"The Septuagint tranflation of the Pfalms feems to have been made with the moit fcrupulous attention to the Hebrew. The tranflators have not contented themfelves with transfufing the fenfe of a paffage, but have fhewn an anxiety to reprefent its very words and phrafeology, fo as to make the idiom of the Greek language fubmit to that of the Hebrew, and affume a form that is hardly intelligible to the readers of other Greek books, who happen not to poffefs the key, which a knowledge of the Hebrew would furnifh. This appears to me, after a careful comparison of it with the Hebrew, to be the true character of the Septuagint verfion of the Pfalms. The fame may be faid of much the greater part of the Old Testament.”

"The like fort of fentiment, which fuggefted the retaining of the old Pfalms in the Common Prayer Book, keeps us from acquainting ourselves with the new Verfion in the Bible. We are prepoffeffed in favor of the Common Prayer Pfalms, which we have heard in the Church Service from our youth. Upon a comparifon, their language and flyle are thought, by fome, to be more fublime, poetical, and elegant. However juft this character may be (and I own it seems to me a little doubtful) they are ftill not adapted to the purpose of a critical work. They do not reprefent the Hebrew text, nor the Septuagint, nor any one fingle text. They feem to have fomething from all, and fomething from the compilers; who finished them according to their own fancy, and, no doubt, with a view to their effect in the fervice. They are, moreover, no part of our Bible. All our commentators upon the Pfalms have chofen the text of the Bible, and I have followed their example."

We have given thefe extracts, that the author's fentiments may be feen, upon fome of thofe points, which we have touched in the former part of this Review; and now the reader is fully enabled to pafs his own judgment upon them. In this prefatory epiflle, there are fome difquifitions, on the origin of the Hebrew and Greek languages, and upon the introduction of letters and vowel marks, all of which have in them much originality'; but we must pass them over, in order to proceed to the work itself, The Collation of the Hebrew and the Greek Texts.

The reader fhould be here cautioned, that it is not the author's defign to make that fort of Collation, which is often made for afcertaining the true reading of Greek and Roman authors; and in which it is always expected, that any novelty fuggefted by the collator, fhould be a preferable reading to the one in the printed text. It is not Mr. R.'s defign to difcover and fuggeft new readings at all, as has been done by Kennicot and Roffi, and by thofe who have made use of their labours; all he propofes, is, to compare the Hebrew and Greek, and to account for the variances there may happen to be between them; but by no means to determine, which of the two texts furnishes the reading, that ought to be preferred. Upon thefe points, he thus expreffes himfelf:

"I should alfo apprife thofe, who may, perhaps, not entirely approve the afcendancy here given to the Greek text, that the readings, which are so often adopted from thence into the Hebrew, are not meant to be obtruded as the true readings of the original; in many cafes the prefent Hebrew may be the right reading, and fome accident, not now difcoverable, may have produced Bb 2

the

the prefent reading in the Greek. To decide on the real text of the original, is a prefumption that would ill fuit with the humble pretentions of the prefent work; which is merely a critical inquiry to note the variances, and to account for them upon probable grounds, fuch as mistakes in the identity, or different opinions as to the fenfe, of words.

"I beg thofe, who intereft themselves for the fidelity of the Maforites, and the credit of the prefent Hebrew text, to notice, that through the whole of thefe conjectures, I have forborne to impute the variations in the Hebrew, either to the negligence or wilfulnefs of thofe, who fettled it in its prefent form. I do no more than fuppofe, that the tranfcript upon which the SEVENTY Worked, was fuch, as to warrant their rendering. This fuppofition does not at all affect the prefent Hebrew text, which might poffibly have been copied with more fidelity from the original. Whether it had any fuperior claims of this fort, or whether thofe claims may not have been weakened by the negligence of fubfequent tranfcribers, and all the deviations, which I have imputed to the tranfcript ufed by the SEVENTY, may not be chargeable on the very Maforetical text itfelf, which we poffefs at prefent, are questions, which I leave to others, as no part of my inquiry.

As

"I beg, alfo, fuch zealous advocates for the Hebrew text, to consider, that, whatever may be urged in favor of the radical letters of the present text, it never can be maintained, that the vowel points have an equal pretenfion; they are certainly no part of Scripture; they are only evidence of an ancient reading of Scripture; as fuch they are refpectable, and highly fo in my opinion; but not more fo, than other teftimonies of learned men. to both, the letters as well as the vowels, there is now, in this advanced age of learning and inquiry, no longer a fuperftition about the Hebrew, more than about the Greek text of Scripture; they are both confidered as ink and parchment, the best means, but ftill human and frail, by which the word of God could be conveyed to late pofterity. The ftudy, and contemplation, and comparifon of thefe "teftifying witneffes," is all, that Divine Providence has thought neceflary for us; and it is our duty to make the best of them, in that character and in none other."

