and it is ordinarily so spelt in quotations from Scripture in printed books. But the corrector of the new Scotch Family Bible, not finding subtil in the dictionary, and wishing to amend the old spelling, has done so by adopting a word which modern usage has determined to a different meaning from that intended in the text; a word almost confined, as a technical term, to physical science. It is not however with regard to a particular word, but as involving a principle, that we have alluded to this would-be correction ;—which occurs at the very opening of the Bible in the sample sheet-and therefore gives us to expect much more of the same mistaken amendment throughout the volume. We will shew how the system might work by a familiar illustration.* The Latin word subtilis is represented in modern English by two distinct divergent words subtle and subtile. The old English word subtil, which occurs in our Bibles is not to be found in modern dictionaries; if therefore we would modernize the spelling, we must write either subtle or subtile. Let us choose the latter: "The serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field:" "Jonadab was a very subtile man," &c. The Latin word presbyter is represented in modern English by two distinct divergent words; priest and presbyter. The old English word preste which occurs in our Bibles is not to be found in modern dictionaries; if therefore we would modernize the spelling we must write either priest or presbyter. Let us choose the latter: "The presbyter of Midian;" "Eleazar the presbyter ;" "The presbyters of Jupiter," &c. We fear that the forthcoming crops of Scottish Bibles will furnish much occasion for comment by their discrepancies. We passingly alluded, in our December No., to the new-fangled punctuation of a Glasgow Testament, which had fallen into our hands; in which the corrector of the press has grievously injured the text by his novel punctuation. Ordinary readers are not aware how much may hang upon a single comma. For instance, in the deviations from Dr. Blayney in the Scotch specimen-sheet, we find a comma placed after Adam, * We have not been sorry to select the word priest or presbyter, as our example, though fifty other words would have done as well;-because the Scotch Family Bible, the sample-sheet of which has furnished our thesis, is of Presbyterian (as opposed to Episcopalian) editorship and management; and those who call themselves Presbyterians strongly object to the use of the word priest in the English Prayer-book. Now as we will not suppose they mean to be captious, it will gratify their candour to learn, that presbyter and priest are only the same word, the one in Latin, the other Anglicised. We have remarked upon this in a former paper in the present Number, in answer to one who claims the title of Sacerdos; but we will now add more fully the genealogy of the word, from the learned Joseph Mede, as quoted in Mant and D'Oyly's Family Bible, in a note on Acts xxi. 18. "And all the Elders. The word rendered in the New Testament Elders' is in the original Presbyters, from which our word Priest is corrupted. Our ancestors, the Saxons, first used Preoster, whence by a farther contraction came Preste, and Priest. The high and low Dutch have Priester; the French Prestre, or Prêtre : the Italians Prete; but the Spaniard only speaks full Presbytero." Gen. ii. 19: "And brought them unto Adam, to see what he would call them." A routine printer would say that the Scotch corrector has done well to insert the comma, not seeing that it alters the drift of the passage; as the reader will perceive by that delicate test the inflexions of the voice in reading the clause both ways. Without the comma, the bringing them to Adam is only subsidiary to the reason why they were brought, "to see what he would call them;" whereas, with the comma, the bringing to Adam is the thing predicated, and the reason assigned only supplementary. This is not a strong example; but it may shew that not a stop should be altered by routine rules. REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. Poems by a Slave in the Island of Cuba, recently liberated; translated from the Spanish, by R. R. MADDEN, M.D.; with the History of the Early Life of the Negro Poet, written by himself: to which are prefired Two Pieces descriptive of Cuban Slavery and the Slave-Traffic, by R. R. M. WE opened this volume rather from curiosity than with any great expectation that the verses of a Cuban slave would possess much poetical merit. Not indeed that we are converts to the philosophy that He who made of one blood all nations to dwell upon the earth, created the inhabitants of one quarter of the globe with such inferior powers of intellect that, like brute animals, they were intended only to be the thralls of their more favoured brethren. Mr. Lawrence, in his infidel Lectures on Physiology, attempted to prove that a negro "cannot be a religious animal;" or vie either in morals or intellect with "the white varieties of mankind." To suppose so, he says, would be "as unreasonable as to expect that the greyhound may be taught to hunt by scent like the hound, or the mastiff rival in talents and acquirements the sagacious and docile poodle." And as for religion, the well-meant labours of missionaries must be futile; for "organization is too strong for Christianity." And yet, if it were true, as he contends, that the notion that mankind possess souls, an immaterial, immortal principle,--is a fable; the unconverted African would really shew his good sense, not his stolidity, in not embracing a faith of which this is an essential element. We, however, who believe that God has given to all the tribes of mankind both souls and brains, see nothing to prevent negroes being either Christians or philosophers. The Abbé Gregoire wrote a book, in which he