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soning by which it is introduced, and to which it leads, in Baptista Porta and in Dr. Lind. That Lord Bacon had in view what is contained in the writings of the former, will admit of no doubt: the very order of his observations shows it. What induce ment others may have had to employ various substances, either in order to render the distillation more effectual, or as a colour for obtaining the praise of novelty or ingenuity of discovery, would be scarcely worth while to inquire; or whether the College of Physicians, who are stated to have "thoroughly examined and approved Appleby's easy and expeditious method of rendering sea water fresh by distillation, with lapis infernalis and bone ashes," meant to express any opinion with regard to the particular of originality, it is not my present business to speak of. But it does certainly appear very extraordinary, that Dr. Lind, who, when writing "on the Scurvy," had manifested so much industrious research, and had taken the pains to run through most of the antient authors who had even alluded to the subject under consideration, should, on the present occasion, in an affair of so much consequence to his own reputation, as well as the benefit of the public, and especially when the claim to the discovery was disputed-it is, I repeat it, very extraordinary indeed, that he should have omitted to refer to either of the authors by whom the process which he describes had been previously noticed. And it is almost as strange that neither the members of the Royal Society, nor any other person, at the time (so far as appears), seems to have been acquainted with the passage above adduced, in proof of there being "nothing new under the sun. VIATOR.

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a more than ordinary quantity and variety of business ever since. I am extremely far from being a master of Hebrew Literature: but in such degree as my leisure will permit, I am very desirous of being a learner from whomsoever I can, and willing to communicate my thoughts upon what is mentioned to me, in hopes of fuller information.

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"I have read Dr. Newton's three volumes; and esteem them and him very much. But I am not convinced of what the late Bp. Clayton, if I remember right, advanced before him, that in the prophecy of Noah, we ought, instead of Canaan, to read Ham, the father of Canaan. The Arabick version is not of sufficient antiquity or authority to have weight in this case. And though some old copies of the Septuagint had xap, v. 25; yet, as they had xavaav, v. 26, 27, and the most and best have this latter throughout, in which the Samaritan, Syriack, Chaldee, and Vulgate Latin, agree with them, it seems probable that the former was either an abbreviation, or an error; especially as the sense of the present text is very good, if we explain it, as Mr. Kennicott hath done, vol. I. p. 558, &c. that God foreseeing the wickedness of which Canaan's posterity would be guilty, and the misery which it would bring upon them, punished Ham by making it known to him. God may certainly chuse his own punishments: and this, for aught we know, might be a very heavy one.

"If Noah's prophecy be in metre, I am ignorant what that metre is: and dare not lay stress enough on Bp. Hare's hypothesis, concerning which see Dr. Lowth, to alter the text on its authority.

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'jaw is often used of human dwellings in the Old Testament, and w sometimes. The Septuagint have σκηνόω but once, Gen. xiii. 12, and then concerning Lot. In the fragments of the other Greek interpreters, it relates twice to God's Tabernacle, and twice not. Noah might, therefore, with equal propriety of language mean, that God, or that Japhet should dwell amongst or in

the tents of Shem.

"If the latter sense be taken, it must be owned Shem hath no particular blessing allotted to him, which Japhet

Japhet hath. But Shem hath a ge neral blessing, which Japhet hath not, if the words be translated, as I apprehend they well may, without any change of a letter, but only of a vowel-point, Blessed of the Lord my God be, or is, Shem. And a general blessing comprehends more than the particular one of a large extent of country. Indeed, perhaps the mention of dwelling in the tents of Shem, as a privilege, may imply that the blessing of Shem was superior to that of Japhet.

"If can express the singular number, as it doth Ps. xliv. 15, if it be the true reading there, and as by doth, Job xx. 23, and both it and ', Job xxvii. 23; then, Canaan shall be, &c., is as necessary at the end of v. 27, as of v. 26. It is not, indeed, strictly speaking, necessary in either, having been foretold: in effect, v. 25.

"But if must be plural, the strict adherers to the present text will say that the words Shem and Canaan include their posterity, and therefore the plural is proper.

