this beauty as the pastoral poets. It occurs in a great variety of the psalms, and other poetical parts of the bible; and the reader may also turn to Anacreon's Ode xxxi, in which the burden is

Θέλω, θέλω μανηναι,

ago

"The Gazels of the Asiatics are often composed with the same spirited figure. In a paper on the resemblances of Grecian and Oriental poetry, which I some time inserted in the Monthly Magazine, I gave an instance of it from one of the Gazels of Hafiz. The following, to an unknown fair, from Khakani, will afford the reader another example.

"What art thou?-say: with shape,

cypress

Soft jasmine neck, but flinty heart: Tyrant! from whom 'tis vain to escape— O tell me who thou art?

I've seen thy bright narcissus-eye,

Thy form no cypress can impart : Queen of my soul! I've heard thee sigh

O tell me who thou art?

Through vales with hyacinths bespread

I've sought thee, trembling as the hart:
O rose-bud-lip'd! thy sweets are fled-
Tell, tell me who thou art?

Wine lights thy cheeks; thy steps are snares;
Thy glance a sure destructive dart :
Say, as its despot-aim it bears,
What fatal bow thou art?

Thy new-moon brow the full moon robs,

And bids its fading beams depart :—
Tell, thou, for whom each bosom throbs,
What torturer thou art?

Drunk with the wine thy charms display,
Thy slave Khakani hails his smart:
I'd die to know thy name!-then say

What deity thou art?”

"Longpierre has quoted an ancient and anonymous epigram, so perfectly correspondent with the idyl before us, excepting that the research of the devious lover is not crowned with the same success, that I cannot avoid citing it, nor conceiving that the idea was suggested by this beautiful passage in the Song of Songs."

"Lecto compositus, vix prima silentia noctis Carpebam, et somno lamina vieta dabam: Cum me sævus Amor preusum, sursumque capillis

Excitat, et lacerum pervigilare jubet. “Tu famulus meus (inquit) ames cum mille puellas,

Solus, Io, solus, dure jacere potes?'' Exsilio; et pedibus nudis, tanicaque soluta, Omne iter inpedio, nullum iter expedio. Nunc propero, nunc ire piget; rursumque redire

Pœnitet; et pudor est stare via media.

Ecce tacent voces hominum, strepitusque ferarum,

Et volucrum cantus, turbaque fida canum. Solus eg, ex cunctis paveo somnumque, torumque,

Et sequor imperium, sæve Cupido, tuum." "In bed reclined, the first repose of night Scarce had I snatched, and closed my con

quered eyes,

When Love surprized me, and with cruel might,

Seized by the hair, and forced me straight to rise.

"What! shall the man whom countless damsels fire,

Thus void (said he) of pity, sleep alone?" I rose barefooted, and, in loose attire, Block up each avenue, but traverse mone. Now rush I headlong-homeward now retreat

Again rush headlong, and each effort try ; Ashamed at heart to loiter in the street,

Yet in my heart still wanting power to fly. Lo! man is hushed-the beasts forbear to roar,

The birds to sing, the faithful dog to barkI, I alone the loss of bed deplore,

Tyrannic love pursuing through the dark."

The second idyl of Moschus is constructed upon precisely the same plan. It thus opens most beautifully:

Ευρώπη ποτε Κυπρις επί γλυκόν ήκεν ονείρον Νυκτος έτε τειτατον λαχος ἱσταται, εγγύθι δ' ως Ύπνος ότε γλυκίων μελιτος βλεφάροισιν εφίζων, Λυσιμελής, πέδας μαλακο κατα φακα δεσμώ, Ευτε και ατρεκέων παμαίνεται εθνες αντίξων.

Nigh was the dawn, the night had nearly fled,

When a soft dream approached Europa's bed; 'Twas Venus sent it: honey from the cell Not sweeter flows, than flowed the sleep that fell:

Loose lay her limbs, her lids with silk were

bound,

And fancy's truest phantoms hovered round."

