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Bards, in whose fervid brains, while sense recoils,
The pot of Progne, or Thyestes boils,

Dull Glyco's feast!-But what canst thou propose?
Puff'd by thy heaving lungs, no metal glows;

Nor dost thou, mumbling o'er some close-pent strain, Croak the grave nothings of an idle brain;

Nor swell, until thy cheeks, with thundering sound, Displode, and spirt their airy froth around.

Confined to common life, thy numbers flow, And neither soar too high, nor sink too low: There strength and ease in graceful union meet, Though polish'd, subtle, and though poignant, sweet; Yet powerful to abash the front of crime, And crimson error's cheek with sportive rhyme. O still be this thy study, this thy care: Leave to Mycena's prince his horrid fare, His head and feet; and seek, with Roman taste, For Roman food-a plain but pure repast.

PERSIUS.

Mistake me not. Far other thoughts engage
My mind, Cornutus, than to swell my page
With air-blown trifles, impotent and vain,
And grace, with noisy pomp, an empty strain.
Oh, no: the world shut out, 'tis my design,
To open (prompted by the inspiring Nine)
The close recesses of my breast, and bare

To your keen eye, each thought, each feeling, there;-
Yes, best of friends! 'tis now my pride to own,
How much that breast' is fill'd with you alone!
Ring then-for, to your practised ear, the sound
Will shew the solid, and where guile is found
Beneath the varnish'd tongue. For THIS,
in fine,
I dared to wish an hundred voices mine;
Proud to declare, how closely twined you dwell-
How deeply fix'd in my heart's inmost cell,

And paint, in words,-ah, could they paint the whole!
The ineffable sensations of my soul.

When first I laid the purple by-and, free, ・・

Yet trembling at my new-felt liberty,

Approach'd the hearth, and on the Lares hung
The bulla, from my willing neck unstrung;
When gay associates, sporting at my side,

And the white boss, display'd with conscious pride,
Gave me, uncheck'd, the haunts of vice to trace,
And throw my wandering eyes on every face;
When life's perplexing maze before me lay,
And error, heedless of the better way,

To straggling paths, far from the route of truth,
Woo'd, with blind confidence, my timorbus youth,
I fled to you, Cornutus, pleased to rest
My hopes and fears on your Socratic breast;
Nor did you, gentle Sage, the charge decline:
Then, dextrous to beguile, your steady line

Reclaim'd, I know not by what winning force,
My morals, warp'd from virtue's straighter course,
While reason press'd incumbent on my soul,
That struggled to receive the strong control,
And took, like wax, subdued by plastic skill,
The form your hand imposed-and bears it still!
Can I forget, how many a summer's day,
Spent in your converse, stole, unmark’d, away ?
Or how, while listening with increas'd delight,
I snatch'd from feasts, the earlier hours of night?
-One time (for to your bosom still I grew)
One time of study, and of rest, we knew;
One frugal board, where, every care resign'd,
An hour of blameless mirth relax'd the mind.
And sure our lives, which thus accordant move,
(Indulge me here, Cornutus,) clearly prove,
That both are subject to the self-same law,
And from one horoscope their fortunes draw:
And whether destiny's unerring doom,
In equal Libra, poised our days to come;
Or friendship's holy hour our fates combined,
And to the Twins, a sacred charge, assign'd;
Or Jove, benignant, broke the gloomy spell
By angry Saturn wove ;-I know not well-
But sure some star there is, whose bland control,
Subdues, to yours, the temper of my soul !

The Argument to the sixth Satire concludes as follows: This Satire is not only the most agreeable and original, but the most interesting of our author's works. It was evidently written by him, while yet in the flower of youth, possessed of an independent fortune, of estimable friends, of dear connexions, and of a cultivated mind, under the consciousness of irrecoverable disease; a situation in itself suffi ciently affecting, and which is rendered still more so by the tranquil, placid, and even cheerful spirit with which every part of it is pervaded. Our last quotation shall be from the opening of the sixth Satire.

Say, have the wintry storms, which round us beat,
Chased thee, my Bassus, to thy Sabine seat?
Does music there thy sacred leisure fill,

While the strings quicken to thy manly quill?-
O skill'd, in matchless numbers, to disclose
How first from Night this fair creation rose;
And kindling, as the lofty themes inspire,
To smite, with daring hand, the Latian lyre!
Anon, with youth and youth's delights to toy,
And give the dancing chords to love and joy;
Or wake, with moral touch, to accents sage,
And hymn the heroes of a nobler age!