To a perfon, therefore, who feeks either for conjectural emendations, or for expofitions, of the Book of Pfalms, there must be great difappointment in this Collation; for the bufinefs of it is not to furnifh either one or the other. It is only, where there is a variance between the Hebrew and the Septuagint texts, that Mr. R.'s plan comes into operation. This may happen, as we all know, in paffages that are of no great importance in themfelves, but become fuch, only by reafon of the plan of comparison inftituted in this work. Hence it may happen, that many paffages in this Collation will be thought, by fome, to be brought into more notice than they deferve; while other paffages in the Pfalms, of known difficulty, and deferving of elucidation, are undeservedly paffed over, because they are not within the defign of this Collation. If the reader regards thefe as difappointments, they are difappointments of his own making; for the author holds out no expectation, beyond that of comparing the two texts, in their variances, without any regard, whether thefe are in points of fome importance, or of none at all. In fhort, this is a work of criticifm, not of Theology; it is, befides, an experiment to try, in a few infances, the general credit due to these respective texts; and it

mul

must not be looked to as any thing like a Commentary, or Annotations on the Pfalms.

The following are fpecimens of the manner, in which this Collation

is made.

"VER. 6. Yet have I fet my king upon my holy hill of Zion.] The Septuagint tranflators read this in the paffive, firft person; Eyà de xalesrágn, βασιλεὺς ὑπ ̓ ἀυἱδ επὶ Σιὼν, ὄρος τὸ ἅγιον ἀνᾶ. The Hebrew 9 1 1981 σε

ego conftitui regem meum, might be made correfpond with this, by a very little alteration. The verb will read as well in niphal, putting a dagesh in the to compensate the defective, as in Prov. viii. 23, p him a fæculo conftitutis eram, "I was fet up from everlafting." Engl. verfion. The poffeffive might be changed to a poffeffive 1, two letters which are often confounded; so that the

"

and I * מַלְכּוֹ, עַל־עִיוֹן הַר קָדְשׁוֹ. ואני נסכתי : whole paffage will then read thus

am fet his king upon Zion his holy hill." Some may think this reading of the Septuagint has the advantage, because the perfon of the speaker is not changed, as in the Hebrew, but the whole Pfalm is continued in the mouth of David."

The Poems of Allan Ramfay. A New Edition.

(Concluded from P. 259.)

N our laft Number we bore teftimony to the high merit of the author of the "Remarks on the genius and writings of Allan Ramfay;" and we shall now endeavour to communicate to our readers fome portion of the pleasure we have derived from a perufal of that delightful and ingenious effay.

"The genius of Ramfay," he fays, "was original; and the powers of his untutored mind were the gift of nature, freely exercifing itself within the fphere of its own obfervation. Born in a wild country, and accustomed to the fociety of its ruftic inhabitants, the poet's talents found their first exercife in obferving the varied aspect of the mountains, rivers, and vallies; and the no lefs varied, though fimple, manners of the rude people, with whom he converfed. He viewed the former with enthusiasm, which, in early childhood, is the infeparable attendant of genius; and on the latter he remarked with that fagacity of difcriminating obfervation, which instructed the future moralift, and gave the original intimations to the contemporary fatirift. Inheriting that ardour of feeling, which is generally accompanied with ftrong fentiments of moral excellence, and hereby awake even to thofe flighter deviations from propriety, which conftitute the foibles of human conduct, he learned, as it were, from intuition, the glowing language, which is beft fitted for the fcourge of vice; as well as the biting ridicule, which is the moft fuitable corrective of grofs impropriety, without deviating into perfonal lampoon." PP. 60, 61.

An innate confcioufnefs of his own talents prompting the poet to afpire beyond the rank of a mechanical profeffion, he was foon enabled to affociate with the more refpectable claffes of fociety.

"As he extended bis fphere of observation, his knowledge of men and acquaintance

acquaintance with manners were enlarged; and, in his latter compofitions, we may difcover a fufficient intelligence of thofe general topics, which engaged the public attention. The habits of polite life, and the fubjects of fashionable converfation, were become familiar, at this time, to the Citizens of Edin. burgh, from the periodical papers of Addifon and Steele; and the wits of Balfour's Coffee-houfe, Forrefter, Falconer, Bennet, Clerk, Hamilton of Bangour, Prefton, and Crawford were a miniature of the fociety, which was to be met with at Will's and Buttore's." Pr. 61, 62.

Having traced the predifpofing caufes, that feem chiefly to have operated on the poet's mind, in the production of his various works, our author next proceeds to examine these in their order; but not in that dull and tirefome order of "ferious, elegiac, comic, fatiric, and epigrammatical," in which they, for the first time, appear, and certainly with no advantage, in the prefent edition. But, first of all, he vindicates, in the most fuccefsful and able manner, the general language of Ramfay, and of the Gentle Shepherd in particular, from the objections of thofe abfurd and faftidious critics, who, from mere want of taste, have thought fit to charge it with coarfenefs and vulgarity.

