address from the pen of Samuel Clarke, and dated from "his study in Threadneedle street, July 27, 1654. He thinks fit to tell the christian reader that "besides the golden eloquence, sweet similitudes and fitly applied histories, which thou shalt find interwoven through all this work, thou shalt meet with more, for exposition and opening of the difficult texts, in this, than in most of his former commentaries...... Besides, the author is now grown aged, and so better experienced in this kind of writing than formerly." Never surely was an author more happy in availing himself of historical facts and passing events in illustrating scripture. Thus, on Ezek. xvii. 3. "A great eagle with great wings."...... Monarchs, as eagles, have quick eyes, long talons, fly high pitches, aim at great matters, strive to get above all others, chuse themselves high and firm seats...... The Spaniard was well laughed at by captain Drake and his forces, when they took Sancto Domingo, 1585, and found in the town-hall the king of Spain's arms, and under them globe of the world, out of which issued (not a wellplumed eagle, but) a flying horse, with the inscription, Non sufficit orbis. We could not so well bridle his pegasus at Sancto Domingo, (yet we put a stop to him at Jamaica,) but we have lately pulled his plumes in Flanders to some purpose, by gaining from him Dunkirk, (now held by the English) and likewise Berghen, another place of great strength, now held by the French, the good news whereof came to us yesterday, being June 27, 1658. Praised be the holy name of God for ever." So on Nehemiah xiii. 12.-" Then brought all Judah. Then, when there was no other remedy. There must be compulsory means, or ministers shall be poorly maintained......If once they be brought to live upon the people's benevolence, they shall have a poor life of it. Once (in times of popery) there was need of a statute of Mortmain, providing that they should give no more to the church. But now 'tis otherwise these last and worst times have seene the springs of bounty, like Jordan, turned back; which heretofore did run so fresh and fast into the church. Our statesmen have ministers' maintenance now under debate; and much lifting there is by a levelling party, (not without a Jesuite to help them) at tythes and college-lands. The Lord direct our rulers, and preserve us out of the hands of these hateful harpyes." A note in the margin says, "this was written July 30, A.D. 1653." In his note on Romans xiii. 6. he com2D. SERIES, NO. 5.-VOL. I. mends the diligence of "the present parliament." In the margin are these words, "this was written an. 1646." He remarks: "The parliament in the 25th of EdwardIII. is known to posterity by the name of benedictum parliamentum; so shall the present parliament, for the continual attendance upon the Lord's work, bending themselves to the business, (as the word signifies) and holding out therein with unparalleled patience." But what can be more uncertain than political speculations? Mr. Trapp alludes here to the long parliament, for his note was written three years before the death of Charles I. The word "parliament" in my copy is underscored, and, after the note, I find this entry in quaint-looking writing: "If he means the parliament then of England, he is deceived, for they were most of them deservedly hanged." On the transactions of that period there will perhaps ever be a diversity of opinion. No character is more familiar to the readers of our immortal dramatist, than that of Justice Shallow, who is allowed to have been founded on that of Sir Thomas Lucy. The vanity, pedantry, and garrulity of the county magistrate certainly render him in Shakspeare's hands an object of" continual laughter." The cause of the poet's resentment need not be related; but whatever might have been Sir Thomas's defects, the following note of Mr. Trapp, on Matt. viii. 6. portrays such of his excellencies as his greatest enemies might be happy to have ascribed to them. "Lord, my servant lieth at home," &c. Not thrown out of doors, nor cast sick into a corner, to sink or swim, for any care his master would take of him: No, nor left to be cured at his own charges. The good centurion was not a better man than a master. So was that renowned Sir Thomas Lucy, late of Charlecot in Warwickshire, to whose singular commendation it was in mine hearing preached at his funeral, and is now since published by my much honoured friend, Mr. Robert Harris, that (among many others that would dearly miss him) a houseful of servants had lost, not a master, but a physician, who made their sickness his, and his cost and physic theirs. Or, as (mine alter ego) mine entirely beloved kinsman, Mr. Thomas Dugard, expresseth it in his elegant epitaph, "His servants' sickness. was his sympathy, and their recovery his cost." But what I most of all admire in Mr. Trapp, is his skilful diligence in ascertaining, illustrating, and establishing the literal and connected sense of scripture. His prodigious scholarship and diversified