Without dews or soft showers in bleakness remain ; IV. From the blood of the valiant, in victory's track, In the midst of the charge, where the brave thickest fall, V. Saul and Jonathan, gallant, illustrious pair, Your speed was the speed of the eagle's swift flight, VI. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, And oft to remembrance his glory recal; Your monarch-who made you so fair to behold, VII. But vainly the mighty went forth in their might; The union of martial, devotional, pathetic, and national feeling, in the original of this stanza, is admirable; and the allusion to the loss of Saul's shield is expressed in the true spirit of a "warrior bard," who could sympathize with the bold admonition addressed to the young Spartan, on presenting him with his buckler:-"Return with it, or on it!" The elevated regret of the Hebrew poet for that loss presents an honourable contrast to the Epicurean indifference of Horace's "relicta non bene parmula," and the still more shameless, though amusing, impudence of the Greek poet, Archilochus. "I have thrown away мY buckler," said he, in a fragment of one of his lost works, "but I shall find ANOTHER; and I have saved my LIFE!" 2 "The bow of Jonathan turned not back."-AUTHORISED VERSION OF THE BIBLE. "The bow of Jonathan was never held back."-GEDDES'S TRANSLA TION. 3 Nothing can be more happy than the art with which the poet endeavours to excite the sorrow of his country women for the death of Saul, through the medium of recollections connected with the general passion of the sex for personal finery, and their proportionate inclination to like those who can best contribute to the gratification of that expensive foible. 4"And Samuel said unto Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up?. ... To-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the ..... And thou, too, oh Jonathan, thou wert laid low, VIII. Oh Jonathan! dear as a brother to me, How distressed is my heart when I think upon thee! IX. Alas for the lovely!-alas for the brave !— And Israel's glory that rests in their grave. Alas! for the weapons of war that have perished, In the brave she adored, and the lovely she cherished.” December 11th, 1836. Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines."-1 Samuel xxviii. 15, 19. The death of Saul, in the circumstance of the real or supposed spectre related to have appeared to him before his last engagement; in his bravery, on that occasion, notwithstanding the naturally depressing effect of such an apparition; and, in his throwing himself upon his sword to avoid being taken by the victorious enemy, presents a considerable resemblance to Plutarch's account of the particulars of the fall of Brutus, at Philippi. On Greek and Roman principles, Saul, in his last battle, in his Waterloo, certainly died like a hero. "The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan lo ved him as his own soul."-1 Samuel, xviii. 1. 2 In this versification of David's Lament, the author has kept as close as possible to the Bible, consistent with the metre and stanza selected as the best adapted for doing justice to the subject in rhyme. The shortness, nevertheless, of the three verses in the Bible, answering to stanzas i., vii., and ix. of the poetical version, having rendered it impossible to stretch their meaning through the four lines indispensable in each stanza, some liberties have been taken with the original in those stanzas. These liberties consist in the poetical amplifications made use of in stanzas i. and ix.-in accordance, however, with the spirit of those portions of the original and in the two allusions made in stanzas i. and vii. to the Philistine bowmen and to the predestined defeat of the Israelite army, as being the most appropriate circumstances, from their positive historical connection with the subject, that could be introduced under the necessity alluded to. Allowing for those liberties, the above version will, perhaps, be found to imbody more of the literal sense of the authorized translation of the Bible, with something like what may be supposed to have been the metrical "roll" or effect of the original poem, than any versification yet given in English rhyme. For some further critical and literary remarks connected with, and for a more exact prose translation of, David's elegy, than that given in the English version of the Bible, see the "POSTSCRIPT" at the end of the volume. ΤΟ I. Он, let not Malice bid thee grieve, II. Then, why should Slander's voice alarm, That could one thought from thee remove: To me, the world's a boundless sea, Where, like the bird that "found no rest," April 17th, 1829. IMPROMPTU, On seeing a Reverend Dignitary of the Establishment, beating some poor boys from behind his carriage. I CANNOT help thinking that 's curious behaviour, 1 Mark viii. 13, 14. 1 NABIS AND THE UNION. (Written upon the passing of the Irish Coercion Bill.) "Experimentum in corpore vili." MACAULEY'S Speech on the Coercion Act. WHEN Sparta, from her ancient fame declined, 'Midst other engines by this despot framed, Towards his feigned queen the prisoner straight was led; The captive, bathed in blood, resigned his breath.1 The captive, for his wealth condemned to gasp Slaves, can ye ask? still crouching and dismayed!THE TYRANT'S CHAIN MAY FORM THE FREEMAN'S BLADE.a 1833. 1 Polybius, lib. xiii. cap. 7., tom. iii., p. 451, &c., edit. Schweighæuser. 2 See "POSTSCRIPT TO NABIS AND THE UNION." ALMIGHTY LORD. 'Devotion is the affection of the heart, and this I feel; for, when I view the wonders of creation, I bow to the majesty of Heaven.' —KENNEDY'S Conversations of Lord Byron, p. 135. ALMIGHTY Lord, Eternal Cause Of wide Creation's wondrous laws! And gemmed the sky with worlds by night, 1 |