ISmI -m£ T H £ TEN ANNUAL ACCOUNTS O F THE COLLATION OF HEBREW MSS OF THE OLD testament; Begun in 1760, and compleated in 1769 : By B E N J. K E N N I C O T T, D. D. F- R. S. Member of The Royal Socfety of Sciences, at goettingenj The Theodore - Palatine Academy, at manheim; The Royal Academy of Inscriptions &c. at pa r i s ; Keeper of The radcliffe Library, And Fellow of exeter College, in O X F O R D. Sold by Mr Fletcher & Prince, in Oxford; Mr Woody er, in Cambridge ; Mr Rivington, Payne, Dod/ley, and Fletcher, in London. M DCC LXX. T(o\ kk T O ALL THE MUNIFICENT PATRONS i OF THIS WORK THE PRESENT COLLECTION OF THE SEVERAL ANNUAL ACCOUNTS OF ITS PROGRESS IS MOST GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED; THE INTRODUCTION. THE Collation of the Hebrew MSS of the Old Teftament being now finifhed, I think it my duty to exprefs myfelf moft truly thankful — firft, to Divine Providence j for that fhare of Health, which I have enjoyed ( tho' of late frequently interrupted ) in perhaps too clofe an attention, during Ten Years, to a Work of fuch peculiar labour and fatigue — and fecondly, to all thofe Illuftrious and Learned Persons; who, with a public fpirit which has no parallel in the fuppdrt of any literary under taking, and with a piety which exceeds all praife, have thus liberally fupported a Work, not expe dient only, but neceflary, for the Honour of Revelation. As I entered upon this important Work, re- folved to profecute it with all the expedition, and all the care, in my power ; the proper advances made in it, from year to year, gave me fincere pleafure. At the end of the firft, and every fuc- ceeding year ; I thought it neceflary, for my own credit in the difcharge of my Truft, as .well as the fatisfadtion of my Subfcribers, to prefent Them with a printed Account, both of the Progrefs made, ,-. 6 INTRODUCTION. made, and the Encouragement granted. And one of the moft agreeable rewards, which I could pof- fibly receive during this hard labour, has been the Appipbation, with which thefe annual Accounts have been honoured by my Patrons : efpecially, as their Approbation Jias been followed by the Ap- plaufe of the Learned in almoft, every part of Europe. Being now to conclude the feveral fhort hiftories of this Collation, with an Account of the laft year; I have been perfuaded to republifh, and prefix, the Accounts of the nine years preceding, It is no wonder, that fome of thofe Gentlemen, whofe zeal for my Work led them to fubfcribe to it, fhould think the annual Accounts worthy of prefervation : and yet it would have been ftrange, if feveral of thofe little pamphlets had not been loft, thro' different accidents. This has been the cafe j and I have frequently been applied to, with fome earneftnefs, for other copies of thefe Ac counts, in order to make Sets compleat : which requefts I have fometimes been unable to comply with, as all the copies for a few of the years had been befare given away. A defire therefore to oblige all my Subfcribers, to the utmoft of my ability, is the apology I have to offer for this Re publication,; and I ftiall beg leave to introduce it with a few hiftorical particulars. Soon INTRODUCTION. 7 Soon after friy entrance in this Univerfity, when I learnt the Hebrew language from the celebrated Dr Hu nt, Regius Profeflbr of the Oriental lan guages; I then was, and continued for fome years, ftrongly prejudiced in favour of the Integrity of our Hebrew Text : taking it for granted ( as men of learning far fuperior to mine did, almoft univer- fally, thro' Europe ) that, if the printed copies of the Hebrew Bible at all differed from the Originals of Mofes and the Prophets, the variations were very few and quite inconfiderable. But, in defiance of thefe prejudices, I became convinced in the year 1748, that our Hebrew Text had fuffered from tranferibers, at leaft as much as the copies of other antient writings ; and that there are now fuch corruptions in this facred volume, as affecl: the Senfe greatly in many inftan- ces. The particular Chapter, which extorted from me this conviction, and which was benevolently recommended to my perufal ( for this very pur- pofe ) by the Reverend Dr Lowth, now Lord Bifhop of Oxford, is the 23d Chapter of the 2d Book of Samuel. Having been thus convinced of my own mif- take, in a matter of fo much moment ; I thoughts. it my duty to endeavour to convince others. And accordingly, in 1753, I published a Diflertation on the latter part of that Chapter, beginning at the 8 th verfe; which verfe feems to contain more and greater rniftakes than are perhaps to be found elfe- where, 8 INTRODUCTION. where, among the fame number of words. To the remarks on this chapter I added ( by way of Second Part ) an account of Seventy Hebrew MSS, which I had then difcovered ; and I fpeci- fied feveral inftances of their Various Readings, which indeed I found to be both numerous and important. This difcovery of fo many written copies, hither to entirely unknown or unattended to, differing fo eflentially in many inftances from the printed copies of the Old Teftament, ftruck every reader with furprife. Whilft the more learned, and the more candid, of thefe readers were led to exprefs their warm wifties — that no farther time might be loft, than had been loft already, in delaying the perfect examination of MSS, which were found l to be capable of fuch public advantage. In the year 1758, when the Delegates of the Prefs at Oxford, with very laudable intentions, requefted the feveral Profeflbrs to recommend to them fuch Works, as they thought would be moft acceptable to the Public, and which it would be moft honourable for Them to encourage the pub lication of; our Hebrew Profeflbr recommended various particulars, the firft of which was A Colla* tion of all thofe Hebrew MSS of the Old Teftament, which were preferved in the Bodleian Library. The Right Reverend Dr S e c k e r, then Lord Bifhop of Oxford, and late Arch-Bilhop of Canter bury INTRODUCTION. 9 bury ( by whofe death this Work has been de prived of its firft Patron, and has loft His Grace's farther Recommendation, as well as the ufefulnefs of His Advice ) was fo thoroughly convinced of the great importance of fuch a Collation, that He prefied me ftrongly to undertake it. And indeed He was the Perfon, not only who firft endeavoured to perfuade me (in 1757) but alfo who chiefly prevailed with me ( in 1760 ) to give up my life to this laborious Undertaking. In the year 1758, His Lordfhip honoured me with a Letter, from which the following is an extract. Sir, Deanery of St Paul's ; Mar. 10, 1758.' I have long wifhed, that the Hebrew MSS of the Old Teftament at Oxford were collated — if you are willing to undertake it, I think you the fitteft ; and am glad the Delegates have pitched on you. I prefume you would have been glad, if they would have made propofals to you, rather than have defired you to make propofals to them : but what Advice would be proper in either cafe, I am unable to fay — If an annual Salary be propofed ; it will probably be expected, that the number of Years for compleating the Work fhall be fixed — I hope, whatever Doubts or Difficulties may arife, the Defign will not be foori abandoned, from de- fpair of getting thro' them — This is all that occurs at prefent to Your loving brother and fervant, Tho. Oxford. B jo INTRODUCTION. Soon after the receipt of this letter, His Lord- fhip was advanced to the See of Canterbury ; and His Grace then wrote to me, as follows. t Sir Deanery of St Paul's j Apr. 15, 1758. I am very willing to take the part, which I thought was proper for the late Arch-Bifhop, of confulting with the other Bifhops, concerning fome proper method of encouraging the Undertaking propofed to you — What their opinion may be, I cannot fay beforehand — when I am able, I will give you farther information. In the mean while preparing for the prefs the Work, which you men tion, I think will be a very proper employment. I wifh you good Succefs in it, and am &c. The Work, mentioned by His Grace, was A Second Differtation on the printed Hebrew Text, which I published in the beginning of the year 1760; having then feen no MSS of the whole, or parts, of the Hebrew Bible. And in confe- quence of the additional difcoveries therein made, I was ftill more ftrenuoufly exhorted by feveral Great Perfons, and in particular by the Arch- Bifhop of Canterbury, to enter upon the Collation of thefe MSS. I confented ; and publifhed Pro pofals. And, after" His Grace had begun an Annual Subfcription, for the fupport of this Work- I applied to the Delegates at O x f o r d, who readily patronize^ it likewife : as did alfo feveral learned Individuals, and fome Colleges, in this Univerfity. Thefe INTRODUCTION. u Thefe examples were foon followed by the Uni versities of C a m b r i d g e and, Dub lin; and by many other learned Men, with fome other re- fpectable Societies. And that the Public may not be at a lofs to know, Who were the Perfons, to whom they are indebted for fetting on foot this Undertaking ; it will be confulting the fatisfadtion of the Public, and my own gratitude, to give here an exact Lift of thefe Subfcribers, during the firft year 1760. The Univerfity of Oxford. . £40 o o The Univerfity of Cambridge 30 o o The Univerfity of Dublin . . 30 00 His Grace, Dr Seeker, A-Bp Canterbury 10 10 q His Grace, Dr Gilbert, A-Bp York . 10 10 o His Grace, DrCox, A-Bp of Cafhel . 10 10 o Rt Honourable, The Earl Granville . 550 Rt Honourable, The Earl of Macclesfield 550 Rt Honourable, The Earl of Bath ..550 Rt Rev. Dr Sherlock, Ld Bp of London 10 10 o Hon. &RtR. Dr Trevor, LdBp Durham 1 o 10 o Rt Rev. Dr Hoadly, Ld Bp Winchefter 10 10 o Rt Rev. Dr Mawfon, Ld Bp Ely ..550 Rt Rev. Dr Willes, Ld Bp Bath and Wells 550 Rt Rev. Dr Thomas, Ld Bp Lincoln . 550 Rt Rev. Dr Ofbaldifton, Ld Bp Carlifle 550 Rt Rev. Dr Thomas, Ld Bp Salifbury . 550 Hon.&RtR.DrDrummond,L.B.StAfaph 5 5 o B 2 12 INTRODUCTION. Rt Rev. Dr Pearce, Ld Bp?. Rochefter Z 5 5 ® Rt Rev. Dr Hayter, Ld Bp Norwich . 660 Hon. & Rt R. Dr Cornwallis, L.B. Litchfield 550 Rt Rev. Dr Keene, Ld Bp Chefter ..550 Rt Rev. Dr Johnfon, Ld Bp Worcefter 550 Rt Rev. Dr Ellis, Ld Bp St David's . 550 Rt Rev. Dr Hume, Ld Bp Oxford ..550 Rt Rev. Dr Egerton, Ld Bp Bangor . 550 Rt Rev. Dr Terrick, Ld Bp Peterborough 550 Rt Rev. Dr Young, Ld Bp Briftol ..550 Rt Rev. Dr Chenevix, Ld Bp Waterford 330 Rt Honourable, Ld Tyrawly ....220 Lord Chief Baron Parker 5 5° Rev. Dr Gregory, Dean Chrift- Church 550 Rev. Sir Philip Hoby, Dean Ardfert . 330 Rev. Dr Squire, Dean Briftol ....220 Rev. Dr Webber, Dean Hereford ..220 Rev. the Dean and Chapter of Briftol . 550 Rev. the Dean and Chapter of Durham 10 10 o Rev. the Dean and Chapter of Exeter 550 Rev. the Dean and Chapter of Gloucefter 550 Rev. the Dean and Chapter of Wells . 550 Rev. the Dean and Chapter of Worcefter 550 All Souls College 5 5 o Eton College 550 Exeter College 5 5 o Jems College, in Oxford 5 5 O Merton College 5 5 O INTRODUCTION. 13 Rev. Dr Afhton ........330 Rev. Mr Atherton .......220 Rev. Dr Atwell ...440 Dr Avery ..*....:.. 2 2 o Hon. and Rev. Mr Aylmer ....220 Rev. Dr Barnard 440 Hon. and Rev. Mr Barrington . . . 220 Thomas Bafket, Efq; 660 Rev. Dr Bentham 1 1 o Rev. Dr Blackett 220 William Blackftone, Efq; 1 1 o Rev. Dr Butler 220 Rev. Dr Chandler 1 1 o Mr John Channing 220 Rev. Dr Chapman 1 1 o Dr Collet 110 Rev. Mr Cracherode 220 Peter Delme, Efq; 5 5 o Rev. Dr Dickens 220 Rev. Dr Eyre ; 1 1 O Rev. Dr Fanfhaw 220 ^Richard Fuller, Efq; 5 50 Rev. Dr Golding 440 Charles Gray, Efq; .......220 Rev. Mr Greet 1 1 o Dr Heberden 550 Frafer Honeywood, Efq; $ S ° John Howard, Efq; 220 i4 INTRODUCTION. Rev. Dr Jennings Rev. Dr Jubb . James Lambe, Efq; Matthew Lee, Efq; Rev. DrLegh (Halifax) Thomas Llewelin, Efq; John Loveday, Efq; . Rev. Dr Lowth . . Rev. Dr Markham . Rev. Dr Milles . . Rev. Mr Moore . . Rev. Dr Mofs . . Jofeph Mufgrave, Efq; Rev. Dr Plumptre Rev. Mr Prieft . Rev. Dr Pyle . . Rev. Dr Randolph Rev. Dr Salter . Rev. Mr Sanford Rev. Dr Saunders Hon. and Rev. Dr Talbot Rev, Dr Taylor ( Chancellor ) John Thornton, Efq; Hon. Thomas Townfhend, Efq; Rev. Mr Twynihoe . Richard Warner, Efq; Philip Carteret Webb, Efq Samuel Wegg, Efq; 2 2 5 2 3 2 I 4 22 5 2 3 2 I 4 o o 440 220 I I o 220 220 550 I I o I I o I I o 330 220 220 5 5 <\ 220 5 5o I I o I I o 220 220 INTRODUCTION. 15 Thus honourably countenanced and fupported, I entered upon my Work : chearfully devoting the active part of my life to this important Un dertaking ; determining to exert the utmoft of my endeavours to ferve the Public ; and not at all doubting of the generofity of the Public, for the reward of my Labours. But here ; that no more may be inferred from this Undertaking, than was really intended ; and that the author may not be fuppofed to have promifed what was out of his power to perform, (z. e. to collate all the MSS of the Hebrew Bible in Europe ) it may be neceflary to ftate, that the Undertaking was precifely this . to collate all the MSS of the Hebrew Bible in Great Britain and Ireland ( all fuch as fhould be difcovered, and the ufe of which could be obtain ed, ifdefired;) and, whilft this Work was carrying on ( which it was fuppofed might require at leaft Ten Tears ) that Collations of as many of the heft Foreign MSS fhould he procured, as Time and Ex- pence would allow. Such was my Undertaking. And now, as to the manner in which it has been conducted ; how . .far properly, or the contrary — this has been al ready ( as far as Nine Years ) fubmitted to The Subscribers : and the Whole is here pre- fented to Th e m, and fubmitted alfo to all others, who fhall perufe The Ten Annual Accounts, which now follow*in their order, and exa&ly as they were before printed. ( rt ) Account I. At the End of the Year 1760. PROPOSALS having been publifhed laft January, relative to a Collation of the MSS of the facred Hebrew Text; and fuch an Under taking having been honoured with great En couragement from the Univerfities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin ; from the Arch- Bishops, and moft of the Bishops in England; from fome Deans and Chapters, and fome Colleges; and alfo from feveral Persons, eminently diftinguifhed by their Rank and Station, as well as by their Zeal for Religion and Learning : Mr Kennicott, who has been employed to undertake a Work of fo public a nature, thinks himfelf ob liged ( at the clofe of the firft year ) to offer fome particulars to the confideration of the Public. And he apprehends, that the Method moft conducive to the Satisfaction of the prefent, and the En couragement of future Subfcribers to this extenfive and laborious Undertaking, will be — to ftate the 1 Expediency of fuch a Collation, as in the former Propofals ; and then, to mention fuch Circum- ftances as have occurred, worthy of notice, during the prefent Year. I. The Year 1760. 17 I. The beft, if not the only way, to print a good Edition of any antient Book, is to examine with Care the written Copies of it. And the Text of antient Books is allowed by the Learned to be more or lefs perfect, as more or fewer MSS have been collated for that Purpofe. For this reafon, almoft all the Greek MSS of the New Teftament, which are now extant, have been examined, and their Variations publifhed ; greatly to the fatisfaction of all thofe, who are Friends to Religion and Learning. II. The fame Advantage, arifing from a Colla- , tion of MSS, to which antient Books are naturally entitled, has been readily granted to them all; except, perhaps, in the fingle cafe of the Hebrew Bible : which however, on many accounts, may require it more than any other book of Antiquity. For the older any Writings are, and the oftner they have been tranfcribed ; the more Miftakes have probably been made by the Tranfcribers. And it is certain, that the Books of the Old Teftament are, at leaft fome of them, the oldeft in the world ; and, that they have all been tranfcribed very fre quently. As feveral of the Hebrew Letters are very fimilar ; it muft have been the more eafy for Tranfcribers to make Miftakes. And the Miftake of any one Hebrew Letter will often occafion a very wide difference in the Senfe. III. The Hebrew Copies, which have been hitherto printed, are found to agree with the lat eft and the worft MSS. And the older the MSS are, C the 18 Account I. the more they differ from the printed Text ; for they generally read more agreeably to the Context, and alfo to the antient Verfions. But farther ; the Hebrew MSS will not only furnifh many Various Readings, which make the Senfe clear and con- fiftent, where the printed copies are unintelligible or contradictory ; but they will alfo vindicate the Apoftolical Quotations. For fome of the paflages in the New Teftament, quoted from the Old, which do not agree with the printed Hebrew Text, per fectly agree with the prefent MSS — particularly, in one important Prophecy, no lefs than 28 out of 32 MSS confirm a Quotation made by St Peter and St Paul ; and this in a cafe, where the Reading, as p'inted in the Heb. Text by Maforetic Authority, invalidates the Reafoning of both thefe Apoftles. IV. The Hebrew MSS will not only correct many of the Miftakes, which have been introduced for 800 or 1000 years laft paft; but they will alfo confirm the Authorities of the Greek, Syriac, and the other antient and venerable Verfions ; which ( under proper reftrictions ) will difcover other Miftakes, made as early as the time of Christ. V. There are already known between 400 and 500 Hebrew MSS, now extant in different Parts of the World : of which number England contains more than any other Country ; there being preferved at leaft One Hundred and Ten ( contain ing the Whole or Parts of the Hebrew Bible ) in the Univerfities of Oxford and Cambridge, and in The British Museum. And fince our Year 1760. 19 own Country is fo particularly happy in the Trea- fure of its MSS, collected and brought hither at an immenfe Expence ; it muft be honourable to fet the Example here, in firft publifhing a Work — which, tho' greatly defired by the Learned in all Nations, has not yet been performed in any. VI. In the CX MSS beforementioned are in cluded 7 Copies of the Samaritan Pentateuch. And as the only Copy of this Pentateuch hitherto pub lifhed ( which was printed from a MS preferved in France) has many very valuable Readings, where the Hebrew Text is corrupted ; fo the 7 Samaritan MSS, preferved in England, will correct fome con- fiderable Corruptions in the Samaritan Text, as it is now printed from the French MS. VII. Since thefe Hebrew and Samaritan MSS are found to contain a great number of Various Readings, though they have as yet been very im perfectly examined ; the Queftion, humbly pro- pofed, is — Whether it muft not be the ardent Wifh of every true Friend to Divine Revelation, that the Hebrew Text may no longer be deprived of an Advantage, granted to all other antient Books ; but, that its MSS may be examined, and their Various Readings publifhed : that fo the Miftakes, intro duced by Tranfcribers, may be removed ; at leaft, that nothing in our. power may be wanting to ren der that Sacred Volume as nearly perfect, as Care and Criticifm can now render it. VIII. It muft be added : that, as many parts of the prefent MSS are already obliterated by Age, 20 Account I. and others are conftantly decaying ; the Various Readings in the parts yet legible ought to be col lected without farther delay. And when the Va rious Readings fhall be publifhed; they will form a fafe and authentic Record ; which ( tho' the MSS fhould entirely perifh ) will be always ready, either to reform the Hebrew Text, or correct our own Verfion. IX. The Reafonablenefs therefore, or rather the Neceffity, of collating MSS being readily allowed, in order to procure an authentic Text of all other antient Writings ; and a Collation of the Greek MSS of the New Teftament having been made, and juftly approved of: 'tis prefumed, that a Collation of the Hebrew MSS of the Old Teftament has been hitherto neglected, chiefly, on thefe two accounts — becaufe it was fuppofed, that there were few Hebrew MSS now extant ; and, that thefe few MSS contained very few if any Various Readings, and none of real Importance. X. To the number of above Four Hundred Hebrew MSS, before enumerated, there may be now added many others. For, tho' one only has Jately been added to thofe found in England, which MS is preferved in the Cathedral Library at Wells -, yet fuch has been the Zeal of feveral Englifh Pro- teftant Gentlemen in other Countries, particularly in Italy, that many Hebrew MSS ( not publicly known ) have already been difcovered, and more will probably be difcovered foon, thro' the indefa tigable Endeavours of the Gentlemen beforemen- tioned : Year 1760. 21 tioned : in which Enquiries they have been moft readily and zealoufly aflifted by feveral Perfons of great Character and Diftinction in the Church of Rome. The chief Places, where fuch Enquiries have been, and are ftill making, are Rome, Florence^ Bologna, Milan, Genoa, Venice, and Constantinople. XI. At Rome ( not to particularize the Cata logues there obtained from other Libraries ) a Catalogue has been lately publifhed of the Hebrew MSS in the The Vatican; in which grand Reppfitory are preferved Forty One MSS of the Whole, or Parts, of the Hebrew Bible. And as Leave for collating any or all of thefe MSS, for the benefit of this Work, has been offered in the moft obliging manner by His Eminence Cardi nal Passionei, who fo honourably prefides over The Vatican Library ; the Offer has been thankfully accepted : and a Collation is now ma king of fome of the moft valuable, at the Expence of Mr Kennicott. And he has reafon to prefume^ that his Work will be greatly enriched by the Va rious Readings of thefe excellent MSS ; collated with great Accuracy, in the very Palace, and under the immediate Infpection, oi His Eminence Himfelf. This Undertaking is alfo highly honoured by the Patronage of his Eminence Cardinal Spinelli ; who has been pleafed to exert his Influence in fa vour of it at Naples, and alfo in other places. XII. It has already been obferved, that the Va rious Readings in the Hebrew MSS are numerous; and 22 Account I. and particular Proofs have been felected. But abundant Demonftration of this point may now be given ; in confequence of a regular and minute Examination made in Three of the oldeft Hebrew MSS in England. As for inftance : the Variations from the printed Text, which have been found in One MS of the Pentateuch ( one of the oldeft and beft MSS now known) exceed Two Thousand ; many of which confiderably affect the Senfe, and are confonant to the antient Verfions : and (which furnifhes a new and ftrong argument in favour of the Samaritan Text ) there are in this one Hebrew MS not lefs than Seven Hundred Words, which differ from the printed Hebrew, but agree with the printed Samaritan Pentateuch. XIII. Should it be enquired, Whether there be in any other antient MS a number of Variations at all proportionable, in other parts of the Old Tef tament ; it may be anfwered, that in another MS ( alfo one of the moft antient and valuable now known ) there are, in the Evangelical Prophet _ Ifaiah, above One Th o u s a n d Readings diffe rent from the printed Text : and of thefe feveral have a confiderable influence upon the Senfe. So that the fubjoining Thefe, and all other Various Readings which may be found, at the bottom of every Page, in a new Edition of the Hebrew Bible, printed ( not with a new Text, but ) from one of the beft Editions already publifhed, muft be a thing greatly defireable to all thofe, who would judge pro perly of the genuine Senfe of the Old Teftament. Year 1760. 