Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

He fhall gnafh his teeth, and pine away; The defire of the wicked fall perish. Pf. cxii. 10. And he shall snatch on the right, and yet be hungry; And he fhall devour on the left, and not be fatisfied;

[ocr errors]

Every man fhall devour the flesh of his

neighbour.' Ifa. ix. 20.

There are likewife parallels confifting of four lines: two diftichs being fo connected together by the fenfe and the conftruction, as to make one ftanza. Such is the form of the thirty-feventh Pfalm, which is evidently laid out by the initial letters in stanzas of four lines. Be not moved with indignation against the evil doers;

Nor with zeal against the workers of iniquity:

For like the grafs they shall foon be cut off; And like the green herb they shall wither.' Pf. xxxvii. 1, 2.

The ox knoweth his poffeffor; And the afs the crib of his lord: But Ifrael doth not know Me; Neither doth my people confider.' Ifa. i. 3.

In ftanzas of four lines fometimes the parallel lines answer to one another alternately; the first to the third, and the fecond to the fourth:

As the heavens are high above the earth; So high is his goodness over them that fear him:

As remote as the eaft is from the weft;

So far hath he removed from us our tranfgreffions.' Pf. ciii. 11, 12. And ye faid: Nay, but on horses will we flee; Therefore fhall ye be put to flight: And on fwift courfers will we ride; Therefore shall they be fwift, that

pursue you.' Ifa. xxx. 16. He next proceeds to the fecond fort of parallels, viz. the antithetic; of which kind are the following:

A wife fon rejoiceth his father:

But a foolish fon is the grief of his mo

ther.' Prev, X, I.

191 Where every word hath its oppofite for the terms father and mather are, as the logicians fay, relatively oppofite.

The memory of the juft is a bleffing; But the name of the wicked fhall rot.' Prov. X. 7.

Here are only two antithetic terms: for memory and name are synonymous.

There is that fcattereth, and ftill en creaseth;

And that is unreasonably sparing, yet

groweth poor.' Prov. xi. 24. Here is a kind of double antithefis; one between the two lines them

felves, and likewise a subordinate oppofition between the two parts of each.

This form, he obfervės, is peculiarly adapted to adages, aphorifms, and detached fentences, and that we are not therefore to expect frequent inftances of it in the other poems of the Old Teftament; efpecially thofe that are elevated in the ftyle, and more connected in the parts. The author however adds a few examples from the higher poetry.

These in chariots, and thofe in horfes; But we in the name of Jehovah our God will be ftrong.

They are bowed down, and fallen; But we are rifen, and maintain ourselves firm.' Pf. xx. 7, 8.

The bricks are fallen, but we will build with hewn ftone: The fycamores are cut down, but we will

replace them with cedars. Ifa, ix. 10. The third fort of parallels the author calls fynthetic, or conftructive, where the parallelifm confifts only in the fimilar form of conftruction in which word does not anfwer to word, and fentence to fentence, as equivalent or oppofite; but there is a correfpondence and equality between different propofitions in respect of the fhape and

tura

turn of the whole fentence, and of
the conftructive parts'; fuch as noun
anfwering to noun, verb to verb,
member to member, negative to
negative, interrogative to interro-
gative.

Praise ye Jehovah, ye of the earth;
Ye fea-monsters, and all deeps:
Fire and hail, fnow and vapour, &c.
Pf.cxlviii. 7.

Is fuch then the faft which I choose? That a man should afflict his foul for a day?

Is it, that he should bow down his head
like a bulruth;
And spread fackcloth and afhes for his

couch, &c. Ifa. lviii. 5, 6.

.

In thefe inftances it is to be obferved, that though there are perhaps no two lines correfponding one with another as equivalent or oppofite in terms; yet there is a parallelifm equally apparent, and aimoll as ftriking, which arifes from the fimilar form and equality of the lines, from the correfpondence of the members and the conftruction; the confequence of which is a harmony and rhythm little inferior in effect to that of the two kinds preceding.

"Of the three different forts of

parallels, as above explained, every one hath its peculiar character and proper effect and therefore they are differently employed on different occafions... Synonymous parallels have the appearance of art and concinnity, and a studied elegance. They prevail chiefly in fhorter poems; in many of the Pfalms; in Balaam's prophecies; frequently in thofe of Ifaiah, which are most of them diftinct poems of no great length. The antithetic parallelifm gives an acuteness and force to adages and moral fentences; and therefore abounds in Solomon's proverbs, and elsewhere

is not often to be met with. The poem of Job, being on a large . plan, and in a high tragic ftyle, though very exact in the divifion of the lines, and in the parallelism, and affording many fine examples of the fynonymous kind, yet confifts chiefly of the conftructive. A happy mixture of the feveral forts gives an agreeable variety; and they ferve mutually to recommend and fet off one another."

