from the beginning. The degrees of punishment were undoubtedly dictated by eternal justice. It may, however, be permitted to us to remark, that while the children of Adam still mourn their fall through him, the descendants of the Nachash, whether he were a serpent or a monkey, have the advantage of being quite unconscious of their degradation. They crawl upon their bellies, and eat the dust, without having a suspicion that their guilty progenitor once walked erect, talked Hebrew to Eve, and fed upon apples in Paradise.

Doctor Clarke contends, that the Nachash, mentioned in the 3d chapter of Genesis, could not have been a serpent. The LXX. were mistaken, when they translated this word by is; and as the Apostles always quote from the Septuagint, nothing is to be gained by a reference to citations made in the New Testament from the Old.

I confess, that I have been much embarrassed in endeavouring to answer the arguments of the Doctor upon this point. How are we to understand the denunciation of Jehovah in Genesis as directed against a serpent?" Thou art cursed above all cattle." A cow-herd in the fens of Lincoln would not class a viper with a Lincolnshire ox. "Upon thy belly shalt thou go." The anatomical structure of a serpent is such, that it must always have gone upon its belly as it does now. If a serpent ever walked upon its tail, it must have been a serpent of totally different structure from the animal which we call by that name. The animal is defined by its structure: consequently the animal, which by its structure must crawl on its belly, could never have been the animal that might, and that did, walk upright." And dust thou shalt eat all the days of thy life." I know not what animal eats dust all the days of its life: serpents no longer feed upon apples, but they certainly do not live upon dust.

It is quite clear that the Nachash could talk. Nothing is said to indicate that he should lose that faculty. Now I have never distinctly heard of a talking serpent. Aristotle, indeed, tells us, (περὶ θαυμασίων ἀκουσμάτων) that all animals fed, when the sacred Thessalian serpent made the sound of its voice be heard. Tibullus says,

"Cantus et iratæ detinet anguis iter;"

VOL. IV. No. VII.

and Pliny, 1. 28. c. 4. observes that many were of opinion, that when serpents were sung to, they would sing again. In spite of these authorities, however, I am inclined to think that, without the aid of a miracle, a serpent could no more speak, or sing, than an ass. When Balaam's ass spoke, it was in consequence of the interference of Providence; but surely Providence did not interfere to open the mouth of a serpent, in order that it should tempt our first parents to their ruin: this would be an atrocious accusation against Providence. The Nachash, then, was naturally endowed with the gift of speech; and as that gift is not said to have been taken away, his descendants ought to preserve it to the present day.

Mr. Bellamy has written with much learning on the worship of the serpent among the ancient idolaters; but, in transcribing the pages of Bryant, he does not seem to me to prove that the tempter in Paradise was a serpent. It does not appear evident, because Zoroaster symbolised the expanse of the heavens by a serpent, that he was therefore thinking of the dialogue between Eve and the Nachash. The Good Genius of Egypt was typified by a serpent. This surely is not a proof that the Egyptians had read the third chapter of Genesis. According to Clemens Alexandrinus, the serpent was the hieroglyphic, by which the course of the stars was expressed. We learn from Horus Apollo and Macrobius, that sometimes the year, and sometimes the sun, were symbolised by a serpent. In what manner must the inventors of hieroglyphics have understood the history of the fall of man, if they employed the old serpent, who is the devil, as an astronomical emblem? Far be it from a disciple of Bryant to hold with Dupuis, that the history of the serpent, in Genesis, is nothing else than an allegory-a mere astronomical fableanother edition of the tale of the Dragon, which guarded the golden apples in the gardens of the Hesperides. Among the ancient oriental nations, the worship of the celestial bodies was, with one exception, universal. Mythology was the child of Astrology-the mad daughter of a foolish mother. Let us be careful of tracing the fictions of idolaters to the truths recorded in the scriptures. It is our duty to believe, that Eve was tempted by a Nachash, whether we know, or not, what a Nachash is.

We are told by Mr. Bellamy, that the Nachash was a crocodile. He does not inform us how this animal, which is often thirty feet in length, contrived to climb up into the tree of knowledge to gather the fruit. Our painters may well be tired of the old serpent. A crocodile in an apple-tree will, at least, have the merit of novelty.

This author calls the crocodile the Niolic serpent. I thought the crocodile had been of the lacerta kind, and that it had four legs. The Nachash did not go on its belly before the fall; but I should conceive, that it must have been always as inconvenient for a crocodile to walk upon his hind-legs, as for a serpent to stand upright upon his tail.

