How graceful and animated is that rich and flourishing picture of nature which is exhibited in the sixty-fifth Psalm ; when the prophet, with a fertility of expression correspondent to the subject, praises the beneficence of the Deity in watering the earth and making it fruitful. On a sublime subject also, but still one of the gay and agreeable kind, I mean the inauguration of Solomon, which is celebrated in the seventy-second Psalm, there is such variety and beauty of imagery, such a splendour of diction, such elegance in the composition, that I believe it will be impossible in the whole compass of literature, sacred or profane, to find such an union of sublimity with sweetness and grace.

These few select examples of the elegant and beautiful in lyric composition, I have pointed out for your more attentive consideration; and I am of opinion, that in all the treasures of the Muses you will seek in vain for models more perfect. I will add one other specimen, which, if I am not mistaken, is expressive of the true lyric form and character; and

of prey, and possessed of little knowledge or power of foreseeing or avoiding danger, are indebted for life, safety, and every thing, to the care of the shepherd. We must remember also, that the exiled king had formerly himself been a shepherd. The recollection, therefore, of his past life breaks in upon his mind: "JEHOVAH," says he," is my shepherd, I shall want nothing." It is his province to provide for my existence, and to procure for me those blessings which I am unable to obtain for myself. The tender herb (dasha, which properly the virgin herb, or that which has not budded into seed or blossom) is more grateful to sheep than that which is seeded, gneseb, Gen. i. 10, 11. In meadows, therefore, covered with the green and tender grass, he supposes JEHOVAH to cause him to rest under his care. He was expelled to Lebanon, from the tops of which cataracts of melted snow are constantly falling: these are dangerous for sheep to approach, nor is the water sufficiently wholesome; he therefore adds, that he is led to waters gently flowing, where the clear stream meanders through the fertile plain. The scene which was before his eyes consisted of rude hills, and valleys deep, gloomy, dark, and horrid, the haunts only of the fiercest animals. I would here remark, that the word , which, according to the Masoretic punctuation, is read Tzilmavet, and translated the shadows of death, would be better read Tzilamot, and translated simply shades, or the valley of the shades; and I am led to this conclusion by comparing it with the Arabic. There is no safety for the sheep in these valleys but in the care of the shepherd. You are therefore presented with a great variety of contrasted imagery in this Psalm: on the one hand, the open pastures, and the flowing rivulets, the recollection of which never fails to delight; and, on the other hand, the cheerless and gloomy valleys, which inspire the reader with fresh horror. Descending from figurative to plain language, he next celebrates the bounty of God in preparing him a banquet in the face of his enemies, and therefore regales himself with the delicious hope, that he shall once more be restored to his sacred temple.-M.

Mr Tate (in our common version of the Psalms) has been remarkably fortunate in his paraphrase of the first verses of this Psalm; so much indeed,

compresses in a small compass all the merits and elegance incidental to that species of composition. It is, if I may be allowed to use the expression of a very polite writer,

A drop from Helicon, a flower

Cull'd from the Muse's favourite bower.*

The Psalmist, contemplating the harmony which pervaded the solemn assembly of the people at the celebration of one of their festivals, expresses himself nearly as follows:

PSALM CXXXIII.†

"How blest the sight, the joy how sweet,
When brothers join'd with brothers meet

In bands of mutual love!

Less sweet the liquid fragrance, shed
On Aaron's consecrated head,

Ran trickling from above;

And reach'd his beard, and reach'd his vest:

Less sweet the dews on Hermon's breast

Or Sion's hill descend:

that for simplicity, and a close adherence to the spirit of the original, I cannot help preferring it to the celebrated translation of Mr Addison:

"The Lord himself, the mighty Lord,
Vouchsafes to be my guide;

The shepherd, by whose constant care
My wants are all supplied.

In tender grass he makes me feed,

And gently there repose;

And leads me to cool shades, and where
Refreshing water flows."

The fifteenth Psalm is also admirably translated by the same hand: the last verse in particular is beautiful and sublime; though the classical reader will see that the translator had his eye on the " Si fractus illabatur orbis" of Horace.-T.

