Two different systems of orthography had been adopted by Truber and Dalmatin. For this reason, when in 1580 the whole Vindish Bible was to be printed at Wittemberg, it seemed necessary to fix the orthography according to acknowledged rules. This led also to grammatical investigations. In the year 1584, a Vindish grammar was printed at Wittemberg, the author of which, A. Bohorizh, of Laibach, was a pupil of Melancthon, and a scholar of that true philosophical spirit, without which no one should undertake to write a grammar, even where he has only to follow a beaten path; much less when he has to open for himself a new one. Thus the Vindish written language, almost in its birth, acquired a correctness and consistency, to which other languages hardly attain after centuries of experiments, innovations, and literary contests. According to the judgment of those who are best acquainted with it, the Vindish language has undergone no change since the time of Bohorizh,a fact indeed scarcely credible; and the less so, because during that whole interval it has been maintained almost exclusively as a spoken language. About thirty years after the publication of this grammar, the catholics, sheltered by the despotic measures of the archduke Ferdinand, afterwards the emperor Ferdinand II, gained a complete victory. All evangelical preachers, and all protestants who faithfully adhered to their religion, were exiled; their goods confiscated; and, more than all, their books burned, and their printing-office in Laibach destroyed.91 Fragments of the Gospels and of the Epistles were however printed at Graetz, in 1612, for the Slavic catholics in their own language. A whole century passed, and the Vindish language seemed to be entirely lost for literature and science. Towards the close of the seventeenth century, an academy was founded by some learned men of Carniola, on the plan of the Italian Academy; and some attention was again paid to the language of their forefathers. In A. D. 1715 a new edition of Bohorizh's work, with several alterations and without mentioning the true author, was printed by a capuchin, P. Hippolytus; who left also in manuscript a Vindish dictionary, the first in that language. Fifty 91 Schaffarik observes, p. 283, "The public library in the statehouse was delivered to the Jesuits, who had just been introduced. The books which these did not commit to the flames on the spot, perished in the great conflagration in 1774, together with the edifice of their college. In all Carniola only two copies of Bohorizh's grammar are known to exist." three years later, another grammar was published by the monk Marcus Pochlin; a work in itself, according to the best authorities, utterly void of merit, but which, from the necessity of the case, and for the want of a better, met with success, was reprinted in 1783, and remained in common use until the appearance of Kopitar's grammar. This work, 92 written by one of the most eminent Slavists of the age, made a decided epoch, not only in the history of the Vindish language; but also, by its learned preface and comments, in the Slavic literature at large. Several grammatical works, not without merit, and for the most part founded on Kopitar's grammar, have since been published ;93 and since scholars like these are now occupied with the cultivation of the Vindish language, there exist for it and for its kindred dialects the happiest prospects. The literature of a people, among whom every individual of any education may call another highly cultivated language in the fullest sense his own,-as is the case with the Bohemians and Slovenzi in respect to the German,-cannot be very extensive. There have, however, in modern times, been published several works of poetry and prose in the Vindish language; among the writers of which we can mention only the most distinguished. Such are, V. Vodnik, author of some collections of poems; Ravnikar, author of a biblical history of the Old and New Testament, and several works for religious edification; Farnik, Kumerdey, Popovich, etc. But the most important work, both in a philological and moral point of view, is the translation of the whole Bible, set on foot by G. Japel, and executed by a society of learned men. This version being intended for catholics, was made from the Vulgate, and was published at Laibach 1800, in five volumes; the New Testament appeared also separately, in two volumes, Laib. 1804. A Slavic pulpit, which was established ten years ago at the same place, has also been of great service to the language. The inhabitants of the provincial counties Agram, Kreutz, Varasdin, and the neighbouring districts, called Provincial Croa 92 Grammatik der Slavischen Sprache in Krain, Kärnthen, und Steyermark, Laibach 1808. 93 These are: V. Vodnik's Pismenost ali gramm. saperve shole, Laib. 1811. Metelko's Lehrgebäude der Slovenischen Sprache, 1825. Schmigoz Theor. pract. wind. Sprachlehre, Graetz 1812. P. Dainko Lehrbuch der wind. Sprache, Graetz 1824. tia, who speak a somewhat different dialect of the Vindish language,* *but are able to read this translation, have nevertheless several versions in their own dialect, "lying in manuscript, which are only waiting for some Mecaenas, or for some favourable conjuncture, in order to make their appearance.' 9994 The only portion of the Vindish race among whom the protestant religion has been kept alive, are about 15,000 Slovenzi in Hungary. Their dialect approaches in some measure to that of the Slovaks; and hence serves as the connecting link between the languages of the Eastern and Western Slavic stems. For them the New Testament exists in a translation by Stephen Kuznico, Halle 1771; reprinted at Pressburg, in 1818. [To be continued.] ART. V. LITERARY NOTICES. By the Editor. 1. Letters from Egypt and Nubia in 1828 and 1829, by CHAMPOLLION. With six lithographic Plates. Paris, 1833. 8vo. Price, 7 francs, or about $1,50. This is a collection of all the letters written by Champollion during his voyage and residence in Egypt. The first nine were published at the time in the Moniteur and other journals, and excited great interest. Prefixed is the plan of the voyage, as drawn up by Champollion before his departure, but never before published. The letters are accompanied by three tracts hitherto unpublished, viz. 1. A summary notice of the history of Egypt, prepared in Egypt for the viceroy Mohammed Ali.-2. A note addressed to the viceroy on the preservation of the monuments of Egypt.-3. Several Arabic letters addressed to Champollion by a governor of the country, and his answers.-The whole volume has been printed from autograph manuscripts of the author; and as there is scarcely a locality of Egypt and Nubia, of any celebrity, in respect to which information more or less extensive is not given, * See p. 407 above. 94 See Kopitar's Letter to the Editor, Bibl. Repos. III. p. 186. the volume can hardly fail henceforth to become the guide of all who are pursuing similar researches.-Journal Asiatique, July 1833. 2. Turkish French Dictionary, by Prof. KIEFFER. For a long time before his death, Kieffer had been occupied along with M. Ruffin, in the composition of a manual dictionary of the Turkish in French. So early as 1811, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs took an interest in the work; and caused the sheets, as they were prepared at Paris by Kieffer, to be transmitted by the government couriers to Constantinople, where they were revised by M. Ruffin and sent back with his corrections and additions. The manuscript of the work complete remained among the papers of Kieffer, and is to be immediately put to press under the superintendence of M. Bianchi, a distinguished scholar in Turkish. It is to be published in one large volume 8vo. and will contain the substance of Meninski's large lexicon, together with a Persian part, sufficiently extensive to permit students to dispense with a separate Persian dictionary.-Ibid. 3. Greek Lexicon of Suidas. A new edition of this work is announced for publication in 2 vols. 4to, under the editorship of Professor Bernhardy of Halle. The text will be that of the editio princeps of Milan, as being more accurate and complete than that of Küster. A critical apparatus of various readings, corrections, and illustrations, from the older grammarians and the works of Reinesius, Gronovius, Toup, Schweighäuser, Porson and others, will accompany the work. The Latin translation will be improved; and a suitable index and literary introduction will be added.-For. Quart. Rev. July 1833. 4. Lettres Edifiantes. A continuation of this celebrated work has been published under the title: Nouvelles Lettres Edifiantes des Missions de la Chine et des Indes Orientales, 8 vols. 12mo. Paris 1818-1823. Of the old collection of "Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses," the work to which Europeans are most indebted for the knowledge they possess of China, as well as of the labours of the catholic missionaries in that country, the following literary notice is given in the For. Quart. Review, Vol. V. p. 487. "The publication of these celebrated Letters was commenced at Paris in 1702 by Legobien, who edited the first eight volumes. After his death, the editorship devolved on Duhalde, the well known author of the popular History of China, who carried on and completed the collection, of which the last volume appeared a short time after his death, A. D. 1743. Though Duhalde, who was well fitted to be the editor of such a work, performed his task with great taste and skill, it was soon found that in a new edition a much better arrangement might be adopted; and accordingly when the whole series was reprinted in 1781, Querbeuf the editor greatly improved it, by throwing together all those letters which related to the same subject. Other improvements have been effected, and many additions made to the collection since that period, particularly in the octavo edition of 1810." 5. Greek and Roman Antiquities. Prof. Klotz and Dr Westermann announce at Leipsic a Thesaurus Antiquitatis Graecae et Romanae ad literarum ordinem conditus. It is to be in the manner of an Encyclopaedia, embracing the following departments: Literary History, Antiquities including Archæology, Mythology, Geography, and the History of Civilization; but Political History will be excluded. The names of several of the most eminent scholars are given, as having engaged to undertake certain portions of the work; viz. Hermann, Eichstädt, Jacobs, Böttiger, the Dindorfs, Schumann, Osann, Matthiae, Jahn, Ranke, A. G. Bekker, Nobbe, Kiessling, Weichert, etc. 6. Armenian Literature. A private letter in the (London) Quarterly Journal for Education, Jan. 1834, gives the following account of the printing-office in the Armenian convent situated on the small island of St. Lazarus, near Venice. After mentioning that the convent is the residence of sixty brethren and others, among whom are twenty-six boys, whose education is conducted by the monks, the writer remarks: "The printing-house attached to this monastery, which has already published several Armenian and Italian works of importance, is in full activity; it has three Stanhope presses, manufactured in Milan and Padua, which are constantly in requisition. They are employed at present on the 'Armenian-Italian' portion of the great dictionary edited by Tshiatshink, who published the Italian portion of the work some years ago. The whole will extend to two quarto volumes; and the seventyfifth sheet is already completed. The press is, at the same time, at work upon Elias Tomuglan's Armenian version of Plutarch's Lives, which will be comprised in six octavo volumes; three of which are already published. The work next in contemplation is the Antichità d'Armenia, from the Ms. of the late L. Ingigi; he left this important work in a perfectly complete state, and it will form three quarto volumes. It embraces not only the ancient and modern history of Armenia, but its general statistics, etc. and will fill up a great vacuum in Eastern literature." 7. Oriental Languages. The Lectures delivered in the Royal School for living Oriental Languages in Paris, are distributed as follows for the session of 1833-1834. Arabic, De Sacy; Vulgar Arabic, Caussin de Percival; Persian, Quatremère; Turkish, Am. Jaubert; Armenian, Le Vaillant de Florian; Modern Greek and Greek Palæography, Hase; Hindustanee, Garcin de Tassy; Archaology, Raoul Rochette. Each of these courses is continued three |