vast heaps on either side while they pass over; but their enemies, in attempting to pursue, are overwhelmed by the reflux of the waves. These circumstances are all expressed in language suitable to the emotions which they producedabrupt, fervid, concise, animated, with a frequent repetition of the same sentiments." "We behold the passions struggling for vent, labouring with a copiousness of thought and a poverty of expression. To take a strict account of the sublimity of this ode would be to repeat the whole. I will only remark one quality, which is indeed congenial to all the poetry of the Hebrews, but in this poem is more than usually predominant, I mean that brevity of diction which is so conducive to sublimity of style. Diffuse and exuberant expression generally detracts from the force of the sentiment, as in the human body excessive corpulency is generally inconsistent with health and vigour. The Hebrews, if we contemplate any of their compositions as a whole, may be deemed full and copious; but if we consider only the constituent parts of any production, they will be found sparing in words, concise, and energetic. They amplify by diversifying, by repeating, and sometimes by adding to the subject; therefore it happens that it is frequently, on the whole, treated rather diffusely, but still, every particular sentence is concise and nervous in itself. Thus it happens, in general, that neither copiousness nor vigour is wanting. This brevity of style is in some measure to be attributed to the genius of the lan

guage, and in some measure to the nature of Hebrew verse. The most literal versions, therefore, commonly fail in this respect; and consequently still less is to be expected from any poetical translations or imitations whatever."*

In spite of what Bishop Lowth calls the poverty of the language, it possesses uncommon force of expression, and exhibits the native dignity of the thought to the greatest possible advantage, placing it before the mind in its frequently vast and imposing amplitude, enhancing it by the massive Doric vesture in which it arrays it, rather than concealing its magnificent proportions by a profusion of Corinthian drapery. Every sentiment of this ode is extremely elevated, displaying at once a healthiness and vigour which show it to be the offspring of no ordinary mind. The whole composition is nevertheless singularly simple, every image being in an uncommon degree plain, appropriate, and intelligible. There is a holy fervour pervading it that strongly marks the exalted feeling under which it was composed. It breathes a spirit of the purest piety and most glowing gratitude, at the miraculous deliverance of the Israelites and the destruction of their enemies, at a moment when the former were under the sorest apprehension of being overwhelmed by the mighty host which followed them from Egypt, headed by its king, in order to accomplish their overthrow. In truth, the divine mercy and justice were as signally displayed in

the preservation of Jacob's posterity from the avenging sword of Pharoah, as they had previously been in their protection from that of the destroying angel, who rendered every mother in Egypt a mourner, from the consort of the sovereign to the wife of the slave. These events are sublimely celebrated in this divine song. It is full of exquisite poetry, though the art is little evident except in its distribution for recitation or singing, where certain repetitions occur, these indicating how it was performed by the vast congregation of Israel upon the solemn occasion for which Moses composed it. There is not an unintelligible phrase throughout the whole poem; every image is so obvious and so happily illustrative, and the metaphors employed are so judiciously concurrent with the general sense, so exquisitely appropriate to the peculiar frame and texture of the passages in which they are introduced, that the most superficial reader can hardly fail to be impressed with their clear and beautiful congruity.

The manner in which this ode was sung we may learn from Bishop Lowth's nineteenth Prælection. "It is evident," he says, "from many examples, that the sacred hymns were alternately sung by opposite choirs,* and that the one choir usually performed the hymn itself while the other sang a particular distich, which was regularly interposed at stated intervals, either of the nature of the proasm or epode of the Greeks. In this manner we learn that

* See Nehem. xii. 24, 31, 38, 40; and the title of Psalm lxxxviii.

Moses with the Israelites chanted the ode at the Red Sea; for "Miriam the prophetess took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her with timbrels and with dances, and Miriam answered them," that is, she and the women sang the response to the chorus of men.*

Sing to Jehovah, for he is very greatly exalted;
The horse and the rider he hath cast into the sea.

It was the opinion of Dr. Geddes that the men repeated every single stanza after Moses, much in the same manner as the first four divisions of the Litany are repeated in our Church, and that the women did precisely the same after Miriam.

Exod. xv. 20, 21.

CHAPTER XIX.

The Thanksgiving Ode considered, from verse 1-6.

I SHALL now endeavour to show how a critical examination of this inimitable song will justify the commendations passed upon it in the last chapter. The proem is extremely fine, even as given by our translators, with whose version Lowth's rendering does not exactly agree:

I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously;
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

It is in the very simplicity of this exordium that the sublimity consists. The poet at once plunges into the subject of his song-Jehovah's triumph and the Israelites' deliverance. The subject, being of itself sufficiently grand, did not require the aid of metaphor or any other subsidiary embellishment to elevate it. Nothing more than the bare expression of God's omnipotence was required to give due sublimity to the opening couplet. The deliverance of his chosen people was not accomplished by the overthrow of a multitude of soldiers merely, but of horses and horsemen-not only by the destruction of the armies of Egypt, but of its king and its nobles. The picture of desolation is rendered