APPENDIX. ]yix 



The method to which I invite your notice carries with it a better authority than my own. It was 

 recommended by Bishop Watson forty years ago, and it is astonishing that it ^as excited so little atten- 

 tion. " It is a work," says he, " worthy of the attention of all the universities in Europe, to undertake 

 the translation of the Oriental MSS. which we are at present possessed of. Men skilled in these languages 

 should be invited from every quarter, formed into a kind of society, and employed for life, under the 

 direction of proper persons, in the drudgery of translation. Nothing worthy of notice in this way can 

 be expected from the detached labours of a few professors of Hebrew or Arabic; men of liberal educa- 

 tion cannot readily be brought to undertake such a task, and, if they could, the matter may be effected 

 at a much easier expense by the labours of inferior persons. What would be an adequate reward for three 

 or four needy Turks or Persians, would not be a proper stipend for one man of letters, who should be 

 obliged annually to produce the fruits of his unremitted diligence." But, without entering into the parti- 

 cular manner of accomplishing this design, I cannot help being of opinion, that an institution established 

 at Cambridge for the express purpose of translating and publishing Oriental MSS. would redound to the 

 credit of the University, and tend to put the learned world in possession of a very valuable part of litera- 

 ture, of which, at present, we have but a very imperfect knowledge. 



I shall not presume to suggest methods where the learned Bishop has been silent, but sure I am that 

 the subject is well worthy mature consideration ; and, effectively pursued, it would do honour to yourself 

 the University, the country, and even to the civilized world. 



I remain, Sir, your most obedient servant, 



A Member of the Senate. 



To the Editor of the Cambridge Chronicle. 



Sir : Having had the honour of being addressed by ' A Member of the Senate,' in your paper of the 

 16th instant, as to the means whereby the treasures, now hidden in our Oriental manuscripts, might be 

 more generally made known among us, you will oblige me by allowing the following reply to appear in 

 your next. 



In the first place, then, I concur entirely with the opinions of this gentleman, that to bring to 

 light these treasures could not but tend considerably to advance our knowledge on subjects of the greatest 

 interest and moment, and that to devise some plan by which this could be effected, would be " a consum- 

 mation devoutly to be wished." 



It has been truly said by him, that the library of the Escurial contains vast treasures of this kind. I 

 answer, our own library, since the acquisition of the MSS. of the late Mr. Burckhardt, and of several 

 purchases made since his death — th.it of the British Museum, since the purchase of the valuable collection 

 made by the late Mr. Rich — that of the Bodleian of Oxford, to which may be added a most valuable and 

 extensive collection at the India House, present stores, perhaps, sufficiently extensive to satisfy the most 

 sanguine inquirer on subjects of this kind. But, if not, access is to be had to the almost endless stores of 

 the Vatican, the Imperial Library of Vienna, and the Royal Library of Paris; not to insist on the daily 

 accessions made to our libraries by the importation of MSS. from the East. 



That the resources are abundant, therefore, f think there can be no doubt, and that to bring their 

 contents to light is desirable, perhaps there cannot be more than one opinion. But I may be allowed to 

 Eay, that it is not to science only, or general information, that the most interesting accessions may be thus 

 made ; our knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures could not but be greatly advanced. The grammar, 

 rhetoric, laws, customs, and manners of the Orientals contribute, as all allow, in an astonishing degree, 

 towards elucidating the jihraseology of the Bible; and, I am sure, it cannot be necessary here to shew 

 that these means have never yet been drawn upon to any thing like the extent of their resources. 



Again : from a collation and classification of all the Syriac MSS. found in this country, particularly 



h 2 



