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THE BENEDICTION OF HORSES.

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to his zeal and ability.* Amongst the rest, I had my own horses blessed at the expense of about eighteenpence of our money; as well to satisfy my own curiosity, as to humour the coachman, who was persuaded, as the common people generally are, that some mischance would befall them within the year, if they wanted the benefit of this benediction. Mabillon, in giving an account of this function, of which he happened also to be an eye-witness, makes no other reflection upon it, than that it was new and unusual to him.

I have met, indeed, with some hints of a practice, not foreign to this, among the ancients,-of sprinkling their horses with water at the Circensian Games;* but whether this was done out of a superstitious view of inspiring any virtue, or purifying them for those races, which were esteemed sacred; or merely to refresh them under the violence of such an exercise, is not easy to determine. But allowing the Romish priests to have taken the hint from some old custom of paganism; yet this, however, must be granted them, that they alone were capable of cultivating so coarse and barren a piece of superstition into a revenue sufficient for the maintenance of forty or fifty idle monks.

* Ma ogni sorte d'animali a questo santo si racommanda; e pero nel giorno della sua feste sono portate molte offerte a questa sua chiesa, in gratitudine delle gratie che diversi hanno ottenute da lui sopra de' loro bestiami. Rom. Modern. Giorn. vi. c. 46. Rione de' Monti.

Vid. Rubenii Elect. ii. 18.

BIBLICAL CRITICS AND EXPOSITORS.

It is not easy to conceive a more delightful employment for taste, scholarship, and piety, than that converse with the Sacred Text which constitutes the vocation of what may be called Biblical Criticism.

Of this the first business is to ascertain what the Sacred Text really is, comparing the readings of various manuscripts, and giving the modern scholar, as nearly as possible, the autograph of the author, or of his amanuensis. In this fundamental department, and within the period which we are now reviewing, two Englishmen acquired great distinction. One of these was Dr JOHN MILL, the learned Principal of St Edmund's Hall, who, just fourteen days before his death in 1707, published that edition of the Greek Testament, to which he had devoted thirty years. The other was Dr BENJAMIN KENNICOTT, who, in 1780, completed a similar task of twenty years, and gave the world a beautiful and elaborate edition of the Hebrew Scriptures.

When furnished with a text as accurate as possible, the next problem is to transfer into our own tongue the meaning. For this the facilities increase as sound scholarship continues to advance, and as new light is thrown on the natural productions and the usages of the lands in which the Sacred books were written. In this work of translation, much was honourably achieved by divines of the Church of England, especially by the labours on the poetical and prophetical books of the elder and younger Lowth, and of Horsley, Blayney and Newcome.

But even after the English student is in possession of an accurate version of an accurate text, there may be passages which, owing to their recondite allusions or intricate structure,

BISHOP LOWTH.

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baffle his comprehension. The discourse may be elliptical; its progress may be interrupted by digressions; the idiom may be remote from western habits of thought, or modern ways of speaking; the metaphor may be bold; the style may be too delicate or too sublime for cursory apprehension; and it is the business of a skilful commentator to secure justice for his author in these respects, at the hands of ordinary readers. This was done in the case of separate books, with greater or less success, by a multitude of expositors; and on the Bible entire the eighteenth century produced four commentaries which still hold a place in the theologian's library. One of these is made up by adding "Whitby's Notes on the New Testament," to those of Bishop Patrick and Dr William Lowth on the Old; and betwixt the vigorous sense of Patrick, and the scholarship of Lowth, the Old Testament portion is a very valuable contribution to our stores of Scripture interpretation. The work of Matthew Henry has already been noticed. In the middle of the century, it was followed by the still more copious exposition of Dr John Gill, the Baptist minister of Horsleydown, Southwark-a work abounding in Talmudical learning, and remarkable for its sturdy and through-going Calvinism. This, again, towards the close of our period, was followed by the well-known commentary of Thomas Scott, which, without any claim to originality, elegance, or genius, has, in virtue of its serious tone and its faithful effort to exhibit the mind of God in His Word, superseded in many a household every other exposition.

BISHOP LOWTH.

ROBERT LOWTH, the son of Dr William Lowth, to whose commentaries on the prophetical books we have already alluded, was born Nov. 27, 1710. Educated at Winchester School and New College, Oxford, he early displayed a rare union of classical taste and poetical power, and at the age of thirty-one

was elected to the poetical professorship. In that chair he delivered in Latin those Prelections on Hebrew poetry, which opened up a new and delightful field of investigation to those who, loving letters much, love their Bible more. Later in life he was raised successively to the bishoprics of St David's, Oxford, and London. He died Nov. 3, 1787.

The language in which the "Prelections" were written, would prevent us from giving a specimen, if they had not been so admirably translated by Mr Gregory. It would have been a pity, if lectures so essentially popular had remained locked up in Latin.

Personification.

It would be an infinite task to specify every instance in the sacred poems, which on this occasion might be referred to as worthy of notice; or to remark the easy, the natural, the bold and sudden personifications; the dignity, importance, and impassioned severity of the characters. It would be difficult to describe the energy of that eloquence which is attributed to Jehovah himself, and which appears so suitable in all respects to the Divine Majesty; or to display the force and beauty of the language which is so admirably and peculiarly adapted to each character; the probability of the fiction; and the excellence of the imitation. One example, therefore, must suffice for the present; one more perfect it is not possible to produce. It is expressive of the eager expectation of the mother of Sisera, from the inimitable ode of the prophetess Deborah.*

The first sentences exhibit a striking picture of maternal solicitude, both in words and actions; and of a mind suspended and agitated between hope and fear :—

"Through the window she looked and cried out,
The mother of Sisera, through the lattice:
Wherefore is his chariot so long in coming?
Wherefore linger the wheels of his chariot?"
* Judges v. 28-30.

THE SONG OF DEBORAH.

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Immediately, impatient of his delay, she anticipates the consolations of her friends, and her mind being somewhat elevated, she boasts, with all the levity of a fond female,—

(Vast in her hopes and giddy with success);

"Her wise ladies answer her;

Yea, she returns answer to herself:

Have they not found? Have they not divided the spoil?"

Let us now observe, how well adapted every sentiment, every word is, to the character of the speaker. She takes no account of the slaughter of the enemy, of the valour and conduct of the conqueror, of the multitude of the captives, but

"Burns with a female thirst of prey and spoils."

Nothing is omitted which is calculated to attract and engage the passions of a vain and trifling woman-slaves, gold, and rich apparel. Nor is she satisfied with the bare enumeration of them she repeats, she amplifies, she heightens every circumstance; she seems to have the very plunder in her immcdiate possession; she pauses, and contemplates every particular: "Have they not found? Have they not divided the spoil? To every man a damsel, yea a damsel or two?

To Sisera a spoil of divers colours?

A spoil of needlework of divers colours,

A spoil for the neck of divers colours of needlework on either side." To add to the beauty of this passage, there is also an uncommon neatness in the versification, great force, accuracy, and perspicuity in the diction, the utmost elegance in the repetitions, which, notwithstanding their apparent redundancy, are conducted with the most perfect brevity. In the end, the fatal disappointment of female hope and credulity, tacitly insinuated by the sudden and unexpected apostrophe,

"So let all thine enemies perish, O Jehovah!"

is expressed more forcibly by this very silence of the

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