In the first place, beside those short dirges which occur in the writings of almost all the prophets, as was before remarked, there are some in Ezekiel which are actually distinguished by the title of Lamentations, and which may with the utmost propriety be referred to the class of Elegies. Among these are the two Lamentations concerning Tyre and the King of Tyre. In these, though the intent of the prophet be to denounce vengeance and punishment against these objects of the divine wrath, rather than to lament their misfortunes; and though he succeed in his aim of exciting terror instead of pity; yet the mournful nature of the subject fully corresponds with the title, and both the matter and the sentiments bear some degree of resemblance to the funereal songs. According to the custom which prevailed on those solemn occasions, the glory, riches, and power of the deceased are pompously enumerated; and thus, by contrasting his former prosperity with the present calamity, the effect is considerably augmented. As for the two prophecies in which the destruction of Egypt is predicted, they seem to have been entitled Lamentations merely from the mournful nature of the subject; for they contain nothing of the elegiac form or style, scarcely any sentiment expressive of sorrow, and seem altogether composed for the denunciation of vengeance, and the exciting of terror. Two other Lamentations, the one over the princes of Judah and the other over Jerusalem, may be explained upon similar principles; they are indeed poetical parables, and have been already noticed in their proper place. : There are also many passages in that most admirable poem which bears the name of Job,§ deserving to be accounted legitimate elegies and indeed I do not know any more perfect specimens of this species of composition; so completely are the inmost recesses of sorrow displayed, and the remotest fountains of pity explored and laid open. But since these are parts of an entire poem, they are not rashly to be detached from the body of the work; and since the elegant disposition, and the extraordinary beauties of this inimitable composition, will deserve a fuller examination, it is sufficient in this place to have mentioned these passages as exquisite treasures, which the Muse of Sorrow might legally claim as her own, were she disposed to assert her rigid rights. Ezek. xxvii. and xxviii. 12-19. + Ezek. xxxii. Ezek. xix. I proceed, therefore, to the book of Psalms, which is a collection, under the general title of hymns to the praise of God, containing poems of different kinds, and elegies among the rest. If indeed the contents of the book were methodically arranged in their proper classes, not less than a sixth or seventh part would appear to be elegiac. Since, however, this is a matter dependent in a great measure upon opinion, and not to be clearly demonstrated upon determinate principles; since the nature of the subject, the complexion of the style, or the general form and disposition of each poem, must decide the question; and since different persons will judge differently upon these points-it will hardly be expected that I should on this occasion proceed to the regular classification of them. It will indeed be more to your advantage, and more to our present purpose, to select an example which may be clearly demonstrated to belong to the elegiac class. Under this appellation, then, I shall not hesitate to recommend to your notice the forty-second Psalm, since I cannot help esteeming it one of the most beautiful specimens of the Hebrew Elegy. The author of this elegant complaint, exiled from the temple, and from the public exercise of his religion, to the extreme parts of Judea, persecuted by his numerous enemies, and agitated by their reproaches, pours forth his soul to God in this tender and pathetic composition. The ardent feelings of a devout heart are admirably expressed, while the memory of former felicity seems to aggravate his present anguish. The extreme anxiety of a mind depressed by the burden of sorrow, and yet at the same time impatient under it; overcome by an accumulation of evils, yet in some degree endeavouring to resist them, and admitting, through the dark cloud of affliction, a glimmering ray of hope and consolation-is finely depicted. In frequent and almost instantaneous transitions he glows with love and droops with lamentation; he complains, he expostulates; he despairs, and yet hopes; he is afflicted, and again consoled. It is not to be expected that any poetical version should express these sentiments with the force, the energy, and more particularly with the conciseness of the Hebrew, which is indeed not to be imitated in any other language; though it must be confessed, that this poem is more diffuse than the Hebrew poetry in general. The following paraphrase, however, though infinitely short of the original in sublimity, will perhaps serve to evince the correspondence of the subject and sentiments of this poem, with the elegiac productions of modern times. 66 As pants the wearied hart for cooling springs, That sinks exhausted in the summer's chase; On briny tears* my famish'd soul has fed, While taunting foes deride my deep despair; Thy mighty God-deserted wanderer, where ?" Why throb, my heart? Why sink, my sadd'ning soul? And joy be yet an inmate of this breast. By Jordan's banks with devious steps I stray, In rapid floods the vernal torrents roll, Harsh-sounding cataracts responsive roar ; And dash my shatter'd bark from shore to shore. Yet thy soft mercies, ever in my sight, My heart shall gladden through the tedious day; Rock of my hope! Great solace of my heart! While taunting foes thus point th' invidious dart— "Where's now thy God? abandon'd wanderer, where?" Why faint, my soul? why doubt JEHOVAH'S aid? It seems odd to an English reader to represent tears as meat or food; but we should remember that the sustenance of the ancient Hebrews consisted for the most part of liquids, such as broths, pottages, &c —S. H. This poem seems to have been composed by David when he was expelled R Another point to which I would wish every person who reads this Psalm in the original to advert, is the division of the periods, and the resolution of them into their constituent his kingdom by his rebellious son, and compelled to fly to the borders of Lebanon; as it is plain he did from 2 Sam. xvii. 24. 