which it has chap. xxiv, 55. See note. On the first day God created light, ; but on this he created luminaries, ; which implies a luminous body, a body to which light is attached, as Mercer has justly observed." JOB, chapter III. 1 After this, Job opened his mouth, and execrated his own BIRTHDAY; 2 And Job spake, and said: 3 Perish the day on which I was born, the night it was said, Lo! a man-child! 4 Let that day become darkness; let God from above never regard it; let no joyful sound ever come thereon. let it expect light, and may there be none; These are highly respectable specimens, which cannot fail of procuring for Mr. Boothroyd the good opinion of the public. Should the proposed version be executed throughout with equal care, its claims to general patronage will not be inconsiderable, as it will possess no common excellence. To the English reader it will exhibit the variations of the ancient versions, and will include every material correction and improvement of the public version which have been suggested by the most eminent Biblical critics, and which are required that the English Bible may correspond with the present advanced state of Biblical learning: The undertaking on which Mr. Boothroyd has adventured, is one of high importance and of great labour, requiring not only the attainments of learning, but the higher endowments of a mind unprejudiced and impartial. Of Mr. Boothroyd's qualifications for the office in which he is engaged, we entertain a very favourable opinion. Of his acquaintance with Hebrew literature he has already furnished proof, in his edition of the Hebrew Bible. He is not deficient in critical acumen, and his judgment is generally exact. We are pleased with the modesty which invariably distinguishes him, and which forms a striking contrast with the offensive intrusions and dogmatic assertions of some other authors. His diligence and perseverance are unquestionable. We must, however, be permitted to caution him against haste in dis missing the sheets of his work from the press, and to submit them to a more rigorous examination than the prospectus has received. There are several errors in these pages; one of which, in the "specimen," we must not omit to notice. Gen. i, 18, "And to regulate the night," should be, " And to regulate the day and the night;" the three words," the day and"-are left out, either by accident or mistake, as they are indisputably a part of the text. Some persons may probably be of opinion, that the work on which Mr. B. is employed, is much too arduous to be successfully accomplished by an individual. They will probably advert to the number of translators who were appointed by king James to revise the Bible, and ask whether one man be competent to execute a work which was assigned to fifty-four persons in a former reign. For our own part, we confess that we see nothing very weighty in this objection. We should, on several accounts, prefer a version of the scriptures by a single translator, principally for the sake of uniformity; and though the work is laborious, it is not impracticable. The present is not the only instance of the Bible's being translated by an individual. Luther translated the scriptures in circumstances far less propitious than Mr. B.'s. Michaelis, whose literary avocations were so numerous, and whose writings are so voluminous, found leisure to execute his German version of the Bible. Dr. A. Clarke has recorded (rather to our surprise, we own) that he translated the New Testament in eleven months, and the Old in little more than fourteen months, collating the original text with all the ancient, and with several of the modern versions. In foreign countries, individual missionaries have translated the Bible into languages with which they were not by any means so familiar as an English scholar must be with his native tongue, nor did they possess a thousandth part of the advantages which are at Mr. B.'s command. From the works of his predecessors he will derive essential and extensive aid. We wish him health and spirits to prosecute his undertaking to its close, and recommend it to the patronage of our readers and the public, whose early and effectual encouragement of the indefatigable and praise-worthy author will be as honourable to themselves as it may be grateful to him. We submit to Mr. Boothroyd's consideration, whether it would not be a further improvement in the arrangement of the version, if the figures which mark the chapters and verses were removed from their present place in the text to the outer margin. This plan would answer every purpose of utility to which the present division of our Bibles is accommodated, and it would afford every facility for the more correct distribution of the paragraphs and other divisions of the respective books; after the manner adopted by Griesbach in his Greek Testament. Mr. Boothroyd proposes to publish the work in parts, and to comprise it in two, or at most three volumes royal quarto, and to give at the close of it a General Introduction to the Holy Scriptures, containing the evidences of their authenticity and inspiration-the Geography and Natural History of both Testamentsthe Opinions, Customs, and Rites of the Jews, and other Oriental Nations-the various Sects among the Jews-Tables of Weights, &c.-Ecclectic Review. LETTER FROM CORTEZ TO THE KING OF. SPAIN, ON THE CONQUEST OF MEX100. THE name of Fernando Cortez, the enterprising Spaniard, is familiar in story. “Envied,” says the historian of America, “by his cotemporaries, and ill-requited by the court which he served, he has been admired and celebrated by succeeding ages. Which has formed the most just estimate of his character, an impartial consideration of his actions must determine." Among the manuscripts of the late Mr. Alsop, we found a translation of the letters of Cortez to his sovereign, in which the writer gives a very minute account of his proceedings. When they were first given to the world we cannot ascertain, having consulted a variety of bibliographical works, without finding even the title of the book. The notes in the MS. referred to by numerals, bear this title: "Notes to the Letters of Fernando Cortez on the conquest of Mexico, to the Emperor Charles V. published in 1770, by Don Francisco Antonio de Lorenzana-Archbishop of Burgos." Of their authenticity there can be no doubt, and they form a narrative which is not surpassed in interest by any of the Arabian Tales. Cortez, one of the greatest men of his age, at the head of five hundred disaffected adventurers,-burning his fleet and thus shutting himself in a fortified country,marching