This language continued pure in the progenitors of the Messiah from the creation to the flood. Whatever change took place at Babel, it did not affect the line of the promised Saviour. Abraham is called the Hebrew, (Gen. xiv. 13,) not by anticipation, but because he had always spoken the Hebrew,-his mother tongue. Almost everybody knows, that Hebrew was the language of Palestine-the vernacular tongue of the Jews, and is embalmed and consecrated in the Old Testament Scriptures. It was preserved pure among the Jews, greatly insulated in Egypt, and still more so in the Arabian desert, till God, in the Ten Commandments, gave it a perfect written form; and Moses subsequently, and more fully, in his five books. But we should commit a gross mistake, if we sup pose it was confined to the Hebrew nation. It was the language of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, and Persians,of the subjects of the great King Ahasuerus, who reigned from India even to Ethopia, over a hundred and seven-and-twenty provinces. It was the language of Arabia, Edom, Syria, Phoenicia, of Egypt, and of Carthage. The Jews were carried to Babylon for seventy years, till they were released by the great Cyrus. Now, the language of Babylon, during this period, was Chaldee, in which a considerable part of the books of Daniel and Ezra are written, which present no difficulty to a Hebrew scholar. It does not differ more from the Hebrew, than the Doric and Ionic dialects do from the parent Greek. The Hebrew language extended, on the African side, as far as the pillars of Hercules, or Straits of Gibraltar. The language of the Moors, in a corrupted state, is chiefly Arabic. The language of Carthage was a dialect of the Hebrew. Hamilcar, Hannibal, Ardrubal, Maherbal, are pure Hebrew compounds, and convey to every Hebrew scholar a distinct signification. Plautus, the oldest comic writer of Rome, introduced into one of his comedies a sentence uttered by a Carthaginian slave, which the learned always regarded as unmeaning gibberish to ridicule a barbarous tongue, till Bochart shewed, that it was a distinct dialect of the Hebrew, and had a precise and appropriate meaning. The Carthaginians are usually known by the name Poeni, universally understood to be the same as Phoeni, which is the same as Phoenices. The great Hannibal knew the curse pronounced on Ham, and therefore said, Carthage must be destroyed. The ancient and venerable Arabian tongue is so thoroughly impregnated with the Hebrew, its sire, that Parkhurst has declared, that the Arabic of the Alkoran is nothing but a com pound of the different dialects of the Hebrew. Although it

does not admit of a doubt, that the Hebrew is the parent of all the tongues ever spoken by mankind, it does not appear how they can be all affiliated to it by seniority. The Greek and Latin both follow the Hebrew in several respects; but it cannot be shewn whether they sprung directly from the parent stem. If the language of the Jews falls under the Teutonic division, and if the Roman falls under the same, then the Roman must, through the Trojan, be directly derived from the Hebrew, and the Greek probably likewise. This is supposing the other two great divisions to be the Celtic and the Scythian; but this is very doubtful, some reckoning them the same. The Greek is, even yet, the most copious and beautiful of languages. In the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, there are no silent letters, like the Gaelic or Celtic, also an ancient tongue. Let two lines be drawn,-the one from the northern, the other from the southern extremity of Palestine, almost due eastward, through central Asia. Between these two lines lies the portion of Shem. Northward of the north line, partly in Asia, partly in Europe, lies the portion of Japheth. Southwards of the south line, partly also in Asia, and partly in Africa, lies the portion of Ham. Japheth is mentioned as being the elder brother. His portion embraces a considerable district or tract of northern Asia, the original seats of the Medes and Persians, together with Asia Minor and the adjacent parts of Europe, called by the Jews the Isles of the Gentiles, (Gen. x. 2-5.) Next comes Ham, whose lot is cast to the south of the Mediterranean Sea, both in Asia and Africa, (620;) while Shem lies between, and is appointed to occupy the good and fertile regions of which the Holy Land is the crown, (Gen. x. 21-31,)—an extent of territory very nearly corresponding to the grant subsequently made to Abraham. What effect this division has had upon language, we cannot determine. We do not credit the theories upon this subject, (article Language, Encyclopædia Britanica.) The Hebrew is the original, as sure as it is the language of the Bible. It is thought all the varieties of speech may ultimately be traced up to three original languages; but it is not agreed what they are; but they may be traced to one, and that one is the Hebrew.