reading, are honestly and indefatigably pointed to this great object. At the same time he is one of those observant authors, that imbodies in his pages he ideas of his own, as well as those of all former times. Never, surely, was a writer more successful in illuminating the darkest passages, and turning to practical account such as escape an ordinary reader. His well-furnished mind cashiered every thing like prosing and prolixity. Though his theological views are occasionally tinctured with Calvinism, we observe no wresting of the scriptures to support any hypothesis. He removes difficulties, that holy writ may inform the head, and mend the heart. Should any be disposed to lay undue stress on passages apparently favourable to high Calvinism, they would do well to keep others in view of a contrary tendency. Thus, on Eccles. viii. 8.—“He is the Saviour of all men, 1 Tim. iv. 10-not of eternal preservation, but of temporal reservation, that his elect may lay hold on eternal life, and reprobates may have this for a bodkin at their hearts one day, I was in a fair possibility of being delivered." This appears to have been one of his standing sentiments, as appears from his note on 2 Thess. i. 8. "And that obey not the gospel: This is the grand sin of this age, John iii. 19. No sin will gripe so in hell as this. This will be a bodkin at the heart one day-I might have been delivered; but I have willingly cut the throat of my poor soul, by refusing those rich offers repeatedly made to me in the gospel." On the whole, with all deference to the invaluable labours of others since his time, I cannot but think Mr. Trapp's commentary deserving a place among those of the first class-it ranks high in my estimation, as the most excellent I ever consulted for every thing a work of the kind should be. Every preacher, in particular, who feels it incumbent on him to inculcate the true sayings of God, and who deserves the character of "preacher and expounder of God's holy word,” will find in Mr. Trapp the richest assistance. It would be an undertaking worthy of an age in which the grammatical sense of holy writ is appealed to as the test of religious doctrine, to perform an act of justice to the memory of this admirable writer, by removing some passages rather adapted to his day than the present; exchanging some words now obsolete for others more modern; and presenting the five portable folios to the public in a form calculated for general purchase and perusal. JOHN CALLAWAY. St. Austell, Cornwall. HISTORY OF NAVIGATION. THE antiquity of naval architecture is proved in the oldest and most authentic of all records. Now, it is not to be supposed that the structure and use of the ark would be soon forgotten, by the descendants of those who were preserved by it from the devouring flood. Vast and wonderful as the vessel was, it demonstrated the practicability of transporting persons and goods from one shore to another. If, therefore, necessity be the mother of invention, the means, by which the world had been repeopled, could not fail to be remembered with veneration, and consequently to be made an object of imitation under all circumstances, where the adoption of it as a model became expedient. That such was the case is put beyond all doubt, by the religious honours paid to the ark among different nations, widely separated from, and having no intercourse with, each other. Some of these were accustomed to carry about small navicular shrines, and even to build their temples in the form of ships. Diodorus Siculus says, that the Egyptian king Sesostris constructed a vessel which was two hundred and eighty cubits in length; that it was made of cedar, and covered with plates of gold and silver. This extraordinary and magnificent struc ture could not have been intended for a maritime purpose, as the situation in which it stood was the inland district of the Thebais, so named from Thebah, the ark. What is very remarkable, there are yet the ruins of a similar temple still existing near Dundalk, in Ireland. Its form is that of a mutilated galley, and such is the appellation by which it is distinguished among the Irish to this day. The reverence for the ark must have extended its practical use on the element which it may be said to have commanded. Accordingly, we read that "the posterity of Japhet divided among themselves the isles of the Gentiles, every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations," Gen. x. 5. Now, his colonization could not have been accomplished, however near the islands might be to each other, without vessels, and some skill in the management and direction of them, in the day by oars or sails, and in the night by observation of the stars. Thus far, the earliest existing history of those ages enables us to trace the origin of navigation; but of long voyages we meet with no account to be relied on, either as to time or object, till about the reign of Solomon. Here, however, poetry and fable, when cautiously trusted may, serve to enliven the inquiry, if