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wrote upwards of forty-that is one for every year of his patriarchate it having been a practice with patriarchs of Alexandria to send a cyclical letter at Christmas to all the bishops of their province to inform them on what day Easter was to be observed. These have all perished in the original Greek, except a fragment of the 39th preserved by Theodorus Balsamon. Of Basil-the Treatise on the Holy Spirit, transcribed A.D. 509, not 130 years after his death; his Regulæ fusius Tractatæ, Treatise on Virginity, and various sermons. Of Gregory of Nyssa,-Homilies on the Lord's Prayer, on the Beatitudes, and other sermons, some written in the sixth century. Of Gregory Theologus,—his works translated into Syriac by Paul, an abbot in the island of Cyprus, A.D. 624, with commentaries by Severus, bishop of Nisibis; one copy transcribed A.D. 790, another A.D. 840, and others which appear more ancient. Of Ephraem Syrus,—many sermons, metrical discourses, and hymns; among which are several things not comprised in Assemani's edition of his works-for example, his tract against Julian, supposed to have been lost: one of these manuscripts is dated A.D. 519, or about 150 years after the death of the author; others appear to be still more ancient.

Of Fathers at the end of the fourth century and the commencement of the fifth,-nearly all the works of John Chrysostom, in manuscripts of great antiquity; one copy of the Homilies on St. Matthew is dated A.D. 557, about 150 years after his death; another copy, without date, of the same Homilies appears to be about a hundred years earlier. Several treatises of Proclus, his successor on the patriarchal throne of Constantinople. The 'Historia Lausiaca of Palladius; also the account of the Egyptian monks by Evagrius Ponticus, with other of his works; a short treatise on heresies by Epiphanius, written A.D. 562, less than 160 years after his decease, together with extracts from his other works. Almost all the works of Cyril of Alexandria, of very great antiquity; among which we would specify the treatise on Adoration in Spirit and Truth, transcribed A.D. 553, about 110 years after his death; his commentary on St. Luke, in two volumes, of which the original Greek is lost, excepting a very few passages preserved in the catena on St. Luke. Some of Cyril's works were translated into Aramaic during his life-time, by Rabulas, who was then bishop of Edessa.

In the beginning of the sixth century, a work of Timotheus, patriarch of Alexandria, against the Council of Chalcedon, transcribed A.D. 562-25 years after his death; various letters of his successors, Theodosius and Theodorus; numerous writings of Severus (Patriarch of Antioch), among which we would specify

a volume

a volume of sermons, transcribed A.D. 569, or only about thirty years after his death: many of his works were translated into Syriac during his life-time, in the year 528, at Edessa, by Paul, bishop of Callinicum. Of these writers of the sixth century nothing more is preserved to us in the Greek than the titles of their works, and not even the whole of these. This arises probably from their having been diligently suppressed by the emperor and the opposite party, by whom they had been condemned: they are, however, most important for throwing light upon the history of the first half of the sixth century, more especially on several important events consequent upon the Council of Chalcedon, concerning which we have little more at present than the statement of one party.

For ecclesiastical history we have in this collection-besides the five first books of Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, and his Martyrs of Palestine-a contemporary Ecclesiastical History, by John, bishop of Ephesus, from the year A.D. 571 to 583 (this manuscript must have been transcribed about the same time as the last event it records); two imperfect Ecclesiastical Chronicles; a considerable collection of Martyrologies, Lives of Saints, Fathers, and eminent Bishops; which may supply much matter hitherto unknown. In general theology there are several anonymous treatises on Christianity, and works against various heresies, together with some volumes of miscellaneous

sermons.

Of Ascetic writers,-numerous treatises of Ammonius, Macarius, Evagrius, Esaias, &c. &c.

Of original Syriac authors, besides Ephraem, above spoken of, there are found among these manuscripts,-works of Mar Isaac, presbyter of Antioch; numerous writings of Mar Jacob, bishop of Serug, or Batnæ-among which one volume of sermons is said to have been purchased A.D. 653, little more than 130 years subsequently to his death, and probably was written much earlier; various works of Philoxenus, bishop of Mabug, one volume of which is dated A.D. 569, or less than fifty years after his death; the treatise of Peter, bishop of Antioch, against Damian; several works of Mar Jacob, bishop of Edessa, and amongst these his valuable recension of the books of the Old and the New Testament, according to the Peshito version and that of Thomas of Heraclea. We might have added many other Syriac authors.

To the above short list of writers purely theological, we should not omit to subjoin the categories of Aristotle, translated into Syriac by Sergius of Rhesina, in the sixth century; commen

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taries on Aristotle by Probus and Severus bishop of Kenneserin; and a Syriac translation of Galen de Simplicibus. These manuscripts are of great antiquity, and touch upon the times at which the translations were made.

