Then stamping his foot, did the monster exclaim,
"Now I brave, cruel Fairy, thy scorn!"
When lo! from a chasm unfathom❜d there came
A small tiny chariot of rose-colour'd flame,
By a team of ten glowworms upborne.

Enthron'd in the midst on an emerald bright,
Fair Geraldine sat without peer;

Her robe was the gleam of the first blush of light,
And her mantle the fleece pf a noon-cloud white,
And a beam of the moon was her spear.

In a voice that stole on the still charmed air,
Like the first gentle accent of Eve,

Thus spake from her chariot the Fairy so fair :

"I come at thy call.....but, oh Paint-King! beware,

Beware if again you deceive.”

"'Tis true," said the monster, "thou queen of my heart!

Thy portrait I oft have essay'd;

Yet ne'er to the canvass could I with my art

The least of thy wonderful beauties impart :
And my failure with scorn you repaid.

"

"Now I swear, by the light of the Comet-King's tail!" And he tower'd with pride as he spoke,

"If again with these magical colours I fail,
The crater of Etna shall hence be my jail,
And my food shall be sulphur and smoke."

"But if I succeed, then, oh! fair Geraldine!
Thy promise with rapture, I claim,
And thou, queen of Fairies, shalt ever be mine,
The bride of my bed; and thy portrait divine
Shall fill all the earth with my fame."

He spake; when, behold the fair Geraldine's form
On the canvass enchantingly glow'd;

His touches, they flew like the leaves in a storm;
And the pure, pearly white, and the carnation warm,
Contending in harmony, flow'd.

And now did the portrait a twin-sister seem

To the figure of Geraldine fair:

With the same sweet expression did faithfully teem

Each muscle, each feature; in short, not a gleam
Was lost of her beautiful hair.

'Twas the Fairy herself! but, alas! her blue eyes

Still a pupil did ruefully lack;

And who shall describe the terrifick surprise

That seiz'd the Paint-King, when, behold, he descries
Not a speck on his palette of black!

"I am lost!" said the fiend, and he shook like a leaf;
When, casting his eyes to the ground,
He saw the lost pupils of Ellen with grief
In the jaws of a mouse, and the sly little thief
Whisk away from his sight with a bound.

"I am lost!" said the fiend, and he fell like a stone: Then rising the Fairy in ire,

With a touch of her finger she loosen'd her zone,
(While the limbs on the wall gave a terrible groan !)
And she swell'd to a column of fire..

Her spear now a thunder-bolt flash'd in the air,
And sulphur the vault fill'd around:

She smote the grim monster; and now by the hair
High lifting, she hurl'd him in speechless despair
Down the depths of the chasm profound.

Then waving, with smiles, o'er the picture her spear,
"Come forth!" said the good Geraldine;
When, behold, from the canvass fair Ellen appear !
In feature, in person more lovely than e'er,
With grace more than ever divine!

STAY, stay, sweet vision, do not leave me,
Soft sleep, still o'er my senses reign;

Stay, loveliest phantom, still deceive me,,
Ah! let me dream that dream again.
Thy head was on my shoulder leaning,
Thy hand in mine was gently press'd;
Thine eyes so soft, so full of meaning,
Were bent on me, and I was bless'd.
No word was spoken, all was feeling,
The silent transport of the heart :
The tear, that o'er my cheek was stealing,
Told, what words could ne'er impart.
And could this be but mere delusion?
Could fancy all so real seem?
Sure fancy's scenes are wild confusion;
And can it be I did but dream?
I'm sure I felt thy forehead pressing,
Thy very breath stole o'er my cheek;
I'm sure I saw those eyes confessing
What the tongue could never speak.
Ah! no! 'tis gone, 'tis gone, and never
Mine such waking bliss.can be:
Oh! I would sleep, would sleep for ever,
Could I thus but dream of thee.

FOR

DECEMBER, 1809.

Librum tuum legi et quam diligentissime potui annotavi, quae commu tanda, quae eximenda, arbitrarer. Nam ego dicere verum, assuevi Neque ulli patientius reprehenduntur, quam qui maxime laudari mePLIN.

rentur.

ART. 17.

The Old Covenant, commonly called the Old Testament; translated from the Septuagint. By Charles Thomson, late Secretary to the Congress of the United States. 3 vols. 8vo. Philadelphia, Printed by Jane Aitken, No. 71, North Third Street. 1808. 4th vol. contains the N. T.

THE name of Charles Thomson is familiar to every American reader, as the Secretary of Congress during the Revolution. It now presents itself in the title page of a translation of the scriptures; where, though it does not carry the same kind of authority as at the foot of an official document, yet it excites no little interest among those, who know that the present work is the fruit of more than twenty years labour of this venerable old man. As we have no notices of the author's life, and as the work is ushered into the world without even an advertisement or a note, we are compelled to examine it without those preliminary aids, which are almost indispensable to the forming of a correct estimate of its peculiar character and value.

