to Him, so that He should be separable and distinguishable from another. Therefore it is not possible that He should be other than One; and the knowledge of this matter is a positive commandment, for it is said: The Lord our God is ONE Lord, (Deut. vi. 4.)”

Having thus given our readers a full statement of the plan and contents of the present work, together with a sufficient specimen of its execution, we are compelled to hasten to a conclusion-though we had intended a few remarks on the use and abuse of Rabbinical learning evincing the high importance of the study (under the guidance of sound discretion) of the Jewish writers to the interpretation of the Scriptures. We must content ourselves with referring our readers to an admirable Sermon on this subject by Bishop Blomfield.

It can scarcely be necessary for us to add, in conclusion, that we strongly recommend the present work to the attention of the public-and to the especial patronage of those who are disposed at once to further the translation of writings which throw great light on Scripture, and to encourage the meritorious labours of a most able and useful teacher.

A Supplement to the Dictionaries of the English Language, particularly those of Dr. Johnson and Dr. Webster. By the late Rev. Jonathan Boucher, A.M. and F.S.A. Edited jointly by the Rev. Joseph Hunter, F.S.A. and Joseph Stevenson, Esq. 4to. Part I.

AFTER a period of nearly twenty years since the death of Mr. Boucher, we have now the first portion of the work upon which he bestowed many years of his life, and which, even through the medium of a specimen containing the letter A, secured for him no little estimation amongst English philologists. The first part of the present Supplement was announced some time ago, and its appearance was expected earlier; but we find no cause to regret the delay which has taken place, since it is obvious that during the interval much has been done which has added to the value of the publication. We have here not a bare imprint of Boucher's papers, but with them we find incorporated a mass of curious and valuable additions, calculated to bring them up to the level of the literature of the present day, and to keep pace with the grow

ing taste for early English learning, which has gained so much ground within the last few years. Since Boucher's death much has been done which has extended our knowledge of the subject; we have had many collections of the poetry and prose of our ancestors, with which he was unacquainted; of which it may be enough to specify the metrical romances of Weber, Utterson, and Hartshorne, and the various reprints which have proceeded from the liberality of the RoxBURGHE CLUB. Without a reference to these obvious sources of information, the publication of Boucher's Glossary would have been useless. We are happy to observe that these additions are likely to extend the bulk of the work in no inconsiderable degree; for more than one third, nearly one half, has been contributed by its present editors. Of the nature of these additions we have also to speak in terms of unqualified commendation; indeed, the two gentlemen upon whom the important task has devolved, of illustrating the early literature of their country (Messrs. Hunter and Stevenson), seem to have taken no ordinary care and trouble in collecting together very much of what lies out of the more frequented path of investigation, and have brought into one point a singularly curious body of obsolete, but valuable matter. The first of these gentlemen is already well known to the literary world as the editor of the "Thoresby Correspondence," &c. &c. and more especially as the author of the equally learned and elegant Histories of South Yorkshire. vious that the task of editing Boucher's Glossary could not have been entrusted to one who was better calculated to do it justice, than to the gentleman who has already exhibited his taste for, and proficiency in kindred pursuits, by his "Hallamshire Glossary." The additions communicated by Mr. Hunter are, for the most part, the result of an extensive acquaintance with the literature of the time of Henry the Eighth and Elizabeth, a period rich in poetry and dramatic productions, and which is a mine whence the work has received many of its very interesting articles.

It is ob

The contributions of Mr. Stevenson are in general of an earlier æra, and of a different character. They evince an intimate acquaintance with English

sonal injury." This custom, it is probable, we have from the Danes. Olaus Wormius, in the First Book of his Monumenta Danica, speaking of the honours conferred on Attila, the general of the Goths, at his death, adds from Jornandes, " postquam talibus lamentis est defletus, stravam super tumulum ejus, ingenti commissatione celebrant." Neither Lactantius, nor the Danish writers in general, seem to have been able to make out what this straba or strava was: but Wormius is confident it was something like what his countrymen, he says, call an arfwal. This was a solemn feast, held in honour of a deceased Sovereign or Chieftain; when the succession was declared. Without such a feast, and such a ceremony, no succession was deemed valid. One part of this ceremony was, that the heir, preceding a chosen band of warriors, all attached to him, emptied a large goblet of ale, a libation accompanied with a solemn. vow that he would perform some extraordinary feat. Of this strange devotion, Wormius gives an instance, wherein Sweno vows to invade England within three years, and to kill or dethrone Ethelred.

"Attentive, chiefly, to their own customs, the Danish writers derive this arfual from arf, an heir, and ol, ale. A similar principle, it is possible, may have determined Mr. Hutchinson to refer it to the Welsh ardellw, to avouch, challenge, or lay claim to any thing. In Welsh arwyl (the theme of which is said to be gwyl, a feast or festival,) means funeral solemnities, or obsequies and signifies the same in Cornish. Afruad is Welsh for a cake or wafer, &c.

