the maxim of Cardinal Mazarin, Let the French fing their catch: in peace, provided they let us do our business.'

Well and good! but it is proper to obferve, that what the king and Voltaire call grofs invectives and horrible things in this performance, is nothing more than the juft ridicule, which the author threw on the pretended philofophers, and their illuftrious protectors. Dr M.

ART. XIII.

D. Jo. JAC. GRIESBACHII Symbola Critica, ad fupplendas et corri gendas variarum Novi Teftamenti Lectionum Collectiones: i. e. Cri tical Collations for the Purpose of compleating and appreciating the various Readings of the New Teftament. By JOHN JAMES GRIESBACH, D. D. and Profeffor in the University of Jen.

Printed at Halle.

T

HIS work, of which only the firft volume is yet published, is intended as a fupplement to the learned author's edition of the New Teftament; in which he had mentioned fome read. ings that had been omitted by Wetftein: these are here collated, and are followed by the readings quoted in the manufcript matginal notes of a copy of the firft edition of Mills's New Tefta ment, preferved in the Bodleian library: they are faid to have been written, partly by Mills, and partly by Hearn: many of them are taken from a Greek manufcript of the New Teftament, cited by the abridged title of Hal: of which Dr. GRIESBACH fays, he can obtain no account. Some of these readings were published as an appendix to Mills's edition, and were thence copied by Kufter and Wetftein. Our collector has also given the readings, that differ from the common copies, in two Latin ma nufcripts in the Harleian library.

Prefixed to thefe collations, is an introductory difcourfe, in which the author has examined the comparative merits of feveral manufcripts of the New Teftament; particularly those which Wetstein has diftinguished by the letters C, D, G, L. In this differtation Dr. GRIESBACH has difplayed much learning and critical acumen; and, on the whole, his diligence, in examining and comparing above 150 manufcripts and printed copies, deferves great praife, even from those who may differ from him concerning certain paffages; but we are forry to find from his preface, that he has, on this account, been treated with abuse, by fome, whofe zeal for particular opinions was greater than their candour or their liberality. To fuch an unchriftian spirit, Dr. GRIESBACH fhews himself greatly fuperior; and his con troverfy with Dr. Woide and Weber concerning the celebrated paffage 1 Tim. iii. 16. is carried on with politenefs, as well as fpirit. Dr. G. maintains that in the manufcript, which Wetstein had diftinguished by the letter C, preferved in the royal library in Paris, and now marked No. 9,

Notum

Notum eft, primam scripturam innumeris in locis mutatam effe ab alia manu rudi et imperita, licet fatis antiqua. Ab hac manu adjectam effe lineolam, qnæ litteris ỌC impofita cernitur, nullus dubitavi, cum præftantiffimum librum tractarem. He juftly obferves that the question here is not, utrum lectio ¿, præferenda fit lectioni os; fed de hoc unice bic difceptari, utra firmioribus nitatur argumentis fententia, eorumne, qui primitus in codice C doc extitiffe autumant, an eorum, qui is a prima manu in hoc libro fcriptum fuiffe cenfent ?'

After giving the arguments of his opponents, and particularly of Weber, together with his own replies, he adds the following obfervation concerning the ftate of the queftion:

• Jam fi ea, quæ in utramque partem difputata funt, colligas, intentaque mentis acie uno quafi obtuta perluftres, patebit tibi, patronos leɛtionis 9:05 neutiquam juftis argumentis eviciffe, lineolam, iç in Jɛoç mutantem, neceffario ipfi librario tribuendam effe, nec poffe eam a correctore recentiore additam videri; fed hoc tantum oftendiffe eos, poffe lineolam litteris OC impofitam ab ipfius librarii manu profe&tam effe. Contra vero probafe nobis videmur, non modo, poffe eam correctori attribui, nec quidquam obftare, quo minus ferius eam additam effe ftatuamus, verum adeffe etiam indicia plufcula nec levia, quæ primitus abfuiffe lineam prodant.'

