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origin and commencement, being derived from nature, was in time improved by art, and applied to the purposes of utility and delight. For, as it owed its birth to the affections of the mind, and had availed itself of the assistance of harmony, it was found, on account of the exact and vivid delineations of the objects which it described, to be excellently adapted to the exciting of every internal emotion, and making a more forcible impression upon the mind than abstract reasoning could possibly effect. It was found capable of interesting and affecting the senses and passions, of captivating the ear, of directing the perception to the minutest circumstances, and of assisting the memory in the retention of them. Whatever, therefore, deserved to be generally known and accurately remembered, was, by those men who on this very account were denominated wise, adorned with a jocund and captivating style, illuminated with the varied and splendid colouring of language, and moulded into sentences, comprehensive, pointed, and harmonious. It became the peculiar province of poetry to depict the great, the beautiful, the becoming, the virtuous; to embellish and recommend the precepts of religion and virtue; to transmit to posterity excellent and sublime actions and sayings; to celebrate the works of the Deity, his beneficence, his wisdom; to record the memorials of the past, and the predictions of the future. In each of these departments, poetry was of singular utility, since before any characters expressive of sounds were invented, at least

before they were received and applied to general use, it seems to have afforded the only means of preserving the rude science of early times, and, in this respect, to have rendered the want of letters more tolerable: it seems also to have acted the part of a public herald, by whose voice each memorable transaction of antiquity was proclaimed and transmitted through dif ferent ages and nations."* Lactantius states, that poets preceded philosophers by some ages, and before the name of philosopher was known, were called wise men.

That poetry was an art with which the earliest inhabitants of the earth were familiar, may be gathered from the fact, that in the fourth chapter of Genesis, Lamech, the father of Jubal, addresses his wives in verse, the twentythird and twenty-fourth divisions of that chapter comprising a certain number of hemistichs, or broken verses, so artificially disposed as to produce a clear metrical rhythm, which is, to a certain extent, conveyed in our authorized translation of the Hebrew scriptures. It is the earliest specimen of Hebrew poetry extant. How Moses received it, whether from oral tradition, or from documentary authority, is a matter of no moment. It is sufficient that he

has recorded it, and the internal evidence which it bears of being an original fragment of antediluvian poetry, seems to have satisfied all reasonable inquirers. Bishop Jebb, indeed, questions the existence of Hebrew metres, but with

See Lowth's Fourth Prælection.

all due deference to so respectable a name, the whole structure of the poetical portions of the inspired volume, that is of those portions generally assumed to be poetical, is at once so obviously constructive and artificial, so obedient to certain given laws of composition, that it is impossible not to perceive a distinction so decidedly marked and broad between them and the prose portions as almost to admit of a direct contrast. Let any one, for instance, read the short introduction to the first chapter of Isaiah's prophecies, contained in the first verse of that chapter, according to the division of our English version; let him then proceed to the second verse, and he will be immediately conscious that he has passed from prose to poetry. He cannot fail to perceive quite a different order in the structure of the phraseology; he will, in short, be sensible of the presence of translated verse.

before they were received and applied to general use, it seems to have afforded the only means of preserving the rude science of early times, and, in this respect, to have rendered the want of letters more tolerable: it seems also to have acted the part of a public herald, by whose voice each memorable transaction of antiquity was proclaimed and transmitted through different ages and nations."* Lactantius states, that poets preceded philosophers by some ages, and before the name of philosopher was known, were called wise men.

That poetry was an art with which the earliest inhabitants of the earth were familiar, may be gathered from the fact, that in the fourth chapter of Genesis, Lamech, the father of Jubal, addresses his wives in verse, the twentythird and twenty-fourth divisions of that chapter comprising a certain number of hemistichs, or broken verses, so artificially disposed as to produce a clear metrical rhythm, which is, to a certain extent, conveyed in our authorized translation of the Hebrew scriptures. It is the earliest specimen of Hebrew poetry extant. How Moses received it, whether from oral tradition, or from documentary authority, is a matter of no moment. It is sufficient that he has recorded it, and the internal evidence which it bears of being an original fragment of antediluvian poetry, seems to have satisfied all reasonable inquirers. Bishop Jebb, indeed, questions the existence of Hebrew metres, but with

See Lowth's Fourth Prælection,

all due deference to so respectable a name, the whole structure of the poetical portions of the inspired volume, that is of those portions generally assumed to be poetical, is at once so obviously constructive and artificial, so obedient to certain given laws of composition, that it is impossible not to perceive a distinction so decidedly marked and broad between them and the prose portions as almost to admit of a direct contrast. Let any one, for instance, read the short introduction to the first chapter of Isaiah's prophecies, contained in the first verse of that chapter, according to the division of our English version; let him then proceed to the second verse, and he will be immediately conscious that he has passed from prose to poetry. He cannot fail to perceive quite a different order in the structure of the phraseology; he will, in short, be sensible of the presence of translated verse.

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