WESTMINSTER. Dean of Chester Dr. Spencer Mr. Fenton Mr. Rabbet Mr. Sanderson Mr. Dakins The epistles of St. The Rules to be observed in Translation of the Bible. 1. The ordinary bible read in the church, commonly called the Bishop's Bible, to be followed, and as little altered, as the truth of the original will permit. 2. The names of the prophets and the holy writers, with the other names of the text, to be retained as nigh as may be, according as they were vulgarly used. 3. The old ecclesiastical words to be kept, viz. the word church not to be translated congregation, &c. 4. When a word hath divers significations, that to be kept which hath been most commonly used by the most of the ancient fathers, being agreeable to the propriety of the place, and the analogy of the faith. 5. The division of the chapters to be altered, either not at all, or as little as may be, if necessity so require. 6. No marginal notes at all to be affixed, but only for the explanation of the Hebrew or Greek words; which cannot without some circumlocution, so briefly and fitly be expressed in the text. 7. Such quotations of places to be marginally set down, as shall serve for the reference of one scripture to another. 8. Every particular man of each company to take the same chapter, or chapters, and having translated or amended them severally by himself where he thinketh good, all to meet together, confer what they have done, and agree for their parts what shall stand. 9. As any one company hath dispatched any one book in this manner, they shall send it to the rest, to be considered of seriously and judiciously, for his majesty is very careful in this point. 10. If any company, upon the review of the book so sent, doubt or differ upon any place, to send them word thereof, note the place, and withal send the reasons; to which if they consent not, the difference to be compounded at the general meeting, which is to be of the chief persons of each company at the end of the work. 11. When any place of special obscurity is doubted of, letters to be directed, by authority, to send to any learned man in the land, for his judgment of such a place. 12. Letters to be sent from every bishop, to the rest of his clergy, admonishing them of this translation in hand, and to move and charge, as many as being skilful in the tongues, and having taken pains in that kind, to send his particular observations to the company, either at Westminster, Cambridge, or Oxford. 13. The directors in each company, to be the deans of Westminster and Chester for that place; and the king's professors in the Hebrew or Greek in either university. 14. These translations to be used when they agree better with the text than the Bishop's Bible; viz. Tindall's, Matthews's, Coverdale's, Whitchurch's, Geneva. 15. Besides the said directors before-mentioned, three or four of the most ancient and grave divines, in either of the universities, not employed in translating, to be assigned by the vice-chancellor, upon conference with the rest of the heads, to be overseers of the translations, as well Hebrew as Greek; for the better observation of the fourth rule above specified. 1658, Aug. E. G. XXXIV. A Passage in Cicero de Senectute corrected from a MS. MR. URBAN, THE manuscripts of Cicero de Senectute are very numerous, and so many of them have been already examined, that it is hardly worth while to think of consulting any more; and yet having had an old book by me now many years, I have lately passed a day or two out of curiosity in collating it. It is written in a fair hand on vellum, and I formerly lent it to Dr. Davies, the learned master of Queen's College, Cambridge; and he, I presume, made some use of it; but as he did not live long enough to give the world an edition of this part of Tully's works, I cannot tell what became of his collation. I do not take this MS. of mine to be particularly valuable, either on account of its antiquity, or its correctness; there are too many marks of recency as to the first; and in regard to the second, the scribe seems to me to have been some ignorant Italian. However, there are some places, where, as I think, the readings are preferable to what we now have, and I purpose here to give you an instance of one in a passage very celebrated. Cato in §. 83. after speaking of the desire he has of visit. ing those great dead, of whom he had heard, and read, and himself had written, proceeds thus, "Quo quidem me proficiscentem haud sane quis facile retraxerit, neque tamquam Peliam recoxerit." The MS. here has, tamquam Pilam retorserit. See the notes in Verburgius's edition. The fate of Pelias is very differently related by authors; Diodorus Sic. Lib. iv. Ovid Met. vii. 4. and Epist. Med. Jasoni. v. 129. Apollodorus Biblioth. i. §. 27. Zenobius iv. 92. Hyginus Tab. 24, all agree in representing Medea as directing the daughters of Pelias to cut their father to pieces, in order to his being restored by her to his former youth; this they did; but she, instead of restoring him, mounted her chariot and fled. Thus she was revenged of Pelias, the enemy of her paramour Jason; and the hero Pelias, was so far from regaining his juvenile state, that he was miserably put to death by his own daughters. Now, according to this account, the vulgar reading cannot stand, because it was not true in fact that Pelias was restored to life. But then on the other hand, Plautus in Pseudolo A. iii. §. 2. speaks of Pelias as being actually restored to his youth by the art and skill of Medea. Co. Quia Sorbitione faciam ego te hodie mea, These repugnant accounts make the reading in Cicero very uncertain; the question is, whether he followed Plautus or not. Plautus is not very accurate in his mythology; for example, in Rudens A. iii. §. 1. he represents Philomela and Progue as turned into swallows, which is a gross error, and a person that could write so might well be mistaken as to the fate of Pelias; but in the age of Cicero, the story of Pelias was better known, and, in my opinion, he cannot reasonably be supposed to follow Plautus in his error: for such I take it to be. But let us try the received reading by some other rules. Now methinks it cannot well be retained on account of what there immediately follows, "Quod si quis Deus mihi largiatur, ut ex hac ætate repuerascam, et in cunis vagiam, valde recusem," where Cato declares expressly, that he would not chuse to be a youth or a child again, which makes a manifest tautology, if we are to read before tamquam Peliam recoxerit. But what is more, something is here required that may better correspond with the terms proficiscentem and retraxerit, with which the reading of the MS. tamquam Pilam retorserit certainly accords best. It is a metaphor or image taken from the game of tennis, and Cato says, "that since he was in his way to meet those great men he had been speaking of, no one should easily withhold him, or strike him back, like a ball." Nothing can be more apposite or more expressive of his desire of not being diverted, or beaten from his purpose; and I am fully of opinion, for my part, that the passage was altered into Peliam recoxerit by some one who remembered that other passage above quoted from Plautus. 1759, May. Yours, &c. PAUL GEMSEge. XXXV. The pretended power of Witchcraft over the winds. MR. URBAN, ONE of the vain and groundless pretensions of the ancient professors of sorcery and witchcraft was, that they could raise, control, and dispose of the winds. Thus Medea says, Ventos abigoque vocoque. Ov. Met. vii. The witches in Macbeth converse to the same effect: 1st. Witch. A sailor's wife had chesnuts in her lap, And mouncht, and mouncht, and mouncht; give me, quoth I. Aroint thee, witch!-the rump-fed ronyon cries. And like a rat without a tail, 2d. Witch. I'll give thee a wind. 3d. Witch. And I another. Ist. Witch. I myself have all the other, Though his bark cannot be lost Act I. Sc. 3. The fourth verse is an heroic of ten syllables, as appears from the three preceding ones; wherefore it ought to be reformed, Her husband's t' Aleppo, master o' the Tyger. T' Aleppo is the same as to Aleppo gone, and somebody that did not relish the ellipsis, hath wrongfully inserted gone. Thus, above, you have the like ellipsis, for the sake of the metre, give me, for give me some; but what is most material in this case, the verb of motion is very often omitted in such phrases. Henry VIII. 1. see also King Lear, I. II. III. In short, the brevity of dialogue and conversation, has produced a thousand examples of this ellipsis, not only in this, but others also of our stage authors. It is very common in other writers likewise. The three next verses consist of eight syllables, and therefore we should read I'll do and I'll do-and I'll do |