But I fear to pursue such investigations any further, and shall leave the above remarks to the indulgent criticism of the learned. Ur, or Edessa, as it was then called, and the capital of the kingdom of Osrhoene, finally became a part of the Roman Empire in the East under Severus, A.D. 316. At that time the purest Syriac dialect was spoken here, where it has now almost disappeared, except as the language of the Jacobite rituals. Here, also, about a hundred years later flourished the famous school which gave birth to the most celebrated apostles of Nestorianism. Edessa fell into the hands of the Saracens in the eighth century, from whom it was wrested by Baldwin, A.D. 1097. The Crusaders only kept possession for about sixty years, and were expelled in their turn by the Seljukians under Zenghi the prince of the Atabeks of Syria.
gleaned during my translation of the Nestorian rituals, have led me to believe that a thorough examination of the few ancient Syriac MSS. now extant, might throw light upon the first dynasties of Babylonia and Assyria, and be useful in aiding and corroborating the studies of those learned scholars who are engaged in deciphering the long-forgotten records engraved upon the monuments of Nimrood and Koyoonjuk.
