argument therefore can, I apprehend, be derived from the Scriptures, at all opposed to the inferences I have drawn.

I have endeavoured to procure a sight of Dr. Williams's Sermon, in which Mr. E. says there is something similar to my hypothesis, but in vain. It has just occurred to me, that there is, perhaps, something like it, in the old Heathen philosophy, which supposed that there was some intractability in nature, which God could not overcome; and, therefore, in creation could not dispense with evil, but made the best he could of his intractable materials. This, however, impiously supposed the Deity not to have been the Creator of the materials, out of which he fashioned the universe; and is, therefore, very different from that hypothesis, which merely points out certain effects necessarily attendant upon every creature, and which mark his inferiority to the Creator, by exhibiting the limited nature of his attributes.

I shall be most heartily sorry should my present communication hurt the pious impressions, or wound the future prospects of unchangeable happipiness, of any who may be incapable of perceiving the genuine basis upon which happiness, both here and hereafter, appears to me to be founded: none will regret it more than I shall; but called upon as I am to justify my impressions, be assured no consequences will ever frighten me from the maintenance, or the legitimate conclusions of truth.

SIR,

G. P. HINTON.

AM much obliged to your learned

The paper on the Greek Accents (pp. 442-450) is evidently the production of an elegant scholar. The lovers of Greek literature must feel obliged to the author for bringing the subject before the readers of the Repository in so tangible a form. I will pay due attention to it; and T. F. B. may expect from me, through the same channel, a respectful reply to his positions.

I feel very grateful to the learned Gellius (pp. 457, 458) for the notice which he has taken of my Lexicon. His remarks are well calculated to draw to it the attention of the learned readers of the Repository, which was evidently his intention. I beg to make a few remarks on his notes. The article doa, in my Lexicon, is carelessly done. The general term " "show" or pearance," which implies

ap

semblance," the sense it bears, as Gellius observes in Orestes, 235, ought to have been inserted. Lexicographers and critics have not sufficiently observed that a word, in a certain connexion, may have a meaning, which yet is foreign to the word itself. Thus anax, as Gellius remarks, may mean the clippings of hair. But the appropriate sense of the term is first-fruits or offering; what the offering might be depends on the context; and it may denote wine or honey, as well as hair. Thus, also, anu, in general means to dismiss or put away; but its sense, in the context of Orestes, 115, coincides with the idea of "spilling or pouring out." But even there apes would more exactly be expressed by "drop," i. e. drop as an offering on the grave.-Karaya is a nautical term, signifying, to bring to land or into harbour, which, to prevent injury, is done with caution and gentleness.

sion.

66

up and calling, while advancing among the shippings to the landing-place, "Gently, gently," i. e. approach gently, would, it appears to me, convey the exact idea implied in the verb καταγε, καταγε, addressed by Electra to the chorus, who was afraid of disturbing Orestes, now reposing from his madness. When Gellius says that avaaλλ means to soar, as in Orest. 316, he, with other critics, confounds this verb with averaλw, (ava, εti,

λλw,) which, in the active form, signifies to cause to spring up, or to

this measure, though Sturze and Schleusner are chargeable with the neglect of it. The practice affords unspeakable advantages to the learner, as it enables him, by the most obvious and simple analogy, to retain words in his mind which would otherwise be forgotten unless held by the sole grasp of a powerful memory, The above explanation of Bave, and its several branches, is in our opinion deserving of attention, as being perhaps the fairest specimen of lexicography that can well be met with. The learner is put in complete possession of its several senses by the aid of the context. The several branches of the verb are stated with the anomalies caused by the dialects and poetic licence. Dr, Jones has, indeed, largely profited by the labours of Damm, but he has condensed his matter into one tenth of the space which is occupied by that most admirable and useful lexicographer. Nor has he servilely copied his model, but tacitly shews him to have been mistaken in three or four points in this very article. Damm makes BeBar to be the Ionic form of ßeßxas; whereas Dr. Jones represents it as a contraction of the perfect middle Beßaart. Damm again states BeBauer to be a poetic form of ẞva, while Dr. Jones takes it to be the perfect middle infinitive, Beßaevas, by Syncope Beßavaι, ßeßaμev. The former writer seemingly, could not comprehend how Boat, if the Ionic form of Boopal, could mean, I will love or obey,' as it does in Il. o. 194. He therefore classes it with Brow as its root. But Dr. Jones has happily hit on the intermediate idea, for what is to love or obey a person, but to go by his will? And here it is obvious to remark, how similar the idioms of the Greek and of the English are to each other on many occasions. This is one among many reasons, why a Greek Lexicon should be written in our native tongue. Damm renders Bñ diva, Il. B. 183, by cæpit currere but this version does not seem

so well to express the sense of the original, as he hastened to go,' or he hastily went;' nor does B λaav, bear the precise sense of agebat equos, but is more adequately represented by he hastened to drive,' or he hastily drove.' And here it

is worthy of notice, that where Dr. Jones quotes a phrase differing in genius from one in our own tongue, he renders it literally first, and then expresses it in a free version, conformably to our own. This is not the usual practice of lexicographers, but it is as it should be, since it enables the learner to perceive in his own tongue the peculiar features of the Greek. Upon the whole, this Lexicon is a work of great labour and research. We have much pleasure in adding, that we deem it also a work of very great merit, which we conceive cannot fail to meet the approbation and patronage of those, who, where the English language is used, study to acquire a knowledge of the Greek." J. JONES.

