seeds dropping; but all various, distinctive, beautiful. No wonder the horses rejoiced in such flowery beds; no wonder the mules, once down, seemed loth to rise again.

But what was Mara doing-our Cypriot guide-whilst I admire all this, looking occasionally at the hamper as its treasures are revealed? Mara was our servant, our only servant, and acquitted himself well. He had gone to a spring at a little distance to fetch thence some water, for we had been provident enough to bring an earthen pitcher with us. It was but little attendance, however, that we required, for the hamper contained all that was requisite; so sending off Mara again to water the horses and mules, we addressed ourselves to the good things that had been disentombed. Some cold roast chickens and excellent bread, with a few slices of ham, disappeared with marvellous rapidity, washed down by sundry bottles of diluted camandria. It was a glorious repast. The frowning summits of Olympus, snow-capped, rose before us in all the majesty of mountain grandeur, their clear, well-defined outline drawn as if with a pencil on the blue sky behind, a blue sky and cloudless. Around all was peace or delicious harmony, for a few birds warbled as they soared above us,warbled gladly,-amazed, doubtless, at our intrusion. The marble columns, still white and clean-not brown or green, as they would have been in more temporate climes-stood silent witnesses of the events of to-day, as they had been of the events of two thousand five hundred years before. Man changes; nature looks on and smiles at him. Around us, too, on the many-colored sward, were patches of bright sunshine, alternating with dark lines of shadow, amid which the flowers peeped forth in the pleasantest way. Turning to the side opposite the grim mass of Olympus, was an extensive view over the plain of Messarea, with its distant villages and ruins, and the still more distant spires of Nicosia, dimly discernible on the horizon; whilst, to the north, a glimpse of the sea was afforded us by an opening between the mountains.

Truly the votaries of Venus had chosen a delightful situation for the temple and paradise of their goddess.

Having sufficiently admired the beauties of the scene and smoked a contemplative cigar, as a fitting finale to so pleasant a breakfast, we at length rose to survey the ruins, taking our guns under our arms. By this time-it was nearly twelve o'clockMara was fast asleep, and when we woke him to tell him that we should return to dinner at four, he could not for some time be made to comprehend that we really intended strolling about at that hour.

"The sun is very hot, my lords; it is much near mid-day," urged he, in excellent Cypriot Italian.

"It is, Mara-twenty minutes to twelve. At four we return to dinner, remember."

"At four, my lord. Plenty nice place to lie down in that holeroom enough," urged Mara again. The hole was a very curious recess in a portion of a wall, large enough to contain half a dozen persons in comfort; cool, pleasant, and agreeable. It was lined with polished marble, as smooth and clean as if it had recently been erected, for the parasitic plants had not invaded it. What purpose it could possibly have served we were at a loss to conjecture, nor was any probable guess made by any of the party, that I can remember.

It was easy to trace out the exterior form of the temple by its remains. A long parallelogram it had evidently been, with a vestibule in front, surmounted, doubtless, by a decorated portico. It was of the Ionic order of architecture, a circumstance that may lead us to fix its age at a period antecedent to the more florid Corinthian, which would probably have been used by the Cypriots had it been in existence. The pillars had evidently been fluted, and the frieze was enriched by sculptures of gay processions and love scenes. Α fragment here and there exposed to view seemed to indicate the character of these sculptures, as well as of the" worship" which must have been paid in a temple so decorated. The entire entablature appeared to me to

be more richly decorated with sculpture than was usual in the Ionic architecture.

We could not discover any inscription, and were completely at a loss to account for the numbers of large flat marble slabs that lay about in every direction, some slanting and oblique, but the greater number more or less horizontal. The greater portion of the ruins seemed to be completely buried; doubtless the accumulating vegetation of ages had produced a mould sufficient to cover large blocks of masonry. Excavation, there can be little doubt, would disentomb much that is now hidden, perhaps much that would throw light upon the ancient mythology of Greece. The sides of the hills probably constituted the gardens attached to the temple. All trace of these gardens has completely disappeared; but the capabilities of the place remain, as they doubtless were then great for the production of every picturesque effect. The other two celebrated temples-those of Paphos and Cytherea, both upon the coast-were brought into immediate connexion with that which we were examining by means of roads long since destroyed; for the temple at Paphos was without gardens.

