red to go and end his days under the dominion of the Turks and among the ruins of Athens. Held by some powerful charm, he would die in the places sacred for him; like those priests of polytheism, who, when their idols were broken in pieces and their temples were destroyed, when the flame of the sanctuary was extinguished, could not be torn from the place where they had worshipped divinities which were no more. Without sharing in this blind worship of the soil of Greece, disfigured by slavery, Lascaris desired, nevertheless, to be nearer to his unhappy country. After having, at Florence, at Rome, and Mantua, fulfilled his noble mission; when he had seen a new generation spring up around him; when he was assured that the inestimable deposit which he had saved by his efforts was henceforth the property of the human race, in spite of the solicitations of the Republics and Princes of Italy he returned to Sicily. He preferred this country for his last asylum, because he should there be oftener in the receipt of news from Greece, and be better able to afford relief to such of his countrymen as might escape from the oppression of the Turks. Sicily was ignorant and wild; the useful arts were almost entirely neglected; science was unknown; and the use of paper very rare. Yet Lascaris, by his pres ence alone, founded here a school which soon became celebrated, and attracted scholars from all the cities of Italy, from the other countries of Europe, and even from the British isles. Here it was that this generous Greek, more than thirty years after the fall of Constantinople, still conversed of his sad recollections and his noble hopes, already nearly accomplished. During this long period, Europe had formed many projects for the deliverance of Greece. The pontiffs of Rome had demanded it, and kings had promised it; but nothing was * Bembo mentions in his letters, and in the dialogue on Mount Etna, before alluded to, his acquaintance with Constantine Lascaris, while he resided in Sicily. "Nihil illo sene humanius, nihil sanctius," says he. Such was the ascendency which these expatriated Greeks acquired over the first intellects of Italy. done. The death of Mahomet had freed Italy from terror, but left Greece in the fetters of Bajazet. Meanwhile the human mind was becoming enlightened; the arts were making rapid progress; and a new branch of industry, at first marvellous, was now almost universal. Lascaris received, from time to time, from Rome and Venice, the works whose precious originals he had brought to Italy, now reproduced by an art which secured them against all danger of destruction. One day, as he had just finished the interpretation of the passage of Plato, which recounts, under a half fabulous form, the old Egyptian traditions concerning the island Atlantis, he learned that a Genoese pilot had just discovered a new world; that other hemisphere, perhaps, which antiquity had known, or Plato had divined. Beautiful epoch of modern history! Fortunate age of the human mind, when the still young and artless spirit was fed, at once, with the sweets of science and the delights of discovery! Lascaris, the liveliness of whose imagination old age had not weakened, shed tears on learning this new conquest of the genius of man. During the last years of his life, he would often make this revolution the topic of conversation with his young pupils. He would recall all that had happened, of the great and the new, in Europe, for the past thirty years;letters flourishing, the genius of the ancients recovered, their thoughts interpreted and understood, and producing new thoughts;-in fine, the boundaries of the domain of man extended, as his mind became enlightened. Occupied with these sentiments, and still animated by that spirit of proselytism for the arts which had distinguished his youth, Lascaris, one day, a short time before his death, conducted the young foreigners to the place where, for the first time, he had debarked in his flight from Constantinople. Among the company were the successors of those generous Italians, whose aid he had then received. The most brilliant among them, and the most enthusiastic in his love for the arts of Greece, was the young Bembo, the son of a Venetian Senator, before whom Lascaris had once defended, on the same shore, the arts and sciences of Greece calumniated by her fall. The sage old man took pleasure in recalling those times, and in bringing before their minds those first interviews, as if certain of transmitting them to posterity by confiding them to "I must soon die," the memory and talent of his scholars. said he; "and I leave nothing of myself behind. But I have formed you to a love for the arts, and the noble sentiments which they inspire. After my death you will return to your respective countries; you will follow, in the career of art and genius, that movement which, commencing in Italy, will include entire Europe within the circle of its influence. What beautiful creations will you see spring forth! With what glory will you yourselves be associated! The human mind, quickened by the leaven of antiquity, is every where in a ferment. Our master Plato has said, that the souls of men, on coming into this life, recover by recollection all that they had known in another world, and that, for these to learn, is only to remember.