xvii. 11., and in the time of Christ, when Peter denied his master, the cock crew in Jerusalem. No hearing is to be given to those Talmudists, who, though they lived nearly 200 years after Christ, took it upon themselves to deny the existence, at any time, of fowls of this kind. in that city," P, 52.

46 § 90, ON POETRY.

"Poetry had its origin in the first ages of the world, when undisciplined feelings and a lively imagination naturally supplied strong ex+ pressions, gave an expressive modulation to the voice, and motion to the limbs; hence poetry, music, and dancing were cotemporaneous in origin. As far back as the time of Moses, poetry, not only among the Hebrews, but also among some other nations, had reached a great degree of perfection, Exod. xv. Deut. xxxi. Num. xxi. 24, et seq. comp. also the book of Job. It afterwards flourished with great honour among the Hebrews for almost 1000 years. The design of it was not merely to excite to pleasure, but also to preserve historical narrations, and that in such a way, that they might be sung on occasions; but it was more especially the object of this art, to declare in the most affecting manner the praises of the Deity, and to excite the people to good and to praiseworthy works; see the books of Psalms, Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes; comp, also Gen. iii, 24. iv, 23, ix,

25-29.

"$91. CHARACTER OF THE HEBREW POETRY.

"Hebrew poetry, like the genuine poetry of all other nations, is characterized by ardent feelings, splendid thoughts, a great variety of beautiful images, strength of expression, condensation, and elegance. But it is distinguished in a number of particulars from the poetry of Occidental nations.

"I, The metaphors, comparisons, &c are more bold and unusual; a point, which is capable of receiving much light from a collation of Arabic poems.

"II. The ornaments, by which a subject is enriched in Hebrew poetry, are derived from the state of things, as they exist in the East, especially Palestine ;

(1.) from the natural objects of that region, from Lebanon and its cedars, from Carmel, from the oaks of Bashan, from the gardens, the vineyards, and forests, which enrich the land, and from the animals, viz. the oxen, the lions, and the gazelles, &c. that tread upon its surface:

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(2.) from the occupation of husbandmen and shepherds;

(3.) from the history of the nation;

"(4.) from the manners exhibited in common life, even from its vices, as drunkenness, fornication, and adultery;

"(5.) from the oriental mythology, which, in a great degree, though not in all respects, corresponds with the Greek and Roman. We find, for instance, mention made of the chamber of the sun, Ps. xix. 5, 6, but then there is this difference; the Orientals do not convey chariot, like the Greeks and Romans, but make him fly with wings, VOL. II, NO. IV,

F

him on a

Ps. cxxxix. 9. Mal. iv. 2. The thunders are borne on chariots, but these chariots are not drawn by horses, but by cherubim, ',, monsters that are symbolic of the clouds, Ezek. i. 2—28. Ps. xviii. 10. xcix. 1. We find mention made of the golden age, Isa. ii. 4. xi. 6-9. xxiv. 23. xxx. 24-28. lx. 19, 20. lxv, 4-25. lxvi. 1-5; of the infernal regions also, Sheoal and Hades, i, aons, into which descend not only soldiers, warlike heroes and emperors, even all who die, but also by a figure of speech, conquered nations and states, and even trees, the symbols of states. The warriors repose in this wide abode on couches, with their armour placed beneath their head, Isa.' xiv. 9—20. Ezek. xxvi. 20. xxxi. 14—18. xxxii. 7, 8. xvii. 30. Matt. xvi. 18. We find mention likewise of the rivers of Hades, Ps. xviii. 4-6. 2 Sam. xxii. 5.; and of a political heaven, which can be shaken, and the moon and stars thereof be obscured or cast down with great confusion and overthrow, Hag. ii. 6. 21. Isa. xxiv. 21-23. xxxiv. 4. lxv. 17. Amos viii. 9, 10. Matt. xxiv. 29.

