THE

Eclectic Review.

JULY, 1855.

ART. I. Catalogus codicum MSS. orientalium qui in Museo Britannico asservantur. Pars I., codices Syriacos et Carshunicos amplectens. [Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts, which are preserved in the British Museum. Part I. including Codices in Syriac and Carshun.] J. Forshall, Londini. 1838.

2. Catalogue of Additional MSS. in the British Museum. 1843, &c. 3. De la renaissance des Etudes Syriaques. Par M. Felix Nève. [On the Revival of Syriac Studies. By M. Felix Nève.] Paris. 1854.

THE subject of the Syriac language and literature is one of considerable magnitude, and of growing interest. The language, with slight modifications, probably asserts an antiquity which carries us to the plain of Shinar. It was, very likely, the native speech of Abraham, who came from Mesopotamia. But certainly we find traces of it in the thirty-first chapter of Genesis, where we read that a heap of stones, which Jacob called Galeed, was by Laban, the Syrian, designated Jegar-sahadutha. Now both names have one signification, 'the heap of witness,' only, one is Hebrew, and the other Aramaic. This Aramaic, as the Hebrews termed it, or the language of Aram, became divided into two great branches, called the eastern and the western; and these again were varied by dialectic differences. The eastern (or southern) division is generally known as the Chaldaic; while the western (or northern) is commonly called the Syriac. When this distinction originated is by no means certain. There is very much in the two languages which is similar, and they both, in many things, resemble the Hebrew, Arabic, Ethiopic, and other

tongues of the same stock. From a remote period, the Chaldee and the Syriac have employed alphabetical characters, which are much more alike in their names than in their forms.

The Syriac language appears to have been spoken over a vast extent of country, from Palestine in the south, to Asia Minor and Armenia in the north; and from the Mediterranean Sea in the west, to the river Tigris in the east. It was the speech, not of a barbarous, but of a civilized people, a people who entered heartily into the pursuits of science and literature, and who have left a multitude of written works, both in translations and original compositions. Among the former, the chief place is due to a version of the Scriptures, of which the Old Testament was probably the second ever made, and the New Testament was the first. This venerable translation dates certainly from the earliest ages of the Christian Church. Its importance and that of the language in which it appears, to critical students of the Bible, is said by competent judges to be very great. In this judgment we fully concur.

Besides the 'Peshito,' as this translation is called, there are others of the whole, or parts of the Scriptures, which have a peculiar value, but belong to more recent periods. Some of these are to be found among the MSS. in the British Museum.

As it respects the other written remains of this language, they nearly all pertain to theological and ecclesiastical literature, and all belong to the Christian period. Of Christian authors, some, whose works were translated into Syriac, lived in the first century, and original compositions are to be found which date back to the second. No doubt can exist of the value of these relics of a bygone day. Hoffmann, the author of the best Syriac Grammar, says boldly that if you would draw from original sources the history of Asiatic kingdoms and of the Oriental Church for many ages, you must look to the Syrian literature; and that the wisdom of the East in the middle ages and back almost to the time of Christ is treasured here. The historian and the theologian cannot too highly value this literature. Take, too, the declaration of Dr. Wiseman, himself at one time a diligent student of Syriac. He says that this literature is of the greatest use to the Church. True, there are no elegantly written poems and fables, as in Arabic and Persian, but in sacred subjects and historical documents the Syrians scarcely have a superior.' In support of this opinion he adduces the authority of Eichorn. We should remember that when these sentiments were uttered, the British Museum had not received those large accessions from this quarter, by which it is now so distinguished. After a part of them came to hand, a writer in the Quarterly Review' (most likely Mr. Cureton)

observed: It is, above all, to the Syriac or Aramaic that we may look for the remains of works lost in the original Greek. This language which, with slight variations, prevailed from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, and from the confines of Arabia and Egypt to Armenia, not only possesses a peculiar interest for us as being that used by our Saviour and his disciples, but also as being the vernacular tongue of many writers who hold a high rank in Grecian literature; whose works, therefore, can hardly be entirely free from some of the idiomatic expressions of their native land. The New Testament is, as we may naturally expect, full of Aramaisms, and one of the Evangelists is believed, not without good grounds, to have written his Gospel in that tongue.* Such testimonies we could greatly multiply, but forbear, in the hope that what has been advanced, will have its weight with those who have not yet directed attention to the subject.

