be compared to a cup of wine'. The next part of the dress has been referred to the vest em

about thy thighs or loins.' [See Leigh's Crit. Sac. and Parkhurst in verbum.] Ambitus femorum tuorum."

Buxtorf, Mercerus, Junius.

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The original word for jewellery, On, according to Parkhurst, means engraved ornaments; but the particle of comparison (3) being inserted in the original like jewelle 'ry.' must mean open work or embroidery. The cincture here intended then, is a girdle richly embroidered in imitation of jewellery, or the art of the goldsmith, and probably fastened in the front by a clasp, cut in the form of a covered cup or goblet. and which if cut in a ruby would appear a goblet filled with wine. But the chief difficulty rests in the next word, usually rendered navel.

1 The word sharer (w) certainly signifies umbilicus, the navel, and if so taken here, must not be referred to the outward form, but to the use of this part in affording nourishment to the fetus in the womb; and in that respe& be considered as a cup or goblet filled with wine: if so, this expression is of the same nature with the following,' thy body is an heap of wheat,' both intimating the abundant fertility of the spouse. But as several kindred words derived from the same root are applied to articles of dress or ornament, as w bracelets, or perhaps necklaces, (mw) a breast-plate, (ww) a chain, or, in short, any ornament round like a ring, or composed of a series of rings:-as several words from the same root are thus applied, Bp. Patrick, Mr. Harmer, Parkhurst, &c. have considered this as referring to the clasp of the cincture or girdle, which (according to the radical idea) fastens and regulates the whole dress. Now we know that the ladies, in various parts of the east, display their taste in ornaments of this nature, and in particular Niebuhr mentions a lady of Alexandria, whose clasp was in the form of two little oval shields, with a flower in the middle. (Voy. en Arab. tab. xxiv. vol. I.) Now if the clasp of this royal spouse were made of a ruby, and in the shape of a cup, poetry would very naturally call it a cup of wine. Moreover, because the original word rendered round (as in Chaldee signifies the moon, some of the rabbins have suggested that this may intend the same ornament referred to in Isa. iii. 18.-round tires like the moon.'

broidered with a wheat-sheaf and with lilies'; but I rather consider it as a compliment quite in

That the eastern wines are red, and that their cups are spherical and highly polished, appears from the following couplet of Hafez, [Richardson's Spec. of Persian Poetry.]

approach, O Sophy, [this] cup which is a pure mirror, In order that thou may'st behold [in it] the delightful་ ness of ruby coloured-wine.'

1 Bp. Patrick considers both the cup and the wheat encompassed with lilies. as figures embroidered on the vest with gold and silver by the former he understands a baSon or fountain in the centre, and by the latter a harvest scene wrought about it. somewhat similar to what Homer tells us was wrought by Vulcan on the shield of Achilles. The late editor of CALMET has suggested that the comparison here intended is that of the vest (or boddice) fastened with a girdle, to a sheaf of wheat tied about with lilies. This is elegant and ingenious, but supposing the ancients tied their wheat in sheafs) the word here used (ny) is not a sheaf but a hear of naked wheat, or corn threshed out. (See Parkhurst in n. and the texts there referred to.)

But after all as bitten, certainly refers primarily to the body, and is often used as synonimous with (m) womb. [see Ps. xxii. 9, 10.] I prefer considering this as a compliment to the bride on her fertility. So Selden says, wheat and barley were among the ancient Hebrews emblems of fertility and it was usual for standers-by to scatter these grains upon the married couple, with a wish that they might increase and multiply. Perhaps (adds 'he the passage in the text is a prediction of the bride's fertility. [Uxor Hebraica, lib. ii. cap. 15.] A custom which might probably originate from this passage, or vice versa. Either way it offers a happy illustration.

The lilies which surround, or rather cover this wheat, I would refer to a robe of fine linen, pure and white, embroidered perhaps with lilies, which were the most usual ornaments of the Hebrews. When the corn was laid in heaps, I suppose a quantity of field lilies were thrown [Heh. turned] over it, to protect it from the birds; or rather perhaps as Mr. Arthur Jackson suggests, in the manner of garlands, as a token of joy; and to this I suppose the allusion in the text.

the Jewish style, on her expected fertility, her innocence, and purity.-So Mrs. RowE;

Like summer Harvests fruitful, and as fair • As silver lilies in their snowy pride.'

The neck and bosom are described in nearly the same terms as before'. The eyes, clear, dark, and full, are compared to the pools in Heshbon, and her nose, as the index of a strong mind, is compared to the abutment of a tower3. Her head, crowned with flowerets, is compared to

1 The only observeable difference is, that the neck is here compared to a tower of ivory-not that Solomon had such a tower but because her neck was erect like a tower, and white as ivory. So Anacreon uses the expression [ɛparkvos tganhos] an ivory neck, in describing a handsome person. It may be here recollected that the spouse, chap. i. describes herself as brown or swarthy, but then she says this colour was adventitious, she was sun-burnt; but as her bosom might not be thus exposed, that might properly be compared to ivory, if not to snow.