23 XIV. If therefore Hebrew MSS, efpecially the more antient, do in fad contain numerous and important Variations from the Text, as it has hitherto been printed agreeably to the lateft MSS j and if the Various Readings, collected, will cer tainly be more numerous, and may alfo be more important, in proportion as more Hebrew MSS lhall be collated : it is humbly fubmitted, and muft be left to all thofe Societies, and to all thofe par ticular Perfons, who approve this Undertaking, to determine — Whether this Workfhall be more, or lefs, perfect ; by their enabling the perfon, undertaking it, to procure Collations of a greater or lefs num ber of the MSS abroad ; and alfo by enabling him to employ more or fewer Affiftants, for expediting the Work at home. XV. Laftly : All thofe, who may incline to fa vour and patronize the prefent Undertaking, will pleafe to confider — that no Obligation is laid upon Subfcribers for the Continuance of their Subfcrip-. tions — that the Subfcriptions will be defired no longer than a proper Progrefs fhall be made in the Work — and that, if fuch a Progrefs be made, there will be then ( according to the method pro- pofed by The Delegates of the Prefs in the Univer fity ofOxFORD)a Certificate given, at the end of every future year, as there is at the end of the prefent, by The Royal Profeffor of Hebrew. Oxfordj December 1 8, 1 760. ( H ) Account II. At the End of the Year 1761. THIS Work being of a public nature, and having been honoured with very uncommon Encouragement ; it feems neceflary, at the clofe of every year, to lay before the Subscribers fome account of the Progrefs made in the Work, and alfo the State of the Subfcription. The proper no tices, relative to both thefe particulars, are here communicated to my Patrons, at the conclufion of the fecond Year : and I beg leave to exprefs my warmeft gratitude, for the extraordinary Favour vouchfafed to my Undertaking by fo many So cieties, and fo many Persons, who are themfelves eminently diftinguifhed, as well by their zeal for Religion and Learning, as by their Rank and Station. In particular, I think myfelf indif- penfably bound to make the moft dutiful, and moft humble, acknowledgment of A Patronace, too important to be concealed, and too great to be fufficiently celebrated ; which, to the extreme Honour of this Work, has been moft gracioufly extended to it by the Piety and Munificence of HIS MAJESTY. The Year 1761. 25 The Expediency of fuch an Undertaking muft be evident to all thofe, who will attend to the fol lowing particulars that the defign of it is to do the fame juftice to the Text of the Old Tefta ment, which has been done ( with univerfal ap- plaufe ) to the Text of the New Teftament, and to that of almoft all other antient writings ¦ that the Hebrew Text, tho' of fuch great import ance, has been hitherto printed agreeably to the lat eft and worft MSS that there are as yet happily preferved multitudes of older MSS ; free from many of thofe later Corruptions, which dis grace that extenfive part of Divine Revelation : and MSS, which contain readings more agreeable to the Context, to the Antient Verfions, and alfo to the New Teftament and therefore, that it muft be exceedingly defireable, that as many as poffible of the Various Readings in thefe valuable MSS ( now perifhing by age ) be fpeedily collected ; and afterwards accurately publifhed together ( at the bottom of every page, in a new edition of the pre fent Hebrew Text ) for the information of the Learned, and the benefit of the Public. Thus much may be fufficient to be obferved here, as to the Expediency of this Undertaking; efpecially, after the fanction it has received from the united fuffrages of Learned Men thro' Europe. As to the Hebrew MSS in England; the account, printed at the end of laft year, fet forth, that One Hundred and Ten had been then difcovered in this D Country. 26 Account II. Country. Two more have been fince found in the public Libraries of Oxford. There is One, belong ing to Edward Worthy Montague Efq; who has obligingly permitted it to be collated, One valuable MS has been purchafed by myfelf. But the moft confiderable acquifition, during this year in England, confifts in Two MSS, preferved in the Library of the Collegiate Church of Weftminfter. One Hebrew MS has been alfo difcovered in the Library of Marifchal College, Aberdeen : and Two, in that of Trinity College, Dublin ; which were brought a few years fince from Africa as appears from the account moft obligingly procured by The Right Honourable Lord Vifcount Beauchamp. The Collation of the MSS, in England, has been hitherto appropriated to the MSS in Oxford ; in which Univerfity are preferved the greateft num ber, and fome very antient and valuable. And the Work has been here carried on, with all the expe dition confiftent with health and exactnefs : the perfon undertaking it having been affifted in it conftantly by three Gentlemen, and during part of the year by four. The Various Readings, which have been difco vered in this year's examination, are furprizingly numerous. Many of them are plainly of moment : but the merit of far the greateft part cannot be properly judged of, without much critical Exami nation ; for which there is no leifure, durino- the progrefs of the Collation itfelf. Year i 76 i. 27 Ten MSS, containing parts of the Hebrew Bible, have been compleatly collated this year ; and alfo parts of Two other MSS. And as the Collations of thefe Twelve MSS have been fairly tranfcribed, and thofe Tranfcripts have been carefully examin ed ; the Original Collations are now depofited in the Bodleian Library, under the Librarian's Seal and my own : agreeably to the method prefcribed by The Delegates of the Prefs, in their Order for a Subfcription to this Work. It muft be obferved upon this article, that to the preceding MSS may be added ( as being collated likewife in the prefent year ) all fuch, as have been collated for this Work in foreign Countries. For, whilft diligent attention has been employed on this Work at home ; conftant endeavours have been ufed to procure affiftance from abroad : and indeed thefe endeavours have been attended with fuch Succefs, as cannot perhaps be paralleled on any other literary occafion. Great zeal has been fhewn in favour of it, in many Countries very dif- tant from England, and from one another ; and by Learned Men of very different perfuafions in Reli gion, who have united in their opinions of the tendency of this Work to promote ( the common caufe ) the Honour of Revelation ; and who have been very obliging by the affiftance already granted, and by the. kind offers of farther fervices. As many valuable Hebrew MSS are preferved in the Vatican Library ; leave for collating any, or D 2 all. 28 Account II. all, of them was voluntarily offered by the late learned Librarian, the juftly -eminent Cardinal Pa s s i o n e i : who conferred on the undertaker of this Work fignal obligations, by the honour both of his Patronage and his Correfpondence. The lofs of fo great a Friend has been very bene volently compenfated by the Patronage and Cor refpondence of his Eminence Cardinal Spinelli, Dean and Superior of the College of Cardinals ; who has condefcended to exert his extenfive influence, in favour of this Work ; and was lately pleafed to offer his Letters in recommendation of it to any part of the World. It muft alfo be gratefully obferved, that his Eminence Cardinal Al b an i, the prefent Librarian, protects and countenances this Work at the Vatican ; and has kindly favoured it with feveral recommendatory Letters ; particularly, to Marfhal Botta Adorn o, Governor of Tufcany, and to Count F i r m i a n, the Imperial Secretary of State at Milan. The Collation of the Hebrew MSS, agreed for at the Vatican, at the expence of 200 £, is now finifhed by the learned Profeffor Conftanzi ; and the Various Readings of the MSS there collated (which have been found numerous and in feveral inftances important ) are expected foon in England. But ftill, there are many other curious MSS in Rome: and the Collation of fome of thefe alfo will ( at my requeft and expence ) be foon undertaken. I have alfo obtained leave, at Florence, to felect feveral Hebrew MSS, in the Imperial Library j Year 1761. 29/ and thefe are now collating by the learned Signior Bartoli, and 11 Padre Berretta Vallombrofano. This Collation is carrying on, by the favour of Marfhal Botta, under the Patronage of Sir Horatio Mann, His Majefty's Refident there; who has honoured this Work with his Recommendation, particularly to Count Firm i an. Great acknow ledgments are alfo due to Count Firmian himfelf, for the zeal he has expreffed in favour of this Work ; which will probably receive great affift ance from the learned Imperial Profeffor Henrico a Porta, to whofe care his Excellency has parti cularly recommended it. At Hamburgh, there are many Hebrew MSS, preferved in the public Library. And an agree ment has lately been made with the learned Pro feffor Reimar ; who is now employed in collating Seven of the moft antient and valuable. Several very valuable MSS being preferved in the Royal Library at Turin ; application for leave to collate them was made fome time fince to the Sardinian Ambaffador at this Court by The Right Honourable the Earl of Bute, One of His Majefty's Principal Secretaries of State : whofe Patronage of this Work is moft gratefully acknowledged.. And I think myfelf obliged to exprefs my moft humble thankfulnefs for the great Honour done this Work by His Majefty the King of Sardinia, and His Royal Highnefs the Duke of Savoy, who have graciovifly declared Themlelves Patrons of it. His Majefty hath condefcended to order, 30 Account II. that all the Hebrew MSS in his States (hall be ex amined upon this occafion ; and hath been pleafed to appoint Two Hebrew Profeffors to collate the moft valuable. Thefe notices I have received in a moft obliging Letter from Mr Dutens, the Britifh Refident at Turin. In Spain ( whilft enquiries are making as to the Efcurial, and other public Libraries ) it muft be obferved, that about Twenty Hebrew MSS are pre ferved in the Library of the learned and reverend Francifco Perez Bayer, Canon and Treafurer of the great Church at Toledo : who has exprefled his rea- dinefs to permit a Collation of them to be made, for the advantage of this Work. Two valuable MSS have been very lately fent to Oxford, from Rotterdam, by Mr Penfionary Meer- man; to whom this Work will probably be much indebted for the affiftance derived from thefe MSS, thus obligingly lent for its benefit. The fame great Favour has alfo been granted, with the utmoft rea- dinefs, by the Univerfity of Aberdeen, at the re- queft of their Noble Chancellor; and they have lately fent to Oxford the very elegant and valuable MS, preferved in their public Library. As to the parts of Europe not before-mentioned, in which there have been alfo enquiries made after Hebrew MSS, during the' prefent year; it may be proper to mention Conftantinople, Warfaw, Venice, Naples, Bologna, Mantua, Pavia, Genoa, Lifbon, Geneva, Utrecht, Erfurth, Berlin, and Stockholm. And amongft thofe Gentlemen, who have very Year 176 i. gi obligingly afiifted in thefe feveral enquiries, parti cular Thanks are due to their Excellencies Lord Vifcount Storm on t, Sir James Gray, the Hon. Edward Hay Efq; and James Porter Efq; His Majefty's Ambafladors and Envoys at Warfaw, Naples, Lifbon, and Conftantinople. To thefe various inftances of extraordinary Ser vice fo zealoufly granted to this Work, and of Honour thus unexpectedly conferred upon the un dertaker of it, muft be added the great Favour already (hewn, and the extenfive Affiftance likely to be granted, by the Learned at Paris. In parti cular, the moft grateful acknowledgments muft be here made to Monjieur UAbbi Ladvocat, the very worthy Librarian and Hebrew Profefibr at the Sorbonne ; who propofes to employ himfelfi, together with fome able Afliftants, in collating jfbr this Work feveral very valuable MSS. Such is the State, at prefent, of this Collation, And from the preceding account of the Work, compared with the fubfequent lift of the Subfcri* bers, the Reader will be led to confider that the Subfcription is fully fufficient to fupport and encourage a diligent Collation of the MSS in England, and to procure confiderable Affiftance from other Countries but that this Work will certainly be the more perfect, in proportion as a greater number of valuable MSS (hall be collated abroad : of which there are happily found fo very many, and leave is with fo much public fpirit 32 Account II. granted for the ufe of them, in the various parts of Europe. The Public may be affured, that I fhall continue to exert my utmoft endeavours, in proportion to the encouragement I receive, towards perfecting of the Work, in which I have the honour to be thus employed. And I beg leave to hope, that neither the preceding narrative, nor the fol lowing lift, will by any means be interpreted as matter of oftentation. I have only given a plain enumeration of the great Favours in fact conferred by others, adding fome expreffions of my own gra titude. And it may be prefumed, that fuch an Account will be agreeable to all the fincere Friends of this Work and Th e s e are the Readers, whom I am ftudious and ambitious to pleafe. Laftly : All thofe, who may be inclined to favour and patronize the prefent Undertaking, will pleafe to confider that no Obligation is laid upon Subfcribers for the continuance of their Subfcrip- tions that the Subfcriptions will be defired, no longer than a proper Progrefs fhall be made in the Work ¦ and that, if fuch a Progrefs be made, there will be then ( according to the method propofed by The Delegates of the Prefs in the Uni verfity of Oxford ) a Certificate given at the end of every future Year, as there is at the end of the prefent, by The Royal Profejfor of Hebrew. Oxford; Dec. 16, ij6i. Year 1761. THE CERTIFICATE. 33 'FHE Delegates of the Prefs, in the Univerfity of *• Oxford, having in January 1760 fubfcribed to Mr Kennicott's Collation of the Hebrew MSS ; and having inferted in an Order then made the following words [ That their Subfcription be continued at the beginning of every Tear, upon Mr Kennicott's producing a Certificate from the Royal Pr of effor of Hebrew, that in his Judgment Mr Kennicott hath made a competent Progrefs in the faid Work during the Year preceding ; J and Mr Kennicott having applied to me for fuch a Certificate : I do hereby accordingly Certify, for the Satisfaction of the faid Delegates, and of fuch other Perfons as have encouraged this Work by their Subfcrip- tions, that the feveral Parts of the Collation ( made during this Second Year ) have been laid before me. And my Opinion is, that Mr Kennicott hath made a very compe tent Progrefs in the faid Collation, and indeed advanced farther in it than could have been reafonably expected j confidering the extenfive Correfpondence he has eftablifh- ed, in feveral Parts of Europe, for the greater Perfection of this Undertaking. And, upon confidering feveral of the Various Readings, which he has already difcovered in the Jlebrew MSS ; I think this Work will be of very confi- derable Service to Sacred Literature. THO. HUNT, drift - Church ; Decemb. 7,1761. Regius Prof effor of Hebrew. E 34 The Method of THOUGH I have finifhed the Account of* the Second Year; excepting the Lift of the Subscribers, who are referved for one com- pleat enumeration, at the conclufion of the whole Narrative : I (hall not begin the Account of the Third Year, till I have previoufly inferted one ma terial particular, which feems to be here neceflary. The Work having been defcribed, as going on both at home and abroad ; it is probable, that the curious Reader has already wifhed to know Upon what Plan the Collation itfelf was conduced. I fhall therefore ftate here the mode of proceed ing ; fo as to convey fome idea, both of the Labour which was requifite, and of the Exablnefs which was aimed at. As to the Labour: tho' every work, which demands clofe attention for many hours in a day, muft be thought laborious ; yet what an idea would the Reader form of the pity due to himfelf, were he to repeat, over and over, the Letters of the Alphabet, only varied in their order and con nexion, for no longer a time than three hours in a day, during one month ! I fay, were he to repeat the Letters ; becaufe this was of neceffity the rule to be followed in the cafe before us. For, accord ing to the general pronunciation of Hebrew words, fome Letters are not founded ; and if, upon fuch a plan, the reading had been by whole words, very numerous would have been the miftakes. And if a fyftem The Collation. 35 a fyftem of pronunciation had been invented, which could exprefs diftinctly every Letter in every Word ; yet even then reading letter after letter was certainly a more fure method, tho' more flow and more laborious. When the Reader has rumi nated, for a few minutes, on the fatigue of naming in a printed copy, and examining in a MS, letter after letter, thro' a fingle chapter containing but 20 or 30 verfes ; he is only requefted to add to the former idea that of the number of verfes in the whole Old Teftament : which amount to Twenty Three Thottfand, One Hundred, Eighty Five. As to the other article, that of Exactness; which indeed is of the utmoft moment in Such an Undertaking : that the learned Reader may judge, how far this grand point was likely to be fecured by the feveral rules formed for this purpofe, I fhall infert here a copy of The Method, which I eftablifhed at home, and which I fent to thofe who collated for me in other parts of Europe. METHQDUS Va rias Lectiones notandi, et res fcitu neceffarias defcribendi, a^fingulis Hebraicorum Codicum MStorum Veteris Teftamenti Collato- ribus, (a Lectore fcilicet atque Scriptore) obfervanda. COLLATOR quifque, qui hanc fufcipit et ornare vult provinciam, fibi accerfet fidum laboris focium ; et, focio legente codicem impref- fum, ipfe infpiciet codicem MStum, defcribetque E 2 difcre- 36 The Method of difcrepantias. Editio imprefla, quae eligitur, eft ilia a Van der Hooght edita, Amftel. 2 tom. ,8n. 1705. Et modus, quo legitur codex hie impreffus, non eft, ' fingula recitando verba, vel ( ut aiunt ) verbatim, fed (prout res hsc omnino poftulat) literatim, feu fingulas recitando literas. In codice MSto perlegendo notandae funt om- nigenae, quotquot funt, Verborum et Literarum ( non punctorum vel accentuum ) a codice imprefib diverfitates : five fint ic. Additiones; 2°. Omifjiones; 30. Tranfpofttiones ; 40. Variationes ; 50. Correbliones ; 6°. Rafur,e. Hse fex diverfitatum fpecies notandse- funt ( non quod harum fingula fit per fe colligenda, et feorfim a ceteris notanda, fed notandfE funt diverfitates promifcue, atque eo quo inter confe- rendum occurrunt ordine ) fuper charts paginam duas in columnas divifam ; quarum finiftra conti- net verba codicis impreffi, cum libro Biblico fupra- pofito ; dextera vero continet diverfitates codicis MSti, fuprapofito MSti titulo : fequuntur exempla. ADDITIONES. 2 Samuel. 2;,, 17 - - mrr — 4 w& mf Deuteron. 28 j 27,28 n:n> jNDnn1? Pfalm. 25, 17 tot. comma [verfus) MS. Bodleian. N°. &c. mrra - wrsv mrv mt' MS. &V. 5 *rjn "pr\ fp"-") NDin1? c - - HDD' : T>P"rp MS. &?f. bis fcriptum, vel repetitum. Si plurima addantur verba, non repetita, fed diverfa a prascedentibus ; ea defcribantur omnia. The Collation. 37 OMISSIONES. Genef. 49, i o rh>u> Zachar. 14, 18 - f tzin^y K"?i 16, 6 »rt 7012 -j-j'-inw > «n 70*11 7; ioni > Malac. 2; 15, 16 nB' Vs 7iiy"i nbw wty SI - rr?ty MS. £?*. ms. e?f. MS. &c. - »n 70-0 7? "ioki MS. tiff. omiffa. Si fuerint omiffa in uno loco verba quamplurima, fc. 20, 30 vel 40 ; exprimatur verbum primum et ultimum fie omiflum, atque fie fiat notatio : Ezek. 7 ab 7^]/ ( 1" ) in com. 4, T ad »3>y inclufive in com. 9 J Ubicunque verba, vel ob vetuftatem, vel ob paginam dilaceratam, legi non poffunt ; notandum eft hoc modo : verba a — ad — legi non poffunt ; vel verba hac — , pagind dilaceratd, defunt. MS. &c. omiffa. TRANSPOSITIONES. MS. &rV. 31, 8 8,3 18,4 Ezek. Amos. Job. VDN1D3 - mrr >ns -iijf pnyi Num. 23, 1 p^n ^>n "-Dy^a noN'i 21 j 8 et 9 commata - - - - l»mND3 ms. e?f. - - - - '"nx mrr MS. tfc. - - pny nun MS. &¦?*. - Dyb ^>n p-n nowi MS. &c. tranfpo(ita. Si Scriptor, in defcribenda variatione aliqua, hoc erret modo verbum impreffum in columna 38 The Method, of dextera, et MStum in columna finiftra, perperam fcribendo ; errorem citius corriget et melius, non verba delendo, fed lineam hujufmodi formando : VARIATIONES. 2 Sam. 23,18 - - >U)bU)7i — 13 CD'^a? Jerem. 50, 38 ' Q'O'Nai Ezek. 13 ; 11, 12 mm sypan i Sam. 20, 2 - - - ntyy 17 Ubicunque initium verbi fcribitur in fine linese, et aliter fcribitur initium ejufdem verbi in linea fequenti ; notandum, hoc modo MS. fcff. - - - - rwbwn . - - - .mhw MS. i£c. - C3>0 n*H MS. fc?r. - - - mn :iyp3n MS. &V. - - - nm> ah 1 Chron. 5.6 nDN^D MS. &c. CDN7D nDXl7D Hie quoque obfervare licet rem momenti haud levis, et a Collatoribus ( praecipue a Lectore ) perpetuo curandam : fi bis, vel ter, vel quater, occurrat in eodem commate verbum aliquod de- fcribendum ; fedulo notandum, an fit verbum id, quod i°, vel 20, vel 30, vel 40, occurrit; hoc modo : Pfal. MS. &c. 39' 6 - - 73 Van 73 , 1°. 73 omiiT. Ifai. * MS. &c. 52> 9 - 20. C37tyn> - . bvrm* Jud. MS. &c. 1, 27 - 3°. rvrwa . . rvna Ifai. MS. &c. 40, 21 i°. 3"* 4°. — N17it - 2°. — N17"T N7 E3N The Collation. 39 CORRECTIONES. Jfai. y>, 4 - - - - D3H Deuteron. 25, 18 - - - - CD»n7K 1 Reg. 14, 31 - - t DOS 15, 2 - - - - ra. MS. &?r. D primo ( a prima manu ) C3 MS. csV. CD primo ") MS. &fa tZD primo n J — I primo ] Si verba vel literae in MSto ita corrigantur, ut prima fcriptio clara adhuc fit et certa ; notandum eft — primo Jic. Si non certum fit, fed tantum probabile, quid primo fcriptum fuit ; notandum eft, quod talis litera hac vel ilia fuifle videtur ; vel defcribendum per particulam fortafse : ut, a fortafse primo 3 — *» fortafse n — n fortafse n vel rr — 1 fortafse > — n fortafse 1 &c. R A S U R .3E. nnD-^i 16, 57 - - 2 &<"»z. 23, 5 - - Jud. 4,13 - - - pyfi 1 Reg. 1,24. - -- - oik tns Ifai. 41, 1 - - - - hit — . 12 inonto >!MN DBN31 Pfal. 47»8 73 9> 5 1AJ ? p} MS. fcfr. C3*fx n primo 1 MS. &C rr$mtr\ n pnmo n* MS. €sfr. n^fi . una litera erafa. MS. &c. >Y\\ti%%\r&- z Uteris erafis. MS. &c. %%% 3 lit- «afc. fcripta fupra rafuram. MS. &c. 73 7y , ?y fere eras. MS. fcfa 3 vel 4 Hter3e,primo inter hxc verba fcriptse, e media linea nunc funt fcalpello excifse. hase 41 verba funt fupra rafuram. 40 The Method of Si fint fupra rafuram pauca verba vel literse, ufitata magnitudinis et diftantis ; notandum eft, qus fint hsc verba vel liters : et fi dentur fupra rafuram verba in uno loco quamplurima ; ita no- tentur : Levit. MS. &c. 8 a njn'l i°- in com. 7, ad 1 J"1N z°- inclufive in com. 9. J Nota etiam adhibenda eft, ubi fupra rafuram verba vel liters inufitate conftipantur -, ibi etenim fcripta fuerunt primo pauciora verba vel liters, quam nunc fcribuntur. Et notandum denique, ubi fupra rafuram verba vel literae a fe invicem inufi tate diftant ; ibi etenim fcripta fuerunt primo plura verba vel liters, quam nunc fcribuntur. ALIA QJJ M D A M IN CODICIBUS HEERAICIS V. T. CONFERENDIS O B S E RVA N D A. 1. In Uteris a LeSlore recitandis, fiat paufula qusdam poft quodque verbum, vel faltem vocis variatio in ultima verbi litera pronuncianda ; ut fciat Scriptor, an ex tot Uteris conftet verbum in MSto, quot habet codex impreflus; an non : e. g. an rniyK {Deut. 33, 2 ) vel n'nan7i2* {Cant. 8, 6) vel 7xn»a &c : ( plurimis in locis ) fcriptum fit quafi verbum unum, vel duo. 2. Lector caute notum faciat, quotiefcunque fibi occurrit aliqua litera, qus fit majufcuh vel mimf- cufat The Coiiation. 41 tula, fufpenfa vel inverfa &c : ut caveat Scriptor, de hifce recti admonitus. Caveat denique Le<5tor, quando monet Scriptorem ad quod comma perti- net hoc vel illud verbum, ne erret hac de caufa, qubd datur aliquando triplex, fspius duplex, com- matum numerus in margine ejufdem lines : ex. gr. figurs, qus indicant commata 1, 2, 3, funt in margine ejufdem lines, ad 1 Chron. 