not to supply the defect of evidence. Among the legends of classical antiquity, one of the most famous is that of the Argonautic expedition. The object of this enterprise was to recover from Eetes, king of Colchis, the golden fleece, which Phrixus had consecrated to Mars, after sacrificing to the deity the ram that had conveyed him across the Hellespont, to avoid the wrath of Ino. Pelias, king of Ioleus, fearing that his relative Jason would supplant him in the government, commanded him to sail to Colchis, and bring from thence the fleece, which was under the care of a dragon that never slept. Thus commissioned, Jason employed Argus the son of Phrixus, to build a ship, which was named from him, the ARGO. Every thing being completed, the two adventurers, accompanied by some of the most intrepid Grecian youths, departed with a fair wind from Pagasæ. Previous to embarkation, however, Chiron, a famous astronomer, was consulted, who gave the heroes proper instructions for their guidance, and at the same time, with his daughter Eippo, framed for their use a sphere; but the credit of this invention is given by some writers to Musæus. On this sphere, which was the first ever constructed, the stars were formed into asterisms, that the Argonauts on inspection might with certainty direct their course in this perilous voyage. At the rising of the Pleiades, in obedience to the counsel of Chiron, the adventurers set sail; but with respect to the route they took, either in going or returning, the ancients who have written the history differ greatly. The general account makes them coast along the shore of Macedonia to Thrace, and thence to the Bosphorus. Here were two rocks, called the Cyanean and the Sympligades, which dashed against each other with such violence as to render it nearly impossible for the smallest vessel to pass between them. In this exigency the voyagers let loose a dove, which flew with such rapidity, that the feathers of its tail alone were brushed by the collision of the rocks. Encouraged by this, the Argonauts entered the passage, and cleared it with little damage. On their arrival at Colchis, they demanded the golden fleece; which etes refused, unless Jason would undertake to tame to the plough certain brazen-hoofed fiery bulls, and to sow the ground with the remaining teeth of the serpent slain by Cadmus at Thebes. Such were the conditions required by Hetes, and accepted by Jason, who, with the help of Media, daughter of the king of Colchis, subdued the bulls, escaped the fury of the armed men generated by the teeth of the serpent, and, having laid asleep the guardian dragon, succeeded in carrying off the prize, together with the princess. Hetes, enraged at the loss of the fleece and his daughter, pursued the Argonauts, who, however, escaped by taking a circuitous route, and, on their return home, consecrated, their ship to Neptune. Though this relation is palpably mythological throughout, many writers, both ancient and modern, have treated it as historic truth; and some men, of the first repute for science, have endeavoured to ascertain, by calculation, when the expedition actually took place. Petavius fixed its date in the year 1226 before Christ; while Newton brought it down to the year 937, that is, about twenty-five years after the death of Solomon. On this visionary basis, our illustrious philosopher even formed a system of chronology; to support which, he took infinite pains, by bringing together all the lights that could be obtained from the oldest Greek writers, and the scattered fragments, relating to the Argonauts, that were preserved by different compilers. His principal authority is the unknown author of a work called Gigantimachia, quoted by Clemens Alexandrinus. From such a doubtful source did Sir Isaac draw what has been termed his astronomical argument. Next, it is assumed by Newton, that Chiron, the oracle of the Argonauts, was a practical astronomer, and, either invented the sphere, or was at least the first that disposed the stars into constellations, which he performed for the use of the Argonauts, who were to sail by night. Newton next supposes that Chiron placed his colures so as to pass through the middle of the signs Cancer and Capricorn, over the back of Aries, and through Chela. In the same hypothetic strain, the great calculator takes it for granted that the precession of the equinoxes was unknown in the time of Eudoxus; and that, therefore, when he made the colures pass through the middle of the signs, as Hipparchus says he did, it was no more than supposing that they continued in the same place where they had been originally fixed by Chiron. The conclusion of the argument is, that, as the equinox retrogrades fifty seconds in a year, and one degree in seventy-two years, therefore, by counting back from the beginning of 1690, when the star called Prima Arietis, was in Aries twenty-eight degrees, fifty-one minutes, it will place the Argonautic voyage in the period assigned for it; that is, within one thousand