26, 27. Undoubtedly, whoever composed this Psalm was expelled from the sacred city, and wandered as an exile in the regions of Hermon and the heights of Lebanon, whence Jordan is fed by the melting of the perpetual snow, ver. 7. Let it be remembered by the way, that David never betook himself to these places when he fled from Saul, but concealed himself in the interior parts of Judea. Here then he pitched his camp, protected by the surrounding mountains and woods; and hither the veteran soldiers, attached personally to him, and averse to change, resorted from every part of Palestine. Here also, indulging his melancholy, the prospect and the objects about him suggested many of the ideas in this poem. Observing the deer which constantly came from the distant valleys to the fountains of Lebanon, and comparing this circumstance with his earnest desire to revisit the temple of God, and perhaps elevating his thoughts to a higher celestial temple, he commences his poem: "As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, So panteth my soul after thee, O God! My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: That is, enter into the temple, from which I am now an exile. He adds a bit- Compare By day and by night, While they continually say unto me, Where is now thy God?" The repetition of the name of God raises in him fresh uneasiness, and causes all his wounds to bleed again: this forces him to exclaim, "I remember God, and I dissolve in tears." For so the word ought to be translated, and not according to the Masoretic punctuation, “I remember these things;” since an obscurity arises from this punctuation, and it is difficult to say what things are referred to: "I remember God, and pour out myself in tears; When I went with the multitude to the temple of God, With the voice of joy and gladness, with the multitude leaping for joy." He now restrains his tears: "Why art thou so east down, O my soul? And why art thou so disquieted within me? He again breaks forth into lamentations, with which he elegantly intermingles a poetical description of Lebanon. There are upon those hills frequent cataracts, and, in the spring season, the rivulets are uncommonly turbid by the melting of the snow: "Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy cataracts; parts or members: he will find, I believe, that the periods spontaneously divide into verses of nearly equal length and measure, exactly similar to those of the four first chapters of the Lamentations of Jeremiah; such as I before remarked appeared to constitute the established metre of the Hebrew Elegy. The whole of the nineteenth Psalm consists also of the same kind of verse, except the epode, which contains two long verses of the same kind, and one shorter; which last is once repeated. The forty-third Psalm too seems to be constructed upon similar principles, containing eight of the same kind of verses, with the same epode. And since it is written in the same train of sentiment, the same style, and even apparently in the same metre, it ought not perhaps to be separated from the preceding Psalm, but rather to be considered as a part or continuation of the same composition: If this be true, the whole poem consists of three parts almost equal and alike, each of which is concluded by the same intercalary period or stanza. There is another most beautiful poem of the elegiac kind, which on this occasion solicits our attention-I mean the lamentation of David for Saul and Jonathan ;+ which appears to have been extracted by the historian from some poetical book, no longer extant, entitled Jasher. It will These form the principal imagery of the poem, and I omit the rest, lest I should fatigue the reader by the minuteness of criticism, which is both useless and impertinent when the subject wants no illustration.-M. I find Eusebius was formerly of the same opinion:-" This Psalm is without a title in the original, and consequently in all the old translations : there is indeed great reason, from the similarity of thought and expression in both the Psalms, to believe that it originally made a part of the Psalm preceding." In Psalm xliii. this conjecture receives further confirmation from the manuscripts. "The xliid and xliiid Psalms are united together in twenty-two MSS. The Psalms, however, are distinguished from each other in the MSS. rarely by the numeral letters, but chiefly by these two methods—either by a single word placed in the vacant space between them, which is usually the breadth of one line; and this word is commonly the last word of the preceding, or the initial word of the succeeding Psalm; or else by the first word of each Psalm being transcribed in letters of a larger size." K.-Author's Note. 2 Sam. i. 17—27. Since so many conjectures have been published concerning the book of Jasher and its title, without coming to any certain decision, I will also, without further apology, venture to give my sentiments upon it. The book of Jasher is twice quoted, first in Josh. x. 13. where the quotation is evidently poetical, and forms exactly three distichs: "Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, And thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon: |