1, 1, Et quum in fingulis capitibus editionis impreffs commata 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, &c. numerantur, non figuris arithmeticis ( ut cstera commata ) fed Uteris He- brsis alphabeticis ; eo major erit LeSloris cura in numeris horum commatum aflignandis, quo faci- lius errare poteft ob conjunctionem literarum in margine cum figuris. 3. Si verba ullibi, evanida prs state, atramen- tum de novo acceperint ; cautiffime difquirendum eft Scriptori, in verbis falterrt majoris momenti, et in literis fimilibus, an non fecunda manus intulit leftiones a primis diverfas. Quod fi fiat ; notanda eft prima lectio, ubicunque ab impreffi codicis lec- tione differt. Addere licet : qubd Collator literas fere deletas, et minimos literarum apices, capiet melius et difcernet ; fi vitro microfcopico, pro re nata, utatur. 4. Notands funt, fi modo occurrant in MSto infignes difcrepantis, quoad totos Libros : ex. gr. fi tres libri Poetici (Pfalm. Job. et Proverb.) fcripti fint more Poetico, in Hemiftichiis ; adeo ut dex tera columna feriatim habeat primas commatum partes, finiftra columna ultimas. F £. Notands 42 The Method of 5. Notands funt infignes difcrepantis, quoad Capitum vel Pfalmorum initia : ex. gr. fi Pfalmus 43 ( »*DD2" &c. ) non quafi Pfalmus novus exordia- tur, fed fequatur quafi pars Pfalmi 4.2 ; abfque fpatio vacuo, vel Uteris folito majoribus. 6. Notands funt voces, qus ( csteris punctatis ) manent non punctata; et voces, qus duo punkla. habent fuperne pofita : nee non et voces imperfecta, vel vocum partes, qus verarum lectionum fspe funt veftigia : notandum quoque fpatium aliquod infigne, quod in medio verfuum alicubi invenitur. 7. Notands infuper varis lectiones, qus in margine MSti occurrunt ; fi modo non fint esdem, qus nomine Keri jam funt fatis nots : fi fint Keri vulgats, poffunt negligi. In vocibus, qus habent Keri in margine, caute videndum an non liters in textu funt mutats ; et an non ipfum Keri fuit in textu a prima manu. 8. Bene aget Scriptor, fi, inter codicem aliquem conferendum, initia capitum, et commata iom. 20m. 30™. &c, penicillo in margine notaverit: nam, •hoc facto, facillime invenientur loci, ad quos re- currendum erit Collatoribus, quum ad examen re- vocanda vel tranferibenda fuerit MSti collatio. 9. In omni MSto conferendo, notandum quas habeat partes Veteris Teftamentij et qualis fit ordo librorum- — Si codex habeat puntla ; et fi puncta videantur Uteris cosva — Si habeat, inter libros Pentateuchi, fpatium 3 vel 4 linearum, vel amplius fpatium — Si habeat Maforam, in fumma et ima pagina, The Collation. 43 pagina, et in margine ; an non — Si voces libro- rum initiales fint majores et ornats, vel fimplices et csteris Uteris magnitudine prorfus squales — Notandum prscipue, fi alicubi detur tempus five annus, quo fcriptus fuit codex MStus ; qus sra fspius occurrit in fine codicis, aliquando tamen huic vel illi libro in medio codicis fubnexa eft : et in verbis, qus sram hanc exprimunt, defcriben- dis, accurate obfervandum, an non inter literas numerates a fecunda quadam manu inducta fuit mutatio. Si vero nullibi occurrat, in codice fcrip tus, statis fus annus ; eruditus tamen Collator notabit, quod codex valde antiquus, vel non valde antiquus, efle videatur ; et quod feculo decimo, undecimo, duodecimo, decimo tertio, vel decimo quarto &c : haud immerito fit adfcribendus. Liceat denique exoptare, atque fpem fovere, quod Viri Eruditi, qui in variis Europs partibus Collationi huic operam vel dant, vel funt daturi, facrum Opus fuum, non modo cura fumma, fed et fide religiofiffima profequentur ; femper memores hujus apud Rabbinos celeberrims fententis ; nrtK r\Mi iV'sk mira \>x NON EST IN LEGE VEltNA LITERA, A QJTA NON PENDENT MAGNI MONTE S. ( 44 ) Account III. At the End of the Year 1762. THIS Work &c. The Introduction to the. Account, for this Tear, is not given here ; becaufe it is nearly the fame, as for the laft Tear : fee pages 24 and 25. As to the Hebrew MSS in our own Country ? the Account, printed at the end of the year 1761, fpecified Nine, which had not been before publicly taken notice of; and, by the addition of thefe to fuch as were before known, the whole number preferved in Great Britain and Ireland amounted to One Hundred and Nineteen. This ample and facred Treafure, imported from various parts of the world, has lately been encreafed by the arrival of another Hebrew MS, purchafed at Conftantinople : a MS, which was ( with great difficulty ) procured by James Porter Efqr, His Majefty's late Ambaf- fador. And as His Excellency has been pleafed, in the moft obliging manner, to make me a Prefent of it ; I think myfelf happy in this public oppor tunity of expreffing my thanks for fo great a favour. The whole number of thefe MSS is now become One Hundred and Twenty One, by the notice lately received Year 1762. 45 feceived of a MS Bible, in the hands of Mr Chal mers, of Auld-bar in Scotland ; who brought it, fome years fince, from Gibraltar. During the firft two years of this Work, the Collation ( in England ) was confined to the He brew MSS in Oxford ; in which Univerfity are preferved the greateft number, and fome very antient and valuable. But the laft year, which was the Third, was almoft entirely employed in collating the Hebrew MSS preferved in Cam bridge; and thefe, tho' making Nine large volumes, have been completely collated within the year. And here I beg leave to exprefs my grateful acknowledgments to that Illuftrious Uni verfity, for the fignal honour done me, in granting leave ( by an unanimous Vote of their Senate ) that I fhould take their MSS with me to Oxford : a favour, which has greatly contributed to the con venience, and ftill more to the expedition, with which they have been all collated. And yet, large as this (hare of the Work is ; there were alfo col lated in the laft year Two Folio MSS, obligingly fent me from Rotterdam by the learned Mr Pen- fionary Meerm a.n. To the preceding MSS muft be added, as col lated likewife in the laft year, all fuch as have been collated, on this occafion, in foreign Countries. For, whilft diligent attention has been employed on this Work at home, and Five or Six Affiftants have been engaged in it, for the fake of greater expe- 46 Account III. expedition ; endeavours have been ufed to procure affiftance from abroad : and indeed thefe endea vours have been attended with fuch fuccefs, as cannot perhaps be paralleled on any other literary occafion. Great Zeal has been (hewn in favour of it, in many countries very diftant from England, and from one another ; and by Learned Men of very different perfuafions in Religion ; who have united in their opinions of the tendency of this Work to promote ( the common caufe ) the Honour of Revelation : and who have been very obliging by the Affiftance already granted, and by the kind offers of farther Services. And here, as the many and great Patrons of this Work have a right to be fully acquainted with the Favour fhewn to it abroad ; and as a few, who may not be kindly affected towards it, might other- wife fugged their doubts of the extraordinary Ap probation of it amongft Learned Foreigners ; I hope to confult the fatisfaction of the former, by inferting the two following articles. The firft is a copy of the Certificate, which was voluntarily fent me from Rome by ( my late honoured Patron there ) Cardinal Passionei,' figned and fealed by his Eminence Himfelf : a Certificate, which is to be confidered as coming, not from a private perfon, but from One acting in fo high and public a character, as that of Cardinal Librarian to the Roman Church. The fecond is a copy of the Extract from the Public Regifter of the Univerfity of Geneva ; Year 1762. 47 Geneva; which copy was moft obligingly pro cured, and fent to England, by The Right Honour able Lord Mount-Stuart. The Certificate from Rome. L' Entreprife d'une nouvette Edition de la Bible, qui doit fe faire a Oxford fur tous les Manufcrits He brdiques, qui peuvent fe trouver dans les plus celebres Biblioteques, a trouvee ici autant d'approbateurs, que de perfonnes qui en ont entendu parler. Et pour favorifer les Auteurs d'unji important Ouvrage, j'ai permis avtc plaifir la Collation des anciens Manufcrits Hebrdiques, qui fe trouvent dans la Biblioteque Vatic ane ; et je Vat accordse en quatftv- de Bibliotequaire de la Ste. Eglife Ro- maine. A Rome ; ce feize May, mil fept cent faixante un. D. Card1. Passionei, Bib/iot. de la S. E. R. The Certificate from Geneva. Extrait des Regitres de la Venerable Compagnie des Pafteurs et des Profeffturs de V Eglife de Geneve. DuVendredi, 4. Decembre, iy6i. Monft. le Refteur et Mejfts. les Bibliothecaires ont raporte, qu"on leur a fait part d'un Projet forme en Angleterre, pour la Collation des Manufcrits Hebreux de I'Ancien Teftament, £"? qu'on leur a demande la commu nication de ceux que nous pourions avoir dans notre Bib- liotheque ; qu'il paroit par un Imprim'e Latin, que le principal executeur de ce Projet eft Monft. Benjamin Kennicott Maitre es Arts a Oxford -, Projet, par V ex ecution du quel on fe propofe d' eclair cir a Men des is 48 Account III. egards le Texte Sacre, et d'en aplanir les difficultez ; qui pour parvenir a ce but I'Autheur avoit deja pris des mefures our puifer dans les prindpales Bibliotheques de I Europe, et qu'il avoit des affurances qu'elles hi feroient ouvertes. Sur quoi opine, la V. Compagnie a reconnu una- nimement toute I'utilite, qui peut refulter de Vex'etution de ce Projet, et combien il importe de faire par raport aux Livres de I' Ancien Teftament ce qtfon a deja fait avec fuccez a, I'egard de ceux du Nouveau. Elle n'a pu qu'aplaudir aux louables intentions du I'Autheur, et de ceux qui s' inter effent a la perfection d'un Ouvrage, dont on a lieu d'efperer de grands avantages pour une plus parfaite intelligence des Livres Sacrez, et par cela meme pour la Religion ; et elle eft perfuadee que cette Entreprife, qui fait beaucoup ,.d' honneur au zele de fon Autheur, fera generalement aprouvee. En confequence Mejfs. les Bibliothecaires ont ete chargez de communiquer ce quilpouroit y avoir dans notre Bibliotheque de relatif a cet objeCl. DuVendredi, xi. Decembre, 1761. • Monft . le ReCleur a demande la permffton de com muniquer Copie de le Deliberation ci-deffus a Milord Mount Stuart, qui I'a defire. Accorde. B u 1 s s o n, Secretaire. In the laft Annual Account of this Work, no tice was given, that the Collation of the Hebrew MSS,- agreed for at the Vatican at the expence of 2oo-£, was then finiftied. The Box, containing this Collation, arrived fafe about the middle of laft year ; and was delivered into my hand, without the leaft expence for carriage : which I mention, in Year 176 2. 49 in grateful remembrance of the generofity of Mr Pa u l G a u s s e n, Banker at Geneva. The care, with which this Collation feems to have been exe cuted by Profeflbr Conftanzi, has encouraged me to fend a Commiffion for feveral other MSS ; the Collation of which will amount to nearly the fame large Sum with the former. There can be no doubt, but the Profeflbr will readily be admitted to this fecond Work ; in con fequence of the very honourable Patronage granted me by His Eminence Cardinal Spinelli, Dean and Superior of the College of Cardinals : to whom I am fignally obliged , for His application to the N u n t 1 o at Madrid, and alfo to the Minifter from His Catholic Majesty at. Rome, in order to procure catalogues of the Hebrew MSS, pre ferved in the Efcuriol and other public Libraries in Spain. It is alfo gratefully acknowledged, that the prefent Cardinal Librarian, His Eminence Cardinal Albani, has condefcended to affure me by Letter, that the. Work fhall receive from Him all the Encouragement in his power : His Eminence has been alfo pleafed to fend me a cata logue of all the MSS of the Bible, in the Pontifical Univerfity of Bologna. The Work has the honour likewife to be favoured by His Eminence Cardinal T o r r e g i a n i, the Cardinal Secretary ef State ; who has very gracioufly offered His Af fiftance, wherever it may be wanted. And laftly : the two very learned Vatican Librarians, Monfign" G Asse* 50 Account III. • A s s e m a n i, who were fo obliging as to examine the laft Collation, and fend a Certificate ( figned with both their Names ) as to its authenticity and exadnefs, will be pleafed to accommodate the Col lators as benevolently as they did before. Notice Was likewife given, that His Majesty The King of Sardinia had moft gracioufly appointed Two Profeflbrs, who were to collate ( for the benefit of this Work ) the valuable Heb. MSS preferved in the Royal Library at Turin. Art excellent fpecimen of this Collation I received, laft September, from Profeflbr Pajini ; together with a moft obliging Letter. And I have juft been favoured with a fecond Letter ; which gives an account, that the Profeflbrs have proceeded in this Work fo diligently, that they are now examining the Sixth of thefe Royal MSS. At Florence, Signior Bartoli and // Padre Berretta Vallombrofano, having finifhed the MSS at firft agreed for there ; I have fent a fecond Com- miffion, for collating other MSS in the fame Im perial Library. The Various Readings of the firft Collation are expected daily ; as they were deli vered, laft November, to the care of a Friend by His Excellency Sir Horatio Mann, His Ma jefty's Refident there : to whofe Goodnefs I am under many and great obligations. It muft alfo be obferved, that this Work was recommended by Sir Horatio Mann to His Excellency Count Fir- mi an, Governor of the Milanefe ; and that the learned Year 1762. 51 learned Henrico A Porta, the Imperial Hebrew Profeflbr at Pavia, who was commifiioned by Count Firmian, has drawn up an account of the Hebrew MSS in the Ambrojian Library at Milan, and of every other MS in that Dutchy, which may be of any fervice : and that the papers, containing thefe particulars, having been fent fome time fince by Sir Horatio Mann, are every day expected. * From Geneva I have been favoured, by Profeflbr Vernet, with an account of two valuable Hebrew MSS in the Library at Zurich. Profeflbr Brei- tinger, who drew up that account, has made an offer of collating them ; which offer I have readily accepted, on the fame proportion of Expence as at other places. The Collation, which was faid in the laft Ac count, to have been begun at Hamburgh, has been carried on with diligence by Profeflbr Reima- rus ; from whom I have received two parcels of the Various Readings, which he has collected : and this very worthy Profeflbr is now engaged in profecuting the remainder of the Collation, which is to be made in that city. * . , . De tali tantoque Opere, laboriofiflimo utique ac fump- tuofiftimo, ad exitum perducendo, traBantes Anglia Proceres, et Literati, laudem profeelo eximiam promerentur plurimumaue commendandi etiam funt quotquot, ut idem perficiatur, amcam manum et opem adjungunt. ¦ Prof. A Porta, to Count Firmian ; Sept. 1 8. 1 761 . G 2 52 Account III. From Magieburgh I have been informed by my valuable Friend Mr Sack, firft Chaplain to Hu Majesty The King of Prussia, that an examination of fome of the Berlin MSS has been undertaken by Profeflbr Schultz, and Mr Hsi- nius fon of the celebrated Rector of the Royal Gymnafium ; and that Profeflbr Murfinna is colla ting one MS, called the Codex Seidelianus. I am alfo highly obliged to Mr Sack, for procuring me the ufe of a large parcel of MS Papers, containing Various Readings and Remarks on the Hebrew Text, drawn up by the late Dr JablonJki ; whofe name declares the value of his Papers. As to Pa r i s : I am informed by my zealous Friend and Affiftant Monft. L'Abbe Ladvoc at, that there are about Thirty Biblical Hebrew MSS in the Library of the Sorbonne, of which he is Hebrew Profeflbr and Librarian. This juftly-cele- brated Profeflbr has already collated feveral of thefe MSS, and propofes to collate feveral others, for the advantage of this Work. In the Royal Library, at Paris, are preferved near Forty Hebrew MSS ; fome of which are very valuable. And here I gratefully acknowledge my great obligation to His Excellency The Duke Z?3> 57 for it can be no wonder, that fome very learned Men have judged it to be very erroneous ; when that printed copy, on which fuch judgment has been ( at lead in England ) generally formed, is found to be printed fo incorrectly. But then, thofe MSS are defervedly to be held precious ; which will greatly correct the printed Text of that Pen tateuch, without the affiftance of which the Hebrew Pentateuch ( it is prefumed ) will never be reftored to its original purity. In favour of this Pentateuch may be here added the remarkable teftimony of DrCuDwoRTH, that Ornament to Learning and to our Country •, who ( in a treatife entitled The Union of Chrift and the Church, tranflated by Mo- fheim ) commenting on a Text, which is exprefled in the printed Hebrew differently from the quota tions of it in the New Teftament, obferves thus : But laftly, that which is moft of all confider able ; altho* thefe Hebrew copies, which now we have, received from the Jews, read it otherwife ; yet that incompara ble antiquity of the Samaritan Pentateuch, which feems to be truer in many places than our copies are, hath it as it is four feveral times quoted in the New Teftament. To this authority may be added that of Sir Isaac Newton ; which is very favourable to a Collation of the Hebrew MSS, by afferting the corrupt date of the Text as printed : for I have lately feen, in that Great Man's hand writing, feveral Corrections of the printed Hebrew; fome of which exactly coincide with the Corrections made by the learned Father Heubigant. H With 58 Account IV. With thefe Six MSS, from the Britifh Mufeum, have been collated in this year Four, belonging to the Bodleian ; Two, lent from the library of the Dean and Chapter of Weftminfter ; One, very ele gant and containing the whole Bible, fent me by the Univerfity of Aberdeen ; Two, from Trinity College, Dublin, which were obligingly brought and delivered to me by the Provoft himfelf ; and One, belonging to the Reverend Hieronymus de Wilhem, very kindly tranfmitted from Lekkerkirk near Rotterdam. For the ufe of all which MSS, I here exprefs my thanks, in the warmeft and moft grateful manner. In thefe 16 MSS have beep found a great number of Various Readings, and feveral of confiderable confequence ; particularly, in the magnificent MS fent from Lekkerkirk. And in the Text of this MS is found the very word (fignifying all ) in Deuteron. 27,26 ( printed in the Samaritan Text) which makes fo material a part of St .Paul's quotation (Galat. 3, ioj and is fo neceflary to the Apoftle's argument, that our Englifh Tranflators have thought themfelves obliged to infert it, tho' it is not in the printed Hebrew. To this Lift of MSS, fome lent to me at home, and others fent to me from abroad, is to be added a very antient MS of the Hebrew Pentateuch, belonging to the learned Profeflbr Schultens at Leyden ; which he has kindly promifed to fend me : and the Profeffor has alfo employed perfons, who are collating, under his own infpection ( for the benefit of this Work ) the MS of the Samaritan Pentateuch in the library at Leyden. Year 1763. 59 And here it is neceflary, that the Patron s of this Work fhould be informed ; that, to the MSS already enumerated, as collated during this year in England, muft be added many MSS collated in other Countries. For whilft diligent attention has been employed at home, all the endeavours pofiible have been ufed to procure affiftance from abroad ; and indeed thefe endeavours have been attended with fuch fuccefs, as cannot perhaps be paralleled on any other literary occafion. Great Zeal has been (hewn in favour of it, in many countries very dif- tant from England, and from one another; and by Learned Men of very different perfuafions in Re ligion ; who have united in their opinions of the tendency of this Work to promote ( the common caufe ) The Honour of Revelation : and who have been very obliging by the Affiftance already grant ed, and by the kind offers of farther Services. The Honourable Certificates from Rome and Geneva, eriginally repeated in this Tear's Account, are here omitted ; not being here again neceffary. See pages 47, 48. In order that the feveral Collations, making abroad, may be carried on upon the fame plan, and with the fame attention to all the neceffary circum- H z ftances, 6& Account IV. fiances, which are obferved at home; a large Sheet, defcribing the whole Method, has lately been printed, and is fent to the Foreign Collators. See page* 35~ 43- At Rome: the great lofs, fuftained by the deaths of their Eminences the Cardinals Passio- kei and Spinelli, is made up by the Patronage of their Eminences the Cardinals Albani and Torregiani: the latter, The Cardinal Secretary cf State ; the former, .The Cardinal Librarian - ¦ and from Him I have had the Honour of being affured (in a moft obliging Letter fent me laft Ja nuary ) that every Vatican MS, which I had mentioned, fhould be at the fervice cf this Work. With my grateful acknowledgments to their Eminences, I muft exprefs my thanks to the worthy Prelate Monfigr- Mare f os c h i, Secretary to the College De Propaganda Fide, for his countenance of this Work, and his many Cervices to the Collator Pro feffor Conftanzi : and aifo to the Reverend Fathers Xavier Vafquez and Auguftino Giorgi, of the Auguft tinian Convent ; to the College of the Maronites ; and to Sig. Abbate Ballarini, librarian to Prince Barbarini : who have readily granted the ufe of their, MSS, on this occafion. The 2d Commiffion, which I fent to Rome, was for the Collation of Seventeen MSS ; Twelve in the Vatican, and Five in the other libraries before-mentioned : and the Pro feffor, who has already collated fome of thefe MSS, has fent me the following notice — ¦ — In codicibui most Year 1763. 61 ttiox laudatis, plures atque eas quidem magni momenti Variantes leCliones me inveniffe lataberis ; et, quod tibi gratifftmum fore confido, in codice bibliotheca Angelica ea Danielis et Efdra capita, qua Chaldaice tantum fcripta vulgo reperiuntur, tum Chaldaice tum etiam Ebraice fcripta deprehendi. I cannot conclude this article, without exprefling the very grateful fenfe, which I have, of the many and great Obligations conferred upon me by Daniel Crefpin Efq; my kind Correfpondent at Rome. In Spain : a catalogue of the MSS of the Hebrew Bible, in the Efcurial, was procured by the Nuntio at Madrid, follicited by Cardinal Spinelli ; and was fent me, a little before his Emi nence's death. He had condefcended to inform me, that he had earneftly requefted his Friend the Nuntio to procure catalogues of the Hebrew MSS, quotquot vel in Regiis vel in publicis Hifpaniarum bib- liothecis affervantur : and, as the Efcurial catalogue was accompanied with a promife, that catalogues of the MSS in the other public libraries of Spain fhould foon after be fent likewife ; I fhall (till hope to be favoured with fuch other catalogues. I am alfo highly obliged to the learned and reverend Franc is co Pe r e z Bayer, Canon and Trea- furer of the great Church at Toledo ; who has fa voured me with a very kind Letter, and an account of the feveral valuable Hebrew MSS in his own library : together with exact fpecimens of the cha racter, in which each MS is written : which fpeci mens 6a Account IV. mens are exceedingly elegant and curious. The oldeft of his MSS was written in 1144. Whether any of the MSS in Spain can be col lated there ; or whether the Favour will be granted of fending a few of them at a time to England ( as hath been done from Holland &c : ) is not yet cer tain. But confidering — that His Majefty the King of Spain has (hewn himfelf a Patron of Learning, in feveral inftances — that I have been honoured with affurances of the intention of His Excellency the Earl of Rochford, His Majefty's Ambaffador, to apply to the Court of Spain upon this occafion — and that application will be like- wife made there, in favour of this Work, by Gene ral Craufurd, to whom I am already under great obligations — there is reafon to hope for very confiderable affiftance from that Country. And it is particularly to be wifhed, that affiftance may be derived from that Country ; which was fo remark ably inhabited by Jews, but a few centuries ago. At Turin : the Hebrew Profeflbrs, whom His Majefty the King of Sardinia was pleafed to appoint to collate the Royal MSS, having finifhed the examination of Six ( which were thought the moft valuable ) and having fairly tranfcribed their Collations, will foon deliver them to the Britifh Refident there, L.Dutens Efq; from whom I have juft been favoured with an obliging Letter, affuring me of his readinefs to tranfmit them care fully to England. At Year 1763. 