cular, which are commonly killed merely for the sake of the tallow and hides, there being no sufficient number of consumers for the flesh. But though the produce of that country, if duly cultivated and encouraged, would, he says, be sufficient to maintain the half of Europe, and its wool would supply all the manufactures of France and England, the blessings of nature are counteracted by the errors of government; the people are poor in the midst of plenty; and the whole commerce of the place is conducted by four or five small vessels, which arrive once a-year from Lima.

His observations at Manilla are nearly similar. The fruits of the earth are abundant: but trade is so fettered by impositions and restrictions, that what is over serving the wants of the cultivators is almost of no value. Sugar has been sold at less than a penny a pound, and rice has been left on the ground uncut. The people are not permitted to raise tobacco, of which they are distractedly fond, but are compelled by an army of revenue officers and a military force to buy it from the government at the enormous price of half a dollar a pound. With a profusion of the richest tropical productions, and ten gatherings of silk in the year, they are miserable, and consequently discontented. And this most delightful country, capable from its situation and its fertility of becoming one of the most important settlements in the world under a wise and moderate government, is of no advantage to Spain; and, to use Perouse's own words, the most charming country in the universe is certainly the last, which a lover of liberty would chuse for his residence.' The Philippine company, lately established with the most oppressive exclusions and prejudices, have engrossed the trade with America, and are at the same time obliged to buy the manufactures of India and Europe in the port of Manilla, where pretended Moorish, Armenian, and Portuguese vessels from Goa import only English goods.

He thinks that Macao in China, which nominally belongs to the Portuguese, if it were made a free port, and were under a government of proper energy, might be one of the most flourishing towns in

Asia.

• Perouse made it an invariable rule to give every island or country in his charts its proper indigenous name, if he could obtain it; if not, he retained the name given by the first European discoverers, giving new names only to such places as, he had reason to believe, were first discovered by himself. Indeed, he was so far from arrogating to himself the honours due to other distinguished navigators, that he was ever ready to give them all due praise, and in particular embraced every opportunity to express the greatest respect for the memory of the immortal Cook, whom he called the greatest of navigators, and of whom he was a most worthy follower.

This enlightened navigator, all his philosophical associates, and the crews of both ships, were, most probably, swallowed up in the ocean, for nothing was ever heard of them after their departure from Botany bay on the 11th of March 1788. Had they been spared to return to Europe, the world would have been greatly enriched by the stores collected in almost every branch of science by so many men, each of whom was eminently qualified to execute the CC 4 task

1

task he had taken upon himself. What we possess of the fruits of their labour and research was fortunately sent home, as they found opportunities, and chiefly from Kamtschatka.'

The reflections made by Mr. Macpherson on the facts and transactions which he relates are those of a humane and enlightened mind, which comprehends the true principles of commerce, and which cherishes just views of the manner in which it ought to be treated. The doctrines of the work are in general not less sound than its statements are correct; and the author is intitled to the acknowlegements of the British public, as having judiciously and successfully treated a subject intimately connected with its vital interests.

ART. VII. The Book of Job: metrically arranged according to the Masora, and newly translated into English. With Notes critical and explanatory: accompanied on the opposite Page by the authorized English Version. By the Right Rev. Joseph Stock, D. D. Bishop of Killalla, and M.R.I.A.* 4to. pp. 246. 11. 18. Boards. Wilkie and Co.

IT

T is remarked by Bishop Newton, in the memoir of himself prefixed to the quarto edition of his Works, that he experienced the most effectual relief from the pressure of severe afflictions by plunging himself into deep study. In like manner, we learn that Bishop Stock not only had recourse to this absorbant of the mind, at a moment when his heart was pierced with sorrow by the sufferings and approaching dissolution of a beloved wife, but that he was fortunately directed to the study of that book which is regarded as the Bread of Mourners, and is peculiarly designed to excite patience and a dutiful resignation to the decrees of Providence. Thus to occupy the intervals of time not immediately devoted to the attentions of a sick chamber was in character with the good and learned prelate; and it is a proof of his industry and self government, in regularly prosecuting this new translation of the book of Job, during the six weeks in which the late Mrs. Stock lay on her death bed, that he was able to trace the last line of it while they were carrying her to her grave.'

We must, however, remark that the melancholy circumstances, under which this work was begun and executed, afford no plea for a hasty publication. The Bishop promises, indeed, to lay this good book to his heart and be still:' but he has been more alert in presenting us with the fruit of his

For Bishop Stock's translation of Isaiah, see Rev. Vol. xlix. N.

melancholy

melancholy hours, than we should have recommended if he had done us the honour of asking our opinion. Had he in this case exercised MORE patience, he would have acquired more praise; for, had he kept his MS. till he had tranquillized his mind by a recipe even superior to that of the study of the book of Job, viz. by taking to himself another wife, he would probably have furnished a volume more reputable to his own fame, and more satisfactory to the biblical scholar. If Thuanus be regarded as a slow versifier, who consumed two years on a Latin translation of this book, Dr. Stock on the other hand may be charged with excessive rapidity, who executed a work like that now before us in the short space of six-weeks.

The Book of Job is certainly a most curious portion of the Sacred Volume; and in a new translation, with a critical commentary subjoined, we may fairly expect to find the difficult questions respecting this antient poem fully and ably discussed. Some very material points remain to be settled, since the learned are not agreed as to its author, its character, its chronology, nor its geography. While one set of expositors ascribe to it the highest antiquity, supposing it to be anterior to the Mosaic dispensation, and to have been written in Idumæa by Job himself, or by Elihu, or by Moses, or even by Jethro, Moses's father-in-law; others contend for placing its composition subsequent to the Babylonish captivity, and attribute it to Ezra, or to some writer about his time.

