She, fufpecting no evil, did as he defired. And when he found himself shut up with her, and fufficiently retired from his attendants, he then threw off the difguife, discovered his wicked intentions, and quickly began to use violence with her; from which, fhe, ftruck with abhorrence of the guilt, earnestly laboured to diffuade him, as from a crime unheard of in Ifrael-Would he expose a fifter to infamy? Would he expose himself to indelible reproach ? ——— The plea for herself is inexpreffibly beautiful. And I, whither shall I cause my shame to go! How fhall I drive it away from me, and where fhall I hide it? And finding that had no weight with him, fhe preffes him, from the motives of his own fhame and infamy : And as for thee, thou shalt be as one of the fools in Ifrael You will, from this moment, be treated as a brute, and a fool; loft to all sense of humanity, as well as virtue; will be degraded from the honour of heir apparent to the crown, into the lowest degree of derifion and reproach

1

Ir is remarkable, that the Greeks called every thing that was foolish, by the name of

Venus*: and therefore they denominated folly, by a word derived from her name †. And it should seem from this paffage, as if the Hebrews had fallen into the fame way of thinking. But the truth is, they were in a wifer way of thinking; and denominated all fin, folly which is its foftest name. poffibly Tamar now called this guilt fo, for fear of too much irritating her brother.

And

WHEN this would not do, the changed her tone, and tried to flatter him into forbearance. He was her father's darling, who could deny him nothing: he had only to speak to the king for her, and his request But would certainly be complied with.

he, deaf to all intreaty, as well as to reason, liftened to nothing but the impetuofity of his own brutal paffion; and, being stronger than She, forced her.

AND here the flux and reflux of paffion in a brutal breaft, is finely painted in the His brutality was no fooner gratified, in this inftance, but it broke out in another as extraordinary. The tide of his blood was

text.

* Τὰ μωρὰ γὰρ πάντ' Αφροδίτη τοῖς βροτοῖς.

Hecuba in Troad. Euripidis.

Apparure, or rather, from the radix of it, depós.

turned,

turned, and it now ran back with as much violence, as it had preffed forward, before. Then Amnon hated her exceedingly, faith the text, fo that the hatred wherewith he hated her, was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her.

COMMENTATORS are at a lofs to account for this fudden and exceffive hatred ; and indeed there feems to be fomething extraordinary in it. Tamar's rape had an effect, upon her ravisher, directly contrary to that of Dinah's upon hers; but their circumstances were different: hope feconded and fupported Shechem's paffion, not in itself criminal; but despair drove Amnon's into its oppofite extreme. This is often obferved to be the cafe with paffions too tumultuous and unruly Amnon's mind was first agitated by luft, and then by remorfe, which drove to different extremes, like the vibrations of a pendulum. The horror of his guilt struck him with a fudden deteftation of her, whom he deemed the cause of it: he hated his fifter, when he should have hated himself. GOD abandoned him thus to the tumult of his own intemperate mind, to make this other punishment of David's adultery, more flagrant;

F 3

grant; and the prophet's prediction of God's raifing up evil to him out of his own house, more confpicuous. For Amnon's barbarous behaviour now precluded all poffibility of concealing his guilt. The moment his brutuality was indulged, he commanded his fifter out of his fight: Arife, faith he; begone- To which she answered, That this fecond evil treatment was worse than the first. The first had paffion to plead, and might be concealed, and repented of the second was a defigned, deliberate indignity, that must draw eternal infamy after it. Therefore she had reason to add, that there was no caufe for it. She had given him no cause for aggravating his first offence, by loading it with an immediate and public fcandal, and indelible reproach, upon her, himself, and his house; upon the religion, and people of GOD. But he, as deaf now to decency and humanity, as he had been before to all fenfe of shame and confcience, called to his fervant that attended him, and bid him turn out that woman from him, and bolt the door after her The fervant obeyed, brought her out, and bolted the door after

her.

TAMAR

TAMAR thus treated; not parted with as an innocent woman, cruelly injured; but thrust out as a prostitute, that had seduced to fin; is the strongest image of innocence, barbarously abused, and infufferably insulted, that history affords us. The greatest injury, loaded with the greatest indignities! contumely added to cruelty! Oppreffed with forrow, and overwhelmed with fhame, he put afhes upon her head, and rent her garment of divers colours, and laid her hand on her bead, and went on crying; at once hiding her shame, and despairing to conceal it.

In this condition fhe paffed on to her brother Abfalom's houfe, who seeing her confufion and diftrefs, eafily apprehended the causes of it; and put the queftion to her, Whether her brother Amnon had been with her? covering the grofs injury he suspected, under the veil of the most decent and distant phrafe that could hint his fufpicion to her. And as if all that had not been enough, to fave her blushes, and let her fee, that he understood her distress, he stopped her short, from attempting any answer, by begging her, That she would fay nothing of the matter; but endeavour to forget the injury, fince it