this history affords. If aught be alleged against the meanness of the object in itself, it is sufficient to reply, that the term meanness, or any notion of degradation, as simply applying to the animal, exists only in our own association of ideas, and can have no reference to the divine estimate; but even allowing it otherwise, it is a further proof, that 'God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty.' The further researches of our author on this subject are highly interesting, and though, in explaining the prophecy of Balaam, he does not develope and apply its sub-particular parts as we hoped, there is notwithstanding much to admire, and for which he merits our praise; whilst particular positions occur, which, we are convinced, will be strongly met with; these however do not interfere with his primary object. The difficulties on the first subject being stated and considered, Mr. Bryant sets himself to ascertain the region and place of Balaam's residence, and with this view submits some geographical considerations the better to fix them. Whether, however, he may have suc'ceeded in establishing his positions, will be matter of little consequence as to the facts themselves, which are the principal objects of concern. Having stated his authorities to shew that Balaam was the chief priest of Midian, dwelling at Pethor in Idumea, called by the Grecians Petra, where an oracular temple had been founded; and that Balak sent thither to Balaam, the interpreter of the god Baal Peor, Mr. Bryant enters into an inquiry concerning the worship there offered, VOL. II. The like reference to the worship of the Ass, Mr. Bryant imagines is preserved in his second topic of discussion, and the extraordinary faculty of that animal in its finding out water-springs. The history is included in Judges xv. 14-19, and the place whence Samson slaked his thirst at Lechi, not only remained, but was thence termed Maxilla Asini, or, as Glycas and others mention, ou ayores storapatoμion w the fountain of the jaw. The elucidation of this history, according to Mr. Bryant, is as follows :-When the Israelitish chief was brought from Etam by the Philistines at Lechi, they appear to have been cele Α The very first position of his comment states what, in the sense his words most decidedly bear, and which is absolutely necessary to his hypothesis, the narrative does not warrant, and indeed is incompatible withnamely, that the sun and moon both stood still, and appeared, over the two places mentioned. Mr. Bryant also, to make way for his own interpretation, is obliged to treat as spurious, and discard what has ever made part of the text; but surely if such a proceeding be justifiable, it were better to have carried it further, and instead of beginning to amputate at the 13th verse of the xth chapter, to have commenced cutting off at the 12th-then all embarrassment would have been at an end.—But upon what authority does Mr. Bryant reject the citation from Jasher? -because Jasher did not live till some centuries after the time of Joshua, and not earlier than the reign of David. There is not however the slightest shadow of proof in all this. On the contrary, the presumption, from the authority quoted, has in our jud, ment, the very opposite tendency. See the 1st chap. of 20 brating a festival in honour of their divinity, who | Mr. Bryant, displays much ingenuity and learning, had in that place a Petra, or temple of divination, but however sanguine the author may be of his own called Maxilla dsini, where they proposed to receive success in it, we are compelled to declare that we their captive; and at whose appearance the concourse must differ from him. raised a loud shout. Before, however, they could lay hold on him, he burst his fetters, and finding a new, or fresh, jaw-bone of an ass, he put forth his hand and took it; and slew a thousand men. He then in his turn shouted Chomar Chomartin-with the jaw bone of an ass, heaps upon heaps: with the jaw-bone of an ass have I slain a thousand men. From the bone being new and fresh, Mr. Bryant infers that it had belonged to an ass just sacrificed; and asks, how, otherwise, should the head have been separated from the neck, or the jaw from the head?-After the exertion of prowess here noticed, it is said that a vehement thirst came upon Sampson, and he was so far depressed as to fear lest he should fall into the hands of the Philistines. In this distress, however, he applied not to the waters of Lechi, as being a place of idolatry, and under a curse, whence the fountain was considered unholy; but to the God of Israel, the only true resource, who was pleased in return to cleave a hollow place in the jaw, where issued for his relief a miraculous overflow, which, having assuaged his thirst, he called En-Hakkore, the fountain of invo-Samuel, v. 18. cation. When therefore Eusebius, Glycas, and others. mention yovos the fountain of the Jaw at Lechi, Mr. Bryant thinks the reference was to a fountain, antecedent to the fact. Accordingly, it was undoubtedly recent that, as Samson had been revived by the supernatural source from the limb which had wrought his deliverance, styled by the seventy TO REC, the fountain of the God whom he implored, and not from the polluted waters of Lechi, he also was to be invoked, as superior to the gods of springs and rivers, and to all the demons of Canaan, who had suffered their votaries to be