This question must be decided by the authority of other manufcripts of the Alexandrine clafs, of the verfions and fathers, that follow this edition of the text. If thefe could be produced against him, Dr. G. declares he would own himself convinced; but adds,

• Cum nullum omnino exemplar, quod quidem ad eandem cum noftro familiam referendum fit, pro lectione Sos aperte militet, fed omnia, de quorum lectione certo nobis conftat, lectionis patrocinentur, non probabile tantum, fed certum omnino esse flatuo, librarium noftrum fcripfiffe ös'.

He therefore undertakes to fhew that the codex C is an Alexandrian manufcript, and that all the Alexandrian copies of the earliest times have this reading.

Only three Alexandrian manufcripts are known, in which the text is fufficiently pure to be referred to, as of authority. That which Dr. Woide has lately published, should be excepted in this argument, becaufe his opinion may be fairly fet in oppofition to that of Wetftein, on which Dr. G. infifts. Of the manufcript marked C, we have already given his opinion; concerning the third, which he calls 17, he confirms the affertion of Wetstein, that the word is there written os; he alfo obferves ง that this reading is preferved in the Coptic, Ethiopian, Armenian, and Syriac verfions; and that it was adopted by Cyril, Origen, Clemens, and other Greek Fathers, he fays, is evident from the best copies and editions of their works, and from the tenour of their argument when they quoted the text.

For particular quotations in fupport of this opinion, we must refer our critical readers to the work itself; an attentive perufal

of which, and a comparison of its arguments with thofe of Dr. Woide, are neceflary to form a candid judgment of the controverfy between him and Dr. G. concerning which we presume not to decide. It is a queftion of fact, and not of opinion, nor can we confider it of that importance, which some have fuppofed; for it cannot furely be pretended, that the authority of a doctrine, effential to Chriftianity, can depend on a circumftance fo uncertain as the reading of a fingle paffage: and, when we reflect through what hands the New Teftament has been tranfmitted to us, inftead of being astonished that there fhould be a few inftances of verbal inaccuracy in fome of the copies, we have much reafon to wonder that these inaccuracies are not more numerous, and of greater importance.

ART. XIV.

Sow.

Antwoord op de Vraag Van Teylers Teveede Genootschap, &c. PrizeDiffertation on a Subject propofed by Teyler's fecond Society; ! by JERONIMO DE BOSCH, Senior Clerk in the Secretary's Office in Amfterdam, Member of the Philofophical Society at Haarlem, and of the Dutch Literary Society at Leyden. 4to. 331 Pages. Haarlem. 1788.

THE

HE object of the Society, in the fubject propofed, was to give those Dutch poets, who are unacquainted with the ancient languages, an introduction to fuch an acquaintance with the beautiful and fublime paffages of the Greek and Roman bards, and especially of Homer, as may enable them to tran fuse these beauties into their own works, or to catch the fpirit of these great mafters; and to create new poetical embellifments in the fame style.

To answer this purpose, the work before us was compofed; and the prize was conferred on its author, as a teftimony of the Society's approbation. Its text confifts of the arguments of each book of the Iliad, and is accompanied with notes; in which the most beautiful and admired paffages of the poem are explained and illuftrated. They are judiciously felected, and contain the fubftance of what has been faid on the subject by the best critics, ancient and mo dern. In short, the execution of the plan gives us a high opinion of the author's learning and tafte; but we are by no means convinced that the plan itself is well adapted to answer the end proposed. To thofe who have already formed fome ac quaintance with the writings of Homer, though it should have been only by the medium of a tranflation, thele notes may be of excellent fervice; but to those who have not had this advantage, they will convey a very faint idea of the beauties of the Iliad. We cannot help thinking that the purpose would be more effectually attained by a judicious tranflation of the poem, even

in profe, but much better by one in verfe; and if M. DE BOSCH's poetical talents be equal to his literary abilities, no one can be better qualified, than he is, to render this important service to the unlearned poets of his country. Sow.

ART. XV.

Rapport fait à la Société des Sciences Phyfiques de Lausanne, &c. i. e, Report made to the Philofophical Society of Laufanne, by Meffrs. LEVADE, REYNIER, BERRYHOUD, and VAN BERCHEM, Junior, commiffioned by the Society to inquire into a Cafe of Noctambulation. 12mo. 61 Pages. Laufanne. 1788.