Italy was called Ausonia, Hesperia, and other names. There were more than nine distinct tribes, or peoples, or nations in it, when Æneas arrived there from Troy; of which the Arcades, Latini, Pelasgi, and Etrurians, at least 1000 B.C., were four. Troy was taken and burned by the Greeks in the time of Jephthah, the ninth judge of Israel, 1184 B.C. Herodotus says, Although the Trojans had not Helen in their pos

session to restore, yet the Greeks did not believe them when they told the truth,-the Deity, indeed, in my opinion, providing, that by their utter destruction they might make it clear to mankind, that great punishments are reserved for great crimes from the gods. The kingdom of the Latins is sup posed to begin under Æneas, about two years after. Romu lus founded the city 756 B.C., consisting of about one thou sand houses or huts; and even the palace of Romulus was built or constructed of reeds, and covered with straw. It was founded 428 years after the destruction of Troy, 339 after Saul was made king of Israel, 120 years after the separation of Israel and Judah, 113 years after Dedo built Carthage, 20 years after the first Olympiad, 9 years before the era of Na bonassar. Numa, the second king, was a sabine of a different tribe or dynasty. He regulated the calendar, and built the temple of Janus,-to be shut in peace, and open in war. Janus had two faces, looking different ways, denoting the prudence of considering both the present and the future. How Numa spoke the Latin tongue-for rudimental Latin it must have been-cannot be determined. There were seven kings; and the regal government continued 245 years. Above 800 years before their existence, the Romans are graphically_described by Moses, Deut. xxviii. 49-68; their restoration, Lev. xxvi. 44; Deut. xxx. 1-6; Isa. lx. 1-11; lxv. 17-25; Ezek. xxxvi.; Hos. iii. 5; Rom. xi.; 2 Cor. iii. 16. Their second form of government was the Consular, of which the first were Brutus and Collatinus, the husband of the magnanimous Lucretia. The Romans, under their kings, had only two ways of subsisting, agriculture or plunder,-labouring on their own lands, or reaping the harvest of their enemies. The senators and patricians appropriated to themselves the greatest part of the lands-the soldiers fought to enlarge their territories-the great monopolized the fruit of their labours-the soldiers would not enlist-the consuls offered to elect a temporary magistrate, who should possess absolute power over all ranks of the State, and even over the laws themselves, called a dictator, 495 B.C. Titus Lartius was the first. He laid down his dictatorship before the expiry of the six months. The injuries of the people or soldiers were still unredressed. A Roman soldier, decrepit, and aged, and laden with chains, but who shewed the air and bearing of better days, addressed the people, and said, I was born free, and have fought in twenty-eight engagements. I served in the last war against the Sabines, in which my little patrimony was not only neglected, but the enemy plundered my substance, and set my house on fire. I

