She hath none to comfort her, among all her lovers: I shall now give examples of the same sort of verse, where the limits of the verses are to be collected only from the poetical construction of the sentences: and first from the books acknowledged on all hands to be poetical; and of these we must have recourse to the Psalms only; for I believe there is not a single instance of this sort of verse to be found in the poem in the Proverbs of Solomon. "The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul : The testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple : The precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of Jehovah is clear, enlightening the eyes:: The fear of Jehovah is pure, enduring for ever: The judgments of Jehovah are truth; they are altogether righteous: More desirable than gold, and than much fine gold; .. "That our sons may be like plants, growing up in their youth: Our daughters like the corner-pillars, carved for the structure of a palace: Our store-houses full, producing all kinds of provision : Our flocks bringing forth thousands, ten thousands in our fields: Our oxen strong to labour; no irruption, no captivity; And no outcry in our streets.” Psal. cxliv. 12-14. 66 "O! how great is thy goodness which thou hast treasured up, for them that fear thee; Which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee, before the sons of men! Thou wilt hide them in the secret place of thy presence, from the vexations of man; Thou wilt keep them safe in the tabernacle, from the strife of tongues." Psal. xxxi. 19, 20. "A sound of a multitude in the mountains, as of many people; A sound of the tumult of kingdoms, of nations gathered together: Jehovah God of hosts mustereth the host for the battle. They come from a distant land, from the end of heaven; Jehovah and the instruments of his wrath, to destroy the whole land." Isa. xiii. 4, 5. "They are turned backward, they are utterly confounded, who trust in the graven image; Who say unto the molten image, ye are our gods !" 66 Isa. xlii. 17. They are ashamed, they are even confounded, his adversaries, all of them; a Together they retire in confusion, the fabricators of images: a See the note on the place. But Israel shall be saved in Jehovah, with eternal sal vation; Ye shall not be ashamed, neither shall ye be confounded, to the ages of eternity." Isa. xlv. 16, 17. These examples, all except the two first, are of long verses thrown in, irregularly, but with design, between verses of another sort; among which they stand out, as it were, somewhat distinguished in regard to their matter as well as their form. I think, I perceive some peculiarities in the cast and structure of these verses, which mark them, and distinguish them from those of the other sort. The closing pause of each line is generally very full and strong and in each line commonly, towards the end, at least beyond the middle of it, there is a small rest, or interval, depending on the sense and grammatical construction, which I would call a half-pause. The conjunction, the common particle of connection, which abounds in the Hebrew language, and is very often used without any necessity at all, seems to be frequently and studiously omitted at the half-pause: the remaining clause being added, to use a grammatical term, by apposition to some word preceding; or coming in as an adjunct, or circumstance depending on the former part, and completing the sentence. This gives a certain air to these verses, which may be esteemed in some sort as characteristic of the kind. The first four Lamentations are four distinct poems consisting uniformly and entirely of the long verse, which may therefore be properly called the elegiac verse; from those elegies, which give the plainest and the most undoubted examples of it. There may perhaps be found many other very probable examples in the same kind: but this is what I cannot pretend to determine with any certainty. Such, I think, are the 42d and 43d Psalms; which I imagine make one entire poem, and ought not to have been divided into two Psalms: the lines are all of the longer kind, except the third line of b a In the second Lamentation, the second line of the 4th period is deficient in length; and so likewise is the 31st verse of the third Lamentation. In the former, two words are lost out of the text; in the latter one. This will plainly appear by supplying those words from the Chaldee paraphrase, which has happily preserved them. They prove their own genuineness by making the lines of a just length, and by completely restoring the sense; which in the former is otherwise not unexceptionable, in the latter, manifestly imperfect. I will add the lines; with the words supplied, included in crotchets : ויהרג [כל נער] כל מחמדי עין "And he slew [every youth,] all that were desirable to the eye.' כי לא יזנח לעולם [עבדיו] אדני "For the Lord will not cast off [his servants] for ever." b This conjecture, offered some years ago, has since been confirmed by twenty-two MSS. which join them together. the intercalary stanza three times inserted; which third line, like that at the close of an example given above from the 144th Psalm, is of the shorter kind of verse; somewhat like the Paroemiac verse of the Greeks, which commonly makes the close of a set of anapæstic verses. Such likewise may perhaps be the 101st Psalm; which seems to consist of fourteen long verses, or seven distichs, thus divided: "Mercy and judgment will I celebrate; to thee, O Jehovah, will I sing. I will act circumspectly in the perfect way; when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk with a perfect heart, in the midst of my house; I will not set before mine eyes, a wicked thing: Him, that dealeth unfaithfully, I hate; he shall not cleave A unto me; perverse Whoso slandereth in secret his friend, him will I destroy. The lofty of eyes, and the proud of heart, him I will not endure. Mine eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: Whoso walketh in the perfect way, he shall minister un to me: He shall not dwell within my house, who practiseth deceit. He, that speaketh falsehood, shall not be established in my sight. |