63 At Florence : a fecond Collation is carrying on by // Padre Berretta Vallombrofano £5? Signior Bartoli ; which confifts of Six MSS : the former Collation, which was of Four, was finifhed, and very elegantly tranfcribed, laft year ; and it was carefully fent by His Majefty's Refident there, his Excellency Sir Horatio Mann; whofe Name I cannot mention, without expreffing my warmeft thanks for His Patronage of this Work, (hewn upon all occafions : particularly, for recommend ing this Undertaking to his Excellency Count Fir- m i a n, Governor of the Milanefe — for applying to Him for a catalogue of the Hebrew MSS in the Ambrojian library at Milan — for obtaining leave to have them collated — and procuring the learned Henrico A Porta to undertake the Collation of them. By this Profeflbr an excellent account of thefe MSS was drawn up, at the defire of Count Firmian, and by Him fent to Sir Horatio Mann ; at whofe requeft it was brought to England by His Grace the Duke of Grafton, who condefcended to take the charge of it. This Milan catalogue contains an account of Fourteen MSS, feveral* of which feem very valuable ; and one of them is the antient Samaritan Pentateuch, which Montfaucon wifhed to have collated. I have been favoured with a Letter from Profeffor A Porta, dated laft September ; and he was then preparing to be gin the Collation, which comprehends the whole Fourteen MSS. At 64 Account IV, At Zurich : the collation of the two MSS in the public library, which Profeflbr Breittinger had offered to undertake, has been deferred ; leave to ufe thefe MSS not having been obtained from the Magiftrates of that Town. But it is hoped, that fuch leave is now obtained ; application having been made to the Englifh Minifter refident at Berne, requefting him to defire it. And at Berne #there is an Hebrew MS, containing part of the Bible ; which is foon to be collated, under the direction of Monfr. Sinner, the public librarian. At Hamburgh : the collation of the MSS has been fo far carried on by Profeflbr Reimarus, that three antient MSS ( containing together one whole Bible ) have been examined ; and their Va rious Readings are tranfmitted to me. 'o At Berlin: the Reverend Mr Sack, firft Chaplain to His Majefty the King of Prussia, has fent me the Various Readings of the Seidel MS of the Pentateuch ( preferved in the public library at Halle in Saxony ) which has been collated by Profeffor MurJinna. And, amongft other obliga tions, which I am under to Mr Sack, for fervices done and notices fent, in relation to my Work, I am to thank him for the correfpondence of the learned Dr Semler at Halle. At Dr e s d e n, in the Electoral library, is pre ferved a MS of the whole Hebrew Bible ; the Col lation Year 1763* 65 lation of which is carrying on, under the direction of Mr Clodius the librarian ; for whofe favour I am indebted to Mr Rafpe His Majefty's librarian at Hanover. And atHEssE-CASSEL is an Hebrew MS, the merit of which is thought fo confiderable, that it has been the fubject of a learned and ufeful Differtation, publifhed by Mr Scheide, in 1748 : and I have therefore applied to my friend the cele brated Profeflbr Michaelis at Goettingen ; requefting his advice, as to the beft method of procuring a good Collation of it. The laft place I have here to mention, in which MSS have been collated, and in which Collations are (till making, for this Work, is Pa r i s : and it is no wonder there fhould be preferved in Paris very many and very valuable MSS of the Hebrew Bible. I cannot but think myfelf therefore parti cularly happy, in finding there fo able and fo zea lous a Friend to the Work, as M. I' Abbe Ladvo- cat, Librarian and Hebrew Profeffor at the Sor- bonne : a Gentleman, who has engaged to give up to this Collation part of his own time, as well as that of feveral of his Pupils, whom he has formed to this very bufinefs. In February laft he fent me ( elegantly tranfcribed ) the Various Readings of Seven MSS of the Pfalms. He has fince collated Nine other Pfalters ; and fome of their Variations ( he acquaints me ) are very important. In this - undertaking of Profeffor Ladvocat there is one cir cumftance, which I think myfelf obliged to men- I tion ; 66 Account IV. tion ; and I do it with particular gratitude — that, tho' he propofes to take to himfelf and his Pupils a great deal of Labour ; neither He, nor They, will accept any pecuniary gratification. In the laft Letter, with which I was honoured by the Profeffor, he was pleafed to fay — We have no fuch cuftom, in ' the Sorbonne ; and we think ourfelves extremely happy, both my young people and myfeif, in being able to con tribute to a Work fo ufeful, and even fo neceffary, to the ftudy of the Sacred Scriptures. Upon a review of the preceding particulars, I flatter myfelf that the Patrons of this Work will be well fatisfied both at the progrefs which is made at home, and at the endeavours ftrenuoufly exerted to procure affiftance and information from abroad. As almoft every MS furnifhes fome ma terial Variations ; it muft be evident ( at lead to Men verfed in Criticifm and Claffic Literature ) that in proportion, as more MSS, efpecially MSS of antiquity, are collated, the more ufeful muft this Work prove. There is not therefore any quar ter of the World, from which I have not been, and am, ardently defirous to procure the knowledge and the ufe of Hebrew MSS : and accordingly think myfelf highly obHged for the difcovery of every MS of this kind. For this reafon I muft exprefs my thanks here to the learned Profeffor Rau, at Utrecht, and others ; who have fent me notices of fuch MSS : and alfo to the Reverend Mr Lind ( Chaplain to His Majefty's Ambaffador at Year 1763. 6y at Conftantinople ) and to every other Perfon, who is kindly making enquiries of the fame nature. But however ( large as the Subfcription is, and ample as the Edition of this Work will really be ) it is not vainly pretended, that it will be poflible to procure collations of Half the Hebrew MSS, al ready known in Europe only. For even That will foon be pronounced impoffible ; when it is consi dered, that the MSS of the whole or parts of the Hebrew Bible, which are already known ( exclufive of thofe in our own Three Kingdoms ) are — in Italy, 11 j — Germany, 87 — France, 70 — Holland, 32 — Spain, 20 — Swifferland, Denmark, and Sweden, 10 — Total, already known abroad, 336. This fum, added to that of the MSS at home, amounts to 460 ; which will probably be extended to 500. And, how very defirable would it be ; if it were poflible to comprife in this Work the Various Readings of the whole Five Hundred MSS ! — if it were paffible to make it at once ( excepting Errors in the Execution ) perfect in its kind — without leaving The Old Teftament, after fo extenfive a Sub fcription, ftill fubjecl to Appendix after Appendix, and Addition upon Addition ; as hath been the cafe with The New Teftament, and is the cafe at this very day. For there are yet many ( perhaps an Hundred ) MSS uncollated of this Second Part of Holy Scripture ; notwithftanding the 30 years la bour of Dr Mill, who publifhed the Various Read ings of near One Hundred MSS — tho' Kufter and I 2 Bengelius 68 Account IV. Bengelius have each added the Various Readings of Twelve other MSS — and tho' Wetftein has made ample additions to all the former Editors. In (hort : all, that can be reafonably expected, I may venture to affure the Public, fhall be done. My beft endeavours (hall continue to be exerted for procuring Collations of as many MSS, and giving as great a degree of Perfection to this Work, as the nature of the Subfcription (hall admit : and this, not only from a conviction of the Expediency and Importance of the Work itfelf ( which is to me more and more clear, the farther the Work ad vances ) but alfo from a juft fenfe of Honour, and under the due influence of Gratitude to Those, who have with fo much Public Spirit patronized the prefent Undertaking. Oxford; December 1 2, i ^6^. The CERTIF TCAT E from The Royal Profejfor of Hebrew nearly the fame as before : fee page 33. ( 69 ) Account V. At the End of the Year 1764. WHENEVER a Work, that is extenfive and laborious in its nature, is undertaken in confequence of a Public Subfcription ; it muft give pleafure to the Patrons, as well as to the Un dertaker of every fuch Work, if it be found to ad vance with proper expedition, and likely to be ' compleated in a proper manner. The Collation of the Hebrew MSS of the Old Teftament, as being attended with uncommon labour, and likely to prove of par ticular importance, has been diftinguifhed by a more ample Subfcription, and a more uniform Ap probation thro' the feveral parts of Europe, than perhaps any other Literary Undertaking. And therefore, upon the prefent Occafion of addreffing myfelf to the many Learned and Illuftrious Pa trons of it, at the conclufion of this Year, which is The Fifth from the beginning ; I cannot conceal the Pleafure, which I feel in acquainting them, that the Work is now about half- finished. From the laft Annual Account it appeared, that out of CXXIV MSS preferved in Great Britain and Ireland, there had been then collated XXXII ; and 70 Account V. , and that the original Collations of XVIII, having been fairly tranfcribed, were then depofited in The Bodleian Library. During the prefent year there have been collated XVIII Hebrew MSS, and One MS, of the Samar. Pentateuch : concerning which number, compared with other numbers, it may be proper to obferve, that a few MSS may contain larger parts of the Bible than many MSS ; and yet, that the XIX MSS, collated in this year, contain above 116,000 Verfes. But this has by no means been the whole of the Work ; for the Collations of XXVI MSS have been, in this year, fairly tranf cribed : the Originals of which are depofited, with thofe of the XVIII tranfcribed before, in The Bodleian Library. Of the XIX MSS, thus collated, VI were lent me ( as the fame number had been laft year ) from The Britifh Mufeum, in confequence of an Order moft obligingly made at a general Meeting of The Truftees : and thefe MSS are carefully returned. For the Ufe of III others I am highly obliged to Oriel and Jefus Colleges, in this Univerfity. And my thanks are due likewife to the very learned Pro feflbr Schultens ; who fent me a curious MS, be longing to his own Library at Leyden. But, with refpect to Foreign Countries ; my moft grateful Acknowledgments are to be made for the Honour of a Letter, which, at the command of His Majefty The King of Denmark, hath been Year 1764. 71 been fent me by His Principal Secretary of State His Excellency The Baron De Bernstorff. As this Letter furnifhes a very ftriking inftance of Royal Attention to Sacred Literature ; as it ex- preffes the Will and Pleafure of a Sovereign, who is celebrated through the World for having fent learned Men into Africa and Afia, for the nobleft purpofes ; and as His Majefty's Pleafure has been fignified in that Letter, in a manner exceedingly ho nourable to my Work ; I here infert an exact copy of it. And I cannot doubt, but my Readers will fee with great fatisfaction this Royal Teftimony, in favour of my Work, added to thofe other Tefti- monies which have been already communicated, and which are of too much confequence not to be ftill continued, in this Annual Narrative. Reverend Sir, The King being informed of the learned Work, which Tou are fparing no pains to accomplifh viz. that of reftoring by the help of Ancient Manu- fcripts the Original Text of the Divine Writings of the Old Teftament ; His Majefty thinks fit to qffift Tou by all poffible means, in order to promote a DeJign fo truly ufeful to Religion and Learning, and confequently fo much deferving the greateft Encomiums. In this view I am honoured with His Royal Com mands, to acquaint Tou, Sir, with the Arrival of fome Ancient Copies of the Hebrew Bible lately pur- chafed in Egypt for the Royal Library ; and fent hither 72 Account V. hither by fome Gentlemen, who are actually making a ¦Voyage in- Arabia Felix, by His Majefty's Orders. Tou receive here inclofed a fhort account of the Condition of thefe valuable Remains of Antiquity. The King intends 'with Pleafure to give Tou leave to make Ufe of them. It depends only of Tou, Rev. Sir, to appoint fome able Perfon here ; who may examine, and, if Tou think it proper, collate thefe Manufcripts with printed Copies ; in order to gather out of the former fuch Various Read ings, as may occur therein. I hope, Tou will be per- fuaded beforehand, that the Perfon, employed by Tou to this purpofe, will meet with all imaginable Readinefs to facilitate his Tajk. And I beg, Tou will be fure of my beft Wifbes for the Succefs of your arduous Undertaking, that cannot fail to immortalize your Name; and, what to a Man cf your religious way of thinking muft be of infinitely more Value, will draw down upon Tou God Almighty's Blefftng. I am, with great Efteem and Sincerity, Reverend Sir, Tour moft obedient humble Servant, Copenhagen; March the 31ft, 1764. BERNSTORFF. Next to the preceding, the greateft Favour to my Work, in this year, has been granted by His Excellency The Count De Firmian Governor of the Year 17^>4- 73 the Milanefe, and by The Marquis Olivera, Prefident of the Senate at Milan ; in which city are preferved (in the Ambrofian Library) XII very valuable Hebrew MSS. An excellent Cata logue of thefe MSS having been taken for me by Henrico A Porta, Oriental Profeflbr in the Univer fity of Pavia ; I was very defirous, that thefe MSS might ( if poflible ) be collated by that learned Gentleman. And he has lately been enabled to en ter upon this Work, in confequence of the two following Orders, obligingly paffed by the Gover nor of the Milanefe and by the Senate at Milan — that the Reftdence of the Profeffor at Pavia, be dif- penfed with ; and , that he be allowed to read his LeClures at Milan: on purpofe that he might refide at Milan, to collate thefe Ambrofian MSS. The Collation of the firft of thefe MSS has been already fent me ; and I am indebted, for the conveyance of it, to the Rev. Dr Chambers ; to whom it was delivered in Italy by Sir Horatio Mann. For which, and many other proofs of his Goodnefs, I am fignally obliged to His Excellency ; particularly for tranfmitting alfo, in this year, the Collations of III MSS, belonging to the Imperial Library, at Florence : where other MSS are now under examination. As to the Imperial Library, at Vi e n na ; I have lately been favoured with an account of the Hebrew MSS there, procured of the celebrated Librarian and Phyfician Baren Van Swieten, at the obliging K requeft 74 Account Vj requeft of His Excellency Lord Vifcount S t o r- mont, His Majefty's Ambaffador Extraordinary at that Court. And I have defired, that a Colla tion may be undertaken there, particularly of one MS ( containing the whole Bible ) which is not de- fcribed in the printed Catalogues. At Rom e ; out of the XVII MSS ordered to be there collated, thofe in the other Libraries ( ex cept The Vatican ) have been examined ; and the Volume, containing their Various Readings, has been fafely conveyed to England, and kindly fent me by Walter Rawlinfon, Efq. And as to the parts of Daniel and Ezra, printed only in Chaldee, but which in the Auguftinian- Angelica MS, now colr lated, are found alfo in Hebrew ; every learned Reader will hear with pleafure, that the Hebrew of thefe large parts. ( of The Bible ) now firft difco vered, feems very pure, and therefore may be very antient ; and if fo, muft be very valuable. Prefixed to this collection is an ample teftimony to the care and accuracy of the Collator, Profeflbr Conftanzi ; figned by Auguftino Georgi, Dominico Theoli, Gabriel Fabricy, and Simon Ballerini : which learned Libra rians and Profeflbrs will, I hope, accept my Thanks for their Trouble upon this occafion. There have been alfo collated, in this year, VI MSS belonging to The Vatican. From the Royal Library at Tu r i n I have now -received the Various Readings of the VI beft MSS preferved Y E A R I764. 75 preferved there, which were collated "by Profeflbr Pafini ; for the fafe conveyance of which to Eng land I am obliged to the very learned The Count De Cafburi : to whofe care they were delivered by L. Dutens Efq, the Britifh Refident at that Court. The Various Readings of the MS at Berne, collated under the direction of Mr Sinner, the learned Librarian there, have been received. And at Zurich, the Burgo-mafter Regnant Mr Landolt has politely granted the Ufe of the II Hebrew MSS, in their public Library ; upon an application from Robert Colebroke Efq, His Majefty's Refident in Swifferland : to whom I am alfo obliged for other marks of his Favour. In other Foreign Parts ( whilft fome of the beft MSS in Paris are collating under the care of the celebrated Profeflbr Ladvo cat, at the Sorbonne -, and a Collation is alfo making of the Hebrew MS in Dresden) enquiries have been made this year, after other MSS ; and endeavours have been ufed to procure the Ufe of fuch, as are thought the moft valuable. In particular, I muft acknow ledge my great Obligations to His Excellency The Earl of Rochford, His Majefty's Ambaffador Extraordinary to the Court of Spain, for his en deavours to procure the Collation of fome MSS in that country. My Thanks are due likewife to my Friend Mr Devifine, Chaplain to His Excellency, and alfo to Mr Pluer, Chaplain there to the Danifh K 2 Envoy ; 76 A C CO v- vt- T V. Envoy ; whb have been very kind in their enqui ries after MSS, for the benefit of this Work. . Whilft Europe has thus liberally offered the Treafures of her numerous MSS ; and whilft Af rica has like wife contributed, in furnifhing fome MSS before, and now in offering feveral others, imported through the Munificence and Public- Spirit of His Danish Majesty from Egypt ; it muft be obferved, that, as enquiries have been making in the Eaft upom this fame occafion, Asia alfo is found to contain what may be of confider- able fervice. For the Lord Bifhop of Carlisle having, in the beginning of this year, moft oblige: ingly communicated to me a Letter from Aleppo, containing an account of a very curious MS pre ferved there ; I wrote to the Chaplain to the Britifh Factory, Mr Dawes ( from whom that Letter to* His Lordfhip came ) requefting a more particular information. And I have lately been favoured with his Anfwer; which reprefents the MS, as contain ing the whole Old Teftament, and as being of very high Antiquity : and he gives me reafon to hope, that an Examination of it there may be granted, in fome particular paffages ; notwithftanding the very extraordinary Veneration paid to it by the Jews. Enquiries have alfo been made in America : and though hitherto without fuccefs, as to MSS of proper Antiquity ; yet ( I am told ) fome fuch He brew MSS may poflibly be found, amongft the Jews, even in that Quarter of the World. Year 1764. 77 I cannot conclude this Narrative, without ex- prefling the fenfe I have of the diftinguifhed Ho nour done to my Work, by The Learned Academy at Man h e 1 m ; Theirs being the Firft Subfcrip tion, with which this Work has been favoured, in any Foreign Country. At Home ; the Encouragement given to it has been Such, as requires that the utmoft diligence and expedition, together with the greateft care and exadtnefs, be continued thro' the remainder of this Work ; which have ( I hope ) thus far been applied faithfully : Such Encouragement, as demands from me the warmeft and moft grateful acknow ledgments to the Patrons of the Work, now living ; and the moft honourable expreffions of duty to the Memory of thofe Patrons, who during thefe five years have died — amongft whom were the following Great Persons, from whofe Patronage this Work has received fignal Advantage and Honour, and with whofe Illuftrious Names I (hall clofe this Annual Account. His Grace, The Duke of Devonshire. The Right Honourable, The Earls of Granville, Macclesfield, Bath, Hardwicke. The Right Honourable Henry Bilson Legge. The Right Reverend, The Bijhops, Hoadly, Sherlock, Hayter. 78 Account V. The Certificates from Rome and Geneva, eriginally repeated in this Tear's Account, fee in pages 47, 48. The Certificate from The Royal Profeffor of Hebrew* nearly the fame as before, fee in page 33. Account VI. At the End of the Year 1765. THE Sixth Year, from the beginning of the Collation of the facred Hebrew MSS, being nearly concluded ; I think it my duty, moft gratefully to acknowledge the great Encourage ment, with which my Work hath thus far been honourably diftinguifhed. And at the fame time that I endeavour to exprefs the deep Senfe I have of my uncommon Obligations, firft of allto His Sacred MAJESTY, and next to the IHuftrious Societies and Learned Persons, who patronize my Undertaking ; I fhall ( as ufual ) fpecify the Progrefs therein made, for the Satisfaction of Thofe, who with fo much Public -Spirit are pleafed to fubfcribe to it. Year 1765. 