THE ARITHMETIC OF THE HOLY

SCRIPTURES.

No. 11.-[Continued from No. XLIX. p. 32.]

HONORED by your prompt attention to my Introductory suggestions on the subject of Biblical Arithmetic, I proceed to submit some farther observations on this interesting topic:-relating chiefly to Numbers.

The Hebrews have employed their letters to express numbers; but whether this practice originated with themselves, or was derived from the Arabians or Greeks, it is difficult to decide. The learned Calmet says, (Bib. Encyclop.-Letters): I do not believe the ancient Hebrews did so, nor that letters were numerical among them. I see no evidence of this in Scripture. The sacred authors always write the numbers entire, and without abbreviation.'

The Jews and Greeks, in numerically valuing their letters, arranged them in three divisions: the former used their five finals, and the latter invented five new characters, in addition to their alphabet.

1st. The first nine denote units; as,

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2d. The following nine represent tens; as,

צ פ ע ס נ מ ל כ 5.

í x' x' μ v E' ☀ π' 5'
102030 40 50 60 70 80 90

3d. The last nine express hundreds; as,

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100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900

The Syrians have made the same use of their alphabet; and so have the Arabians and Persians, notwithstanding they have regular figures besides. The Greeks expressed numbers by their large as well as small letters; and used their alphabet in its natural order, to represent a consecutive series, or marks of division. Thus the 24 books of the Iliad and Odyssey are marked by the 24 letters, as the

stanzas of the 119th psalm are by the Hebrew letters. (Dr. Valpy's Greek Gram. p. 32. 7th ed.)

The numbers which occur in the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures are chiefly the following:

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τρεις three

τέσσαρες four,

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from ya, to agitate; because,' says Parkhurst, it was the fourth day on which the sun, moon, and stars were formed, and the natural agitation of the celestial fluid began.'

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This word is first applied to the fifth day of the creation, when the world was arrayed or set in order, for the reception of man and animals, Gen. i. 23. The Greek, according to Martinius, may be derived from Tαs, navтos, all; as this number is equal to that of all the fingers on each hand.

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first used in reference to the sixth day-the day of exultation for the finishing of the creation of this system, Gen. i. 31.

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Sufficiency or perfection is the import of this term: and, according to Parkhurst, both the Greek and English are derivations from the Hebrew.

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The Hebrew denotes the superabundant number, and the Greek is said to be derived from wxa duw, eminently two, as being the cube of that number.

תשע

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Is not,' asks Parkhurst, this a derivative from , to turn; as denoting that number which turns from units to a higher order of numbers?"

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The import of each of these terms evidently signifies, the rich number, including all units under it.

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An extensive number, from the Arabic to dilate or extend.

אלף

χίλιοι thousand.

The Greek is said to come from completion, as being the cube of 10, or being formed by multiplying 10 twice into itself: as the Latin mille may be from 5, to fill.

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λεγεων legion.

The Syriac is plainly from the Greek.-Mark v. 9, 15. The Roman legion then consisted of about 4200 foot, and 300 horse.

∞; μυριοι ten thousands, or

denoting a number which is immense, innumerable, in both languages.

The terms employed by the art or science of Biblical Arithmetic, are,

150-to enumerate, compute, cypher. It simply denotes the act of numeration, or calculation. In general, when , number, is placed after the substantive with which it is connected, it signifies a few, as Gen. xxxiv. 30: but when before it, many; as Job xxxvi. 26.

-a reckoning, a finished computation, or addition. Consult Lev. xxv. 27. Eccl. vii. 27.

D-to count, reckon together, or to make a contrasted account. Exod. xii. 4, and Num. xxxi. 28, seem to require this meaning of the term.

-a distribution, or division; whether by number or order. See, for this purpose, Gen. xiii. 16, and 1 Kings XX. 25.

And if these explanations be correct, may not the above terms be considered as expressing the fundamental principles, or rules, of the arithmetic of Holy Scripture? Apuos-number, is the usual Greek term employed to express this idea; for which the Syriac has in the New Testament.

A correct understanding of Scriptural numbers can scarcely be attained, without a knowledge of the methods of numeration which are practised among the Orientals. The very acute and learned Editor of Calmet has offered some ingenious illustrations on this subject; particularly in his valuable publication entitled, 'Scripture Illustrated by means of Natural Science, &c.;' from which a few selections shall now be made. After some introductory observations on the immense enumerations, in the beginning of Numbers, he says: The fact is, the numbers as they stand by fair inference are impossible; but, where is the

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