prevails for the most part in the longer verses, is sometimes so strong and so full in the middle of the line, that it seems naturally to resolve it into a distich of two short verses. I readily therefore acknowledge, that in settling the distribution of the lines, or verses, in the following translation, I have had frequent doubts, and particularly in determining the long and short verses. I am still uncertain in regard to many places, whether two lines ought not to be joined to make one, or one line divided into two. But whatever doubts may remain concerning particulars, yet upon the whole, I should hope, that the method of distribution here proposed, of sentences into stanzas and verses in the poetical books of Scripture, will appear to have some foundation, and even to carry with it a considerable degree of probability. Though no complete system of rules concerning this matter can perhaps be formed, which will hold good in every particular; yet this way of considering the subject may have its use, in furnishing a principle of interpretation of some consequence, in giving a general idea of the style and character of the Hebrew poetry, and in shewing the close conformity of style and character between great part of the prophetical writings, and the other books of the Old Testament, universally acknowledged to be poetical.

And that the reader may not think his pains wholly lost, in labouring through this long disquisition concern-. ing sentences and members of sentences; in weighing words, and balancing periods; I shall endeavour to shew him something of the use and application of the preceding observations; and to convince him, that this branch of criticism, minute as it may appear, yet merits the attention of the translator and of the interpreter of the Holy Scriptures; so large a part of which is entirely poetical, and where occasional pieces of poetry are interspersed through the whole.

It is incumbent on every translator to study the manner of his author; to mark the peculiarities of his style,

to imitate his features, his air, his gesture, and, as far as the difference of language will permit, even his voice; in a word, to give a just and expressive resemblance of the original. If he does not carefully attend to this, he will sometimes fail of entering into his meaning; he will always exhibit him unlike himself; in a dress, that will appear strange and unbecoming to all that are in any degree acquainted with him. Sebastian Castellio stands in the first rank for critical abilities and theological learning among the modern translators of Scripture; but by endeavouring to give the whole composition of his translation a new cast, to throw it out of the Hebrew idiom, and to make it adopt the Latin phrase and structure in its stead, he has given us something that is neither Hebrew nor Latin: the Hebrew manner is destroyed, and the Latin manner is not perfectly acquired, we regret the loss of the Hebrew simplicity, and we are disgusted with the perpetual affectation of Latin elegance. This is in general the case; but chiefly in the poetical parts. Take the following for a specimen.

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Quum Israelitæ ex Ægypto, quum Jacobæa domus emigraret ex populo barbaro,

Judæi Israelitæ Deo fuere sanctitati atque potestati.

Quo viso, mare fugit, et Jordanis retrocessit.

Montes arietum, colles ove natorum ritu exiliverunt."

Surely to this even the barbarism of the Vulgate is preferable for though it has no elegance of its own, yet it still retains the form, and gives us some idea of the force and spirit, of the Hebrew. I will subjoin it here; for it need not fear the comparison.

"In exitu Israel de Ægypto, domûs Jacob de populo barbaro,
Facta est Judæa sanctificatio ejus, Israel potestas ejus.

Mare vidit, et fugit: Jordanis conversus est retrorsum.
Montes exultaverunt ut arietes: et colles sicut agni ovium."

Flatness and insipidity will generally be the consequence of a deviation from the native manner of an original, which has a real merit, and a peculiar force of its own for it will be very difficult to compensate the loss

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of this by any adventitious ornaments. To express fully and exactly the sense of the author is indeed the principal, but not the whole duty of the translator. In a work of elegance and genius he is not only to inform; he must endeavour to please; and to please by the same means, if possible, by which his author pleases. If this pleasure arises in a great measure from the shape of the composition, and the form of the construction, as it does in the Hebrew poetry perhaps beyond any other example whatsoever, the translator's eye ought to be always intent upon this: to neglect this, is to give up all chance of success, and all pretension to it. The importance of the subject, and the consequent necessity of keeping closely to the letter of the original, has confined the translators of Scripture within such narrow limits, that they have been forced, whether they designed it or not, and even sometimes contrary to their design, as in the case of Castellio, to retain much of the Hebrew manner. This is remarkably the case in our vulgar translation; the constant use of which has rendered this manner fa

miliar and agreeable to us. We have adopted the Hebrew taste; and what is with judgment, and upon proper occasion, well expressed in that taste, hardly ever fails to suggest the ideas of beauty, solemnity, and elevation. To show the difference in this respect, I shall here give an example or two of a free and loose translation, yet sufficiently well expressing the sense, contrasted with another translation of the same, as strictly literal as possible.

