extant, but some remains of the translation of the scriptures made in the fourth century by the Bishop Ulphilas. These fragments, moreover, with a single exception, existed but in one manuscript, called the Silver Manuscript, from the circumstance that the letters were plated.

This manuscript is so curious, that our readers will pardon us for dwelling a moment on it. It is estimated to be a thousand years at least old, and till the beginning of the seventeenth century was preserved in the abbey of Werden in Westphalia. By some unknown accident it was transferred to Prague, in Bohemia, in the course of the thirty years' war, when it fell into the hands of the Swedes among the rest of the plunder of that city, and was sent by them to Sweden. In the reign of Christina it found its way, it is not known by what means, into Holland. It is the opinion of some that it was presented by Christina to Isaac Vossius; while others think that this learned man packed it up with his baggage in returning from Sweden, probably in consideration that the manuscript was defective in that part which contained the translation of the eighth commandment. Be this as it will, it was bought in Holland by the Swedish chancellor, Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie, who presented it to the university of Upsal, where it still exists, and is justly reputed one of the most valuable fragments of ancient literature.

The fragments of the Gospels contained in the Silver Manuscript have been three or four times published. In the year 1758, F. A. Knittel discovered another fragment of the Gothic version of Ulphilas in the ducal library at Wolfenbüttel, and what deserves to be mentioned as a very singular coincidence with the discoveries of Mr. Maio, the fragment of Ulphilas found by Knittel in the library of Wolfenbüttel was also in a Codex Rescriptus. It had been originally written in the Gothic character, and with a parallel Latin version, but bad been effaced to make room for the Origines of Isidore Hispaliensis. This discovery was immediately announced by Knittel, in a program, and the fragments published two or three years afterwards. They consist merely of a few parts of chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, but furnish the groundwork of a clever quarto volume in the hands of Knittel.

See on this subject Michaelis Introduction, iii. 130 et seqq, and Rosenmüller Handbuch für die Literatur der biblischen Kritik und Exegese, iii. 158.

Such was the situation of things, in relation to our documents in the Gothic language, when Mr. Maio announced at Milan the splendid discovery of farther portions of this venerable version, by a notice in the journals in the month of September 1817, called avis concernant une nouvelle decouverte d'Ulphilas dans la bibliotheque ambrosienne. The work, of which we have placed the title at the head of our article, is a specimen of this discovery; and it appears from the apology, which Mr. Maio and his collaborator make for the possible imperfections of their work, that it was prepared in the space of two months,-a preparation of which a part was the learning of the Gothic language!

It appears from the notice of this specimen in the Göttingen Journal for March 1820, and which seems to be from the pen of Mr. Grimm of the library at Cassel, well known to those conversant in these studies, as one of the most successful cultivators of the ancient Teutonic dialects, that the portions of the version of Ulphilas retrieved by Maio were found scattered in five different manuscripts in the Ambrosian library. They are described as follows:

1. A quarto manuscript of 204 pages, containing the homilies of St. Gregory on Ezekiel. These homilies were apparently written in the eighth century, and the manuscript was prepared by effacing the Gothic version of considerable parts of Paul's Epistles.

2. A quarto manuscript of the eighth or ninth century, containing the Commentary of St. Jerome on Isaiah. This also was originally written with the Gothic version of some of the Pauline epistles.

S. Is a Latin manuscript, of which the original contents were portions of the Gothic Ezra and Nehemiah.

4. An old Latin manuscript of the Gospels, contains, on a single leaf, a fragment of the Gothic version of St. Matthew, and joining by a remarkable coindence to the fragments of the Silver Manuscript.'

5. A folio manuscript of the Acts of the Council of Chalcedony, contains ten re-written pages of some Gothic homilies of an unknown author, in which are quoted several passages of the gospels. It is said, in subsequent accounts, that since the Abbé Maio's removal from the Ambrosian library at Milan to the Vatican at Rome, he has discovered more of these Gothic homilies, and thus contributed still farther to

enlarging the stock of materials, for the study of the antiquities of the English language. It is to be regretted that so little of the Old Testament has as yet been retrieved.

The eyes of the learned world are on the researches which Mr. Maio is now making in the Vatican; and if their importance be to that of his dicoveries at Milan, in the proportion of the stores in these two libraries, we may almost hope to go behind the Alexandrian canon, and recover works not only now lost, but nearly so in the early centuries of the christian era.

Filmay cause

ART. XXII.—Inquiry into the Relation of Cause and Effect. By Thomas Brown, M. D. F. R. S. Edinburgh, &c. Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, Third edition. Edinburgh, 1818. 8vo, pp. 569.

A WHOLE article of solid metaphysics is a phenomenon, that perhaps requires apology, as well as explanation. We will therefore briefly submit our reasons for its appearance.

