this season; for the candle, that is lighted on Yule, must be so large as to burn from the time of its being lighted till the day be done. If it did not, the circumstance would be an omen of ill fortune to the family during the subsequent year. Hence large candles are by the vulgar called Yule candles. Even where lamps are commonly used, the poorest will not light them at this time. Rudbeck informs us, that in the ancient language of Sweden, Iule lins, denotes the candies of Yule, or of the Sun, which on the night preceding the festival of Yule, illuminated the houses of private persons throughout the whole kingdom. The Romans in their Saturnalia, used lights in the worship of their deity. The poor were wont to present the rich with wax tapers. Yule candles are, in the North of Scotland, given as a present at this season by merchants to their stated customers. By many who rigidly observe the superstitions of the season, the Yule candle is allowed to burn out of itself. By others, when the day is at a close, the portentous candle is extinguished, and carefully locked up in a chest. There it is kept, in order to be burnt out at the owners Late-wake. I may observe by the way, that the preservation of candles has been viewed by the superstitious as a matter of great importance. This notion seems to have been preity generally diffused. An Icelandic writer informs us, that a spa-kona a spac-wife, or sybil, who thought herself neglected, in comparison of her sisterhood, at some unhallowed rites observed for fortelling the fate of a child, cried out: "Truly, I add to these predictions, that the, child shall live no longer than those candles which are lighted beside him, are burnt out.” Then the chief of the sybils immediately extinguished one of the candles, and gave it to the mother of the child to be carefully preserved, and not to be lighted while the child was in life. This will remind the classical reader of the brand, on the burning of which depended the life of Meleager: as the lights will remind him of those used in the feasts of Adonis.. Dr. J. has omitted to mention the Yule log, which is an immense block, in many parts of England reserved for making up a blazing fire. The absence of a log of wood is supplied in other places by a coal of extraordinary dimensions. Other customs are also observed at Yule tide. In the morning one rises before the rest of the family and prepares food for them, which must be eaten in bed. This frequently consists of cakes baken with eggs, called Care cakes: a cake for every person in the house. If any one of these break in the toas ing, the person for whom it is baked, will not, it is supposed see another Vule. In the North of Scotland, the men will not labour on Yule day, alledging that "their fathers never, wrought on Yule." The women have a peculiar aversion to spinning on that day, nor will they leave any flax or yarn on their wheels overnight, lest the Devil should reel it for then before morning. In Yorkshire, and other northern parts, they have an old custom after sermion or service on Christmas day, the people will, even in the churches, cry Ule! Ule! as a token of rejoicing; and the common sort run about the street singing Ule, Ule, Ule, Uie. Yule was also introduced with peculiar solemnity. The evening before it was, by the northern nations, called Moedre-nect the Mother Night, that which produced all the rest and this epoch was rendered remarkable, as they dated from thence the beginning of the year, which they computed from one winter solstice to another, as they did the month from one new moon to another. Wormius says, this was also a custom of the Icelanders. They even reckoned a person's age by the num ber of Yules he had seen; and a child born a single day before Yule, is reckoned one year old after it is passed. Something of the same obtains in Scotland, also; and the same principle has been adopted to explain the two year old infants of Bethlehem. To hese observances, many others, extant in England, might be added, to shew the importance attached to this season. The custom of decorating our churches) with evergreens, of sticking in the windows, over the chimnies, &c. branches and sprigs of holly, &c, together with that unhallowed rite which excites puritanic ire, (envy, rather, say sly prac tioners) the kissing of the lasses under the misletoe b.anch. We presume that these extracts justifyour observation that Christmas is a deep" theme for a learned wight to investigate :)and we take our leave of the subject, and of Dr. Jamieson's work, by acknowledg ing the satisfaction with which we baved perused a great number of articles in it and by expressing our confidence that the is public will not fail to estimate his labours › very highly. The Doctrine of the Greek Article; applied to the Criticisms and the Illustration of the New Testament. By T.F.Middleton, A.M. Rector of Tansor in Northamptonshire, and of Bytham in Lincolnshire. pp. 724. Price 14s. bds. Cadell and Davies, London, 1808. 