SECTION VII. Chap. IV. Ver 1-6. Bridegroom. Behold thou art beautiful, my consort; Thine eyes are doves, behind thy veil. Which come up sleek from [mount1] Gilead. All of them bearing twins, And none of them miscarrying. Like a brede of scarlet are thy lips, And thy speech is agreeable. Like the flower of the pomegranate Are thy cheeks behind thy veil. Thy neck is like the tower of David, builded for an armory: A thousand bucklers hang thereon, All shields of mighty men. Thy two breasts are like twin fawns of the an telope, Feeding among the lilies. Until the day breathe, and the shades fleć I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, THE royal pair having alighted from their carriage, Dr. PERCY supposes the ceremony 1 The word (7) mount is wanting in nine MSS. LXX. and Arabic, and seems to clog the sense. The travels of Egmont and Heyman mention that the summer heats on the coast of the Holy Land are greatly moderated by the sea breezes every morning and evening. (See Harmer on Sol. Song, p. 283, 4.) And the late Mr. Robinson, of Cambridge, mentioned, on the authority of his son, who was then at Smyrna, that every morning, about sunrise, a fresh gale of wind blew from the sea % across the land, which, from its wholesomeness and utility in clearing the infected air, is always called the DOCTOR. Christian's Elegant Repository, p. 33. Nearly sixty MS. omit this and. 1 of unveiling the bride' here to follow, and give. occasion to his encomium on those features which the veil in great measure concealed, as the eyes, the cheeks, the teeth, &c. This ceremony was performed among the Greeks on the third day, when the bride appeared first in company without her veil, and on this occasion received presents from her husband. Something like this might be the custom among the Hebrews, with whom also this was a most essential article of dress. But I am by no means satisfied, either that the Hebrews had such a custom, or if they had, that it is here alluded to; on the contrary, verse 3. seems to intimate that she was still veiled: and I observe that the eastern poets celebrate the charms of the fair through their veils, and improve this circumstance into an elegant compli ment2. In running over the various beauties of her person he compares her eyes, as before3, to doves 1 The Hebrew particle (ran) has been rendered both whin, without, and behind; the last seems the more exact meaning, as may be see nin Parkhurst: i. e. her eyes beaming from behind her veil, as it is withdrawn, are compared to doves. That ny Tsammat signifies the veil, rather than the locks, as in the common version, is the opinion of Patrick, Parkhurst, Harmer, Percy, and most modern exposi tors, So Symmachus in loc. and LXX. in Is. xlvii. 2. So Hafez, thy cheeks sparkle even under thy veil.' Sir W Jones's Works, vol. I, 453. Another Persian poet says, 'It is difficult to gaze upon the Sun without the medium of a cloud :-View, therefore, O Saieb, the lovely face of thy mistress through her veil.' Orient. Coll. vol. II. 23. 3 Chap. i. 15. LI her hair, for its sleekness and abundance, to a flock of goats from Gilead'-and her teeth, for their whiteness, evenness, and uniformity, to a shorn flock-to a flock of ewes bearing twins, and none coming before their time'. Her lips also he compares to scarlet threads, and commends her speech as agreeable and charming. The next article of the comparison is more difficult to adjust. If we were to preserve the common version, thy temples within thy locks,' we might say the forehead was divided by the locks of hair into compartments like those of the pomegranate; but I confess myself satisfied that the word for the temples must as learned men have observed, include, or rather intend, the cheeks, which are always a prominent object in the description of female beauty; and the compa I The word mount is omitted in several MSS. the LXX, and Arabic, as in chap. vi. 5. Its omission makes a very slight variation in the original, and its insertion rather clogs and obscures the verse, the sense of which is at best equivocal. Either, 1. Up from Gilead to Jerusalem means from the country to the capital, as from Highgate up to London-so Percy; or 2. from the lower to the higher parts of the mountain-Bochart and Patrick; or 3. the words may perhaps be rendered, which shine (or browse) upon Mount Gilead, covering it from bottom to top-Dr. Hunt. Gilead appears to have been a place famous for pasturage, and probably they used to sheer sheep at the bottom of it. Some expositors suppose the hair and teeth are compared to the hair of goats and teeth of sheep; the similarity may be exact enough, but this idea is far from natural or elegant. 2 Bp. Percy follows Le Clerc in rendering own simply twins, and hɔw orba, deprived, as in Jer. xviii. 21.—‹ all of them twins, and none hath lost its fellow.' New Trans. 77, Mindoro, LXX-Genæ tuæ; Vulgate, Pagninus, 3 Cocceius. rison of these to the flower of the pomegranate is, according to Sir W. JONES, a common image in Asiatic poetry. Farther, if the bridal veil of the Hebrew ladies was like that of the Persians2, made of red silk or muslin, it would throw a glow over the whole countenance, that will account more fully for this comparison.-If my reader, however, adheres to our translators in rendering it a piece,' or section of the pomegranate,' it may be remarked that the fruit itself, when cut open, is red, as well as the blossom 3. The spouse's neck, adorned with necklaces, is compared to the tower of David, which was built for an armory, hung with shields and bucklers. Of this tower we know nothing certain, but that from the comparison it must have been tall, slender, erect and elegant. Such the the house of the forest of Lebanon is supposed to have been, which was furnished with many hundred shields and targets of beaten gold+, I, Eruptio floris, Simonis: Balaustium, Guarini. "As the opening blossom of the pomegranate.' Patrick after Castell, and Henley in Lowth's Lect. 2 The bridal veil of the Persian ladies was of red silk or muslin, (called by the Greeks savos, and by the Romans flammeum.) Such was Rebecca's veil (ry) Gen. xxiv. 65. and then, Isa. iii. 19, according to Schroeder. Orient. Col. vol. I. p. 125. 3 Thy cheeks are as a piece of pomegranate,' which when cut up is of a beautiful vermilion.-Dr. Durell. Like a slice of pomegranate are thy cheeks.' Dr. Hodgson. 4 See 2 Chron. ix. 16. comp. with Isa. xxii. 8. Mr. Sandys fays, this tower of David was a high tower, in the utmost intended no doubt to do honour to those brave men who signalized themselves in the defence of their country. The metaphor intimates that, thus adorned, her appearance was brilliant and captivating, and her charms as potent as the armour of the warrior. The description closes with the breasts, which are compared to twin fauns of the antelope or gazel, feeding among the lilies. BOCHART', and others, explain this of the nipples upon the bosom, like young gazels in the corn-fields, where the lilies were wont to grow: but I have my doubts whether any thing more is intended than to describe them as beautiful, and elegant in form, like those lovely animals; which appear to be a favourite object of comparison with the writer, 'not only in this song, but also in the book of Proverbs, where he recommends fidelity to the marriage covenant in these figurative terms-' Rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times, and be thou ravished with her love2,' In the concluding verse the king compares his bride to a mountain of myrrh, or hill of frankincense, alluding to those fragrant groves of spices which were to be found in that coun 'angle of a mountain, whose ruins are still extant.' As the Jews built with white stone or marble, this has been sup posed a compliment to the spouses complexion. But see note on chap. vii. 4. 1 Hierozoic. tom. I. b. iii. c. 24. 2 Chap. v. 19, |