79 After the Experience of one or two Years, in this extenfive and laborious Work ; it was highly proper that the Patrons of it fhould be informed, how much time might be neceffary for the com pletion of it. And, after the moft careful compu tation, I acquainted them that the Collation of our own Hebrew MSS, together with fome of the beft Foreign MSS, to be collated at the fame time, would probably be finifhed in the fpace of Ten Years. It is with great Pleafure, that I now confirm this computation ; and think, that in the next Four Years ( if but my prefent State of Health conti nues ) will be collated, not only the reft of the Hebrew MSS before known in Great Britain and Ireland, but alfo Five others — one, in the library of The Royal Society — one ( a compleat Bible ) lately purchafed by Solomon Da Cofta Efq; — two, in Dublin ; one belonging to That Univerfity, the other to the Archiepif copal library of St Sepulchre: the knowledge of both which MSS was obligingly communicated to me by Mr Profeffor Sullivan — and the other is a valuable MS of the whole Bible, written in Syria, and purchafed for me at Venice by the Rev. Mr Mordaunt ; through whofe Care it was fafely conveyed to me near twelve months fince. The chief bufinefs of the prefent year has been the Collation of Seven MSS, making Eleven Vo lumes j So Account VI. lumes ; which number becomes Thirteen by the addition of Two Folio Volumes, which are part of another MS. And thefe Seven ( omitting the un- finifhed MS ) make the whole number of our own MSS hitherto collated Fifty Seven. Of thefe MSS, already collated, Seven contain each the whole Bible ; which Seven therefore may contain more Verfes than Twenty other MSS. And it may be added, that the number of Verfes in the MSS, thus far collated, bear a greater proportion to the remainder, than Six years now paft bear to the re maining Four. My Patrons may however be af- fured, that, without any improper attention to this computation, and without the leaft inclination to protract this Work unneceffarily ( for no one per fon in the world can more ardently defire to have it finifhed than I do, partly from long experience of the Fatigue attending it, and partly from a firm conviction of the Utility to be derived from it ) the Remainder of the Work fhall be difpatehed with the greateft Expedition, confident with proper Care : my time being almoft entirely devoted to the difcharge of my duty in the conduct of this Work ; to the employment of as many Affiftants as can well be fuperintended at home, and to an extenfive Correfpondence for procuring ( at a very large Ex- pence ) collations of the beft MSS abroad. When this Work had been carried on, for fome years ; it was found, not only that many of the Variations in the MSS were of confiderable impor tance, Year 1765. \ 8f fjance, but alfo that the Whole, when collected, would be fo very numerous, that there was a ne ceffity for inventing fome method fingular in its kind, to anfwer fo fingular an occafion, as the re gular and uncrouded arrangement of all thefe va riations under their refpective chapters and verfes. In the laft year therefore was begun, and in this year has been finifhed, and is now bound up in 30 Folio Volumes ( interleaved ) a copy of the printed Hebrew Bible, pafted upon writing paper, with only two verfes in each page ; the vacant fpace under each verfe being left for all the variations of the MSS in that verfe, to be there inferted : and this, according to the numerical order of the MSS, when catalogued and numbered in the Prolegomena to be prefixed to the whole Work. But the Reader is not to infer the number of volumes, which this Work will make hereafter, from the account of this preparatory Bible. For, tho' the Work fhould at laft be comprifed in two or three Folio Volumes; and tho' half the Space allowed in this interleaved Bible fhould prove more than fufficient in general for the variations, together with room for the cor rection of fome miftakes : yet, as fome few verfes will require the full fpace here allowed, and it can not yet be known what thofe verfes may be, it was neceffary to prepare a fpace fufficient for every fuch exigency. As to the Tranfcripts made during the prefent year, and now depofited in the Bodleian library, in L obedience 82 Account VI. obedience to the Order of our Univerfity Delegates j to the number 44, before given in, are now added 17, from the collations of our own MSS. Among the preceding 44 were 4, taken from fuch Foreign MSS as have been fent hither to be collated : fo that, 1 7 being added to 40, it appears — that all the Collations of our own MSS, as yet made, are now tranfcribed. For the greater fafety likewife of thofe Collations, which ( for the Benefit of this Work ) have been made in various parts of Europe; tranf- cripts of thefe alfo, to the number of 17, are now depofited in the Bodleian library. And the MSS, which have been already collated, and now are under collation for me abroad, amount to between Sixty and Seventy. Whilft the collation of the MSS was thus ad vancing; it was apprehended, that it would be very defireable, if fome ufe could likewife be made of the beft Editions already printed. And though it would be evidently impoflible for me to collate all ihefe editions, unlefs in felect paflages ; yet it feemed neceffary, that the editions of Van der Hooght ( here made the Standard ) fhould be collated with that of Mkhaelis, printed at Hall, in 1720 : becaufe in this laft edition, the Variations are already collected from the printed Bibles of Bomberg, Buxtorf, Stephens, the Antwerp and London Polyglotts, and feveral other editions : as is fet forth in Michaelis Praf. p. 4 & 5. That the advantage of at lead this printed colla tion might be derived to the prefent Work ; a collation Year 1765. 83 collation has been made of the whole text of Micha- elis, and that of V. Hooght : and a tranfcript of this collation is now depofited in the Bodleian library. The only remaining article, which fhall be here mentioned, as to the State of my Work at home, is this. Every learned Reader muft have been kn- fible, that the different Beginnings of feveral Chap ters in different Editions have occafioned much trouble in referring to particular Verfes in the He brew Bible. And to prevent fuch inconvenience, a collation has alfo been made of the Beginnings of all the Chapters, in the three editions of V. Hooght, Michaelis, and the London Polyglott : and a tranfcript of this collation alfo is now depofited with the others already mentioned. As to the Collations made, and making, for this Work, during the prefent year, in other Countries ; I ftiall firft mention the great honour done me by a fecond Letter from his Excellency The Baron de Bernstorff, Principal Secretary of State to His Majefty The King of Denmark. And as the chief Ornament of my laft Account was the Letter fent me by his Excellency ; I fhall give frefh pleafure to all the Patrons of my Work by infert- ing an exact Copy of this fecond Letter. Reverend Sir, Having received laft September your Letter of Auguft the 14th, and fome while after, about the end L 2 of 84 Account VI. of October, the Parcel mentioned therein, containing thofe Books and Pamphlets Tou had been fo kind as to fend hither, and for which I beg Tou will accept of my fincere Acknowledgments ; the Seafon was then too far advanced, and the fhort Winter- Days were thought too inconvenient for making, conformably, to your Wifhes, Sir, a Beginning with the intended Collation of our Manufcripts. The neceffary Meafures were taken however, even during that Interval, in order to proceed to the fame this Spring, without any further Lofs of Time ; and it is now that, with the Almighty's Help, the Work is taking in hand. It will be care fully conducted under the. InfpeClion of the Rev. D. D, Holm, Rofenftand-Goifce, and Cramer, Profejfors of Divinity here-, and more particularly under that of Mr Kail, Profeffor of the Oriental Languages. All the abovefaid MSS have actually been delivered laft Week by the King's Orders to thefe Gentlemen, who, each of them employing feveral Jkilful and diligent Subjects, are in hopes to fee a great deal of the Collation finifhed this Tear ; and when the whole is compleated, Tou may depend upon its being tranfmitted to Tou without the leaft Delay. I cannot doubt but the Collators will en deavour, by applying themfelves to their Tajk with the utmoft Care and Fidelity, to fhew themfelves worthy of the Truft repofed in them. Meanwhile I have been honoured by your fecond Letter of February the 1 4^. Tour Annual Accounts of ij6§ and 1764 have been duly laid before His Majefty. It affords me a real Pleafure to be able to acquaint Tou, Revd. Sir, with their having met with a very gracious Reception. Wifbing Year 1765. 85. Wifhing Tou with all my Heart the beft of Succeffes to your moft laudable Undertaking, I am with great Truth and diftinguifhed Efteem, Reverend Sir, Tour moft obedient humble Servant, COP E NH AC E N ; March the 19*, 1764. BERNSTORFF. At Berlin, in the Royal library, a collation is making of a celebrated MS in 4 Folio Volumes ; part of which collation I have received from Pro feflbr Murftnna. In the fame Royal library is pre ferved an Hebrew Bible, in 8vo printed ; an edi tion, older by above 20 years than any printed Hebrew Bible known here in England. This, which was the Copy from whence the famous Luther made his Verfion, contains feveral hundred Varia tions from the Hebrew Bibles, fince printed ; and I have therefore defired a compleat collation of it to be made by Profeflbr Schulze, to whom I am much obliged for an account of this curious Book : and the world will be foon favoured with a Differ- tation upon it by this learned Profeffor. But for the advantages at Berlin, I am particularly indebted to the very reverend. Mr Sack, firft Chaplain to, His Majefty The King of Prussia: and this zealous Friend, who has furnifhed me with many ufeful notices, has been alfo at confiderable Ex- pence, which he generoufly prefents to my Work as His Subfcription. At 86 Account VI. At Erfurt are fame Hebrew MSS, which were collated for the edition of Michaelis before- mentioned ; and concerning their Various Readings, the following Remarks feem neceffary. Having often obferved with furprize, that the Variations, which in this Bible are publifhed from thefe Erfurt MSS, are very trifling as well as few, in compari- fon of thofe in moft other Hebrew MSS ; I ftrongly fufpe&ed, that the Erfurt Variations were not properly reprefented in the Notes to that printed Bible, but that many Variations, particularly thofe of greater Moment, were omitted. My Friend, the juftly celebrated Profeflbr Michaelis, of Got tingen, hearing of my fufpicion, and being told that I had fixed upon two inftances, found upon examination that thefe MSS contained many Va riations not printed, and in particular the very Readings I had fpecified : in teftimony of which he moft obligingly fent me two Certificates figned and fealed at Erfurt. I have therefore requefted, that thefe MSS may be more fairly and fully repre fented to the Public, by an entire re-collation of them at my expence. And I doubt not, but fuch future collation will be as ferviceable to my Work, as the laft might have been urged to the difcredit of collating Hebrew MSS in general. In the Imperial library at Vienna is a compleat MS of the Bible, not mentioned in any printed Catalogue ; which has been collated for me by the learned Aloyfms de Sonnenfels : and the Collation has Year 1765. ¦ 87 been moft carefully fent me by His Excellency Lord Vifcount Stormont, His Majefty's Am baffador Extraordinary at that Court. At Cologne there is alfo a MS of the whole Bible, which is now collating at my requeft : and for this permiffion I am highly obliged to the Rev. Dr Hillefheim, Rector of the College, who has fa voured me with an account of this MS, and a Fat Simile of its character. . At Florence has been lately finifhed, by the learned Fathers Berretta and Bartoli, a compleat MS of the Bible ; the Collation of which has been very obligingly brought to England, at the Requeft of His Excellency Sir Horatio Mann, by the Rev. Mr Hamilton : who affo brought the Various Read ings of the fecond and third Hebrew MSS, collated by the learned Profeflbr A Porta, in the Ambrofian Library at Milan. At Rome, the learned Conftanzi has now exe cuted my fecond commiffion there ; which was for collating 17 MSS, 12 of which are preferved in the Vatican. For the Ufe of the MSS in this ce lebrated Library, I gratefully acknowledge myfelf indebted to the Goodnefs and Patronage of His Eminence Cardinal Albani. And, as all mv Patrons will be pleafed with knowing, that the prefent Protector of the Vatican fucceeded Cardinal Pa s s 1 o n e 1, not only in Office, but alfo in Zeal for my Work ; I fhall acquaint them with my Ob ligations. 88 Account VI. ligations. In the firft Letter, with which His Emi nence honoured me, He was pleafed to fay — Et vojant jufqu'ou vous avez en Ji peu de terns avance un Ouvrage fi fraieux et pcnible, je ne puis ft non vous f elicit er de tout mon cceur de I'heureux fucces d' une entreprife, qui rendra votre nom immortel a la pofi terite plus reculee, et dont la Republique des Lettres tirera tant de profit et de lumieres. And fome time after, in anfwer to my application for a fecond Col lation in the Vatican, His Eminence ( then Cardinal- Librarian ) condefcended to write the following Letter; which I here infert, inftead of that hitherto inferted from Cardinal Passionei. Quas ad me dedifti humaniffimas Literas calendis Decembris, accepi Vir clar. et quam molefte ab iis in- tellexi te- gravi corrept'um morbo in difcrimine fuifife, tantundem ex animo gratulor te plene convaluiffe. Me- dicorum autem, quorum opera ereptus es, con/ilium am- pledaris velim, temperando nimirum a literariis labo- ribus, ne nimius in Mis ardor valetudini tuat official ¦, quantum enim literaria Reipublica ut infigne Opus tuum vulgetur, tantundem mea intereft ut diu vivas incolumis. Jus erit Profefj'ori Conftantio tot codicum (ollationem inftituere, quot Vaticana Bibliotheca com- pleditur ; illique tradam codicum indicem, quern miftfti, ut illos quant ocius fcrutetur. Quod me jufjis honeftes tuis, idque equidem ut crebro facias, oro : Deumque O. M. enixe rogo, Te ad feros annos fervet incolumem. Ronite, iCal.Febr.\-]i>i. ALEXANDER Card. AlBANUS. Year 1765. 89 What has been lately done at Pa r i s, I have not yet been informed particularly; on account of the Death of that eminent Promoter of thi? Work and my zealous Friend, the learned and worthy Librarian of the Sorbonne, Profeflbr Ladvocat. But, notwithstanding this affecting Lofs ; I cannot doubt of confiderable Affiftance from that City. For, being very defirous, that fome of the beft MSS in the Royal Library there might be collated for my Work, 1 this year applied to His Excellency The Earl of Hertford, His Majefty's late Am baffador Extraordinary at the Court of France ; who immediately obtained Leave, and in the moft ob liging* manner honoured me with the notice of it, and with the Letter of The Count de St Florentin. My grateful Thanks are alfo due to His Excellency The Duke de Nivernois; who applied likewife for the Royal MSS, and prefented to H 1 s Ma jesty the laft Annual Account of my Work. The fecond Letter, which his Excellency condef cended to write to me, will acquaint my Patrons with the Honour thus done me by this Ornament and Patron of Literature The Duke de Nivernois, and the gracious acceptance of my Annual Account by fo great a Monarch as His Sovereign. A Paris, le 3 Mar. 1 765. Je n'ay pas manque de remettre adjourd'huy au Roy, Monfieur, . un Exemplaire du compte que vous aves rendu cette annee des progres de voire ouvrage. S. Majefte a M re^ti 90 Account VI. regit ce prefent avec plaifir, et m'a charge de vous le temoigner. J' ay remis auffi a M. de S. Florentin I 'ex emplaire que vous m' aves adrefse pour luy. Ce Miniftre concourera Men volontiers a tout ce qui pourra accelerer la confection d'un ft important ouvrage. Je fouhaite, Monfieur, avoir reuffi par mon Zele a executer vos ordres a vous donner une nouvelle preuve de mon d'evoue- ment fincere, ct de tous les fentiments avec les quels j' ay P honneur d'etre tres parfaitement, Monfieur, voire tres humble et tres obeiffant Serviteur, Le Due de Nivernois. The laft State of my Work mentioned my par ticular Obligation to The Learned Academy at Man- h e i m ; and I now gratefully acknowledge the Favour of The Elector Palatine: for, at the Recommendation of His Serene Highnefs, I have lately obtained an account of an Hebrew MS at Mentz, which was drawn up by the learned Mr Goldhagen. This account has been fent me by my friend Mr D'Harold, at the Court of Manheim ; to whom I am alfo indebted for a very obliging Letter from Mr Schmidtz, Counfellor to the Mar grave of Baden -Durlac, relative to two curious MSS in His Highnefs's Library. Laftly : in the enumeration of Services and En quiries for the Benefit of this Work, during the prefent year ; very grateful mention muft be vmade of the Favour of His Excellency, The Honourable Sir Joseph Yorke, His Majefty's Ambaffador Extra- Year 1765. 91 Extraordinary at the Hague, in relation to fome valuable MSS at Utrecht. In confequence of fuch numerous and fingular Obligations, it is certainly my duty to exert my utmoft endeavours for the perfection of my Work, and the fatisfaction of all the Patrons of it : and as fome of them have, in the laft year, mentioned to me two circumftances, I will take notice of both in this place. It has been faid — that it would be agreeable to the prefent, and might procure more, Subfcribers ; if fome Specimen were to be printed, now and then, to prove the Importance of the Work by the Various Readings collected from the MSS. But I muft obferve, that a regular Specimen of any part of the Bible is at prefent impoffible ; becaufe Acceffions are making to every part continually. And let be obferved farther, "that I have already communicated to the Public, at different times, above 300 inftances of fuch Various Readings ; many of which are fo important, that thofe Perfons, who cannot be convinced by them, will certainly not be convinced by 300 more. And as to thofe, who were at all convinced, that this Work was proper to be undertaken; fuch, it is prefumed, muft (till think it worth finifhing and publifhing. The other circumftance,. mentioned in this year, , is — that, a particular account of the Expence not being annually printed, it has been infinuated, that this Work is perhaps carried on with very little or M 2 m Q2 Account VI. no Expence ; at leaft, not with an Expence at ail proportioned to the Subfcription. To this I fay, firft, that I do by no means defire any one Perfon to entruft me with his Money, who doubts my proper Application of it. And I beg leave to add, for the perfect Satisfaction of all my Subfcribers, that ( exclufive of the Collations of many other MSS already engaged for in different Parts of Europe ) my Expences, in this one Year, on ac count of this Work, amount to above Six Hun dred Pounds ; the greater part of which is (land ing and conftant Expence, in every Year. I fhall now conclude this Annual Account with part of an Elogium upon my Work and it's Pa- trons, delivered in a Public Oration, at Hall in Saxony, by the reverend and learned Dr Se mle r, Profeflbr of Divinity in that Univerfity. Cum ampliftima 'ilia exornandi Hebraici codicis pro- vincia, quam Celeb. Kennicotum apud Anglos, primum rite, melioribus certe aufpiciis quam ante ipfum quen- q'uam, fufcepiffe fcimus, non folum eorum omniu.m ex- cipiatur publicis plaufibus, qui in Romana EccleJia li ber aii eruditioni non obfcure f avere videntur, fed etiam deditiftimis ftudiis ultro promoveatur : dubitari non po- teft, nee inter nos defuturos, qui tanta et tarn praclara- rei fucceffus profperos, votis ominibufque latis, publice- privatimque adjutum eant. — Jam vel inter eos, quibus litter arum facrarum difciplina traditur, gratulari ftbi folet, quotus quifque eft eredioris ingenii ; quod hac vi- yenda Year' i 765. 93 Vendo tempora attigerit, quibus Publicum quaji Signum efeCtum eft, ad bene fperandum de amplificanda He- braici codicis dignitate. — Equidem varie affici foleo, cum luculentiffima ilia fiudia cogito, qua in Anglia, beata pluribus nominibiis Infula, publice privatimque ingenti contentione ad hanc caufam promovendam con- feruntur. Regis illius Augujlifftmi fplendidiftimam munificentiam facile nobis fingimus : fcimus enim An- glise Regem effe. Academiarum Britannia utriufque illuftrem ac venuftum confenfum, in adjuvando Kennicoti propofito, quis non admiretur ? Tks.s Aca- demia omnes lubentijftme votis ejus occurrunt. Ibi ReverendiJJimi Archiepiscopi liberaliftime condicunt fumtus. Nobiliffimi Pri n c i p e s, Honor -atifftmi Co- mites, ultro conferunt. Reverendorum Ep iscopo- rum "/Decanorum exiftit faufta concordia. Barones, Armigeri, privati adeo Religionis Administri, numero longo in Societatem hanc coeunt± Fortunatos, felices ibi eruditos ! The CERTIFICATE from The Royal Profeffor of Hebrew, nearly the fame as before, fee in page 33. ( 94 ) Account VII, At the End of the Year 1766. INTRODUCTION, nearly the fame as before, fee in page 78. TO the number of fifty seven MSS, collated in the Six Years preceding, are to be now added, as having been collated in the pre fent Year, thirteen; fo that the whole num ber of MSS at home, now collated, amounts to Seventy. And, as to thdfe MSS at home, which remain unexamined ; I hope, and believe, they will be all collated during the Three next Tears. Of the Thirteen MSS, examined during this Year, Six belong to The Britifb Mufeum ; lent me in confequence of an Order at a General Meeting of The Curators of that invaluable Repofitory, where only Four now remain to be collated : One MS has been lent me by the Dean and Chapter of Wells: and One Copy, which, tho' printed, is really more valuable than feveral of our prefent MSS, has been this Year, lent by the Provoft and Fellows of Eton College, out of their elegant and valuable Library. Year 1766. 95 Library. And for the Ufe of all thefe Books, com municated in the moft obliging manner, I pub- lickly exprefs my Thanks. But amongft all the Obligations of this nature, conferred during the prefent Year, there is One, which demands my particular and moft grateful Acknowledgments. And thefe I here make, in the moft dutiful and moft humble manner, to HIS MAJESTY, for the Ufe of a very antient and curious printed Hebrew Pentateuch ; which HIS MAJESTY has moft gracioufly commanded to be lent me from His Royal Library. The Colla tion of this Pentateuch is begun ; and this Edition, together with a few1 others likewife very antient, will be particularly defcribed near the conclufion of this Account. The laft annual Account mentioned, that Tranf cript s of the Collations of Fifty Seven of our own MSS were then depofited in the Bodleian Library ; together with thofe of Four foreign MSS collated here, and of Seventeen collated in other parts of Europe. To the preceding Fifty Seven are now added Eleven, and to the Twenty One are added Nineteen; fo that the whole number of Tranfcripts, which I have now depofited in the Bodleian Library, amounts to one hundred and eight. The MSS at home and abroad, now collated for this Work, amount to one hundred and thirty • 96 Account VII. thirty; and even thefe, it is prefumed, are more than ever were made ufe of, to afcertain the true Text of any other book in the world. But yet, that this Work may as far exceed all others in the Quantity of its Materials, as it does in the Great- nefs of that Patronage by which it is fupported ; not only the remaining MSS will be finifhed at home, but alfo many other valuable MSS will be collated in other countries : and as to thefe, the Collation of between Twenty and Thirty is at pre fent engaged for. An examination of the MSS, very fortunately procured from the Eaft, at the Command of His Majefty The late King of Denmark, is now making at Copenhagen by fome learned Pro feflbrs, who were appointed by His Excellency The Baron it? Bern storff, an Illuftrious Patron of this Work. The celebrated Abbe Hooke, who fucceeds the late Profeflbr Ladvocat in Zeal for this Work, as well as in the Hebrew Chair at the Sor- bonne, has informed me that the two MSS, which I have felected as being probably the moft valuable at Paris, one in the Royal library, and the other at the Oratory, are both under examination ; in con fequence of an order from His Most Christian Majesty as to the former ; and by the favour of the learned Fathers of the Oratory, as to the latter. A collation of the MS at Ca s s e l, diftinguifhed by Mr Scheide's Differtation upon it, is in part made ; and that part has been received from Goet- tingen : Year 1766. 97 tingen: for, upon leave given by His Serene High- nefs The Landgrave of Hesse, that MS has been removed by my very learned Friend Profeflbi* Michaelis, who kindly took a journey to CafTel, for the more fecure conveyance of it to Goettingen.; And ( not to enlarge, by fpecifying more at pre fent) the two famous MSS, formerly belonging to Reuchlin, now in the library of the Margrave of Baden-Durlac, at the Palace of Carlfruhe, have been this year committed to the care of Mr Bruns, by the Honourable Mr Schmidlz Priyy- Counfellor to His Serene Highnefs; I muft here exprefs my acknowledgments to Monf. L'Abbe le Blond, for his great care in tranf- cribing and fending me from Caen the collations of Six MSS of the Pfalms, examined at Paris under the direction of the late Profeffor Ladvocat. The' celebrated Profeflbr Breitinger, at Zurich, has alfo been very obliging by his zeal and fervice ; not only in freely collating for me great part of a MS at Zurich, but alfo in procuring me the Va rious Readings of a MS ( not before known to the Public ) preferved in the Monaftery of St Blafe in the Black Foreft ; the collation of which was very politely ordered by the illuftrious Prince and Pre late Martini, who is therefore entitled to my gratitude : the fame is due likewife to William Norton Efq; HU Majefty 4s Minifter to the Swifs Cantons, for fending me both thefe collations. And I muft alfo exprefs my thanks to Sir Horace Mann, N Bart. 98 Account VII. Bart. His Majefty's Refident at Florence, for tranf- mitting the collations of fome MSS finifhed at Milan, by Profeflbr A Porta and Dr Baptifta Branca ; which collations were brought me, in a very obliging manner, by the Honourable Sir William Stanhope. In return for the very generous Subfcription, by which this Work has been eminently diftinguifhed; one part of my duty certainly is, to acquaint the Patrons of it with any fignal marks of Appro bation (hewn to it by the Learned World. And I fhall therefore, for the Satisfaction of my Sub scribers, infert copies of two Inftruments I have lately been favoured with ; and which I have been favoured with on account of that Work, in which, through Their Encouragement, I have the Ho nour to be employed. In the prefent year a Difcovery has been made, which is of great importance in itfelf, and moft nearly connected with the nature of this Work ; and as it unfolds a new, yet decifive argument, in proof of the Expediency, or rather the Neceffity of fuch an Undertaking, particular notice muft be here taken of it : and it may be rendered more generally intelligible, in confequence of the fol lowing introduction. The Learned thro' Europe have been long di vided into two general claffes, as to their opinions of the printed Hebrew Text of the Old Teftament ; fome . Year 1766. 