the full and correct expression of the thought, is and
should be a first consideration; the translator should take no liberties
with the text, by way either of omission, alteration, or compromise; he
must in no way vitiate the thought; and if he keep within this rule,
he will have escaped just criticism, and may claim the merit of
faithfulness to his task. Has Mr. Sawyer, then, in his New Testament,
given a strictly literal rendering? and is it an improvement on
the common version? We have space for only a few specimens of his
translation, and we have taken some of the first that attracted our
notice; it will be observed that they are none of them abstruse or
disputed passages.

COMMON VERSION.

_Matt_. ii. 16.

"Then Herod, when he saw that he was _mocked_ of the _wise men_, was
exceeding wroth, and sent forth and _slew_ all the children that were in
Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under,
according to the time which he _had diligently inquired_ of the _wise
men_."

SAWYER'S VERSION.

_Chap_. ii. _verse_ 4.

"Then Herod seeing that he was _despised_ by the _Magi_, was exceedingly
angry, and sent and _destroyed_ all the children, in Bethlehem, and in
all its borders, from two years old and under, according to the precise
time which he _had learned_ of the _Magi_."

Here is a comparison of the two translations of a simple narrative text
taken at random. The essential changes (improvements?) made by Mr.
Sawyer are in the words which we have Italicized. Two of these changes,
the substitution of "Magi" for "wise men," and of "destroyed" for
"slew," we shall pass with the single observation, that the rendering
of the common version is in both instances the more accurate and better
expressed. Mr. Sawyer substitutes "despised" for "mocked," as the
translation of [Greek: henepaichthae]. Is this literal? or is it an
improvement? The Greek verb [Greek: hemaiso] has the signification
primarily _to deride, to mock, to scoff at_, and secondarily _to delude,
to deceive, to disappoint_, but it has not the meaning to _despise_. The
word _mock_ is used in our language in both these significations,--in
the secondary sense when it refers to men's hopes or expectations,--as,
_to mock one's hopes_, that is, to delude or disappoint one's
expectations. In this sense, and in this alone, it is obviously used in
this passage. The wise men did not scoff at King Herod, but they did
delude him; they mocked