acquainted either with the points or accents, but that they have been invented by the Jewish doctors since the Christian æra1.

If we were to consider the effects of the Jewish music, particularly in the case of Saul, and its ge. neral influence over the dispositions of the people, we might safely compare them with any that can be well attested in the Grecian history. We might also enlarge on the degree of refinement to which this and other arts were carried in the elegant court of Solomon, and the notice afterwards taken of the Songs of Sion' among their eastern conquerors'. But these circumstances would lead us into a very extensive field of enquiry; we shall therefore conclude with observing, that,

On the whole-If the Jews were a nation much attached to music-if their dispensation had peculiar advantages for its cultivation-if their voices and instruments were, at least, equal to those of any other cotemporary nation-if their language was euphonic, and their poetry sublime if the effects of their music were considerable, and its fame extended to foreign countries-it may certainly deserve a better epithet than that of very barbarous it must have been at least equal to that of any of the ancient nations.

In addition to the above observations on the Hebrew music, I would only add a few remarks on the manner in which it was conducted.

Encyc. Brit. in Accent.

2 Ps. cxxxvii. 3.

G

Above fifty of the Psalms are directed, as our translators express it, to the chief musician. There appear, indeed, to have been several leaders upon the different instruments of music; among these Asaph seems, in David's time, to have been the chief, and it is particularly said of him, that he played the cymbals. I conceive the performers to have been placed in two choirs, as in our cathedrals; and that the Psalms were most of them in dialogue, so that the choirs answered to each other, and then joined in chorus. This chief musician (Asaph, for instance) I suppose to have stood at the end, with the cymbals, by which he directed the performers, and when he wished a hold or pause, to produce any particular effect, or perhaps any particular change in the performance, he elevated his hands with the cymbals (as we see the Turkish musicians frequently do); and this I take to be the precise meaning of the word selab, which has so much perplexed the

commentators1.

By the titles of the Psalms it appears that some of them were more particularly designed to be accompanied by stringed, and others by wind in

1 The manner in which the ancient versions have rendered these words has puzzled the critics as much as the words themselves. The LXX, for instance, render ELO TO TEλOO, to the end [man], by whom I suppose they meant the leader, who was placed at the upper end of the the choir. The word no, they render by Aλμ, which expresses not so properly the literal meaning of the word, as its design-a change in the performance, or a deviation in the time.

struments'. This, though it may appear a trifling distinction in itself, might be of some importance to ascertain the nature of the poetic composition. This idea was suggested by a hint of Sir W. JONES', who observes that the music of the Greeks was accompanied with different instruments, according to the different modes, as the Phrygian with the sound of trumpets, &c. So that a Phrygian was a trumpet-air, a Lydian a fluteair, and so of the rest. If any thing like this obtained among the Hebrews, the stringed instruments probably accompanied the more cheerful strains, and the softer wind instruments, as the organ, &c. the more plaintive.

We have supposed the Hebrew Psalms were performed in dialogue, and this rests not merely on supposition. On some oceasions we know that they answered one another, and then doubtless joined in chorus. But as this subject may be resumed, when we come to consider the Song of Solomon as a sacred drama, I shall here conclude the present section, and with it, our first Introductory Essay.

1 Those for stringed instruments are Ps. iv. vi. liv. &c. But one only is marked for wind instruments, namely, Ps. v. 2 Essay II. added to his Asiatic Poems.

ESSAY II.

ON THE NATURE, DESIGN, AND DIVINE AUTHORITY OF SOLOMON'S SONG.

We now bend our attention to the second general object of enquiry, which will comprehend several particulars, viz.—the author and antiquity of this book-the occasion on which it was composed the nature of the piece-the images employed the allegorical design-the inspiration of the book-and an historical sketch of the commentaries upon it,

SECTION I.

LET us enquire first for the AUTHOR of this po. em, and, in so doing, endeavour to ascertain its antiquity, and, as nearly as possible, its date. I admit that the titles of the sacred books of the Old or New Testament, are not always either of divine authority, or of very high antiquity: but this I think is clearly so, as being a part of the the book itself, and forming the first yerse of it, which runs thus: The Song of Songs, which is SOLOMON's,' or of Solomon. The only question here is, whether the prefix lamed employed in the original, intimate that it was written by,

or concerning, Solomon. Admitting that it may sometimes bear the latter rendering, it is, I think, comparatively very seldom; its certain, usual, and authorized meanings are, to, for, with, or BY, answering to the dative and ablative cases, which are (if we may apply the term cases to that language) usually blended in the Hebrew, as well as in the Greek. That lamed is used for BY, as indicating the author, appears from the titles of the Psalms, and other Hebrew poems. Thus several of them are said to be psalms of (or by) David, and they are attributed to him in the New Testament, both by our Lord and his apostles'. So we read of psalms of Asaph, of Solomon', and

Math. xxii. 43. Acts, ii. 25, &c.

The principal argument I am aware of in favor of understanding this prefix (b), in the sense of concerning, is, that it is so used in the title of Ps. Ixxii. which seems by the last verse to be written by David the prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.'-To this I answer,

1. That some of the best critics and expositors understand this, not as if it were the last of David's Psalms (for that is not said), but as containing the result and completion of his prayers; as if the universality of Messiah's kingdom was the end, the sum, the accomplishment of David's prayers [Vide Poli Syn. Crit.], or that this was the last subject on which David prophesied, as we see in 2 Sam. xxiii. 1. [Ainsworth]. If either of these senses be admitted, it will not prove that David was the author.

2. Dr. Durell imagines this verse to be an interpolation; but I think it would be much more correct to suppose it the note of some ancient Jewish transcriber, who took the psalm (as many have done) for the last which he composed. That it is no genuine part of the psalm, is I think sufficiently evident from the conclusion of the preceding verse with a double Amen. So the ist book (as the Jews di