99 fome infilling upon the abfolute Integrity of that Text, others holding it to be in fome inftances corrupted. The men of this latter clafs were fub- divided in their fentiments ; for while fome thought the corruptions few and of little moment, others thought them many and of great confequence. In this however they almoft all agreed, that, whatever was the real number,' or nature, of the corruptions in the printed Text, that Text could receive little or no correction from Hebrew MSS ; becaufe the He brew MSS, now extant, were but few; and thefe few were modern ; and all of them entirely, or nearly, the fame with one another and with the Text as printed. But this opinion, however pre valent till within a few years paft, has been fo ef fectually confuted by the evidence produced from thefe MSS, that the common opinion (it is pre fumed ) now is — that the Hebrew MSS, yet ex tant, are very many ; and that fome differ greatly from others, and from the printed Text. Now amongft all thefe variations of opinion, it has been taken for granted by all parties, that the Text of the Hebrew Bible, as now printed, is one and uniform ; entirely, or nearly, the fame in all the editions of it ; wherever, and by whomfoever, it has hitherto been publifhed. And upon this ima ginary Samenefs of all the printed copies has been founded the famous notion, formerly aflerted by many, and even now by a few, that the printed Hebrew Text is perfect and uncorrupted. Whereas, N 2 on 100 Account VII. on the contrary ; if that very Text, as it is nov/ printed, he at laft found to vary much from itfelf, and fome copies differ greatly from others ; then can there be nothing more abfurd, than the notion of all the printed copies being pure and genuine ; then can nothing be more clear, than that, when ever one printed copy differs from another, this or that copy muft be corrupted : and laftly, nothing can be more certain, than that, in cafe thefe diffe rences be many and cpnfiderable, it muft be our duty to examine ( or caufe to be examined ) as many as poffible of the oldeft and beft MSS ; in order to determine, with a degree of exactnefs proportioned to the Importance of the Subject, which of the printed editions are wrong, and which right, where they are found to differ. And, in order to fuch determination, the beft method (which indeed is propofed to be here taken ) feems to be — to re- publifh the Hebrew Text, exactly as it now ftands in one of the beft amongft the common Editions ; and to fubjoin at the bottom of each page ( fo far- as relates to each page ) all the Various Readings, which fhall have been collected either fron} the MSS, or the printed Copies. The many and confiderahle Differences here meant, as found in the printed Copies themfelves, are ( not typographical errors, pr variations amongft the feveral modern editions, but ) fuch as remark ably diftinguifh the modern Copies from the moft antient. It had been before difcovered, in the courfe Year 1766. ioi courfe of this Work, that the Older the MSS are* the more they differ from the modern printed Text* and the more they agree with the Antient Verfions and the Quotations in the New Teftament. And it is now found* that the oldeft printed copies differ greatly from the lateft ; and agree moft with the eldeft and beft MSS. It is to the enquiries of the prefent Year, that the Learned are indebted for this difcovery, as to the Merit and Value of the oldest printed copies ; and the proof arifes from the joint authorities of the Four following Editions. The firft is the Et o n copy, mentioned before as collated in the prefent year ; and indeed it has, for greater exactnefs, been collated twice. It was printed as early as 1487, and is probably the only copy in the world of this edition ; the Various Readings in this from Vander Hoog-ht's edition are very numerous, and feveral of real confequence. But, as a fingle evidence in fuch a caufe would not be fufficiently fatisfactory, the fecond old edition, Which I (hall mention, was printed in 1494 ; and that copy of it, which belonged to Luther, is now in the Royal Library at Berlin : and at my requeft a collation of it is nearly finifhed by the celebrated Profeflbr Schulze, who has publifhed a curious Volume concerning it, in the German lan guage ; to which is prefixed an Englifh Dedication for which I publickly exprefs my thanks. The German Volume has been moft obligingly tranflated for » io? Account VII. for me, into Latin, by the reverend and learned Mr Woide ; and by the help of this verfion I find, that this Berlin Bible differs exceedingly from the modern copies : near 500 variations in whole Words or Letters being fpecified in this Diflertation, and above 200 inftances of difference in the Maforetical Points. Many of the verbal and literal differences agree with the readings of the Eton copy ; and fe veral are of confiderable moment. The third and fourth copies, which I fhall mention, are the first edition that ever was printed of the whole Hebrew Bible, being printed in 1488 ; and a Pentateuch," in 1492: which books are happily preferved in the library of His Serene Highnefs The Margrave of Baden-Durlac This very acceptable intelli* gence I have lately received from Mr Bruns before- mentioned, together with fpecirnens of the Varia tions of thefe two Editipns : and I find, that thefe Editions concur with the two former, in differing greatly from the modern Editipns, and are more agreeable to the oldeft and beft MSS. Thefe two copies alfo will be collated, for the greater perfec tion of this Work ; and from thefe, with the two former, will be collected a multitude of material Various Readings. And it is obfervable ; that, though thefe four copies fo much agree, yet they (till vary enough to (hew, that they were not print ed from one another, but from different MSS. I fhall clofe this article with earneftly requefting the Learned, in foreign countries as well as in our own, Year 1766. 103 own, that they will favour, me with any fu eh noti ces as are yet wanting, "in order to a more compleat difcovery of the State of the Oldeft Editions. And, as I fhall be greatly obliged to Them for acquaint ing me, either with fuch of thofe Editions as I have not heard of, or with the Places where any of thofe Editions are preferved of which I do not at prefent know the Places ; I (ball lay before Them the fol lowing Table — not of all the Editions of either the Whole or Parts of the Hebrew Bible, which preceded the firft Maforetical Bible in 1528 (all which amount to near fifty) but of fuch only, as were printed before the famous Editions of Car dinal Ximenes at Complutum in 1 5 1 7, and of Felix Pratenfis at Venice in 15 18. i486 — Prophets — in folio, printed at Soncinb, no points ; did belong to the late famous Rabbi Oppenheim, at Hanover : but the place, where it is now preferved, is not known to me. 1487 — Hagiographa — 2 Vol. folio, at Naples, on Vellum, pointed almoft throughout ; pre ferved in Eton College library. !4§8 — Bible — folio, at Soncino, with points ; in the library of His Serene Highnefs the Margrave of Baden-Durlac. — Bible — dated this year, catalogued as printed at Bologna, is faid to be preferved in the Barberini library at Rome. „ — Bible J04 Account VIL — Bible — dated this year, is faid to be preferved in the Imperial Laurentian library at Florence. J491 — Pentateuch — 2 Vol. folio, at Lift/on, on Vellum, pointed ; having the Chaldee Pa- raphrafe ahd Jarchi's Commentary : belongs to the library of His Majefty Th e Kingof Gr eat Britain. — Pe n tat e u c h — folio, with the Chaldee Paraphrafe and Jarchi's Commentary, belongs to the Royal library at Paris ; and, tho' cata logued as printed in 1490 (which perhaps is the date at the end of the firft volume ) feems another copy of the edition of 149 1 : which is the date at the end of the fecond volume. And in His Most Christian Majesty's library is preferved another copy; the defcrip- tion of which more exactly agrees with .that of the preceding edition, belonging tp H 1 s Britannic Ma j e s t y. 1492 — Pentateuch, Megilloth & Haph. — 8°, at Brefcia ; in the library of The Mar grave of Baden -Durlac. 1493 — Prior Prophets — folio, at Naples; place, where now preferved, unknown. 1494 — Bible — 8°, at Brefcia; in the library of His Majefty The King os Prussia. — Bible — dated this year, reprefented as printed at Pefaro, unpointed, is faid to be in the Caroline library at Zurich. .i Y E a R 1766. io£ .—Kings — folio, at Leiria j in the Royal library at Paris. 1497 — Isaiah ci? Jeremiah — folio, at Lifbon j place, where now preferved, unknown* — Proverbs-— folio ; did belong to Op* penheim: place, where now prefervedj unknowm 1511 — Prior Prophets — (and Pofteriort according to Le Long ) — foliOj at Pefaro ; in the Royal library at Paris. 1513 — Isaiah & Jeremiah — folio, atCon* ftantinople ; place, where now preferved, un known. • 1515 — Pentateuch Csf Megilloth— -place, where now preferved, unknown. — Psalms, Proverbs, Job, C5? Daniel— * ' folio, at Theffalonica •, preferved in The Bod leian. 1516 — Posterior Prophets — folio, 2d edit. at Pefaro ; in the library of the Reverend Mr Sanford. — Psalms — folio, at Genoa ; one of fifty different printed editions of the Whole or Parts of the Hebrew Bible, which have been purchafed by myfelf. — Psalms — folio, at Bqfil ; in vol. 8 of St Jeromh Works. Psalms — 180, at Bafil; in the library 'at Dantzic. O .-'¦'¦¦ — JOB> 106 Accounts VII. — Job — 4% at- Paris; place, where pre ferved, unknown. 1517 — Bible-— folio, 2 columns, by one of the Soncinates ; did belong to Oppenheim : place, where now preferved, unknown. Then follow, as finifhed in 1517 and' 1518, the Two Editions of The Complutensian Polyglott Bible And The Venice (Bomberg) Bible by Felix Pratensis. NOTE. The Date, in the oldeft editions, is generally at the End of the volumes, and inferted after the word r\w year of; and, tho' it be fome- times given in words at length, is oftner expreffed in the numeral letters of the Hebrew Alphabet. The Jews reckon, from the Creation, 240 years lefs than are ufually reckoned by Chriftians : and therefore, if a book be dated from the Creation 5246 ; by deducting 3760, the fum left is the year of Chrift i486, whichjs the time of the firft printed edition. But if, as is generally the cafe, the Printer gives the leffer computation by leaving out the thou- fands, and expreffes only 246; then by adding 1000, with 240 the difference of reckoning, the year of Chrift is found i486, as before. Thus: the Date of the oldeft edition being i486, a copy of it will probably be known by the letters im i.e. 246, or by other letters making the fame number: a copy, printed in 1494, may be known by iji 254, or other numerals of the fame amount : one, in 1500, •fay m 260 : and one, in 1517, by rm 277: Year 1766, iof Diploma from GOETTINGEN. Quod immortaliter promeritus eft de critica textus Hebraici Benjamin Kennicott, Theologia DoCior in Univerfitate Oxonienfi, Societatis Regia Britannica Socius, Sociufque Collegii Exonienfis ; conqui/itis per omnem Europam, quin immo ex Africa Afiaque oris, codicibus librorum prifci foederis, nondum in hunc finem adhibit is, iifdemque vel ipfo profpiciente domi, vel blando ejus impulfu apud exteros, diligentiffime collatis : eas ob res Socie tas Reg i a Scientiarum Goettingensis Benjaminum Kennicott, Theo logia DoCior em in Univerfitate Oxonienfi, Colle g is Classis Ph ilologi CiE adfcripfit, adfcriptum hoc document 0 declarat; petens ab eo, ut criticos in codicem Hebraicum labores, feliciffimo aufu fufceptos, pari ftudio ad finem per ducat, editionemque aliquando exbibeat illis copiis inftruCiam, quibus nullus unquam liber inftruClus prodiit. Ex quo fucceffu permagnam certe latitiam fentiet, eundemque Sodali impenfe gra- tulabitur Societas; ipfius viciffim erga fe voluntatem urgens, et demonftratam ofificiis mutuis compenfatura. Goetting^; 27 Januar. 1 766. Sigill. . Joannes David S.R.S. Joan. Phil. Murray, Michaelis, So- Goett. Phil. Prof. Ord. Societa- cietatis Regia. Di- tiftp, Reg. Scientiar. Se- reClor. cretarius. O 2 DlPiOMA io8 Account VII, Diploma from MANNHEIM. Academic Elector a lis Scientiarum £""? Elegant. Literarum Th e odoro-Pal ati nm Prafes% Director ac Socii, LeCluris S. Cum eadem omnium fit Veritas, edque in rerum na tura nihil praftantius ; commune effe debet Veritatis ftudium, et communis inveftigationis honos. Centrum quafi hujus tum ftudii, tum honoris, rede habentur So- cietates literaria, a Principibus viris folenni quodam modo conftituta, membrifque compofita variis, quorum alia tegendis et promovendis laboribus Academicis, alia propius iis fubeundis, alia remotius, funt deftinata. Legibus hinc noftris tres Sociorum ordinatafunt Claffes ; qua, quo inter fe erunt conjuntliores, eo facilius me tam Veritatis propofitam attingent. Prima claffis eft Ordinariorum, quindecim numero, Societatis anima ; cut ornamento accedit fecunda Honor ariorum, et auxilio claffis Extraor dinar ior urn tertia. Inter Extraordina- rios hos, annuente Serenissimo Carolo Theo- doro, Principe Eleclore, cooptatus a nobis eft Vir antiquarum literarum doCliffimus, Benjaminus Kenni cott, S. T. P. Regiaque Societatis Anglicana ut et Collegii Exonienfts Socius per Celebris, Academia noftra ab incunabulis inde fuis amiciffimus : unde hoc Socii Extraordinarii Diploma, Sigillo Academico nofiro mu- nitum, fcribi et tradi ei lubeniiffime curavimus. Dat. Mannhemu; vi Cal. Mali, 1 766. Leopoldus L.B. Sigill. Stengel. PE- hohenhausen. Acad. Mann. Lamey. EAR: 1766. J09 The CERTIFICATE: Which is here given, as containing the Second Renewal of our Univerfity Subfcription. THE Delegates of the Prefs, in the Univerfity of Oxford, having in January 1760 fubfcribed to Dr Kennicott's Collation of the Hebrew MSS ; and having inferted in an Order then made the following words [ That their Subfcription be continued at the beginning of every Tear, upon Dr Kennicott's producing a Certificate from the Royal Profeffor of Hebrew, that in his Judgment Dr Kennicott hath made a competent Progrefs in the faid Work during the Year preceding ; J and the faid Delegates, as well as the Uni- vefity of Cambridge, having in the beginning of the prefent Year again renewed their Subfcription to this Work on condition of a Certificate from me, as before-mentioned j and Dr Kennicott having applied to me for fuch a Cer tificate : I do hereby accordingly Certify, for the Satis faction of both thefe Univerfities, and of fuch-Perfons as have encouraged this Work by their Subfcriptions, that the feveral Parts of the Collation, made during this Seventh Year, have , been laid before me ; and my Opinion is, that Dr Kennicott hath made a very competent Progrefs in the faid Collation. And, upon confidering feveral of the Various Readings, which he has already difcovered in the Hebrew MSS ; I think this Work will be of very confi derable Service to Sacred Literature. THO. HUNT, Chrift -Church; Decemb. 30, 1766. Regius. Profeffor of Hebrew. ( «o ) Account VIII. At the End of the Year 1767, IT is with great pleafure, that I now wait upon , the Illuftrious and Learned Patr o n s of my Collation of the Hebrew MSS of the Old Tefta ment ; in order to lay before Them the Progrefs made in the Work, and the Encouragement with which it has been honoured, in the prefent year, which is the eighth from the beginning of this Undertaking. To the number of Seventy MSS, collated in the 7 years preceding, are to be now added fifte en ; fo that the whole number of MSS at home, now collated, amounts to eighty five. And as to the MSS at home, yet unexamined ; I hope, and believe, they will be all collated during the two next years. And, if fo ; then will this Collation have been Angularly fortunate : as being complea- ted in the very time, "which, upon a Calculation at firft made, I declared to be neceffary, namely TEN YEARS. Of the 15 MSS, now collated, Four belong to The Britifh Mufeum, and are the whole ( out of the Year 1767* m the 25 in that invaluable Repofitory ) which re mained uncollated : Three other MSS belong to the Library of The Royal Society ; and Six to the Library of Corpus Chrifti College, in Oxford. And for the ufe of all thefe MSS, communicated in the moft obliging manner, I publickly exprefs my thanks. I muft here alfo make my acknowledg ments to The Mafter and Fellows of Si John's College, in Cambridge ; who have lately lent me Two valuable MSS : which, not being yet col lated, are not included in the number before fpe- cified. During the laft year jt was happily difcovered, that the printed Hebrew Bibles differed greatly from each other ; and that the moft early editions had many and important Variations, agreeably to the more antient MSS ; whilft the modern editions agree only with the lateft MSS. The oldeft editions therefore being very valuable, and abfolutely ne ceflary to be collated likewife ; I beg leave to ex prefs my gratitude in the moft dutiful manner, to HIS MAJESTY, The Royal and Munificent Patron of this Work, for the Ufe of an antient and very curious Pentateuch, upon fine vellum, one of the moft elegant Books that ever came from the Prefs (for there are proofs of its being printed, tho' it has frequently been taken for a MS) which HIS MAJESTY gracioufly commanded to be lent me at the end of the laft year, and which was collated in the beginning of the prefent. Three ui Account VIII. Three years before this Royal Pentateuch, which is dated in 149 1, there was printed the firft edition of the whole Hebrew Bible ; and of this Bible only 3 copies were known in Europe, till a fourth was fortunately purchafed, this year, by. my very learned Friend Mr San ford, of Balliol College. The Collation of this printed Bible is already fo far ad vanced as to (hew, that it is exceedingly valuable; and it certainly contains fome thoufands of Varia tions, feveral of which are of confiderable confe quence : a decifive confutation this of the opinion, which, till within a year or two paft, obtained uni- verfally among the Learned, that all the printed Hebrew Bibles were entirely or nearly the fame. On this very interefting article of the oldeft printed editions, I fhall obferve farther, that to the cata logue of them given in my laft Account are to be now added, not only this firft whole Bible dated in 1488, but alfo another copy of the Eton Hagio- grapha, of 1487, preferved in the Cafanatenfian library at Rome ; and alio 2 others ( both older than that of the Prophets in i486 ) — one, containing Jofih. Judg. C5? Sam. in 1484, which I have myfelf feen in The Royal Library at Paris — and the other a Pentateuch, in 1482, which Maffei fays (Veron. Illuftrat. 3, 7 ) is preferved at Verona : and there is another copy of this Pentateuch in the curious Li brary of His Serene Highnefs The Margrave of B a d e n - D u r l a c, at the palace of Carlf- ruhe. .Year 1767. iij ruhe. * Hence then it appears, that the method, wjiich feeiris to have been originally obferved in printing the Hebrew Bible, was juft what might have been expefted ; firft, the Pentateuch, in 1482 ; fecondly, the Prior Prophets, in 1484; thirdly, the Pofterior Propheh, in i486; and fourthly, the Hagiographa, in .1487 : and, after the 4 great parts had been thus printed feparately ( each with a com ment ) The whole Text ( without a comment) was printed in one volume, in 1488. And the Text continued to be printed, as in thefe firft editions, fo in- feveral others for 20 or 30 years, without marginal Keri or Mafora, and with greater agree ment to the more antient MSS ; till, about the year 1520, fome of the Jews adopted later MSS, and the Mafora: which abfurd preference has ob tained ever fince. In the laft Account I aflured the Reader, that 108 Tranfcript s of Collations were then depofited in the Bodleian Library ; and a Catalogue, fpe- cifying the Collations fo tranfcribed and depofited, was figned by the Principal Librarian, on May 2d. * The place, where the latter of thefe z copies is pre ferved, was made known to me by my learned Friend Mr Brum; whom I have defired to collate this firft-printed Penta teuch. And I was favoured with the notice of the former by the learned Monf. Merder, the very worthy Librarian of the ,St Geno'vefe library at Paris ; who has lately been prefente4 by His Molt Chriftian Majefty to a Mitred Abbey. i P 1767 : 114 Account VIIL 1767 : which Catalogue is too large to be inferted in this Account. And to the Tranfcripts before depofited have been lately added 21; fo that the number, now in the Bodleian, amounts to one HUNDRED AND TWENTY NINE. The only articles at home, which I fhall here add, are — that I have been highly obliged by the reverend and learned Dr Gill ; who has extracted and fent me the Variations from the modern Bibles in the paffages quoted in the Talmuds both of Jeru* falem and Babylon, and alfo in the Rabboth: which Variations, in thefe antient books of the Jews, affect the Hebrew Text of the Old Teftament, as the Variations in the antient Chriftian Fathers affect the Greek Text of the New. And laftly : the Hebrew MSS in England have been this year in- creafed by Two, now my own ; which did belong to the late Dr De Wilhem, of Lekkerkirk near Rot terdam : and one of thefe is the magnificent and curious MS, which was celebrated in the Account of my Work for the year 1763. Thefe MSS have been kindly purchafed, at my requeft, by the Re verend Dr Richardfon, Chaplain to His Excellency Sir Joseph Yorke, His Majefty's Ambaffador at the Hague. As to Collations procured, in the prefent year, from abroad ; I (hall begin with thofe, which I have juft received from Denmark: very obligingly tranfmitted to me by His Excellency the Baron Db Bern* Year ^7^7' 115 Bernstorff, Principal Secretary of State. The Various Readings of Seven MSS, lately purchafed in Egypt, muft be thought very defirable. And therefore, when the ufe of thefe MSS was volun tarily offered me, by order of His late Danish Majesty; I gratefully accepted it. And I now exprefs my Thanks in this public manner to Flis Majefty the prefent King of Denmark, not only for the ufe of thefe 7 MSS, but alfo of one other, long preferved in the Royal Library. Thefe 8 MSS have been collated by the Oriental Profef for Mr Kail, together with other learned Gentle men at Copenhagen^ the Profeflbrs Cramer, Holmes, Rofenftand Goifke &c. I have likewife received a Collation of the whole Hebrew Bible, printed in 1494; which did belong to Luther, and is now preferved in the Royal Library at Berlin. This curious edition was collated by the learned Profeflbr Schulze, affifted by his learned Wife ; and the Variations in this from the modern editions are very numerous and valu able. This Collation was very obligingly tranfmit- ted to me by His Excellency Sir AndrewMit- c h e ll, His Majefty's Ambaffador at Berlin. From Florence I have received this year the Collation of a MS in the Library of Duke Strozzi, collated by the learned Fathers Berretta and Bartoli v which Cojlation was kindly brought me by Mr P 2 Worfely, ti6 Account VIII. Worfely, at the requeft of Sir H o r a c e Man n, His Majefty's Refident in that City. The 2 MSS, formerly belonging; to Reuchlin, how preferved in the Library of The "Margrave of BadYn-Durlac (together with a 3d, MS con taining the book of Pfalms ),have be.en'examined, and their Variations fent me, in the 'prefent year, by Mr Bruns. Thefe are the 2 MSS, from which, on account of their ( fuppofed ) very high antiquity and extraordinary merit, a new edition of the He brew Bible was propofed to have been made about ten years ago. Their Various Readings are really of confiderable value : and it is particularly obfer- vable, that in one of thefe. MSS,. after the : pro phecy of Malachi, the next book is Daniel ; placed in that order by the Tranfcriber himfelf. Among the learned Foreigners, by whom I have been favoured with Letters during this year, par ticular mention muft be, made of Profeflbr Nagel, of Altdorff near Nuremberg. From this Gentleman ' I have learnt, that an Hebrew Bible, in 7 folio volumes, which was lately to be fold, is purchafed for the public Library at Nuremberg. And this valuable MS, together with 3 others, is very for tunately preferved in a Country, where there are Men fo munificent, and animated with fo much Public Spirit, ^s to order Collations of thefe MSS to be made for me at their own expence. The generous Perfons, who thus demonftrate theirZeal Year 1767. 