We regretted not having the means or time necessary for excavation. So large a portion of the ruins lies buried, that, without excavation, much must remain for ever hidden which would otherwise be brought to light— much doubtless respecting the character and habits of the early Cypriots; much of the history of the temple itself, its rites and ceremonies; much, perhaps, of the early history of the island, too.

Yet, although we were unable to prosecute our researches as we should have wished, was our inspection_by no means uninteresting to us. The glorious amphitheatre in the midst of which we stood,-with its rugged mountains and its distant glimpse of sea, and its far off plains dotted with ruins, villages, and mulberry plantations, was all so unique and new that it would have more than repaid us for the toil we had undertaken to visit it. Nor must the remains of the temple still visible be regarded as either insignificant or uninteresting. Its columns and its sculptures, its marble slabs, and the remains of the

ponderous walls were all things well worth inspection-in themselves objects of great interest, and still more so in consequence of the associations with which they were connected. It was but by comparison that disappointment was to be felt. That which was plain and patent to us was so little, compared with what a little research might have yielded—at least we felt convinced that it was so that we could not help regretting our inability to search the stores of sculptures, monuments, and inscriptions which we saw mentally beneath our feet.

Strolling over the hill side with our guns under our arms, we had a pleasant saunter of about two hours in the neighbourhood. The wild fowl were abundant, and we shot a sufficient number to form a very excellent addition to our repast; nor Mara's skill in culinary operations by any means despicable.

was

We had our dinner in the strange recess formerly pointed out to us. We reclined on the slab, quite in classic style, as we addressed ourselves to it. It was a joyous light-hearted mealsuch a one as is occasionally taken once in many years. The very rays of the sun, as they stole round, obliging us to erect an artificial shade with saddles and horse-cloths, were an agreeable element in the repast, for our little nook looked all the cosier and more retired in consequence.

Our classic position, reclining, not seated, led us into several burlesques of classic usages. A libation of glorious camandria was poured out to the 'genius loci," greatly to the discomfort of the agitated Mara, who would far rather have had the libation poured down his throat. We drank to the setting sun, to the Paphian Queen, to the regeneration of Cyprus, to the year's vintage. All in fact was hilarity and playful enjoyment.

We rode back to Nicosia as the red rays of the setting sun were gilding the summits of Olympus, Thrados, and Buttavent; behind us, and on our left, as we entered the city by the Northern Gate, the last glimpse of twilight was dying away into the pure obscurity of a moonless starlit night. The very imperfect illumination of the city served just to reveal to us the width and direction of the street, nothing more.

THE recent motion of Mr. Heywood, member for North Lancashire, for an address to the Crown on the expediency of ordering a new translation, or, at least, a new revision of the Holy Scriptures, for public use, is but the expression of a wish which has long been felt by many of those whose studies have made them competent judges of the merits and defects of our venerable Authorized Version, now nearly two hundred and fifty years old ;-older, indeed, than that, if we bear in mind how very large a portion of it is taken from the earlier translations of Tyndale, Coverdale, and Parker. The honourable member stated his case temperately and ably, and supported it with arguments which, though not new, have long been felt to possess considerable weight. He adverted to the fact, that, though our present translation was the work of men of the highest reputation both for learning and integrity, the lapse of nearly two centuries and a half of great and rapid improvement in every branch of knowledge and science had afforded opportunities for detecting many blemishes even in a version of the Bible of such general excellence as ours. He adverted to the advancement which had been made in Sacred Literature, and particularly in the critical study of the original text of both Testaments; and he cited examples, which it would have been easy to multiply, of misinterpretation, that seriously affected the sense of the inspired record. A singular instance referred to by him was the text of the well known Sermon of the Rev. Mr. Caird, recently preached in Scotland before her Majesty, and published by

