Apkil 22. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



377 



1.9., cxxvii. 1., cxxxii. 3. 7., cxxxiv. 1.); the 

 sanctuary (cxxxiv. 2.) ; the priests (cxxxii. 9.) ; 

 and the singers (cxxxiv. 1.), who attended by- 

 night as well as by day (1 Chron. ix. 33.) : allu- 

 sions which would sufficiently warrant these 

 Psalms being considered as connected with the 

 temple worship. 



The name Shir Hammachaloth, " Song of As- 

 cents," prefixed to these fifteen Psalms, has given 

 rise to much controversy. The different opinions 

 as to the import of this title may be thus stated : 

 1. The ancients understood it to relate to the 

 steps of the temple : of this supposition I shall 

 speak hereafter. 2. Luther, whom Tholuck is 

 inclined to follow, renders it a song in the higher 

 choir ; intimating that they should be sung from 

 an elevated position, or, as Patrick says, "in 

 an elevated voice." 3. Junius and Tremellius 

 would translate it " Song of Excellences," or 

 " Excellent Song." 4. Gesenius, with De Wette, 

 considers that this name refers to a particular 

 rhythm, in which the sense ascends in a rhythming 

 gradation ; but as this barely appears in one Psalm 

 (cxxi.), the facts will scarcely support the hypo- 

 thesis. 5. The more modern opinion is, that 

 (notwithstanding four of them being composed by 

 David, and one by Solomon) it signifies " Song 

 of the Ascents" (ava$a<rts), or "Pilgrims' Song," 

 being composed for or sung by the people during 

 their journeys to Jerusalem, whether on their re- 

 turn from the Babylonian captivity, or as they 

 statedly repaired to their national solemnities. 



The first of these hypotheses, though in least 

 repute, I am inclined to prefer. 



The title in Chaldee is " A Song sung upon the 

 Steps of the Abyss;" the Septuagint superscrip- 

 tion "'ns^ twv ava$a9/jav:" and the Vulgate, carmen 

 graduum, " Song of the Steps." In accordance 

 with which the Jewish writers state, that these 

 Psalms were sung on fifteen steps leading from 

 the Atrium Israelis to the court of the women. In 

 the apocryphal book of the "Birth of Mary," 

 translated by Archbishop Wake, which is to be 

 found in the works of St. Jerome, and which is 

 attributed to St. Matthew, there is an account of 

 a miracle in the early history of the Virgin Mary, 

 in which it is said (ch. iv.) : 



" 2. And there were about the temple, according to 

 the fifteen Psalms of Degrees, fifteen stairs to ascend. 



" 3. For the temple being built in a mountain, the 

 altar of burnt-offering, which was without, could not 

 be come near but by stairs." 



It goes on to state how the infant Mary miracu- 

 lously walked up these stairs. In the account of 

 the same miracle, in the Protevangelion, ascribed 

 to St. James, it is related (ch. vii.) how the 

 priest — 



" 5. . . placed her (the infant) upon the third step 

 of the altar." 



From this comparison it would appear, that the 

 " stairs about the temple" were synonymous with 

 the " steps of the altar." 



I would therefore suggest, for the consideration 

 of those better acquainted with the subject, that 

 these Psalms were adapted to be sung (not on the 

 steps, as some think, but) as a kind of introit 

 while the priests ascended the steps of the altar. 



To show their adaptation for this purpose, it 

 may be worth remarking, that they are all, except 

 cxxxii., introits in the first Prayer Book of Ed- 

 ward VI. J. R. G. 



Dublin. 



AMERICAN POEMS IMPUTED TO ENGLISH AUTHORS. 



(Vol.viii., pp. 71. 183.) 



The southern part of the U. S. seems to make 

 as free with the reputations of English authors, as 

 the northern with their copyright. The name of 

 the South Carolina newspaper, which, with so 

 much confirmatory evidence, ascribed The Calm 

 to Shelley, is not given. If it was the Southern 

 Literary Messenger, the editor has been at it again. 

 The following began to appear in the English 

 papers about Christmas last, and is still " going the 

 round :" 



" The Sorrows of "Werther. — The Southern Lite- 

 rary Messenger (U. S.) for the present month contains, 

 in ' The Editor's Table,' the following comic poem of 

 Thackeray's ; written, we are told, ' one morning last 

 spring in the Messenger office,' during a call made by 

 the author : — 



• Werther had a love for Charlotte, 



Sucli as words could never utter. 

 Would you know how first he met her? 

 She was cutting bread and butter. 



' Charlotte was a married lady, 



And a moral man was Werther ; 

 And for all the wealth of Indies, 



Would do nothing that might hurt her. 



* So he sigh'd, and pined, and ogled, 



And his passion boil'd and bubbled, 

 Till he blew his silly brains out, 



And no more by them was troubled. 



' Charlotte, having seen his body 

 Borne before her on a shutter, 

 Like a well-conducted person, 



Went on cutting bread and butter.' " 



I believe that Mr. Thackeray knows the value 

 of his writings and his time too well to whittle at 

 verses in the Messenger office, and leave his chips 

 on the floor ; and that he is too observant of the 

 laws of fair wit to make a falsification and call it 

 a burlesque. The Sorrows of Werther is not so 

 popular as when known here chiefly by a wretched 

 version of a wretched French version ; and many 

 who read these stanzas will be satisfied that the 