years of the Christian era. Notwithstanding the labour bestowed upon this ingenious scheme, neither the calculations themselves, nor the high reputation of the illustrious author, could keep it up. The foundation was sandy, and every prop, affixed to support the hypothesis, tottered and fell with it to the ground. The passage from Clemens Alexandrinus, on which so much stress is laid, mentions vows and propitiatory sacrifices, in connection with the σκηματα ολυμπs, which Chiron and his gifted daughter Hippo provided: whence it is evident, that instead of planispheres, the Argonauts received horoscopes or astrological configurations, to encourage them in their enterprise; and that nothing else could be meant by the historians and poets who have celebrated this adventure. Thus, the inference from science is demolished at a stroke; and the rest of the history is doomed to a similar fate. The whole tale, in short, is only a poetic and highly coloured allegory or mythos of the renewal of the world by means of the ark, the safety of which was augured in the mission of the dove. But fictitious as the story of this voyage is, in its details it shews the early practice of building and navigating ships; for all fabulous representations are drawn from things and customs in familiar use and observation. Another poetic evidence to the same effect we have in the Iliad and Odyssey. It is beside the present purpose to enter into the history of Homer, or the question so much agitated, of the reality of the Trojan war. It is sufficient for the object of this inquiry, that two of the oldest poems extant are full and accurate in the description of shipping, and the art of practical seamanship. If Homer had not been thoroughly acquainted with nautical affairs, he never could have given such exquisitely painted pictures as he has done; particularly in the adventures of Ulysses, which the learned Bryant conceives, with great reason, to be a veiled history of the poet's own adventures. What, for instance, can be finer than the following representation of the hero when struggling with the waves: Ως αρα μην ειποντ' έλασεν μεγα κύμα και ακρής Δεινον επεσσυμενον, κ. τ. λ. "Just as he spoke, a mighty wave, wide spread, The Phenicians, as they were called by the Greeks, but Canaanites, or merchants, in scriptural language, were certainly the first who discovered the art of navigating vessels. Their situation on the coasts of Syria was peculiarly favourable to commercial pursuits; and Sidon, which was originally their capital, held the entire sovereignty of the Mediterranean sea, till supplanted by its own colony of Tyre. The flourishing state of Sidon soon drew thither numerous emigrants, many of whom became settlers there; but the territory being small, it was found necessary to dismiss some of the new inhabitants, and to establish them in other places. Their first settlements were in the isles of Cyprus and Rhodes. Afterwards they passed successively into Greece, Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain. For a long time their maritime expeditions were confined within the limits of the Mediterranean, but at length they ventured to pass the Pillars of Hercules, or the Straits of Gibraltar, and, being attracted by the convenience of the isle of Cadiz for trade, they took possession of it, and there founded a city, which became the principal emporium of their western commerce. That, among other countries, the adventurous Phenicians visited Britain, is a fact too well established to require any laboured argument. But at what period this intercourse began, is not so easy to determine. Some antiquaries have given it no earlier a date than the fifth or sixth century before the Christian era. This, however, is set aside by the historic fact, that, in the time of Solomon, tin was brought in great quan. tities to Jerusalem. We learn also from Homer, that, the use of this metal, which he calls Karorepog, was familiar among the Greeks before the Trojan war, for he mentions it more than once, in his description of the shield of Achilles. But common as tin was, the country that produced it remained concealed even from the Greeks for many years; and all they knew of the matter was, that it came from certain remote islands which were called the Cassiterides. This ignorance was owing to the extreme caution observed by the Phenicians in the management of their commercial concerns; of which reserve, Strabo relates a remarkable instance. The master of a Phenician ship, perceiving that his course was tracked by a Roman vessel, purposely ran his own ashore, to prevent the trade in which he was engaged from being discovered. The enterprising Romans, however, succeeded afterwards in gaining a share of this valuable traffic; and having opened an intercourse with the inhabitants of the Cassiterides, taught them to improve their resources by working the mines to a greater depth, and carrying the produce to the continent, instead of selling it to foreign merchants. The Cassiterides are