they may have reverenced his memory, they paid little regard to his inftitutions. It is faid, that Cub begat Nimrod. He began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord wherefore it is faid, even as Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the Land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Abur, and builded Nineve, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Refen, between Nineve and Calah, the fame is a great city. We have, in this narration, adds our Author, an account of the first rebellion in the world; and the grounds of this apoftacy feem to have been these. At the diftribution of families, and the allotment of the different regions upon earth, the house of Shem stood firft, and was particularly regarded. The children of Shem were Elam and Afhur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. Their places of deftination feem to have been not far removed from the region of defcent, which was the place of feparation. They, in general, had Afia to their lot, as Japhet had Europe, and Ham the large continent of Africa. This, fays Mr. Bryant, after fpecifying the particular fituation of the fons of Shem, was the original difpofition of thefe families. But the fons of Chus would not fubmit to the divine difpenfation; and Nimrod, who firft took upon himself regal ftate, drove Afhur from his demefnes, and forced him to take fhelter in the higher parts of Mefopotamia. This was part of the country called Aram, and was probably ceded to him by his brother. Here the Afhurites built for their defence a chain of cities, equal in ftrength and renown to those which had been founded by Nimrod. We have, in this detail, an account of the first monarchy upon earth, and of the tyranny and ufurpations which in confequence of it enfued.'

The facred Hiftorian after this mentions another act of a rebellious purpose; which confifted in building a lofty tower with a very evil intent. Moft writers have delcribed this and the former event, as antecedent to the migration of mankind, which they fuppofe to have been from the plains of Shinar. But our Author makes it his endeavour to fhew, that the general migration was not only prior, but from another part of the world. After reciting the fcripture account of the confufion at Babel, and that paffage which reprefents the earth as having been divided in the days of Peleg, he thinks that we may obferve in them two different occurrences, which are generally blended together. First, that there was a formal migration of families to the feveral regions appointed for them, according to the determination of the Almighty: fecondly, that there was a diffipation of others, who ftood their ground, and would not acquiefce in the divine difpenfation. Thele feem to have been

two diftinct events, and to have happened in different places, as well as at different times.

Mr. Bryant makes feveral ingenious and important remarks in confirmation of his opinion, and in objection to the common tranflation of the paffage concerning Babel; and then he lays before the Reader the following verfion of the whole paffage, in which he hath rendered the terms as he hath obferved them, to be at times exhibited by fome of the best judges of the original.

1. And every region was of one lip and mode of Speech.

2. And it came to pass, in the journeying of people from the Eaft, that they found a plain in the [Aretz] land of Shinar, and they

dwelt there.

3. And one man faid to another; Go to; let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly: and they had brick for flone; and flime had they for mortar.

4. And they faid; Go to; let us build a city and a tower, whofe top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a mark or fignol, that we may not be scattered abroad upon the jurface of every region.

5. And the Lord came down to fee the city, and the tower, which the children of men were building.

6. And the Lord faid; Behold the people is one [united in one body]; and they have all one lip or pronunciation: and this they begin to do: And now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

7. Go to; let us go down, and there confound their lip, that they may not understand one another's lip, er pronunciation.

8. So the Lord fcattered them abroad from thence over the face of every region; and they left off to build the city.

9. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the lip of the whole land; and from thence did the Lord featter them over the face of every region, or of the whole earth.

This, fays our Author, I take to be the true purport of the hiftory: from whence we may infer, that the confufion of language, was a partial event: and that the whole of mankind are by no means to be included in the difperfion from Babel. It jelated chiefly to the fons of Chus; whofe intention was to have founded a great, if not an univerfal empire: but by this judgment their purpose was defeated.

That there was a migration firft, and a dispersion afterwards, will appear more plainly, if we compare the different hiftories of these events. In the days of Peleg the earth was divided: and the fons of Noah were distinguished in their generations, in their nations and by these were the nations divided in the earth AFTER THE FLOOD. We fee here uniformity and method;

and

and a particular diftribution. And this is faid to have happened, not after the building of the tower, or confufion of fpeech, but after the flood. In the other cafe, there is an irregular diffipation without any rule or order. So the Lord feattered them abroad from thence upon the face of every region; and they left off to build the city and FROM THENCE (from the city and tower) did the Lord fcatter them abroad. This is certainly a different event from the former. In fhort, the migration was general; and all the families among the fons of men were concerned in it. The difperfion at Babel, and the confufion, was partial; and related only to the house of Chus and their adherents.'

Mr. Bryant is of opinion, that the language of these builders of Babel was confounded by causing a labial failure; so that the people could not articulate. It was not an aberration in words, or language, but a failure and incapacity in labial utterance. By this their speech was confounded but not altered; for, as foon as they feparated, they recovered their true tenor of pronunciation; and the language of the earth continued for fome ages nearly the fame. This, he thinks, appears from many interviews, taken notice of in fcripture, between the Hebrews and other nations; wherein they speak without an interpreter, and muft, therefore, have had nearly the fame tongue. And even the languages, which fubfift at this day, various as they may be, yet retain fufficient relation to fhew, that they were once dialects from the fame matrix; and that their variety was the effect of time.