The first question in the mind of an unlearned reader, upon hearing of this translation would be, what is the Septuagint, which is now presented to us in an English dress? We shall first attempt to answer this question, that we may prepare ourselves and our readers for the examination of the work.

The Septuagint is the most ancient Greek version of the Hebrew scriptures. It received and has absurdly retained this name, from the Jewish fable which has been too currently believed respecting its origin. We are told by Aristeas, Josephus, and Philo, that Ptolemy Philadelphus wishing to enrich the library at Alexandria with an edition of the laws of Moses, which he could not read in the original, procured seventy or

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seventy two Jewish elders to come and reside in Egypt, and execute the translation. While they were performing their task, they were shut up in separate cells in the island of Pharos; and when they had finished it, they were found to have miraculously produced each the same version verbatim & literatim. The christians, who have always been the dupes of Rabbinical fables, believed this Jewish fiction, and for many ages considered the version thus made as inspired, and not less authentick than the Hebrew original. Jerom gave great offence by first calling it in question. If it needs confutation in the minds of any of our readers, they will find it sufficiently exposed in Hody, Prideaux, and many modern authors......All that can be regarded as certainly known, or rather as very highly probable respecting the Greek version, is, that it is the work of different translators, and at different times. This is incontestably evident from the great diversity of style, different degrees of accuracy, and various modes of translating the same words, which are discoverable in the different books. It is also generally agreed, that of these, the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses, was translated with great care in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, about two hundred and eighty years before Christ; probably for the use of the Hellenist Jews; and by Alexandrians, assisted, perhaps, by some Jews from Palestine. The other books were all translated between that period and the birth of Christ; but where, by whom, or at what particular æra we can form in general only vague conjectures. The most probable supposition is, that they were translated in consequence of a prohibition of Antiochus Epiphanes to read the Law in the synagogues.

However this may be, the Greek version was certainly of very great authority with the Hellenist Jews; and it was even read in their synagogues instead of the Hebrew, which they did not understand, till the early christians in their controversies, employed it advantageously against the Jews themselves; proving from it by the most irrefragable arguments, that their expected Messiah must have already come in the person of Jesus Christ. From this time the Jews began to depreciate it; to appeal to the original; and even to make alterations in this version; a charge which is strongly maintained by Dr. Owen in his "Brief Enquiry," and "Modes of Quotation." From whatever cause their aversion originated, the fact is certain, that before the end of the first century, the Septuagint version was cried down by every Jewish writer, and expelled from every synagogue. To supply its place, they procured other versions to be made by the Jews, Aquila and Theodotion. The former of these, of which only a few fragments have been preserved, was extremely literal. The latter, which was less literal, was so well received, that in the whole book of Daniel it has been preferred to the Septuagint, and is still found

in our Greek bibles...... At the beginning of the third century appeared the more elegant version of Symmachus. If we may believe Eusebius, from a Samaritan he had become a Jew, and from a Jew an Ebionite: this was a sect sometimes reckoned among Jews and sometimes among Christians. In their communion and for their use he composed his version. It has been deservedly praised by christian writers; and no good reason can be assigned for its not having been more generally adopted, but that the author belonged to a sect, which was equally hateful both to Jews and Christians.

Besides these Greek versions of the Old Testament, threeothers are mentioned by the ancient fathers, called the fifth, sixth, and seventh, of which, however, little is known. All the versions we have mentioned, were collected by Origen, and placed, together with the Hebrew text, in his famous Hexapla, The Septuagint, however, as it was called, preserved a standard authority among the christians; while we have remaining a few fragments only of the other versions. The Septuagint version, which, as we before hinted, had been considerably corrupted, Origen undertook to restore in his great work. The authority of this great man soon made every one, who was possessed of a Greek bible, revise his own copy in manuscript, by the Hexaplar standard. From this, incredible confusion' ensued in the copies of the Septuagint; and as, most unfortunately, a copy of the Hexapla has not come down to us, it is impossible to discover, at the present day, what was the text as edited by Origen. There were afterwards other editions of this text, bearing the names of Lucian, Hesychius, &c.; but from what edition the particular manuscripts now extant are derived, and what manuscript differs least from the old version, it will also be impossible to determine, till the existing MSS. be collated and compared. This great desideratum in sacred philology was in a fair way of being obtained, till the death of the late Dr. Holmes interrupted the progress of the collations, and of the publication of the splendid edition, which he had undertaken. We have reason to hope, however, that this grand design will not ultimately fail. Surely it cannot in a nation, which has already derived so much honour from the labours of Kennicott. In the mean time we must make the best use we can of the common printed editions.

Of the Greek version then, there are four different edited exemplars; the Complutensian, the Venetian, the Roman, and the Oxford The two former are hardly to be found in this country; and are not, perhaps, to be entirely depended on as faithful copies of any known manuscripts. (See the preface to Breitinger's edit.) The Roman edition of 1587, is principally taken from the famous Vatican Manuscript at Rome; and is in the opinion of many, the most genuine copy of the old Greek version, that has yet been published. Dr. Holmes adopted it