is of great importance to the Oriental commerce of this count** every thing that is profeffed to be done here, has the appearance of being done with accuracy; and the Perfian poetry is prettily tranflated into English verse. L. Art. 41. Odes, by Bradshaw Galliard, Efq. 4to. 2s. 6d. Johnson. 1774. These Odes are chiefly moral, and written in a tolerable vein of poetry. But the fentiments want novelty, and the rhymes are fadly incorrect. Art. 42. Corin and Olinda; a Legendary Tale. By Richard We have often obferved that the fuccefs of one good Author makes Wilkie. 1774 L. This volume contains a poetical effay on the Existence, Attributes, and Providence of God; a poetical Epistle to Christopher Anfty, Esq. on the English Poets; the Poor Man's Prayer, addreffed to the Earl of Chatham; Arimant and Tamira, an Eattern Tale; all which havē paffed this ordeal. Two pretty little poems, one addreffed to the very learned and ingenious Mr. Bryant, the other to a Boy on his leaving Eton School, conclude the volume. Art. 44. Vice; a Satire. 4to. 18. Bew. 18. Bew. 1774. A coarse general invective against vice. Luft or lucre actuates every fair! L. Ridiculous! your tempora, mores people are the faddeft people in the world; for they wafte our time without mending our manners. L. Art. 45. The Optimist; or, Satire in good Humour. 4to. Almon. 1774. The Times again! But this is an honest whorefbird of a Mufe, and, like a debauched parrot, joins in the black dialect. The poem is an ironical recommendation of the fashionable vices, not deftitute of cafe or humour. L. Art. 46. An Elegy on the approaching Diffolution of Parliament. 4to. 16. Almon. A most fruitful fubject, but a mere mushroom of a poem ! What is become of the thundering author of the Heroic Epiftle, who denounced fuch deadly vengeance on the heads of the political miscreants? L Art. 47. The Ides of June; a Poem to the Fair Sex. 4to. 6 d. Wilkie. 1774. L A monitory copy of verses to the ladies, to warn them against the A moft fierce, violent, and bloody battle between an enraged poet, and a reverend haberdasher of small scandal. The latter, mounted on Flys, Mercuries, and Evening Posts, discharges his fmall artillery fro From the culverins of letters, advices, and paragraphs; and rather teazes than annoys his enemy: the former, armed with the tomahawk and the fealping knife, denounces nothing less than death and diffection. 'Tis dreadful-Oh! 'tis dreadful! RELIGIOUS and CONTROVERSIAL. น. Art. 49 Critica faera; or, a fhort Introduction to Hebrew It may now be affumed, fays the learned Author of this pamphlet, as an allowed maxim, That the Hebrew fcriptures have not reached us in that pure and perfect ftate, in which they were originally written-That they have undergone indeed many great and grievous corruptions, occafioned by the ignorance or negligence of tranfcribers. Since then it is acknowledged, that errors and mistakes of vario kinds have thus crept into the prefent text, the grand queftion is,-By what means are thefe corruptions to be now difcovered, removed, and rectified? In anfwer to which it may juftly be alledged, that we are providentially fupplied with various means, which eminently contribute to this purpofe.' Bot of all thefe means our critic propofes to infift only on ant; which, though the most obvious, and moft determinate of all others, Has yet, he obferves, been fomehow ftrangely overlooked; or at least applied in a very imperfect manner. That peculiar method, which he would here be understood chiefly to recommend, as well for the difcovery, as the correction of errours, is to compare together, in the Hebrew text, the fevera} correfpondent paffages of fcripture; noting their differences ;-and then adopting those particular readings, which beft agree with the tenour of the context, and the rules of grammar. The correspondent or parallel pallages of fcripture will be found, according to our Author, on examination, far more numerous, ample, and various, than most readers could, at firft, conceive. Thele double or repeated paffages may justly be looked upon as different copies of the fame original.