son.

"The church at Lichfield in which we had a seat, wanted "reparation; so I was to go and find a seat in other "churches; and having bad eyes, and being awkward "about this, I used to go and read in the fields on Sunday. This habit continued till my fourteenth year; "and still I find a great reluctance to go to church.” Boswell's life of Johnson, vol. i. p. 44. Independently of constitutional disease, morbid melancholy, and unfavourable circumstances in after-life, the facts, here stated as they came from his own lips in familiar conversation, may be sufficient to account for much that was erroneous, and not a little that was defective, in the religion of Dr. JohnHis earliest and most indelible impressions of pious reading, as well as of public worship, were of an unpleasing kind. Can we wonder, therefore, when we find him repeatedly taking himself to task for neglect of the Scriptures; and perpetually making resolutions on that subject, which he was unable to reduce to practice; when we hear him confess, that he had never read the Bible through; and when we fail to discover a single record of his deriving pleasure from the study of that volume? An observation which I have made elsewhere, I will here take the liberty of repeating: "One great reason why so few "people in the world are truly religious, and why, among "the truly religious, so many are not happy in their re"ligion, is this, that early religious habits are too com"monly associated, not with cheerfulness, but with con"straint and gloom."

This view of things cannot fail to excite painful reflections, but happily, there is a brighter side of the subject: for to those who have been instituted in a better school, and who have made due advances on their early institution, the sacred volume is the most cheerful of companions. It is the character of the happy man, that "his "delight is in the law of the Lord:" not merely, though that be the supreme excellence of Scripture, as spiritually

excellent, but also, as pre-eminently beautiful and sublime. And it may be pronounced with confidence, that if a man's faith be strong, if his religious affections be fervent, if his religious views be bright and cheerful, if his natural taste be good in itself, and properly cultivated, and if his mind have been healthfully exercised in the walks both of profane and sacred letters, that man will infallibly make the book of God's word his chosen pleasure-ground. This note has grown to considerable length: but the subject of it is eminently practical: and the introduction of such a subject, will, I trust, not be esteemed unseasonable, at the opening of a work like the present.

(2) General opinion that the books of the prophets were written in mere prose.] Scaliger, (Animadv. in Chron. Euseb. p. 6.) and Vitringa, (Proleg. in Jesaiam p. 8.) have attributed a kind of oratorial measure to the composition of Isaiah; but they distinctly except against its being, on that account, termed poetry. Herman Van der Hardt, aptly named the Hardouin of Germany, attempted to reduce Joel's elegies, as he called them, to Iambic verse; and, consistently with his hypothesis, he assumed, that the prophets in general wrote in metre. "This," says Bishop Lowth, "is the only exception I meet with to the univer"sality of the contrary opinion." See the Prelimin. Dissert. to Isaiah, p. ii. 2d ed. 4to. Lond. 1779; to which edition any future references in this work shall be made.

(3) Numerous efforts to restore the theory of Hebrew versification.] Any thing like an historical or critical detail of the attempts made to discover and describe the system of Hebrew versification, would require a volume, rather than a note; and, after all, the intrinsic value of the subject would ill repay the writer or the reader. As, however, this is a matter of some curiosity, a brief sketch in the way of catalogue may not be unacceptable; espe

cially as the sources of information respecting it have never, with any degree of fulness, been indicated to the English student.

The earliest record concerning the structure of Hebrew poetry is Exodus, xv. 1-21.: from thence we learn, that it was fitted for alternate recitation, with musical accompaniments. Of this alternate recitation there are many subsequent examples in the Old Testament; but, whether the poetry was or was not metrical, Scripture gives no sort of intimation.

Josephus (Ant. Jud. ii. 16. § 4., iv. 8. § 44., vii. 12. § 3.) and Philo Judæus (de Vit. Contempl. p. 893. edit. Par. 1649.) assert that the Hebrew poetry had metres, resembling those of the classical authors. Origen, (ap. Hieron. Præf. ad Euseb. Chron.) Eusebius, (Præp. Evang. ii. 3.) S. Jerome, (Præf. ad Euseb. Chron.) and S. Isidore, (Origin. i. 18.) make similar assertions; in support of which, like their Jewish predecessors, they fail to bring forward any proof. These ancients are ably and satisfactorily refuted by Joseph Scaliger, Animadv. in Chron. Euseb. p. 6-8. Nor should it be omitted, that S. Gregory Nyssen (1 Tract. in Psalm. cap. iv.) expressly denies the fact of any resemblance between the composition of the Psalms and the classic metres.

