deftruction he contrived: -the word ditch, or dell, we fhould conceive to be more fuitable to the Pfalmift's expreffion and idea, than the word deftruction.-Whether viii. 5. be juftly corrected, we cannot affert,-What is mortal man, that thou fhould call him to mind, And a fon of Adam that thou shouldЛt place him in authority, &c.-It is the laft hemiftic of which we have any doubt; the change in the firft is immaterial; the Hebrew verb, which occurs in the fecond, bears numerous fenfes; and, in a few inftances, is rendered in fome agreement with the idea which the author here affigns: but it is rather wonderful that he fhould advance nothing in fupport of the alteration.

Mr. Street is folicitous to reftore the divifion into parts, in thofe odes which were intended to be fung in the refponfive manner; which, he imagines, might remove fome obfcurities. He confiders the 9th as one of thefe Pfalms, and explains the title favourably to fuch a conclufion: different conjectures have been made concerning it; that which fuppofes it to mean nothing more than a mufical inftrument, may perhaps be the best. As to fome of thefe facred odes, which he attempts to divide, he may poffibly be right; there are those which bear the appearance of fuch a defign, and are well adapted to public occafions: others are more evidently private meditations, foliloquies, and prayers, to which the refponfive form does not fo well accord; as for inftance, the third Pfalm and the twenty-third, the fimplicity and beauty of which feem rather weakened than improved by fuch a divifion; and the fame may perhaps be faid of the twenty-fifth: it much better agrees with the ftructure and fentiments of the ninth Pfalm, which, as the title is here explained, was to be performed by virgins and a youth. In this Pfalm are fome good corrections, as likewife in that which immediately follows; part of the beginning of which is thus rendered:

2. With pride the ungodly perfecuteth the afflicted,

He catcheth him by the fraud he hath devised:
For the ungodly is mad for the defire of his foul,
And woundeth the weak, defpifing Jehovah.

4. The ungodly, in the pride of his wrath, never fecketh after
God;

5. All his devices are profane, his ways are fo at all times, Because thy judgments are high above him, he defpifeth all

bis enemies.

• 6. He faith in his heart, I fhall not be moved;

Through generation and generation I shall go on without ca. lamity.'

Some of the alterations in the above paffages seem for the better: we are doubtful concerning the words, wounding the weak; we have at times thought that the Hebrew words here

fignify,

fignify, making gain, he bleffeth, i. e. bleffeth himself, agreeably to what is faid of a diffolute and hardened offender, Deut. xxix. 19. bless himself in his heart: but this we merely and cafually mention:-In the pride of his wrath, does not feem quite agreeable and fatisfactory.-In the 10th verfe of this Pfalm, Mr. Street, and Dr. Durell before him, we think, lofe the idea of a crafty, watchful, crouching, beaft of prey, which is in fome measure preferved in our English Bible, and intended by the original. The conclufion of the verfe, in the common verfion, is certainly bad;-that the poor may fall by his ftrong ones: we should fuppofe the defign of the words to be, that, after lurking and crouching for fome time, he fuddenly springs forth and falls on the prey, with his bones, his full weight, or Atrength.

Before we leave this Pfalm, we may juft obferve, that this author takes no particular notice of the word m, that frange word, as Dr. Durell calls it: poffibly it may be worthy of fome confideration, whether, by an eafy miftake, the first letter Hheth has not been inferted instead of He, and thus the word, now rendered poor, is a derivative from the verb, be walketh: if this might be admitted, does it not afford a probable fenfe, a traveller, a wanderer, a vagrant, entrapped and feized by fuch as lie in wait? We propofe this cautiously to thofe who have greater leifure, and more critical skill.

Pf. xxvii. 13. Mr. Street omits the words which our tranflators (not improperly) have fupplied; inftead of faying, I had fainted, unless, he connects the verfe with the foregoing in this manner:

12. Though falfe witnesses rofe up against me, and spake violently, 13. I believed that I should fee the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living.'

