THIS book was originally intended to be but a re-print of the English work, by Carpenter. His volume, however, was found to contain so much of Biblical criticism, and Classical learning, as to be adapted almost exclusively to the use of the Greek and Hebrew scholar.

It was therefore thought best to revise Carpenter; to omit hose classical discussions, and verbal criticisms, which although interesting and valuable to the orientalist, must, from their very nature, be of little service to common readers; and to bring the substance of the Scripture illustrations, found in his volume, within the reach of the readers of the English Bible.

Such a revision of Carpenter's volume, with alterations and additions, was but just accomplished and ready for the press, when the third London edition of his work came to hand, published under countenance of the Book Society for promoting Religious Knowledge,' in which the design above stated was fully pursued, and that too, with evidence of much judgment and good taste.

The very favorable and commendatory notices which his first editions had received from the Eclectic and Monthly Reviews, The Athenæum,' 'The Christian Remembrancer,' "The Home Missionary, The Baptist,' The Methodist,' The Congregational, The Evangelical,' and 'Imperial Magazines, and other publications, induced him to prepare an edition better calculated for popular use and general circula, tion.

'In doing this,' the author remarks in his preface, he has borne in mind a suggestion, put forth in a favorable critique upon the first impression, in the "Eclectic Review," and by divesting the work of some of the dryness and tedium of criticism, and making it less diffuse, he has sought to give it a more "popular," though not a less useful character. These alterations have enabled him, without omitting any thing of real value and utility, to bring the volume into a smaller compass, and a more attractive form.'

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But this, is not all; with an unkind and ungenerous insinuation in his preface, calculated to injure Dr. Harris, if not designed to prevent the circulation of his work, and of course, a comparison of the two, which might prove unpleasant to Mr. Carpenter, he announces to the world, that the utter destitution of evangelical sentiment in the volume,' from which he had gathered and gleaned, more than from all other works together, 'renders it unfit for general use.'

To despoil an author of the results of his literary labors, who with indefatigable zeal, and distinguished ability and success has been serving the cause of Science and Biblical Literature with his time, his talents, his labors and his money, for more than a quarter of a century, and then to brand him as a heretic, in order to conceal the robbery, does not appear to us as evincing much of the spirit or practice of piety.

Would that Mr. Carpenter, with all that he has borrowed from the work of Dr. Harris, had taken, also, a note appended to its ingenuous and unassuming preface:

'Est benignum, et plenum ingenui pudoris, fateri per quos profiteris.' Plin. Nat. Hist. Pref.

Justice at least should have been given to one who so early and ably led the way, in the study of the 'Natural History of the Bible.'

It argues little in favor of the purity or liberality of our principles, if we have no eye to discover nor heart to acknowledge the high Literary, Critical and Scientific merit of another, because, forsooth, his Theological opinions may be different from our own.

The circulation of Dr. Harris's work in Europe for many years (it having passed three editions in London) is a testimony to its value, not easily set aside. And we cannot but, hope, that he will favor the literary world, with another edition of his invaluable volume, with such additions and improvements as the lapse of a dozen years will have enabled him to make. And we are sure that Literary and Scientific men of every country, who alone are able to appreciate these labors, will award to him, the full measure of thanks, which he deserves. There is perhaps no living writer who has devoted so much attention to this particular subject, or has such a mass of materials at command.

Perhaps some may think, that the writer of this preface is a friend, or acquaintance of Dr. H., writing under his eye and perhaps at his suggestion, and therefore affects to feel so