Sect. I.] Hcbrezo LiteMtiire. 043 



departments of oriental literature have been cul- 

 tivated with a fervour of zeal, and with a brilHancy 

 of success, hio-hly interesting and honourahlc to 

 the age. And even in those departments which 

 have been less diligently and successfully cultivat- 

 ed, some events and characters have adorned this 

 period, which arc worthy of notice in the present 

 .sketch. 



SECTION I. 



HEBREW LITERATURE. 



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

 guage in M'hich it pleased infinite ^Visdom to re- 

 jcord and convey the divine will to man. A Ian- 

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

 world, will doubtless be considered amonu: those 

 which have the best claims to this honour. With 

 regard to this language, though it lus been less 

 studied through the learned world in general, dur- 

 ing the last age, than in some preceding periods ; 

 yet several events took place, and a number of im- 

 portant publications appeared respecting it, which 

 it would be improper to omit in the most rapid 

 survey of oriental learning*. 



* For a number of the fiicts and names mentioned in these pa- 

 ragraphs on Hebrew hterature the author is indebted to his vene^ 

 rable friend the reverend Dr. Kunze, senior of the Lutheran clergy 

 in the state of New York, and late professor of oriental languages 

 in Columbia college. The various acquirements of this .^enlJe- 

 man, and particularly his oriental learning, have long rendered him 

 an ornament of tlic American republic of letter:*. He has proba- 



11 ^2 