13 the purpose of saving time, and thereby assisting the introduction of a greater variety of matter into discourse. But articles do not abbreviate nouns, they seem rather to abbreviate circumstances, or to hint at them, by, concise and apt allusion. Even the cockneyisms of " this here" and" that there" are abbreviations of this, which is distinguished by the cir cumstance of lying here; " and " that, which is distinguished by the circumstance. of lying there.' To speak of a circuntstance without a subject, would be a seri ous defect in language; to describe every circumstance at length, would be a serious inconvenience. If rapidity and succinctness were indulged till they generated confusion, language must suffer, and knowledge with it. Brevity and discrimination are the wings of language. Brevity alone would become unintelligible: discrimination alone would be tiresome. These appear to be general principles. Those languages that have no article, are defective in perspicuity; often too in force, and application. But it must not be supposed that the article is without its rules in those which possess it, and what were the rules of the Greek language in MR. HORNE TOOKE's idea of "winged words was a happy conception: the expression, indeed, is borrowed from Homer, but the application of it is his own. When Time was young, and subjects of discourse were few, each might be descri-, bed at length, and the speaker might bestow all his tediousness" upon it, without any perceptible disadvantage. But when the articles with which men were conversant, were multiplied, their descriptions respectively, must suffer abbreviation, and the number of subjects to be described, demanded that fewer words should represent each, in order to include the whole. For time was not lengthened, because things were multiplied; words therefore, the representations of things, must be shortened, or some things must be denied their due mention in the dis-reference to the article, which maintains course intended. Hence the shorter terms in language. Like the pins of a tabernacle, they combine the whole structure, though seldom discerned, and to these the master workman pays peculiar attention, however the unskilful and unwise may neglect them. In the present age of the world, we cannot enter into long descriptions in order to convey information that we have seen a certain quadruped, leaping and frisking about-with long mane and tail, à horse; but the term horse" expresses our meaning at once to whoever knows the animal: nor need we embellish our description of a bull, by imitatiye lowing, and butting with our heads, as Omiah did, when recently arrived from Otaheite, where bulls were unknown. The word "bull" in our language excites the idea of the animal with sufficient distinctness. Pronouns, in 'ke manner, are representatives of no; and, ever retaining the purposes of ged words, they are shorter and capab. of more rapid pronun ciation than nouns in general. Articles, too, may be considered as abbreviated representatives, abstrac or epitomes, for VOL. V. [Lit. Pan. Dec. 1808.] an important place in it, is the purport of Dr. Middleton's inquiry, in the volume before us. A few years ago Mr. Granville Sharp published observations on the use of the article, as employed by the writers of the New Testament; this we examined with mingled satisfaction and hesita tion. Mr. Wordsworth followed, in. support of the same principles, and we attentively perused Mr. Wordsworth, who had amassed a collection of instances from the Christian Fathers, with exemplary patience, diligence, and learning. A Mr. Blunt, on the opposite side of the question, we acknowledge we did not read seriously; as that writer did not af fect the character of a serious philologist. Something, however, was yet wanting, for though it was evident, that the usage was so and so, yet the reason why it was so, did not sufficiently appear. Dr. M. has supplied this deficiency: and we consider his labours as of great importance, not merely in New Testament criticism, but in the study of philology at large. His work is divided into two Parts: the first treats of the nature, power, R and restrictions of the article: the second | pressions of the same idea in one propos of its application in the New Testament, sition... as exemplified in notes forming almost a continued commentary, in the order of the books. The article being the symbol of that, which is uppermost in the speaker's mind, is applicable not only to the case of reference to something already mentioned, but also to the person or thing, which is about to become the subject of an assertion for such must at own minds, [the speaker's mind] though the time be the object most familiar to our perhaps most foreign from that of our hearer? Dr. M. also observes : : ཐཱཀ ཀྑཱུ All the insertions of the article are reducible to two kinds, arising out of one property, viz. its anticipative reference for the anticipation must be either of that which is known, or of that which is unknown: in the former case the purpose of retrospective reference, in the the article with its predicate is subservient to latter to that of hypothesis. The article, says the Dr. is employed to express 1. renewed meation. This requires no explanation. 