1. "The merciful and gracious Lord hath so done his marvellous works, that they ought to be bad in remembrance."

Psal. cxi. 4. Old Version.

2. "Lo! children and the fruit of the womb are an heritage and gift, that cometh from the Lord." Psal. cxxvii. 4. O. V.

3. "O put not your trust in princes, nor in any child of man; for there is no help in them.

For when the breath of man goeth forth, he shall turn again to his earth; and then all his thoughts perish."

4. "The Lord thy God, O Sion, shall be king for evermore, and throughout all generations." Psal. cxlvi. 2, 3. 10. O. V.

1. "He hath made a memorial of his wonders: gracious and of tender mercy is Jehovah."

2. "Behold, an heritage from Jehovah are children; a`reward, fruit of the womb."

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3. Trust ye not in princes; in the son of man, in whom is no salvation.

His breath goeth forth; he returneth to his earth; in that day his thoughts perish."

4. "Jehovah shall reign for ever; thy God, O Sion, from age to age." The former examples are mere prose: the latter retain the outlines and the features of the original Hebrew, and from that cause alone are still poetry.

But this strict attention to the form and fashion of the composition of the sacred writings of the Old Testament, is not only useful and even necessary in the translator, who is ambitious of preserving in his copy the force, and spirit, and elegance of the original; it will be of great use to him likewise merely as an interpreter, and will often lead him into the meaning of obscure words and phrases: sometimes it will suggest the true reading, where the text in our present copies is faulty; and will verify and confirm a correction offered on the authority of MSS. or of the ancient versions. I shall add a few examples, as evidences of what is here advanced. One short passage of Isaiah will furnish a number sufficient for our purpose; and the observant reader will find several more in the version and notes subjoined.

"Wherefore hear ye the word of Jehovah, ye scoffers;

Ye who to this people in Jerusalem utter sententious speeches.
Who say, We have entered into a covenant with death;

And with the grave we have made a treaty.

But your covenant with death shall be broken;

And your treaty with the grave shall not stand." Isa. xxviii. 14, 15, 18.

,משלי

hwn, ye that rule this people, says our version; and so the generality of interpreters ancient and modern. But this prophecy is not addressed to the rulers of the people, nor is it at all concerned with them in particular; but is directed to the Ephraimites in general: and this part to

the scoffers among them who ridiculed the denunciations of the prophets, by giving out parabolical sentences, and solemn speeches, somewhat in the prophetic style, in opposition to their prophecies: of which speeches he gives specimens in the next verse, as he had done before in the 9th and 10th verses. wn therefore is parallel and synonymous to win, scoffers; and is not to be translated rulers, but to be taken in the other sense of the word, and rendered, "those that speak parables." And Iarchi in this place very properly explains it, "qui dicunt verba irrisionis parabolicè."

The next verse gives us an instance still more remarkable of the influence which the parallelism has in determining the sense of words:

"We have entered into a covenant with death;

And with the grave we have made

"

what? Every one must answer immediately, an agreement, a bargain, a treaty, or something to the same sense: and so in effect say all the versions, ancient and modern. 'But the word means no such thing in any part of the Bible; (except in the 18th verse of this chapter, here quoted, where it is repeated in the same sense, and nearly in the same form); nor can the lexicographers give any satisfactory account of the word in this sense; which however they are forced to admit from the necessity of the case; "Rectè verto vocem perinde ac n ver. 18. transactionem, licet neutra hac significatione alibi occurrat: circumstantia enim orationis eam necessariò erigit:" says the learned Vitringa upon the place. It could not otherwise have been known that the word had this meaning; it is the parallelism alone that determines it to this meaning; and that so clearly, that no doubt at all remains concerning the sense of the passage. Again:

"And your covenant with death shall be broken:"

But means to cover, to cover sin, and so to expiate, &c.