117 Zeal, for the honour of Revelation, and the com mon benefit of Europe, are The Illuftrious'C'HRis- topher Charle s Kress de Kre ssenstein, and The Illufttidus Paul Charles Welser de NeuNhOf ; both Knights of 'the holy Roman Empire. To thefe Patrons the warmeft Thanks, which I can exprefs, are juftly due ; and their Examples, if followed, would render this Work compleat, by enabling it to appear at once, with the Various Readings of all the MSS in Europe. An Event this — which, though impoffible upon the prefent Subfcription, might very eafiiy be obtained; if the Rich ahd the Great in the feveral parts of Europe would, at their own Expence likewife, order Collations to be made of the MSS in their refpec- tive Countries. With the notice of this munificent offer from Nuremberg, muft be again mentioned the liberal Subfcription, with which my Work has been dif tinguifhed by the Academy of Mannheim; a favour, already taken notice of with proper gra titude : and the Continuance of This Subfcription is here acknowledged with great thankfulnefs. Due mention has been alfo made of the favour of Monf. L' Abbe Ladvocat, late Hebrew Profeffor at The Sorbonne ; who collated, without reward, fe veral of the Paris MSS : and whofe great zeal for the promotion of this Work appears farther from a Letter of his lately printed, in which are thefe words u8 Account VIII. words — mais nous n'aurons une edition pure et cor* rede du Texte Hebreu, que quand paroitra cette que M. Kennicott Scavant Anglois nous prepare. Je con- tribuerai de mon cote a I' aider dans cette importante entreprife, foit en lui communiquant mes remarques, foil en collationnant tous les Manufcrits Hebreux qui font d Paris, et en lui en envoyant les Variantes. * Some of thefe Collations were fent me by the Pro feflbr himfelf ; and others, made under his care, have been ( fince his death ) kindly tranfmitted by Monf. L'Abbe Le Blond : from whom I have lately received the laft fruits of that Profeflbr's benevo lent!, affiftance. But my advantages, from the Sor bonne- by no means ended with that Profeflbr's life ; as he was fucceeded in the Hebrew Chair by my very learned Countryman Monf. L'Abbe Hooke, to whom I am under (till greater obligations. For thro' his favour, and the kindnefs of Monf. L'Abbe Affeline, I have received feveral other Coflations, partly from the Sorbonne, and partly from the " A learned Proteftant alfo, Profeflbr Verfchuir, of Frariir- quer, in his Diflertation lately printed, has honoured my Work with the following approbation. De eo nobis et univerfo orbi Chriftiano gratulamur, quod tot manu exarati codices remanfe- rint, ex quorum collatione genuina le dimes a peritis et vert aman- tibus criticis magnam partem facile indagari pojjint ; et quad iftum laborem itt fe fufceperit B. Kennicotus, vir — a quo optima quavis tie hoc opere fperamus publice pro fufcepto hoc utilijftmo opere maximas ago gratias ; atque ut id ad finem perducet'e conetur, enixe regc. Royal Y E A R I767. II9 Royal Library at Paris ; and the affiftance of thefe Gentlemen is obligingly offered, and gratefully accepted, as to fome other MSS. My thanks however are not due to thefe two Friends, merely for fome Collations ; but alfo, for a thoufand Obligations which they conferred upon me, in perfon, whilft I was at Pa r i s, vifiting the MSS, during the laft fummer. For, convinced of its being my duty to do every thing in my power towards the perfection of my Work, and convinced likewife that many advantages would refult from my own examinations, in a City, which may boaft of near One Hundred Hebrew and Samaritan MSS ; I went, and examined accordingly : and I have the pleafure to acquaint the Reader, that the Vifit has been productive of very great utility to my Work, in various ways. And I here acknowledge, with the warmeft gratitude, the many Favours fhewn to me at Paris, in the moft honourable manner ; particularly, by His Grace The Duke'de Niver- nois, and His Excellency The Earl of Roch ford. To which Illuftrious Names I muft add that of His Grace The Lord Arch-Bishop of Paris; who very obligingly ordered feveral Li braries to be examined, where there might poffibly be Hebrew MSS not publickly known : and has fince condefcended to favour me with a Letter, expreffive of His great Goodwill to me and to my Work. The J20 Account VIII. The ufe of the 37 Hebrew MSS, and 2 Sama ritan, preferved in the very magnificent Library of His Most Christian Majesty, was granted me, in the moft obliging manner, by the Royal Librarians Monf. Caperonier and Monf. Bejot. One of the oldeft and beft of thefe Royal MSS, con taining the whole Bible, has been examined ; and the Various Readings, extracted from it, are nu merous and of great, confequence. The treafures of the Sorbonne were freely opened to me like- wife; in which ample library are 29 Hebrew MSS. The fame favour was obtained from the learned Fathers of the Oratory, as to their 8 Hebrew MSS, and 2 Samaritan ; one of thefe is the copy from which Morinus printed, and is the only Sama ritan MS ( out of 1 6 now in Europe ) which has yet been made proper ufe of: though the other 4 copies in Paris have the true readings in feveral places, where the MS of Morinus is wrong. The Librarians alfo of St Genovefe, St Ge rma i n des Pres, StVicTOiRE, and the Minim Fathers, very readily communicated their MSS: in the 3d and 4th of which libraries are 2 Hebrew MSS ; in the 2d library are 3 Hebrew MSS and 4 of the Greek Verfion, one of which is above a thoufand years old ; and in the ift library is one Hebrevv MS, with a MS of the Samaritan Penta teuch : and, as I found the Samaritan MS to con tain many and valuable Various Readings, it has been fince collated for me by my learned Friend Mr Year x7^7' 121 Mr Lobftein of Strafburg. From this fame excellent library was Jent me alfo a written Collation ( made by Mprinus ) of the Samaritan and Hebrew Penta- teuchs ; noting their differences, and frequently adding the authorities of the antient Verfions : which curious MS was tranfcribed for me, while at Paris, by Mr Bruns, who kindly came to me thither from Carlfruhe. As the MSS beforemen- tioned were, out of fingular Veneration for my Work, lent me at my own Hotel ; and as I had therefore all the Samaritan MSS at Paris open before me at the fame time: I not only was honoured with a Sight, which perhaps no other perfon ever faw ; but I alfo felt a peculiar pleafure, at beholding thefe precious remains of (acred Antiquity, which I hoped to render very ferviceable to the correction of the Hebrew Pentateuch. Among the many learned and worthy Perfons, who contributed to render my ftay at Paris ufeful and agreeable ; my Thanks are particularly due to Monf. De Brequigny, Monf. De Beaumont, Fattier Bertier, and Colonel Dromg old. And laftly : I muft make my public acknowledgments to The Prefident and Members of the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Let tres, for the great Honour done me by admitting me a Member of their Illuftrious Socie ty, which Admiflion is exprefled in the following' Diploma. Q Extrait 122 Account VIII, Extrait des Regiftres de V Ac a d e m i e Royale dei Inscriptions 13 Belles Lettres. Du Vendredi, Sept Aoiit, 1767. Sur la propojition faite a la Compagnie par M. Le Pr'efident de donner un temoignage public d' eftime &? de confideration a M. Le DoCleur Kennicot, qui s'eft fait un nom dans la Republique des Lettres par des ouvrages oic /' erudition et la critique fe font egalement remarquer, La Compagnie perfuadee qu'il eft de fon de voir et de fon interet, d' entretenir avec les fcavants Strangers un commerce utile au progres des Lettres, a, par une deliberation unanime, mis Monfieur Le DoCleur < Kennicot au nombre de fes correfpondants, et a charge M. Le Beau, fon Secretaire perpetuel, de lui expedier des Lettres de Correfpondance fuivant /' ufage et dans la forme ordinaire. En foi de quoi J 'ai Jigne les prefentes Lettres fcellees du fceau de I' Academic Fait d Paris au Louvre le dit jour fept Aout, 1767. Le Beau, Secretaire Perpetuel. As this Year has been diftinguifhed by two Events, not already mentioned; I cannot clofe this Account, without making the moft grateful men tion of Both. The one is — the Honour done me by His Grace The Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, and The other Great Officers OS Y t A R I767. 123 of State etc. who are Electors of The Rad- cliffe Librarian, in appointing me lately to that Office. And the other article, with which I fhall conclude this Account, is — my great Obligation to a Lady lately deceafed, whom I had never feen ; Mrs Elizabeth Griffen, of Wokingham, Berks: who, from the opinion She had formed of thd Ufe- fulnefs of my Work, and of the Labour with which it is attended, has bequeathed to me by Her Will a Legacy of two hundred pounds ; to be paid by Her Executors, as foon as I fhall have compleated the Collation of the Holy Bible, which I have now undertaken. THE CERTIFICATE from The Royal Profeffor of Hebrew, nearly the fame as before, fee in page 109. Q.2 ( "4 ) Account IX. At the End of the Year 1768, N the profecution of a Work fo very laborious, as that of collating all the MSS of the Hebrew Bible in our own country, and procuring collations of the beft MSS abroad ( which was at firft thought to require Ten Tears to perfect it ) I am truly thankful to D 1 v 1 n e Providence, that I have been fo far bleffed with Health, as to fee the Work advance to the end of the Ninth year, with a fair profpect of its being compleated in the year fol-. lowing. Before I enter into the particulars of this year's Progrefs, I muft exprefs myfelf moft gratefully for the Bluftrious Patronage, with which it is (till ho noured ; and for the Public -fpirited Subfcription, by which it has been, for fo many years, Angularly fupported : an acknowledgment, which is the more neceflary at this time, becaufe the Subfcription in this Ninth year is greater than in any year prece ding. And I am very happy in- feeing, that the opinion of the Learned is more and more favour able to a Work ; which indeed I find to be of greater Year 1768. 125 greater and greater confequence, in proportion as more MSS, and alfo more printed Editions, are examined for the Benefit of it. To the number of 85 MSS at home, before collated, are to be now added 15 ; fo that the whole number of our own MSS, thus far collated, amounts to One Hun bred. Of thefe 1 5 MSS, 2 belong to The Mafter and Fellows of St John's Col lege, in Cambridge ; 1 to the Rev. Dr Barton, War den of Merton College ; and 1 to the Rev. Mr Price, the Bodley Librarian : and for the ufe of thefe 4 MSS, I defire thefe Gentlemen to accept my public thanks. Another of thefe MSS was pre sented to me by the Rev. Dr Hunt, our celebrated Hebrew Profeffor ; whofe Favour to this Work, and its author, cannot be fufficiently acknowledged. But what has added fuperior luftre to the Work, in the prefent year, is a MS, which I have lately had the honour to purchafe for the Royal Library, by the command of HIS MAJESTY, the Supreme and Munificent Patron of this Work. This curious MS, which contains the whole He brew Bible, has alfo been collated ; and it has one pre - eminence above every other MS I have feen — that it belonged, not only to a Synagogue ( tho' even that circumftance would have been im portant, as it contains a multitude of Variations ) but to a. Synagogue in Jerusale m itfelf. For a very celebrated Rabbi, who was born in Spain in 126 Account IX. in 1 194, built a Synagogue at Jerufalem ; and in this Synagogue, ( which was built about 500 years fince ) was this MS ( which was written about 400 years fince ) preferved with the utmoft veneration, till Jerufalem was taken by the Emperor Selim in 1 51 7. The MS was then feized by a Turkifh Officer, who carried it to Aleppo; where, in 1683, it came into the hands of the celebrated D'Arvieux: and it was afterwards purchafed by an Englifh Gentleman, who brought it home to enrich his own country. In this MS the Pfalms, Job, and Proverbs, are written in Hemiftics ; as the Hebrew Poetry certainly fhould be. And, tho' it has fuffered by rafures, it has (till many various Readings, and feveral of confequence : in particular, it has Two Verfes in one place, which are clearly genuine, tho' the Mafora has pronounced them fpurious. In the laft Annual Account it was mentioned, that 129 Tranfcript s were then depofited in the Bodleian ; and this number is now made 143, by 14 other Tranfcripts, added lately : for which the Principal Librarian has given his Receipt, as ufual. As to Foreign MSS, I fhall firft mention.thofe, which' are preferved in the Royal Library at Copen hagen : of which MSS 8 have been collated, and the collations of them received, as mentioned in the account of laft year. And here I acknowledge, with the warmeft gratitude, the Honour of a Pro- mife from His Majefty The King of Denmark, (at the recommendation of my Friend His ExceL- Year 1768. 127 lency The Count de Bernftorff) that not only thefe 8 MSS, but alfo every other in the Royal Library, containing any part of the Hebrew Bible, fhall be fent to England, for my own perfonal inflection. To the collation of 7 MSS, before received from the Ambrofian Library at Milan, are to be now added 5 more ; finifhed by the care of Henrico A Porta, the celebrated Profeffor of the Oriental Languages at Pavia ; and the learned Dr Baptifta Branca, the Ambrofian Librarian : which Colla tions were very obligingly brought to England lately by Mr Stewart, at the requeft of His Ex cellency Sir Horatio Mann, His Majefty's Refident at Florence. Thro' the care of William Norton Efq; His Ma jefty's Minifter at Berne, I have lately received, from the celebrated Profeflbr Breitinger, the colla tion of a valuable MS of the Hebrew Bible pre ferved at Zuric. From Berlin I have this year received a collation of the third part of that MS, which is the moft confiderable in the Royal Library of His Majefty The King of Prussia. And there being at Brieg in Silefia an Hebrew MS, reprefented by Wolfius, as having very many Variations ; I have engaged for a Complete collation of it. I have lately been favoured with a Letter from M. Obelin, Public Librarian at Strafburg; who has, in *2& Account IX. in a very obliging manner, offered to fend me the Variations of the MSS preferved in that valuable^ Library : of which MSS he has given me a very particular account, together with a curious fpecimen of their various readings. The other Libraries at Strafburg are now under examination, as to their Hebrew MSS, by my worthy friend Mr Lobftein ; in confequence of Letters recommendatory from' The Lord Arch-Bishop, of Paris: and I am fignally obliged to His Grace for frefh affurances- of His Zeal for this Work, exprefled in a Letter which I have not long fince had the Honour to' receive from Him. As it has been repeatedly proved, that the MSS' at Erfurt, which were made ufe of for Michaelis's , edition of the Hebrew Bible at Hall, in 1720, contain Variations much more numerous and im portant than are inferted in that edition ; I have' lately defired, that a new and compleat collation may be made of the oldeft and beft of thefe MSS. While thefe feveral collations are making for this Work, with other collations not before-mentioned ; particularly at Nuremberg by Profeffor Nagel, at the Expence of the Illuftrious C. C. Kress de Kreffenftein, and the Illuftrious P. C. We lserA Neunhof; and at Paris, by the free fervices of my; very learned Friend Monf. If Abbe Affeline, Dr and Profeffor of the Sorbonne ; and while every other attempt in my power has been made, towards en riching • y E A R 176.?, 329 riching this Work from the various Countries of Europe : other parts of the World ( how great foever the difficulties of enquiry there, and how ever unpromifing the profpect ) have not been unattended to. My Friend General Melvill, whom I had re fuelled to. examine in America, has lately •jflured me, that, after many enquiries, he could hear of no Hebrew MSS there, but what were very modern. Africa has largely contributed to wards the prefent Work ; particularly, by the MSS purchafed in Cairo at the command of His Majefty The late King of Denmark. . .At Conftantinople a curious MS was purchafed, and has been kindly prefented to me, by His Excellency Sir James Porter. And if we pafs from thence into As iX ; there even Jerufalem itfelf has furnifhed a compleat MS, which has been already celebrated, and be longs now to The Royal Library in Great Britain. Much has been reported, concerning Hebrew MSS preferved in China; particularly, at Cai-fong- fu... And as the leaft poflibility of procuring fome- thing, , either MS itfelf, or Collation of a MS, from that very diftant part of the Globe, was fufficient to engage my earned attention ; I have been lately enabled to fend thither a Commiffion, either for purchafing a MS, or procuring fome Cpljatiqn : for which latter pi^rpofe I have alfo fent p Canton a printed Hebrew Bible. And for the R , oppor- 130 Account IX. opportunity of making this attempt I am exceed ingly obliged to Frederick Pigou, Efqj whom I de- fire to accept my public acknowledgments for his very benevolent affiftance. 1 fhall clofe this Annual Account with one arti cle of intelligence ; which I have referved for the laft, becaufe it is the moft important. The very firft edition of the Hebrew Bible, printed in 1488, and fortunately purchafed by my Friend Mr Sanford ( as mentioned in the laft Annual Account ) has been now compleatly collated with the edition of Van. Hooght, in 1705 ; and the Variations between thefe editions ( the former printed more agreeably to the oldeft and beft MSS, and the latter to the lateft and word ) have been carefully computed. And now, to the great Surprize of the Learned through Europe — of thofe, who acknowledged fome differences and corruptions in the printed copies — as wellwas of thofe, who infifted on their abfolute agreement and integrity — I fay, to the Surprize of the Learned univerfally, I acquaint them, that the Words, which here vary either in the Whole or in fome Part, amount to above TWELVE THOUSAND! Now from this Difcovery arife the following very interefting Queftions. How arc we to determine between thefe 2. Editions, in thefe 12000 in ftances ? Are we, without any reafon, to prefer either Edition univerfally j or to prefer fome times the Year 1768. 131 the one, fometimes the other ? If neither, without a reafon ; what reafon can there be fo good, as The Concurrence of MSS ? And if the Authority of MSS ( together with that of the antient Verfions, Context &c.) is to determine ; does not this de monftrate — I will not fay, the great Expediency, but — the abfolute necessity of collating fuch MSS, that fo the Learned may judge, the more fafely, between thefe printed Editions of a Book, which is of fuch vaft Importance ? If, then, the necessity of this Work be certain ; how grateful ought the Public to be, and Pofterity will be for ages to come, to all those, who have patronized a Work fo very beneficial to Mankind ! If the Work, thus in every year confirmed by more and ftronger Authorities, and thus fupported with ertcreafing Zeal by the Generofity of the Pub lic, fhall be publifhed by the perfon, who has thus far conducted it ; if he fhall live to introduce to the World the refult of all thefe Sacred Enquiries : the grateful Dedication of his Work to All Its Patrons will form a very pleafing part of his Duty, in that Publication. At prefent; the whole in his power is, to publifh annually, with his warmed Thanks, the Names of The Subscribers: and the Catalogue of Them for this Year is given, as ufual, after the following Certificate. R 2 J32 Account IX. THE CERTIFICATE. TH E Delegates of the Prefs, in the Univerfity of Oxford, having in January 1760 fubfcribed to Dr Kennicott's Collation of the Hebrew MS"S ; and having inferted in an Order then made the following-words [ Thai their Subfcription be' continued at the beginning of ' etery Tear, upon Dr Kennicott's producing a Certificate from the Royal Profeffor of Hebrew, that in his Judgment Dr Kennicott hath made a competent Progrefs in the faid Work during the Year preceding ; ] and the faid Delegates, as Well as the Uni- vefity of Cambridge, having in the beginning of the prefent Year again renewed their "Subfcription to this Work on condition of a Certificate from me, as before-mentioned ; and Dr Kennicott having applied to me for fuch a Cer tificate: I do hereby accordingly Certify, for the Satis faction of both thefe Univerfities, and of fuch Perfons as have encouraged this Work by their Subfcriptions, that the feveral Parts of the Collation, made during this Ninth Year, have been laid before me ; and my Opinion is, that Dr Kennicott hath made a very Competent Progrefs in the faid Collation. Upon confidering feveral of the Various Readings, which he has already difc6vered in the Hebrew MSS ; I think this Work will be of very confi derable Service to Sacred Literature. And as the Work appears to be of greater and greater confequence, in proportion as more MSS are collated ; I cannot but take this opportunity of congratulating the Patrons 6f it, on its being now fo far advanced, and brought fo near to 2 Conclufion. THO. HUNT, Chrift -Church % Uecemb. 