Oriental Literature. 6$ 



lications, together with a conviction of its utility 

 and importance, animated Dr. Benjamin Ki n- 

 nicot, of the University of Oxford, to engage 

 in a similar undertaking with respect to the He- 

 brew text of the Old Testament. As early as 1753, 

 by a dissertation on the state of the common printed 

 text, he called the attention of the religious world 

 to his design, and laid the foundation of his great 

 w r ork. His plan was no sooner announced than 

 he found ample support both of a pecuniary and 

 literary kind/ He collated more than 700 manu- 

 scripts, obtained from different countries/ besides 

 many printed copies; and was enabled from these 

 sources, to present a very curious and instructive 

 amount of various readings. In 1776 the first 

 volume of his work appeared, and in 1780 the 

 second, which completed his plan, was laid before 

 the world/ Every lover of oriental literature must 

 feel himself under deep obligations to this great 

 collator, not only for the light which his indefa- 

 tigable labour threw on the sacred Scriptures, but 

 also for that taste and zeal in Hebrew literature, and 

 particularly in biblical criticism, which his example 

 evidently and remarkably revived in Great-Britain/ 



i The literary aid rendered to Dr. Kennicot, was received from al- 

 most every part of the Christian world, particularly from Great-Britain, 

 Germany and France. The pecuniary aid with which he was favoured, for 

 the prosecution of his plan, was derived chiefly from his own country, in 

 which there was raised, hy subscription, for this purpose, the sum of 

 £36,000 sterling, or upwards of 160,000 dollars. A degree of liberality 

 which reflects the highest honour on Great-Britain and the age. 



j Among the great number of manuscripts examined by Dr. Kennt- 

 cot, there was one from America. This belonged to the family of the 

 late Mr. Solomon Simson, of the city of New-York, who sent it to the 

 learned collator in 1771, and had it returned in 1772. This manuscript 

 is the 144th in Dr. Kennicot's list, under the title of " Codex Americanus 

 Neo Eboraceasis" 



k Fetus Testamentam Hebraicum cvm varus Leciiinibns. Edidit Bent. 

 Kennicot, S. T. P. Oxonii. 1776, 1780. 2 vols, folio. 



/ It is certain, that since the publication of Kennicot's work, the study 

 of Hebrew has remarkably revived in Great-Britain. At the close of the 

 eighteenth century -it is probable there was a gre?ter number of Hebrew 

 fcholars in that country than at any former period within an hundri|j years, 

 perhaps than ever before. 