commonly supposed to have been the Scilly Islands, which Strabo says were no more than ten in number; though in fact they now consist of one hundred and forty. Now, though we may admit that some or other of this cluster constituted the first objects of Phenician curiosity and enterprise, it is not to be supposed, that a people so active and intelligent as they were, should neglect to visit the opposite shore, or mainland of Cornwall. There, and all along the line of coast to Plymouth Sound, they must have found many capacious harbours, far more convenient for their commercial purposes than any of the adjacent islands. Falmouth, in particular, could not have escaped the observation of these experienced navigators; and that port was, beyond all question, the great depôt to which the natives carried their tin and other commodities, which they disposed of, for money, or in barter, to the foreign traders. From a connexion like this, first with the Phenicians, and next with the Greeks and Romans, the western Britons, or Danmonii, must have acquired the knowledge of many useful arts, and, among the rest, those which related to navigation. When Cæsar landed on the coast of Kent, he found no other vessels in use there, than boats of wickerwork, made of osiers, and covered with skins; whence they had the name of coracles. Such continues to be the structure, and such also is the appellation of the fishing-boats on the rivers in Wales at this day. Now, a traveller that should witness one or two of these simple vehicles on the Wye, or the Towy, and thence infer that the people had no craft of a superior description for a maritime purpose, would reason just as correctly as those writers do, who, upon the authority of Cæsar, conclude that all the Britons were without shipping when the Roman legions landed at the mouth of the Thames. Whatever caution the Phenicians might think it necessary to adopt, to secure the monopoly of the trade of Briton to themselves, it was impossible for them to hinder the people with whom they trafficked, from imitating what they admired and perceived to be of so much practical utility. Ship, building, therefore, though probably in a very limited state, and adapted only to the coasting trade, would be the effect of this intercourse. It deserves to be noticed also, that as the voyages of the Phenicians were necessarily long, their vessels must have stood in need of occasional repair; and sometimes in want of new planks, of masts, and yards. There is upon record a remarkable circumstance in proof, that Britain stood high as a maritime station long before the settlement of the Romans in the island. When Archimedes built that famous ship at Syracuse, which Hiero presented to Ptolemy king of Egypt, they were obliged to procure a mainmast from the mountains of Britain. As this was more than two centuries prior to the expedition of Cæsar, it shews in what repute the island stood among those powers best qualified to estimate its value and importance for naval purposes. But it is time now to follow the Phenicians in another direction. Ever in search of new sources of gain, they extended their dominion to the western coast of Africa, and there founded several settlements, from whence they drew immense riches. But the most extraordinary circumstance in the history of these people, and that which has perplexed all who have undertaken to trace the rise and progress of nautical science is, the account of their circumnavigating the African continent, from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. The circumstance is related by Herodotus, who, however, calls the truth of the story in question, on account of a fact which in reality confirms it. Certain Phenician voyagers, he says, related, that in sailing round the extremity of southern Africa, they witnessed a singular phenomenon, and that their shadow, instead of falling to the north, fell in a contrary direction. This appeared so incredible, and contrary to all experience, that, though the father of history thought it worth while to record what he had heard, he at the same time acknowledges his disbelief of this part of the narration. Yet the very thing which he considered as throwing a doubt upon the veracity of the relators, is now known to all mariners. Notwithstanding this, some great writers of our own country have set the entire story of the Phenician voyage down as a mere fable. Dr. Robertson, in his disquisition on the knowledge which the ancients had of India, decides the point summarily, by saying that the Phenician vessels were too small for such an undertaking; which is a gratuitous assumption, unsupported by any authority, and directly opposed by all that we learn of the expeditions of those adventurous and enterprising people. Dr. Vincent labours the question more like a scholar and a man of science, in his "Periplus of the Erythrean Sea;" though he too discredits the account of the circumnavigation of Africa, in any age before the discovery of the route to India by Vasco de |