"And if that be not satisfactory, the smallest change that can be made is that which alone Houbigant hath made in this passage, changing the first 12 into 15, agreeably to the Septuagint and Vulgate, both which have the singular number. Then indeed, after saying, v. 26, that Canaan shall be Shem's servant, it is said again, v. 27, that he shall be both Shem and Canaan's servant, But this also might be avoided by changing the second too into 15, agreeably to the Vulgate, and some copies of the Septuagint; which would be a much less alteration, than leaving out the latter part of v. 26, and transposing thither the middle part of v. 27, contrary to all copies and versions; to say nothing of the addition of s", which you might

omit.

"By thus understanding or changing, the prophecy may be understood of God's dwelling in or among the tents of Shem, as you propose. And though then the blessing of Japhet will be inserted between the two parts of the blessing of Shem, yet full as great seeming deviations from strictness of method are found elsewhere in Scripture; and there will

be no appearance of deviation from it, if instead of and he shall dwell, we translate, as we may, but he shall dwell. For then the prophecy will stand thus:-Blessed of the Lord is Shem; or, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, for his distinguished goodness to him. God will give Japhet a large inheritance; but he will do more for Shem, he will dwell amongst his tents.

"Still, indeed, if we translate,→ Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, what follows, And Canaan shall be his servant, comes in rather harshly. And that is one reason for which I incline rather to the other Version One might translate,-For Canaan shall, &c. as you do, For he shall pitch. And so it would be a thankful acknowledgment of the wisdom and justice of Providence, in making an evident distinction between good families and bad ones. Many things in all Eastern writings appear to us abrupt. But the punishment of the wicked descendants of a wicked progenitor would naturally both break into the middle of Noah's words, and be repeated in them..

"I only propose these things to your consideration, leaving you to the full the same liberty of judging which having designed to present me with I take myself. When you speak of a new translation of the Book of Psalins, I hope you do not mean, by making a dedication of it to me; for look into such pieces of Hebrew I accept of none. But I generally in our own country; and by what I learning especially, as are published remember of your Deborah and Habakkuk, I should expect your Psalins to excel them both. Upon the whole, I think an attention to the text of the Old Testament is reviving amongst us: and persuade myself, that it will not be very long before you find encouragement to publish the work which you have prepared. In the mean while you may be very usefully employed in revising and improving it. New interpretations and conjectural emendations of texts are apt to please the authors of them so highly at first, that they have usually need of no small time and reflexion to judge impartially concerning them.. I believe our printed copies of the Hebrew Bible to be in many places faulty: but many of the guess-work

corrections

corrections of them seem groundless: short any verse of it may or may not and I am afraid, that multiplying these rashly, may have very bad consequences. Perhaps, studying the language more deeply, would often enable us to extricate ourselves from difficulties, leaving the text to stand as it doth, or altering it less. And sometimes a passage may appear indefensible, as it is now read, merely because we are unacquainted with the circumstances of the case: while yet we may justly suppose there were such as would, if known, have cleared up the matter; nay, even may be able to specify possible if not probable ones of that kind. More things will readily occur to your thoughts on this subject. I write in much haste just what suggests itself to me; and can only add, that I am, with the best wishes,

"Sir,

"Your loving brother,
THO. CANT."

Lambeth, Sept. 28, 1761. "I thank you for the Letter with which you have favoured me; but can give you my thoughts upon it no otherwise than briefly. I dare neither add nor strike out, nor alter words, nor even the order of words, on little or no ancient authority, merely to make the sacred Text appear what seems to me more beautiful or methodical, or less exceptionable, where it is already fairly defensible. And if we condemn and alter passages too hastily, infidels will with pleasure adopt our condemnations, but dispute our corrections, and esteem the Bible less than they did before: besides, that many good Christians will be offended, and some be at a loss what they may depend I esteem greatly what Dr. Grey hath written, particularly on the last words of David, though I think it may be improved. And I am sorry if he wants encouragement, which I never heard before, to publish any thing further, which he hath in readiness. But I confess that neither Bishop Hare nor he hath satisfied me concerning the Hebrew metre; nor, I fear, will any other hypothesis. On what ground Noah's prophecy is allowed by all to be delivered in verse, I know not; much less how

on.

