Bibliothek. Vol. II. p. 52, feqq, which fhould have been acknow ledged by the compiler. From the cuftom prevailing in the Eaft, of covering the faces of malefactors when they are brought into the prefence of their kings, the author conceives, p. 454, that fome light may be thrown on thofe paffages, where it is mentioned that perfons, on the appearance of God, fell on their faces, and were afraid of death. P. 442 The author feems to have no diftinct notion of clothes woven from the top to the bottom, as he compares them with thofe ufed in the prefent times, and in our own country, which require a taylor to give them their proper form, and to fow them together before they can be worn. But, among the orientals, the clothes thus defcribed were not fowed together, but were formed literally of one piece only from top to bottom, with the ermine, and without any feain. The writer of this critique recollects having feen a loom of this kind on a fmall fcale, in which a perfon might not only in a ftanding, but likewife in a fitting pofture, (Homer makes Chryfeis and Calypfo, with one of larger dimenfions, ora ison, to go from one part of it to another) weave children's fhirts, &c. with perfect eafe and convenience. The gentleman who subscribes himself L. feems to be indifferent, at least, about remaining incognito, as he informs us not only in the first volume, but likewife in this, p. 177, that he is the author of a work entitled: Aufzug aus Hezels ausführlicher bebräifchen Sprachlehre zum Gebrauch beym Unterricht.-Extracts from Hezel's complete Hebrew Grammar, adapted to the Purpose of fchoLaftic Inftruction. Detmold, 1787. 8vo. HOLLAND.. Jena ALZ. ART. 82. Het Boek Job. uit het Hebreeuwsch vertaald met Aanmerkingen, door Henr. Alb. Schultens, na defzelfs Dood uitgegeven en voltooid door Herm. Muntinghe.-The Book of Job, tranflated from the Hebrew, with Obfervations, by H. A. Schultens, published and completed after his Death, by M. Muntinghe; 156 and 271 pp. in 1. Svo. without the Introduction. Amfterdam, 1794. It is well known, that the late Profeffor Schultens had employed feveral years in preparing this tranflation for the prefs, though he had of late neglected the profecution of it, and directed his whole attention to the new edition of Meidani: at the period, therefore, of his premature death, it was left unfinished, particularly with respect to the two first chapters, and from c. 29 to the end of the book. The remaining part has been fupplied by the prefent editor, at the exprefs defire of Prof. Sch. himself, communicated by himself on his deathbed, and, as far as it was poffible, according to the fame plan; to which he has likewife adhered in the notes inferted in the part which had been prepared by Mr. Schultens. To the whole are annexed, Critical Remarks by Mr. Muntinghe, in which the ground of the new explanations, together with the Sources of the Readings that have been followed, are pointed out; as alfo the Obfervations with which the editor has been favoured by Schröder, Arnoldi, and Wilmet, which certainly form a very interefting acceffion to the book. In of In the Introduction, Mr. Sch. expreffes his aftonifhment, that there hould be found perfons who conceive the book of Job to have been written after the Captivity. "It requires, fays he, in p. 17, no very intimate acquaintance with the nature of Hebrew poetry, to mark the changes which it has, at different times, undergone; and it muft, in particular, be evident, that fuch powers of genius, fuch elevated fentiments, and fuch admirable beauty of language, as eminently diftinguish this poet, could not have been expected in the times which followed the exile into Babylon, fince, in confequence of the manifold oppreffions under which the people then laboured, learning of every kind, and more especially poetry, was, in a great measure, neglected, or rather entirely loft among them; fo that, if we except Jeremiah only, there was, at this period, no one who could be said, in any degree, to emulate the ancient poets. Thofe, therefore, who contend that the book of Job might have been compofed at this time, are certainly not more competent judges of Hebrew, than Hardouin was of the Latin literature, when he pronounced the works of Virgil and Horace, to have been produced in the monaftic ages. Mr. Sch. is perfuaded that the two firft chapters, from which the arguments against the antiquity of the book are drawn, and the latter part the laft chapter, are a comparatively modern addition, which was first made to this book when it was admitted into the Canon of the Jewish Church. This he conceives to be evinced not only from the office affigned in it to Satan, of whom no mention is made in the books written before the Babylonian Captivity, but likewife from the character of the ftyle itself. Nor will the poem be found to be at all imperfect, when it is deprived of thefe fupplemental parts. The beginning in cap. 3, would be entirely in the taste of Oriental poetry; fince it is not ufual with fuch writers to preface their compofitions with any hiftorical narrative. Mr. Sch. thinks it, on the other hand, equally improbable that Mofes fhould have been the author of this book. "The poetical compofitions of both," fays he, "are unquestionably excellent in their kinds, but that Mofes was the author of both, I fhould never be induced to allow, till I could prevail on myself to believe that the Æneid might have been written by Horace, and the Odes of Horace by Virgil, or rather both by either of them. If it be maintained that the character of Mofes, as a poet, might have changed with his increafing age, it will fill be neceffary to fhow how it happens, that this book contains fo many words and modes of expreffion, which, though really Hebrew, are, however, fo entirely peculiar to the author of Job, that they never occur either in any of the other writings of Mofes, poetical or profaic, nor indeed in any of the other books of the Old Teftament. Mr. Sch. therefore concludes, that either Job himself, or fome one of his contemporaries, may have been the author of this