But past transgressions pain me: From all presumptuous sin. Thoughts, words, and motives be, As a companion to this morning hymn of the royal Psalmist's, we may take the eighth Psalm, which was evidently a moonlight meditation. Dr. Watts has turned it into a very good hymn of praise to the Redeemer, and with great propriety, considering the use made of the Psalm in the New Testament; but this does not appear to have entered into the original design of the royal Poet. We shall here take the liberty of again giving, first, the Bishop's version, and then our own, premising that, for the purpose of psalmody, we think Dr. Watt's version decidedly the most appropriate. 'PSALM VIII. How great, Jehovah, sovereign Lord, Above the vastness of the sky! The infant's mouth, the suckling's tongue, By Thee to notes of praise are strung; • When yon blue vault of peerless light, Lord, what is man, that he should prove Flocks, and all herds; the desert brood; PSALM VIII. How excellent through all the earth thy name, With moon and stars, each in its separate sphere, That roam the earth, or creep, or on fleet pinion Lord of this beauteous world till sin had birth. Our Second Adam shall repair that fall. How excellent, O Lord, thy name through all the earth! It is by no means our wish to detract from the merit which we think fairly due to the learned Prelate for this new metrical version. We rejoice in being able to give our unqualified approbation to the direction which his labours have taken, and to the design of the present work; and if we cannot compliment him very highly on his versification, the illustrations of the Psalms which are supplied in the notes, will render the volume both interesting and useful. We regret, indeed, that Bishops Lowth, Horne, and Horsley should have been the only writers whom he has thought it needful for a brother bishop to consult, except Sternhold and Hopkins, Merrick's Psalms, and the Lexicons. Bishop Horne would afford little critical assistance: the charm of his work is its piety. Bishop Horsley's translation is a still more unsafe guide. Bishop Mant's library must be very defective in works of Biblical criticism; but it does him credit, that he makes no pretensions to a deeper acquaintance with Hebrew literature than these references bespeak. This, however, is not at all the reason that he has not better succeeded in a task, the varied difficulties of which render the mere attempt honourable, and failure respectable. We think that he has undertaken too much in proposing to give a new metrical version of the whole Book of Psalms. Such a work was less wanted, than a judicious selection of the best versions which exist, together with a new version of such as have been the most inadequately rendered. It will be gathered from the preceding observations, also, that we think a metrical translator of the Psalms not likely to suc ceed, who undertakes to adapt the originals to the purpose of Psalmody. If we would have a fair representation of the Psalms as poetry, this purpose must be quite discarded by the Translator; and he must confine himself, as he would in translating the Odes of Pindar or of Sophocles, to giving the spirit of the text in measures that may express, as far as the structure and genius of our language admit, the character of the original. Nor must he take up the Psalms as a uniform series of poems, admitting of the same sort of treatment, and go doggedly through with the versification of them in any metre that may chance to turn up in his mind. Their common title as Psalms has contributed to mislead the translator in this respect. Because they have the same appearance in the English Bible, it by no means follows, that, in the Hebrew original, their metrical structure was the same. Some are alphabetical acrostics, a sort of inversion of rhyme, and probably designed to answer a similar purpose, by aiding the memory. In some, the parallelisms are less marked and artificial than in others, ⚫ and their construction is altogether different. Those Psalms that were intended for musical recitation, appear, from the titles, to have been adapted for several different modes or different accompaniments. These and other variations of character in these ancient compositions, besides many which it has no doubt become impossible to trace out, suggest the necessity of a careful and delicate discrimination in giving them an analogous poetical dress in a modern tongue. An approach to this can be made only by endeavouring to catch the precise spirit of the original. We cannot perceive that Dr. Mant has proceeded upon any such principle in the adoption of his metres. In some cases, the measure appears to us the least in unison with the character of the Psalm that could have been chosen. Thus, for instance, Psalm xxix, to which the solemn march of our blank verse would be, we are inclined to think, the only appropriate one, the Bishop has selected the metre of Handel's noble tune, called the 104th: we applaud his musical taste, but not his choice of such words as these for the music. • The voice of the Lord the darkness divides, The voice of the Lord speeds the hind to her throes; The forest dismantled his majesty shews, And all in his temple his praises resound. one 'Jehovah is set o'er the water-flood high: The translation adopted in the fifth line is admitted, in the notes, to be an error in our version; but the Bishop has strangely preferred giving both interpretations,' the right and the wrong. The xciiird and the cxviiith Psalms are also instances of inappropriate metre. At other times, the Bishop is more happy. The 1th, lxviith, lxviiith, lxxiiird, lxxxth, lxxxist, lxxxviith, and xcist, strike us as the best in the volume. We shall make room for two of these. The lxviith Psalm has been very tolerably rendered in Tate and Brady's version. The following is pleasing and spirited, with the exception of the abrupt introduction of the name of Deity, which occurs elsewhere in the volume, and is, we think, highly objectionable. God, to us thy mercy shew, Shew the brightness of thy face, Let their voice the nations raise ; 'Let them sing with holy mirth: One and all, to chaunt thy praise, 'Then the earth shall cast abroad We select the lxviiith as our last specimen, because it is one of the most difficult, and at the same time most poetical compositions of all the Psalms. The Bishop follows Dr. Chandler's division of the Psalm into five parts. 'PART I. • Let God arise; and speedy flight Before the sight of God th' ungodly shall expire. The righteous shall salute their King; Of HIM who ever IS: JEHOVAH is his name! The orphan with paternal love He rears, and pleads the widow's case: Tho' far he dwell in light above, Shrin'd in his high and holy place. He the lone outcast's dwelling seeks; The pining captive's fetters breaks : Gives them to taste the joys of home, But leaves the rebel rout the weary wild to roam. Thy might, O God, to see; the God of Israel's might. What time declin'd thy people's pow'r, Faint with fatigue, with famine spent ; O God, in many a copious show'r Thy heav'ns refreshing comfort sent. The Lord their wants with food supplied: It girt the camp in circuit wide. The Lord for battle gave the word: From many a virgin lip triumphant strains were heard. 6 Kings with their armies fled; they fled: Their spoils the peaceful housewife shares. God sped their flight; and round us shed Light such as snow-clad Salmon wears. |