Dr. Thomas Secker, Abp. of Canterbury; died 1768.

be. The translation of Gen. ix. 26,
which I have proposed, I think, is
sufficiently supported, even in re-
spect of the order of the words, by a
like phrase, Deut. xxxiii. 13. And
if it were not so supported, it would
still be a less bold attempt, than the
transposition which you propose. I
had some correspondence with Mr.
Heath; but no reason to suspect that
no bookseller would undertake pub-
lishing his edition of the Psalms. I
rather imagine that he had not finish-
ed his Work when he became bank-
rupt, soon after which he died. His
Job, as you say, is not a contemptible
work: but surely he should have be-
stowed much more thought upon it
than he did. I would by no means
have you led by what I wrote in my
last, to run any risque of an expence,
which may be inconvenient to you.
But if, without regard to that, you
determine to publish, I heartily wish
For I am fully per-
you success.
suaded of your good intentions in
your undertaking; and hope you
will think as favourably concerning

those of

"Sir,

"Your loving brother,

66 THO. CANT."

Lambeth, Jan. 3, 1763. "I intended to have thanked you long before this time for the present of your Book, and favour of your Letter. I intended also to have carried my observations upon it further; but I have not found leisure, and know not when I shall. Therefore I send you these hasty notes, to shew you that I have looked a little way into it with some attention. To specify the places, where I agree with you, as I do in many, I thought would be of no use. I am, with much regard,

"Your loving brother, THO. CANT. "Psalm ii. 1. wa may well sig. nify in the Psalms, a concourse: and this being often attended with tumult and noise, agrees better with the sense of the word, and Ch. and Syr. than a conspiracy, which is usually secret and quiet.

"Ps. ii. 3. y signifies a Rope, whether fastened to a yoke, or not. See Judg. xv. 13, 14; xvi. 11, 12; Ps. cxviii. 27; Ezek. iii. 25; iv. 8.

See

See also Exodus xxviii. 14. And Princes subjected, though not made captives, might no less naturally speak of the tribute which they were bound to pay, and the restraints under which they were put, as ropes, or even chains, with which they were tied, than as yokes put about their necks. The translation therefore should not have determined the text to this latter sense, but have been literal.

"Ps. ii. 7. is very commonly in Chaldee, and usually in Syriack, the mark of the accusative; and both it and are so in the Hebrew many times. See Nold. And D is joined with, Ps. Ixix. 7, as p' is, Ps. xxxviii. 19. Therefore, the present reading and vulgar translation may stand; or the words may be translated-I will declare, O God, the decree. And some, perhaps, rather than alter into, would put after pn, and translate-I will declare the Decree of God. And thus the Sept. seems to have done; for it hath both Kups, which is often the translation of, and afterwards, Kupios. "Ps. v. 3. Is not transposing the parts of this period taking a needless liberty?

"Ps. v. 5. As the derivatives from , which have 1 after the first radical, do in general signify madness or folly; and the three which you mention may signify it, there seems no need to change the sense into boasting.

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" signifies to perform or do. It is used of doing good, Ps. xv. 2; Zeph. ii. 3. And when used of doing evil, it is joined with my, Job xxvi. 33, where it cannot signify Idolatry; and Job xxxiv. 32, where it scarce can; and with DW, Hos. vii. 1; and with, Mich. ii. 1; where surely Idolatry is not meant. And there is no cause to think that its signification is restrained to Idolatry, when joined with . No one place requires this; and Prov. xxx. 20, requires a quite

different sense.

"Ps. v. 7. In is not the common sense of . And it seems, from 1 Kings viii. 48, and Dan. vi. 10, that the Jews, when at a distance from the Temple, used to worship towards it. And the Psalmist here may meau GENT. MAG. November, 1819.

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signifies to be שלם

at peace, Job ix. 4; xxii. 21. And hence may signify Him that is at peace with me. Comp. Ps. Iv. 21. "It seems too bold, to give n a sense which it never hath elsewhere, hath not, merely to make the senand which, perhaps, its derivative tence more flowing.

"Ps. vii. 9. May not be pleonastick here, as it seems to be, Ps. xvi. 6; xlii. 5; Hos. xi. 8?

"Ps. vii. 10. If Bp. Hare hath restored Elohun Zaddik to their proper places, Vau should not be omitted. Accordingly, he doth not omit it.

"Ps. vii. 11. Probably the Chaldee adds-with the wicked here to clear the sense; which yet without it is not obscure. These words would hurt Bp. Hare's metre. The Sept. and Syr. reads for s.