Royal Command:-" Not slothful in business," Rom. xii. 11.; the original, he said, implies, "Not backward in zeal." And thus the whole superstructure, so ingeniously erected by the able preacher upon an unstable basis, is shaken. He cited also the common version of Acts xxiv., 14, which, he said, ought to be, "all things that are according to the law, and written in the prophets.". He amused the house, too, by relating a dispute between two critics respecting the wellknown text, 1 John, v. 7, "But are you not aware," said one of them, "that this verse is commonly regarded as an interpolation ?" "Yes," replied the other, "I know it: but I was not aware that you knew it." Mr. Heywood noticed the usual objection, grounded on the loss which a new Translation put forth by authority would entail upon those who had on hand a large stock of Bibles of the present version; and especially the serious damage it would occasion to the Bible Society. But this objection he met by a reference to the well attested fact, that even the present Translation did not come into general use until nearly sixty years after it was first published; a period in which it would be easy for the Society to dispose of all their stock without any injury to their funds.

The motion was resisted by Sir George Grey, (Secretary for the Home Department,) on this ground, that public opinion had not yet distinctly declared itself upon the subject; and that a new version, under present circumstances, would tend to unsettle and perplex the minds of devout Christians, who would not be readily reconciled to a new one,t and who

were well satisfied with, and strongly attached to, a translation which had so long held its ground amongst us, and which, it was admitted, expressed with fidelity and perspicuity the general sense of the original Hebrew and Greek. He added, that those whose qualifications and inclination led them to the critical study of the Scriptures should be encouraged to pursue those investigations, and to prepare materials for an improved version, which could then be provided when the general feeling of the community, unmistakably expressed, should require one. The motion was

withdrawn.

Now, we shall hear more of this. The petitions, numerous in themselves, and numerously signed, which preceded the motion, and which followed it even up to the last days of the session, plainly attest that the question is viewed with deep and growing interest. And no wonder. It is one which comes home to the very heart of no less than fifty millions of the most enterprising, the most civilized, and the most advanced in Christian knowledge, of the whole human race. The Bible of James I., our present authorized version, is cherished as their most precious heritage by our countrymen and kindred, in every spot of the globe where our language is spoken and our name respected. It is the only bond that connects together, as with a sort of celestial alchemy, the otherwise widely sundered, and in many cases mutually repellant portions of the vast, indomitable, and rapidly extending Anglo-Saxon family, Churchman and Dissenter, Briton and American United States' man. The British protestant's dwelling at home, or inhabiting the colonies, in Canada or Australia, in Bengal or Jamaica,the protestants of the United States,all slake their spiritual thirst at this one Fountain; all draw instruction, admonition and comfort from this one book; they alone, of all the families of the earth, possess in this volume the Divine Record in its integrity; they alone diffuse it: whatever be their diversities of clime, man

ners, or civil institutions, they feel that, through the uniting virtue of this Book, they are ONE: at any hour, at any minute, of the diurnal revolution of this sphere, the eyes of some one of this vast community are resting on the same Book of Life, and that from the beginning of the year to its close; those highly favoured individuals of both sexes, from youth to old age-the young heart and the hoary head-are hourly drawn to the same heavenly centre of attraction, and, however far apart, there alone they all alike find their best and their happiest moments. Now here we take our stand. What advantages arising from a new version of the Scriptures could countervail the evil that would ensue from severing such a sacred bond as this? What a blow would this be to a union cemented during a period of two hundred and fifty years by that hallowed tie that springs from the daily use of a common source of holy joy! What a triumph to our foes! What a shout of exultation would ring through the halls of the Vatican, if it were announced there that our long combined forces were now dispersed, and that our united phalanx, compact and invincible, was thrown at last into hopeless disarray! For is it not a fact, patent to all the world, that Rome views with undissembled dismay the close and formidable coalition which the use of a common Bible has kept up for ages between the various denominations of which the Reformed Anglo-Saxon community consists?

Now let us review very succinctly the circumstances under which our present translation commenced, was carried forward, and perfected, and has been upheld to the present hour, notwithstanding various efforts to supplant it.