The philosophy of the late lamented Dr. Brown is scarcely known in this country. It was presumed that considerable interest would attach among us to the speculations of the successor of Dugald Stewart, whose own work on the Mind has passed, we believe, through as many editions in the United States as in Great Britain, and who is well known, on becoming emeritus, to have warmly recommended Dr. Brown to the chair of moral philosophy in the university of Edinburgh. But farther, there is a vague belief among those who are but partially acquainted with the nature of the late professor's speculations, that they coincided too nearly with the dangerous parts of the philosophy of David Hume. A faithful analysis of the work before us will correct this error, and redeem Dr. Brown's reputation. Still further, an unjust and indiscriminate censure has overwhelmed the whole system of Hume itself with relation to the doctrine of Cause and Effect. When Professor Leslie, in consequence of having expressed his approbation of certain portions of that system, encountered from the ministers of Edinburgh strong opposition to his pretensions as candidate for a chair in the univer sity, the nucleus of the present volume was published in a pamphlet form, and by distinguishing what was sound from New Series, No. 6.

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what was exceptionable in the opinion of Hume, contributed to soften the opposition made to the too honest candidate. The work, in its present very much enlarged state, confirms the points maintained in the pamphlet, and though we profess no love, and but qualified respect for Hume in his metaphysical capacity, we are willing to assist in removing every unfair stigma from every literary reputation. Besides these reasons, the subject itself, we should hope and presume, however abstruse, will not be deemed entirely devoid of interest and importance. Truth is worth looking after, even among the clouds. A bulky octavo is not written in vain, if it gives the world one clear idea, which it would not have otherwise had. The subject of this work, as the author truly remarks, involves the philosophy of every thing that exists in the uniHence it must have some practical bearings. Some portions of the treatise before us might be aptly denominated the philosophy of religion. Considerable light is thrown on our relations with the Deity; the idea of our dependence on him is somewhat simplified from that dark and confused mystery which hangs over it; and the clearer the idea, the deeper and better the impression it must make on the mind. The system under review provides also for the admission of the miraculous interference of the Deity, and therefore bespeaks the attention of the lovers of revelation; it admits of the doctrine of a particular providence, and must therefore be not unwelcome to the devout. In addition to these reasons, we considered that the race of lovers of pure old-fashioned metaphysical disquisition is far from being extinct. Edwards on the Will is still the principal rallying point of our orthodoxy, and Locke is a general classic among our colleges. The influence of their style and speculations will make us sure of some zealous readers. In the next place, this book is a book of great power. Those who read Montorio, Mandeville, Anastasius, Don Juan, for the intellectual energy they display, may here find intellectual energy enough, and not be

Is not a System of Metaphysics wanted for our colleges? Something like a history of opinions in that science, with or without the theories of the compiler. Would Locke obtain more than a respectable chapter in such a system? Brunck, Stewart in his Dissertations, and Degerando would furnish copious and valuable assistance in compiling it. The work of the latter is indeed an admirable specimen of what we recom

mend.

liable to the suspicion of seeking amusement from the narrative, or gratifying their corruption with the sentiments. Lastly, the improbability that the book will be ever published in this country, united with the high price of the English edition, induced us to present the ensuing careful abstract to those who may not have access to the original work; while those who have, may be glad of a thread to lead them through a book, which for the abstruseness of its topics, for refinement in its reasonings, for diffusive amplifications, for winding yet collateral digressions, for long and solemn preambles before the questions discussed are stated, thus creat-" ing the suspense of mind which is incident properly to forms of synthetical demonstration, has not many rivals; and yet has no titles to its chapters, no sketch-arguments, no table of contents, no indexes!

Part First of the Inquiry' treats of the Real Import of Cause and Effect.

A cause, Dr. Brown defines to be, that which immediately precedes any change, and which existing at any time in similar circumstances, has been always, and will be always, immediately followed by a similar change. The object of his Inquiry is to prove, that there is no hidden, mysterious, connecting link between those antecedents and consequents, which we call causes and effects, when we speak of the changes which happen in any part of the material or intellectual universe. The substances that exist in nature are every thing that has a real existence in nature. These substances have no powers, properties, nor qualities, separate from themselves,-words adopted by us only for the sake of convenience, and to express the changes which we observe to happen around us. A follows B, and B follows C. Now by all the effort which our minds can exert, we can form no idea of any thing in these sequences, but the substances A, B, and C, and the sequence itself. We may say, that fire has the power of melting metals, but all we mean, or all we know by it, is, that fire melts metals, which expresses only the two substances, fire and metal, and the change, called melting, which takes place between them. The above abstract terms are indeed of great use in assisting us to avoid circumlocution in our discourse; but we are apt to forget, (and Dr. Brown has pretty well forgotten) that they are mere abstractions, and to regard them as significant of some actual reality. The powers of a substance