ing certain facts (if any there be) from uncertain conjecture, and demonstrating how imperfect our information must of necessity be upon this topic. Were the inquiry, however, concerning the Hebrew metre to be wholly overlooked; yet, since some vestiges of verse are discernible, a few observations of a general nature will probably occur, which we shall in the first place slightly advert to, and afterwards, as occasion serves, particularize and explain.

That part of these lectures, on the other hand, which treats of the style of the Hebrew poetry, will afford very ample scope for disquisition; since it possesses not only all the principal excellencies which are common to poetry, but possesses many also which are proper and peculiar to itself.

In the remaining part, which though first in order and dignity, will be the last to be treated of, we must with diligence, (as considering the difficulty of the subject) and at the same time with caution engage; lest while we wander too much at large in the ample field of poetry, we should imprudently break in upon the sacred boundaries of theology. It will be our business on this occasion to distribute the Hebrew poems, according to their different species, into different classes; to consider in each what is most worthy of attention; and perhaps to compare them with those of Greece and Rome, if there be any extant of the same kind.

The necessity of inquiring into the nature of the Hebrew verse--The Hebrew poetry proved to be metrical from the alphabetical poems, and from the equality and correspondence of the sentiments; also from the poetical diction-Some of the most obvious properties of the verse -The rhythm and mode of scanning totally lost: proved from facts-The poetical conformation of the sentences-The Greek and Latin poetry materially different from the Hebrew, from the very nature of the languages-Hence a peculiar property in the prose versions of the Hebrew poetry and the attempts to exhibit this poetry in the verse of other languages.

On the very first attempt to elucidate the nature of the sacred poetry, a question presents itself uncommonly difficult and obscure, concerning the nature of the Hebrew verse. This question I would indeed gladly have avoided, could I have abandoned it consistently with my design. But since it appears essential to every species of poetry, that it be confined to numbers, and consist of some kind of verse, (for indeed wanting this, it would not only want its most agreeable attributes, but would scarcely deserve the name of poetry) in treating of the poetry of the Hebrews, it appears absolutely necessary to demonstrate, that those parts at least of the Hebrew writings which we term poetic, are in a metrical form, and to inquire whether any thing be certainly known concerning the nature and principles of this versification or not. This part of my subject therefore I undertake, not as hoping to illustrate it by any new observations, but merely with a view of inquiring whether it will admit of any illustration at all. Even this I shall attempt with brevity and caution, as embarked upon an ocean dishonoured by the shipwreck of many eminent persons, and therefore presuming only to coast along the shore.

In the first place (notwithstanding that a contrary opinion has been supported by some of the learned) I think it will be sufficiently

apparent, if we but advert to them a little more attentively, that certain of the Hebrew writings are not only animated with the true poetic spirit, but in some degree confined to numbers. For there ap

pear in almost every part of them such marks and vestiges of verse, as could scarcely be expected to remain in any language, after the sound and pronunciation (as is the case with the Hebrew at present) were, through extreme antiquity, become almost totally obsolete.

There existed a certain kind of poetry among the Hebrews, principally intended, it should seem, for the assistance of the memory : in which, when there was little connexion between the sentiments, a sort of order or method was preserved, by the initial letters of each line or stanza following the order of the alphabet. Of this there are several examples extant among the sacred poems ;1 and in these examples the verses are so exactly marked and defined, that it is impossible to mistake them for prose; and particularly if we attentively consider the verses, and compare them with one another, since they are in general so regularly accommodated, that word answers to word, and almost syllable to syllable. This being the case, though an appeal can scarcely be made to the ear on this occasion, the eye itself will distinguish the poetic division and arrangement, and also that some labour and accuracy has been employed in adapting the words to the measure.

The Hebrew poetry has likewise another property altogether peeuliar to metrical composition. Writers who are confined within the trammels of verse, are generally indulged with the license of using words in a sense and manner remote from their common acceptation, and in some degree contrary to the analogy of the language; so that sometimes they shorten them by taking from the number of the syllables, and sometimes venture to add a syllable for the sake of adapting them to their immediate purpose. This practice is not only effectual to the facilitating of the versification, but also to the prevention of satiety by varying the sounds, and by imparting to the style a certain peculiar colouring, which elevates it above the language of the vulgar. Poetry therefore always makes use of some such artifice, as accords best with the genius of each language. This is exemplified particularly in two respects: First, in the use of glosses or foreign language; and secondly, in that of certain irreg