shewed, by a great number of examples, that the African race, notwithstanding the many disadvantages under which they have so long laboured, have produced many men of considerable genius; and we well remember the reply of Dr. Beattie to Hume, who had maintained the same opinion as his brother infidel Lawrence. He said: "Mr. Hume argues nearly in the same manner, in regard to the superiority of white men over black. His assertions are strong, but I know not whether they have anything else to recommend them. The inhabitants of Great Britain and France were as savage two thousand years ago, as those of Africa and America are at this day. To civilize a nation is a work which it requires long time to accomplish; and one may as well say of an infant that be can never become a man, as of a nation now barbarous, that it never can be civilized. That a Negro Slave who can neither read nor write, nor speak any European language, who is not permitted to do any thing but what his master commands, and who has not a single friend on earth, but is universally considered and treated as if he were of a species inferior to the human; that such a creature should so distinguish himself among Europeans, as to be talked of through the world as a man of genius, is surely no reasonable expectation. To suppose him of an inferior species, because he does not thus distinguish himself, is just as rational as to suppose any private European of an inferior species, because he has not raised himself to the condition of royalty." Our curiosity therefore was not elicited by the fact that a man of dark skin and African blood should write poetry; but that he should have done so under the withering influences of slavery. That he was able, or had the desire, to cultivate his mind, or to pour forth the affections of his heart in tuneful numbers, alternating with the stocks, the lash, and the prison house, may well excite wonder. The authenticity of the work is the first point to ascertain. For this Dr. Madden, who has spent several years in Cuba, and is well known for his zealous labours for the abolition of slavery, vouches.* He dedicates his Dr. Madden lately addressed to the Pasha of Egypt a most able and faithful remonstrance upon the atrocious slave-trade carried on in his dominions. He had presented in person to the Pasha last year, an address from the "Anti-slavery Convention" held in London, signed by Mr. Clarkson the Chairman, in the name of four hundred delegates, expressive of their gratification at his having prohibited manstealing, and also paying his troops in slaves, and urging him utterly to extinguish the slave-trade and slavery itself throughout the territories under his sway. Ali Pasha (who levies taxes upon the traffic) listened attentively to his arguments, but we fear that he work to his fellow-labourer in the cause, Mr. Sturge; and he has deposited the original manuscripts in the Spanish language for inspection at the office of the "British and Foreign Anti-slavery Society." He says that a collection of poems, written by a slave recently liberated in the Island of Cuba, was presented to him in the year 1838, by a gentleman at Havana, highly distinguished for literary attainments. Some of these pieces had found their way to the Havana, and attracted the attention of the literary people there, while the poor author was advanced in return little beyond courteous words; for we find Dr. Madden summing up the present afflicting circumstances of the Egyptian slave-trade as follows: "In conclusion, may it please your highness, I would beg leave to recall the facts to which I have endeavoured to direct your attention. "1. At the expiration of nearly fifteen years I have visited Egypt for the second time, and I find slavery and the trade in slaves unchanged in their character, and unrestrained by any measures of your highness adopted for their suppression. 2. I find the slave-markets glutted with negro women and children as heretofore. "3. I find the exportation of slaves from Alexandria for Turkey, on board European vessels, carried on openly at the present time. "4. I find the prices of slaves actually lowered by the increase of the numbers brought down to Alexandria and Cairo, and those slaves, children and women, selling from 600 piastres to 1500 ahead, or from six pounds sterling to fifteen pouods each. 5. I find the slave-hunts are carried on by your people, and even by your soldiers, as usual, and the only prohibition that has been issued, is one given in the presence of certain European consuls at Fezaghan, that never has been carried into effect. "6. I find the same evils arising from this nefarious trade, and the same barbarous monopoly in mutilated beings permitted as heretofore, and even encouraged by your authorities in Upper Egypt." confectioner, and lost all his money in that line, and now gains his livelihood as an occasional servant. The gentleman who was mainly instrumental in obtaining his liberation from slavery, induced him to write his history. It was written in two parts-the second part, Dr. Madden says, fell into the hands of persons connected with his former master, and is not likely to be restored; the first part Dr. Madden has translated and printed; and it contains, he says, the most perfect picture of Cuban slavery that ever has been given to the world. in slavery in the neighbourhood cessful-was advised to set up as a of Matanzas; in consequence of which the gentleman alluded to, with the assistance of a few friends, redeemed the writer from slavery, and enabled him to publish such of his poems as were of a publishable kind in a country like Cuba, where slavery is under the especial protection, and knowledge under the ban, of the censors of the press. Dr. Madden has not translated any portion of his volume; the contents of which we are not acquainted