t

"III. The poems in the Hebrew language may have been measured by means of a certain number of syllables or words, but we have reason to believe, that the rhythm consisted essentially and chiefly in the parallelism. The parallelism, which is sometimes synonimous, and sometimes antithetical, and sometimes shews itself merely in the construction, independent of the sense, consists in many cases of only two members, see Ps. cxiv. 1-8.; in other instances there are three members, see Hos. vi. 1, 2.; in other instances again, there are four members, the first answering to the third, and the second to the fourth, see Deut. xxxii. 42. Sometimes the parallelism displays itself in five verses or members, the two first and the two last being parallel, and the middle one unequal, Isa. xxxi. 4., or the first being parallel to the third, and the second to the fourth, and the fifth being unequal, see Ps. xix. 8-10. In some instances the poetry may be called irregular, i. e. incapable of being reduced to the more common forms of parallelism, Ps. cxiii. 5, 6. Micah i. 4. These traits in the Hebrew poetry, when well understood, afford very considerable aid in the interpretation and criticism of the Bible, as for instance in such passages as Ps. lxxvii. 18, 19. cxxxix. 20. Isa. xlvii. 11. xlix. 6. 16. One may find, in the parallelisms in various places, a similarity in the cadences, which gives to them a more than ordinary musical effect, and seems to be the result of art, see Jud. xiv. 18. Prov. vii. 13-15. xxix. 17. Isa. xxvi. 20, 21. xl. 24. xlix. 8. li. 1-5. 8. liii. 6, 7. Zech. xi. 1." P. 96.

It must not be concealed that, in consequence of the divisions of chapters and verses, adopted in the German and Hebrew Bibles being different from ours, the references made by Jahn frequently disagree; and this disagreement will cause the Bible-student much trouble. Mr. Upham has altered them, so as to make them conformable to the divisions of chapters and

verses in our authorized English translation. In executing his task, the translator states that he has constantly had before him the original German edition; and that, where he noticed any important observation, which was not found in the Latin, (some parts of which are obscure,) he has inserted it in its proper place: he has likewise added numerous useful notes, some of which are borrowed from Mr. Horne's treatise already mentioned. By introducing these additions, which are very properly distinguished from the original text, Mr. Upham has considerably increased his labour and responsibility as a translator: but he has thereby materially enhanced the value of the service which he has rendered to the student of the Bible.

Trials; a Tale. By the Author of "The Favourite of Nature," &c. &c. 3 vols. 12mo. London. Whittakers. 1824.

THAT quality of mind which is called good-sense, was never more prevalent in any age or nation, than it is in England at the present day. It pervades our politics :-we are governed on a principle of good-sense. It directs our manners :-no new habits and customs become universal among us that have not good sense for their foundation. It influences our fashions nay, our very novels are constructed with an eye to the good sense of their readers. The novel before us contains nothing else.

:

"Trials" is in fact a very sensibly written work, full of judicious views of human nature and society, and calculated to effect useful purposes in the conduct of life; and if it want much of the brilliancy and spirit of some of its rivals in the same fertile department of literature, it is altogether free from anything pernicious in its tendency, and may safely be placed in the hands of those readers who can scarcely be left to their own choice in matters of this nature. To one class of readers, in particular-and that a very numerous class-this work will be unusually acceptable; since its main object is to blend religious feelings with the entertainment which a fictitious narrative affords, and thus lead the mind through the medium of mere pleasure, up to something more permanent and important, and which might perhaps not be so readily arrived at in any other way.

The general delineations of manners and society, as well as

of character, which occur in this work, relate to the present day; and they are drawn with a careful hand, directed by an observant eye; and one that may be considered as more than ordinarily unprejudiced, when it is remembered that the writer is impressed with a deep sense of the paramount importance of religious views in all matters relating to our conduct in life, and holds, that nothing else is capable of affording even that temporal happiness which we all of us seek. With respect to the plot of "Trials," it is there that its chief defect, as a work of fiction, is observable. It has but little unity, or continuity, and consequently excites an inferior interest as a mere story. We shall therefore not attempt to place before our readers any abstract of it. But a specimen of the general style will shew, that the reader who chuses to peruse the work for himself needs not fear to encounter any of that mere slang of the conventicle which is so justly distasteful, even to those whose general views may in a great measure coincide with those of the class of religionists who employ the particular phraseology alluded to.