See

2 The gate of Bathrabbim was properly one of the gates of Heshbon, which led to Rabbath or Rabba, called a city of waters, perhaps from the pools here referred to. Numb. xxi. 26. 2 Sam. xii. 27. Jer. xlix. 3. The comparison of the eyes to pools is classical and elegant. So Philostratus (as quoted in Patrick), says, Thou seemest to carry water, as it were from the fountain of thine eyes, and therefore to be one of the nymphs.'

3This tower of Lebanon, says Dr. Gill, seems to be one that was built in or near the forest of Lebanon, and was a frontier tower for that part of the country which lay towards Damascus.' To this tower, with its abutment, is compared a fine well-proportioned human nose, which has always been considered as no small beauty, and, by physiognomists, as the indication of a great mind. Lawater says, I have generally considered, the nose as the foundation, or abutment of the brain, Whoever is acquainted with the gothic arch, will perfectly understand

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Carmel, and the tresses of her head are rolled up in the spiral form of the porpura".

what I mean by this abutment: for upon this the arch of the forehead rests.' After describing a good nose he adds, • Such a nose is worth a kingdom.'

1 Carmel was a very fruitful mountain, whose top was • covered with vines, corn-fields, and fruitful trees' see 1sa. xxxv. 2. Amos i. 2. The allusion is to the nuptial crown, or garland, made of flowers, &c. which was worn by the bride on the marriage day: and this may denote the graces of the blessed Spirit, which are an ornament of grace to the head, &c. Gill.-Philostratus (as quoted by Patrick) has the same image, referring to artificial flowers: Thy head is a large meadow full of flowers; which are never 'wanting in the summer, and disappear not in the winter.'

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The tresses [Heb. branches] of thine head like the por'pura.' On no passage in this song are the critics more divided than on this. Some say like purple,' or scarlet; but these are not proper colours for the hair others refer it to the fillet or hair lace; still the note of comparison is unaccountably redundant.

The Vulgate says, like royal-purple bound in the canals; i. e. says Mons. Goguet, the canals of the dyers, who dyed their wool in little bundles before weaving. The eastern ladies to this day wear their hair tied in a great number of tresses down their backs: so Mess. Harmer and Parkhurst. Another critic says like royal purple tied, or hung in ' drapery in the galleries.' Neither of these latter versions, however, can be reconciled to the Jewish punctuation, nor the Septuagint. The late editor of Calmet takes Aragamen () for a proper name, like Carmel, and thinking it alludes to a particular manner of plaiting the hair, like the weaving of Arech, a city in Babylonia, supposed to be famous for its weaving manufactories. This however is all conjecture, and the interpretation of Michaelis and Bp. Percy is so much more elegant and simple, that I cannot help giving it in every respect the preference. The tresses of thine head like the 'porpura,' (or murex) a spiral shell fish, whence was extracted the famous purple dye of Tyre: meaning that the tresses were tied up in a spiral or pyramidal form on the top, or at the back of the head, and pro

The king who is supposed to have been wait ing in the galleries, or antichamber', is now introduced; and like a bridegroom rejoicing over his bride, extols her charms as in the highest degree captivating and enchanting. He compares her to the palm tree for stature, to the vine for sweetness; and to the citron for the odour of her breath3. The last verse, if not correctly translated, is at least good sense; and its extreme diffculty will apologize for the rest*.

bably the basis of the nuptial crown. Something like this we see in the Chinese, and other eastern dresses; the Hindoo women wear their hair commonly rolled up into a knot or bunch at the back of the head; not to say that our own ladies sometimes roll up their tresses in a manner not very dissimilar.

1 Galleries—on the meaning of this word we have remark ed above, p. 201. The king was detained there by the laws of decorum and propriety, till the virgins had properly adorned the bride to receive him.

* Stature like the palm tree. Tallness is an eastern beauty so Hafez speaks of damsels tall as cypresses. The palm tree has this peculiarity, that its branches are all at a considerable height, hence it must be climbed in order to reach them dates are the clusters of the palm, which, in ver. 8, are changed for grapes, to improve the compliment and this reminds me of an eastern poet, who compares the breasts of his love,' ample and ripe,' to the sweet fruit of the ta-a tree. Gotagovinda, p. 476.

Literally, the odour of thy nose (or as some copies read, mostrils) which no doubt intends the breath.

4 This last clause has puzzled all the commentators, and cannot, perhaps, be rendered with certainty. The translations are too various to be transcribed, and the conjectures of critics too bold to be adopted. There are also some various readings in the MSS. which only rendered the text more doubtful. After wearying myself in examining them, I have adopted what appears to me the best sense, as wel

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