particularly to those of the Acropolis of Athens, which are extremely imperfect.* It is a matter of some surprise, that the almost.ex. clusive merit of having measured and drawn the Antiquities of Athens, &c. should have been attributed to that gentleman, when, in fact, so small a share of that valuable work was the result of his personal labour and experience. It will appear on referring to the original materials, that Revett measured and delineated the principal part of the architectural subjects, while Pars contributed several of the views, and the more considerable portion of the sculptures contained in the second and third volume, thus leaving litt'e more than the editorship to Stuart, who, it must be acknowledged, deserves no common praise for his very careful and judicious arrangement of the whole.'

We have perceived that latterly, the very high reputation so long maintained by Stuari's work, bas been very considerably affected. It was,'indeed, never admitted to be considered as a painter's work, a work of the order of what Lusieri, for instance, would produce from the same subjects; it was regarded as exempted from being brought to the test of the higher principles of art; but in point of plain draughtsman's accuracy, it has been somewhat impeached by recent travellers and artists, and we observe that Mr. Dodwell is of the number.

But we wonder that Mr. Allason says not one word of the work of Mons. Cassas, except just to notice, in order to obviate the charge of a very large theft, by a straight-forward translation and adoption of some sixty or seventy folio pages, that he shall so avail himself of the Frenchman's instructive and ingenious Itinerary.' But the itinerary was accounted by Cassas quite the subordinate part of what he brought from the Adriatic coast, and from Pola in particular. He might well have been excused spending so much of the labour of his indefatigable pencil on that monstrous, tasteless mass of masonry, that succedaneum to the imperial ambition, that worthy resource for the amusement of the dethroped old age of a tyrant and persecutor, the palace of Diocletian at Spalatro. But he had all due sensibility to the more classic magnificence of Pola, of which his work contains nearly twenty representations, on a much larger scale than those of Mr. Allason. We have no doubt that his drawings were in a very bold and

It deserves to be remarked, that Stuart and Revett have omitted to notice the swelling in the columns of the Parthenon, the Temple of Theseus, the Propylæa, &c. &c. when it is so very apparent, not only in those structures, but in all the remaining antiquities of Greece. It may, however, be proper to state, that this circumstance has likewise escaped the observation of more recent travellers, who, from a long residence in Athens, may be presumed to have had greater facilities of ascertaining every minute circumstance relating to those splendid ruins.

effective style, and only wanted to be rendered by such engravers as those by whose means we obtain Mr. Allason's delineations. But the art was not at that time in a flourishing state in the French capital, as the editors or publishers of the work acknowledge; and less ability and care in this department were exerted for this than for some nearly contemporary works, as, for instance, the celebrated one of Denon on Egypt. The engravings give in a prominent and decided manner the shapes and proportions of the objects, but their execution is for the most part, crude, hard, and mechanical. It was hardly discreet therefore for the editor to assume for it the same rank as that of De Choiseul-Gouffier's Voyage de la Gréce, of which the engravings are quite of another order, being in general very elegantly elaborated. But even that work, rich and beautiful as it is, cannot be placed on a level with some of the recent or present English works of the picturesque class. It does not rival in style and power of engraving, for example, Landseer's Antiquities of Dacca, Hakewell's Picturesque Tour of Italy, or Turner and Cooke's Southern Coast of England. We might Dame also, but that they are of a different class in point of subjects, the superb Arabian Antiquities of Spain, Wild's Lincoln Cathedral, Britton's Cathedrals, and Neale's Westminster Abbey.

But to return to the works of Cassas and our Author. If, without any regard to the merit of the plates, simply considered as engravings, a person who had them both, wished to give a friend a plain bulky idea, if we may be allowed such a phrase, of the antiquities of Pola, he would perhaps by preference shew him the work of the Frenchman, whose prints preserve very well the general substantial truth of representation as to form, and have the advantage, in most of the instances, of exhibiting the objects in more magnitude. Of the Temple of Augustus, for instance, the inspector will acquire a fuller idea from the views of Cassas, which display not its portico only, but its whole extent. The Porta Aurea, or triumphal arch of the Sergii, is given in several of its aspects in both the works, with so much correspondence, except as to the place of one of the inscriptions, as to certify us of having a competent representation of that fine object in either of them. There is, however, a very strange difference in the accessories, that is, the buildings and fragments of ruin in the neighbourhood, or in contiguity to the structure. As we are well warranted by experience in placing more dependence on the fidelity of an English artist, there is no doubt that the Frenchman has made a manful fictitious clearing away of a very massive house nearly adjoining one side, and high, heavy wall on the other.

As to the engraving, a highly advantageous comparison is

afforded in the instance of the two beautiful plates representing this arch, in the English work, and the corresponding ones in the French. They display the difference between the genuine artist and the mere handicraftsman. Indeed all the plates taken together, (there are nine, besides one of ground plans, and four vignettes) form a fair specimen of the talents of Messrs. Cooke, and of an excellence in the art unequalled in any other country. One good subject is made of an ancient gateway, exhibited among ruins, and with landscape accompaniments. It had been concealed and unknown till brought to light by the dilapidations of the French, who had quitted the place only a short time before our Author's visit there. In a most rich and brilliant frontispiece, all the principal antiquities, the amphitheatre, the temple of Augustus, the triumphal arch, and the gateway, are brought into one view, with a foreground of detached sculptured blocks, human beings, and other accessories, in imitation of a similar device of grouping, prefixed as an ornamental, fanciful program to Cassas's work, of which work the most valuable part is the representation of the objects which are exhibited in the English one.

The subjects of the latter being so limited in number, it was right to avoid details, and make it fully answer to the denomination of picturesque. And it is, as such, a most elegant addition to the works that are gradually bringing to our view the most remarkable spectacles in all the explored regions of the earth. The beauty of the typography and paper is in perfect fitness to the high graphical quality of the volume.