In closing a very brief notice of this collection, we cannot refrain from congratulating the learned of Europe generally that these manuscripts have been rescued from perishing in a vault in the desert of Africa; and we shall perhaps be forgiven for indulging in a little national pride when we rejoice that they are deposited in the British Museum. We are, however, constrained at the same time to confess that this our joy is much sobered down by the apprehension that these valuable works, although now safe from the danger of destruction, will still lie upon our shelves in almost as great neglect as they did in the oil-cellar of the monastery. There are but few Oriental scholars in England; and among those few the Syriac has found hardly any attention. The number of persons at present competent to make any use of this matchless collection is very limited, and even of those who may be competent, one is too far removed to be able to avail himself of it, a second too much pressed by other duties. Neither can we foresee any prospect of young scholars rising up to whom we may look forward as future explorers of this extensive mine. The mercantile spirit pervades even our literary pursuits, and that is most studied which seems most likely to turn out to some material advantage, not that which most tends to intellectual profit. We have some Hebrew scholars: there are Hebrew professorships in both the universities; that in Oxford is well endowed. We have a few indifferent Arabic students; there are also chairs for Arabic, indifferently endowed, in both universities. The foundation of the Sanscrit Chair and scholarships in Oxford has already engaged several in the study of that language; and the additional facilities afforded to obtain the means of wealth and distinction in India, by the knowledge of the Persian, have produced several eminent Persian scholars. But the Syriac, a language which by every association would seem to call for our sympathies more than any other, hardly excepting the Hebrew itself, has hitherto been in this country almost entirely neglected. There are no lectures read in this language in the university of London. There is no professorship of Syriac in Oxford or Cambridge; and while no less than three new theological chairs have been lately established in Oxford, the Syriac language, which would afford more light than any other for the critical explanation of the text of the New Testament-perhaps of the Old Testament also-which contains much patristical theology and vast materials for ecclesiastical history that

cannot

cannot be elsewhere obtained, has been left without a professor, and consequently, perhaps, without a student. The Syriac Theophania of Eusebius and the Epistles of Ignatius are the only works in that language, with the exception of the whole or parts of the Scripture, which, so far as our knowledge goes, have been published in this country. The glory of such Syriac literature as was brought to England by Huntington was taken from us by foreigners, who transcribed and published the valuable history of Gregory Bar Hebræus from the manuscripts in the Bodleian.

These are melancholy recollections; and our anticipations are shaded with their tints. But still we are pleased and proud that the Government and the Museum have done their duty as respected the Treasure of the Desert.

ART. III.-Days and Nights of Salmon-Fishing in the Tweed, with a short Account of the Natural History and Habits of the Salmon, Instructions to Sportsmen, Anecdotes, &c. By William Scrope, Esq., F.L.S., Author of The Art of DeerStalking. London, royal 8vo. (with numerous engravings). 1843.

WE

E have heard it predicted that the taste for Scotch sport, which has become a passion in England, would, like other passions, be of short endurance. We do not think so. Until the madness of our neighbours, or our own, provide the youth of England with the excitement of real war, that mimic warfare seems likely to keep their nerves strung and their hands fit for action.

It is not only that Clubland is left desolate as the 12th of August approaches; that Parliament is prorogued or deserted; that northern steamers and railways for weeks are crowded with sportsmen and their apparatus of sport; that during autumn more glimpses of the fashionable world are to be seen in the streets of Inverness than in St. James's Street: there are certain other indications not to be mistaken. Several accidents have of late thrown a number of Highland estates into the market, and these have been for the most part acquired by Englishmen of fortune, men who have grown to love the scene of their youthful sport only less than the green fields of their Southern homes. The new proprietors have established their summer shealings' in some of the remotest fastnesses of the hills, willing to see their sons grow up in the same hardy habits of Highland life which

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they themselves have acquired; and having no fear lest their daughters should lose in delicacy and grace by setting their feet on the heather and breathing the sweet mountain air.

These are not symptoms of an ephemeral passion. But we trust still more to the actual fascination of the Scotch sports, and their adaptation to the national character of Englishmen. is true, the taste for picturesque scenery-one of the causes of the tide setting northward-is of comparatively recent date. We doubt if the ancients—at least the old Romans-could appreciate any beauty of scenery beyond the clear fountain with its margin of turf, shaded from the mid-day heat by the umbrageous plane. Virgil indeed, when scorched by the Neapolitan sun, loved to fancy himself in the cool glens of Homus and under the shade of mightiest boughs. Horace decidedly preferred the 'burn-side,' if it was not the dell of a still smaller rivulet, which he has sung in lines of untranslateable beauty :—

Quâ pinus ingens albaque populus

Umbram hospitalem consociare amant
Ramis, et obliquo laborat

Lympha fugax trepidare rivo;

but he looked to Soracte only as a weather-glass. No Roman poet viewed the Apennines as more than a scene of rocky horrors, or thought of the Alps but as a region of ever-during snow. It is not quite a century and a half since a cultivated and refined English clergyman appealed to the sympathy of his friends for being condemned to a living death-a benefice among the dreadful wilds of Derbyshire! Some people, some whole nations seem incapable of the taste. We doubt if the Frenchman-the Frenchman proper-has ever really experienced the awful pleasure of mountain solitude.

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But whatever theory may be made, of the taste for the picturesque requiring education, it required no schooling to make the Englishman enjoy the wild free sport of the Scotch mountains, when it was opened to him. His previous habits had fitted him for its toil; his previous sport had given him some foretaste of its excitement. Every English boy bred in the country is a hunter. He who as a boy was one of the Eton eleven,' and pulled an oar in the Christ Church eight-oar, had ensured a firm foot and goodwind.' He needed but a little practice to make him enter into all the energetic scenes of Highland sport with the vigorous joy of a young native. For him too, by and bye, there was just enough of hardship and danger to give some feeling of adventure, and fatigue enough to make rest delightful. It was the perfection of physical existence. The young knight setting out in quest of adventures,

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