The name of the fair bride, in whose honour these amatory idyls were composed, is not come down to us; nor is it yet agreed among commentators who she was. She has generally been regarded as the daughter of Pharaoh: but as Mr. Good very justly observes, “the few circumstances that incidentally relate to her history in these poetical effusions, completely oppose such an idea." Our author also, with great probability, conlomon and the Egyptian princess_was a jectures, that the marriage between Somatch of interest and policy: whereas, on the contrary, the matrimonial connection here celebrated, was one formed

upon the tenderest reciprocal affection. From the bride's own words we learn that she was of Sharon, a canton of Palestine, and from the respectful attention paid to her by her attendants, and the appellation with which they address her, we have reason to believe, that, "though not of royal, yet she was of noble birth."

"How long," observes Mr. Good," his (Solomon's) partiality for this accomplished bride continued, we know not. The histories of his life, which would probably have given us some information upon the subject, and were composed by the prophets Nathan, Abijah, and Iddo, have unfortunately followed the fate of all his own works, except the book of Proverbs, of Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. The anonymous histories of him which are still preserved, however, in the sacred books of Kings and Chronicles, are minute and explicit in many points; and it is probable that the lady did not long live to enjoy his affection, or her name and some anecdotes relating to her would have been here communicated. That the Hebrew monarch conducted himself with great kindness towards her, we may fairly conclude from the uniformity of his actions and the known generosity of his disposition, a generosity that induced him, seven or eight years after his marriage with the daughter of Pharoah, to build for this princess a superb palace, in splendor resembling his own, at a distance from the city of David; and which tempted him, in direct disobedience to the divine will, to erect temples and altars for the use of all his queens and concubines, dedicated to the respective deities whom they idolatrously worshipped." Pref.

p. xvii.

There are, we believe, few translators or interpreters of scripture who would speak with equal tenderness of this voluptuous and dissolute monarch. Mind. ful of our character and our years, we have been long accustomed to call things by their right names; and have too much respect both for ourselves and for the generation that is to succeed us, to dignify wantonness and irreligion by the name of generosity. We will not dispute the monarch's generosity in building a superb palace for his queen; we cannot doubt of the warmth of his affection, nor of his sincerity and continuance of his kindness to the Rose of Sharon: but in forsaking the religious, which were at the same time the political institutions of his country, so far as to gratify his concubines by the introduction of idolatrous rites into his kingdom, we must think (what we have ever thought) that

he exhibits a melancholy and a warning instance of the inevitable tendency of sensual indulgence, to destroy all regard for moral distinctions, and all reverence for religious truth; and to hurry its unfortunate victim to the neglect even of worldly policy. The monarch of Israel was a man of ardent passions; under the guidance of which he violated lator of his people. To throw over his the wisest injunctions of the great legislibertinism the splendid veil of generosity, was certainly not necessary for the translator's purpose, and ought to have been avoided as of evil tendency.

After perusing the passages we have selected, our readers may be anxious to know what Mr. Good thinks of the claim which the Song of Songs has to be considered as of canonical authority. When the book first came into our hands, our feelings were, we are persuaded, such as theirs will be. We opened it in the midst of the notes; we felt that we were still men, and we were warmed by the blaze of beauty that surrounded us. The amatory effusions of the Oriental and the Grecian muse that glow in every page, arrested our attention; and, though not surprized, we were for some time captivated by the striking resemblance that prevails among the Persian, the Asiatic, and the European amorets, and the love-song of the Hebrew monarch. It had long since appeared to us, that the Song of Songs had no right to a place in the sacred canon; though it might be very well placed upon the same shelf with Anacreon, Secundus, and other poets of the same temperament. The studied display of passages not only similar, but proved, or attempted to be proved, to have been borrowed by lovelorn bards from the "Sacred Idyls," justified the opinion we had already formed. Our surprize, therefore, was not small, when, upon adverting to the preface, we found the learned translator claiming for this poem the rank of an inspired production, as affording not only "the veil of a sublime and mystical allegory, delineating the bridal union subsisting between Jehovah and his pure and uncorrupted church; and an admirable picture of Jehovah's selection of Israel as a peculiar people, and of the call of the Gentiles: but also a happy example of the pleasures of holy and virtuous love, and inculcating, beyond the power of didactic poetry, the ten derness which the husband should mani

fest for his wife, and the deference, modesty, and fidelity with which his affection should be returned; and considered even in this sense alone, fully entitled to the honor of constituting a part of the sacred scriptures." We are proud to discover in the sacred volume the model of all the correct morality, and the rational theology of the ancients: we receive the highest pleasure in tracing the sources, whence flowed all the good principles which the philosophers of antiquity imbibed, up to " Siloe's brook that flowed fast by the oracle of God;" but it is not without considerable pain, and even disgust, that we see the sacredness of divine inspiration attributed to a work which, according to its warmest

admirer, has suggested many passionate if not licentious thoughts, to the votaries of illicit love.

