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THE

CRITICAL REVIEW;

OR,

ANNALS OF LITERATURE.

VOL. XXXV.

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THE

CRITICAL REVIEW.

MAY, 1802.

ART. I. Introduction to the New Testament. By John David Michaelis, late Professor in the University of Göttingen, &c. Translated from the Fourth Edition of the German, and consi derably augmented with Notes, and a Dissertation on the Origin and Composition of the Three First Gospels. By Herbert Marsh, B.D. F.R.S. &c. Vol. III. (in Two Parts), and Vol. IV. 8v0. 11. IS. Beards. Rivingtons. 1801.

THE reputation which professor, Michaëlis so long maintained, as a learned and judicious commentator on the sacred scriptures, has in none of his writings appeared to more advantage than in the Introduction before us; and it happens not less fortunately for himself than the public, that the work on which he bestowed so much labour and care should have found a translator capable not only of doing justice to the original, but of enhancing its value by improvements and additions.

In our Review for December 1793 (New Arr. volume ix. p. 421) we presented our readers with a general account of the work, as comprised in Mr. Marsh's preface to the three former vo lumes, and annexed such extracts as might show the nature of the additions subjoined. Adopting a similar plan, we shall proceed to the volumes before us; and, as these contain, with the latter half of Michaëlis's Introduction, no more of commentary upon the text than extends to the three first Gospels, Mr. Marsh thinks it requisite so long an interval having elapsed between his two publications to offer the following explanation on the subject.

The translation itself was finished before the close of 1795, when I began to draw up a commentary on our author's text, as I had done in the preceding volumes. But as I proceeded with the notes on the three first Gospels, I perceived the necessity of entering into a minute investigation of their origin and composition, which gave rise to the Dissertation printed in vol. iii. p. ii. and this Dissertation was not finished before the beginning of 1798. It was at that time that my attention began to be directed to a totally different subject: the calumnies, which were then incessantly uttered against GreatCRIT. REV. Vol. 35. May, 1802. B

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