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conduct of the compiler may meet with the execration it merits, and others be prevented from following his iniquitous steps.

John Scapula having finished his studies at Lausanne, in Switzerland, came to Paris, and was employed by Henry Stephens in correcting and regulating the press during the time the celebrated Thesaurus Grace Lingua was printing. Scapula, who was a good scholar, soon perceived that a judicious abridgement of the Thesaurus would in all likelihood have an extensive sale: prompted by his baseness, avarice, and dishonesty, he extracted privately from the sheets of this great work what he judged of greatest use, and most within the reach of common students; and without com municating a tittle to his excellent employer, he composed his Lexicon of those extracts, and thus made a private gain of his master's labour, The work being excellent in its kind, (no wonder, it was the jewels taken out of the Thesaurus) and being much cheaper than that of Stephens, had a great sale, and the hesaurus lay on the hands of its author. By this Stephens was reduced to beggary, and his family ruined. Hear him complain of this in the following verses; verses which no scholar can ever read without exe crating the memory of Scapula, and deploring the bad fortune of Stephens. • Thesauri momento alii ditantque beantque, Et faciunt Cresum, qui prior Irus erat. At Thesaurus me hic ex divite fecit egenum, Et facit ut juvenem ruga senilis aret.

"Abstractedly considered from the above circumstance, the Lexicon is a work of uncommon utility, and the Elzevir edition is beyond all comparison preferable to all others, on account of the excellence of the paper, the beauty of the type, and the great grammatical and typographical cor rectness of the work. Some copies of this edition have the following imprint in the title, Londini, impensis Josue Kirkton & Samuelis Thompson, 1652, but it is the genuine Elzevir edition: the reason of the change was this---Messrs. Kirkton and Thompson agreeing with the Leyden proprietors to take a considerable number of copies, in each of these the variation above-mentioned was inserted. At the end of the Greek and Latin Index, the reader will find the place where, and the persons by whom this invaluable edition was published; but were this lacking, the work would filiate itself on the incomparable Elzevirs." Vol, iv. pp. 258-260.

The contents of the Supplemental Volumes will be found very serviceable, especially to English readers, and to those who are beginning to engage in the pursuits of Bibliography. The Account of the English Translations of the Classics and the Fathers, is very full, and possesses unquestionable evidences of laborious diligence and care. The author informs us, that had he foreseen the difficulties of this part of his engagement, he would certainly never have promised the execution of it. "But his word being pledged to the public, he was obliged to undertake a task which promised little but labour and vexation, as his materials were scanty, and his information often uncertain and precarious. As it is properly the first work of the kind on this plan, it cannot be expected to be immaculate, though so much care has been taken to make it so." Pref. to the Suppl.

Notwithstanding these discouragements, the author has performed his task in a manner that does him great honour. The numerous articles are correctly designated; and the critical judgements, frequently interposed, are more definite, vigorous, and appropriate, than in many instances which occur in the preceding volumes. To the Catalogue of works in Arabic and Persian Literature, we have before adverted.

In the Dissertation on the Origin of Oral Language and Alphabetical Characters, the former is referred to Divine infiuence, at the creation of man, and the latter to Divine commu◄ nication, at the giving of the law by Moses. The same sentiment on the origin of alphabetical writing has been adopted by many; and it was very learnedly maintained in an Essay of the late Gilbert Wakefield, published in the Manchester Transactions. Our author, however, does not notice the difficulties attending the hypothesis; nor the presumptions, both from tradi tionary history and from probability, in favour of a higher antitiquity, not only for symbolical, but for alphabetical characters. The short History of the Origin of Printing, and of its first Inventors, taken chiefly from the Abbé Boni, vindicates the rights of Gutenberg, the father of the art, and thus ascribes the honours of the invention.

To John Gutenberg, because inventor of xylographic printing, and because towards 1440 he first printed with letters carved in wooden tables, and afterwards with moveable types cut in wood;-to John Mentel, the acknowledged inventor of Calcography, (or that of moveable characters cut in metal, not founded) about the year 1457;-to Peter Schaffer, inventor of typography, or moveable types of metal cast in moulds, in 1459, one of the servants of John Fust, who to reward him for the discovery, gave him his daughter in marriage :-and finally to Jenson, the perfector, and teacher of these arts to the Italians in 1461.'

The time at which the art was introduced into Italy, where it arose to such high perfection, is largely discussed. In this discussion, the author enters into the controversy on the famous Decor Puellarum, the verity of whose date he cogently defends.-Next follows a Catalogue of Authors and their Works, who have illustrated the History of Literature, Chronology, Bib. liography, and Typography. This is an admirable and most useful list, replete with information and criticism.

The large alphabetical List of Cities, with their modern names, in which printing was practised from its invention till the end of the 15th century, furnishes also the titles of the first work printed in each place, the name of the printer, and some account of his contemporaries and successors in the same profession. This is a valuabie, and we think wholly original index. Without such a guide, many a student in bibliography must be at a loss to discover, that Hafnie vel Codanie, Gar

bani, Argentorati, Noviomagii, Ulyssipone, signified Copenhagen, Orleans, Strasburg, Nimeguen, and Lisbon. We can easily imagine that this list must have occasioned the compiler a great deal of trouble. The Essay on Bibliography will be useful as an elementary introduction, but is too concise and general to meet the wishes of those who have made some progress in the knowledge of books. It includes a good account of the circumstances producing absolute or relative rarity of bibliographical articles.