To sum up, in a few words, an opi nion of the work before us: the arrange. ment is new and ingenious; the translation faithful and elegant; the poetical version is, for the most part, correct and beautiful; the notes are full of profound learning and good taste. It is a work which every scholar will peruse with pleasure; from which the divine may reap improvement; but notwithstanding all the "delicacy of diction" of which the translator boasts, it is a work which we would carefully guard from the eye of youthful modesty.

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THIS work, which has been several years before the public, and not without just reason favourably received, is designed to exhibit the events of the gospel history in their proper order of succession;" not by bringing together the accounts of each evangelist, and placing them in parallel columns, but "by combining the accounts of the four histories, and relating every circumstance in their own words;" selected and arranged, so as to afford the fullest history of every transaction. In determining the order of the events, one evangelist is not uniformly preferred to another; but greater regard is paid to him who gives the fullest account of the different periods of our Lord's ministry.

On the subject of the duration of Christ's ministry, Dr. Willan agrees with the late Primate of Ireland in assigning to it a period of three years.

On the merits of this work, it is not our province to enlarge; it belongs to our plan only to announce the sanction which the public have expressed in calling for a third edition. We cannot however refrain from presenting our readers with a specimen of the notes which accompany this edition of the United Gospel; they are in general valuable, especially those which contain remarks connected with the author's profession. Mrs. Willan has also contributed to the information which this part of the work conveys.

Of the prevalence of the opinion re

specting the agency of malicious spirits on the human body, among mankind, in all ages, and in all countries, Dr. Willan has collected the following cu rious evidence.

"The diseases thought, in Asia, to arise from dæmoniacal possession, or to be otherwise inflicted by evil spirits, by the moon, planets, &c. were epilepsy, catalepsy, tetanus, hysterical and other convulsions, palsy, apoplexy, carus or lethargy, incu bus, somnambulism, melancholy, mania and phrenzy, idiotism, loss of memory, sudden

of voice, any singular deformity, and a wasting without apparent cause.

"Socrates and Plato, in Phæd. describe two species of mania; one arising from bodily disease, (υπονοσηματων ανθρώπων) the other, from a change of state effected by divine impulse, (υπό θείας εξαλλαγής των εισθέντων νομιμων γιγνομενη) which he refers to Apollo, Bacchus, the Muses, Venus, and Eros or Cupid. Epilepsy was among the Greeks so generally referred to supernatural influence, that it was termed, even by their physicians, the sacred disease.' Hippocra tes seems to have been the first who com

bated this opinion of his countrymen. He thinks the disease no more deserving the appellation of sacred than many others, as fever, ague, phrenzy, &c. After exposing the absurdity of those who pretend to decide from some variation of the symptoms in different cases, whether the fits were occasioned by Cybele, Neptune, Hecate enodia, Apollo severely reprehends the exorcists of his time nomius, Mars, or some of the heroes, he and wisdom inconsistent with the general as impostors, affecting a degree of sanctity tenor of their conduct, and pretending to set aside what more than human power had in

flicted, by means of incantations, magic ceremonies, lustrations, and sometimes by the most contemptible juggling.-Comp. Acts xix, 13-19. He endeavours to point out the exciting causes of epilepsy, and to establish a rational method of cure for it, finally observing, that sheep, goats, &c. are often affected with it; and that in them the effect on the brain is, on dissection, found the same as in men to whom it had proved fatal. Hippoc. & Gal. de morbo sacr. Arist. probl. 1.

Alex. Trall. i. 15.

