than two from Isaiah. The first from the historical narration of the confederacy between the Syrians and the Israelites against the kingdom of Judah, "which when it was told unto the king," says the prophet, "his heart was moved, and the hearts of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind."17 The other is a poetical comparison, which is fuller and more diffuse than the custom of the Hebrews generally admits; the subject of correspondent application, however, is perfectly exact. The divine grace, and its effects, are compared with showers that fertilize the earth: an image which is uniformly appropriated to that purpose: "Nam sicut descendit pluvia, "Et nix de coelo ; "Atque illuc non revertitur, "Donec irrigaverit tellurem, "Eamque foecundaverit, et fecerit germinare; "Ut det semen serenti et panem comedenti: "Non ad me revertetur irritum, "Quin effecerit quodcunque volui, "Et feliciter transegerit quod ei mandavi.”18 (B) More examples, and of superior elegance, may be found in the Song of Solomon:19 it must not, indeed, be dissembled, that there are some in that poem, which are very reprehensible, on account of that general dissonance and fanciful agreement, which I have just remarked as a great imperfection attending the free use of this figure.20 We must be cautious, however, lest in some cases we charge the poet with errors, which are in reality our own; since many of the objects which suggested these comparisons, are greatly obscured, and some of them removed entirely beyond the sphere of our knowledge by distance of time and place. It is the part of a wise man not rashly to condemn what we are able but partially to compre hend. These three forms, according to which, for the sake of perspicuity, I have ventured to class comparisons in general, are however not so incompatible, that they may not occasionally meet, and be variously blended with each other. That indeed appears to be the most perfect comparison which combines all these different objects, 17 ISAI. vii. 2. 18 ISAI. IV. 10, 11. 19 See CANT. iv. 1-5, farther explained Lect. XXXI. 20 See CANT. vii. 2-4. and while it explains, serves at the same time to amplify and embellish the subject; and which possesses evidence and elevation, seasoned with elegance and variety. A more complete example is scarcely to be found than that passage, in which Job impeaches the infidelity and ingratitude of his friends, who in his adversity denied him those consolations of tenderness and sympathy, which in his prosperous state, and when he needed them not, they had lavished upon him he compares them with streams, which, increased by the rains of winter, overflow their borders, and display for a little time a copious and majestic torrent; but with the first impulse of the solar beams are suddedly dried up, and leave those, who unfortunately wander through the deserts of Arabia, destitute of water, and perishing with thirst.21 Thus far of comparisons in general, and of their matter and intention it remains to add a few words concerning the particular form and manner, in which the Hebrews usually exhibit them. The Hebrews introduce comparisons more frequently perhaps than the poets of any other nation; but the brevity of them in general compensates for their abundance. The resemblance usually turns upon a single circumstance: that they explain in the most simple terms, rarely introducing any thing at all foreign to the purpose. The following example, therefore, is almost singular, since it is loaded with an extraordinary accession, or I might almost say a superfluity of adjuncts: "Erunt sicut herba tectorum, "Quae priusquam efflorescet exaruit : "Benedictio Iehovae vobis adsit;22 "Benedicimus vobis in nomine Iehovae."23 The usual practice of the Hebrews is, indeed, very different from this sometimes a single word, and commonly a very short sentence, comprehends the whole comparison. This peculiarity proceeds from the nature of the sententious style, which is always predominant in the Hebrew poetry, and, as I before remarked, consists in condensing and compressing every exuberance of expression, and rendering 21 JOB vi. 15-20. 22 A customary expression made use of in this business. See RUTH ii. 4. 23 PSALM CXxix. 6-8. See also PSALM CXXXiii. 3. it close and pointed. Thus, in the very parts in which other poets are copious and diffuse, the Hebrews, on the contrary, are brief, energetic, and animated; not gliding along in a smooth and equal stream, but with the inequality and impetuosity of a torrent. Thus their comparisons assume a peculiar form and appearance; for it is not so much their custom to dilate and embellish each particular image with a variety of adjuncts, as to heap together a number of parallel and analogous comparisons, all of which are expressed in a style of the utmost brevity and simplicity. Moses compares the celestial influence of the divine song, which he utters by the command of God, with showers which water the fields; and on an occasion when a Greek or Latin poet would have been contented with a single comparison, perhaps a little more diffused and diversified, he has introduced two pairs of similes exactly expressive of the same thing: "Destillabit, ut pluvia, doctrina mea; "Fluet, ut ros, mea oratio: "Ut imbres tenuissimi in herbas; "Ut densae guttulae in gramina."24 The Psalmist makes use of the same form in the following: "Fac, Deus mi, ut sint instar glumae rotatae, "Instar stipulae correptae vento: "Ut saltum comburit ignis, "Ut montes incendit flamma; "Sic tu illos tua tempestate persequere, "Tuoque turbine consternatos age."25(c) This is, indeed, the most common, but by no means the only form which this figure assumes in the Hebrew poetry there is another, in which the comparison is more diffusively displayed; in which case the equal distribution of the sentences is still strictly adhered to; the image itself, however, is not repeated, but its attributes, which explain one another in two parallel sentences; as Moses has done in a comparison immediately following that which I just now quoted, in which he compares the care and paternal affection of the Deity for his people, with the natural tenderness of the eagle for its young: "Ut Aquila excitat identidem nidum suum; "26 24 DEUT. XXxii. 2. 25 PSALM. lxxxiii. 13-15. 26 DEUT. Xxxii. 11. The same is observable also in that most elegant comparison of Job, which I formerly commended; and which for this reason I shall now quote entire, by way of conclusion: "Fratres mei perfide egerent sicut torrens, "In quos resoluta absconditur nix: "Quo tempore aestu afficiuntur, pereunt; "Perveniunt illuc, et erubescunt."27(D) 27 JOB vi. 15-20, LECTURE XIII. OF THE PROSOPOPŒIA, OR PERSONIFICATION Two kinds of Personification: when a character is assigned to fictitious or inanimate objects, and when a probable speech is attributed to a real person-Of fictitious and inanimate characters; of real characters-The Prosopopeia of the mother of Sisera (in the song of Deborah) explained: also the triumphal song of the Israelites concerning the death of the king of Babylon, (in Isaiah) which consists altogether of this figure, and exhibits it in all its different forms. THE last in order of those figures, which I proposed to treat of, as being most adapted to the parabolic style, is the Prosopopœia, or Personification.(A) Of this figure there are two kinds. One, when action and character are attributed to fictitious, irrational, or even inanimate objects; the other, when a probable but fictitious speech is assigned to a real character. The former evidently partakes of the nature of the metaphor, and is by far the boldest and most daring of that class of figures. Seasonably introduced, therefore, it has uncommon force and expression; and in no hands whatever is more successful in this respect than in those of the Hebrew writers: I may add also, that none more frequently or more freely introduce it. In the first place then, with respect to fictitious characters, the Hebrews have this in common with other poets, that they frequently assign character and action to an abstract or general idea, and introduce it in a manner acting, and even speaking as upon a stage. In this, while they equal the most refined writers in elegance and grace, they greatly excel the most sublime in force and majesty. What, indeed, can be conceived apter, more beautiful, or more sublime, than that personification of Wisdom, which Solomon so frequently introduces? exhibiting her not only as the director of human life and morals, as the inventor of arts, as the dispenser of wealth, of honour, and of real felicity; but as the immortal offspring of the omnipotent Creator, and as the eternal associate in the divine counsels : "Cum Iehova coelos ornaret, ego adfui; "Cum super faciem abyssi circulum describeret: "Cum stabiliret abyssi fontes ; |