30, 1 76 and pleafantly remark the wonderful ExaClnefs of that Calculation, which required juflj fo much time merely for the MSS, or rather for a part of them; and yet could find room alfo for fuch very large Additions : I would fuggeft to fuch remarker — that my Expedition did in part depend on the Number of my Afliftants — that as the Work increafed, fo did the Subfcription to it — and therefore, being enabled to employ more Af- fiftants, I chofe to do fo ; in order, that not one fingle Year's Subfcription fhould be occafioned by the Collation^ beyond what was computed ori-* ginally. The very numerous and interefting Variations.; in. fo many printed Editions, efpecially , the oldeft, as it was a kind of, evidence totally unexpected, fo ; was it the more welcome, foE^tppearing when a Collation of the MSS. was far advanced. The Work; had before, while reding on the many differences, in the MSS, been recommended only on the point Year 1769* 141 of Ex pediencyj but, when fupported alfo by the many differences in the printed copies, was, as it demanded to be, urged andprefled more ftrongly;, as a matter of Necessity'. And indeed thofe, who have marked with careful attention the rife and progrefs of this Work, muft have feen with perhaps fingular furprize — how; new light and frefh evidence have arifen, in the feveral ftages of it ! As if certain parts of the compleat Difcovery had been referved, occafionally to anfwer thefe two purpofes ; to re-invigorate the Mind, when almoft finking under the labours of enquiry : and to in- fpire the Patrons of the Work (as it did the far greater part of them ) with fuch an increafing con viction of it's moment, that, fo far from being' w,eary with twell- doing, they feemed to contribute with the more zeal, the longer they contributed. It may here be ufeful, and not unentertaining, to bring together the feveral points in queftion, relative to this Work ; with a Confutation of each Objection, made to it: as fuch a Juxta-poJition will render the whole Matter much more clear, and carry with it more full Conviction. Cafe the First. About 20 years fince I at tempted a correction of fome errors in the printed Hebrew Text* by comparing 2 parallel Chapters 5 itt, doing which, the only helps, befides the great advantages of that Parallelifm, were the Context and the Antiem 'Verfions, But here it was eafy to object, 142 - Account X. object, that a fcheme of. correction, formed upon thefe principles, would have been much more fatisfaClory, had there been any Hebrew MSS, which confirmed any of thefe emendations. The force of this objection is granted; and it was actually forefeen. MSS there fore were fought after, and found ; by which fe veral of thefe corrections, before made, were ac tually confirmed. Objection 2. But, how could the Antient Ver fions fupport any alteration of the Hebrew Text ? — when they are bad Paraphrafes rather than good Ver fions : becaufe none of their numerous and great diffe rences from our Hebrew Text are at all countenanced by Hebrew MSS. Thus had men long affirmed, without the lead proof; indeed, in a matter totally unexamined : and in defiance of the dronged proofs to the contrary, at that very time extant in the MSS themfelves. For in thofe MSS, which I at fird difcovered, I foon met with feveral readings, entirely different from the printed Hebrew copies ; and exactly agreeing with the Greek, Syriac, and other Antient Verfions. 3. But, as the MSS, thus difcovered, were not many ; perhaps thefe would have been contradicted, or invalidated, by other MSS in England, or by MSS in Foreign countries. The very contrary was expected, ' as the refult of further enquiry. Further enquiry was made, and other MSS were found at home ; and upon enquiries alfo abroad, many MSS were found Year 1769. 143 found there likewife : almod every one of them proving the Fallibility of its Tranfcriber, and many of them confirming dill more amply the authority of the Antient Verfions. 4. But, whatever be the condition of thefe MSS ; yet are they, when taken all together, but very few, compared and to what probably will be received farther "vill 1 242 10 o amounts to . 1004 6 o Nine Years 81 13 1 6 Tenth Year 1004 6 o Total £ 9117 7 6 Reader ! What a Sum is here ! Let Foreign Nations read, with aftonifhment, this ftory of Britons and Their King; joined by One Foreign Prince and One Foreign Academy : voluntarily con tributing, for Ten Years, their feveral Bounties, with a degree of Public Spirit beyond all Exam ple, for the Accomplifhment of a Work purely fubfervient to The Honour of Revelation ; a Work, facred to The Glory of GOD and The Good of Mankind ! And under the powerful influence of this view of my Work, it is impoffible for me to be fufficiently thankful either to Tho s e, who have honoured with their Patronage me, as the humble Indrument in beginning and corn- pleating it — or to D ivi n e Pro vi de nce, for granting me Life to finifh it, as well as Relblution to undertake it. X 2 But ij$ Account X. But — I hear the Whifper of Detraction ; re- prefenting all this, as an empty parade of words : and intimating what a comfortable thing a Truft of Nine Thoufand Pounds muft be, in the hands of any man, who had in a great meafure the fecret Difpofal of it. Intimations of this nature are not new ; they have long attended the profperous State of my Subfcription. But His late Grace of Can terbury, and fome other of my Principal Patrons, after perufing ( about three years fince ) fome ac count of the Subfcription, of the Expence attend ing the Work, and of the Emolument of it to myfelf, agreed in exprefling their higheft Satisfac tion ; and indeed wondered at the Difintereftednefts, with which I had managed fo ample a Subfcription. I do not mean, however, to offer merely an ap peal to His Grace, now dead ; or to fome of the Higheft Perfons in the Church, now living, who knew His Grace's fentiments, and honoured me with their own, upon that occafion. I would wil lingly declare to every Subfcriber every thing he would be glad to know, as to every part of my conduct, in this great Affair — fo far, I mean, as is poflible. But, a particular detail of all the va rious articles of Expence, in fo very involved and fo very perplexing a Tranfaction, cannot be ex pected ; and, if expected, cannot be granted to others, becaufe 1 have it not myfelf. And yet, that this may not be conftrued into a fubterfuge ; I will Year 1769. 173 I will do, what perhaps few of my Subfcribers look for, and what mod of Them will be furprifed and concerned at. I will now endeavour to furnifh out fome general notion, concerning my Management; which notion, though general, will perhaps enable every Reader to edimate — What a great Fortune I have made from my Subfcription ! There is one point, in which all men will agree at once ; and it is this — that / ought, at leaft, to have lived upon my Subfcription. From this fingle and fimple principle, fuppofed to be univerfally granted, it follows — that I ought to have laid by, unfpent, whatever Income I had, ex- clufive of this Subfcription. But the other articles of my Income, during thefe Ten Years, added to fome Money ( clear of Debt ) antecedent to this Undertaking, amount to the whole Sum I am now poffeffed of — excepting about 500 £. Confequently ; indead of near 5000 £ — which, in the opinion of fome of my Chief Patrons, ought to have been referved to myfelf — and which, if I had meant to be my own Pay-Mader, and not confulted the Honour of my Work, I might have fecured — I find myfelf poffeffed of about 500 £ in virtue of This Subfcription : after Ten Tears fpent in recommending fuch a Work to others, and another Ten Tears fpent by myfelf in the execution of it. The 174 Account X. The Reader will probably be furprifed, at find ing that 500 /. is the utmod I poffefs, as arifing out of this Subfcription. And perhaps he will be fur prifed, dill more, at the following notices — that in this Sum is included the whole confequence of this Year's Subfcription, and therefore of the whole Subfcription — but, that even this Sum, fo refer- ved, is only referved at prefent, and by no means referved for myfelf ; becaufe it is already devoted to the further Expences of my Work : and the further Expences, already engaged for, are thefe. 1. For the Collations of 4 MSS, and a large part of a 5th, not yet received, nor paid for ; the fird, at Brieg, in Silefia ; the fecond, at Cologne ; the third, at Erfurt ; the fourth, at Milan ; and the fifth, at Berlin. See pages 159 and 160. 2. Poflibly, for purchafing MSS in Afia ; at Naploufe and Ho -nan. See page 162. 3. Probably, for employing perfons, to collate the MS, which may reafonably be expected from America. See page 161. 4. Certainly, for employing perfons, to tranf- cribe the remainder of the feveral Collations made lately. 5. And laftly, for the Examinations to be made of MSS, throughout Europe ; which may take up near Two Tears time. Now Year 1769. 175 Now if this 5th and lad particular fhall, as per haps it will, require the Sum of 500 /; if this one article only (hall require this fmall remainder of the Subfcription : how are to be difcharged the Expences of the other 4 article's ? It is not impofllble, but fome of my Readers may demand an Anfwer; and perhaps expect me to fay, Whether I will difcover my own folly, (till further, by laying out upon my Work part of my private Income, as well as the Subfcription ? The reply is, that / cannot now help it : and indeed, even the Sum of 200 £, which may be neceffary for the 4 other articles of Expence before fpecified, is by no means the largeft Donation, made to my Work, out of my private Income. But, I will fpecify no further ; at leaft, thus publickly. Nor would I have inferted here the moft diftant allufion to the preceding circumftan- ces ; had not the fuppofed Gain from my Work been fo very often, and fo very ftudioufly, magni fied. And a man muft have much lefs Spirit, than the conductor of this Work has (till left ; who would not fignify his Contempt of fuch Mifrepre- fentation, at the time when it was become his in- difpenfable duty to undeceive his Principal Patrons. In fhort : as to the fum of 200 £, juft before mentioned ; the difcharge of that Ex- pence will be the more eafy to me, on account of the Legacy of 200 £, mentioned in page 123. This Legacy, the Executor has obligingly affured me 176 Account X. me, (hall be paid, as devifed ; that is, upon my finifhing the Collation, which I had undertaken. And from this circumftance it appears, that the idea of the Lady, my Patroness, in this generous Bequeft, was not — Her affifting to defray the Expence of my Work, but — Her contributing to the Reward for completing it. I fhall now conclude this long Account of the Work, and of my own Conduct in it, with the Name of every Perfon ( whom I am at liberty to name ) that has at all fubfcribed towards it. And I fhall only add — that, whenever this Collation fhall be publifhed, for the common Advantage of all Europe ; and when, in confequence of this Colla tion, there fhall be, for our own particular Benefit, a Revifal of our Englifto Tranftation ; when The Holy Scripture fhall be hereby rendered more in telligible and more inftructive to thofe, who believe its Divine Authority, as well as more confiftent and more convincing to thofe, who doubt or difbelieve : then will every juft Encomium be gratefully be llowed on THE ROYAL, The Illustrious, and The Learned, who have patronized this Work ; and whofe Names will not only be prefixed to this Work hereafter, but alfo are at prefent collected together, and adorn the following Catalogue. PATRONS. THE KING. His Moft Serene Highnefs The PRINCE of ORANGE. The Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin. The Theodore -Palatine Academy at Mannheim. PATRONS. 179 Affleck, Rev. Mr Aguilar, Honourable Baron Allen ( late ) Ralph, Efq; All Souls College Amyatt, James, Efq; Andrew, Rev. Dr, Preb. Rochefter AJhton, Rev. Dr, Fell. Eton College Atherton, Rev. Mr Atwell ( late ) Rev. Dr, Preb. Gloucefter Avery ( late ) Dr Benjamin Aylmer, Hon. and Rev. Mr, Preb. Briftol JBarford, Rev. Mr Barker, Thomas, Efq; Barnard, Rev. Dr, Provoft Eton College Barrington, Hon. and Rt Rev. Lord Bp Landaff Bafket, Thomas, Efq; Bate, Rev. Mr Chambers Bate, Rev. Mr James, Deptford Bath ( late ) Right Honourable, Earl Bearcroft ( late ) Rev. Dr Bell, Rev. Dr, Preb. Weftminfter Benfon (late) Rev. Dr Bentham, Rev, Dr, Reg. Prof. Divinity, Oxford Blacket, Rev. Dr Blackftene, William, Efq; Y 2 Bland 180 PAT R O NS. Bland ( late ) Rev. Dr, Preb. Durham Bolton ( late ) Rev. Dr, Dean Carlifle Bouchery, Rev. Mr Brafen-Nofe College Briftol, Dean and Chapter Bryant, Jacob, Efq; Burrow, James, Efq; Burton, Rev. Dr Daniel, Chancellor Oxford Burton ( late ) Rev. Dr Thomas, Preb. Durham Bute, Right Honourable, Earl Butler, Rev. Dr C/ampbell, John, Efq; Canterbury, Dean and Chapter Chamberlayne, Rev. Mr Chambers, Rev. Dr Chandler ( late ) Rev. Dr Samuel Channing, Mr John Chapman, Rev. Dr John Chenevix, Right Rev. Lord Bifhop Waterford Cholwich, Rev. Dr, Preb. Exeter Clark, Mr William Collet, Dr Conant, Rev. Mr Cornwallis, His Grace, Lord Arch-Bp Canterbury Corpus - Chrifti College Cowper, PATRONS. 181 Cowper, Hon. and Rev. Dr, Dean Durham Cox, His Grace, Lord Arch-Bifhop Cafhell Cracherode, Rev. Mr Craufurd ( late ) Honourable General Cuft, Right Honourable Sir John, Speaker H. C. Cuft, Rev. Dr, Canon Chrift- Church Cuft, Peregrine, Efq; J_)a Cofta ( late ) . Solomon, Efq-, Daddo ( late ) Rev. Mr Darner, Honourable John, Efq; Delm'e, Peter, Efq; Delme, John, Efq; Devonfhire ( late ) His Grace, Duke ' Dickens, Rev. Archdeacon, D. D. Dodfton, Michael, Efq; Danville, Rev. Dr, Dublin Douglas, Rev. Dr James, Preb. Durham Douglas, Rev. Dr John, Can. Windfor Drummond, His Grace, Lord Arch - Bifhop York Duane, Matthew, Efq; Durell, Rev. Dr, Principal Hertford College Durell ( late ) Rev. Mr Durham, Dean and Chapter Edwards, ife PATRONS. Edwards, Rev. Dr, Coventry Egerton, Right Rev. Ld Bp Litchfield & Coventry Ellis ( late ) Right Rev. Lord Bifhop St David's Eton College Exeter, Right Honourable, Earl Exeter, Dean and Chapter Exeter College Eyre, Rev. Dr Jfanfhaw ( late ) Rev. Dr, Reg. Prof. Div. Oxford Farmer, Rev. Mr Flower, Freeman, Efq; Fordyce, Rev. Dr Fothergill, Rev. Dr, Provoft Queen's College Freind ( late ) Rev. Dr, Dean Canterbury Fuller, Richard, Efq; Furneaux, Rev. Dr (jrabriel, Rev. Dr Gadfden, Chr. Efq; Charles -Town, South Carolina Garnet, Right Rev. Lord Bifhop Clogher Gawfell ( late ) Rev. Mr Geach, Mr Francis Gibbons, Rev. Dr Gifford, Rev. Dr Gilbert ( late ) His Grace, Lord Arch-Bp York Gill, PATRONS. i8s Gill, Rev. Dr Gloucefter, Dean and Chapter Golding ( late ) Rev. Dr, Warden Winchefter Gould, Rev. Mr, Clare -Hall Granville ( late ) Right Honourable, Earl Gray, Charles, Efq; Green, Right Rev. Lord Bifhop Lincoln Greet, Rev. Mr Gregory ( late ) Rev. Dr, Dean Chrift -Church Grenville, Right Honourable George < Jtlallifax, Right Honourable Earl Hanbury ( late ) William, Efq; Hardwicke (late) Right Honourable Earl Hardwicke, Right Honourable Earl Harris, Rev. Mr Hawkins, John, Efq; Hayter ( late ) Right Rev. Lord Bifhop London Heberden, Dr William Henley ( late ) Rev. Mr Heffe, John Adam Frederick, Efq; Hetherington, Rev. Mr, Fellow Eton Hill, Rev. Dr, Treafurer Armagh Hoadly ( late ) Right Rev. Lord Bifhop Winchefter Hoadly, Rev. Dr, Chancellor Winchefter Hoby ( late ) Rev. Sir Philip, Dean Ardfert Hodge, 1 84 PATRONS. Hodge ( late ) Rev. Dr Hoghton, Sir Henry, Bart Home, Right Honourable and Rev. Earl Honywood ( late ) Frafer, Efq; Howard, John, Efq; Hume, Right Rev. Lord Bifhop Salifbury Hunt, Rev. Dr, Regius Profeflbr Hebrew, Oxford Hunt, Henry, Efq; Tipperary Hunter, Dr William Hutchinfon, Francis, Efq; Dublin Jane, Rev. Mr Jofeph Jenkinfon, Charles, Efq; Jennings ( late ) Rev. Dr Jefus College, Oxford Innys, John, Efq; Johnfon, Right Rev. Lord Bi(hop Worcefter Jones, Mrs Mary Jubb, Rev. Dr JCaye, Rev. Mr, Sub -Almoner Keene, Right Rev. Lord Bifhop Chefter Kings College Kippis, Rev. Dr Kynafton, Thomas, Efq; Lambe •Patron s. 185 Lambe ( late ) James, Efqi Laugher ( late ) Rev. Mr Lawfon, Rev. Mr Z "9 — I21- Forfayethf Profeflbr,- Dublin ; pag. 1 ^S- Gauflen, Mr^ Geneva ; pag. 49. Geneva; pag. 47. Genovefe, Library, Faris; pag. 120; Germain des Pres ; pag.- 12O. Gill, Dr; pag. 114. Giorgi, Aug. Rome ; pag. 60, 74. Goettingen Diploma ; pag. 107. Goldhagen, Mr, Mentz ; pag. 90. Grafton, His Grace, Duke 5 pag;. 63. Gray, Sir James ; pag. 31. Greek MSS, New Teftament ; pag. 1 7, 67. Griffen, Mrs; pag. 123, 176. Hay, Hon. Ed w. Efq-, pag. 31. Hebrew Text corrupted ; pag. f, 1 y. Heinius, Mr, Berlin ; pag. 52. , Hertford, Earl ; pag. 8'o> Heffe, Landgrave ; pag. gy. Hillefheim, Dr, Cologne ; pag. 87, 160. Hooke, Abbe, Sorbonne j pag. c/6, 1 18. Houbigant, Fere; Orator. Paris'; pag. 5-y. . Hunt, Dr; pag. 7, 8, 23, 33, 109, 125, 132, 136. < • .'. Jablonfki's I N E E X. m Jablenfki's Hebrew papers ; pag. 52. Integrity, printed Heb. Bible ; pag. 7, gg, 134. Jubb, Dr; pag. 162. Kail, Profeflbr, Copenhagen j pag. 84, 115. King, Gr. Britain ; pag. 24, 78, ge,, 1 1 1, 1 25, 147. - r Denmark j pag. yq, 76,96, 115, 126, 153. - - France ; pag. 89, g6. - - Sardinia j pag. 29, 50, 62. Krefs, Illuft, pag. 117, 128. Kufter; pag. 67, 165. Ladvocat, Abbe ; pag. 31,52, 65, 89, 1 1 7, 1 1 8. Landolt, Mr, Zuric ; pag. 75. Le Blond, Abbe, Caen-, pag. 97, 118. Letters from Albani, Cardinal ; pag. 88. - - - - Bernftorff, Count; pag. 71, 83, 154, - - - - Chais, Mr ; pag. 150. - - - - Nivernois, Duke de ; pag. 89. - - - - Seeker, Arch-Bifhop; pag. 9, 10. Lilienthal, Profeflbr, Koenigfberg; pag. 155. Lind, Mr ; pag. 66. Lobftein, Mr, Stralburg; pag. 121, 128. Lowth, Bifhop ; pag. 7. Luther's Heb. Bible ; pag. 85, 101, 115. Lyttelton, Bifhop ; pag. y6. Mann, Sir Hor. pag. 29, 50, 63, 73, 97, 116, 127. Mannheim Academy, pag. yy, go, 117. , - - - Diploma; pag. ip8. MSS 5 2;oo J N D E X. MSS, Gr. N. Teft. pag. 17, 67,157. - - Heb. O. T. at home; pag. 8, 9, 10, .18, 19^ 25' 55* *35, i38> 157- ----- abroad; pag. 20,27,67, 142,157-. - - Oldeft, beft; pag. 17, 18, 22, 23, 101. . .. - '._" .confirm' N. Teft. pag. 18, 146. .-.•--.-.- - - - - Samar. Pent. pag. 22. . _ :..£¦ - -tc_ _ A. "Verfions; p. 18, 22, 142. c MSS Heb. Bib. referred to in the preceding pages. — Aberdeen, Univerfity ; pag. 26, 30. — Aleppo; pag. 76. — Angelica, Rome ; pag. 60, 61, 74. — Auld- bar, Scotland ; pag. 45. ' — Baden - Durlac ; „ pag. 90, g7, 116, — Barton, Oxford ; pag. 125. — Barberini, Rome ; pag. 60. — ~ Bayer, Toledo ^ pag. 30, 61. — Berlin ; pag. 52* 85,. 127,1 6q. — Berne; pag. 64, 75. — Bpdleian ; pag. 22, 27, 45. — Bojogna, Italy; pag. 49. — Brieg, Silefia'; pag. 127, 159. — Britifh Mufeum, London ; pag. 56, 70, 94, 1 10. — Cai - fong - fu, China ; pag. 129, — Cambridge ; pag. 45. — Carlfruhe, Baden - Durlac ; pag. 90, 97, 1 16. — Caffel ; pag. 65, 96, — Chalmers, Auld r bar ; pag. 45. — Cologne ; pag. 87,1 60. — Copenhagen ; pag. 71, 84,96, 114, 126, 153. -7- Corpus - Chrifti College; pag, m. MSS INDEX. 201 MSS Conftantinople ; pag'. 44. — Cotton Samar. MS ; pag. 56; — Drefdeh ; pag. 64, 1 60. — Dublin ; pag. 26, yg, 155, — Egypt; pag. 71. ¦ — England ; pag. 8* 18, 25^ 44* — Erfurt, Germany; pag. 86, 128* 145, 160* — Efcurial ; pag. 30, 49, 61, 62. — Florence ; pag. 28, 50, 63, 73, 87, 115. — - Hall, Seidel ; pag. 52, 64. — Hamburg; pag. 29, 51, 64. — Helmftadt ; pag. 52, 64. • — Ho- nan, China; pag. 162. — Hunt, Profeffor; pag. 125. ¦ — Jarchi, at Butzow, Mechlenburg ; pag. i^.6. — Jena; pag. 159. — Jerufalem ; pag. 125* 129^ 147* — Jefus College, Oxford ; pag. 70. — Kennicott ; pag. 44, 55, 58, yg,, 1 14, 1 25, — Koenigfberg ; pag. 1 55. — Leipfic ; pag. 1 60. — Lekkerkirk, Holland; pag. 58, 114. — Leyden ; pag. 58* 70, i6i. — Maronite,, Rome ; pag. 60. : — Meerman, Rotterdam ; pag. 30, 45. — Mentz ; pag. 90. — Milan; pag. 51, 63, 127, 160. — Minim Fathers, Paris; pag. 120. — Montague, London; pag. 26. — Mufeum, Britifh ; pag. 56^ 70, 94, no. ¦ — Naploufe; pag. 162. Bb MSS 202 INDEX. MSS New -York, America; pag. 161. — Nuremberg; pag. 116, 128, i$6, 159. — Oratory, Paris ; pag. 19, 96, 1 20. — Oriel College ; pag. 70. — Oxford ; pag. 26, 45. — Paris ; pag. 31, 52, 65, g6, 119, 159. Royal Library ; pag. 52, g6, 120. — Price, Mr, Oxford; pag. 125. — Reuchlin, Carlfruhe ; pag. 1 1 6. — Rotterdam ; pag, 30, 45. — Royal Library, London; pag. 125. — Royal Society, London ; pag. 79, 1 1 1 . — St Blafe, Library ; pag. gy. — St Genovefe, Paris ; pag. 1 20. — .St Germ, des Pres, Paris ; pag. 120. — St John's College, Cambridge; pag. 125. — St Victoire, Paris ; pag. 1 20. — Schultens, Profeflbr ; pag. 58, 70. — Seidel, Hall; pag. 52,64. — Simfon, New -York; pag. 161. — Sorbonne ; pag. 52, 1 20. — Spain ; pag. 30, 49, 61. — Strafburg; pag. 128, 159. — Trinity College, Dublin; pag. 26. — Turin ; pag. 29, 50, 62, 74. — Vatican; pag. 21, 27, 28, 60. — Vienna ; pag: 73, 86. — Ufher ; pag. 56. — Utrecht; pag. 91. — Wells, England ^ pag. 20,- 94. ¦ — Weftminfter ; pag. 2 6, — Zuric ; p "" p , 5 1 , 64;. 75, 97,12 7.. J N D E X. 203 Marefufci, Monfgr. pag. 60. Maronites College, Jlome j pag. 60. Martiru, Jlluft. pag. gy. Meerman, Penf. pag. 30. Melvill, General ; pag. 1 29. Mercier, Libr. S. Genov. pag. 113. Michaelis," Bible ; pag. 82, 86, 88, 145. Michaelis, Joh. Dav. pag. 6^ 86, gy, 146. Milan Senate ; pag. 73. Mill, Dr; pag. 6y,isy, 165. Minitri Fathers, Paris ; pag. 1 20. Mitchell, Sir And. pag. 115. Montfaucon ; pag. 1 60. Mordaunt, Rev. Mr ; pag. 55, yg. Morinus ; pag. 120, 121. Mount -Stuart, Lord Vifcount ; pag. 47. Murfinna, Profeflbr ; pag. 52, 64, 85, 160. Mufeum, Britifh ; pag. 56, 70, 94. Nagel ; pag. 1 1,6, 128,1 56, 1 $g, Newcome, Bifhop; pag. 155. Newton, Sir Ifaac ; pag. 57. Nivernois, Duke; pag. 52, 89, 1 19. Norton, Will. Efq; pag. gy, 127. Oberlin, Mr, Strafburg; pag. 127, 159: Olivera, Marquis ; pag. 73. Orange, H. S. H. Prince ; pag. 1 49. Oratory, Fathers; pag. 96, 120. Oxford Deleg. Prefs ; pag. 8, 10, 23, 27, 32, 136, Bb 2 204 INDEX. Palke, Governor; pag. 162. Paris, Vifit to it; pag. 119, 166; MSS, Heb. and Samar. pag. 119, Polyglott ; pag. 56. : - - - Arch-Bp; pag. 119, 128. ' - - - Library, Royal;- pag. 120, ._.-.. . Sorbonne; pag; 12 q. _ . _ _ Oratory; pag. 120. _ _ .. _ Genovefe.; pag. 120. .___-_ . Germ, des Pres ; pag* 120. T _ . . _ . . Vicftoite ; pag. 120/ - Minim; pag; 120. Pafini, Prof. Turin ; pag. 50, ys'. Paffionei, Cardinal.; pag. 21, 28, 46, 47, 60, 87. Pentateuch, Royal Library, London ; pag. g§. Pigou, Fred. Efq; pag. 130,162. Pluer, Mr ; pag. 75. Polyglott London ; pag. 56, 145. ----- Paris ; pag. 56, Porter, Sir James ; pag. 3 1, 44, i 29. Price, Libr. Bodl. pag. 125; Printed Hebrew Copies; pag. 98 — 106, m, 140, 143, 147, 148, Quotations, in New Teft. pag. 1 8, 57. Rafpe, Libr. Hanover ; pag; 65,0 Rau, Prof. Utrecht ; pag. 66. Rawlinfon, Walt. Efq; pag. 74, Reimarus, Prof. Hamburg ; pag. 29, 51, 64, Richardfon, INDEX. 205 Richardfon, Dr; pag. 114. Rochford, Earl ; pag. 62, ys, 119. Rome ; pag. 21, 46, 47, 60, 87, 88. St John's College, Camb. pag. in, 125. Sack, Mr, Berlin; pag. 52, 64, 85. Samar. MSS ; pag. 19, 56, 1 20, 145, 1 60 — 162. Pentateuch; pag. 19, 22,56 — 58,144,145. Sanford, Mr, Heb. Bible; pag. 112,130. Savoy, Duke ; pag. 29. Scheide, Mr ; pag. 65, g6. Schnurrer, Mr; pag. 159. Schultens, Prof. Leyden ; pag. 58, 70, 161. Schulze, Prof. Berlin ; pag. 52, 85, 101, 115. Schulze, Madam; pag. 115. Seeker, Arch-Bifhop ; pag. 8 — 10, 56, 122, 136. Semler, Prof. Hall; pag. 64,92. Simfon, Mr, America; pag. 161. Sinner, Libr. Berne ; pag. 64, ye,. Sorbonne Generofity ; pag. 66, 1 20. Spinelli, Cardinal ; pag. 21, 28, 49, 60, 61. Stanhope, Sir William ; pag. 98. Stewart, Mr; pag. 127. Stormont, Lord Vifcount; pag. 31, 74, 87. Subfcribers to the Collation ; pag. 1 77 — 192. Sullivan, Profeffor, Dublin ; pag. 79. Theoli, Domin. Rome ; pag. 74. Torregiani, Cardinal; pag. 49, 60. Tranfcripts depofited in the Bodleian- pag. 27, $5* 7°> 81, 82, g§, 113, 126, 138. Van 206 INDEX. Van der Hooght's Edition j pag. 36, 82, 83. Van. Swieten; pag. 73. Various Readings, in MSS ; pag. 22, 26, 135. --------- in Printed Copies ; pag. 82,85, 94, g5, 112, 130, 147. Vafquez, Xayier, Rome ; pag. 60. Vatican ; pag. 21, 27, 47, 88. Verngt, Prof. Geneva ; pag. 5 1 . Verfes in the Old Teftament ; pag. 35, 157. ------ New Teftament; pag. 157. Verfions, Antient; .pag. 18, 22, 25, 142, 146. Verfehuir, Prof. Fr^nequer; pag. 118. Vjcl&ire, Library, Paris ; pag. 120. jWaJton's, Polyglott ; .;pag. 56, 145. Welfer, Illuft. pag. 117, 128. Wetftein ; pag.68, 165. Woide, Mr ; pag. 102. Worfeley, Mr ; pag. 1 1 6. Yorke, Sir Jofeph ; pag. 90. 5K & * YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 9002 08844 6472 :> Of^. %:«:.;*"; ZT"^"1 ¦«« T \