-Copies of undoubted antiquity, and of venerable authority: to the value, eredit, and importance of which no objections can be rationally offered. If thefe copies then, he adds, or to speak more properly, these parallel places, were carefully confulted, and compared together, the judicious reader might easily collect fuch an ample store of Hebrew criticisms as would not only do honour to his parts and learning; but alfo prove of infinite fervice to the caufe of religion, by correcting the errours, and fupplying the defects of the prefent text,making one part of it fubfervient to the rectification and improvement of another. And the improvements thus made, muft neceffarily appear the more fatisfactory, as they were made by the light which feripture affords, and ftand confirmed by feripture authority. As thefe parallel or fimilar paffages are of different forts, and lie difperfed far and wide from each other, the prefent writer has jufly thought it of use to clafs them under proper heads, and then to fubjoin the feveral particulars, under thofe heads, in one united view before the reader. The claffes to which the parallel or corre Spendens Spondent paffages of fcripture may be reduced, are thefe: 1. Genta logical regifters, aufter-rolls, &c. doubly inferted. 2. Hiftorical nar, rations repeated. 3. Sentiments, meffuages, &c. twice recited. 4. Qu tations made by one prophet from another. 5. Quotations or repetitions borrowed by the fame prophet from himself. The Author, having feparately confidered each of thefe claffes, and thus affifted Hebraical readers in collecting and afforting their materials, proceeds, in his last section, to give some directions concerning the use and application of them. On the whole, he afferts, that the various readings which may be collected (not to fpeak of the errours that may be rectified) in this way, are full as numerous as they are important. And though, hitherto, fays he, they have been able to gain but little attention; yet I hope the time is coming on, when, for the credit of learning, the Support of truth, and the perfection of the Hebrew fcriptares, fome candid and ingenious critic will take the pains to collect them together, and lay them before the public. This pamphlet, though fmall in quantity, is rich in merit. It contains more useful matter than is to be found in many a bulky volume. It opens a vein of valuable and copious criticifm to those who study the facred literature of the old teftament; on which account it cannot be too warmly recommended to their notice. K. CORRESPONDENCE. Aleard, informs us that the Rev. Mr. Gambold, whofe tragedy Refpectable Correfpondent, from whom we have frequently of Ignatius we mentioned in our Review for June, wrote that tragedy before he became a member of the Unitas Fratrum. This circumtance, as our Correfpondent obferves, is of no great importance; however he thought it right to mention it, "left fome people fhould "imagine, that the Unitas Fratrum make use of acting tragedies on religious fubjects." A Letter figned R. Richardfon, has been received. As the Writer's prefumption may be founded on mere ignorance, we fhall not more particularly expofe him, or mention any circumftance that may create uneafinefs in the mind of the Gentleman in whose behalf he has taken upon him to address himself, in fo extraordinary a way, to the Reviewers. The money will be returned to the perfon who left it at Mr. Becket's; where he is defired to call for it. +++ The fecond favour from "A Hinter of Truth," came too late to be duly noticed this month. SLIPS of the PRESS. The Reader is requested to correct the mistake, occafioned by an erroneous punctuation, in giving the refult of M, De Luc's calculation of the height of the earth's atmosphere, in our laft Appendix; where he is defired, At page 569, line 17, for 25,105,450 toifes; to read 25,105.450 toifes. And at line 24, for 35,105,450 toifes; to read 35,105.450 toifes, THE MONTHLY REVIEW, For SEPTEMBER, 1774. ART. I. Continuation of the Account of Mr. Bryant's New Syftem or Analyfis of Ancient Mythology. See Review for June. HE ingenious and very learned Author of the extraor dinary work before us, acquaints his readers, that the materials, of which he purposes. to make ufe in the following inquiries, are comparatively few, and will be contained within a fmall compafs. They are fuch as are to be found in the compofition of moft names which occur in ancient mythology whether they relate to deities then reverenced, or to the places where their worship was