76 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



as being "tolerable Hebrew scholars." The Wycliffe trans- 

 lations are professedly from the L,atin Vulgate. And of the 

 King James' version of 1611, by which time England had 

 taken a notable stride towards learning, the translators said : 

 " We never thought from the beginning that we should need 

 to make a new translation, but to make a good one better; 

 that hath been our endeavor, that our mark." And again, 

 as to qualifications for their task, they said : " We could 

 modestly say, after Jerome, we have learned the Hebrew 

 scriptures in part ; and in the Latin tongue we have been 

 exercised from our verj'' cradle." Thus in England, prior, to 

 the close of the sixteenth century, the day-spring of such 

 learning was only beginning to break ; and for construing 

 Hebrew texts aright, translators were fain to depend on what 

 those had garnered who reaped earlier harvests. The supply 

 on which they had to fall back was, however, rich and abun- 

 dant ; for in primitive times Jew, Christian and Gentile had 

 devotedly studied the Hebrew scriptures. That devotion in 

 past times may be realized by remembrance that the 

 distractions of modern life have failed to rob such studies of 

 their charm, inasmuch as during the last twelve years Prof. 

 Haupt, of Baltimore, has been engaged in editing an 

 elaborate critical text of the Hebrew Bible, and that in 

 furtherance of Hebrew studies Harvard University has 

 established a costly Semitic museum. 



Of the numerous Old Testament versions, none better 

 deserves mention than the Septuagint, a Jewish Greek 

 tranlation made at Alexandria in the third century before 

 Christ. When Alexander found that the capture of Tyre, 

 the queen cit}' of Phoenicia, cost him a nine-months' siege, 

 he resolved to establish on the Mediterranean coast a city that 

 for commerce and maritime strength should rival Tyre. 

 The place he chose, then a fishing village, thenceforth in 

 perpetuation of his fame was to be called Alexandria. This 

 new city was soon renowned for commerce and for learning. 

 In early manhood Alexander died ; and when the countries 

 of his conquest were divided among his generals, Alexandria 