Unitarianism in the United States of America.

NOME very interesting letters have

been lately received by Mr. Belsham from America, and put into our hands by the venerable friend to whom they were addressed. We lay before our readers a few extracts. The names of the writers are well known in this country, but we do not think it necessary to give them. The fact of Mr. Jefferson, the Ex-President, having avowed his belief in Unitarian Christianity, is of great importance, and will be hailed with delight by all that desire to see divine revelation adorned by the intellectual endowments and public virtue of its individual professors.

of

as

The following is from a letter dated Baltimore, June 20, 1823. "In this country the interests religious truth are as prosperous could be expected. Important changes of opinions and habits must always be slow. Prejudices are stub. born things, and can be removed only by degrees; but in the United States I have reason to think, that they are yielding as rapidly as the nature of things will admit. The advocates of old systems are awake; the lovers of the dark things of the dark ages are numerous and vigilant; opposition to the progress of religious knowledge is perpetual and strong; the flood gates of obloquy are hoisted; and the thunders of anathema and denunciation roar from one end of the Union to the other; yet there is a spirit

education and fierce political rivalry to abhor Jefferson, who no doubt returned it by perhaps a more guarded but a deeper animosity:-He writes to the man who seemed almost his natural enemy, in a style truly gentlemanly and truly Christian, to inquire into his sentiments respecting the Christian revelation. He states that many persons believe Mr. J. to be a sceptic or a disbeliever, hoping it is not so, but that his rejection is only that of the irrational, unscriptural, and absurd doctrines which have too often passed for Christianity; hoping too, that Mr. J. will not permit his celebrated name to descend to posterity, as that of a man who disbelieved the doctrines of the Christian revelation, and to be used as an argument against its credibility. Jefferson replies with great good sense and good feeling, and as it appeared to me (scanning his words, you may assure yourself, with suspicious keenness) in a manner open and explicit. He professes his belief in the divine mission of Christ, his regret that the corruptions of Christianity have so long obscured its glories and prevented its reception-and his joy, that these corruptions are now passing away, and that the doctrine of the Divine Unity and just views of the divine character are making a progress so rapid and extensive. When I speak of Mr. Pickering, I speak of a man of great intelligence and of a character which more resembles that of Cato than of any other man. His opinions were changed many years ago, by the reading of Dr. Price's Sermons, and he has since been a zealous Unitarian.

"These also are the opinions of General Brooks, Dr. Osgood's parishioner, whose steady liberality of sentiment had an effect the most beneficial upon the good Doctor's character and ministrations. He also has had a distinguished military career, and commanded a regiment at the capture of Burgoyne with great éclat. At the peace, he resumed the medical profession, and continued it with great reputation for thirty years, and indeed to the present time to his immediate friends and neighbours. He has been for seven or eight years governor of this state with great esteem, and with so much moderation,

that even the democrats had almost given up their opposition to his annual re-election. This office he resigned two months ago, to the regret of all. We have just lost an admirable inan, Mr. George Cabot, of this town, a direct descendant I believe of Sebastian Cabot. He told me that more than forty years ago, he met with one or two merchants in a little compting-room, which he pointed out, to devise the means of publishing some liberal tracts, especially Dr. Priestley's little Appeal' and History of Corruptions. When the Doctor was at Philadelphia, Mr. C. was a senator in Congress, and his constant hearer and great admirer. Dr. Kirkland preached his funeral sermon last Sunday, and I hope to bring you acquainted with the character of this pure, able, judicious, and most amiable man. He was a Unitarian, who laid great stress upon the value of these principles; and at one of the last conversations I had with him, he expressed, in terms similar to those in which you are wont to clothe the strength of your belief, that those principles of which we were speaking, would in no long time become those of the intelligent and virtuous throughout the United States.

"I mention these men, my dear Sir, not because they are governors and senators, &c. These are names, and emphatically in this country, vox et præterea nihil, conferred upon the ignorant, the worthless and the vulgar. But I mention them as men of sense and reflection, raised, all of them, by these qualities, united with an excellent moral character, from an humble station, to much distinction among their fellow-citizens. They were all educated in the times and principles of Orthodoxy; all eminent during their whole lives in active life and the business of the world. That such men should become the supporters and advocates of liberal sentiments, in opposition to early prejudices, and moreover at a period of life when zeal is apt to cool, should take a warm interest in the propagation of Unitarian sentiments, I must think affords no mean presumption, that these opinions approve themselves, when examined, to the grave and intelligent inquirer."

From Washington, another corre