e typographeio regio Parisiensi: that the University refused to accede to the proposal; and that, in consequence of the refusal, the negociation went off.

The first edition of Beza was printed in 1565; he principally follows in it the third edition of Robert Stephens. He printed other editions in 1576, 1582, 1589, 1598. They do not contain, every where, the same text. In his choice of readings he is accused of being influenced by his Calvinistic prejudices.

The celebrated edition of the Elzevirs was first printed at Leyden, in 1624. It was printed from the third edition of Robert Stephens: where it varies from that edition, it follows, generally, the edition of Beza. By this edition, the text, which had fluctuated in the preceding editions, acquired a consistency. It was generally followed in all the subsequent editions. It has deservedly, therefore, obtained the appella

tion of Editio recepta. The editors of it are unknown.

The celebrated edition of the Rev. John Mill was published at Oxford in 1707, after an assiduous labour of thirty years. He survived the publication of it only fourteen days. He inserted in his edition, all the collections of various readings, which had been made before his time; he collated several original editions; procured extracts from Greek manuscripts, which had never been collated; and, in many instances, added readings from the ancient versions, and from the quotations of them in the works of the ancient fathers. The whole of the various readings collected by him, are said, without any improbability, to amount to thirty thousand. He has enriched his work with most learned prolegomena, and a clear and accurate description of his manuscripts. He took the third edition of Stephens for his text. He shews

the highest reverence for the Vulgate, but thinks slightly of the Alexandrine manuscript. His work formed a new æra in Biblical criticism. It was reprinted by Ludolph Kuster, at Rotterdam, in 1710, with the readings of twelve additional manuscripts. While sacred criticism lasts, his learning, indefatigable industry, and modest candour, will be spoken of with the highest praise.

The edition of John Albert Bengel, Abbot of Alspirspack, in the dutchy of Wurtemberg, was published in 1734. He prefixed to it his "Introductio in Crisin Novi Testa"menti ;" and subjoined to it, his “Appa"ratus Criticus & Epilogus." He altered the text, where he thought it might be improved; but, except in the Apocalypse, he studiously avoided inserting in the text any reading, which was not in some printed edition. Under the text, he placed some select readings, reserving the whole collection of various readings, and his own sen

timents upon them, for his Apparatus Criticus. He expressed his opinion of these marginal readings by the Greek letters, a, e, y, d, and ɛ. a denotes, that he held the reading to be genuine; B, that he thought its genuineness was not absolutely certain, but that the reading appeared to him preferable to that in the text; y, that the reading in the margin was of equal value with the reading in the text; d, that the marginal reading seemed of less value; and, that he thought it absolutely spurious, though some critics defended it. Several small editions of Bengel's New Testament have been published in Germany. His " Gnomon," which is a collection of explanatory notes upon the New Testament, does not give a very high notion of his own intelligence of the sacred book.

All former editions of the Greek Testament were surpassed by that of John James Wetstein; of which, it is sufficient to mention, that Michaelis, his professed adversary,

and who loses no opportunity of speaking harshly of him, says, that it is, of all editions of the Greek Testament, the most important, and the most necessary to those, who are engaged in sacred criticism: and, that the Rev. Herbert Marsh, the celebrated translator of Michaelis, and, perhaps, the best judge now living of the merit of such a work, calls it by the emphatic appellation, of the Invaluable Book. It was published in two volumes folio, in 1751, at Amsterdam. Wetstein thinks slightly, not to say, contemptuously, (contemptuous expressions were unfortunately too familiar to him), both of the Latin Vulgate and the Alexandrine manuscript. He adopted for his text the editio recepta of the Elzevirs. His collection of various readings far surpasses that of Mill or Bengel. His notes are particularly valuable, for the copious extracts he has made from the Rabbinical writers. These greatly serve to explain the idiom and turn of expression used by the Apos