"Hos, inquam, versus ad divinum nescio quid pertinere existimant. Quid? cum scribat Mimnermus, belle, ut solet, Τὶς δὲ βιός, τὶ δὲ τερπνὸν ἄνευ χρυσῆς ̓Αφροδίτης ; Κρυπταδίη φιλότης, καὶ μείλιχα δώρα, καὶ εὔνη quisquamne arbitratur poetam per auream illam Venerem per dulcia amoris dona, per furtivos illos complexus, pietatem et divinum amorem intelligere? Cur ideo putemus Mesihium, poetam Turcicum, cum dicat elegantissime, "Ne me, Deus, in sepulchrum perducas, "Donec amicæ meæ gremium amplexu teneam," quippiam reconditum aut cœleste innuisse? Quid? Hafezianos, "Pulvinar in rosarium affer, ut pulchri pueri et ancillæ versus illos "Labia premas, genas osculeris, et vinum bibas rosæ odore præditum :" Et illos, "A gena puellæ nymphæ similem habentis vultum, Tanquam Hafez, merum hauri :" Et illum ardenti affectu plenum, "Labium super labium pone, o vini ministra, et dulcem meam animam ebibe :" annon ad terrenos amores spectare consendum est? "Quod si plura argumenta ex ipsis poetarum Asiaticorum carminibus depromenda sint, permulta proferre possimus exempla, quibus perspicuum sit Hafezo atque aliis, Mohammedem et ipsam religionem ludibrio fuisse; velut cum dicat, Et "Acre illud (vinum) quod vir religiosus (Mohammedes) matrem pecca"torum vocitat, "Optabilius nobis ac dulcius videtur quam virginis suavium :" "Nos vino puro amoris inebriamur, "Fontes autem cœlestes (Salsebil et Cafur) non sitimus:" Et alibi plus millies. "Ac profecto satis intelligere nequimus, cur poetas credamus hujusmodi involucris ac tegumentis velle celare eas virtutes, quibus nihil laudabilius esse potest, pietatem ac Dei cultum ; amores vero impudicos, et qui maxime humano generi dedecori sint, aperte profiteri. Multo certe verisimilius est, poetas illos, utcunque sensum quendam occultum innuere videantur, eo solum prætextu uti, ut cives suos credulos et religiosos decipiant, et voluptatibus liberius indulgeant. Ac ne ipsis quidem Persis, (doctioribus scilicet) Hafezi carmina arcanam habere significationem visa sunt: nam Sudius, omnium eruditissimus interpretum, proprium tantum verborum sensum in illius versibus explicat. Præterea memoriæ proditum est, (illo poeta mortuo) primarios urbis Shirazi viros, sepulturam ei ob carminum impudicitiam concedere noluisse; cum vero magna esset inter eos concertatio, aliis ut sepeliretur suadentibus, aliis vehementer dehortantibus, ad sortes se contulisse, et ipsius poetæ librum divinationis causa aperuisse; cum autem primus, qui sese illis obtulit versus, esset, "Gressum noli retorquere ab Hafezi exequiis, "Tametsi enim peccatis demersus sit, in coelum intrabit;" sacerdotes illico consensisse, et poetam humavisse in illo loco, Mosella dicto, quem ipse in carminibus celebravisset. Ita disputant utriusque sententiæ propugnatores: equidem veterum Academicorum morem, nihil ut affirmem, strenue tenebo; ita tamen ut non negem, quin mihi disputatio secunda ad veritatem propensior esse videatur." This subject will be resumed in the Notes on Lect. XXXI. S. NOTES ON LECTURE XII. [A. p. 97.] ISAIAH XVII. 12, 13. are wanting לְאֵמַּיִם כִּשְׁאוֹן מַיִם כַּבִּידִים יִשָׁאוּן,These five words in seven manuscripts: in two of them, v. 12, for 2 we read So also the Syriac version, which agrees with them. These five words are not, necessary to the sense and seem to be repeated only by the carelessness of the transcriber. KENNICOTT. Crisin hanc Kennicotianam in hunc locum merito castigat DAV. KOCHERVS in Vindiciis S. Textus Hebraei Esaiae Vatis adversus Roberti Lowthi Criticam (Bern. 1786. in octon.), p. 102. his verbis: "Enimvero verborum phrasiumque repetitiones illae cum venustate, et gratia maiorem vim atque virtutem coniungunt, ut nihil inde tolli, locumque aliis similibus apud Esaiam repetitionibus defendendis enotari cupiam. Ecquis non laudat Virgiliana e. g. illa (Eclog. VII. 4): Et Ecl. x. 75. Ambo florentes aetatibus, Arcades ambo. Surgamus: solet esse gravis cantantibus umbra; Et qualia de hoc genere multa congessit Vossius, Rhetoricor. L. V. C. 3. Sed inprimis contulisse iuvabit Psalmos cxviii. cxxiv. aliosque. Adde locos Esai. xi. 5. xv. 8. xvi. 7. xl. 7. 8. lix. 10." Omnes quoque, praeter Syriacam, versiones veteres consentiunt in exprimendis illis verbis, quae hodiernum in codicibus innumeris repetita leguntur. ROSENMUELLER. [B. p. 100.] ISAIAH LV. 10, 11. This passage of the prophet loses much of its poetical beauty if it be not rightly understood. He is not speaking of that grace, which the school divines treat of, and which has been celebrated since the time of Augustin in so many controversies, nor of the virtue and efficacy of the gospel in correcting the morals of mankind, but of the certain accomplishment of the prophetic word. It was very customary among the Hebrews to compare the word of God, and particularly the word of prophecy, to a shower of rain, Deut. xxxii. 