Above the throne of Khusrau (the Chosroes before mentioned of our historians) an arch had been formed, also a talisman under the form of a lion with a ball or globe of gold and a cup or basin, so contrived, that as each hour of the day arrived, the golden globe dropped from the lion's mouth into the basin. داده و بر آن تخت طاقي براورده بودند و طلسمي ساحته مثال شيري و كويي زرين و طاسي بر مجاري دهان شیر ترتیب که هرگاه که یکساعت از روز برامدي آن كوي زرين از دهان شیر افتاده در آن طاس Other extraordinary contrivances of the same kind are mentioned by Persian authors; Zacaria of Kazvin describes several in his Ms. work entitled Ajaieb al makhlukát composed in the thirteenth century; one, made by an ingenious fellow-citizen, he describes as a human figure which opened the door when any person knocked, and afterwards shut it. But so many convincing specimens of Persian ingenuity have, within the last fourteen or fifteen years, been brought to England, that we can scarcely doubt, what some travellers assert, that with proper instructions and an adequate supply of our tools and mechanical implements, the Persians might soon equal any European nation in various branches of art. It is true that on certain subjects they are not fond of innovation; and, as Sir Thomas Herbert remarks, (Travels, p. 321.) In antique paths of ignorance they choose rather to tread, than by any new invention to call in question the reverend judgment of their ancestors. But much of this prejudice has already disappeared; the king and prince-royal of Persia (Abbas Mirza) not only encourage Europeans at their respective courts, but have sent within a few years some young men to England, that they might learn from our artists of different descriptions all the latest improvements. With these young Persians the writer of this article was acquainted in London; and can bear witness to their quickness of apprehension, and ingenuity in execution. That they will confer numerous benefits on their countrymen may reasonably be expected. We must not forget, however, that before they visited England, a gunsmith of Shiraz, named Badr, had made fowling-pieces which bore every appearance of admirable English workmanship, as we learn from Sir W. Ouseley's Travels, vol. 11. p. 58. For many ages Ispahan has been famed on account of the boxes, cabinets, musical instru the worship of God, and I feel my faith in Christianity confirmed by tracing all the varieties of religions to the faith of Abel with St. John in his first epistle, or even still higher, to the emanation of the visible light, the shadow and type of the very light of light, uncreate, eternal in the heavens; and for purposes of this kind especially I read and delight in Homer. And I would raise my voice and testify to every person who in this enlightened age rejects the Christian sacrifice, that he is degraded in understanding and morals below the generation, which conducted the decennial war around the walls of Troy. The mention of these walls leads me to observe, that I was lately favored with a sight of a specimen of the stone with which they were built, by a lady residing at Farendon. The substance was beautifully white, and a conglomerate of sea-shells. This latter peculiarity suggested to my mind a conjecture, that it might have given cause to the legend or fable that Neptune was the builder of them. Another interesting inquiry connected with the former is, whether we can trace in Homer any allusions to Scripture and to facts recorded in Scripture. Much has been written on the correspondence between Alcinous and Solomon, which it were unnecessary therefore to repeat; but I have been much struck with a resemblance in some of the speeches of Ulysses, when petitioning for relief, to the style and sentiments of the Psalms of David. This is a subject to which also 1 hope to call attention.' I advert a second time to г. 59, &c., and note that this passage has not been clearly explained. Paris compares the distinguishing judgment of Hector to the stroke of the axe of the skilful woodman, which exactly divides its object without exceeding or transgressing it, if I may so use the term. Kar' aloav means, with distinction or penetration, and corresponds to el dià in the simile, line 61.-In line 66, Paris intends by autoì, spontaneously, as ipse is used in Latin ;— Ipsa lacte domum referent distenta capella and he means to say, that though he would not refuse the gifts which the gods spontaneously proffered to him, at the same 1 I would now simply propose as queries, whether in Iliad п.384, there be not an allusion to the flood? and in n. 532. to the Psalms? Compare Psalm lxxv. 8. and Revel. xiv. 10. There might also seem an allusion to the history of Cain in the same passage. But I propose these observations merelyas queries. time he would not spontaneously, or without the proffering to him by the gods, choose them for himself, ixwv λOITO. After a careful revision of the passage, I offer this as the sense in which my judgment finally rests. I. M. B. IN ON THE VOWEL POINTS OF THE N consequence of the present prevailing fashion for the study of the Hebrew language, I am induced to offer some observations respecting its celebrated vowel points. It appears that a new school of divinity is arising, which is chiefly founded on an old exploded notion of the antiquity of these points. The object for which this obsolete doctrine is revived, is I think sufficiently evident. However with your permission, as concisely as is in my power, 1 propose to submit to your readers a few of the reasons which formerly caused it to be exploded; and which I flatter myself, will finally consign it to its long home. The Hebrew language, as it is found in the copies of the Pentateuch used in the synagogues, consists of twenty-two letters; but is devoid of the marks which are known by the name of the vowel points. The present Jews, with the followers of the new divinity school, maintain that these points are of very great antiquity; some asserting them to be as old as Ezra, others coeval with the language. On the contrary, it