Every attempt, undertaken in a reverential spirit, to facilitate the
labours of the inquirer after Scripture truth, deserves especial favour at
the hands of those who may have the opportunity of directing public
attention to such endeavours. _The Emphatic New Testament, according to the
Authorized Version, compared with the various Readings of the Vatican
Manuscripts. The Four Gospels. Edited, with an Introductory Essay on Greek
Emphasis_, by John Taylor; which is an attempt to represent to the English
reader certain peculiarities in the Greek text, is a work of this class,
and therefore, without entering into any minute detail of the manner in
which Mr. Taylor carries out his endeavour, we will let him speak for
himself on the subject of its results. "If any one were known," says Mr.
Taylor "to be in possession of a copy of the Greek Testament so marked by
its inspired writers as they would wish to have it read; and if the system
of notation, when applied to the English translation, were found to be
{550} equally efficacious in conferring distinction on the corresponding
words in that language, should we not deem it a great treasure, and be
eager to obtain a _marked copy_, esteeming it next to hearing the words in
the tone adopted by Our Lord and His Apostles? Yet something of this kind
is offered to our notice in the present work; without altering the
expression, it often makes the meaning clearer; it adds certainty to many
readings, which before could only be founded on conjecture; and it may
altogether be considered as a kind of running commentary of no less
authority than the original text."
We have received the first Part of Mr. Akerman's _Remains of Pagan
Saxondom_, which contains engravings of some beautiful _Personal Ornaments
from a Barrow near Devizes_; _of a Gold Buckle found at Ickworth, Suffolk_;
and of the curious _Glass Vase found at Reculver_, now preserved in the
Canterbury Museum. The price of the Part, half-a-crown to subscribers, is
apparently a high one; but it must be remembered that all the objects are
represented of their natural size, so that the plates become in some
measure a substitute for the antiquities themselves.
The Society of Antiquaries having, on the ballot taken on Thursday week,
adopted the proposal to return to the old rate of subscription, we can only
hope that all parties--those who so strenuously and honestly advocated the
measure, and those who as strenuously and as honestly opposed it--will now
meet on the common principle by which both were actuated, a desire to
promote the well-being of the Society, and co-operate in bringing forward
those judicious reforms, without which the present step would only be
delusion.
We are very glad to find, from the recently published Report of the
Commissioners appointed to inquire and report concerning the ancient laws
and institutes of Ireland, that Lord Eglintoun, the present Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland, has recommended to the Treasury the immediate publication of
the Brehon Laws. In a very interesting letter from Dr. Jacob Grimm, which
is appended to the Commissioners' Report, he well describes the benefits
which will result from this measure of justice to the literature of
Ireland. "To the historians and philologists of Europe," observes Dr.
Grimm, "a valuable and important monument of Irish antiquity remains as yet
shut up. It is only suitable to the dignity of the Irish and British nation
to effect the publication of the Brehon Laws, as has been already
accomplished in the case of the laws of Wales."
After this mention of Irish antiquities, we may remind such of our readers
as may be desirous of promoting the very praiseworthy objects of _The
Kilkenny Archæological Society_, that they may still be supplied with
complete copies of its Transactions upon payment of the four years'
subscription; and we scarcely know how they could better employ twenty
shillings.
BOOKS RECEIVED.--_Sketches in Canada, and Rambles among the Red Men_, by
Mrs. Jameson, which forms two Parts of Longman's _Traveller's Library_, is
a reprint, with the omission of all that was of a merely transient or
merely personal nature, or that has become obsolete in politics or
criticism, of this accomplished writer's _Winter Studies and Summer Rambles
in Canada_. This graphic work will supply pleasant reading for a railway
journey, and not be hastily thrown aside when the journey and its perusal
are completed.--_The Valiant Little Tailor, and other Stories_; forming the
second Part of the very satisfactory translation of Grimm's _Household
Stories_, which Addey and Co. are publishing, with admirable illustrations
by Wehnert, for the especial delight and gratification of all "Good Little
Masters and Mistresses."
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