The following is the conclusion of a scene which takes place between the heroine, whose "trials" form the subject of the tale, and her husband, of whom she is unjustly jealous :

"Her grief gradually died away in heavy sighs. Images succeeded each other with less rapidity and distinctness; they became obscure and dull-till at length, exhausted and overpowered, she fell asleep by the side of her child.

"In this situation she was discovered by St. Aubyn on his return home-painfully discovered! for had the most minute detail been given him of all she had endured in his absence, it would have less forcibly impressed him than what he beheld. He could trace it all: he could see indeed, in her pale and hollow cheek, strong vestiges of what had passed; and in his mind's eye he could well pourtray the despair of heart which had driven her to the couch of her child, as to the only asylum which her disordered imagination represented to be left for her, in her self-created sorrow.

"Oh! how worse than childish is this!' he could not forbear from exclaiming; for, though affected by her uneasiness, it was not unnatural that an emotion of displeasure should prevail over compassion, when he thought of the unreasonableness which prompted this indulgence of feeling.

"Nevertheless he took her hand with the utmost tenderness, gently calling upon her to awake.

"She was instantly roused at the sound of his voice, and fixed upon him her heavy eyes, with an expression so mournful, that, as if she had addressed to him the bitterest reproaches, he could not refrain from replying to it.

"You are unjust to me, Kate,' he said; you wrong me cruelly, and one day you will think so, if you do not now.

"She sighed deeply, but attempted no answer, till, having struggled with the feelings which, as he spoke, almost impeded his words, he was going on to address her again.

"Then rising, she laid her hand upon his arm: If I do wrong you, St. Aubyn,' she said, 'I must beseech you to forgive me. I will try to believe that I am unjust, since you say that I am. But, whether I be so or not, I know that my heart is well nigh broken. Nay, do not look at me so impatiently,' she continued, perceiving the irritation with which he listened to this, but spare me at this moment any further discussion. Indeed I cannot bear it,'

"I am sure that I cannot,' he replied, breaking away from her in fear that he should say any thing to exasperate her, so totally was his indignation excited by the wretched manner in which she appeared to him to be frittering away her peace."-Vol. I. p. 154.

We shall give one other extract, relating to the period when Catherine first became impressed with those feelings to which her various "Trials" were calculated to lead, and in which they were at last destined to find a happy and a triumphant end-an end, however, which was to arrive only with that of her mortal life. What follows is pleasingly, and, in some parts, even touchinly written; and it is free from any thing in the shape of pretence or affectation-any thing that can justly be assimilated to that cant which is so apt to intrude itself into descriptions of this nature.

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Amongst no class of persons had this joke been more prevalent, than that in which Catherine had particularly associated-the military part of the society; and, totally invulnerable as she was at this instant to almost every human feeling but that of suffering, a slight shrinking at the thought of doing something ridiculous, as she crept into the church, evinced most powerfully, that of all the weapons with which our spiritual enemy assails us in this scene of warfare, there are few by which we are more easily and totally conquered than that of ridicule.

"She crept into the church, therefore, and looking neither to the right nor to the left, she stole amongst a crowd of persons who were standing in one of the aisles. The superiority of her appearance from those around her, soon occasioned her to receive the civility of being offered a seat-a civility which her desire of escaping observation made her somewhat unwilling to accept; but as it came from a very quiet look❤ ing old lady, who appeared to be more intent upon her devotions than any thing else, Catherine availed herself of the offer, and walked into

the pew.

"The slight agitation consequent upon finding herself in what seemed to her so strange a place, and under the strange circumstances too of being totally alone, unattended even by a servant, occasioned her

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