It was on the 24th of October, 1603, at Wilton, while occupied there in his favourite amusement of the chase, and in his preparations for the arraignment of Sir Walter Raleigh, that James I. issued a proclamation, "Touching a meeting for the hearing, and for the determining, things pretended to be amiss in the church."

This meeting, known ever since as "The Conference at Hampton Court," was held in the drawing-room there on Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday, the 14th, 16th, and 18th January, 1604. On the second day of the conference, Dr. John Rainolds, President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and Greek Professor, then in his fifty-fifth year, and distinguished no less by unblemished integrity than by eminent learning, moved his Majesty,

"That a new translation be made of the whole Bible as consonant as can be to the original Hebrew and Greek; and this to be set out and printed without any marginal notes, and only to be used in all churches of England in time of divine service; because those which were allowed in the reign of King Henry VIII. and Edward VI. were corrupt and not answerable to the truth of the original. For example, First, Gal. iv. 25, the Greek word is not well translated, as it now is, bordereth, neither expressing the force of the word, nor the Apostle's sense, nor the situation of the place. Secondly, Ps. cv. 28, "They were not obedient;" the original being, "They were not disobedient." Thirdly, Ps. cvi. 30, "Then stood up Phinehas and prayed;" the Hebrew hath it, execucuted judgment."

To which motion there was at present no gainsaying: the objections being trivial and old, and already in print: only my Lord of London (Bancroft) well added,-That if every man's humour should be followed, there would be no end of translating.'

Whereupon his Highness wished that some special pains should be taken in that behalf for one uniform translation (professing that he could never yet see a Bible well translated into English; but the worst of all his Majesty thought the Geneva to be ;) and this to be done by the best learned in both Universities; after them to be reviewed by the Bishops and chief learned of the church; from them to be presented to the Privy Council; and lastly to be ratified by his Royal authority; and so this whole church [of England] be bound unto it, and none other.

Whereupon, forty-seven of the most distinguished scholars of the two Universities were appointed to translate the Old and New Testaments, and seven bishops to control them, and supervise the work. It has been remarked that two very eminent

Hebrew scholars of the time were not employed on this great undertaking, Hugh Broughton, a man of overbearing temper; and William Bedell, afterwards Bishop of Kilmore.

The following is a list of the translators, with their several tasks, and the places where they respectively performed them.

OLD TESTAMENT.

WESTMINSTER. Genesis to II. Kings inclusive.

of

LANCELOT ANDREWES, Dean of Westminster, a man of such eminent learning, that Lord Clarendon said, "it required a great deal of learning to understand how learned Andrewes was:" JOHN OVERALL, Dean St. Paul's: ADRIAN A SARAVIA, Canon of Westminster: RICHARD CLARKE, Fellow of Christ Coll. Camb.: JOHN LAIFIELD, Fellow of Trin. Coll. Camb.: ROBERT TIGHE, or TEIGH, Archdeacon of Middlesex: FRANCIS BURLEIGH, Vicar of Bishop Stortford: GEOFFRY KING, Fellow of King's Coll. Camb.: RICHARD THOMPSON, of Clare eminent Hall, Camb., an philologist: WILLIAM BEDWELL, the best Arabic scholar of his time, the tutor of Erpenius and Pocock, and called by Lightfoot, "the industrious and thrice learned."

CAMBRIDGE. 1 Chronicles to Ecclesiastes inclusive.

EDWARD LIVLIE, Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge, an eminent linguist, held in high esteem by Ussher and Pocock. His death in May, 1605, is supposed to have retarded the work in hand: JOHN RICHARDSON, Fellow of Emmanuel College: LAWRENCE CHADERTON, first Master of Emman. Coll. He died at the advanced age of 103: FRANCIS DILLINGHAM, Fellow of Christ Coll.: THOMAS HARRISON, Vice Chancellor of Trin. Coll.: ROGER ANDREWES, brother of Lancelot, and Fellow of Pembroke Hall ROBERT SPALDING, Fellow of St. John's Coll. ; he succeeded Livlie as Regins Professor of Hebrew: ANDREW BYNG, Fellow of St. Peter's Coll.

VOL. XLVIII—NO, CCLXXXV.