The Nachash had indubitably the gift of speech. How then could the Nachash be a crocodile? The crocodile has no tongue.

خنسر

Doctor Clarke thinks, that the Nachash was of the ape kind, of which there are eighty-three species; out of which the Doctor leaves us to choose the Nachash that is most to our own taste. The principal reason which the Doctor assigns is rather strange. He finds that the Hebrew word n Nachash, in the text, is the same with the Arabic chanas. In order to make them so, however, the letters must be transmuted; and besides this, as Doctor Clarke knows very well, the Hebrew and Arabic letters do not strictly correspond. He knows, too, that is not the exact orthography of the word, which signifies not only a monkey, but a lion. He is likewise aware, that wis signifies a serpent, and that the letters in this word, though transmuted, strictly correspond with the Hebrew letters

خنسر

נחש in

I must fairly confess, that I cannot find any thing in the history of the simian race, which can induce me to think, that any one of their tribe acted the part of the grand Deceiver; unless, indeed, it be their known propensity for robbing orchards. Monkies are fond of apples, but they neither live upon dust, nor crawl upon their bellies. How can they be said. to be cursed above all cattle? We goad our oxen, and we bait our bulls. When we catch a monkey, we feed him with sugarplums. In his native woods he seems to be happy, and to enjoy a state of liberty, which multitudes of our own species may with

reason envy. Enmity was put between the Nachash and the woman; but Buffon, in speaking of the ourang-outangs, tells us, qu'ils sont passionnés pour les femmes. The same thing may be said of others of the simian family.

I find myself compelled, then, by Dr. Clarke's reasoning, to deny, that the Nachash was either a serpent, or a crocodile; and by Mr. Bellamy's, that it was any one of the 83 species of the ape genus. Such is the consequence of departing from the sense of the Scriptures, as understood by the Prophets and the Apostles.

I should not do justice to Mr. Bellamy, if I were to conclude this letter, without acknowledging that his book is full of curious and interesting matter; and that his arguments to prove that is of the singular number, appear to me conclusive.

I am, Sir, your humble Servant,

Logie Almond, 1811.

W. DRUMMOND.

NOTICE OF

Memorandum on the Subject of the Earl of Elgin's Pursuits in Greece, 8vo. Price 6s. Miller, 1811.

IT has always been the policy of a wise administration, who look beyond the passing events of the day, to pay a particular attention to the interests of literature, and to enrich their country with the noblest specimens of the arts. No person could have been more judiciously selected for the Embassy to the OTTOMAN PORTE than LORD ELGIN, a nobleman of great political and literary talents. His first object was to form a plan for a minute study of the architecture and sculpture of ancient

Greece; and to procure modellers, architects, and draftsmen, who might rescue from oblivion, with accurate detail, whatever specimens of architecture and sculpture had escaped the ravages of time, and barbarism of conquerors.

To the advice and assistance of Mr. HARRISON his Lordship was considerably indebted. On the recommendation of Sir W. HAMILTON, he prevailed on DON TITA LUSIERI, one of the best general painters in Europe, of great knowledge in the arts, infinite taste, and scrupulous exactness in copying, to undertake the execution of the plan. Two of the most eminent formatori of Rome were engaged to make the madreformi for the casts; the first architect in Italy, a distinguished figurepainter, and other artists, were accordingly established at Athens.

The result of their labor is thus described: "Every monument, of which there are remains in Athens, has been most carefully and minutely measured; and from the drafts of the architects, finished drawings have been made of the plans, elevations, and details of the most remarkable objects, in which the sculpture has been restored and inserted with exquisite taste and ability. All the basso relievos on the several temples have been drawn, with astonishing accuracy, in their present state of decay and mutilation. Most of the basso-relievos, and nearly all the characteristic features of architecture, in the various monuments at Athens, have been moulded, and the moulds brought to London. All remains of architecture and sculpture, which could be traced through other parts of Greece, have been delineated with the most scrupulous exactness.-Picturesque views of Athens, of Constantinople, of various parts of Greece, and of the islands of the Archipelago, have been executed.”

French agents had begun to remove some of the sculptured ornaments from edifices in the Acropolis, and particularly from the Parthenon;-their expedition to Egypt drove them from their objects. LORD ELGIN pursued a similar plan with such success, that he has brought to England, from the ruined temples at Athens, a greater quantity of original Athenian sculpture, in statues, alti and bassi relievi, capitals, cornices, frizes, and columns, than exist in any other part of Europe.