sides, belly, and legs, being rounder and more numerous than those on other parts.

Buffon gives us the following description of this animal, from a passage in an Italian work, translated and sent to him by the Marquis de Montmirail.

"The marapute," which the Portuguese in India, call serval, is a ferocious animal, larger than a wild cat, and somewhat less than the civet, from which he differs, by having a larger and rounder head, and a kind of depression on the middle of the front.

"He resembles the panther in the colour of his hair, which is yellow on the head, back, and flanks, and white on the breast and belly, and likewise in the spots, which are distinct, equally distributed, and a little smaller than those of the panther. His eyes are extremely brilliant, his whiskers long and stiff, and his tail rather short: his toes were armed with long and hooked claws.

"He is found on the Indian mountains, where he is very seldom seen on the ground, but remains always on the trees, lurking among the branches, where he forms a nest, in which he lies in wait for birds, and other small animals, which constitute his chief nourishment. He leaps from tree to tree, as nimbly as the squirrel or the monkey, and with such address and agility, that he runs through a considerable space in an instant, appearing and disappearing alternately.

"In this state, he is extremely fierce, and yet he flies the aspect of man, unless when provoked, and particularly when his dwelling place is injured or incommoded: he then becomes exceedingly furious, darting on the offender, like the panther, scizing him by the neck or throat, and tearing him both with his teeth and talons, in a terrible

manner.

"Neither captivity, nor good nor bad treatment," continues the above author, can soften the natural ferocity of this animal."

To the above, we might add the American serval, which the same writer, in his supplement, denominates the chat sauvage de la Caroline.

This animal is a native of North America; and Pennant observes, that it has upright pointed ears, marked with two brown transverse bars. "The upper part of the body," continues he, "is of a reddish ground, and it is marked on the back with long narrow stripes; the chin is of a pure white, and the tail is annulated with black. It is about two feet and a half in length, mild and gentle in its manner, and is frequently observed to grow very fat."

The French naturalist likewise gives us the figure of another ani mal of this tribe, under the appellation of chat sauvage de la Nouvelle Espagne, whose body is nearly four feet in length, when full grown; its general colour is of a blueish grey, speckled with a dark brown; it has small and clear eyes, coarse and stiff hair, the tail of one colour, and rather longer than that of the former.

Buffon is of opinion that this quadruped is only a variety in the tribe, but Pennant considers it as a distinct species.

Almost all animals of the cat kind, inhabit the most inaccessible mountains, and vast forests, where they seek safety by flight, or by climbing trees, for which nature seems to have peculiarly adapted them, by the lightness of their bodies, and the formation of their

I

claws;

claws; and these, as they have the advantage of eluding the pursuit of man, so they are noxious in proportion to their power of doing mischief'

Two other short quotations may serve as samples of the anecdotes and observations with which the volumes are occasionally enlivened:

Father Carli observes, in his history of Angola, whither he was sent for the purpose of converting the natives to Christianity, while his health was totally impaired by the raging heats of the climate, his patience exhausted by the obstinacy of the stupid inhabitants, and his provisions daily plundered without redress, amidst all his exigencies, he experienced more faithful services from the monkies of the country, than from the human inhabitants. They amused him with their vagaries, consoled him by their attachment, and obeyed his commands with readiness and fidelity. He had taught them to attend him on his walks, to guard him, when asleep, against rats and thieves, to comb his head, to fetch his wood and water, and to perform a thousand little domestic services, with more faithfulness and tractability than the natives themselves?'

It is worthy of remark, that the salmon can again find the spot where it has once spawned, in the same manner as the swallow knows the house where she has built her nest. This circumstance is proved by an experiment made by De Lalande, who purchased twelve salmon. of the fishermen of Chateaulin, (a small town of Lower Brittany, where sometimes four thousand are caught in a season) fastened a copper ring round the tail of each, and set them at liberty again. The fishermen afterwards informed him that the first year they took five of the fish thus marked, three the second year, and the same number the third. The princes of the East, who are generally fond of fishing, frequently fasten rings of gold or silver round salmon, and again throw them into the water. It was by means of these fish, we are told, that the communication of the Caspian Sea with the North. ern Ocean, and Persian Gulf, was discovered.'