2. Super-excellence: as Thucydides mentions the plague; the war; meaning the celebrated plague of Athens, the famous Peloponessian war and sp we say in English, the Reformation, meaning that from popery; the Revolu tion, meaning that under William III. We scarcely know how to comprise a statement of the principles adopted by our author in his first Part, in a manner due to their importance, yet facile of comprehension to our readers, within the limits our work can allot to the subject. We earnestly recommend the perusal of this volume to every scholar; and heartily do we wish, that Dr. M. by judicious interspersion of renderings into English, bad enabled us to comprehend under this term, in this instance, that numerous body of Christian readers who from very commendable motives obtain some acquaintance with the original of the sacred writings. Let not this be des pised as of small service to knowledge and piety: nor let Dr. M. think lightly of his crime in withholding from whoever may be appointed at some future time, to revise our public version, the assistance they would have derived from the selection of words and phrases adopted by a gentleman who had considered the New Testament with such close attention. Further, on the behalf of the English language, Dr. M. must give us leave to insist that if the English articles will not in every case accurately and adequately express the full power of the Greek, yet by means of a dexterous management of our 3. Almost with the same intention, the this, that, these, those, &c, we can come article marks monades, things of which much nearer to it, than he appears to there can be only one. 4. It has the have imagined. (p. 63.) For instance, sense of a possessive pronoun. 5. It The lxx. read Kings xviii, 39. attends (as it were) the great objects of Kúptos autós is 'O sour trans-nature; the heaven, the sun, the earth, & lators have well expressed this in their "The Lord he is THE God!"-where the power of the English article (no of fence, we hope) is fully equal to that of the Greek. Other places may support the same inference. It is not safe to infer universally, from this use of the article, any thing more, than that the person or thing spoken of is from some cause or other well known: the particular caute may be à subject of further considera tion, says our author. 6. It is frequently prefixed to adjectives of the Neuter Gender, when they mark some attribute or quality in its general and abstract idea. 7. Correlatives, 8. Partitives. These are the divisions of Dr. M's first But, though we find it impossible to section of his third chapter, and may do justice to Dr. M.'s labours, yet we serve to shew the extensive view he has must not wholly omit his leading principle, taken of his subject, This chapter is which is, That the article indicates the very long and important. Toward the sub-intellection of the participle of ex- close of it the author supports Mr. istence where that participle is not ex- Sharp's rule of interpretation in the New pressed, or otherwise implied; but if the Testament, that when attributives coupled participle of existence be expressed or im- together are assumed of the same subject plied, in any word, then the article is the first only has the article prefixed dropped, lest there should be two ex-importing union of the two characters in one person"; "whereas, if the article were prefixed to the second also, it would ime port disunion, and mark a second person. If, for example, Eph. v. 5. we are with Our cominon version to translate Βασιλεία Του Χρισε ΚΑΙ Θεό, in the kingdom of Christ and of God" or Tit. ii. 13, ΤΟΥ μεγάλα Θες ΚΑΙ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησε Χριτέ, of the Great God and (of) our Seriour Jesus Christ," we must in consistence translate also from Plutarch, "Roscius the soa and another person heir to the deceased;" though a Singular Verb follows: and so on in an endless series of absurdities, p. 94. : We may explain this by a well known instance among ourselves. The bishop of Derry on the death of his brother, lord Hervey, inherited his title and now his titles stood "the Right Hon. THE Lord Hervey, Lord Bishop of Derry:" under which phrase should we find an enumération in a list of Dignitaries, we should consider it as denoting one person who united two titles. But should we find in such a list," THE Lord Hervey, THE Lord Bishop of Derry, we should conclude that the writer of the list intended to mark two distinct persons, to each of which one title only belonged. Of such importance, then, is the article, and of such effect is its absence, presence, positition, duplication, &c. in our own language, as well as in the Greek. We might appeal to other confirmations of Dr. M's principal positions which are current among us; for, if Dr. M. would observe the natural language of our countrymen, he would find no want of inferen tial powers in the English article. A: THAT man, they say is mad :\ "THE fellow is downright mad! B. Aye, I thought as much. A. Why the man, whom we took to the watch house, for making a riot last night. Here, it is clear, that A.'s THAT alludes to past ideas, to the circumstance of the riot, &c. in the minds of A. and B, and A. knows, sufficiently well, that his expressson will recal to B's mind, the incidents, their cause, their commencement (if he saw it) and their termination. But the whole is a complete mystery to C. who having no previous acquaintance with the circumstance, is as much in the dark about that man, and THE fellow, as if no such man or fellow, had ever