rates into two branches, to enclose, as it were, in a basìn, this river, and its three lakes. In its course it detaches from this line, as from a main trunk, an infinity of ramifications, &c." “A view of the country will convince us that the most elevated point of all Syria is Lebanon, on the south-east of Tripoli. Scarcely do we depart from Larneca, in Cyprus, which is thirty leagues distance, before we discover its summit, capped with clouds. This is also distinctly perceivable on the map, from the course of the rivers. The Orontes, which flows from the mountains of Damascus, and loses itself below Antioch; the Kasmia, which, from the north of Balbeck, takes its course towards Tyre; the Jordan, forced by the declivities towards the south, prove that this is the highest point."-P. 272. "Lebanon, which gives its name to the whole extensive chain of the Kesraowan, and the country of the Druzes, presents us every where with majestic mountains.-The loftiness and steep ascent of this mountainous ridge, which seems to enclose the country; those gigantic masses which shoot into the clouds; inspire astonishment and awe. Should the curious traveller then climb these summits, which bounded his view, the wide-extended space which he discovers becomes a fresh subject of admiration; but completely to enjoy this majestic scene, he must ascend the very point of Lebanon, or the Sannin. There, on every side, he will view an horizon without bounds; while in clear weather the sight is lost over the desert, which extends to the Persian Gulf, and over the sea which bathes the coast of Europe. He seems to command the whole world, while the wandering eye, now surveying the successive chains of mountains, transports the imagination in an instant from Antioch to Jerusalem; and now approaching the surrounding objects, observes the distant profundity of the coast, till the attention, at length, fixed by distincter objects, more minutely examines the rocks, woods, torrents, hill-sides, villages, and towns; and the mind secretly exults at the diminution of things, which before appeared so great."-P. 274. "To the west is the vast liquid plain of the Mediterranean; to the east the plain of the desert, no less vast, but absolutely dry; in the midst of these two level surfaces rise the mountains, whose summits are so many observatories, from whence the sight may discern full thirty leagues."-P. 305. Thou hast affected my heart, my sister espoused, Thou hast affected my heart! m With one look' of thine eyes, n With one turn of thy neck. How pleasant is thy love, my sister espoused, How much better is thy love than wine, And the odour of thy perfumes than of all perfumes °; Honey and milk' are' under thy tongue : And the odour of thy garments is' like the fragrance of Lebanon. 1. To take away, to ravish the heart.-Parkhurst. Exagdiwoas nuas, Septuagint. m Supply,.-See Dr. Percy and Mr. Good. n So Percy and Good. The meaning is, I conceive, that he had resolved, and had declared his intention to depart; but the anxiety expressed in the parting look-the turn of the head-the" longlingering look," which was meant to bid farewell, had much affected him, and called forth the tenderest emotions of his heart. He declares his entire satisfaction, and tells her, that the day will come, when she shall be welcomed to his home as his acknowledged bride. The terms, my sister-daughter-in-law to my parents, if we may be allowed to imitate the force of the original word (see note h), are a sort of anticipated welcome to his family. • The same comparisons have occurred in a former idyl. Pл, honey which parts and distils from the comb of its own accord, without pressing, virgin honey.-Parkhurst. The comparison of persuasive cloquence to a comb dropping honey, will be familiar to most readers. "So Pindar compares his ode to honey mixed with milk.”—And in Plautus, "Your words are honey and milk.”—Gill. Prov. v. 3." The lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil." 9 Either like the cedar-wood from Lebanon, or like the smell of its fragrant fields and woods. "See," says Isaac, "the smell t A garden is' enclosed, my sister espoused, A spring 'is' shut up, a fountain is' sealed. Pomegranates are the' productions of' thy garden, With fruits of delicious sorts'. Hennahs with nards, nard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; "The' fountain of thy' gardens 'is' a well of living waters, And streams flowing' from Lebanon. of my son is as the smell of a field, which the Lord has blessed." (Gen. xxvii. 2.) Mr. Good quotes the following passage from Musæus: -Λιβανε θυοεντος ενι πτερύγεσσι. "The heights of odorous Lebanon." "The following lines are thought, by Dr. Percy and Mr. Good, with other commentators, to contain certain established metaphors which were applied by the Hebrews, upon nuptial occasions, to signify the unsullied purity of the bride, and the chastity and reserve she was to evince in the marriage state. But, for a reason afterwards to be stated, I consider these lines not as containing comparisons of the bride, but as descriptive of the residence. prepared for her reception, until the day alluded to above should breathe. S "A spring is locked up." As Sir John Chardin says, he had known them to be in divers parts of Asia, on account of the scarcity of water.-Harmer. "Thy productions," or, "Thy plants are a paradise of pomegranates," &c. "The fountain by which this beautiful garden was watered never failed: it was a perpetual spring: which is the simple meaning of the Hebraism," well of living waters." Lebanon, on account of its immense height and extent, is the source of many of these streams and rivulets, besides the larger rivers which collect at its base. In particular, we read in Maundrel, that " there is a very deep rupture in the side of Libanus, running at least seven hours' travel directly up into the mountain. It is on both sides exceed BRIDE. Awake, O north-wind, and come, 6 Breathe, O south, upon' my garden, That its odours may exhale. -Let my beloved come into his garden, BRIDEGROOM. I am come into my garden, my sister espoused, Eat, my companions-drink milk *. Yea, drink plentifully, my friends. ingly steep and high, clothed with fragrant greens from top to bottom, and every where refreshed with fountains, falling down from the rocks in pleasant cascades. The streams, all uniting at the bottom, make a full and rapid torrent, whose agreeable murmuring is heard all over the place"-a satisfactory illustration of - "Trickling streams from Lebanon." גולים מן-לבנון w Such is the grateful language of the bride. "My beloved has placed me in this beautiful retreat. Let him come himself and enjoy its sweets, and its fruits; and O, may the hour be propitious! Awake, O north-wind," &c. The bridegroom as readily complies with her request, and. declares his great satisfaction in the repast which she had prepared for him. y These two last lines, unless we take most unwarranted liberties with the sacred text, evidently contain an invitation and welcome, either from the bride or bridegroom, to others, his companions and beloved friends, to partake with him of the productions of this garden which circumstance, I conceive, will be esteemed a sufficient reason to dissuade from the notion that this garden is meant, in the exterior of the allegory, as a figure of the bride herself. And if not the enclosed garden, neither is she the spring locked INTERPRETATION OF IDYL THE SEVENTH. ALL that appears to the present view in what forms the exterior imagery, in the commencement of this allegory is, as we have noticed, a lover's description of the beauty of the choice of his heart, in the taste and language of the times when these divine songs were composed. If the individual comparisons which we have been considering, besides being illustrations of female beauty, were designed, originally, to have each of them a mystic import and meaning in application to the graces of the church, or of the faithful Christian, we must acknowledge that these significations are entirely lost :-" Thy eyes are doves behind thy tresses, thy hair like a flock of goats," &c. &c. And certainly great discredit has been done to the Canticles by the vague and fanciful guesses of some former commentators, in their attempts to spiritualize these similitudes. But I am content to think, that all these comparisons were, even in their original state, merely descriptive of feminine beauty-that the moral of the allegory is simply this:-how great is that partiality with which a human lover looks upon up, nor the fountain sealed. But, according to the interpretation given above, these are the beauties and conveniences which belong to the residence which her husband had prepared for her reception-till the day should breathe, and the shades be fled. |