"Aretaus, of Cappadocia, a celebrated physician, whose works were published about the same time as the gospels, speaks on this subject with candour and moderation. In describing the chronic species of epilepsy, which neither the skill of the physician, nor any change of constitution through life can remove,' he makes the following remarks: -The nature of this disease is not easily explained; some think it inflicted by the moon on offenders, whence they call it the sacred disease. However, it might have the denomination of sacred on other accounts, either from its magnitude, every thing great being deemed sacred, or because it could not be removed by human means, but only by divine power, or from the opinion that a demon had entered into the patient, or for all the reasons together.-De Caus. Affect.lib. i. The same author, like Plato, refers mania, in some instances, to supernatural impulse. (avdeos de μx) —Lib. i. cap. 6. He observes on tetanus, that it is a calamity out of the course of human nature, (10gwTos svfogn) and an incurable malady. Loc.

cit.

“Oribasius and Actius, Greek physicians of the fourth century, have made nearly the same observations. The former, referring to the opinion of dæmoniacal influence in another disease, says, the incubus is not an evil spirit, but should rather be considered as the prophet and minister of Esculapius,' because it often denotes the accession of epilepsy, apoplexy, or mania.—Synops. lib. viii. cap. 2. Aet. Tetr. ii. 2, 12.

"Succeeding writers have distinguished between epilepsy arising from physical causes, and the analogous disease referable to the operation of demons. Actuarius and NicoLius Myrepsus, the last of the Greek physicians, mention specific antidotes for persons affected with demons and evil spirits.-Aet. Med. 5, 6. Myreps. de Antidot. 1. 2. It is to be noticed, that the more ancient physicians also called the remedies sacred, (p) which they applied in the cure of the dis

eases above enumerated.

"The opinion of the Romans on demoniacal possession, may be easily understood. It is indeed manifest, from the various words in their language, as well as from their medical terms, e. g. ceritus, lymphaticus, larratus, bacchatus, furiatus, lunaticus, syderatus, panicum, corybantismus, lues deifica,

sacer ignis, &c. See Plin. Hist. Nat. xxiv. 17. & xxxiv. 15; and Coel. Aurelian. de Morb. Cron. lib. i. cap. 4. 5. & de Morb. Acut. ii. so.

"Among the Arabian physicians, John Serapion says, that mania is a species of the demon. Epilepsy, he observes, has several names; among the rest, that of the divine or sacred disease, because it is referred to the operations of demons, whence it is injurious to the principal organs of the body. Avicenna (lib. ii. tr. ii. cap. 561) mentions, that in his time a certain Jew cured epileptic patients, and demoniacs, by some mode of fumigation. Though doubtful respecting the particular remedy employed, he does not question its efficacy in such cases.

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"The following passages on this subject from Alsaharavius, (Pract. cap, 34) contains also the sentiments of an Arabian writer many years prior to him. Of the symptoms of epilepsy caused by demons, I was always doubtful, till of late they were manifest to me. I saw the complaint under various. forms; some patients suddenly fell senseless to the ground; changed countenance; spoke in foreign languages, with which they were not before acquainted; read, wrote, and treated of sciences which they had never learned; finally, when they recovered, these extraordinary powers were lost; and they returned as well to their natural complexion, as to their usual state of intellect. I was wholly ignorant of the causes of this malady before I had read the works of Hamen, the son of Isaac, who treats, among other pathological enquiries, of the diseases caused

by the evil Ghin, or demons called Eblis. In

the management of these disorders, if haman genius be foiled, or unable to decide with certainty, leave all to the Creator, who will shew mercy on the works he hath framed. Physicians, through fear or want of information, are not forward in treating on that the cure of such diseases is one of the this subject; however I have no doubt, but ancient sciences which are, at this day, concealed from the knowledge of men."

These curious quotations, we readily acknowledge, "fully prove that the opinion respecting the agency of malicious spirits, on the human body, has prevailed among mankind in all ages;" but that this opinion is confirmed either by the conduct or the words of the founder of christianity, is much more than we are prepared to own. Such an opinion, these quotations most clearly shew, have been the offspring of ignorance and superstition.

With the following short but very important remark upon Matt. xxvii. 63, we will conclude this article:

“This text, and some other similar passages, as Matt. xii. 40, where it is said,