existed. Our English articles are also capable of If Dr. My has ever stood on a shore where were several huts, the inhabitants of each of which had a boat, he may have observed some such language as this, when a lad had got into the boat belonging to his family: "Jack is got into THE boat, and is rowing "but if the lad had got into the boat belonging to another fa mily, the expression would be,- Jack is got into such an one's boat-the article the, in the first instance, in effect recals the circumstance of relation between the boat and Jack's family to the mind of the hearer, as it is an expression of the same idea in the mind of the speak er. In the second instance, there being no such circumstance, the the is inapplicable and should it be adopted (the family having no boat): the hearer would immediately demand further informa tion by inquiring into whose boat ?" Dr. M. will perceive that these instances are in apposition to his a το πλοίον, Math. XIII. 2. and others. Moreover, as somewhat sturdy sons of honest John Bull, we stand up for our native language; determined that it shall dispute with the Greek language, or any other, article by article, rather than yield without a struggle e to an ignoble convention. Dr. M. treats at large on the causes for omission of the article: but these we must pass. The main object of his work being to illustrate the New Testament, the ninth chapter is occupied in vindicating the writers of that division of Holy Writ. We subjoin the following observations in which their competency as writers of the Greek language is stated with less reserve than some have thought necessary. breath different senses of VEμa as, Neither were they natives of a country, where Greek was rarely spoken; nor is it probable that any of them made the acquisition late in life The victories of Alexander and the consequent establishment of the Seleucida produced a revolution in the language of Syria and Palestine.. The Aramaan dialects still, indeed, continued to be in use: but the language of literature and of commerce, and in a great degree, even of the ordinary intercourse of life, was the Greek: without a knowledge of this it was impossible to have any extensive communication. "Greek," says Michaelis, "was the current language in all the cities to the west of the Euphrates:" and Josephus expressly declares, that he had written in his vernacular idiom a work on the Jewish war, of which the Greek work, still preserved, is a translation, " in order that Parthians, Babylonians, Arabians, and the Jews who dwell beyond the Euphrates, might be informed of what had happened." It is. then, manifest, that westward of the Euphrates, a knowledge of Greek was not an accom plishment confined exclusively to the learned and polite, but that it was generally understood, and commonly used by people of all ranks, and must have been acquired in their childhood. In this state of things, therefore, what were we to expect à priori from the writers of the N. T. I speak not of St. Like and St. Paul, of whom Greek was the native language, but of the other evangelists and apostles. It was not, indeed, to be iv. 1." The Desert." Michaelis proexpected, if we reflect on their circumstances and habits of life, and on the remoteness of poses, as the scene of the temptation, the Palestine, that they should write with the desert of Sinai. Strange enough! What elegance of learned Athenians; but I know optics could from thence discover all the not of any reasonable presumption against kingdoms of the region around, and their their writing with perspicuity and with gram-glory?-And by what means did our Lord matical correctness. But what has been here adduced will not apply with equal force to translations; since be, who translates, rarely writes with the same case and correctness, as when he is left enure to himself. Hence it has happened that in quotations from the LXX, in some parts of the Apocalypse, (see Apoc. x. 17.) and in passages rendered from the Hebrew, some license may be observed. In his Second Part, consisting of Notes on the New Testament, Dr. M. follows the order of the sacred books; and not to be wholly listless when the promotion of knowledge and religion is in question, we shall sta e such further explanations, or confirmations, as have occurred to us while this part of the Dr.'s labours was under our perusal. To readers of the New Testament we offer no apology: and the D. we are certain desires none. On Math. i. 18, Dr. M. enlarges on the Chap. ii. 23.-"The Nazarene." We have in our language adopted so many Latinized names expressing countries, Africanus, Italicus, &c. that we should but little scruple writing Nazarenus; it is less exceptionable than the introduction of any article; and to say truth we are not satisfied with any that can be prefixed. For, A Nazarene, does not distinguish the party intended from the mass of Nazarenes, any one of whom might be thus described with propriety; it is not, therefore, strong enough: and, THE Nazarene, is too strong, as it appropriates the appellation exclusively; neither is it a title given to Jesus, in a way of excellence, but of degradation: "THAT Nazarene," might perhaps approach the nearest to critical correctness. Certainly reach the temple at Jerusalem from thence? |