reem with such and such labours as were performed by bullocks."

This is the strongest possible proof, as I humbly conceive, that the reem was not of the beeve kind. The questions put to Job are*.

Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?
Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow?

Or will he harrow the valleys after thee?

Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great?

Or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?

Wilt thou believe him that he will bring home thy seed,

And gather it into thy barn?

In these clauses, it is evident that the reem is not identified with the bullock, but placed in opposition to it. It is asked simply if Job will attempt to employ the reem, a huge and untractable creature, in those labours which are familiar to the ox or animals of the beeve kind. Instead, therefore, of the sacred writer supposing a resemblance between the reem and a bullock, or bull, these animals are placed, as I apprehend, in direct contrast, leaving it to be inferred how utterly impracticable it would be to attempt to impose upon the fierce and indomitable reem those labours common to the gentle and patient OX. This passage clearly proves, to my mind, that the reem was not of the beeve race as Michaelis supposes, and confirms me in the supposition that it was the rhinoceros.

Returning now to Balaam's prophecy, we next find an allusion to a still more remote future, when the Israelites, having subdued their

Chapter xxxix. 9——12.

enemies, shall obtain entire and peaceable possession of the promised land.

He couched, he lay down as a lion,.

And as a great lion: who shall stir him up?

The similitudes employed in the second prediction are here repeated:

He couched, he lay down as a lion;

that is, looking prospectively to the conquest of Canaan by the seed of Jacob, Balaam represents them as having so completely subdued their enemies, that, like a lion which had couched in the open field, sated with its prey, no one would dare molest them. They should be finally so dreaded by their foes that none would venture to attack them. Here is a fine specimen of verbal painting, if I may so characterize it; the whole nation of the Israelites is represented under the image of a fierce and powerful quadruped, overcoming every thing that opposes it. The repetition of the images, "lion," and "great lion," shows one of those extremely significant gradations which I have already so often pointed out as a distinguishing feature of Hebrew poetry. The prophecy concludes with a benedictory and maledictory announcement of great dignity, but which excited Balak to the fiercest exasperation:

Blessed is he that blesseth thee,

And cursed is he that curseth thee!

In this pair of hemistichs, the present tense of the indicative mood is substituted for the third

person of the imperative, which is very significative, as it renders the operation of the blessing and curse, as it were, perpetually present. It brings the latter in all its terrible strength, the former in all its consoling influence, at once before the mind, not as matters to be, but which actually are; transferring the future to the present, and thus enduing it with the freshness of an immediate reality. It is an eloquent and effective mode of rendering the fact more vivid as well as more solemn, whilst the abrupt transition of tenses in the concluding distich, throws over the passage a costume of varied poetic grace.

CHAPTER XL.

Bulaam's third prophecy, continued.

I SHALL now give Herder's version of Balaam's third prophecy, which, it will be observed, differs in some instances materially from our received translation of Holy Writ:

Thus saith Balaam, the son of Beor,

Thus saith the man whose eyes are open,
He saith it who heareth the words of God,
Who seeth the vision of the Almighty,

Falleth into a trance, and seeth with open eye.
How beautiful are thy tents, O Jacob,

And thy dwelling-places, O Israel!

As rivers spread themselves abroad,

As gardens by the river's side,

As aloes which God hath planted,
As cedar trees beside waters.
Waters run from their fountains,

And many streams shall be his offspring.
His king shall be higher than Agag,
And his kingdom shall be exalted.
God hath brought him out of Egypt,
As of a wild bullock is his race:
He devoureth the nations his enemies;
He breaketh in pieces their bones,
And pierceth them with his arrows.

He coucheth and lieth down as a lion,

As a young lion, who shall rouse him up?
Blessed is he that blesseth thee,

And cursed is he that curseth thee.

I only desire to draw the reader's attention to the first couplet following the proem of this translation. Herder maintains the gradational parallelism by using the words tents and dwell

ing-places, the latter term claiming a higher dignity of meaning than the former; and thus he confirms my views upon the subject of the superiority of tabernacles over tents.* In the original Hebrew, a distinction is evidently contemplated, and Herder as evidently meant to exhibit it. I think there is hardly a reader who would not give the precedence in dignity to dwellingplaces above tents.

Our own poet Cowley has given a metrical version of this prophecy,† which, with all its imperfections, and these are no doubt many, when balanced against the extraordinary beauties of the original, even as rendered in our authorized translation, is, nevertheless, deserving of attention. I am sure, therefore, it will not be deemed an unjustifiable intrusion here, it being my purpose to exhibit the beauty of these divine poems in all their aspects of varied power.

How comely are thy tents, O Israel,

(Thus he began) what conquests they foretel!
Less fair are orchards in their summer pride,
Adorned with trees, on some fair river's side;
Less fair are valleys, their green mantles spread,
Or mountains, with tall cedars on their head.
'Twas God himself (thy God,-who must not fear?)
Brought thee from bondage to be master here.
Slaughter shall wear thee out, new weapons get,
And death in triumph on thy darts shall sit.
When Judah's lion starts up to his prey,

And beasts shall hang their ears and creep away;
When he lies down, the woods shall silence keep,
And dreadful tigers tremble at his sleep.

Thy curser, Jacob, shall twice cursed be,

And he shall bless himself that blesses thee.

Although Cowley's version does not rise to the simple, but nevertheless sublime elevation of