defeated within the precincts of their own temple and its fountain. After silencing an objection taken from the question: how could a single jaw-bone contain such a quantity of water? and tracing the further extent of the onolatria, or worship of the Ass, Mr. Bryant proceeds to the foxes and fire-brands, under which head he cites instances which shew the prevalence of the practice. Thus, Ovid, in allusion to it, mentions that foxes and tire-brands were annually exhibited at Rome in the Circus: Cur igitur missæ vinctis ardentia tædis Terga ferant Vulpes, causa docenda mihi. Mr. Bryant adds, that “ many, among whom is Grotius, suppose very truly that there was no miracle, and that the sun did not stand still, nor is this the meaning of the words." Is it not strange, if so, that the contrary should have been hitherto understood from the words?-and that exclusive of the book of Jasher, the author of the interpolation from it should have so understood the history; as well as Habakkuk, and the writer of Ecclesiasticus, in their assertions or references to it ?-But these writers, it seems, misunderstood the passage in the sacred writer, and in these last ages of the world Mr. Bryant comes to correct them. The objections raised from the many difficulties suggested by all attempts at solution in the ordinary way appear to us nugatory. We admit that the sun and moon-if that be required, did not, nor could stand like two plates of metal in the sky, over Gibeon and Ajalon; nor does the history say so, though Mr. Bryant hath taken it for granted; but that the sun stood still in the MIDST OF HEAVEN, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. Yet, says Mr. Bryant, this is the account of Jasher, and not of Joshua. True: but both Jasher and Joshua agree; for, admitting Mr. Bryant's position that the' Sun, be THOU SILENT,' the correspondent expression in the book of Jasher being conformably rendered [so the sun was silent in the midst of heaven,] the subsequent explanation explains what that silence meant ; and HASTED NOT TO GO DOWN about a whole day. Now if we admit with Mr. Bryant that Jasher, or the author of that book, did not live till a thousand years after Joshua, it must follow, if Mr. Bryant's rendering be just, from the author's own gloss, that he was ignorant of Hebrew, and that by his explanation it is now made evident he did not understand his own language. and that much mischief was done by a fox thus expression of Joshua should be rendered accoutered: Quâ fugit incendit vestitos messibus agros, The third part of these discussions, comprizing the author's remarks on the standing still of the sun in Gibeon, presents a comment on the history preceding the phenomenon, the opinions of different writers concerning it, various expositions of the passage, and his own attempt to maintain what he conceives to be its true purport, in support of which he adds some geographical observations. This dissertation, like every thing from the pen of Mr. Bryant however maintains that the invocation of the Israelitish chief had respect not to the sun and moon, but to the rites appertaining to the worship of these luminaries in the two places mentioned, and accordingly, seeks by etymologies to establish in them the existence of such oracular temples. Allowing however those temples to exist, the controlling the immediate objects of worship in their courses was the best possible proof of the superior power of Jehovah. If the sun's progress were impeded in the midst of heaven for a day, its light must have remained fixed upon Gibeon, and the moon's have been prevented from appearing in Ajalon-which is in perfect agreement with the Hebrew; for, literally rendered, they are: Sun, stand thou still, (or, be thou silent) in, or, on Gibeon! And thou moon (RISE NOT) on the valley of Ajalon! The ellipsis after the address to the moon is here supplied by rise not, that being the expression understood, as is evident from what follows," and the moon my was at a stay. See Levit. xiii, 5, 37. necessarily evinces this to be the sense. It is scarcely requisite to observe, that Mr. Bryant's difficulty taken from the flight of the Canaanites being southward from Gibeon, makes no difficulty but on his own assumption. The sun being in the midst of heaven when addressed by Joshua, and being there stopped in his course, his full effulgence must during that stay have been poured northward on Gibeon. A Chronological History of the Discoveries in the South Sea, or Pacific Ocean. Part I. By James Burney, Captain of the Royal Navy. 4to. Payne. The volume now published by Captain Burney is intended as a contribution towards a digest of maritime geographical discovery: and he has chosen for his subject the Discoveries made in the South Sea, to which his attention has been principally directed, from having sailed with that great discoverer and excellent navigator, the late Captain Cook, under whose command he served as lieutenant in his last two voyages. The work is divided into twenty chapters. The first, which is introductory, contains a brief account of the discoveries of Columbus, Cabot, Corte Real, Americus Vespucius, Juan de Solis, and Basco Nunnez, the first European who saw the South sea, the discovery of which immediately provoked, or rather gave a new stimulus to an eager desire of finding a passage to it from the Atlantic ocean. In the year 1415, the King of Spain