nn,

readers; and therefore this kind of diction should be
avoided, except where the idea is of such a nature that
it ought to be conveyed indirectly. Some passages in
our version are now of so antiquated a turn, as not to be
understood by the generality of scholars. As Judges ix.
53: "And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone
66 upon Abimelech's head, and † all to break his scull."
That is, " utterly, altogether, brake: m et fregit."
And again, Ezek. xxx. 2. " Wo worth the day." That
is, " befal." Worth, esse, fieri. Jun. '," væ
diei." It must always be remembered that Bp. Lowth's
version is designed for the learned: in one for vulgar
use sorec for choice vine, hades for the grave, or pit, or
place of the dead, maslin for mixt provender, ilex for
green oak, coune for covered carriage, &c. would be
clearly inadmissible. In the New Testament, some
Greek words are retained, as "phylacteries," Matt.
xxiii. 5, which may be rendered" frontlets," or
"scrolls:" and " anathema," 1 Cor. xvi. 22, to which
I prefer "accursed §." There are three ways of pro-
ceeding as to Hebrew or Hebrew-Syriac words; admit-
ting them into the text, and rendering them in the mar-
gin, as our translators do; rendering them in the text,
as for "Maran atha," 1 Cor. xvi. 22, "Our Lord
"cometh;" or both retaining and rendering them in
"the text, as, Maran atha, that is to say, Our Lord
"cometh." I incline to recommend the last way.

In their preface, our translators thus express themselves on this subject. "We have shunned the obscurity "of the Papists, in their azymes, tunike, rational, holo"causts, prepuse, pasche, and a number of such like,

+ All that he hytte he alto frapped. Archæol. v. 386. i. e. entirely brake in pieces. ` A word formed from the Latin covinus, the root of which is cavus; and therefore Corresponding to the Hebrew a, vehiculum cameratum, vel testudinatum.

Margin, a curse.

Lone

"whereof their late translation is full, and that of pur"pose to darken the sense: that since they must needs "translate the bible, yet by the language thereof it

may be kept from being understood. But we desire "that the scripture may speak like itself, as in the language of Canaan, that it may be understood even of "the very vulgar."

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5. The rule excludes debased and offensive terms or phrases.

Ezek. xvi. 43, we read, "Because thou-hast fretted me in all these things." The word is elsewhere rendered "provoked." Isaiah Ixiv. 6, the English version has, "And all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags:" which Bishop Lowth translates, "like a rejected gar

ment;" in more dignified language, as well as nearer to the original. But Isai. xxxvii. 4, the common translation" Wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant "that is left;" [Margin, found] has more exactness and dignity than, " And do thou offer up thy prayer for "the poor remains of the people." Bp. Lowth. Matt. xvii. 15, Doctor Scott renders xx "is grievously handled." With respect to the other part of the rule, Doctor Delany, in his life of David, very properly proposes to translate such passages as occur 1 Kings xiv. 10,"him that watereth against the wall." And Mr. Blayney's translation,

r

"Jerusalem is become as one [rather, as a woman]

set apart for unclean among them," Lam. i. 17. is preferable to that of our English translators.

An exception to this rule may be admitted, when an ancient custom cannot be expressed in a translation without perplexing common readers. Thus, though Jews in our Lord's time reclined at their meals 190

and av may be rendered to sit down, and not to lie down.

RULE II. Where the English idiom requires a paraphrase, it should be so formed as to comprehend the original word or phrase; and the supplemental part should stand in Italics: except where harshness of language arises from pursuing this method.

Isaiah i. 4, Bishop Lowth's translation of D is, "They are estranged from him, they have turned "their back upon him," The vulgate and the lxx render more happily: abalienati sunt retrorsum:

εις τα οπίσω.

Our translators have, "They are gone back"ward. Hebr. alienated, or separated." The root being, as about forty MSS. and one edition | read

, according to the rule we should translate, " They "are estranged from him, they have gone backward." So Luke ix, 53, may be rendered, "Because his face "was as though he was going to Jerusalem." Ps. cix. 4, our translators properly suggest an idea of the conciseness in the original, when they render, "But I give "myself unto prayer." But where the diction becomes inelegant from the observance of this rule, it may be neglected. Thus, Habakkuk i. 6, many may prefer, "Who go over the breadth of the earth "To possess dwelling places not their own;" which belong not unto them.

to

RULE III. Where a verbal translation cannot be thus interwoven, one equivalent to it, and which implies the reading in the original, should be substituted; and the idiom in the text should be literally rendered in the margin.

So Ezek. xiv. 7. twelve MSS. and two ed. read 19772.
Hebr. it.

By observing the second and third rules, the genius of the original languages will be shewn; and the reader unskilled in them will be best enabled to interpret for himself.

Thus Bishop Lowth renders Isaiah v. 1,

My beloved had a vineyard

"On a high and fruitful hill."

"In a very fruitful hill"

is the less exact version of our translators. Here the marginal rendering should be, on a horn, the son of oil.

RULE IV, The same original word and its derivatives, according to the leading different senses, and also the same phrase, should be respectively translated by the same corresponding English word or phrase, except where a distinct representation of a general idea, or the nature of the English language, or the avoiding of an ambiguity, or harmony of sound, requires a different mode of expression.

In their preface, we learn the sentiments of our translators on this subject; and, from their manner of stating them, may collect that a difference of opinion subsisted about it.

"Another thing we think good to admonish thee of, gentle reader; that we have not tied ourselves to an "uniformity of phrasing, or to an identity of words, as "some peradventure would wish that we had done, be"cause they observe that some learned men somewhere “have been as exact as they could that way. Truly, "that we might not vary from the sense of that which "we translated before, if the word signified the same thing in both places, (for there be some words that "be not of the same sense every where,) we were especi

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ally careful, and made a conscience, according to our duty. But that we should express the same notion "in the same particular word; as for example, if we "translate the Hebrew or Greek word once by purpose "never to call it intent; or one where journeying, never "travelling; if one where think, never suppose; if one "where pain, never ache; if one where joy, never gladness, &c.; thus to mince the matter, we thought to "savour more of curiosity than wisdom, and that it would "rather breed scorn in the atheist than bring profit to "the godly reader. For is the kingdom of God be"come words or syllables? Why should we be in bond

age to them, if we may be free? use one precisely, "when we may use another no less fit as commodiously? "We might also be charged by scoffers with some un"equal dealing towards a great number of good English "words.-Add hereunto that niceness in words was "always accounted the next step to trifling; and so was "to be curious about names too: also that we cannot "follow a better pattern for elocution than God himself: "therefore he using divers words in his holy writ and in"differently for one thing in nature, we, if we will not "be superstitious, may use the same liberty in our Eng"lish versions out of Hebrew and Greek, for that copy "or store that he hath given us."

Other learned men have expressed themselves differently,

"Veterem interpretem Erasmus merito in eo repre"hendit, quod unum idemque vocabulum sæpe diversis " modis explicet. Atqui in eo ipso quoties peccat? Le"viculum hoc est, dices. Ego vero aliter censeo, nisi "cum ita necesse est, in his quidem libris in quibus sæpe videas mirifica quædam arcana velut unius voca

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