"Ps. viii. 2. By strength you understand-strength of argument. The foundation of this strength is not laid in the mouth, but in the works of the Creation, the excellency of which is to be pleaded by words coming out of the mouth. Therefore 12, which all the versions read, and the New Testament authorizes, seems better than 2.

"Ps. viii. 8. Surely-and whatsoever, which is not supported by any one copy or version, if put in at all, should be in Italicks. And you should have given notice, that you had, without any ancient authority,

מים into ימים changed

"Ps. ix. 6. 87 cannot well be the genitive case here. Nor doth it. seem to be so, Ps. xviii. 41; for com

pare Exod. xxiii. 27. It may be put absolutely. As for the enemy, his desolations are ceased. Or it may be the vocative-O Enemy, desolation, &c. Only that would make the change of persons too quick.

" doth not signify with them, but, even theirs. See Numb. xiv. 32; Prov. xxii. 19; xxiii. 15, &c.

"Ps.

“Ps. ix. 12. The meaning cannot well be, that when God inquires after bloodshed, he remembers bloodshed; but that he makes particular inquiry about the shedding of their blood, who rely on him and seek him, who are mentioned a little before.

"Ps. ix. 13. A much smaller change, than putting in a long word, as Bp. Hare proposes, would be changing 'w, by the transposition of two letters only, into 'win, thou who bearest me up, and raisest me from, &c. But I believe the Versions do not favour this. Or it may be supposed, that both words were originally in the text, and that one was dropt by means of its likeness to the

other.

"Ps. x. 3. I believe

hath not

a reciprocal sense, excepting in Hithpahel. It may be translated-curseth and provoketh the Lord.

"Ps. x. 4. Why may not the translation be, without any change of the text, the wicked man- -will not inquire? Or, instead of inserting two words, 18 might be changed into 8, the wicked through haughtiness saith, He, i. e. God, will make no inquiry.

.מנגדו pressed by

“ Ps. x. 6. God's judgments against a man, I think, cannot be exBut that word may signify, what is removed out of one's sight, as the judgments of God, by their sublimity, are from that of bad men.

"signifies not, he blows away, but, he blows upon; or, according to another sense, ensnares.

"The two words which Bp. Hare would leave out, may stand consistently with sense and grammar, as 17 may also, and the whole be translated thus: He seizes on the distressed, when he hath drawn him into his net, and crusheth him. Probably the 2d prasa, in the Sept. should be apάJ, and so Grabe hath printed it.

"Ps. x. 11. I see no authority for translating DIY strength.

"Ps. xi. 4. May you not translate as you do, without altering the place of the verb ?

"Ps. xi. 5. Bp. Hare seems not to have recollected, that DnD signifies coals. Why may not that word be read here? Or, indeed, why may

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“DDI' seems to signify daily, Ezek. Xxx. 16, which sense agrees well here. The ancient versions have the word; and if our old English Translators have it not, the omission was probably accidental.

"Ps. xiv. 5. As you adopt Bp. Hare's metre, why do you reject, without confuting it, his argument from thence for the present reading of this Psalm ?

"Ps. xv. 3. You might have ob served, that ban is never used in Kal, but in this place. But I find not where it signifies to betray the secrets of a friend. In 2 Sam. xix. 27, it signifies to slander; comp. xvi. 3; perhaps, the last clause of this period may signify readiness to believe a bad report, or to spread an unkind though not false one.

"Ps. xv. 1, 6. I think the whole may be David's words.

Ps. xvi. 2. The Syriack omits a, as Bp. Hare doth, and translates, My good is from thee, which may signify, as Ps. Ixii. 8.

"The masculine non would not agree with the feminine nan, and is to be joined with us, to signify who, by a common Hebrew pleonasm.

"Ps. xvii. 4. Doth not your translation make David appear a little pharisaical?

"Ps. xvii. 9. Perhaps wa '' means my enemies in their soul. See Ezek. xxv. 6, 15; Ps. xxvii. 12; xli. 3.

"Ps. xvii. 10. I do not find that ban signifies a net. Nor doth David in the rest of this Psalm represent himself in so desperate a condition as that of being shut up in one. Mudge translates, They draw close their cords. But this would put him in a condition almost as bad. And

Mr.

20 doth not signify, to draw close. la pyhal, it signifies to be shut up or

inclosed;

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