He next confiders the diftinction of Hebrew verles into longer and fhorter, founded alfo on the authority of the alphabetic poems; one third of the whole number

being manifeftly of the larger fort of verse, the rest of the shorter. He does not attempt exactly to define, by the number of syllables, the limit which feparates one fort of verfe from the other; all that he affirms is this; that one of the three poems perfectly alphabetical, and therefore infallibly divided into its verfes; and three of the nine other alphabetical poems, divided into their verses, after the manner of the perfectly aphabetical, with the greatest degree of probability; that thefe four poems, being the four first Lamentations of Jeremiah, fall into verfes about one third longer, taking them one with another, than thofe of the other eight alphabetical poems.Example of thefe long verses from a poem perfectly alphabetical:

I am the man, that hath feen affliction,
by the rod of his anger:

He hath led me, and made me walk in
darkness, and not in light,' &c.
Lam. iii. 1-4.

Examples of the fame fort of verfe, where the limits of the verfes are to be collected only from the poetical conftruction of the fentences:

The

The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the foul:

The teftimony of Jehovah is fure, making wife the fimple,' &c. Pf. xix. 7. A found of a multitude in the moun

tains, as of many people; A found of the tumult of kingdoms, of nations gathered together,' Ifa. xiii. 4. The learned prelate having eftablished, on the grounds we have already mentioned, his opinion concerning the compofition of the prophetical writings, proceeds to point out the very important advantages which are to be derived from this fource, both to the tranflator and interpreter of the fcriptures.

Flatnefs, he obferves, and infipidity, will generally be the confequences of a deviation from the native manner of an original, which has a real merit and a peculiar force of its own. To exprefs therefore the form and fashion of the compofition becomes as neceffary in a tranflation, as to give the author's fenfe with fidelity and exactness but with what fuccefs can this be attempted, when the tranflator himself has an inadequate

or even falfe idea of the real character of the author, as a writer; of the general nature and of the peculiar form of the compofition?

He next proves, in a number of examples, that this attention to the peculiar turn and caft of the original, may be of ftill greater use to the interpreter, by leading him into the meaning of obfcure words and phrafes, and by fuggesting the true reading where the text is corrupted.

With regard to the fidelity of the tranflation now offered to the public, the excellent author has entered very largely into the principles of criticifm, and the method of interpretation, on which he has proceeded. It would be impoffible to do juftice to this part of his dif fertation without tranfcribing the whole; we fhall therefore content ourselves with faying, that the principal objects of his invaluable obfervations are, the Maforetic punctuation, the ftate of the Hebrew text, and the ancient versions of the Old Testament.

The article from our very refpectable correfpondent at Liverpool, was, by fome accident, mislaid; but shall be inferted in the next volume..

VOL. XXII.

CON

THE

[ocr errors]

by

by the commiffioners. Cautionary measures recommended by the Congrefs to the people; followed by a counter manifefto, threatening retaliation. Singular letter from the Marquis de la Fayette, to the Earl of Carlisle. American expedition for the reduction of the British fettlements in the country of the Natches, on the borders of the Miffifippi. Expedition from NevYork, under the conduct of Commodore Parker and Colonel Campbell, for the reduction of the province of Georgia. Landing made good, and the rebels defeated. Town of Savannah taken, and the province in general reduced. Major-General Prevoft arrives from the fouthward; takes the town and fort of Sunbury, and affumes the principal command. [18

CHA P. III.

Iland of Dominica taken by the Marquis de Bouille, governor of Martinico. State of the French fleet at Boston. Riot between the French and inhabitants. Defperate riot between the French and American failors, in the city and port of Charlestown. M. D'Estaing fails from Boston for the West Indies: having first issued a declaration addreffed to the French Canadians. Admiral Byron's fleet driven off from the coast of NewEngland by a violent hurricane, which afforded an opportunity for the departure of the French Squadron. British fleet detained at Rhode-Ifland, to repair the damages sustained in the tempeft. Reinforcement fent from New York to the West-Indies, under the conduct of Commodore Hotham, and Major-General Grant: narrowly mifs falling in with the French fleet: join Admiral Barrington at Barbadoes, and proceed together to the reduction of the island of St. Lucia: troops land, take the French posts in the neighbourhood of the Grand Cul de Sac : proceed to Morne Fortune and the Viergie. M. D'Estaing appears in fight, with a vaft fuperiority both of land and marine force: attacks the British Squadron in the Grand Cul de Sac; and is bravely repulfed by Admiral Barrington, twice in the fame day. French land their troops in Choc Bay attack General Meadows three times in the Viergie; are repulfed every time, and at length defeated with great lofs. Great glory obtained by the British forces, both by fea and land, in thefe several encounters. M. D'Estaing, after ten days longer fay, abandons the island of St. Lucia, without any farther attempt for its recovery. The Chevalier de Micoud, with the principal inhabitants, capitulate before the French fleet is out of fight. [36

CHA P. IV.

State of public affairs during the recefs of parliament. Addrefs and petition from the city of London. Militia embodied. Camps formed. Admiral Keppel appointed to the command of the grand fleet for the home fervice. Peculiar fituation of that commander. Fleet fails from St. Hellens. Licorne, French frigate, ftopt and detained. Blameable conduct of the Captain, in firing unexpectedly into the America man of war. Desperate

[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinuar »