general measures, based on averages, must prevail to a great extent. And this is not an evil resulting from the large number of pupils which most teachers have it-is good resulting from that cause. If it were practicable to educate all children as princes are educated, each by himself, it would not be well. They would turn out, probably, much such scholars as princes and princesses commonly are. The man is to spend his life as a part of the great system of the social community, and it is important that he should be accustomed to the workings of system in his early years. He should become used to general arrangements, planned for the general good, and which furnish frequent occasions upon which his own particular convenience must give way. In urging, therefore, the importance of studying the diversities of character, and adapting one's self to them, we must by no means imagine that the bonds of classification and system by which a school becomes one, are to be dissolved, and each pupil to be put under his own particular regimen. The teacher whose views incline her to this, only brings herself into endless mazes of perplexity.

Still a knowledge of these diversities will influence the administration of the school, and that in two ways,-in the formation of the general arrangements themselves, and also in the individual and personal intercourse which must exist, to a great degree, between the teacher and the several pupils, however complete the system may be.

ART. IV.

MEMOIR OF BARON SILVESTRE DE SACY." [Abridged for the Annals, from the Asiatic Journal for Oct. and Nov. 1835.}

ANTOINE ISAAC SILVESTRE DE SACY was born at Paris, 21st September, 1758. His father, Jacques Abraham Silvestre, exercised the honourable profession of a notary. M. de Sacy had two brothers; in conformity with a practice common among the citizens of the capital, the elder retained

*Notice Historique et Litéraire, sur M. le Baron Silvestre de Sacy, lue a la Seance Generale de la Societe Asiatique, le 25 Juin, 1838, par M. Reinaud, Membre de l'Institut, 'Eleve de M. de Sacy, et son Successeur dans la chaire d' Arabe, al' Ecole Special des, LL. Oo.

the name of Silvestre ; M. de Sacy, who was the second, received that of Silvestre de Sacy, while the third was named Silvestre de Chanteloup.

At the early age of seven, M. de Sacy had the misfortune to lose his father. His mother, a sensible and most affectionate woman, supplied to the utmost of her power this irreparable loss. M. de Sacy, after learning to read and write, was initiated into classical studies, which, from the delicate state of his health, were directed by a tutor under the maternal roof. His progress in these studies was very rapid, as appears from the perfect knowledge he acquired both of Latin and Greek literature; a knowledge, indeed, which would have sufficed to establish the reputation of a man who had not higher claims to celebrity.

From twelve years of age, M. de Sacy was in the habit, during his hours of recreation, of walking with his tutor in the garden of the Abbey of St Germain des-Pres. The Abbey was at that time occupied by the Benedictines of the congregation of St Maur, who devoted themselves especially to the cultivation of letters, and whose name recalls so many noble monuments in honor of religion and science. One of its inmates was Dom Berthereau, who was then engaged in preparing a collection of such Arabian historians as have written on the Crusades. M. de Sacy was already remarkable for that character of prudence and decision for which he has since been distinguished. Dom Berthereau conceived a kindness for him, and inspired him with a taste for oriental languages.

M. de Sacy having finished his classical studies, immediately entered upon that career, in which he was destined to enjoy so much renown. He began with the study of the Hebrew, in order to attain a more intimate knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures. His mother was a woman of great piety, and had educated her children in the principles of genuine religion. From Hebrew, M. de Sacy proceeded to Syriac, Chaldee, Samaritan, and thence to Arabic and Ethiopic. These six languages are of the same stock, and as the nations that spoke them are descendants of Shem, the son of Noah, they have received the general designation of Semitic. When one or two are acquired, there is less difficulty in mastering the rest. In Hebrew and Arabic, M. de Sacy took lessons of a very learned Jew, who happened to be then at

Paris. To increase his familiarity with Hebrew, he is said to have been in the practice of reading in the Hebrew original the prayers of the Church which are borrowed from the Old Testament.

To studies so difficult, M. de Sacy joined that of the Italian, Spanish, English and German languages. Time, which is so fugitive with the generality of men, was lengthened to him by the way of life he led. His mother, continuing a widow, and centering all her affections in her children, accustomed them not to quit her roof. M. de Sacy, by way of creating to himself a kind of social recreation, is said to have taught a canary to pronounce some Italian words.

Unfortunately he was not satisfied with devoting the day to study; his books were not laid aside during the night. This excessive ardor was well nigh being attended with the most fatal consequences. His health, which had never been robust, gave way; his stomach became deranged, and his sight was weakened. It became necessary to impose restraints upon himself, and thenceforth he gave up nocturnal studies; but he continued ever after to feel the effects of this shock.