* Thus the genius of antiquity is daily becoming the inspiration and, as it were, the thought of modern times. While you are playing a part in this revolution, and sharing in its glory, think of enslaved and unfortunate Greece. Remember the day when our fugitive vessel brought you the monuments of the ancient Hellenes. Will not Europe some day feel the debt of gratitude which she owes to our country? ? Will not the new world, but just arisen from the ocean, at some future day, instructed in our arts, of which at present she knows not the name, interest herself in our calamities, and send us her soldiers and her liberty? And must civilization take so large a circuit before reappearing upon the soil whence she has so often departed? Yes," continued Lascaris with a sort of prophetic warmth, "entire Europe will seek this glory, and at some future day the inspiration of our arts will raise up avengers for us among the inheritors of the genius of our fathers." The old man did not long survive this interview. His * Cicero, in his Essay De Senectute, records the same idea, but more fully. The whole section is in Cicero's best style, and, indeed, the entire Essay is not inferior to the best extant in any language.-TR. death was mourned throughout Sicily, to which he had given the idea of a milder civilization and a better life. His disciples, scattered through the cities of Europe, bore with them the recollection of his words, and that happy tradition of Greece which lived in him. For many years was to be seen, at Messina, in the church of the Carmelites, the monument of white marble which the citizens had erected in memory of Lascaris; but, afterwards neglected, it has perished without recovery. Indifference is more destructive than time; and, Lascaris, the saviour of the arts of Greece, to whom Europe owes so much, has left no traces of himself, save some recollections transmitted through his affectionate disciples, which we have endeavoured to collect. ARTICLE VII. THE IDIOMATIC USE OF CERTAIN HEBREW NOUNS IN CONSTRUCTION. By Rev. G. BosWORTH, Professor in the Baptist College, Montreal. It is well known that the Hebrews had but comparatively few adjectives, it having been regarded as more in accordance with the oriental style of thought to use nouns for this purpose. Many, therefore, of our qualifying words denoting a property, attribute, or habit, were expressed by an abstract noun or name of a thing, designating the attribute, preceded by some general name of a person as the subject. In this idiomatic use of certain nouns, they, when either followed by a concrete or abstract noun, were put in regimen. The difference of meaning, however, existing between such nouns has been too much overlooked. On this subject the Grammars and Lexicons in use are defective. The remarks in Gesenius' Gr., eleventh edition, § 104, 2, and in Roediger's revised edition, are extremely brief, and indeed unsatisfactory. Ewald (Gr. § 498) has but little more on the subject, though what he has is distinguished by the philosophical discrimina tion of this celebrated scholar. Nordheimer (Gr. 817) while he treats this idiomatic use of nouns at some length, fails to distinguish between their respective meanings. Nor does Hoffmann in his Grammatica Syriaca, or Winer in his Chaldee Grammar, in which languages the same idiom occurs, treat the subject more satisfactorily. The lexicons afford but little more information. It cannot then be considered useless or improper to investigate this subject, which has an intimate bearing not merely upon the interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures, but on that of the Septuagint and the New Testament. The nouns to which particular reference is made are the following: viz., 1, U'x (mex, D2); 2, bya (bya); 3, N (); and 4, 12 (ra). These differ materially from one another in the meaning which they convey in their idiomatic use, and are not by any means to be regarded as synonymous. They will be considered in their order. I. (). This is an indefinite, and ofttimes indeed abstract, expression for a person-a man generally-about whom something is to be stated indicative of quality, attribute, &c., without reference to its origin, or to its peculiar manner or degree of development. Thus means an eloquent man, without referring to the origin or degree of the eloquence, but merely stating a general fact. So also a אִישׁ תֹּאַר ,a warrior אִישׁ מִלְחָמָה,a wicked man אִישׁ בְּלִיַּעַל handsome man, and many other such expressions. The plural form also frequently occurs, as intelligent men, news warriors. This usage is also found in the Chaldee. Thus in the Targum of Onkelos we meet with bab. The usage of arg in the Septuagint is in some places (as avne dvráμews) nearly allied to that under consideration. Indeed so general is the use of in the connection and meaning above referred to, and so readily is it supplied, that it is sometimes omitted, as with a Ps. 109: 4, 5. Judg. 5: 30, nb Prov. 14: 1. The feminine woman. is similarly used, as be a capable |