was forced, for subsistence, to contract debts, and then obliged to sell my inheritance to discharge them. Not being able to pay the whole, my creditor took me and my two children to his own house, and delivered me over to his slaves, from whom, by his orders, I have suffered the most cruel treatment. He then shewed, on his back, the marks of recent stripes, still bleeding, and his breast covered with honourable scars, received in fighting for his country. The soldiers durst not break their military oath, nor lay down their arms, or forsake their standards; but they removed their ensigns, changed their commander, and, under the conduct of a plebeian, named Sicinius Bellutus, retired to a mountain three miles from Rome, thence denominated Mons Sacer. The senate deputed ten persons, at the head of whom were Lartius and Valerius, who had been dictators, and Menenius Agrippa, equally be loved by the senate and the people. Lartius and Valerius employed all their oratory, on the one hand,-Licinius and Lucius Junius, the spokesmen of the soldiers, aggravated their distresses with all that masculine eloquence which natural ability and the sense of injury fail not to inspire. Menenius Agrippa, a shrewd facetious man, originally a plebeian, addressed to them that celebrated fable, so finely related by Livy, In times of old, said he, when every part of the body could think for itself, and each had a separate will of his own, they all, with common consent, resolved to revolt against the belly. They said they knew no reason why they should toil on its service, while, in the meantime, the belly lay at its ease, and indolently grew fat upon their labours. Accordingly they agreed to support it no more. The feet vowed, that they would carry it no longer; and the teeth averred, they would not chew a morsel of meat though it was placed between them. Thus determined, they, for some time, shewed their spirit, and kept their resolution. However, they soon became sensible, that instead of mortifying the belly by these means, they only ruined themselves. They languished for a while, and perceived, when too late, that it was owing to the belly that they had strength to work, or courage to mutiny. This fable had an instantaneous effect upon the people, who agreed, that Agrippa should lead them back to Rome; but Lucius Junius suggested, that they should have officers, created annually from among themselves, who should have power to plead the cause of the community, and to redress their injuries. The senate allowed them to choose magistrates of their own order, who should possess the power of opposing, with effect, every measure they deemed prejudicial to their interests.

These men, the tribunes of the people, or military tribunes, with consular authority, were, at first, five, afterwards ten, without guards, or tribunal, or any seat in the senate-house. They ex. amined every decree, which they annulled by the word Veto,I forbid it; or which they confirmed by signing the letter T, that gave it validity. Their persons were declared sacred; but their authority did not extend beyond the limits of a mile from Rome.

When the tribunes of the people were established at Rome, about 487 years B.C., shortly after the death of Pythagoras, and shortly after the birth of Herodotus, when Xerxes marched from Susa with about 3,000,000 of fighting men, and 5,283,220 aggregate of persons; and shortly after Leonidas, king of Sparta, was cut down at the Straits of Thermopylæ, after killing 20,000 Persians, with 300 Lacedemonians, about forty years after Zerubbabel laid the foundation of the second temple, which was to be more glorious than the first, because therein the Son of God was personally to worship, and perform some of His unprecedented miracles, and about thirty years before Artaxerxes sent Ezra to Jerusalem,-the tribunes annulled every law against the people, by the simple word Veto. Lord Moncrieff, or Dr. Chalmers, for Lord Justice-Clerk Hope does not decide which, invented or revived the old steam power, thinking it would suit admirably for the people to re pel an objectionable presentee. Little were they aware what a pandoras box they were opening. It was a two-edged sword, that cut both right and left, not only the old decided Tories, but the vacillating Whigs. Dr. Henry Duncan's son, of Ruthwell, was vetoed at Urr, notwithstanding all the influence of his uncles, Dr. T. Tudor Duncan, Dumfries, and Dr. Thomas Inglis, Lochrutton, as well as Mr. Robert Young at Auchterarder. Mr W. Duncan, ultimately at Cleish, excited much sympathy for his betrothed's sake, Miss Lundie, as well as his own, Mr. Young none. Dr. M'Crie did not admire the veto, neither would Mr Young, Chryston, had it been sanctioned by the Supreme Court, ere he got Cadder. Mr. Burns, Kilsyth, always his friend, while Mr. Lockerby could be hurt by him, like denying the existence of the Cultburn, which they both did in full presbytery, when the parish of Cadder was to be divided, though Mr. Burns had never stood in it to the loins when in flood, nor even seen it when running in the dry year 1826. After the presentations were laid on the table, Mr. Young's exceeding Mr. Park's, Mr. Burns took him out of the presbytery, and gravely said, Mr. Young, I presume you do not intend to follow out your election. Mr. Young