69 
1821.] Literary and Critical Proemium . 
and laborious author says, he has not veri¬ 
fied by his own observation. 
The Annals of the Parish ; or the Chro¬ 
nicle oj Dalmailing during the Ministry 
of the Bev. 31icah Balwhidder , is an amu¬ 
sing - and well-supported quiz on the errors, 
follies, and delusions of the last half cen¬ 
tury, and on the manners, practices, and 
opinions of the starch Pastors of the Pres¬ 
byterian Church of Scotland. It will be 
read with amusement by the ^pubiic, and 
with edification by those whom it happily 
satirizes. 
The third part of Mr. Bellamy’s new 
Translation of the Bible has just ap¬ 
peared, and concludes the translation of 
the Pentateuch. We have already noticed 
the preceding parts: and the whole must, 
otherwise, be well known to many of our 
readers. The work has not been allowed 
to steal, in silence, into the world. It has 
been accompanied with the thundering 
anathemas of the ultra-religionists of our 
Church. Those passages in our Translation 
which Mr. Bellamy agrees with the Deist 
in denouncing as absurd, blasphemous, and 
obscene, have, according to him, no exist¬ 
ence in the Hebrew text, (which, he says, 
has been transmitted to the present age 
■without the slightest error,) but are owing 
either to the corruptions introduced into 
the Latin Vulgate, or to the ignorance of 
the translators, who have, uniformly, fol¬ 
lowed, or added to, the mistakes of St. 
Jerome. Those of our readers who have 
seen the two preceding parts cf Mr. Bel. 
lamy’s work, will have marked the asto¬ 
nishing difference between his and the 
common translation. The part before us 
presents discrepancies equally numerous 
and equally extraordinary. The sedition 
of Korah, Dathanand Abiram [Num. c. 16.] 
is recorded differently from the account in 
the received version. “ Their wives, sons, 
and little children,” Mr. B. says, “were 
not guilty, and, therefore, were not destroy¬ 
ed.” In the same manner, “the massacre 
and butchery of the women and innocent 
children of the conquered Canaanitish na¬ 
tions,”—“ the order to butcher the boys, 
massacre the mothers, and ruin the daugh¬ 
ters,”—“ the command of God utterly to 
destroy them—to shew no mercy unto 
them—to save nothing alive that breathed 
—to slay both man and woman, infant and 
suckling,” &c.—All these, (as they appear 
in Numb. c. 21 ; Deut. chaps. 3, 7, and 20, 
and 1 Sam. c. 15,) are reprobated by our be¬ 
nevolent author with pious indignation. 
Having vindicated the Hebrew legislator 
from the charge of cruelty 7 , Mr. Bel¬ 
lamy (in his Notes on Num. c. 24, and 
Deut. c. 18,) is equally anxious to clear 
him from the charge of superstition. “ How 
long,” says he, “ the vestiges of the pro¬ 
found ignorance of those days, when the 
Bible was revised, are (o remain in the 
versions, to insult the understandings of 
enlightened Europe, is an important sub¬ 
ject of inquiry. One thing, however, is 
certain, viz., that the absurd notion of 
witches , wizards , conjurers, sorcerers, ne¬ 
cromancers , and dealers with familiar spi¬ 
rits, never had any existence but in the 
weak imaginations of ignorant fanatics and 
bigots - , and as such notions are properly' 
and universally exploded in all Christian 
nations, the time is come to give the true 
translation of the original Hebrew, in 
which there is nothing of that nature re¬ 
corded.” It would be unpardonable in 
us to pass lightly over the story T cf Ba¬ 
laam and his Ass ; for we suspect that it 
will raise an outcry, almost as loud and dis¬ 
cordant as that of the animal to which it 
relates. With regard to the speech of the 
Ass, the following are the verses in the 
new translation - 
“Num. XXII. v. 28. Then Jkhovah explained 
the sound of the Ass, as if she said to Balaam, 
What have I done to thee, that (hou hast smitten 
me these three times ? 
29. (For Balaam said to the Ass, Surely thovi 
hast exalted thyself against me: O that a sword 
were in my hand, for now I would slay thee.) 
30. As if the Ass said to Balaam, Am I not thine 
Ass, for thou hast ridden upon me ever since I was 
thine to this day; towards support have I been pro¬ 
fitable for labor to thee ? then he said nothing.” 
We would refer those who are curious 
on this subieef, to the translator’s notes : 
—one more remark from us, and we 
have done. Mr. Bellamy complains of the 
violent opposition which bigots have raised 
against bis work ; but, with the slightest 
reflection, he might have foreseen that his 
translation would not be palatable, either 
to the scoffers among the Deists, or to the 
proud among the Christians. If his emen ¬ 
dations be true, they put to silence the ob¬ 
jections, of the former; but they, also, de- 
monstrateofthe latter, thatthey have been, 
hither I o, as ignorant of the Hebrew lan¬ 
guage as their hearers, and that they and 
their predecessors have preached lor ages 
upon texts which they did not understand. 
Lord John Russell’s Essay on the 
History of the English Government and 
Constitution , is an admirable manual, 
which cannot be too extensively read, the 
spirit of which ought to be introduced in 
all our national histories. It is one of 
those efforts which tend io check that 
career of despotism to which every form 
of government tends. To render it ef¬ 
fectual, the volume ought to be printed in 
a cheaper form, and given gratis to village 
and popular libraries. The author has 
done his duty, in writing a work which 
cannot be too highly' praised, and it re¬ 
mains for the friends of civil liberty to do 
theirs, by giving active circulation to his 
book. We cannot omit quoting the noble 
author’s just opinion on the subject of 
trying libels by special juries :—“I cannot 
leave this subject of Libel, without men¬ 
tioning 