On the nature of the poem, a long controversy has been maintained. Some strenuously assert that it includes a true history, while others can only regard it as a species of dramatic composition intended to inculcate a particular moral or doctrine. Peters laboured very hard to support the former hypothesis: but the latter, which is that of Warburton, is abundantly more tenable. The existence of Job is not disputed; yet, when the nature of the very dialogue is considered, together with the many circumstances, noticed by Le Clerc, which are introduced evidently for the purpose of dramatic effect, and which are scarcely to be reconciled with true history, we are irresistibly led to regard the speeches and machinery as mere creations, and the whole as an allegorical poem. Against the opinion of it's being a moral dialogue, composed in order to console the Jewish people under the pressure of the Babylonish captivity, it has been objected that, if this were the case, it is very singular that it should contain no reference to the antecedent

A Recipe which, we understand, the Bishop has in fact administered to himself.

history

history of the Jews, or to the ceremonial law. Even supposing this to be a fact, it would not weaken the hypothesis, but only evince the ingenuity of the writer; who, laying his scene in the patriarchal age, and in the land of Uz, has nicely preserved the costume, and not blended the manners of different periods. It is contended, however, that, though the writer has not introduced any direct mention of circumstances which would have been inconsistent with his obvious design, allusions to events recorded in the Mosaic history will be detected by the attentive reader. Bishop Warburton, in his Divine Legation, mentions several passages which indicate the age of the writer to be far posterior to that of the hero of the poem. He considers the brooks of honey and butter, in Job. xx. 17, as allusive to the description of the Holy Land mentioned in Exodus, iii. 8, &c. as a land flowing with milk and honey. The passage in chap. ix. 7, "He commandeth the sun and it riseth not, and sealeth up the stars," is supposed to refer to the Egyptian darkness, and to the stopping of the sun's course; and the declaration, chap. xxvi. 12, " He divideth the sea by his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud," to the destruction of Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea. If these quotations were accurately rendered, the evidence on this point would not be deficient: but if in the last passage we keep close to the sense of the original, and read, "He agitates the sea by his power," all allusions to the history of Pharoah vanish. The Bishop of Killalla, who is no advocate for the high antiquity of the Book of Job, is of opinion that, on a close examination, certain marks of time present themselves; and in his preface he points out passages to this effect,' which (he says) appear to have escaped the diligence of all preceding critics'

Allusions to events recorded in the five books of Moses are to be found in this poem, ch. xx. 20. compared with Num. xi. 33, 34; ch. xxvi. 5, compared with Gen. vi. 4. 7. 11; ch. xxxiv. 20, compared with Exod. xii. 29; c. xxxi. 33, compared with Gen. iii. 8. 12; and I shall hardly be expected to prove, that the author of the poem derived his knowledge of those events from a history of so much notoriety as that of Moses, rather than from oral, or any other tradition. Facts are not usually referred to, before the history recording them has had time to obtain currency. The inference is clear: the writer of Job was junior to the Jewish legislator, and junior, it is likely, by some time.

A similar mode of reasoning, upon comparison of ch. xxxiii 23, with 2 Sam. xxiv, 16; 1 Chron xxi. 15; will, if I mistake not greatly, bring down the date of our poem below the time of King David.

Lastly, ch. xii 17, to the end, seems to point to the circumstances preceding and attending the Babylonish captivity; and ch. xxxvi. 8--12, has an appearance of alluding to the various fortunes of Je

hoiachin

hoiachin king of Judah, z Kings xxiv. 12; xxv. 27. Notes of time these, which, though not so manifest as the fore-mentioned, may deserve attention; since they add strength to the sentiment of those learned men, who have been inclined to give the honour of this celebrated composition to Ezra.'

We shall consider this extract, first, specifically, with regard to the precise remarks which it contains; and, secondly, in its general application, admitting those statements.

If the reader turns to the first of the passages here mentioned, viz. to Job xx. 20. he will discover in the common translation no allusion to any historical circumstance: but this new rendering, if it be admitted, has a palpable reference to a singular event in the Jewish annals. Dr. Stock thus translates the passage: Because he acknowledged no. the quail in his stomach, in the midst of his delight he shall not escape;' and he subjoins the following note. Here I apprehend, is a fresh example of the known usage of Hebrew poets, in adorning their compositions by allusions to facts in the history of their own people. It has escaped all the interpreters; and it is the more important, because it fixes the date of this poem so far, as to prove its having been composed subsequently to the transgression of Israel at Kibroth hataavah, recorded in Num. xi. 33, 34. "Because the wicked acknowleged not the quail, that is, the meat with which God had filled his stomach, but like the ungrateful Israelites, crammed and blasphemed his feeder, (as Milton finely expresseth it) he shall experience the same pu nishment with them, and be cut off 1712 in the midst of his enjoyment, as Moses tells us the people were, innan, who lusted."

It is somewhat in favour of this remark, that the same word, which in Numbers xi. 32, is translated quails ('17) occurs in this passage in the book of Job: but it must also be observed that the word generally signifies quietness, and might have been applied to this bird, as Parkhurst intimates, from his habit of living in ease and plenty among the corn. It does not appear that any version justifies this conjecture of the Bishop of K.: and no proof is given that the expression of "not acknowleging the quail" was proverbial among the Jews.

The second passage ch. xxvi. 5. is made to answer the purpose for which it is produced, by the assistance of a new transla tion, which stands thus: The mighty dead are pierced through; the waters from beneath, and their inhabitants;' and at the bottom of the page this note is added:- The mighty dead] What follows to the end of this chapter, I conceive to be a sample, ironically exhibited by Job, of the harangues on the power and greatness of God, which he supposeth his friends to have

taken