has been the opinion of most learned men in modern times, that they have been not only adopted as authority, but invented since the time of Christ that they were invented in the dark ages by the Jews, in order to enable them to give such meaning and pronunciation to the text as they thought proper; and further to enable them, on once having given it that meaning and pronunciation, to keep them from all change in future. The object for which they were invented is evident from the circumstance, that they not only added a system of new vowels to the language, but they contrived to abolish the old ones, and render them silent and useless as vowels, and convert them when joined to the new letters into consonants. Had the object of the Jews in inventing VOL. XXXIII. Cl. J. NO. LXV. K the points been merely to fix the pronunciation, they would not have done away with the old vowels, but only added some points to them. But this would not have served their purpose; therefore they were obliged to get quit of the sturdy old vowels, which would not be made to bend to their purposes, and to convert them into consonants. The simple question at issue betwixt the parties is, whether these points be new or old; and this I think it will not be difficult to settle. If what Harris says be true, that a letter is a sign significant, the vowel points and accents or marks, upwards of twenty in number, must be letters, for they are certainly signs significant; and it is pretty evident that the addition of such a number of letters to any language must enable the person adding them, to give to the original text nearly whatever meaning he thinks proper. This is the object for which they were invented by the Jews, and this is now the object for which the new school of Christians support them. In the beginning of the last and the end of the preceding century, the question of the antiquity of these points was discussed at great length, and with no little warmth and animation, by a great number of very learned men, until the subject appeared to be completely exhausted, and the question settled. To enter into the contest again would be useless, and evidently would occupy too much space in your miscellany: but as Dean Prideaux has summed up the chief arguments against them in a short and compendious form, it may be useful to many of your readers who are misinformed by their Jewish and Christian instructors to see what has been said by him against them. The following are the principal reasons which he gives against their antiquity. 1. "The sacred books made use of by the Jews in their synagogues, have ever been, and still are without the vowel points, which would not have happened had they been placed there by Ezra, and consequently been of the same authority with the letters; for, had they been so, they would certainly have been preserved in the synagogues with the same care as the rest of the text. There can scarce any other reason be given why they were not admitted thither but that, when the holy scriptures began first to be publicly read to the people in their synagogues, there were no such vowel points then in being; and that when they afterwards came in use, being known to be of a human invention, they were for that reason never thought fit to be added to those sacred copies, which were looked on as the true representatives of the original; and therefore they have been ever kept with the same care in the ark or sacred chest of the synagogue, as the original draft of the law of Moses anciently was in the ark or sacred chest of the tabernacle, which was prepared for it; and they are still so kept in the same manner among them to this day. 2. "The ancient various readings of the sacred text called Keri Cetib, are all about the letters, and none about the vowel points: which seem manifestly to prove, that the vowel points were not anciently in being, or else were not then looked on as an authentic part of the text; for if they had, the variations of these would certainly have been taken notice of, as well as those of the letters. 3. "The ancient cabbalists draw none of their mysteries from the vowel points, but all from the letters: which is an argument either that these vowel points were not in use in their time, or else were not then looked on as an authentic part of the sacred text; for had they then been so, these triflers would certainly have drawn mysteries from the one as well as from the other, as the later cabbalists have done. 4. "If we compare with the present pointed Hebrew Bibles the version of the Septuagint, the Chaldee paraphrases, the fragments of Aquila, Symmachus, and. Theodotion, or the Latin version of Jerome, we shall in several places find that they did read the text, otherwise than according to the present punctuation: which is a certain argument, that the pointed copies, if there were any such in their times, were not then held to be of any authority; for otherwise they would certainly have followed them. 5. "Neither the Mistna, nor the Gemara, either that of Jerusalem or that of Babylon, do make any mention of these vowel points; although in several places there are such special occasions and reasons for them so to have done, that it can scarce be thought possible they could have omitted it if they had been in being when these books were written; or if in being, had been looked on by the Jews of those times to be of any authority amongst them. Neither do we find the least hint of them in Philo-Judæus or Josephus, who are the oldest writers of the Jews, or in any of the ancient Christian writers for several hundred years after Christ. And although among them Origen and Jerome were well skilled in the Hebrew language, yet in none of their writings do they speak the least of them. Origen flourished in the third, and Jerome in the fifth century; and the latter having lived a long time in Judea, and there more especially applied himself to the study of Hebrew learning, and much conversed with the Jewish Rabbies for his improvement therein, it is not likely that he could have missed making some men |