2. Ezek. xxi. 2. Mic. ii. 6. Job xxix. 22, 23. When, therefore, it is their intention to describe the certain and inevitable accomplishment of the divine oracles, they represent the earth as impregnated and fertilized by this refreshing rain. Isaiah has celebrated in the xlth chapter, as well as in the chapter under our consideration, vs. 3, 4, and 5, the eternal covenant of God with the Israelites, and the accomplishment of that perpetual and permanent grace which he had sworn to David, namely, that an eternal and immortal King should sit upon his throne; and that he should rule and direct the heathen. If these should appear to any person above credibility, he advises him to recollect that the divine counsels are far above the reach of the human understanding; and that those things are easy to him, which appear most difficult to us. He adds, that the sacred oracles, however miraculous, will most assuredly be fulfilled; that the word of God may be compared to snow or rain which does not return to heaven, before it has performed its office of watering and fecundating the earth: so it is with the prophetic decrees, or the divine predictions of future events. And in this light I understand the passage from the context, both from what precedes, and what follows. There is one similar in xlv. 8, but the idea is more condensed, assuming rather the form of a metaphor or allegory, than of a comparison. "Rumpimini coeli desuper, "Pandat se terra, foecundent eam victoriis, In Arabic signifies truth; and this sense of the word is Nomen, quod Ies. XLV. 8. legitur, ubique salutem in universum denotat, nec usquam, ut nomina et, ad victoriam restringitur. Neque victoriae notio Iesaiano loco satis apta. Describitur seculi aurei felicitas, quo tota mundi machina sit renovanda. Iovae iussu nova et felicior totius naturae facies apparet ; ita quidem, ut coelum serenum roret non aquarum guttas, uti nunc, sed virtutis et iustitiae semina, quae a terra sese aperiente excepta in ea primum germen, tum plantas saluberrimas salutis atque virtutis proferant. ROSENMUELLER. [C. p. 102.] PSALM LXXXIII. 13–15. Between these two comparisons there exists so nice a relation, that they would from one simple comparison, were it not that the sententious distribution of the verses had disposed the subject in a different form and order. Their threshing-floors were so constructed in open situations, that when the corn was beaten out, the wind carried off the chaff and straw, which being collected together, was burnt. See Isai. v. 24. Matt. iii. 12. and HAMMOND'S Com. LowтH. The wicked are first compared to the chaff, which is driven before the whirlwind; and then their destruction is painted in a manner still more terrific, by comparing them to mountain forests in flames. (Compare Virgil, Aen. II. 304, 305. X. 495 seqq. Georg. II. 305— 311; and Homer. II. XI. 155). [D. p. 103.] JOB VI. 17. S. ,According to Rosenmueller and Gesenius בָּעֵת יְוֹרְבוּ נִצְמָתוּ the verb, like the Syriac it, signifies to become narrow, to be enclosed and they suppose the sense of the passage to be: As soon as the streams are confined to their proper channels, (which they had overflowed in consequence of the thawing of the snow and ice), they pass away, or become dry. S. NOTES ON LECTURE XIII. [A. p. 104.] Personification. The passions of resentment and love have been very accurately traced by some late writers on the human mind, into the senses of pain and pleasure; the one arising from the habitual inclination to remove what is hurtful; the other from that of possessing what is a source of grateful sensations, and a means of increasing pleasure. (See HARTLEY on Man, and a Dissertation prefixed to KING's Origin of Evil). The strong expression of these passions is, however, chiefly directed to rational, or at least to animated beings; but this is the effect of reason and habit. The passions are still the same, and will frequently display themselves in opposition to reason. A child turns to beat the ground, or the stone, that has hurt him; (see Lord KAIMES's Elements of Criticism;) and most men feel some degree of affection even for the old inanimate companions of their happiness. From these dispositions originates the figure, which is the great and distinguishing ornament of poetry, the prosopopcia. This figure is nearly allied to the metaphor, and still more to the metonymy; it is to the latter, what the allegory is to the metaphor. Thus when we say " Youth and beauty shall be laid in the dust," for persons possessing youth and beauty, it is hard to determine whether it be a metonymy or a prosopopia. Lyric poetry, in which the imagination seems to have the fullest indulgence, and which abounds with strong figures, is most favourable to personification. Gregory. [B. p. 105.] ISAIAH XLVII. 1. Sitting on the ground was a posture that denoted deep misery and distress. The prophet JEREMIAH has given it the first place among many indications of sorrow, in that elegant description of the distress of his country, (Lam. ii. 8.) 'The elders of the daughter of Sion sit on the ground, they are silent,' etc. 'We find Judea,' says Mr. ADDISON, (on Medals, Dial. ii.) on several coins of Vespasian and Titus, in a posture that denotes sorrow and captivity.—I need not mention her sitting on the ground, because we have already spoken of the aptness of such a posture to represent extreme affliction. I fancy the Romans might have an eye to the customs of the Jewish nation, as well as those of their country, in the several marks of sorrow they have set on this figure. The psalmist describes the Jews lamenting their captivity in the same pensive posture: 'By the |