PAGE 133. CHAP. XXXIX. VER. 19.

Hast thou cloathed his neck with the shaking

mane.

This certainly reads not so poetical as, Hast thou cloathed his neck with thunder; and which the word My will undoubtedly signify. But is not this one of those noble and sublime expressions, of which one dares not question the meaning? Otherwise it might be asked, how can a neck be cloathed with thunder; and are we not impressed with the terror, rather than with the justness, of the simile. Besides the description, here, is of the horse's strength and beauty; the latter of which greatly consists in the flowing mane. What says Homer, quoted by Parkhurst?

αμφι δε χαίλαι,

Ωμοις αισσονται.

His mane dishevell❜d o'er his shoulder flies.

What says Virgil?

"Luduntq; juba per colla per armos.”

To reconcile the metaphor, Scott, whose translation, generally speaking, is very grand, has rendered it worse, "Hast thou with prowess fill'd the martial horse, "Thou ton'd his throat with roaring thunder's force."

This keeps nearer the image of thunder as to sound; but not as to sense: for the comparison of neighing with thunder is to the highest degree hyperbolical, Schultens renders it, convestis cervicem ejus tremore alacri. Vulgate―circumdabis collo ejus hinnitum. Septuagint—ενέδυσαν δε τραχήλω αυτου φοβον. Chaldee-indues collum ejus furore. In none, is thunder ever alluded to; and better than all these is the picture of the shaking and flowing mane.

VERSE 20.

Hast thou made him dreadful as the locust?

What sense can be annexed to our version, “ Canst "thou make him afraid as a grass-hopper:" whereas Miss SMITH preserves the terrific image of the pro phet's description, "the appearance of them (locusts) is "as the appearance of horses," Joel ii. 4; and that of St. John, in the Revelations ix. 7, " and the shapes of "the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto "battle."

The noise of his snorting is terrible.

One knows not how to substitute this for The glory of his nostrils; and yet it is the literal version: and the very word is translated, Jerem. viii. 16, the snorting

of his horses was heard from Dan. Scott also has rendered it, His snorting with majestic terror sounds.

VERSE 24.

With quivering, and shaking, he swalloweth the ground,

And scarce believes the trumpet sounds.

Every nerve of the horse seems to shake; but would it not have been better to have continued the idea of impatience and eagerness, by rendering ", " and he "is not steady (will not stand still) when he hears the "sound of the trumpet."

VERSE 25.

The thunder of the singers.

The same word signifying singers and captains, MISS SMITH has preferred the idea of martial music, the sounding to the charge.

PAGE 138. CHAP. XL. VER. 23.

Behold the stream may press, he is not alarmed, He is secure, though Jordan rush against his mouth.

This is literally rendered, and gives excellent sense. Vid. Parkhurst on py: No sudden rising of the

river gives him any alarm: he is not borne away with the violence or rapidity of the stream, but enjoys himself the same as if the river ran with its usual flow.

VERSE 24.

Let him be taken in his sight.

In the same meaning which Bochart has given to the passage, Who will take him with his eyes? that is, whilst he sees him, or is sensible of what they are about.

PAGE 139. CHAP, XLI. VERSE 6.

Will the travellers surround him.

(Vid. Parkhurst on 5,) Will those, who find him on the land, surround him, to take him, lest he should

escape and then follows naturally the sarcasm, and

:

when you have caught him,

"Wilt thou put his skin in the booth?

"And his head in the fish hut?

VERSE 10.

Is he not cruel, &c.

Our version, corresponding with that of Grotius, certainly gives better sense: If there be none bold

enough to contend with one of my creatures, if one of them be so terrible, how dares man to provoke me, his Maker?"

VERSE 22.

And fainting dances before him.

This is a singular expression, to denote the terror his approach inspires. Fainting, or faintness, by a bold personification, is supposed to exult at the power the presence of the crocodile enables her to exert over the strength of man. As soon as men see him, they immediately faint.

PAGE 143. LINE 6.

here

I cannot help thinking that the word means much more than respectfully, and indeed Job may be said to have spoken more disrespectfully of GOD than his accusing friends; but Job had spoken