who afterwards received from it the name of Masorites, were some Jewish literati, who flourished after the commencement of the Christian æra. With a reverential, not to say superstitious attention, of which history does not furnish an instance, to be urged in comparison with it, they counted all the verses, words, and letters, of all the twenty-four books of the Old Testament, and of each of those twenty-four books, and of every section of each book, and of all its subdivisions. "The matter of the Massora," says Mr. Lewis, in his Origines Hebrææ, vol. iv. p. 156, " consists in critical "remarks upon the verses, words, letters, "and vowel points of the Hebrew text. "The Massorets were the first who distin

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guished the books and sections of books "into verses, and marked the number of "the verses, and of the words and letters "in each verse; the verses, where they

thought there was something forgot; the

words, which they believed to be changed;

"the letters, which they thought super"fluous; the repetitions of the same verses; "the different reading the words which are "redundant or defective; the number of "times that the same word is found in the

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beginning, middle, or end of a verse; the "different significations of the same word; "the agreement or conjunction of one word "with another; the number of words that " are printed above; which letters are pro"nounced, and which are turned upside "down; and such as hang perpendicular; "and took the number of each; it was they, "in short, who invented the vowel points, "the accents, and made divers critical re"marks upon the punctuation, and abun"dance of other things of equal import"ance."

"A great part of the labour of these "Jewish Doctors consisted in counting the "letters of the Hebrew text; and the letter "Nun in the word Gehon, is in the Tal"mud observed to be in the very middle of

"the Pentateuch. Father Simon gives an "account of a manuscript copy, which he

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saw, where that part of the Massora that

belonged to the letters, was to this pur66 pose. "There are twelve parscioths, or "great sections, in Genesis: there are forty"three of those which are called sedarim,

or orders: there are one thousand five "hundred and thirty-four verses, twenty "thousand seven hundred and thirteen "words, seventy-eight thousand one hun"dred letters; and the midst of the book "consists in these words, Ve al harbeka

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tihieh, in chap. xxvii. ver. 40. There are "five points (these are points made on the

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top of some letters mentioned by St. Je

rom). Exodus has eleven parscioths, thirty-three sedarim, one thousand two "hundred and nine verses, sixteen thou"sand five hundred and thirteen words, sixty-three thousand four hundred and

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sixty-seven letters; and these words, Elo

"him lo tekallel, in chap. xxii. ver. 27. are

" in the very middle of this book. There are "in Leviticus ten parscioths, twenty-five se“darim, eight hundred and fifty-nine verses, "eleven thousand nine hundred and two

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words, forty-four thousand nine hundred "and eighty-nine letters; and these words, Vehannogia bibesar, in chap. xv. ver. 7. are the middle words. There are in Num"bers ten parscioths, thirty-three sedarim, "one thousand two hundred and eighty

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eight verses, sixteen thousand seven hun"dred and seven words, sixty-two thousand "five hundred and twenty-nine letters; and "these words, Ve haia-is asher ebehar, in

chap. xvii. ver. 20. are the middle words. “There are in Deuteronomy ten parscioths,

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thirty-one sedarim, nine hundred and fiftyfive verses, sixteen thousand three hun"dred and ninety-four words, fifty-four “thousand eight hundred and ninety-two "letters; and the middle words of this book

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are, Ve ascita alpi hadavar, in chap. xvii. "ver. 10."

Such is the celebrated Masorah of the Jews. Originally it did not accompany the text: afterwards the greatest part of it was written in the margin. To bring it into the margin, it was necessary to abridge the work itself. This abridgment was called the Masorah Parva. Being found too short, a more copious abridgment of it was inserted. This, in contradistinction to the other Masorah, was called the Masorah Magna.. The omitted parts were added at the end of the text, and this was called the Masorah Finalis.

V. 2. In the Jewish manuscripts and printed editions, a word is often found with a small circle annexed to it, or with an asterisk over it, and a word written in the margin of the same line. The former is called the Kethibh, the latter the Keri. In these, much mystery has been discovered by the Masorites. Some have supposed them coeval with the text; and that they were communicated, verbally, by Moses