Her flowing robe of purple dye Our readers will form their own judgement of this attempt to give the form of poetry to that which is poetry in its very essence, the sublimest of poetry; but it will, we hope, at all events be allowed to prove, that the utmost closeness and fidelity are not incompatible with a metrical arrangement adapted to the genius of our language. We do not of course mean to find fault with the present Translators for not throwing their Version into metre. It did not comport with their immediate purpose or with their principles of translation. In a Version designed for public reading and instruction, a metrical form would be ineligible. Hitherto, indeed, our prose versions have preserved most of the spirit of poetry, while our metrical versions have been the most absolutely prosaic. We cannot, however, but entertain the opinion, that it is both possible and highly desirable to exhibit the poetry of the inspired Scriptures in the rich and varied measures of English versification, without compromising either the fidelity of a chaste translation or the simple majesty of the original,-without running out into florid paraphrase with Merrick, or, with Watts and Montgomery, imitating, rather than versifying the Psalms of David, in adaptation to the Christian Church. Most happily, indeed, the very spirit of the original has been caught and embodied in some of these free imitations; and it is in this way only that the greater part of the Psalms can be accommodated to evangelical worship. Nevertheless precious and invaluable as are such works for the purposes of Christian psalmody and private devotion, they will hardly satisfy the Biblical student or the lover of the Bible, as fair representations of the inspired effusions of the Royal Prophet and the other psalmists of ancient days. In what form, then, should these sacred compositions be exhibited, so as to give the best idea of them as poetry? Bishop Lowth, a high authority, seems inclined to give the preference to a prose version, even on the score of taste. He remarks, that a poem translated literally from the Hebrew into the 'prose of any other language, whilst the same forms of the sentences remain, will still retain, even as far as relates to ⚫versification, much of its native dignity and a faint appearance ' of versification.' Whereasa Hebrew poem, if translated ' into Greek or Latin verse, and having the conformation of the ⚫ sentences accommodated to the idiom of a foreign language, 'will appear confused and mutilated; will scarcely retain a trace of its genuine elegance and peculiar beauty. Those, therefore, who have endeavoured to express the beauties of 'the sacred poets in Greek or Latin verse, have unavoidably 'failed in the attempt to depict them according to their native 'genius and character; and have exhibited something, whether inferior or not, certainly very unlike them both in kind and 'form.'* This is strikingly illustrated by the rival versions of two illustrious scholars, Buchanan and Arthur Johnston, who have not merely failed alike to preserve the genuine character of the Psalms, but have, in many instances, by adopting the phraseology of classic heathenism, desecrated and paganized the sentiment. For instance, in Johnston's elegant but most 'neologistic' version of the forty-fifth Psalm, verses 6 and 7 are thus rendered: 'Quoque sedes solium, stans nullo mobile sêclo, A still more flagrant instance of classical desecration and va- A dextris tu Nate! mihi confide coruscus ; Dum subdam pedibus colla inimica tuis.' Specimens not less objectionable might be cited from Buchanan's Translation. To a devout mind, the effect of the phraseology employed, in speaking of Jehovah, is often most revolting, and the impropriety of expression verges on profaneness. This is owing, no doubt, in some degree, to the associations so indissolubly connected with classic phrases; but it is impossible to imagine that the learned Translators felt aright the majesty and true spirit of the Hebrew Scriptures. The process of translating out of one dead language into another, must necessarily, indeed, be unfavourable to the preservation of the identity and vitality of the original; the character of the Lowth's Lectures on Hebrew Poetry, Vol. I. Lect. 3. VOL. VI.-N.S. S production will be at best vapid and artificial; and as Latin verse can please only the scholar, and pleases him chiefly, if not entirely, by suggesting to his recollection the phrases and images of classic poetry, which are far remote from every thing pure and sacred, no medium can well be more unsuitable for exhibiting the beauties of Hebrew poetry. But how stands the case with regard to English metrical versions? Is it possible to preserve in English versification, the forceful simplicity, antithetical sententiousness, peculiar arrangement, and dignity of the Hebrew? Or is any advantage derived from their being exhibited in a metrical form, which may compensate for some departure from the strict conformation and verbal arrangement of the original? We propose these questions for consideration, without presuming to determine them; for, on the one hand, opinions will greatly vary according to individual taste. Some persons prefer prose to poetical composition in all cases, having no ear for the cadence of verse. Many, again, from early association, prefer the most barbarous metre to the most elegant forms of language; and for them, Sternhold and Hopkins or the Scotch Psalms have all the charms of poetry. On the other hand, we are inclined to think, that the variety of character in the Psalms themselves, which is so generally overlooked, and even lost in our versions, but which is as marked as the difference between the Proverbs and the Song of Songs', requires, in order to its