guages, than to thofe of the difcordant idioms of Greece and Rome. Nor is it without evident advantages, that this method of conjugating the verb has been chofen by the Orientals; for, as the third perfon fingular is undoubtedly the root, from which the other persons of the verb, as well as the verbal nouns, &c. are formed, by the addition of the prefixes and fuffixes, it must clearly be beneficial to have this word or fign first prefented to the mind as the grand feature of the paradigm. So natural does this appear, that one can fcarcely doubt, had our languages poffelled the fame advantage of referring their derivatives lo accurately to a particular perfon of the verb, but that our grammarians would have instructed us to begin inflecting it with that perfon. Mr. D.'s fecond great objection to the fyftem of Hebrew grammar, is the introduction of the conjugations in the verbs, which he loads with every term of reprehenfion. That the Hebrew notion of conjugation is different from the Greek we cannot deny; nay, that the one is almoft oppofite to the other, we are ready to acknowledge; but we do not fee that it is therefore abfurd, and "confufion's masterpiece." (p. 12) The Greek idea of conjugation was, to find a certain famenefs in different words; the Hebrew was, to discover certain differences in the fame word, which differences obtained in all verbs, and communicated to them distinct and appropriate fignifications of acting, of acting upon another, of being acted upon,. of acting on one's-felf, of intenfity, &c. All thefe appropriate fignifications, however, which have been received for fo many ages in the Hebrew and its fifter dialects, that are no longer spoken, and which at this moment exist in the fimilar languages that are still in use, all thefe Mr. D. conceives he has entirely overthrown; having difcovered that what are called the Hebrew, conjugations, are nothing more than mere moods of the verb: thus he affures us, that the Hebrew conjugation Hiphil is no thing more than the Greek or Latin potential; and this he endeavours to prove by twelve examples; no one of which feems to demonftrate what he wishes them to do; many of them the direct contrary. Thus, in his first example ban, thou fhouldest not have magnified; what can be fo clear as that this is the regular hiphil of the verb, according to its usual fignification?, in kal, univerfally means to be great;n hiphil therefore it will mean to make great. i. e magnify. Mr. D. appears in this, as well as other inftances, have been aeceived by the English tranflation, where the caufal form of the original verb is difguifed under the appearance of a new word. Iob. Thou fhouldeft not have delivered up." in kal, means to fhut, to keep one confined; in hiphil, therefore, therefore, it will fignify to make another keep one confined, i. e. to deliver up to another's power. הכיתי III. "Left I fmite," the verb ng is ufed indifferently in kal and hiphil, to exprefs the word fmite; but there is not the fmalleft ground for faying that when it is found in the latter form, potentiality is meant to be expreffed: almost every page of Scripture demonftrates that it is ufed both as an indicative and as potential in kal, and as an indicative and a potential in hiphil. The fame may be faid of in the next instance. ,הקלו V. hp, "Were abated;" in kal, fignifies to be little; in hiphil, therefore, it will fignity to make little, i. e. to abate," which, as before, Mr. D. mistakes for a fimple word. VI. p, "I would wander far off;" pr in kal, means to be far off; in hiphil, therefore, in a reflected fenfe, it will mean to make onefelf far off, i. e. to wander far off. Again, in kal, fignifies to be quick; in hiphil, therefore, it will naturally fignify to make quick, i. e. to haften. VII. The fame may be faid of win, as we faid of wan, in Examp. III. او VIII., "Can fhow." It is aftonishing that Mr. D. however prejudiced in favour of a theory, could be mistaken in fuch an inftance as this; you in kal, univerfally fignifies to hear; in hiphil, therefore, it will mean to make another hear, i. e. to tell, to show. Does Mr. D. pretend that it has ever this fignification, except in hiphil? which it certainly ought to have in an indicative, as well as in a potential mood. S05 IX. X. XI. The fame as n Examp. III. XII., "Ye weary;" the original verb in kal, fignifies to be weary; what other fignification, therefore, ought it to have in hiphil, but to make weary, as it muft in this place be construed? After this examination of the Examples adduced by Mr. D. furely we have a right to fay, in his own words: "the invention of an hypothefis in any fcience, is no very difficult matter, if fuppofed facts be taken for granted, and fuch interpretations as the inventor