1 Psalm xxv. xxxiv. xxxvii. cxi. cxii. cxix. cxlv. Prov. xxxi. from the 10th verse to the end. The whole of the Lamentations of Jeremiah except the last chapter.

ular or less received forms of common words.2 The extreme liberty which the Greeks allowed themselves in these respects, is remarkable; and their language, beyond every other, because of the variety and copiousness of the different dialects, which prevailed in the several states of Greece, was peculiarly favourable to it. Next to them none perhaps have admitted these liberties more freely than the Hebrews, who not only by the use of glosses, but by that of anomalous language, and chiefly of certain particles peculiar to metrical composition, and added frequently at the end of words, have so varied their style, as to form to themselves a distinct poetical dialect. Thus far, therefore, I think we may with safety affirm, that the Hebrew poetry is metrical. (A) One or two of the peculiarities also of their versification it may be proper to remark, which, as they are very observable in those poems, in which the verses are defined by the initial letters, may at least be reasonably conjectured of the rest. The first of these is, that the verses are very unequal in length; the shortest consisting of six or seven syllables; the longest extending to about twice that number; the same poem is, however, generally continued throughout in verses not very unequal to each other. I must also observe, that the close of the verse generally falls where the members of the sentences are divided.

As to the real quantity, the rhythm, or modulation, these from the present state of the language seem to be altogether unknown, and even to admit of no investigation by human art or industry. It is indeed evident, that the true Hebrew pronunciation is totally lost. The rules concerning it, which were devised by the modern Jews many ages after the language of their ancestors had fallen into disuse, have been long since suspected by the learned to be destitute of authority and truth: for if in reality the Hebrew language is to be conformed to the positions of these men, we must be under the necessity of confessing, not only, what we at present experience, that the Hebrew poetry possesses no remains of sweetness or harmony, but that it never was possessed of any. The truth is, it was neither possible for them to recal the true pronunciation of a language long since obsolete, and to institute afresh the rules of orthoepy; nor can any person in the persent age so much as hope to effect any thing to the purpose by the aid of conjecture, in a matter so remote from our senses, and so involved in obscurity. In this respect, indeed, the delicacy of all languages is most remarkable. After they cease to

2 See Aristot. Poet. 2.

be spoken, they are still significant of some sound; but that in the mouth of a stranger becomes most dissonant and barbarous: the vital grace is wanting, the native sweetness is gone, the colour of primeval beauty is faded and decayed. The Greek and Latin doubtless have now lost much of their pristine and native sweetness; and as they are spoken, the pronunciation is different in different nations, but every where barbarous, and such as Attic or Roman ears would not have been able to endure. In these, however, the rhythm or quantity remains, each retains its peculiar numbers, and the versification is distinct: but the state of the Hebrew is far more unfavourable, which, destitute of vowel sounds, has remained altogether silent (if I may use the expression) incapable of utterance upwards of two thousand years. Thus, not so much as the number of syllables, of which each word consisted, could with any certainty be defined, much less the length or quantity of the syllables : (B) and since the regulation of the metre of any language must depend upon two particulars, I mean the number and the length of the syllables, the knowledge of which is utterly unattainable in the Hebrew, he who attempts to restore the true and genuine Hebrew versification, erects an edifice without a foundation. To some of those indeed who have laboured in this matter, thus much of merit is to be allowed; that they rendered the Hebrew poetry, which formerly sounded uncommonly harsh and barbarous, in some degree softer and more polished; they indeed furnished it with a sort of versification, and metrical arrangement, when baffled in their attempts to discover the real. That we are justified in attributing to them any thing more than this, is neither apparent from the nature of the thing, nor from the arguments with which they attempt to defend their conjectures.3 Their endeavours in truth would rather tend to supersede all inquiry on a subject which the most learned and ingenious have investigated in vain; and induce us to relinquish as lost, what we see cannot be retrieved.

But although nothing certain can be defined concerning the metre of the particular verses, there is yet another artifice of poetry to be remarked of them when in a collective state, when several of them are taken together. In the Hebrew poetry, as I before remarked, there may be observed a certain conformation of the sentences, the nature of which is, that a complete sense is almost equally infused into every component part, and that every member constitutes an entire verse. So that as the poems divide themselves in a man

3 See the brief confutation of Bishop Hare's Hebrew Metres.