Our author next enters largely into the art of classifying the contents of a large library; and he proposes, at ample length, several plans for that purpose. These are principally taken from the French Bibliographers and Encyclopedists, and each may be regarded as a Tablet of Human Knowledge. Some of the subdivisions in these systems are injudicious, and others are necessarily superseded by the progress of scientific knowledge.

The Archæological and Chronological Tables, which conclude this comprehensive work, have been described in our abstract of the title; their usefulness must be sufficiently obvious. › The comparative table of Mohammedan with Christian years, which is carried down two or three centuries lower than Richardson's and Greaves's, will be very convenient for collectors and students of oriental literature, whose advantage the editor seems uniformly to have considered.

These volumes are disfigured by numerous typographical errors, particularly in names and titles; and some of them quite pervert and obscure the sense. The author is not chargeable with these mistakes. He fully apologizes for them by informing us, that the work was printed chiefly at different provincial presses, and under circumstances which often did not admit of his correcting the sheets; and, in fact, the com plaints which we could not otherwise withhold, are obviated by the intimation, that a table of Errata for the whole work will be prepared for the public. In many places the style has a quaint and unfinished appearance, evidently the result of haste and colloquial habits.

There is one feature in the character of the Bibliographical Dictionary, which claims our warmest approbation. This is the constant regard which it pays to the word of God, and the frequent occurrence of appropriate and forcible Christian sentiment.

On the whole, we must congratulate collectors and biblio graphical students in general, upon the completion of so important and laborious a performance. It demanded stores of learning which are not frequently to be met with; and still less

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frequently in combination with the requisite industry, perseve→ rance, and opportunities.

We have the authority of public advertisements for ascribing this work to a gentleman, well known for his various learning and estimable character, and to whom the Christian and the literary public, on other accounts, owes no inconsiderable obligations, the Rev. Adam Clarke. Considering the ample proofs before the world, that he is not a man of literary leisure, we deem the present work not less honourable to his diligence, than to his erudition.

Art. VII.

Lectures on the Acts of the Apostles, delivered in the Parish Church of Stockton upon Tees, during Lent, in the Years 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806. Illustrated with Maps. By John Brewster, M. A. Rector of Redmarshal, in the County of Durham, 2 Vols. pp. 840, Price 14s. Rivington. 1807.

EXPOSITION of the sacred Scripture, it is believed, was

the first kind of preaching in the Christian Church; and it is in some respects the best. What is so valuable to a congregation, as an accurate and extensive knowledge of the word of God? and what can be more conducive to their pleasure and improvement in reading it? When a preacher usually makes his text serve only for a motto to the discourse, he has entered on a wrong path, which will never lead to the edification of his hearers. Ministers who investigate thoroughly the meaning of the verse which they have chosen, and judiciously deduce from it the doctrines and duties which it reveals and enforces, are men of a higher class. But still there is a great defect, unless exposition form a part of their ministrations. Their hearers know the meaning of particular passages of the Bible, and understand the principal doctrines of the Gospel; vet without perceiving that beauty and excellence of the divine word, to which exposition would have directed their attention. An Epistie, for example, conveys instruction, not merely by the doctrine in each verse separately considered, but by the connection, the scope, the situation of the writer, or of the persons whom head dresses, and by various other circumstances, to which none but the expositor can with propriety advert. And while he performs his office with ability, the people perceive the proofs of the inspiration of the Scriptures in a clearer light, and feel, under the divine blessing, the power of the truth more forcibly upon their hearts.

In Scotland, exposition of the Scriptures has always been a part of the public service, both in the Established Church, and among those who have separated from it; and it may be considered as one of the means of that superior measure of

religious knowledge, which the labouring classes of the community, in that part of the empire, unquestionably possess. In England, for a century past, this exercise has been comparatively neglected, both in the Establishment and among the Dissenters. It appears to have been the constant practice of the excellent Matthew Henry; and how well he was qualified for the office, his unequalled commentary furnishes the most satisfactory proof. Among Independents, when the Scripture was, read in public, the minister generally accompanied it with exposition; but as it was regarded only as an inferior and adscititious part of the service, the sermon being the principal object, sufficient attention was not paid to give it due extent, and full effect.

In the Established Church, it has never been a common practice; but as this is an age of improvement, there may still be a hope of its becoming fashionable. All the influence which our recommendation can give, we are anxious to employ in its behalf; and we should feel the sincerest delight to find that it was admitted into general use, as an essential part of the public services of the Lord's Day; because we are assured that it would conduce, in a most eminent degree, to diffuse through the country, to a wide extent, and in the purest form, an accurate knowledge of religious truth.

One caution, however, we beg leave to suggest. Many persons consider exposition as an easy thing; but let it be remembered, that the preacher who makes it easy to himself, makes it good for nothing to the congregation. In order to perform this duty properly and profitably, there must be study, vigorous application, and extensive reading. And then, while the people are greatly edified, the preacher himself will gain more instruction than any other public exercise can furnish him. By a habit of serious attention to every phrase and every word, to the scope and the connection, the design and the circumstances, of every passage in the sacred books, he attains an accuracy of view, a distinctness of knowledge, and a depth of understanding, which those who have spent all their days in discoursing from insulated texts, must not usually expect to possess.

These remarks were suggested by Mr. Brewster's volumes, which contain an exposition of the Acts of the Apostles. This portion of sacred writ has scarcely had its share of commentators. Limborch, an acute and learned man among the Dutch Remonstrants, is one of the most eminent that have written upon it. The Commentary of Da Veil is more remarkable as the production of a converted Jew, than for its intrinsic worth; though it is not without its use. In Cradock's "Apostolical History," the Biblical student will find a great variety of

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