ordered fuan de Solis to attempt a passage into the South sea, and to the Molucca islands: but in Rio de la Plata, Solis quarrelled with the natives, and was killed, whereupon the ships returned to Spain. Soon after, when the Spaniards had begun to make settlements on the south coast of the Isthmus of Darien, they attempted to sail from We hasten to the observations on the article of thence to the Moluccas: but their vessels, being built Jonah, from which we have derived the highest satis-of timber which was rendered useless by the worm faction. These contain an account of the time and in one month, were incapable of performing such a place of Jonah's birth and history, particularly of his voyage. apostacy and flight, which is followed by researches The second and third chapters contain the voyage concerning the principal deities of the Philistines, of Fernando de Magalhanes, a disgusted Portuguese in and especially the Cetus and Dove, as applicable the service of Spain, to whom was reserved the hoto the history in question, with inferences thence nour of conducting the first European vessels into the deduced. Having shewn that the prophet was ac- South sea; an account of the Patagonians, people quainted with cities in which this worship prevail- above seven feet high, with a specimen of their laned, the consequences which ensued from the flight guage, and the treacherous seizure of two of them; of Jonah, and his restoration from the deep are dis-the passage through the Straits, since known by the tinctly stated, and evidence of a very peculiar nature is applied in confirmation of the history. In particular, the fact is recorded by P. Mela, that the large bones of a sea animal were preserved at Joppa, and held in religious reverence. These, which, as Pliny relates, were at length carried to Rome, became there objects of public exhibition. Mr. Bryant assigns his reason for believing these were the spine of the very Cetus to which the history of Jonah refers. What is adduced on this subject, and what follows is especially entitled to attention. name of Magalhanes, (corrupted by us to Magellan); his passage across the great ocean, to which, from the long continuance of mild and temperate weather, he gave the name of Pacific; the arrival at the islands of the Ladrones, where they first saw the fast-sailing boats, which go with either end foremost; their arrival at Zebu, an island, wherein the business ot trade was well understood, the natives were fair dealers, they used scales and weights, and in this porf there were junks from Siam, and vessels from various parts of India.' The king of Zebu allowed MagalWe should be happy if our limits would have ad- hanes to erect a chapel, wherein he had mass celemitted us to have entered more at large into the sub-brated. The king and the chief people of the island, ject, but we must refer for satisfaction to the work who attended to see the ceremony, and behaved with itself. To Mr. Bryant we render our thanks for the great decorum, are said to have desired to be made abundant pleasure and instruction we have derived Christians. That they could have no knowledge of from his work which, notwithstanding the dissent the religion, to which the Spaniards pretended to conwe have expressed in one instance, (and which vert them is pretty evident; nor indeed is it probable we might have stated in another, respecting the that they supposed the ceremonies they witnessed, or passage in Deuteronomy proposed to be rejected, in those they underwent, any way connected with relireference to the history of Balaam) we earnestly re-gion. Indeed, it is acknowledged, that the most efcommend as highly interesting, and one of his most curious and best written books. fectual argument for the conversion of the king was an assurance, that by being baptized, he should acquire the power of vanquishing his enemies with ease. neral, and the information he had previously received, it Be that as it may, Magalhanes, now elated with the prospect of acquiring the fame, not only of a great discoverer, but also of a great apostle, and enlarger of the Spanish empire, became indefatigable in the work of conversion. He made his convert Carlos, the king of Zebu, profess himself the vassal of Carlos, the emperor and king of Spain. He actually proceeded In Herrera's History of the Indies, there are sentences to order the other princes to acknowledge the Chris- of a similar tendency, which he seems to have taken, tian king (so he is called) for their sovereign. But with some allowance, from Pigafetta, or from the same the chief of a small island, called Matan, in return to source of information. Herrera says, that Christopher his demand of obedience to the emperor, and submis- Columbus was confirmed in his opinion of a western navision to the Christian king, answered, that he desired gation, by Martin de Bohemia, his friend; and that Mato be on good terms with the Spaniards, and, that hegalhanes went more assured of finding a Strait, because he had seen a chart made by M. de Bohemia, from which might not be accounted inhospitable, he sent them a he obtained much light. In another passage, he relates, present of provisions. As to obedience, he could owe that Magalhanes, at the court of Spain, produced a globe, none to strangers, of whom he had never before heard, finely painted, on which was clearly delineated all the earth, neither