adequate expression, a very varied form of translation; so that the rhythm and march of prose may be most adapted for some of these compositions, while others are susceptible of all the grace and harmonious modulation of the richest verse. For instance; any metrical version of the cxixth Psalm would be labour as misapplied as a versification of the Book of Proverbs; while, on the other hand, there are psalms which seem to fall so naturally into verse, and which every one feels to be so characteristically poetical, that even versions which have little more than cadence and rhyme to recommend them, please, and are committed to memory. Of this description are Psalms xxiii, xix, cxxxvii, xlii, ciii, and some others, upon which poets of all sorts have tried their skill, and which, if never yet rendered with perfect success, have formed the ground-work of many delightful hymns. Now it is this class of psalms which suffer most from the baldness of a servile, verbal translation; and it would be scarcely less difficult to do justice to them in prose, than in metre. Accordingly, it is in the version of these psalms, that the Authors of the present Translation have most signally failed. Intent upon giving an accu'rate and faithful, rather than a highly-coloured portraiture of 'the original', and keeping constantly and too exclusively in view the sound and established principles of grammatical in 'terpretation', they have wholly neglected to tune their version to the ear, and have not availed themselves of the genuine resources of the English language in giving force and grace to the simplest rendering. We subjoin their version of the xxiiid Psalm. 'PSALM XXIII. JEHOVAH is my shepherd, I am in want of nothing. Unto still waters doth He gently lead me. He refresheth my spirits; HE guideth me into strait paths for His name's sake. Because Thou art with me THY supporting staff is my comfort. THOU dost furnish a table for me before mine enemies; THOU anointest my head with oil, my cup is filled to the brim. We must frankly confess that we prefer to this version even Ainsworth's homely translation: --Jehovah feedeth me, I shall 'not lack. In folds of budding grass he maketh me lie down ; 'he easily leadeth me by the waters of rest.' The phrase rendered by the present Translators, 'He refresheth my spirits,' although it may admit of that rendering, (as in Lam. i. 11, 19,) is here not only weak, but singularly inappropriate, as it violently breaks in upon the metaphor so admirably sustained in the original, and is besides not in correspondence and parallelism with the other member of the verse. Thy supporting staff,' is equally objectionable as violating both the similitude and the true sense. But passing over these critical faults, we would wish any of our readers to compare the effect of this translation, or of the best prose translation of the psalm they have seen, with the charm of Addison's beautiful, though faulty paraphrase, The Lord my pasture shall prepare,' or with Dr. Watts's simpler and more faithful version beginning, My Shepherd will supply my need; They will then, we think, feel constrained to own the superior charm and appropriateness of verse, not merely for the purpose of psalmody, but for expressing the genuine force of the inspired composition, and for translating it intelligibly to the heart. In order, however, to preserve the genuine character of these sacred poems, in a metrical version, there must be an absolute subordination of the whole expression (including the mechanism of the verse and all the apparatus of diction) to the sentiment and feeling conveyed. All expletives, all the common-place phrases of poetical art and the impertinence of paraphrase, must be rigidly excluded. The brevity and abruptness of the Hebrew cannot be transferred to a translation without producing harshness and obscurity; nor is it of consequence how many words are employed in rendering a phrase, provided that none appear to be superfluous in order to express the full idea with perspicuity and force. Every unnecessary word is an inelegance; and in metre, it is peculiarly difficult to avoid this fault, which is the more glaring and unpleasing, in proportion to the simplicity of the original composition. It is remarkable that Sandys, who often succeeds so well in giving the spirit of the Psalms, has wholly failed in the xxiiid, which he has most miserably paraphrased. Some of his lines are almost travestie. We shall now select a psalm of a mixed character, in which the pathetic record of personal feeling and experience conveys a lesson of heavenly wisdom, and the didactic is combined with the highest strain of devotion. We shall first give the Psalm as rendered by the present Translators, and then subjoin a metrical version, in order to shew that it is not impossible to preserve equal simplicity and closeness under the embarrassments of rhyme. Whether the psalm gains any thing from its rhythmical dress, we leave our readers to determine according to their own taste and judgement. 'PSALM LXXIII. * Doubtless, God is good unto Israel Unto the pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had well nigh swerved, When I was envious against the arrogant, And saw the prosperity of the wicked. Truly, they have no pangs until their death, They fall not into the sorrows of mortals, Therefore pride decketh them as a chain, Violence covereth them as a robe. Their eyes are prominent from fatness, The imaginations of their hearts exceed all bounds. They scoff and speak wickedly, They speak oppressively from on high. They place their mouth in the heavens, And their tongue rangeth through the earth. Therefore do His people turn hither, And copious waters are sucked up by them. And 66 How is there knowledge in the Most High?” |