"A Scotsman (Scotchman) in the age of Ramfay generally wrote in English; that is, he imitated the ftyle of the English writers; but, when he spoke, he used the language (dialect) of his own country. The fole peculiarity of the tyle of Ramfay is, that he transformed the oral language to his writings; and this he preferred, judging not unreasonably, that it conferred a kind of Doric fimplicity; which, when he wished to paint with fidelity the manners of his countrymen, and the peculiarities of the lower orders, was extremely fuitable to fuch fubjects. From thefe confiderations, one cannot but wonder at the obfervation which is fo netimes made, even by Scotfmen (Scotchmen) of good taste, that the language of the Gentle Shepherd difgufts from (by) its vulgarity. It is true that, in the prefent day, the Scotish (Scottish) dialect is heard only in the mouths of the lowest of the populace, in whom it is generally affociated with vulgarity of fentiment: But thofe critics fhould recollect, that it was the language of the Scotifh (Scottish) people which was to be imitated, and that too of the people upwards of a century ago, if we carry back our mind to the epoch of the fcene. If Ramfay had made the Shepherds of the Lowlands of Scotland, in the middle of the feventeenth century, fpeak correct English, how truly prepofterous would have been fuch a compofition! But, with perfect propriety, he gave them the language which belonged to them; and if the fentiments of the fpeakers be not reproachable with unneceffary vulgarity, we cannot, with any juftice, affociate vulgarifm with a dialect, which in itfelf is proper, and in its application is characteristic. After all, what is the language of Ramfay, but the common fpeech of Yorkfhire, during the last century ?*

"But, as affociated ideas arife only where the connection is either in itself neceffary, or the relation is fo intimate, (that) the two ideas are feldom found difunited, fo, of late years, that disunion has taken place in a twofold manner; for the language even of the common people of Scotland is gradually refining, and coming nearer to the English standard; and it has fortunately happened,

"See Yorkshire Dialogue, in its pure natural Dialect," printed at York in 1684.

that

that the Scotish (Scottish) dialect has lately been employed in compofitions of tranfcendent merit, which have not only exhibited the fineft ftrokes of the pathetic, but have attained even to a high pitch of the fublime. For the truth of this obfervation we may appeal to "The Cottar's Saturday Night,” and "The Vifion" of Buous. In these the language, fo far from conveying the idea of vulgarity, appears moft eminently fuited to the fentiment, which feems to derive, from its fimplicity, additional tendernefs, and fuperior elevation.* The Scots (Scotch) and the English languages are, indeed, nothing more than different dialects of the fame radical tongue, namely, the AngloSaxon; and, fetting prejudice apart, (which every preference, arifing from fuch affociations as we have mentioned, muft be) it would not, perhaps, be difficult, on a fair investigation of the actual merits of both the dialects, to affert the fuperior advantages of the Scotifh (Scottish) to (over) the English, for many fpecies of original compofition." PP. 65-68.

The fact is, that, both in fpeaking and writing concerning English and Scotch, in the prefent day, we are apt to fall into confidera-ble inaccuracy of expreffion, from which, as on moft occafions, inaccuracy of thinking is fure to proceed. Previoufly to the acceffion of James I. to the throne of England, the Scotch and English were diftinct tongues: and he who will infpect the correfpondence of Cecil, and other minifters of Queen Elizabeth, and compare it with that of the Bishop of Rofs, and Maitland of Lethington, &c. on the part of the Scotch, will acknowledge, that the two languages had obtained, as nearly as may be, an equal degree of polifh and cultivation. Since that time it is evident, that, whilst the English has progreffively advanced, its rival has ftood ftill; and, by ceafing to be a written language, has fairly dwindled into a provincial dialect. To compare it, therefore, with modern English is abfurd in itfelf, and to the former an act of the strangest injuftice that can well be conceived. As we are without the Northern prejudices of our ingenious author, he must forgive us if we fay, that fuch an idea would, indeed, be to compare a giant with a dwarf, an open common with a cultivated field: although on that common, it must be acknowledged that a hand like his can gather flowrets of fuch hue and fragrance, as fhall challenge not only the inclofure, but even the garden to emulate. In future we fhall hope, from both speakers and writers, for greater accuracy of difcrimination; and that they will fay the "Scottish dialect," and not the Scottish language," unless it be in reference to compofitions or habits of an appropriate antiquity. The remarker has glaringly erred in this refpect, both in the quotation we have above made from him, and also at P. 150, where he fays, that the language of the Gentle Shepherd "is not precifely the Scottish language of the prefent day."

* "As the Scotish language has, to an Englishman, the air of an antiquated tongue, it will be relifhed as fuch, in grave compofitions, on the principle affigned by Quintilian; propriis verbis dignitatem dat antiquitas; namque et fan&tiorem, et magis admirabilem reddunt orationem, quibus non quilibet fuerit ufurus." Inftit, Orator. Lib. VIL 3.

The