would he submit to do reverence to those he and on it was likewise marked the track he intended to had long been accustomed to command.' Magalhanes, pursue; but that the Strait was purposely left a blank. in the ardour of zeal and indignation, determined to 'If any mention of such a chart could be traced to a enforce obedience to his commands; and neither the date prior to the voyage of Magalhanes, it would be endissuasions of his Christian king, nor the remontitled to some degree of credit: but the assertions above strances of his own officers, could prevail with him cited, being written posterior to his discovery, they require to abstain from invading the island. Confident in the the support of strong evidence, such as the production of the chart in question, with satisfactory proof to establish superiority of European arms and valour, he ordered the fact of a date early enough to anticipate the claim of his vassal king, who attended him with a thousand of Magalhanes. When such evidence shall be produced, it his subjects, to remain with his canoes, and quietly will be time to enter seriously into the inquiry; but, till then, behold his victory, while he undertook with sixty it would be injustice to the memory of a great enterprise. Spaniards to conquer the island. But the king of • Not with the honours of Magalhanes only, has Martin Matan, an experienced warrior, out-generalled him, Behaim, (for that is his right name) been invested. Coand his own life was the forfeit of his presumption.lumbus has been equally stripped, and Behaim decorated Thus perished, in the midst of a career, which, if unwith the title of discoverer of America. Unfortunately stained by the madness and impiety of extending the for these claims, pretensions have been advanced in favour of other competitors. bounds of religion and imaginary empire by force of arms, would have been truly honourable, the first commander who undertook the circumnavigation of the globe. In a few days after the repulse at Matan, the Christian king, seeing that the Spaniards were not invincible, formed a plan to kill them all, in order to regain the friendship of his neighbours; and he actually got a considerable number of them inveigled on shore, who were all put to death. Other accounts, however, ascribe the death of the Spaniards to the vengeance of the natives for insults offered to their Women. After these accumulated disasters, the remaining Spaniards sailed from Zebu. They got involved in another war at Borneo, and at length arrived at the Moluccas, the great object of their voyage, where they got full cargoes of spices for their two ships, which were all that now remained of the original six; and of these two, only the Vitoria, a vessel of 90 tons, returned to Spain in September 1522. | It would be extraordinary indeed, if enterprises, so cal. culated to excite curiosity, should, without any apparent reason, be kept profoundly secret; and yet more, that the reputation of such discoveries should be, by general consent of the European world, assigned to other men, and remain to them undisputed, during the life-time of the real dis coverer. ་ Martin Behaim, who was a native of Nuremburg, made there in 1492 (the same year in which Columbus sailed on his great voyage of discovery), a terrestrial globe. A description and representation of this globe has been published. On it there appears no American continent, or land to obstruct a navigation westward to China. After the discovery of America, there is reason to believe, that Behaim new modelled his geography; and it is not improbable, that both Columbus and Magalhanes might have been preceded in their ideas of a western navigation, by M. Behaim, and M. Behaim by many others, though perhaps not with ideas so enlightened and correct on the subject; but the claims advanced are for priority of achievement, not of idea. Thus much it has been thought necessary to remark, as doubts concerning the priority of the discovery have been countenanced by persons whose opinions are entitled to respect.'*-(p. 45.) The advantages, obtained to geography by the voyage of Fernando de Magalhanes, are to be regarded as very important: he discovered the limits of the continent of America towards the south, and the communication of the In Pigafetta's narrative is the following remarkable passage, which has been, and possibly may continue to be, a source of much wild conjecture: "When the entrance near Cape Virgines was first discovered, every one was so fully persuaded that this Strait had no outlet to the West, that it would not have entered into their imaginations to have examined it, without the great knowledge and experience of the Captain General, who knew that he must make his passage through a Strait much concealed, as was seen in the treasury of the king of Portugal, in a chart made by that most excellent man, Martin de Boemia." To say that without the experience of the Captain Ge- they exists, and if the date is genuine, it ought not to lie hid in The reader, who wishes to examine the arguments in favour of a priority of discovery by Martin Behaim (or Behem) may consult a Memoir on the Discovery of America,) in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. ii. p. 263) by Mr. Otto, who quotes, among other vouchers, Behem's own letter, dated in 1486, preserved in the archives of Nuremburg.-If such a letter the archives of Nuremburg. |