Historical Statements of the Koran [pp. 195-230]

Historical Statements of the Koran.
Let us mount upon their shoulders, not grovel at their feet.
L,et us take the stuff whsich they provide for us, and mould it
for ourselves, to suit our own peculiarities of language, habit,
genius, wants, and prospects. Let our books be English, not
Anglo-French or Anglo-German. Let us not make them as
the Chinese tailor made the tar's new jacket, with a patch to
suit the old one.
To return to grammars-though what we said above may
seem directly applicable only to those written in one language to explain another, it applies, a fortiori, to what are
called native grammars, whichl are merely designed to reduce into systematic form the knowledge previously gathered
by empirical induction. To those who have become familiar
with a language in the concrete by extensive reading, such
works are highly useful and need no translation. To beginners they are useless; for they presuppose the knowledge
which beginners want. Besides, they are utntraznslatable,
as Mr. Smith justly affirms-with special reference, indeed,
to Bahth El Mutalib, of which we klnow nothing but through
him. We may add, however, that even if that work admitted of translation, it would scarcely throw more light upon
the subject than de Sacy's lucid digest (pre-eminently lucid
after all deductions, drawbacks, and exceptions) the fruit of
most laborious and long continued study of numerous authorities-a work, too, which has had more indirect influence on biblical philology than many are aware of. *
When de Sacy has been mastered and exhausted, he may
very fairly be condemned and thrown aside. To those who
would prefer a shorter grammar and the Latin tongue, Rosenmiiller's book may be safely recommended. It is Erpenius re-written, with improvements from de Sacy. Meanwhile, we look with some impatience for the forthcoming
work of Ewald, whose acuteness, ingenuity, and habits of research, afford the promise of a masterly performance.
It must be owned, however, that we do need reading-books,
or Readers, for beginners. Most of the Chrestomathies
prepared in Europe appear to presuppose some acquaintance
with the Koran.t For us this will not answer. Here, where
the study is, at most, but nascent, we need an introduction to
* No one, we think who is familiar with de Sacy's noble work, can fail to
recognise its agency in giving form, perspicuity, and richness to the famous
Lehrgebaude of Gesenius.
t See, for example, the preface to de Sacy's Chrestomnathlie Arabe, Paris, 1826.
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