"I ani inclined, however, to suppose that arwyl (the undoubted etymon of arvelbread, is compounded of ar, over, or upon, and wylo, to weep, howl, or lament. Of this insignificant Celtic vocable wylo, the Heb. 5 is the theme; and oλoλvw, ululo, yell, howl, wail, all of them, the derivatives. I think this an obvious and natural etymology of arwyl, from the circumstance that formerly in Wales, as well as in most other countries, even those in a state of high civilization, persons were employed on purpose, and even hired, to weep and wail at funerals."

to have been during the reign of Henry VII. not long before the Reformation; when, as appears from the strange grotesque figures observable on the outsides of churches erected about that period, as well as beneath the seats of stalls and pews, the people had been trained to laugh at, and expose, the ignorance of their priests, and many of their absurd and ridiculous legendary tales. The Devil, for reasons which is not easy to ascertain, had long been represented with cloven feet and a tail, to resemble a satyr. In many of the ludicrous names which were given him, it is remarkable that the epithet auld (certainly not as a term of endearment, but of familiarity) prevail; such as auld hornie, auld scratch, &c."

We shall conclude our notice of Mr. Boucher's Glossary with two articles of a miscellaneous character.

"ASSIDUE. This word is neither in the Dictionaries, nor in any of the Provincial Glossaries, except that of the peculiar words used in Hallamshire, a district of the county of York. It is in common use in that county to describe a species of yellow tinsel much used by the Mummers at Christmas, and by the rustics who accompany the plough on Plough Monday in its rounds through the parish, as part of their fantastic decoration. It occurs in an old shop-bill, as synonymous with horse-gold.”

"Ass-RIDLIN, n. A superstitious custom practised in the North of England upon the eve of St. Mark, when ashes are sifted or riddled on the hearth. It is believed that if any of the family shall die within the year, the shoe of the fated individual will leave an impression on the ashes."

In conclusion, we beg leave to express an opinion, in which we are confident we shall be joined by every antiquary and scholar, that Boucher's Glossary is a valuable accession to our present scanty stock of English philological literature; and we heartily wish that its spirited and enterprising proprietors may receive from the public the encouragement and patronage which, in this age of ephemeral attempts to diffuse knowledge, it is so difficult to obtain, but which all engaged in the production of this valuable Supplement to our English dictionaries so justly merit.

Simoni's Smaller Hebrew and Chaldee Lexi

con, translated by Charles Seager. THIS very little yet useful volume we owe to the industry of the son of

Mr. Seager, to whom the schoolmasters of the present day are indebted for translations of various elementary works, such as Bos, Viger, Maittaire, and Hermann's Metres, and others connected with the study of Greek. It is not often, at least in England, that a son thus follows in the steps of his sire; and still fewer is the number of persons who devote themselves to the study of a language that even the zeal and learning of Bishop Burgess has failed to bring into vogue. And yet, if the heads of the hierarchy were fully alive to the interests of sound ecclesiastical learning, surely one and all of them would not only make themselves proficient in Hebrew, but deem it even a sine qua non with candidates for holy orders to know quite as much of the original of the Old Testament as of the New; especially at a time when every effort is making by open foes from without, and false friends from within, to destroy by assault or sap, not only the building, but the very foundations of our holy Church, that must look for aid not only to the piety of its present sons, but to the learning of its future supporters; amongst whom we may fairly reckon such men as Mr. Seager, who, having devoted his son to the service of religion, has a right to look forward to some better preferment than a living in Wales, scarcely sufficient to keep the wolf from the door.

"neither beginning of days nor end of life."

"It is no more repugnant to our reason, to believe Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to be three distinct persons, and yet one God, than to believe in the Existence of a Being single and uncompounded, but of which we are not at all more capable of imagining the nature; unoriginated, incapable of dissolution, the cause of all things, except its own existence, which alone was without cause. And indeed, it may be here observed, by the way, that the very absence of a cause is as incongruous to reason as the greatest mystery which religion can offer to our belief.'

In a subsequent discourse on the wages of sin, the following queries are strikingly put, and form, in fact, one of the best answers to the objector, against an eternity of future retribution.

"Do not let us imagine, that uniform and persisting sin can receive an adequate punishment in this world. If we die in such sin, is it natural that we should rise again in righteousness? What can there be in the grave to purify the unregenerate soul for the paradise of God?"

We regret to find this appeal on behalf of scriptural truth succeeded by the following dubious sentence.

"God will therefore everlastingly punish, where his love is not propitiated by repentance and righteousness of life."

And again,

"And this must ever be the case with guilt, which has never been expiated by contrition, &c."

Now, referring to other portions of this volume, we are led to hope that these sentences (open, to say the least, to possible misconstruction) are merely the result of a lapsus pennæ, or at worst, of a momentary inaccuracy of phraseology. But we would beg respectfully to inquire of the reverend author, whether he may not find some hearers, and some readers, who might infer from such sentences the very unscriptural notion that man can expiate the sins of man?

It is true, that in other passages Mr. Caunter dwells with christian eloquence on the undeserved mercy of God, in the provision of a Redeemer as the sole medium of acceptance between an offended Creator and a trangressing creature; but why lay himself open to the charge, either of