Oriental Literature. 55 



of Pococke and Hyde, of Great-Britain ; ofEii- 

 penius and Golius, of Holland; and of D'Her- 

 belot, Bochart, Bouchet, and others, of France, 

 toward the close of the preceding century, had all 

 communicated to the public much curious and va- 

 luable information, respecting various eastern coun- 

 tries, particularly Arabia, Persia, and some parts 

 of India. But these works had so limited a cir- 

 culation, and the intercourse between Europe 

 and the East was so small, that few were excited 

 to pay much attention to this branch of literature. 

 In Great-Britain, especially, during the first half 

 of the century, oriental learning was at a low ebb, 

 insomuch that, during the reign of George I. a 

 great orientalist was a rare phenomenon in that 

 country. 



But in the latter half of the century under consi- 

 deration, more encouraging prospects began to 

 open. Indeed, within the last forty years, some 

 departments of oriental literature have been cul- 

 tivated with a fervour of zeal, and with a brilliancy 

 of success, highly interesting and honourable to the 

 age. And even in those departments which have 

 been less diligently and successfully cultivated, 

 some events and characters have adorned this 

 period, which are worthy of notice in the present 

 sketch. 



HEBREW LITERATURE. 



The first place in this chapter is clue to that lan- 

 guage in which it pleased infinite Wisdom to re- 

 cord and convey the divine will to man. A lan- 

 guage which, if it be not the most ancient in the 

 world, will doubtless be considered among those 

 which have the best claims to this honour. With 

 regard to this language, though it has been less 