may find fuitable to his purpose, to be proposed, be acquiefced in.” But the grand argument against Mr. D.'s theory of the hiphil being a potential of kal, is drawn from the analogy of the other Oriental tongues, all of which have potential fignifi cations, in every conjugation of the verb, formed by prefixing a letter to the future, in the fame manner as the Hebrew. Thus in Arabic, potentiality is expreffed by prefixing J; as that he might affist, that he might make another ليوس affiftat, that he might affift, and be affifted in tura, , that he might beg affiance. Many of Mr. D.'s obfervations on the rationalia of the letters appear ingenious, but are evidently tinctured with HutchinfoLian, or Rabbinical fubtleties. The whole of the argument to a common reader is rendered confufed, from too great an affectation of metaphyfical reafoning, unneceffary fubdivi fions, and logical precifenefs. ART. X. Two Succeffive Tours throughout the Whole of Wales, with Several of the adjacent Countries, fo as to form a Comprehenfive View of the picturefque Beauty, the peculiar Manners, and the fine Remains of Antiquity in that interefting Part of the British Island. By Henry Skrine, Efq. of Warley in Somerfetfire, Author of Three fucceffive Tours in the North of England and Scotland in 1795. 8vo. 280 pp. 6s. Elmily. *1798.* HE author, as he tells us in his title-page, which is more circumftantial than feems neceffary, has already published an account of three fucceffive Tours in the North of England and Scotland; of which we spoke favourably in our fixth vo lume, p. 351. We fhall now add to our notice of his work, that Mr. Skrine is a gentleman of highly respectable character, who devotes a confiderable portion of every fummer, to a careful examination of fome part of his native country. The prefent volume is introduced with this modest apology. "Emboldened by the perhaps too partial approbation beftowed by fome of his friends on his former performance, the author is induced to offer the following tours to their infpection, and that of the public. * Like those in the north of England and Scotland, they were not written originally with the defign of being printed, and though now prefented in the fhape of an uniform coure of travels, they have really been purfued in diftinct parts, and at different periods of time, as the leifure of fucceffive fummers gave a favourable opportunity. - This difference of years in which the feveral parts were written, muft anfwer for fuch irregularity of ftyle as may strike an obferver in the courfe of this work. Where the defcription is meant to be general, the prefent tenfe is commonly used, but the paft is often preferred where the appearance of things (as in the course of travel) is alluded to. In matters of obfervation and opinion, the fingular number is often adopted, but the plural is more commonly used in defcription, except where the author was actually alone; each of thefe, however, is frequently changed, to give animation to fome particular feene, and to avoid the prolixity of an uniform narrative,Some apology may perhaps alfo be neceflary for various repetitions of epithets and other little inaccuracies, which have efcaped the author's obfervation, who has not been much in the habit of correcting for the prefs," P. v. The whole forms a very interesting and entertaining performance, and cannot fail of being highly acceptable, as well as very useful, to all who fhall happen to vifit the fcenes which are here well and ably defçribed. It is but reasonable to give fpecimens of the work and the following extract defcribes a part of the country, of which Mr. Skrine is proprietor, "Entering the gap through which the Ufke defcends into the plain of Monmouthshire, the mountains clofed upon us on each fide as we approached the confines of South Wales, and reached the little town of Crickhowell, in the county of Brecknock. Here I firft viewed the Imall, but charming territory, of which I afterwards became the proprietor; and I mult rifque even the imputation of partiality, to bestow a well-merited degree of praife on the tranfcendant beauties of Dany Park, and its vicinage. The house, built by its last most worthy owner, ftands in a fpacious lawn, beneath a thick range of spreading woods, which defcending from a great height, form at last an open grove, covering an abrupt knoll immediately over it. Above thefe, a fine mixture of paftures and cultivation ftretches upward to the very feet of the mountains, which rife here in all their native fublimity, and are crowned with a perpendicular rock called "Defguilfa," or The Profpect, from its almoft unlimited command of view. Such is the polition of this place to the fouth; towards the north it looks across a charming