The latter part of the thirty-fecond Pfalm, perhaps, receives fome improvement:

9. Be not as an horse, as a mule,

That has not been taught by binding his jaws with the bit and bridle;

10. Left the great plagues that are for the ungodly should attack thee, While mercy ever encompaffeth him that trufteth in Jehovah." Pf. xxxvii. 37. is thus tranflated: Keep to integrity, and obferve that which is right, For the confequence is peace to every man.-This brings the paffage nearer to the old version: it is a fatisfaction that the real import of each is much the fame.

Pf. xli. 1. or 2. as it ftands in thefe volumes, and in the Hebrew, receives a meaning quite different from what has been generally acknowleged ;-0 the happiness af him who is wife! He is never exhausted; In the day of calamity, Jehovah

delivereth

delivereth him, &c. In fupport of this unufual verfion, it is urged that the Hebrew word in the first claufe, and which he renders to be wife, is never ufed, as far as appears from the concordance, in the fenfe of attending to; and that it fignifies one who is wife enough to be religious and virtuous: to which it may be added, that this meaning receives fome fupport from the farther part of the Pfalm.-Attention to the poor, fick, or diftreffed, is often, though not always, one mark of a mind really virtuous; and when it arifes from juft and good principles, is no doubt accompanied with a bleffing.-Whether Mr. Street be here right or not, in his explication of the word, we may propofe to his farther notice, Pf. Ixiv. 9. (which, indeed, he renders, Let them learn inftruction,) Job xxxiv. 27. Prov. xvi. 20. Prov. xxi. 12.

Poffibly, Pf. xlvii. 10. Surely to God our field belongeth the earth, may be fuperior to the authorized reading; the rendering of xiix. 6. is, however, evidently more intelligible and proper,- Wherefore fhould I fear in the days of calamity, when the wickedness of the fraudulent furroundeth me, Of thofe, who confide in their frength, &c. Dr. Durell had before fuggefted fomewhat of a fimilar idea,-the iniquity of thofe that fupplant me, &c. The full force of the Hebrew word does not feem to be fixed; it is confidered by our old tranflators, as fometimes fignifying to deal bountifully, and thus it is read two or three times in the Pfalms; inftead of which, this author inferts, to be kind or favourable; he fuppofes, with Durell, that this is the word which ought to appear in the original, Pfalmi Ivii, 3. inftead of that which answers to performeth in our common verfion: but he reads here, is kind to me; whereas Dr. Durell retains the phrafe, and no doubt had reafon for doing it, dealeth bountifully with me. The idea, ver. 9. is ftriking and pleating,-Awake, lute and harp; I will awaken the morning; whether ftrictly just or not, we cannot determine; our author illuftrates it by a line in Milton's Allegro,-Chearly roufe the fumb'ring morn; and farther by a triplet of an obfcure poet, John Habington,-The nymphes with quivers fhall adorne, Their active fides, and rcufe the morne, With the frill music of their horne.

As Mr. Street gives fome particular attention to the titles of the Pfaims, we obferve he explains that of the 69th, Written down by David, that it might not be loft, when Saul fent, &c.-Pf. ixxvii. 3. is here more acceptably, and we would hope more juftly expreffed, than in the received verfion, -Mine eye in the night floweth with tears and ceafelh not. fupport of this reading, we are referred to a pallage in the Targum quoted by Dr. Secker, and to Lament. iii. 49.There

9

In

There is difficulty in the text. Dr. Durell, by the help of the Syriac, propofes-His hand frikes me in the night; or, by axing the pronoun Vau, His hand exhaufteth me.-Among the various fenfes of the word, (tranflated in our Bibles my fore,) as enumerated in Taylor's useful Concordance, one is, ftroke of the hand; the ftroke of God's hand, a fore, painful affliction; for which, befide the verfe now before us, we are there directed to Job, xxiii. 2. xxvii. 11. Pf. xxxix. 10.

ties.

