30

OF THE HEBREW METRE.

LECT. III.

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 irregular or less received forms of common words.* 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

* See Aristot. Poet. c. 22.

The poetical particles which the grammarians in general call Paragogic, (or redundant), are as follow:- added to nouns, Numb. xxiv. 3. Psal. 1. 10. Ixxix. 2. cxiv. 8. civ. 11. 20. Isa. lvi. 9., (it occurs here twice). Zeph. ii. 14. ', Psal. 1. 10. &c. seems to be a pleoFor thus it is common for that people to exThe Son of his David, Matt. i. 1.

"12, Numb. xxiv. 3. as also nasmus peculiar to the Syriac.

ברה ודויד press themselves

1. The countenance of his Lord, Isa. i. 20. 1. Psal. cxiv. 8. It was formerly read, as appears from the Septuagint, λvas idā)wv.” -H.

• Added to nouns, adverbs, prepositions, is common in the poets: also to the participles, Benoni, sing. masc. and fem. Gen. xlix. 11. Psal. ci. 5. Prov. xxviii. 16. Jer. xxii. 23. xlix. 16. li. 13. Ezek. xxvii. 3. This, however, the Masorites have sometimes rashly expunged.

Concerning the, when added to verbs in the second pers. fem. sing. pret. I have sometimes my doubts whether it be an error or not. Certainly the Masorites are of opinion that it should always be expunged. See Jer. xiii. 21. xxii. 23. xxxi. 21. and Ezek. xvi. where it occurs eleven times. Now, it is not in the least probable that in one chapter the same error should so frequently take place. "But in these eleven places many MSS. confirm the Masoretic Keri, for the is wanting.”—K. It may also be a Syriac gloss, which is the opinion of Cappel; Crit. Sac. lib. iii. c. xiii. 8. Though there is a passage, where it occurs in the same person masc. ', “because thou hast said," Psal. lxxxix. 3. So indeed almost all the old interpreters, except the Chaldean paraphrast, have taken it; and rightly, indeed, if regard is to be paid to the context or the parallelism of the sentences. But this I rather esteem

an error, though the Masorites have not noted it as such.

"Verbs in which the is added to the second pers. fem. sing. pret. follow the Syriac and Arabic form."-H.

* A Masoretic term for a various reading.

composition, and added frequently at the end of words, have so varied their style, as to form to themselves a distinct

1 for D, or D, occurs frequently in the Hebrew poetry. See Psal. ii. 3, 4, 5. where it appears five times: sometimes in the singular for 1; see Isa. xliv. 15. liii. 8. Job xx. 23. xxii. 2. xxvii. 23. Psal. xi. 7. It is very often merely paragogic, or redundant. 12 simply seems to be altogether poetical; it occurs in Nehem. ix. 11. and is taken from the Song of Moses, Exod. xv. 5.—It is, however, not the same with præfixes or suffixes. "Isa. liii. 8. 3. The Septuagint in this place is nxen us Duvalov (he was led unto death): in this it follows the Arabic version, which reads in." -H.

Of these particles, which I call poetical, there occur very few examples in the prose parts of Scripture; indeed I do not know that there are any more than the following:-1, Gen. i. 24. but instead of 80', the Samaritan copy has ', as it is also expressed in the Hebrew in the following verse. ', Gen. xxxi. 39. twice: but it is also wanting in the Samaritan copy; although it may possibly be meant for a pronominal affix. Also in Ruth iii. 3, 4. three times; iv. 5. and in 2 Kings iv. 23. "But in all these places, many MSS. confirm the Masoretic Keri; for is wanting."-K. Lastly, 112, Exod. xxiii. 31. but instead of nw, the Septuagint and the Vulgate read D'w, and the context favours this reading.

Hitherto, perhaps, might be referred the and paragogic, and the relative w, which occur more frequently in the poets than elsewhere.

These are most, if not all of them, examples of anomalies, which serve to distinguish particularly the poetic dialect. To demonstrate more fully how freely they are made use of by the sacred poets, I shall annex a specimen, which Abarbanel exhibits as collected from one short poem, namely, the Song of Moses. "You may observe," says he, " in this poem, words sometimes contracted for the sake of the measure, and sometimes lengthened and extended by additional letters and syllables, according as the simple terms may be redundant or deficient. The letters which in this canticle are superadded, are as follow:-the vau and jod twice in the word ```D>', for in reality DDJ would have been quite sufficient: the jod is also added in 77; the vau in

in ; תבלעמו in ; כסמו the vau also in : תורישמו the vau in ; יאכלמו

: the thau in '." (In truth, this form of nouns appears to be altogether poetical; many examples of which may be found in Glass. Phil. Sac. p. 269.; all of them, however, from the poetic and prophetic books.)

