on the south side, and Colchisat the western extremity, of the mountain; this name then included the whole southern side of it, and sufficiently proves, that it was called Gog by some nations as well as Kauc by others, and both of them apparently so called from the contiguous plains: the usual word for which is still Kaphgjak, among the natives, unless it be two words Kaphg-iak, and meant to express that part of the desert plain only which was contiguous to the iak, i. e. the river Jakartes on the east side of the Caspian sea: in which case Kaphg would be the original still, and mean the plains themselves, by others corrupted into Gog and Kauc. We know, that at first the Romans had no distinct letter for G different from C, so much were those letters confounded in writing as well as pronunciation. Bayer therefore has here, without any intention, confirmed the opinion of Bochart long ago, that Gog and Kauc were the same word: Bochart adds, indeed, that Cauc-asus came from Kauc-hasan, for hasan in some oriental dialects means a fortress, munimentum; not intending thereby any artificial fortress on that mountain, but that it was the natural bulwark between the inhabited south part of Asia, and those desert plains on the north of it. But whether this derivation be preferable to the C'hasas of Mr. Wilford, as giving origin to the last half of the name, I cannot determine. This only I may mention, that the names of nations were probably prior to the names of aggregate countries, so that C'hasas rather gave name to Asia than contrariwise: and we know, that a nation of the name of Asch did exist in antient times, the inhabitants of Asia Minor being probably those called Aschenax in scripture. In Celtic Innis means an island, and is applied to a peninsula as well as

island;

1

island; if we could suppose the original inhabitants of Asia Minor to have been Celts, Asch-enez might mean the nation dwelling in that peninsula; and Bochart has even given a reason, either true or not, why they were called Asch or As, and from which he derives the name Asia; but this etymology would not suit so well with Mr. Wilford's C'hasas, who lived on the north of Persia and India. There is something however so venerable in antiquity, that a peep into it is attended with pleasure of an awful kind, like the view of old weather-beaten oaks; andwhen such immense destruction has been made of ancient books, it is sometimes even useful to bring together the scattered relics of antiquated words, in order to understand those books of ancient times, which have fortunately escaped from the general ruin caused by ignorance. We know likewise, that even some of the Gothic nations, who inundated the north, and came from the banks of the Euxine sea, brought with them the memory of having formerly lived near a town called As-gard; and they also gave the name of Ase to their gods, who were probably some deified heroes among their ancestors, formerly resident near the sea of Asoff. Thus profane accounts give some aid to scriptural ones, and the thought of the immensity of time past has this further utility, of turning our minds to the thought of future eternity. Immensity of time is indeed so vast an object as necessarily to excite our wonder and astonishment; but when we thus find, that the ancient residence of Gog in scripture can be traced to mount Caucasus, and that the name of the scriptural Aschenaz has too much resemblance to Axenos, the ancient name of the Euxine sea, to be the effect of accident, we become not only

VOL. IV.

E E

only more sensible of the mutability of all human things, but even impressed with a more ready belief of the future things, which scripture points out to us, after having found its accounts so well verified concerning distant events past, as to render it a supplement to the lost history of mankind in past ages, beyond all other records of time.

S.

ART. XXI. The Ruminator. Containing a series of moral and sentimental Essays.

In this age of critical inquiry; of patient, accurate, and laborious investigation; it might be supposed that no author would be so hardy as to attempt to deceive the world; it might be thought that no literary imposture could be so well carried on, as to escape discovery from the lynx-like eyes of the wise and learned, or the acute discernment of the readers of the works of other times. Yet in point of fact, this does not appear to be the case; deceits of this kind are often attempted, and not always, at least satisfactorily, discovered. Though that ingenious young gentleman, Master Ireland, made a full confession (but not till it was too late) and even had the hardiness to "glory in his shame," the fountains of other works of much greater merit are still as much

concealed

concealed as those of the Nile; and other authors, translators, or editors of much higher genius and pretensions have quietly stolen out of the world (or like poor misguided Chatterton indignantly * rushed out of it), leaving posterity to settle the matter among themselves, and assign them their proper place at their leisure.

This however has not always been done in a manner perfectly convincing. Attempts have lately been made to shew that even the forgeries of Lauder were not wholly without foundation. There are still persons who are not entirely convinced that the youth of Chatterton was able to produce those noble poems, which he chose to ascribe to the maturer age of Rowley; and there are many more, who find it difficult to believe that Macpherson was the sole author of the poems published under the name of Ossian. †

Concerning these last, the investigation seems not to have been very fairly and impartially conducted. On the one hand, there was great national, and perhaps personal, pride, which would not deign to give such information as the public had a right to expect; on the other, a captious unwillingness to give way to pretensions to such remote antiquity, which must of course be very little capable of being supported by external proof.

It seems to be allowed by all, that the Erse, as it is commonly called, has not been a written language till within, comparatively, a very few years; and it

* Vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras.

Virg. L. XII. 952.

I have not read the report of the Committee of the Highland Society upon this subject, nor have learnt what has been the result of their inquiries.

24

is contended, that the changes which take place in
language, and the well-known inaccuracy of oral tra-
dition, must have prevented such long and regular
poems as Temora and Fingal, from being thus handed
down during so many centuries. But to this it may
be replied that, in a country so remote as the High-
lands of Scotland, and so little visited by strangers as
they were during the dark ages, their language, like
their local superstitions, probably remained nearly the
same. And with respect to tradition, in countries
where there are no written records, it is more likely to
be preserved in tolerable purity and correctness than
where there are. It may also be urged, that till the
time when they were collected by Pisistratus, even the
works of Homer were recited only in detached parts;
and the acts of Diomede, the parting of Hector and
Andromache, the death of Patroclus, &c. &c. were
known by the people in general, only as so many de-
tached ballads, or rhapsodies, and not as parts of the
noblest whole ever produced by human genius. The
art of book-making does not then seem to have been
known; and there is no reason to suppose that after
the parts had been arranged in their proper order, any
doubts arose in Athens as to the genuineness of the work.
Yet even then the history of the author was so obscure,
that it could not be determined whether he was born in
Asia or Europe, in one of the Grecian islands or on
the Continent; and it is thought doubtful at this day,
by very eminent scholars, as it was also in different
periods of antiquity, whether the whole subject of his
narrative be or be not fabulous, and whether, if founded
on truth, the event was as he has represented it.
This seems therefore to be an argument on which

Dr.