TH

On the

HE cafe here related is curious; but this account of it is calculated rather for the philofophical, than for the medical, reader. The patient, whofe name was Devaud, was a lad between thirteen and fourteen years of age, who, though apparently ftout and robuft, had every indication of an extraordinary irritability of nerves: his fenfes of fmell, tafte, and feeling, were remarkably delicate, and he was fubject to involuntary fits of laughing and weeping. His diforder was very irregular with refpect to the periods of its return; fometimes feveral weeks intervened between the paroxyfms, which, at others, attacked him two or three nights fucceffively. They generally com menced between three and four o'clock in the morning, and fometimes lafted three or four hours. A paroxyfm might be accelerated, or prolonged, by tickling his nofe with a feather, or by whatever caufed a flight irritation of the nerves. evening before the fit, he was generally obferved to complain, after fupper, of a heaviness in his head and eyelids; and his fleep, which was feldom very quiet, was then attended with more agitation than ufual. When the paroxyfm came on, he muttered broken sen tences, in a manner fcarcely intelligible, ftarted up in his bed, then lay down again, till at length he arofe and purfued the ideas which his dreams fuggefted: these were fuch as commonly occur to lads of his age; but he is particularly atraid of thieves and apparitions, and if a story be told relative to either of these, it is certain to influence his dreams, which are observed to be of a more melancholy and terrifying nature, when he eats more than usual at fupper. His recovery is always preceded by a tranquil fleep during two or three minutes, attended, however, with fnoring; after which, he rubs his eyes, and awakes without any recollection of what has happened; but feels himself fatigued, and, fometimes, fick: when the commiffioners faw him, this was accompanied with violent vomiting, from which he foon recovered. To awaken him fuddenly is dangerous, as it has been found to throw him into violent convulfions, from the fright which it occafioned.

Tt3

During

During the paroxyfm, his fmell is very acute, and he expreffes his diflike of any difagreeable odour that is presented to him when fome wormwood wine was offered to him, he said, ' he knew, by the fmell, that it was not the wine he drank at table; fome of the latter being given him, he drank it with avidity; but it rendered him more eager and vehement in his words and actions, and even occafioned involuntary twitches in his countenance. At these times he dreffes himself with great regularity; one night, when his clothes were laid on a large table, intermixed with thofe of others, he perceived the trick that had been played, and complained of it; but a small taper¦ being brought, he was feen to drefs himself with the utmoft exactness. If any one flightly pinches him, he immediately feels ¦ it, unlefs very earneftly employed, and endeavours to strike the offender; but his refentment is directed, not against the perfon who has thus difturbed him, but against the ideal phantom of his dream, after which he will run with great violence round the room, without touching the furniture; nor can he be diverted from the pursuit.

When he wants to look at an abject, he endeavours to open his eyes; but this is not effected without difficulty, nor can he raife the eyelid above a line or two, and his eye appears fixed and dull. When told that any thing is offered to him, he will thus open his eyes, but fhuts them again, as foon as he has taken what was prefented.

In one of his noctambulations, the commiffioners perfuaded him to write an exercife; this happening to coincide with his dream, he lighted a candle, took pen, ink and paper out of his table drawer, and wrote the exercife dictated to him. At another time, he did this of his own accord, and, as he was going to begin, he either perceived, or remembered, that fomething had already been written on the upper part of the leaf, and immediately be gan lower down, where the paper was fair; while writing, he recollected that he had fpelt a word or two wrong, and, inftantly recurring to them, made the proper corrections; if, while he was thus engaged, any thing was held before his eyes, fo as to intercept the light of the candle, he ftill continued to write, and to form his letters with the fame exactness as before; but complained of the interruption. In one of his paroxyfms, he took it into his head to write a piece, confifting of text, round, and running hand, in order, as he faid, to please his mafter. This be performed with great care, taking the proper pen for each kind of writing, and, afterward, afking for a penknife, grafed a blot of ink, that had fallen between two letters, without damaging either of them. When he thus fits down to write, he generally opens his eyes to afcertain the pofition of

the