It was impossible, however, that a man with such endowments as M. de Sacy's should long continue unknown to the learned world. At this period the originals of the Sacred Scriptures were submitted to a critical examination. Hebrew manuscripts were collated with one another; the Hebrew text was compared with the Greek of the Septuagint; and it was an object of inquiry whether such or such a version, whether Syriac or Chaldee had been made from the Greek or the Hebrew. Several periodical publications were devoted to these researches. As soon as an orientalist had discovered an important manuscript, he sent a notice of the volume to one of these publications, which immediately announced the fact to the learned world. The chief of these publications was the Repertorium, published at Leipsic, and conducted by the celebrated Eichhorn.* A German orien. talist, visiting Paris, had observed in a Syriac MS. in the Bibliotheque Royale, a Syriac version of the fourth book of Kings; the translation appeared to have been made from the

*The complete title is Repertorium fur Biblische und Morgenlandische Litteratur.

Greek version of the Septuagint by Origen. It became an object of importance to fix the character of this translation, not only on account of the various readings it might furnish, but as a means of ascertaining whether the Greek text of the edition of Origen now current, was exactly the same as that which existed when the Syriac version was made. Such an examination could be made only by a man thoroughly versed in oriental studies; M. de Sacy, then in his twentythird year, (1780) undertook the task. He committed to writing some notes on the subject, which he forwarded to Eichhorn, and these furnished the latter with materials for a notice of the manuscript.*

In 1783, M. de Sacy turned his attention to the Hebrew text of two letters, which had been addressed by the Samaritans, near the end of the sixteenth century, to Joseph Scaliger. The Samaritans are the remnants of the twelve tribes of Israel, who, after the death of Solomon, separated from the tribe of Judah, and formed a distinct state. They then formed several communities at Naplouse and elsewhere, and retaining the creed and precepts of Moscs, as exhibited in the Pentateuch, but rejecting all the books posterior to the time of Moses. Their rites and observances differ in several points from those of the Jews. Scaliger, at a period when the controversy between Catholics and Protestants was at its height, and when both parties sought among the different communities, Jewish as well as Christian, a confirmation of their respective creeds, conceived the idea of writing to the Samaritans of Naplouse, and those of Egypt, for a correct account of their religious rites, and for a copy of their sacred books. The Samaritans wrote in reply; but the answer did not arrive till after the death of Scaliger. M. de Sacy made a copy of the Hebrew text, which he accompanied with a Latin version and notes; and the whole was published by Eichhorn.†

Independently of his biblical studies, which he continued through the whole of his life, M. de Sacy had begun to consider the East in all its aspects, profane as well as sacred, in its geography, history, and various creeds. His acquaintance with Arabic was of material service to him in these re

* Vol. vii. of the Repertorium, p. 225, seq.

See the collection entitled Antiquitates Ecclesiae Orientalis.

searches. He soon added to his knowledge of Arabic, that of Turkish and Persian; two languages, which being foreign to the genius of the Semitic tongues, required new investigations on his part. M. de Sacy never carried the study of Turkish to any great extent; but to Arabic and Persian he did not intermit his application during the remainder of his life, and his knowledge of these two languages became in time unexampled in Europe. At the period when he commenced the study, the facilities which are now to be found -facilities which are, in a great measure, his own makingdid not exist. Reiske who had studied the Arabic language most deeply, had died several years previously without having been able to publish the work which did him the greatest honor. The Schultenses, father and son, who, for half a century, had shed such lustre on the University of Leyden, were also dead, and their successors were not in a condition to complete what they had begun. With regard to Persian, students were unprovided with correct texts to any considerable extent. Sir William Jones in England, and Baron Rewicsky in Germany, although they cultivated Persian literature, had not undertaken to supply this desideratum. M. de Sacy had recourse to persons who had resided long in the Levant.

But M. de Sacy was not entirely absorbed in literary pursuits. Even at this period as well as subsequently, he combined a capacity for public business with the cultivation of letters. In 1781, he was appointed to the office of counsellor to the mint.

(To be concluded in our next.)

ART. V.-CHANNING ON SELF-CULTURE.

SELF-CULTURE. An address introductory to the Franklin Lectures delivered at Boston, September, 1838. By William E. Channing, Boston: Dutton and Wentworth, Printers. pp. 81.

DR CHANNING has attained an enviable distinction in the

literary world. As a writer of moral and philosophical essays, we may safely say he has no living equal. As a proclaimer of eloquent and quickening thoughts, we know not the writer in this department in the whole range of English