introduced. But they appear no where fo plainly, as in the names of those places which were fituated in Babylonia and Egypt. From these parts, they were, in procefs of time, transferred to countries far remote; beyond the Ganges eastward, and to the utmost bounds of the Mediterranean weft; wherever the fons of Ham, under their various denominations, either fettled or traded. Mr. Bryant had, before, mentioned, that this people were great adventurers; and began an extenfive commerce in very early times. They got footing in many parts; where they founded cities, which were famous in their day. They likewise erected towers and temples: and upon headlands and promontories they raised pillars for fea-marks to direct them in their perilous expeditions. All these were denominated from circumstances that had fome reference to the religion which this people profeffed, and to the ancestors whence they fprung. The deity, which they originally worshipped, was the Sun. But they foon conferred his titles upon fome of their ancestors: whence arofe a mixed worship. They particularly deified the great patriarch, who was the head of their line; and worshipped him as the fountain of light: making the Sun only an emblem of his influence and power. They called him Bal, and Baal: and there were others of their ancestry joined with him, whom VOL. LI. N they they ftiled the Baalim. Chus was one of these: and this ido latry began among his fons. In respect, then, to the names, which this people, in procefs of time, conferred either upon the deities they worshipped, or upon the cities which they founded; we fhall find them, fays our Author, to be generally made up of fome original terms for a bafis, fuch as Ham, Cham, and Chus: or elfe of the titles, with which those personages were, in process of time, honoured. Thefe were Thoth, Men or Menes, Ab, El, Aur, Ait, Ees or Ifh, On, Bel, Cohen, Keren, Ad, Adon, Ob, Oph, Apha, Uch, Melech, Anac, Sar, Sama, Semaïm. We must likewife take notice of those common names, by which places are diftinguifhed, such as Kir, Caer, Kiriath, Carta, Air, Cob, Cala, Beth, Ai, Ain, Caph, and Cephas. Laftly are to be inferted the particles Al and Pi; which were in ufe among the ancient Egyptians. Of these, and fome other terms Mr. Bryant firft treats. These he calls radicals; and he looks upon them as fo many elements, whence moft names in ancient mythology have been compounded, and into which they may be eafily refolved: and the history with which they are attended, will, he informs us, at all times, plainly point out, and warrant the etymology. As it is abfolutely impracticable to abridge this part of the work, we muft, in fome degree, content ourselves with felecting one radical, as a fpecimen of the united fagacity and erudition which the Author difplays, in the purfuit of his undertaking. The fpecimen has not been chofen for its peculiar merit, but on account of its being of a competent brevity. AIT. Another title of Ham or the Sun was Ait, and Aith: a term, of which little notice has been taken; yet of great confequence in respect to etymology. It occurs continually in Egyptian names of places, as well as in the compofition of thofe, which belong to deities, and men, It relates to fire, light, and heat; and to the confequences of heat. We may in fome degree learn its various, and oppofite fignifications when compounded, from antient words in the Greek language, which were derived from it, Several of these are enumerated in Hefychius. Αιθαι, μελαίναι. Αίθειν, καίειν. Αιθαλον (a compound of Aith E1), κεκαυμένον. Αιθινος, καπνος, Αιθον, λαμπρον. Αίθωνα (of the fame etymology, from Aith-On) sxva, Tugwon. Allos, xxupa. The Egyptians, when they confecrated any thing to their deity, or made it a fymbol of any fuppofed attribute, called it by the name of that attribute, or † emanation: and as there was fcarce any thing, but what was held facred by them, and in this manner appropriated; *The fun's disk filed A: Εππεύων ἑλιμηδον όλον πολον ΑΙΘΟΠΙ ΔΙΣΚΩΝ. Nonnus. L. 40. ν. 378. Αιθιοπαιδα Διονύσου. Ανακρέων, άλλοι τον οινον. άλλοι την Αρτεμιν. Hefychius. Ale tered to Alboma naida by Albertus. The Egyptian theology abounded with perfonages formed from thefe emanations, who according to Pfellus were called Eons, Zass, Awas. See Iamblichus, and Pfellus, and Damafcius, it |