variety of enamelled meadows, divided by the Uike, to fome fertile and ornamented hills, behind which the valley of Llanbeder defcends with its train of woods, and the clustered cottages of Llangenny, from the wildeft diftricts of the country between the Black-mountain and the Sugar-loaf, whofe fhapes and fummits appear grandly contrafted. Towards the weft, the Ufke emerging from the mountains which bound the vale of Brecknock, paffes round a high pyramidical hill, and dividing the village of Llangattock from the town and caftle of Crickhowell, flows rapidly through the ivied arches of their bridge while on the east, it glides more gently between the verdant meads of Dany Park and Court-y-gollen towards Abergavenny, which appears at the distance of fix miles at the bottom of the vale, beneath the groves of Colebrooke, and the little painted apex of the Schyrrydd Vach. "Crickhowell has little to recommend it, except the beautiful eminence on which it is placed, and the finall but picturefque remains of its caitle; the principal freer being both steep and rough, and the long bridge to which it defcends dangeroully narrow. Its oppofite village of Llangattock, bears a more fmiling afpect, being decorated with feveral hand fome feats, and inhabited by many refpectable famifies. Among thefe, the new-built houfe of Admiral Gell stands diftinguished for the beauty of its pofition, the fingularity of its truc sure ture, and the eccentric benevolence of its worthy owner, who retired with well-earned fame from the active duties of his profeffion, here gladdens the heart of the villager by his liberality, and is juftly esteem ed by the whole country". P. 36 "P. 362 The account of St. David's next inferred, is highly honourable to the writer's fentibility and talent for defcription. A fecond expedition led us by the rains of Roche Caftie, over a bleak and unpleasant country, on the edge of the dangerous bay of St. Bride, and across the deep hollow of the creek of Solfay, to the deferted city of St. David's. Hardly a fingle tree decorated this wild extremity of the coast of Pembrokeshire; a fcanty fhew of habitations, more like huts than cottages, were thinly interfperfed, and the city itfelf, when we approached it, bore the afpect of an infignificant village, fituated on a fmall eminence neat that projecting head-land which terminates in the pile of rocks called St. David's head. In a deep hollow beneath the town, fheltered from those winds which ravage this ftormy coaft, we found a few good boules appropriated to the ecclefiaftical establishment, in the midst of which the cathedral appeared rifing in renovated magnificence, like a phoenix'amidit the fplendid afhes of the ruined grandeur of St. David's. This church is far (uperior to that of Llandaff: in its prefervation, and has received ample justice from the attention and expence bestowed on it by its modern proprietors, the whole being in good repair, and the weft front having lately been rebuilt in a tafte perfectly correfponding with the reft of the fracture. Its tower is feely carved in fret-work, and, like many of our English cathedrals, the Gothic ornaments of the choir contraft the Saxon pillars and arches of the great aife, which are themselves curiously worked in wreaths. A ceiling of Irish oak alfo is much to be admired, together with a very perfect Mofaic pavement. Bishop Vaughan's chapel lies behind the choir, where we were mych truck with a highly wrought stone ce ling, fimilar to the finest fpecimens of Henry VII's reign, with which all the furrounding ornaments of the building correfpond. St. Mary's chapel muft have been ftill more elegant, from the curious remains of pillars and arches with which its fpace is strewed; various alfo and extraordinary are the devices in fculptare to be found there, including the heads of feven fitters who were faid to have contributed to the building. The chapter-house also has a fine coved ceiling, and St. Mary's Hall, now in ruins, exhibits the remains of much ancient grandeur. From the cathedral and thefe adjacent buildings, we vifited the ruins of the bishop's palace, which must formerly have been a magnificent, and even a princely structure. Two parts of its quadrangle are yet nearly entire, and thefe are crowned with a light Gothic parapet, fimilar to thofe at Swansea cattle and Llamphey court. The arch by which we entered the king's hall is fingularly fine, with the ftatues of king John and his queen over it; the hall itfelf is a grand room, 88 feet in length by 30, and at its eastern end is a curious circular window, like a wheel, with a sim, fpokes, and centre, wrought in the fineft Gothic, and ftill quite entire. This room was built after the reft of the palace, for the re ception |