* Callimach. Hymn. in Apoll. v. 112.

†This Psalm is one of the fifteen which are entitled Odes of the Ascensions ; that is, which were sung when the people came up either to worship in Jerusalem at the annual festivals, or perhaps from the Babylonish captivity. The return is certainly called "the ascension, or coming up from Babylon,” Ezra vii. 9. And the old Syriac translator, who explains the subjects of the Psalms by apposite titles, refers to this circumstance almost all the Psalms that bear this inscription; some of them indeed without sufficient foundation, but many of them manifestly have relation to it. Theodoret indiscriminately explains them all as relating to the Babylonish captivity; and thus illustrates the title : "Odes of the Ascensions; Theodotion, Songs of the Ascensions; but Symmachus and Aculas, on the Returns. It is evident that the coming up, and the ascent, relate to the return of the people from the Babylonish captivity.” Theod. in Psal. cxx. But we must not omit remarking also, that both in the Old and New Testament there is scarcely a phrase more common than "to go up to Jerusalem, to go up to the feast," &c. (See John vii, 8.) And observe

That hill has God with blessings crown'd,
There promis'd grace that knows no bound,
And life that knows no end."*

above the rest Psal. cxxii. which can scarcely be applied to any thing but the celebration of some festival. What the Jews say about the steps ascending to the temple is unworthy the attention of any person of common sense. In the last period of this Psalm, the particle DV, shom, is necessarily to be referred to the word ', tzion; and there is nothing else to which it can be referred. Besides, to what, except to Sion, can the promises Berachah and Chajom relate? (See particularly Psal. cxxxii. 13. and 15.) These words are indeed ambiguous, so that they may refer either to temporal or eternal happiness, or to both alike. (Compare Deut. xxviii. 2, &c. with Psal. xxiv. 5.; and Prov. xxvii. 27. with Dan. xii. 2.) And in this place, according to the nature of the mystical allegory, they may be interpreted in either sense. If these remarks be true, the critics have taken a great deal of pains about nothing. There is no occasion for emendation. If the ellipsis be only supplied by the word ce-tal,

as the dew, or simply by the particle ve or ce, and or as, before the word descending, (or which descends), the construction will be complete. In the same manner Hezekiah says in Isaiah,

"As a swallow, (and as) a crane, so I chattered."-Chap. xxxviii. 14.— Author's Note.

On a former occasion I thought it necessary to trouble the reader with an imitation of Buchanan's version of this beautiful Psalm. I have since endeavoured to complete it. If the measure should seem in the eyes of some to bear too near a resemblance to that of their old acquaintance Sternhold, I have only to urge, that its simplicity seems to be more suitable to the subject than that which Mr Merrick has adopted. Notwithstanding our Author's ingenious defence of his own (which is also Mr Merrick's) interpretation of the last verse, I am well convinced that Buchanan's version is right, and that the particle shom in the last verse relates to the persons, and not to the place: indeed, not only a great part of the general utility, but even the beauty of this ode is lost, by interpreting it otherwise. The following I submit with all humility to the judgment of the reader, merely that I may not leave the former stanzas imperfect.

PSALM CXXXIII.

Sweet is the love that mutual glows
Within each brother's breast,

And binds in gentlest bonds each heart,
All blessing, and all blest :

Sweet as the odorous balsam pour'd

On Aaron's sacred head,

Which o'er his beard, and down his vest,

A breathing fragrance shed:

Like morning dews on Sion's mount,

That spread their silver rays,

And deck with gems the verdant pomp
Which Hermon's top displays.

To such the Lord of life and love
His blessing shall extend;

On earth a life of joy and peace,

And life that ne'er shall end.-T.

LECTURE XXVI.

THE INTERMEDIATE OR MIXED STYLE OF THE HEBREW ode.