We entirely agree with our learned Writer, in the latter part of thefe obfervations. The notion that a great number of languages, radically different, derived a miraculous origin from the confufion at Babel, is contrary to all the facts we are capable of collecting upon the fubject, and is not in the leaft countenanced by the facred Hiftorian. It has arifen from the abfurdity of divines, who have been fond, without caufe, of multiplying miracles, though, in fo doing, they have only embarrafied the defence of revelation. We know not whether Mr. Bryant is not fomewhat too literal and confined in his interpretation, when he fuppofes that the confufion of lip was a labial failure, in point of utterance. It might poffibly be no more than such a confufion of opinion, counfel, and design in the builders, as was fufficient to answer the purposes of Providence, in the deftruction of their undertaking.

For the proof, that the language of the earth continued for fome ages nearly the fame, our Author fays, that the person of all others to be confulted, is the very learned Monfieur Court de Gebelin, in his work entitled, Monde Primitif Analyfé et

A 2 4

Comparé.

-

Comparé. The last published volume is particularly to be read, as it affords very copious and fatisfactory evidences to this purpofe; and is replete with the most curious erudition concerning the hiftory and origin both of writing and language. This liberal commendation of a writer, whom minds of a certain turn would have regarded with envy, as a rival in the fame walk of literature, does honour to Mr. Bryant's integrity and candour.

The diffipation of the Cuthites from Babel, from whence they were scattered over the face of the earth, is, we are told, an æra to be much obferved: for at this period the facred Penman clofes the general hiftory of the world. What ensues relates to one family and to a private difpenfation. Of the nations of the earth, and their politics, nothing more occurs; excepting only as their history chances to be connected with that of the fons of Ifrael: We muft, therefore, have recourse to Gentile authority, and, above all, to the writers of Greece, for a fubfequent account. And, previously to this, we may from them obtain collateral evidence of the great tranfactions which had preceded, and which are mentioned by Mofes.Some traces of thofe fearful events, with which the difperfion is faid to have been attended, feem to have been preferved in the records of Phenicia.-Nor was the memory of thefe early events retained only by the Oriental Hiftorians. Manifeft traces of the fame are to be found in the Greek poets; who, though at first not easy to be understood, may be fatisfactorily explained by what has preceded. In difcuffing these, points, the Author displays much learning; and he has illustrated, with great ingenuity, a variety of paflages in Nonnus, Homer, and Hefiod, relative to the retreat of Bacchus, the fall of Vulcan, the war of the Giants, and the exploits of the Titans; in all of which he finds an illufion to the difperfion of the fons of Chus.

We have been the more diffuse in our account of this differtation, and have, indeed, made a diftinct Article of it, because it contains the foundation of Mr. Bryant's fcheme. What he hath advanced is ingenious: it is plaufible: perhaps, in certain refpects, it may be found probable. Nevertheless, we must be permitted to fay, with all due deference to his eminent abilities and literature, that he has given no little scope to conjecture and fancy.

He hath fubjoined a map, in order to fhew, in a clearer light, the original difpofition of the families of Noah.

[To be continued.]

See Appendix to M. Review, vols. 50 and 51.

ART;

ART. II. Obfervations on divers Passages of Scripture: Placing many of them in a Light altogether new; afcertaining the Meaning of feveral not determinable by the Methods commonly made Ufe of by the Learned; propofing to Confideration probable Conjectures on others different from what have been hitherto recommended to the Attention of the Curious; and more amply illuftrating the reft than has been done, by Means of Circumftances incidentally mentioned in Books of Voyages and Travels into the Eaft. 8vo. 2 Vols. The Second Edition. 11s. Boards. Johnfon. 1776.

THE

HE defign of illuftrating the Scriptures by the various accounts which have been given of Eastern countries, and particularly by modern travellers, promifes fo much entertainment and advantage, that it may feem extraordinary that such a design has not been more carefully attended to and purfued. The late Dr. Shaw has made an attempt of this kind, and has fucceeded in feveral inftances: and therefore the prefent Writer often refers to him. But he justly fays, there are feveral things which that gentleman has omitted in his curious work, and fome that will not bear a close examination; fo that the Doctor's reflections, or thofe which may occafionally be found in other books, do not interfere with or fuperfede the prefent publication.

The first edition of this performance appeared feveral years ago, in one volume +, under the difadvantage of being very indifferently and carelessly printed, which the Author now mentions as a circumftance which had given him great uneafinefs, and which he has endeavoured to retrieve. The first edition was briefly noticed in our Review; but as the work now appears confiderably enlarged and improved, we think it requifite to give our Readers a more particular account of it.

In the preface to the former volume, which is here continued, we have a lift of a great number of books, containing obfervations on the Eaftern countries, that have been very carefully confulted, from Gefta Dei per Frances, publifhed at Hanover in 1611, down to Mr. Wood's accounts of the ruins of Palmyra and Balbec.

The advertisement to this fecond edition informs us of fome other books of Eaftern travels published fome years after his obfervations, to which the Author has had recourfe for the improvement of his work: fuch as the Travels of Haffelquist ‡, a celebrated Swedish Phyfician; Bufbequius, an Imperial Ambasfador, an edition of whofe journey into the Eaft was printed in 1760; and the Letters of Lady Wortley Montague. Befide thefe he has perufed a voyage to Mount Libanus, by Father Jerome

* The Rev. Mr, Harmer.

$

Vid. Rev. vol. xxxiv.

+ See Rev. vol. xxxi. p. 317. Dandini,