We are unwilling to dismiss this publication, without recommending it as a proper and amusing companion to the young of both sexes.

Muir.

ART. VI. Hore Biblica; Part the Second: being a connected Series of miscellaneous Notes on the Koran, the Zend-Avesta, the Vedas, the Kings, and the Eddas. Crown 8vo. pp. 148. Not

sold.

IT is known to many of our readers that Mr. Butler, of Lincoln's Inn, the author of these Biblical Hours, is a gentleman occupied in the business of the law, who pursues theological studies for his amusement. He has displayed in this and in the former part much reading, and has endeavoured to com

press

press the result of his inquiries into a narrow space. Having, in the first part, (see M. R. Vol. xxvii. N. S. p. 210.) exhibited many historical notices relative to the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, and examined various circumstances connected with the authenticity and purity of the sacred text, he now proceeds to give a concise view of the history of the several books which are accounted sacred in those parts of the world that are not converted to the Christian faith; particularly of the Koran, a book written some centuries subsequently to the Gospels, and the author of which has obtained singular success in making disciples. This subject merits inquiry; and the remarks which this unostentatious volume contains will serve to throw light on it. Mr. Butler considers the antient history of the ountries in which the religion and empire of Mohammed took their rise, and the controversial dissentions of the Christian church at that period; both of which concurred in promoting the projects of the author of the Koran :

If the period of the christian æra were to be mentioned, when there was least of order, least of power, least of science, and least of intercourse in Europe, it would be that century which immediately preceded, and that which immediately followed the commencement of the Hegira.

The eastern empire still contained Greece, Thrace, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Africa, and a part of Italy: but it had been exhausted by a succession of foreign wars and civil dissentions; by repeated ravages of Barbarians, by oppression in the capital, extortion in the provinces, weak councils, lawless armies, and a disorderly court.

To complete the calamity, both the church and state, were, at the time we speak of, equally weakened by religious controversy and persecution. The last of these circumstances was, in a particular manner, the cause of the rapid success of Mahometanism.

Very soon after the introduction of Christianity, a fond. Year of ness for the philosophy of Plato and Pythagoras, led many to Christ, investigate the mysteries of the Trinity, and of the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ, with too much curiosity. Praxeas maintained, that there was but one person in the Trinity, and that the Father was the same as the Jesus who was crucified.

The same heresy, with some modification, was adopted by Noêtus.

With a similar notion of preserving the unity of the divine substance, without giving up the Trinity, Sabellius reduced the three persons of the Trinity to one and the same being, manifesting himself by two distinct operations, or energies moving from himself, called the Son and the Holy Ghost.

193

239

257

and

Arius, in avoiding the error of Sabellius, asserted Jesus Christ to be a creature drawn out of nothing, by the Father, REV. OCT. 1804.

M

and subsisting by his will, but begotten before all other Year of beings, and participating, by his Father's gift, in his essence Christ. and glory. He was condemned by the general council of

Nice.

To support the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father, Apollinaris contended against Arius, that Jesus Christ had not an human soul; he was condemned by the sixth council of Rome.

In opposition to him, Theodore of Mopsuestes maintained, that Jesus Christ had a soul distinct from the word, and performed actions, which were only referrible to that soul. With out it, according to him, it would be necessary to suppose, that, the divinity suffered, the divinity increased in wisdom.

Nestorius carried the system further; he asserted the existence of two distinct persons in Christ, that one was eternal, infinite, increate; that the other originated in time, was finite, and had been created. His doctrine was condemned by the third council of Ephesus.