Among the moderns, Fr. Vatablus, Andr. Masius, M. V. Reatinus, J. Croius, L. Fabricius, N. Petræus, and Theod. Ebertus attempted to investigate, or to restore, the Hebrew versification. The result, or rather the failure, of their efforts, is compendiously stated by Augustus Pfeiffer, Dub. Vexat. Cent. III. loc. xlvi. p. 530. seqq.

In the year 1637, Fr. Gomar published his "Lyra "Davidis: seu Nova hebrææ S. Scripturæ ars poetica, ca"nonibus suis descripta, et exemplis sacris, et Pindari ac "Sophoclis parallelis demonstrata." This work was hailed with approbation by J. Buxtorf, D. Heinsius, L. De Dieu, Const. L'Empereur, and others; but warmly

opposed by L. Cappel, "Animadv. in Novam Lyram;" by Abr. Calovius "Crit. Sacr." p. 337; by Conr. Danhauer, "Hermeneut. Sacr." p. 344; by Aug. Pfeiffer, "Dub. Vexat." p. 553; and by Salom. Van Till, “De Poes. et Music. Veterum." It was well observed, that, by Gomar's rules, any piece of writing might be reduced to every kind of metre.

After some interval, followed Marcus Meibomius; who boasted, that to him was revealed the long-lost secret of Hebrew versification; and that, through his means, by divine destiny, two great discoveries were about to break forth on the world: namely, the science of Hebrew metre; and a more perfect knowledge of the Hebrew tongue, than had been possessed by the Alexandrine translators, and by the whole body of interpreters since their time. His secret, however, he determined not to disclose without an ample pecuniary recompense; and, meeting neither patron nor purchaser at home, he passed over from Belgium into England, in fruitless quest of applause and money. His reasonable proposals were, that when six thousand subscribers (his own words are 66 sex millia curiosorum hominum") should give in their names, and subscriptions at five pounds sterling for each copy, he would go to press. He forwarded addresses on the subject, to the different sovereigns of Europe; and published three specimens of his work; the first in 1678, the last in 1698 but the mass of his important secret he carried to the grave. Posterity may contentedly endure the deprivation the absurdity of his specimens, we are told by competent witnesses, was equalled only by their arrogance, and by the reproaches which he dared to fling upon the Sacred Text. He was severely chastised by J. H. Maius, B. H. Gebhardi, and J. J. Zentgravius.

The system of Van der Hardt nearly resembled that of Meibomius. His "First three Elegies of Joel" were published at Helmstadt, 1706. He went so far as to affirm, not merely that Hebrew poetry is metrical, but, that the

Iambics of classical poetry were borrowed from the Hebrews; while, with an amusing versatility of paradox, he elsewhere taught, that Greek was the primitive language.

Gomar had insisted both on rhymes and metre. Le Clerc, rejecting metre, espoused the scheme of ouoioteλeuta, or rhyming poetry; according to Bishop Lowth, the most absurd and untenable of any proposed: See Le Clerc "Comm. in Prophet." p. 621-630. Amst. 1731: also Biblioth. Univer. Amst. 1688. He was supported by M. Fourmont, "Mem. de l'Academ. des Inscr." tom. vi. The same, or like opinions, were also adopted by Sig. Garofalo, in a treatise published at Rome, 4to. 1707. Garofalo was opposed by Barnabas Schachius, otherwise Raphael Rabbenius; a Jew, according to the "Acta Eruditorum," a Christian, according to Wolff. The system of Le Clerc, was further opposed by Dom. Calmet, "Diss. de Poes. Heb. ;" by M. Dacier, Preface to his edition of Horace, 1709; by Masclef, Gram. Hebr. edit. 1731; and by Mr. Arthur Bedford, in his "Temple Music:" also by Guarini, P. Simon, M. Du Pin, M. Heumann, and M. L'Abbe Fleuri; all of whom reject both rhyme and metre.

:

In this country, the metrical system of the learned Bishop Hare naturally attracted more attention than any of the preceding it did not, however, satisfy the public mind. We learn, from George Psalmanazar's Memoirs, that his lordship printed but five hundred copies of his Hebrew Psalter; one half of which he presented to his learned friends, at home and abroad; the remaining copies sold but slackly, and the work has never been separately republished.* The Bishop's metrical system was overthrown by Bishop Lowth repeated efforts were made for its re-edification by Dr. Thomas Edwards; whose attacks on Lowth were both peevish and disrespectful. The Harian system, and the defences of it, will be little known to posterity, but from

*It is given, with several works of a like nature, in the 31st volume of the Thesaurus of Ugolini.