Mr. Street bestows confiderable attention on the 68th Pfalm; a noble compofition, but acknowleged to have feveral difficulWe cannot accompany him in his progrefs, and therefore only obferve, that he reads ver. 10. thus: Thou doft Sprinkle a rain of kindness, O God, on thine heritage, when it fainteth, &c.-and ver. 14. he renders in this manner: Since there lay at the entrance of the tents a dove, covered with filver, and her feathers with fine gold.-He imagines this dove to have been one of the enemy's idols.-Notwithstanding the arguments which are employed to defend this very ingenious explication of the paffage, we cannot, at prefent, confider it as fatisfactory; nor can we be certain that Dr. Durell's is more probable; from a comparison of each, with other assistance, fomewhat more conclusive may be deduced: the common verfion appears to be wholly unfupported and defective.

Pfalm cx. 3. is thus tranflated,-Unto thee fhall belong the dominion in the day of thy power, With holy bonours from the womb, Thy birth fhall be comparable to the dewy dawn.—We cannot enter into the reasons by which the change here made is juftified; yet we may obferve, that, to illuftrate the phrafe, holy bonours, we are referred to Matth. ii. 11. and concerning the dewy dawn, it is obferved, The Meffiah is called the Sun of righteoufnefs, Malac. iv. 2. and Luke, i. 78. Zacharias calls his coming the day-fpring from on high.'-By exchanging the letter Hheth for He, with the alteration of another word, ver. 7. is here read, He fhall appoint thee a leader of many in the way, &c. We remark with pleasure, that Mr. Street, though he regards fome of the Pfalms as prophetical, does not run into those myftical interpretations, which often betray ignorance, at the fame time that they tend to overturn reafon and common fenfe.

Pfal. cxii. 5.-That reftraineth his words with judgment.This rendering, (not new,) if it be juft, must be admitted, although it deprives us of fome ufetul and important inftruction, when we are told of the truly charitable and good man, that he will guide his affairs with difcretion; fignifying that it is fuch a difcreet and wife attention that enables him to perform many acts of kindness and service; whereas the spendthrift, the prodigal, and the oftentatious, man, if he fhould thoughtREV. MAY 1792. lefsly

E

lefsly atchieve what might be called generous, is at the fame time, and perhaps in that very inftance, unjuft.-We see no good reason, in this inftance, for departing from the common translation, which is very appofite to other parts of the Pfalm.

The laft paffage which we shall notice is, Pf. cxxvii. 2. which has proved a puzzling fentence to commentators :Here we read it thus,-It is vain for you early rifers, To rife from reft, eating the bread of care, when he giveth to his beloved double.It is obferved that the word fuppofed to fignify fleep in this place, does not bear that fense in any other part of Scripture; and it is remarkable to have it added, that this interpretation is affigned by all the ancient verfions. --Mr. Street's paraphrafe is, It is vain for you, ye careful, toiling men, to take all the pains you do, for Jehovah can give to his beloved one double of what you gain by your fatigue, anxiety, and labour.'-All the purpose feems to be answered, if we say that he does, or can, impart fleep, that is, reft, content, and fatiffaction, to his fervants, without this exceffive difquietude.

It would be eafy to add many other remarks: from the view which we have exhibited, the reader will be enabled to form fome judgment of this verfion; and will probably think, with us, that, in feveral inftances, it is an improvement on those which have preceded it; that in fome the alterations are doubtful; and that in many others they are unneceffary, if not miftaken; yet, that all are worthy of attention, and may open the way to farther amendments.-We consider the work as a ufeful addition to this branch of learning. The author may perhaps be too ready in advancing conjectures, but he always gives notice when he does it, and never dogmatically affirms.

During the perufal of this performance, we have occafionally been inclined to wifh that, after the labour which Mr. Street has bestowed in compiling and compofing, he had kept it back a while longer from the view of the public, which would no doubt have contributed to render it yet more complete ; and this, we are perfuaded, will be the cafe, fhould it reach an other edition.

ART. VIII. The Marches of the British Armies in the Peninfula of India during the Campaigns of 1790 and 1791, illustrated and explained by Reference to a Map, compiled from authentic Documents, tranfmitted by Earl Cornwallis from India. By Major Rennell. 8vo. pp. 113. With Plans of Battles, and a large feparate Map. 7s. 6d. Nicol. 1792.

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ARL CORNWALLIS fent home two maps, on fcales of nine inches to a degree; one of them contained General Meadows's campaign in 1790, the other his Lordship's own cam