Eutyches fell into the opposite extreme, asserting, that, in Jesus Christ, the divine nature only existed; his humanity being absorbed by it, as a drop of water by the ocean. Thus it was the error of Nestorius to divide the person, the error of Eutyches to confound the two natures of Christ. The doctrine of Eutyches was condemned by the council of Chalcedon,

in

325

377

428

431

451

In opposition to the Eutychians, some monks of Scythia After asserted the proposition, "one of the Trinity has suffered for Chrift.

Pope John the 2d, in a letter to the emperor Justinian, approved of the proposition, it being explained to mean, that the second person of the Trinity suffered in the flesh.

་

The unity of God, the Trinity of persons, being thus established in the godhead, and the two natures and unity of person being thus established in the son of God, a dispute arose on the nature of his will. Theodore, the bishop of Pharan in Arabia, asserted, and Sergius, the patriarch of Constantinople, adopted his assertion, that, in Jesus Christ, though there were two natures, there was but one will. gave them and their adherents the name of Monothelites. Their heresy was finally condemned in the council at Rome,

in

This

520

534

649

Marcian, and Leo, his immediate successor in the throne of Constantinople, enforced the decrees of the council of Chalcedon, with great rigor.

The emperor Justinian enacted many laws against Heretics, Pagans, Jews and Samaritans, and caused them to be carried into execution with great severity. To all of them he offered the alternative of orthodoxy or exile.

The number of those who preferred the latter was great; and the three Arabias offered them a secure retreat: to those therefore, they fled.'

Various

Various parts of the Koran expressly refer to the religious controversies which, at the time of its publication, existed among Christians, and pointedly state the objections prevailing in Arabia against the Trinity and the Godhead of Christ. It is the repeated language of the Koran, "Say not there are three Gods, forbear this, it will be better for you, God is but one God."-"They are infidels who say, Verily God is Christ the son of Mary.""They are certainly infidels, who say, God is the third of three." These passages clearly prove that Mohammed was a determined opposer of the doctrine of the Trinity; and his zeal and enthusiasm roused a numerous host to adopt his views:

All accounts of Mahomet agree that from his earliest years, he was religiously inclined, and shewed great zeal against idolatry, and a strong wish for its extirpation. It is said, that Sergius, a Nestorian monk, remarked this disposition in him when, in his 13th year, he accompanied his father to the monastery in which Sergius resided. After his marriage, his zeal redoubled, and he gave himself up to a mystic and contemplative life. Once a year, he shut himself up for a whole month, in a cavern of a mountain, about three miles distant from Mecca, to meditate without interruption, on religious subjects. His temperance and ample charities to the poor procured him universal respect; his piety was so generally acknowledged, that a dispute arising, who should have the honour of placing the black stone in the temple of Mecca, the voice of the people unanimously deferred it to him. His mode of life could not but increase the fanaticism of an imagination, naturally ardent; at the age of 40, he publickly assumed the character of a prophet sent by God, to re-establish, in its purity, the religion of Abraham and Ismael.

He addressed a willing audience of armed proselytes, who would follow him with fanaticism equal to his own, whose powerful onset neither the eastern nor western empire was likely to resist, whom first victories would elevate to irresistible valor and enterprize, and who would spread themselves over the world with all the zeal of missionaries, and the ambition of conquerors.'

'And such was the success of their enterprize, that in less than a century from the commencement of the hegira, they spread the religion of Mahomet, from the Atlantic Ocean, to India and Tartary; and his successors reigned in Syria, Persia, Egypt, Africa and Spain. Since that time, they have been expelled from Spain; but have conquered the kingdoms of Visapour and Golconda in India, the islands of Cyprus and Rhodes and the Cyclades, and have made large territorial acquisitions in Tartary, Hungary and Greece.'

Mr. B. traces the history of Mohammedanism through the long period occupied by the dynastics and fortunes of the Universal Caliphs; giving, in distinct columns, the several dates, both according to the era of the Hegira and that of the Christjan world. Hence he proceeds to notice the irruption of the

M 2

Mogul