ADDRESSED TO THE HIGHER AND LITERARY BY THE REV. G. TOWNSEND, A. M. OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. PRINTED BY A. J. VALPY, TOOKE'S COURT, CHANCERY LANE. SOLD BY J. HATCHARD, 190, PICCADILLY. 1819. TO THE HIGHER AND LITERARY CLASSES OF SOCIETY. WH HEN the noble and the learned author of the Edipus Judaicus determined to confine his wonderful discovery of the real sense of the Hebrew Scriptures, no longer to the walls of his study, and the circle of his friends; he made his appeal to you, Gentlemen, as the proper tribunal to decide on its merit, and pretensions. Among you his book has been extensively circulated. It is purchased with eagerness, when accidentally exposed to sale: it still excites among you, great attention, and gives rise to frequent conversation. Under these circumstances, I have been much surprised that none of its numerous admirers have applied the principles of reasoning adopted by Sir William Drummond to the elucidation of other Histories, than those in the Old Testament. Seven years have elapsed since it was first submitted to your approbation, yet its author has never been congratulated by any of his friends, or followers. Entertaining, as I do, an equal respect for his candor, his courage, his moderation, his ingenuity, and the useful object to which he has devoted his time, his talents, and his learning; I trust he will permit me to assure him, that I consider his discoveries too valuable and meritorious to be reserved only for the literary world. The public in general always have been, and ever will be interested in the opinions of their superiors; and I wish therefore to gratify their curiosity, and enlarge the peculiar fame of Sir William Drummond, by proving to them, on his principles, You being my Judges, that they have as much misapprehended the sense of History, as that of Scripture; and that there is equal reason to believe the twelve Cæsars to be the twelve Signs of the Zodiac, as that the narratives of the Hebrew Scriptures are a collection of astronomical emblems. It has repeatedly been made a subject of applause, that our countrymen have ever shown themselves averse to new plans, new systems, and new theories, whether in politics or religion. Sir William Drummond, therefore, must be content on this account to observe the very slow progress which his novel and |