poem. LITERARY LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. The Apology for the Believers in the Shakspearean Mantra fcripts is now in the prefs. We fome time fince announced a publication on the im portant fubject of education, by Mr. Kett, whofe Bampton Lectures were fo well received. This, though not completed, is only fufpended; in the mean time a volume on prophecy, by that gentleman, is ready for the prefs. The concluding volume of Boydell's Milton will be publifhed in the courfe of the winter. The fecond volume of the Embaffy to China is in confiderable forwardness. Mr. Dryander is preparing to publish a Catalogue of the Library of the Prefident of the Royal Society. Two volumes in octavo, on the Hiftory of Birds, with engravings on wood, by Bewick, are nearly finished. The Mufæus, from Bulmer's prefs, is proceeding to its end, and fo is the Claudian. Mr. Betham, whofe Genealogical Tables were mentioned in our last Review, propofes fhortly to publifh a fplendid Baronetage, with tables, on a plan fimilar to his former work. Mr. Symons has changed his former intention of publishing an elementary Treatife on Botany, to the defign of introducing one on a fmaller fcale, illuftrative of the principles of botany, for the ufe of ladies. The Hiftory of St. Domingo, by Mr. Bryan Edwards, has been fome time in the prefs. Mr. Bofcawen's fecond volume of Horace, which completes his tranflation, is announced as fpecdily to appear; but the edition of the whole, with the original, which was once faid to be projected, is for the prefent deferred. We hear alfo of a Hiftory of the Maroon War, in Jamaica, and the proceedings relative to it; to which we expect to fee a refpectable name affixed. A Hiftory of Liverpool, with that of the River Mersey, is in an advanced ftate, and will form a handfome quarto. We are informed of fome selections from the Anas, in two volumes, 12mo. to be published next month, interfperfed with pieces of poetry. M. Munier, fo juftly celebrated for his abilities and true patriotifm, at the beginning of the French Revolution, is about to open, an academy for education at Weimar, under the patronage of the Duke. ERRATUM. The price of Mr. Betham's Genealogical Tables is mifftated in our last. It should have been 3. 13. 6d. common paper, and 41. 14s. 6d. on fine paper. THE BRITISH CRITIC, For NOVEMBER, 1796. *Αμμες δὲ βροτοι, οἵδε βροτὺς βροτοὶ ἀείδωμεν. THEOCRA ART. I. Some Account of the Collegiate Chapel of St. Stephen, Weftminster. By John Topham, Efq. F. R. S. (With Plans, Elevations, Sections, and Specimens of Architecture, and Ornaments of fuch Parts of it as are now remaining.) Large Folio. 21. 2s. White. 1795. FEW circumstances of a fimilar nature are more generally known, than that the place in which the House of Commons now aifembles, was formerly the chapel of St. Stephen. Many have been the allufions, ferious and jocular, to this metamorphofis; and the phrafe of St. Stephen's chapel, for that houfe, has been employed even by thofe reforming plotters, who promised at the fame time to fend away the five hundred and fifty gentlemen by whom it is occupied. As this chapel, in its original form, had been a work of royal piety and munificence, it was worthy of the attention of a zealous antiquary to trace out its obfcured lineaments; and it is highly honourK k able BRIT. CRIT. VOL. VIII. NOV. 1796. able to the liberality of the fociety of antiquaries to have publifhed the refults of thefe enquiries in fo magnificent a style. This volume contains fourteen plates, engraved by Bafire, in the finest manner, reprefenting the chapel and its moft material parts and ornaments, fo far as they can at prefent be made out to which Mr. Topham has prefixed a thort, but fatisfactory account of the original foundation, with its fortunes and changes, and very accurate defcriptions of the plates themfelves. The royal palace at Weftminster was built, fays Mr. Topham. by King William Rufus; but here we apprehend is a fmall overfight: the great hall indeed was built by that monarch; but the palace (according to Stow, whom the learned antiquary cites in the fame paflage) was of uncertain antiquity, and undoubtedly not more recent than the time of Edward the Confeffor. The words of Stow are very exprefs; next to this famous monaftery," that of Westminfter, is the king's principall pallace, of what antiquity is uncertaine but Edward the Confeffor held his court there: as may appeare by the teftimony of fundrie, and, namely, of Ingulphus, as I have before told you. The faid king had his pallace, and, for the most part, remained there: where he alfo ended his life, and was buried in the monaftery which he had builded." Stow goes on to fay that William the First made additions to the palace." It is not to be doubted but that King William the Firft, as he was crowned there, fo he builded much at this pallace: for he found it far inferior to the building of princely pallaces in France. And it is manifeft, by the teftimony of many authors, that William Rufus builded the great hall there about the yeare of Chrift, 1097." The chapel of St. Stephen, according to Stow, was founded by the king of that name. The fate of his building is uncertain; but it is probable that it was not thought fufficiently magnificent, fince a new one was undertaken, in little more than a century after, when it could not eafily have fallen into decay, if built in any substantial manner. It is a very curious circumstance that the rolls, containing the exact accounts of the expences of this building, undertaken in the twentieth year of Edward I. fhould it be extant in the Exchequer. Mr. Topham has been allowed to infpect them, and briefly gives the refult. Both the articles bought, and the payments made, are specified in the rolls: "The latter," fays Mr. T. " are too minute to be here enume. rated; but thefe are apparent.-To carpenters five-pence each day; to other workmen three-pence halfpenny; fome three-pence; fome two-pence halfpenny each. Although the amount of each feparate week doth not appear to be much, being in general between twenty and |