Pola is described as very finely situated, with respect to the beauty and fertility of the country and the commodiousness of its port, and yet as bearing prominently the marks of poverty and decline, It is neglected by the Austrian government, and the inhabitants are indolent; they do not exceed seven hundred, and subsist chiefly by fishing. This is a great humiliation from the state of things in that age, (presumed the Augustan,) when an amphitheatre was built to hold twenty thousand persons. This grand structure is in high preservation, and is described as a wonderfully striking object.

We entered,' says Mr. A. the Bay of Pola, when the magnificent Amphitheatre burst upon our view. Taken in all its circumstances, it is an object which has no rival among those remains of former times that attract the researches of the Antiquarian Traveller.” Again,

This magnificent structure is situated without the town, and is one of the most striking, beautiful, and perfect monuments of Antiquity. The majesty of its mass-the delightful verdure of the coasts which it crowns the calm state of the water which approaches its walls, and reflects its august figure--the almost religious vene

ration which arises in the mind on viewing such splendid remains of grandeur--all conspire to awaken a sensation of pleasing melancholy, which words cannot adequately, describe. The walls of the Amphitheatre are still entire, and its form is suited to its character, being an ellipsis, whose largest diaineter is nearly north and south, and measures 436 feet, its shortest 346: in the more perfect parts its height is 97 feet. This splendid edifice is scarcely exceeded in magnificence by that of the Colosseum at Rome, while in dimensions it is in a very small degree only inferior to the Amphitheatre of Verona. The exterior is rusticated, having two orders of Tuscan pilasters, one above the other, the lower being placed upon pedestals. The whole circumference is divided into seventy-two arches, the two at the extremities being higher and wider than the rest. The height is divided into three stories, and, by its particular construction, displays an uncommon lightness and elegance of effect. The whole is constructed of Istrian stone, which is of a very superior quality, and both in appearance and durability equal to the finest marble. It is placed in the western declivity of a hill, which a little below its surface is solid rock.'

The large portion of writing translated, as we observed, from the French work, and here introduced as a sequel to the graphical part and its explanations, traces very laboriously the history of Istria and Dalmatia, from the time of the Roman republic down to that in which they were in the possession of Bonaparte, and then describes the character and customs of the several classes of the present inhabitants. The history is a long and horrid tragedy, an exhibition alınost unequalled of devastation, barbarity, and extirpation. A little of the French

A illuminatism may be descried here and there in the Writer, as, for instance, where he affects to throw discredit upon the historical representations of the odious character of Diocletian as a persecutor. The picture of the manners of the present inhabitants is very lively and strange.

Art. VII. A New Family Bible, and Improved Version, from corrected

Texts of the Originals ; with Notes, critical and explenatory, and short Practical Reflections on each Chapter : together with a general Introduction, on the Authenticity and Inspiration of the

Sacred Books; and a complete View of the Mosaic Laws, Rites, · and Customs. By the Rev. B. Boothroyd, Editor of the Biblia

Hebraica. Vol. I. Quarto. Price 11. 16s. Pontefract: printed

for the Editor. 1818. M'

R. BOOTHROYD'S name is not unknown to the readers

of our Journal. We have already noticed with commen. dation his critical edition of the Hebrew Bible, as a work cre-, ditable alike to his industry and judgement, and supplying numerous and great advantages to the Hebrew student. Of his qualifications as a Translator of the Scriptures, we have also

1

expressed our favourable opinion when reviewing his Prospectus relative to the present “ Improved Version.” We shalt how proceed to examine and report the manuer in which he has executed this portion of bis labours.

Br. Boothroyd is not one of those scholars whose prejudice in favour of the Masoretic text, prompts them to the rejection of the useful aids which have been provided by the collation of manuscripts and versions for the revision and elucidation of the original Scriptures.' Ile professes himself unable to conjecture how any person that has read the Old Testament, and compared one place with another, can contend that the present Hebrew text is as perfect as when it was first written. Fully convinced by the clearest evidence, that one of the chief sources of the errors charged upon the Bible, is to be found in the state of the original text, he has availed himself of the proper means for the restoration of its purity, adopting as the basis of bis translation, the text of his own edition of the Hebrew Bible. Of bis present undertaking he gives, in the preface, the following account.

Convinced of the necessity and of the advantages which would arise to the public in general, from a corrected translation of the Holy Scriptures, I have been led by my particular studies to engage in this work; not that I suppose myself better qualified than many others, but because the avocations of others do not permit them to devote their time to such an undertaking. Nor did I engage in it, till I had been repeatedly solicited by persons of various denominations, for whose judgment and piety I have reason to entertain the highest opinion.

My great object has been to give the sense of the sacred authors, without, on the one hand, rendering verbally, or, on the other, being too diffuse or paraphrastic. I have endeavoured to follow the rules laid down by Archbishop Newcome, as not only founded in good sense, and an intimate acquaintance with the subject, but as paying that deference to the authorized version, which its general fidelity, and its long use demand. Hence I have uniformly preferred the language of this version, and have rarely introduced any terms but what are sanctioned by biblical use. Even in rendering the Hebrew particles, though I have varied considerably from the common rendering in innumerable places, yet I have generally found the saine particles rendered as I have done in some place or other in the common version. In sliort, I have not designedly changed the terms, but when I have been fully satisfied that they were improper, and did not express the sense of the text with perspicuity or justness. Preserving as much as possible the language of the common version, I have arranged that language in such a manner as to endeavour to secure precision, harmony, and strength; and I cannot but flatter myself, that every reader of taste will find that these ends have, in some degree at least, been attained.

• I have not the vanity to think, that I have always succeeded in Vol. XIII. N.S.