The Lyric Poetry of the intermediate or mixed style consists of an union of sweetness and sublimity-The 91st and 81st Psalms explained and critically illustrated—Of the digressions of the Hebrew poets, also of Pindar; not upon the same principle-A criticism upon the 77th PsalmThe 19th Psalm in English verse.

HAVING dismissed the subject of the more beautiful species of ode, in order to proceed by proper stages to what I deem the summit of excellence and sublimity in the lyric poetry of the Hebrews, it will be necessary to rest a while, and to bestow some little attention upon that middle style of composition, to which I adverted as constituting one of the grand divisions of this order of poems. This again may be considered as admitting of a subdivision, as including both those lyric compositions in which sweetness and sublimity are so uniformly blended, that every part of the poem may be said to partake equally of both; and those in which these qualities separately occur in such a matiner, that the complexion of the poem is altogether changeable and diversified. Of each species I shall endeavour to produce an example or two.

The subject of the ninety-first Psalm is the security, the success, and the rewards of piety. The exordium exhibits the pious man placing all his dependence upon Almighty

God:

"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High;
Who lodgeth under the shadow of the Omnipotent;
Who saith to JEHOVAH, Thou art my hope and my fortress!
My God, in whom I trust!"

• This beautiful exordium has been most egregiously mistaken by the Masorites, and by many commentators and translators; whose errors will be most effectually demonstrated, by removing the difficulties of which they complain. Thus the 78 is in Benoni as well as 2W`; the future 1 also has the force of a participle, by the ellipsis of WN; of which, to go no further, we have three examples in this very Psalm, ver. 5, 6.: thus also Symmachus, who has translated the first verse in this manner:

"He dwelling under the canopy of the Most High,
Lodging under the shadow of the Mighty One.'

And immediately leaving the sentence unfinished, he apostrophizes to the same person whom he had been describing : "He indeed shall deliver thee

From the snare of the fowler, from the destroying pestilence." The imagery that follows is beautiful and diversified, and at the same time uncommonly solemn and sublime:

"With his feathers will he cover thee;

And under his wings shalt thou find protection:
His truth shall be thy shield and thy defence.
Thou shalt not fear from the terror by night;
From the arrow that flieth by day;

From the pestilence that walketh in darkness ;*
From the destruction that wasteth at noon.

A thousand shall fall at thy side;

And ten thousand at thy right hand :

To thee it shall not approach."

How excellent also are the succeeding images- the guard of angels; the treading under foot the fiercest and most formidable animals; and afterwards, that sudden but easy and elegant change of the persons! +

Whence it is plain, that he did not take the verb as if it were the first person of the future, as the Masorites have done; whence principally the error has originated nor indeed has he compacted into one nugatory proposition the two members of the first verse, which are parallel and synonymous. Then in ver. 3. an apostrophe very easy and distinct is made to the person to whom the preceding expressions relate: where it is also to be remarked, that the particle is not causal but affirmative, indeed or in fact, as in Psal. lxxvii. 12. 1 Sam. xiv. 39. and 44. and in many other parts of Scripture. But to demonstrate more clearly this matter by example, the whole form and nature of this exordium is perfectly the same with that of Psal. cxxviii. which has never been considered as involving any obscurity:

"Blessed is every man who feareth JEHOVAH,
And who walketh in his paths:

Thou, indeed, shalt cat the labour of thy hands;
O happy art thou, and well shall it be with thee."

But if, after all, any reader should not be satisfied with the apostrophe formed
from the abrupt sentence, he may take the verb for the third person pre-
terite, as the Syr. does. Thus, the first verse will be the subject, and the second
the predicate of the proposition. To this explication I am not averse, and it is
certainly much better than that which is now generally received.
But even

in this manner, from the condensing of two verses into one sentence, there will arise a languor in the sentiment, and they will form almost one and the same proposition. —Author's Note.

See a note on the History of the Caliph Vathek, p. 245. and 319.-T. + I apprehend there is no change of person till the 14th verse; for the 9th verse I take to be of quite a different nature:

"For thou, JEHOVAH, art my hope:

Very high hast thou placed thy refuge."

T