And certainly, if Pharaoh's daughter was, as we have all along supposed, a proselyte to the worship of Jehovah, it must be no small comfort and satisfaction to her to reside where that worship was established, and where she could be under no fear of persecution or reproach on ac count of her religion. The import of the original word for spouse leads us to remarks, in passim, that the same act of union which unites us to Christ, the spiritual bridegroom, introduces us also into the family of heaven, and makes us sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty.' The encomium on the spouse must bring to our recollection bis infinite grace, who loved the church, and gave himself ⚫ for it; that he might present it to himself a glo'rious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or · any such thing;' but that it should be holy, and without blemish.' Chap. IV. Ver. 9-11. Bridegroom. Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, [my] spouse, Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, With one chain of thy neck. How beautiful is thy love, my sister, [my] spouse; How much more excellent than wine, And the odour of thine ointments than all per fumes! Thy lips, O spouse, drop [as] the honey-comb; And the odour of thy garments is as the odour There is a singularity in this imagery which has much perplexed the critics, and perhaps it is not possible to ascertain the meaning of the poet beyond a doubt. Supposing the royal bridegroom to have had a profile, or side view of his bride in the present instance, only one eye, or one side of her necklace would be observable; yet this charms and overpowers him'. TERTUL LIAN mentions a custom in the east, of women unveiling only one eye in conversation, while they keep the other covered: and NIEBUHR mentions a like custom in some parts of Arabia. This brings us to nearly the same interpretation as the above. Some authors think it necessary to supply a word here, and read one glance from thine eyes'' and, in the next member of the sentence, instead of one chain, one turn of thy 'neck;' and this certainly agrees with the Asi 1 So Ainsworth, Harmer, &c. The original for thou 'hast ravished my heart' is but one word (naab), and signifies unhearted, as it is rendered by the LXX. (exaporwoms), Aben Ezra, &c. Some have indeed attempted to give a contrary meaning, as, having heartened him, but this is extremely unnatural and inelegant. To skin is to take off the skin; and to embowel, to take out the bowels. When the Queen of Sheba saw King Solomon, there was ! spirit in her' which seems to be a synonimous expression. 2 Travels in Arabia, vol. I. p. 262. Do more 3 For N, masc. the Keri and many MSS. read nnx fem. to agree with p, which has occasioned a suspicion that or some such word, may have been dropt from the text in transcribing; Le Clerc and Bp. Percy make no scruple to supply this, and even Junius and Ainsworth suppose it to be understood. The mem prefix leans also to this intérpretation. Dr. Hodgson reads ' at once with thine eyes, ' at once with the chain around thy neck,' atic style, and is not without respectable autho rities'. Either of these explanations conveys the same general idea, that the slightest view of the spouse was extremely captivating.-The rest of the imagery is as easy and natural as it is beautiful. The comparison of her conversation to milk and honey is most eminently so, 'Pleasant words are an honey-comb, sweet to the soul, and · health to the bones.' These general ideas of the agreeableness of the church to Christ, both in her looks and conversation, having been remarked on in a preceding section, I shall only add here the interpretation of the Targum on the last verse of the paragraph. When the priests pray in the holy court, their lips drop as the honey-comb? and so does thy tongue, O thou modest damsel, when thou de'liverest songs and hymns, sweet as milk and honey and the smell of the priests garments is as the smell of Lebanon2. 72 1 Parallel passages might be quoted from many eastern poets. The Song of Ibrahim • One dart from your says, eyes has pierced through my heart,' and in the Songs of Gitagovinda, we find a slave acknowledging himself bought by a single glance from thine eyes, and a toss of thy disdainful eye-brows. Asiat. Research. vol. III. p. 400. ? Perfumed garments were a favourite luxury with the antients. Of the Messiah it is said, All thy garments smell ⚫ of myrrh, aloes, and cassia.' (See Prelim. Ess. p. 83.) Nor were they 'peculiar to the Hebrews. Homer relates that Calypso gave Ulysses 'sweet smelling garments,' Chap. IV. 12—15. A garden locked is my sister, [my] spouse; Thy shoots are a paradise of pomegranates, Together with the precious fruits of cypresses and nards. A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, The comparison now drawn has delicate and striking beauties. The bride is here compared to a royal garden-an orchard-a paradise; her future progeny to a plantation of pomegranates; and the various excellencies and graces of herself and them to the most precious fruits, and the most fragrant aromaticks; all reserved for the sole entertainment of her beloved. Then again her purity is compared to a spring, a fountain; and her fidelity to the spring locked, and the fountain sealed'. The latter image may 1 In this verse I have been compelled by the poetic form of the original to neglect the Masoretic accents; which I suppofe of no great authority. The fruits of the cypresses (or hennas) and the nards, poetically speaking, are their perfumes. The calamus is a sweet scented cane, Isa. xliii. 24. Mr. Swinburne, in his Travels through Spain, (Lett. XII.) speaks of the air all around' being perfumed with the effluvia of the aloes.'-Most commentators, however, refer this to the wood (lign aloes) which when dried is very fragrant. Mr. Harmer understands the words frankincense, 'myrrh, and aloes' as generic terms, including various species. In the second (myrrh) he supposes may be included a variety of precious balsams. On Sol. Song. p. 294, &c. 2 I am very tender of altering the established reading, especially where the sense does not require it; but in the sound strange to an European ear; but where verdure, vegetation, even life itself depends on such a supply of water, it assumes a very differ. ent value; and that fountains, as well as gardens, are locked and sealed in eastern countries, we know on the authority of CHARDIN, and other travellers'. In the close of the paragraph this image is repeated and enlarged. She is a fountain of gar'dens,' and a stream of living waters';' not only · present instance it should not be concealed, that more than sixty MSS. with the LXX. Syriac, Vulgate, Arabic, and Tigurine versions, instead of (ba) a well (a spring built round, with a wheel to draw the water) repeat (1) garden 'locked;' which is very agreeable to the style of Hebrew -poetry, and is preferred by Castel, Doderlein, and other critics. 1 Harmer's Observ. vol. I. p. 113. But then it must be rewoman, purity and virThat this kind of distant and is not restricted as 2 Dr. Percy and Mr. Harmer contend strongly that these expressions are a testimony of the bride's virginity on the night of consummation, which was required by the law of Moses; and I admit that the like expressions are used by eastern writers in such a sense. membered that, in an unmarried ginity are precisely the same idea. Imagery is common in the East, Mr. Harmer would have it, appears from the following passages. Feirouz, a vizier, having divorced his wife upon suspicion of infidelity, her brothers apply for redress in the following figurative terms. My lord, we have rented to Feirouz a most delightful garden, a terrestrial paradise; he took possession of it, encompassed with high walls, and planted with the most beautiful trees that bloomed with flow'ers and fruit: he has broken down the walls, plucked the 'tender flowers, devoured the finest fruit, and would now restore us this garden, robbed of every thing that contributed to render it delicious when we gave him admission to it.' (Miscell. of Eastern Learning, vol. I. p. 12.) Cahibah, mother of the Khalif Motaz, complained of Saleh, that |