at the head of his little band through territories more wide and popu lous than his native land, exhibits so much boldness in his designs, and such valour and wisdom in the execution of his enterprise, that we forget the wickedness of the scheme in our admiration of the man. Nor does Guitimozin suffer by a comparison with him. We behold the genius of the old world arrayed against the genius of the new, and their struggles produce an object for contem plation which is not often to be seen in the annals of the human race. By a ship which left New Spain on the 16th of July, 1519, I wrote your majesty a particular account of what had happened from my arrival to that period; this letter I gave in charge to Alphonso Hernandes Puerto Carrero, and Francis de Montejo, procurators of the rich city of Vera Cruz*, which I founded in the name of your majesty. Since that time, being constantly occupied in conquering and in quieting countries, in want of ships, and apprehensive for the fate of my first despatches, I have not had it in my power to give your majesty an account of my proceedings, and of the numerous difficulties which, God knows, I have had to contend with. But your majesty may at length assume the title of emperor of these immense provincest with as just a claim as that of emperor of Germany. The various objects which are met with in these new kingdoms are too numerous to attempt to describe to your majesty, and neither my talents, nor the duties of my station will permit it. I shall nevertheless endeavour to give every information that is important to be made known at present, and request your majesty's pardon if I should unintentionally omit any material circumstances, and not be able to point out precisely the time and manner in which events have occurred, or should be incorrect as to the names of the cities, villages, and countries that have submitted to your majesty, and acknowledged themselves your subjects, or vassals, as I have lost through an accident, which I shall hereafter give an account of, the several treaties which I had made with the inhabitants. My former account contained the names of the cities and towns which had offered their services, or submitted to your majesty's arms. I also made mention of a great prince, called Montezuma, who, from such information as I could obtain, lived at about ninety or a hundred leagues distance from that part of the coast where I had landed. I also added that, with the assistance of God, and the terror of your majesty's name, I was determined to seek Montezuma wherever he might be, and would have him dead or alive, either as a prisoner or a subject. With this intention, circumstances being favourable, on the 16th of August I set out for Zempoulla§ (which I have since named Seville) with fifty horse and three hundred of my bravest infantry. I left at Vera Cruz one hundred and fifty foot and two horsemen, with orders to erect a fort, which is now far advanced. As to the province of Zempoulla, which contains fifty cities or *The city thus denominated by Cortez is the same with that now called Old Vera Cruz, and is distant three leagues from the new. The kingdom of New Spain alone, from the isthmus of Panama on the south, to the extremity of the diocese of Durango on the north, is more than fifteen hundred leagues in length. Cortes was iguorant of the true names of many places from not knowing their correct pronunciation, and the mode of writing them in Spanish. Zempoulla still retains the same name. It is four leagues from Vera Cruz, and from its ruins must have been a considerable city. This place must not be confounded with another of a similar name in the archbishoprick of Mexico, twelve leagues from that capital. fortified towns, and can furnish about fifty thousand soldiers, I left it quite peaceable, consisting of subjects the more secure, loyal, and faithful, as they had been not long before subjected by force to the dominion of Montezuma, who oppressed them cruelly, and took their children from them, in order to sacrifice them to his idols. When they were informed of the great power of your majesty, they made known to me their complaints against Montezuma, requested my friendship, offered to submit, and begged my protection. As I have treated them well and always favoured them, I doubt not but they will remain faithful, had they no other motive than gratitude for my having delivered them from the tyranny of Montezuma. In order, however, to secure their fidelity, I thought proper to select a number of persons of distinction from among them, together with some of inferior rank, and take them along with me, and they have proved of great service in my enterprize. Among the Spaniards who accompanied me, I discovered some of them to be the friends or tools of Diego Velasques,* and that envious of my good fortune, they were desirous of quitting the country and exciting a revolt against me. Of these, Juan Escudero, Diego Cermeno, Piloto, and Gonzalez de Hongaria, together with Piloto and Alphonzo Penoto, have confessed that they had formed a plan to seize a brig in the harbour, kill the master, take on board a supply of provisions, and repair to the island of Fernandina,t and give information to Velasquez of the sailing of my ship for Europe, what it contained, and the course it had pursued, that he might adopt measures for taking it, as he has already several others, and would have done the last had it not gone through the Bahama passage. They also acknowledged that there were others who were disposed to give information to Velasquez. On making this discovery I determined to punish the guilty, as justice, the situation of affairs, and the good of the service required, and to order all the shipping in the harbour to be stranded, on the pretext that they were no longer fit for sea. By this expedient I effectually suppressed the whole plot, which, considering the smallness of our numbers and the intrigues of the friends of Velasquez, might have had an unfortunate issue for the glory of God and your majesty's interest. I thus deprived * The same who endeavoured to frustrate Cortez's expedition, and afterwards sought to render his character and views suspected by the court of Madrid, from the injurious accounts forwarded by him from Cuba, of which he was governor. He was a native of Cuella, and had been a servant to Don Bartholomew Colon. Having obtained possession of Cuba at the head of a band of adventurers, he was appointed to the government of that island. The island of Cuba was called Fernandina, from king Ferdinand, and that of St. Domingo, Isabella, from his queen. |