with. The pieces which he has translated, and "put into English verse,' are a few which were unpublished or unpublishable in Cuba. These pieces are but few, the bulk of the book being taken up with other matter; but they are extraordinary compositions for a Cuban slave; and Dr. Madden asserts that he has given the sense of the writer as plainly as he could, but that he "has not done justice" to them. He adds the testimony of " a very distinguished Spanish scholar" to their poetical merit. He has prefixed to thema "Sketch of the Cuban slave-trade merchant and planter in verse," which we must pass over in favour of his hero, and also of his own prose illustrations of the atrocities of the slave-trade and slavery in Cuba. He further states that the author of the poems is now living at the Havana, but his name he thinks it advisable not to publish. He is now in his fortysecond year. He was born in Cuba, where his father and mother lived and died in slavery. He was about thirty-eight years of age when he obtained his liberty. The price paid for it was 800 dollars. He obtained employment as a tailor for some time after he procured his freedom. Subsequently, he went out to service-then tried the business of a house-painter, and was not suc From this narrative we will extract a series of passages; in order to illustrate what slavery is, even in its milder forms; for Spanish slavery has always been boasted of, and even our own emancipationists described it, as more lenient than Dutch, or French, or Portuguese, or United States, or our own West Indian slavery; and the subject in the present instance was not a predial slave, but the favoured attendant of opulent gentlemen of polished manners, and ladies so delicate and sensitive, that we might have feared they could not curb the ferocity of such barbarians as our poet with their gentle tenderness. And why do we open up such scenes? Not assuredly because they present agreeable pictures; but because the slave-trade and slavery still exist ;-because they are flourishing and rampant; and have hitherto defied and scorned all the entreaties and remonstrances of justice, humanity, and religion, to stop their guilty and blood-stained career. England has a special interest in the question; she has exerted her zealous influence, and lavished millions upon millions of treasure, to put an end to the slave trade; she has set the Christian example of abolishing slavery in her own colonies, at the cost of twenty millions of money; and yet, she witnesses these dire and desolating scourges sweeping away their victims with the most afflicting and wide-spread barbarities. It was justly remarked by the Bishop of London in the House of Lords last year, that "It appeared to him that this great nation was placed by Divine Providence in a position which peculiarly enabled her to oppose the continuance of that traffic, which had been so long a disgrace to Christians. He was willing, as an Englishman and a Christian, to sacrifice every thing but the honour of the coun try in the attempt to put an end to that traffic. If we valued the possession of liberty ourselves, we ought to make every exertion to grant a similar blessing to those who had been so long bereft of it-to restore that freedom which we had been, in a certain degree, instrumental in depriving them of, to the inhabitants of the coast of Africa. noble friend had mistaken the view taken by Mr. Buxton of the subject. What Mr. Buxton said was, that our exertions to put an end to the slave trade had not been successful in the degree to which we calculated they would have been, and which might reasonably have been calculated upon. It was a great object to teach the chieftains in Africa that they might gain even greater pecuniary advantages from the labour than from the blood of their subjects. He was of opinion that her Majesty's advisers would be liable to the same responsibility, as regarded other nations, after the passing of the act, as they were at present. The great work which they had commenced could not be said to be accomplished until they succeeded in effectually putting down that His abominable traffic, which was a disgrace to Europe." And here, as Sir Thomas Buxton's name is mentioned, we may touch, in passing, upon the question referred to by the Bishop of London. Sir Thomas, in his highly important work upon “The African Slave-trade and its Remedy," depicted the present appalling extent of the slave trade, the deplorable failure of all preceding methods of extinguishing it; and set forth what he considers "the true remedy," namely, "To elevate the minds of the people of Africa, and call forth the capabilities of her soil." Most painful and humiliating it is to learn, that after thirty years of effort, an expenditure of more than fifteen millions of money, and a melancholy consumption of British life sacrificed in vain attempts to abolish the trade by compulsory means, the traffic has doubled within that period; it being calculated that the annual loss to Africa is 500,000 victims; of whom one tenth are reduced to Mohammedan slavery; three tenths are transported across the Atlantic; and six tenths perish by the various concomitants of the system, from the first murderous attack upon the peaceful village by the slave captors, to the arrival of the surviving sufferers, after the cruelties and desolations of the journey and the voyage, at their places of destination. Sir Thomas Buxton shows that the profits of the trade, after all losses, are one hundred and eighty per cent., and that they cannot be reduced below the system of successful smuggling. He proposed therefore to make Africa its own emancipator, by developing its agricultural and commercial resources; and teaching its rulers that they can gain more by their subjects, as indus trious labourers, workmen, farm |