The Annotated Bible ; being a Household Commentary upon the
Holy Scriptures. By the Rev. John Henry Blunt, M.A. Vol. I. Genesis to Esther, with the General Introduction. (Rivingtons.)—This laborious work, the greater part of which has been executed by Mr. Blunt, single-handed, seems to fulfil in a creditable way, as far as we have been able to examine it, the promise of the title-page, that it. comprehends "the results of modern discovery and oritioism." The annotations on the narrative of the Deluge, to take an instance, con- trast favourably, in respect of the good-sense which they display, with some of a more pretentious kind that we have usually seem There is, anyhow, nothing so ridiculous as the suggestion that the " mountains" which were covered were the small tumuli in the Babylonian plain. We could wish, indeed, that the commentator could have always freed himself from trammels which orthodoxy supposes itself constrained to bear. But it is not fair to judge by isolated passages, where the traditions of Biblical annotation are so likely to prevail. Mr. Blunt's general method of dealing with the text will satisfy the reader who seeks information rather than con- troversy, and is content to let alone difficulties which have no real bearing on the essentials of belief.
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