vented, if it appear that they are not coeval with the letters, nor, consequently, an essential part of the Hebrew Scriptures.

This I shall

now proceed to demonstrate on the very same principle from which I have deduced the originality of the alphabet.

"I have already remarked that every letter, in its first formation, had a proper and significant name, and, consequently, a distinct meaning; and as such names were chosen as could best imprint the shape of each letter on the memory, from the resemblance it bore to the thing by which it was denominated, the proper sound could not be forgotten, nor, in its connexion with other letters, be mistaken, while the language was a living one-especially by those who had learned it from their infancy. Hence, one or more of the Hebrew letters might form as distinct a syllable at first, as they do now with the aid of the vowel points. Spiritus intus alit-that vital principle, to which the poet ascribes so much power, applies also to these letters, and accounts for their peculiar efficacy in this respect; ac

cordingly, grammarians have very properly divided them not into consonants and vowels, but into radicals and serviles, and agreeably to their formation by the organs of speech. The serviles, indeed, have a softer pronunciation than the radicals, particularly the letters " chevi, which some regard as the original vowels of the language; but it should be remembered there are a multitude of words in which none of them occur, These it would be impossible to articulate, were the letters to be considered as mere consonants, like those of other languages.32 But the principle I have mentioned, relative to the original signification of each, and to usage, while the language was a living one, sufficiently accounts for the true reading-not as determined by vowel-pronun

.c& לבב דבר פקד מלך as

32 The truth of this remark may be more readily conceived, if we consider, for instance, how difficult, if not impossible, it is for us to pronounce several of the German names, which we frequently meet with, from the number of consonants they contain, without more than, perhaps, a single intervening vowel to soften their asperity. Yet they who speak that language as their mother tongue find no difficulty in the pronunciation of such names.

'It is this,'

ciation, but propriety and sense. says Dr. Bayly,33 which makes the Hebrew stand distinguished from every other language in the world, and affords a self-evident proof, that Moses, the prophets, and scribes, wrote, not from tradition and common pronunciation, but by divine direction, which alone could preserve the Hebrew, notwithstanding some few Chaldaisms, various readings, and apparent irregularities, so amazingly pure and uniform, from the time of Adam down to that of Malachi, amidst the confusion of tongues, the difference of dialects, and a seventy years' captivity.'

"Thus have I endeavoured to prove, from the history, nature, and principles of the Hebrew language, and particularly its alphabet, that it has unquestionable claims to originality and purity and, as the connexion between the matter of the Hebrew Scriptures and the language that conveys it, is intimate, if not essential, the authenticity of the latter must have considerable weight in establishing the authenticity of the

33 Preface to his Hebrew Grammar, p. 28.

former, and, consequently, in supporting the cause of Revelation and Religion.”

The author closes his volume with a HEBREW VOCABULARY, which he had previously mentioned (p. 46). Speaking of "the originality and permanency of the Hebrew tongue," he says:

"And not only the proper, but the common, names or words of this venerable language, contribute to prove its originality, or, at least, its priority to any other.

"To illustrate this observation, I have selected and arranged such Hebrew words, as, I think, must readily suggest their derivatives in the Greek and Latin languages, and even in our own, from an obvious correspondence in sound and signification; and I doubt not but the same correspondence might be traced between the Hebrew and other languages, both ancient and modern, should any one, competent to the undertaking, take the trouble of comparing them; but as the vocabulary I have made might occasion too great an interruption in this part of my subject, I have placed it at the end of the Essay, for the

sake of such of my readers as may have the curiosity to examine it.

"I am aware, however, this argument,' he adds, "founded on a similarity of names, may be made, as it often has been, a subject of ridicule, and that Swift's idea of tracing the old Trojan and Grecian names to the British Isles may be quoted on this occasion: but, though wit may wanton in such comparisons, it cannot make ridicule a test of truth, nor draw any inference from words that have only some quaint resemblance in sound, to the prejudice of others that have an evident connexion both in sound and sense, and whose affinity historical circumstances enable us to account for."

He takes regularly every letter of the alphabet, and to each of them he gives derivations. A few will suffice to prove the truth of his statement :

Nagar, to gather: hence the Greek αγειρω, Latin

agger.

ohel, a tent or tabernacle-Gr. avλ—Latin aula— Eng. hall.

E