; וומרת יח The deficient are jod in .תטעמו in ; תביאמו The vau in * so also ; נהלתו for נהלת The vau in :תמלא מהם for תמלאמו so in for the prince ; נמוגו כל ישבי כנען is deficient in the verse לבב the word

of the prophets cannot be suspected of erring in grammatical or orthographical accuracy; but the necessity of the verse and a proper regard to harmony so required it." Abarb. in Mantissa Dissert. ad Libr. Cosri. a Buxtorfio, edit. Basil. 1660, p. 412. To these examples one might add from the same can

ירגזון paragogic in ארממנהו epithentic in נכמו twice in מו ticle

Concerning the glosses or foreign words which occur in the Hebrew poetry, in the present state of the Hebrew language it is difficult to pronounce on the ruins, as it were, of neighbouring and contemporary dialects: since possibly those words which are commonly taken for Chaldaic (for instance) might have been common to both languages; on the contrary, some of those which more rarely occur, and the etymology of which we are ignorant about, may have

poetical dialect. Thus far, therefore, I think we may with safety affirm, that the Hebrew poetry is metrical. 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.*

been borrowed from the neighbouring dialects. Since, however, there are some words which more frequently occur in the poetical remains, and which are not elsewhere to be found but in the Chaldee, we may reasonably conjecture concerning these, that they have been introduced into the Hebrew, or at least, after becoming obsolete in common language, might be again made use of such are the following, Bar, (a son), Koshet, (truth), Sega, (he increased), Shebach, (he praised), Zakaph, (he lifted up), Gnuck, (in the Hebrew tzick), he pressed, &c. Observe Moses, however, in the exordium of his last benediction, Deut. xxxiii. has he not also frequently admitted of Chaldaisms? What is ? which again occurs, ver. 21. What is 22? in both form and sense Chaldaic. What ? a word scarcely received into common use among the Hebrews till after the Babylonish captivity; especially since the Hebrew abounded in synonymous terms, expressive of the law of God. (But perhaps this last word in this place is rightly suspected to be an error. See Kennicott, Dissert. I. of the Hebrew Text, p. 427. and Houbigant in loc.) Isaiah, however, elegantly adopts the Chaldaic form speaking of Babylon, in the word 277, which in the Hebrew would be 7, chap. xiv. 4. Nor less appositely on the same subject does the Psalmist introduce the word 1, Psal. cxxxvii. 3. which is the Chaldaic for bbw, as the Chaldean paraphrast himself allows, who renders it by the synonymous term 12, as elsewhere he renders the word ; (see Ezek. xxvi. 12. xxix. 19. xxxviii. 12, 13.); nor indeed do the other interpreters produce any thing to the purpose. Some instances of grammatical anomalies in the glosses have been detected; such are the following Syriac or Chaldaic: for, Psal. cxvi. thrice; ciii. five times; also in Jer. xi. 15. 7 for 1, Psal. exvi. 12. ↑ as a termination plur. nom. masc. for D', Job iv. 2. xxiv. 22. xxxi. 10. and frequently elsewhere; also Prov. xxxi. 3.; Lam. iv. 3.; Ezek. xxvi. 18.; Mic. iii. 12.

,מדהבה,חבב .in the Arabic form אתו the Samaritan, has אתה *

are Chaldaic as well as Arabic. 1, but this word seems to have followed the etymology of the Arabic verb n, he bound, he led captive; whence the Septuagint axayayovres hμas; and the Chaldaic N112, he carried away captive." H.-Author's Note.

This mode of versification is not altogether foreign to our own language, as is evident from some of our earliest writers, particularly Piers Plowman.S. H.

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 recall the true pronunciation of a language long since obsolete, and to institute afresh the rules of orthoepy; nor can any person in the present 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 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; 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,

C

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.* 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 manner spontaneously into periods, for the most part equal; so the periods themselves are divided into verses, most commonly couplets, though frequently of greater length. This is chiefly observable in those passages which frequently occur in the Hebrew poetry, in which they treat one subject many different ways, and dwell upon the same sentiment; when they express the same thing in different words, or different things in a similar form of words; when equals refer to equals, and opposites to opposites: and since this artifice of composition seldom fails to produce even in prose an agreeable and measured cadence, we can scarcely doubt that it must have imparted to their poetry, were we masters of the versification, an exquisite degree of beauty and grace. In this circumstance, therefore, which is common to most of the Hebrew poems, we find, if not a rule and principle, at least a characteristic of the sacred poetry; insomuch that in that language the word Mizmor + (or Psalm), according

in

See the Brief Confutation of Bishop Hare's Hebrew Metres.

† Zamar, he cut off, he pruned, namely, the superfluous and luxuriant branches of trees. Hence Zemorah, a branch, or twig; Marmarah, a pruninghook also he sung, or chanted; he cut his voice by the notes in singing, or