It will be interesting to some, to know, that while the remains of Syriac writers range over so many centuries, the language itself is still 'the ecclesiastical and literary language of the large sect of Maronites.'t Somewhat varied, it is in use among the Nestorian Christians, who are at this day to be found in the province of Oroomiah, in the north of Persia, as well as in the neighbouring regions of Koordistan, as we learn from the American missionaries.

The introduction of this language and its literature into modern Europe was by the Maronite Christians, themselves Syrians born. Theseus Ambrosius took the lead among those Europeans who learned the language; his teachers were three Syrians, who came to Rome in the time of Leo X., about 1514. These were followed by others, and, in 1555, there was published at Vienna the first Syriac book ever printed. It was the New Testament. From that time the study of the language has been more or less cultivated in the West, and Syriac manuscripts have been accumulating in great public libraries. At the present day it is difficult to say how many such MSS. are to be found in these depositories; but they are very numerous. Among the richest is the library of the Vatican, and from Rome have proceeded most of the great works which have been published in this department of literature. Doubtless, many valuable treasures still remain in the East, but England and the British Museum can boast the noblest collection of Syriac MSS. in the world. To the MSS. in our national Museum we have now to call especial attention.

Until after the death of Mr. Rich (in 1821), there was scarcely

Quarterly Review, No. 153. 1845.

Eli Smith, in the American Bibliotheca Sacra, for Jan. 1853.

anything of importance in Syriac contained among the manuscripts in the British Museum, although the Bodleian Library had long possessed some of great value. The gentleman just named, who was the East India Company's resident at Bagdad for some years, formed a very valuable collection of Oriental manuscripts, coins, and antiquities. This was offered to the nation; a committee was appointed to examine it, and the evidence of eminent scholars was taken as to its character and worth; among them was the late Dr. Lee. Their report was printed in 1825, and the Rich collection was purchased by Parliament for the British Museum. Among the MSS. there are about sixty volumes in Syriac, some of which are of great rarity and price.

be expected, they are of a miscellaneous character. There are copies of the Scriptures in whole or in part, and various other works, as well translations into the Syriac, as those which were originally written in that language. The expenditure of time, labour, and money in collecting this body of MSS. was very great. In the East, books always have been dear and scarce from a variety of causes, but especially the cost of materials, and the slowness of production. There are many illustrations of this in the manuscripts under notice, of which the following may serve as an example. In a small, thick volume, containing the Book of Psalms, the Nicene Creed, and the old hymn, ascribed to Athanasius, Gloria in excelsis,' there is an inscription by a former possessor, who informs us that he acquired this book by much diligence, great energy, and divine earnestness;' and that 'for the extraordinary desire he had of holy books he journeyed to Egypt, and brought it thence for reading, study, and meditation.' The volume thus inscribed was written in the year 1204. How thankful we should be that we have not to travel to Egypt for a copy of the Psalms, but that we can obtain the whole Bible at home for ten-pence !

The Rich collection of MSS. has been fully described and catalogued by Mr. Forshall in a volume of considerable interest and value. In this labour he was assisted by Frederick Rosen, a young man of great promise, who died at the early age of thirty-two. By the acquisition of these manuscripts the British Museum at once became eminent among the repositories of Syrian literature. But it is since that period that those additions have been made which are its peculiar pride. These latter consist of three portions, of which the two former were obtained through Dr. Tattam, and the last by M. Pacho, in 1847. Together they form a matchless and priceless collection. The more recently received manuscripts were all derived from the same source-a monastery in the Nitrian Desert in Egypt.

It will be interesting to give a brief account of the place from