26 



Tills of the Latin poet, (wliofe rythm falls fo exaflly into the ca- 

 dence of the infpired bard, that had the Hebrew, like the Greek, formed 

 a part of the Roman fludies, we fliould have fuppofed it had been 

 borrowed or imitated) is but jud reducible to metrical order, and almoft 

 out of it. The paffage has been admired lefs for the happinefs of its 

 fcanfion, than for the echo of the fentiment : lefs for the legitimacy of 

 its metre, than for its " ad judicium aurium ratio." It is the fame, 

 I apprehend, with the Hebrew, that expreffcd what it felt in rythm, 

 that is, in a bold but difordered meafure, rather than in faithful and 

 certain quantities, and Virgil himfelf, we know, would on extraordi- 

 nary occafions, difdain the ftated feet that ufually governed his mufe. 

 But the examples here produced are the ftrong and unfettered lan- 

 guage of nature, which will ever be the fame in all ages and coun- 

 tries : and he who expreffes that language in the happieft and moft 

 forcible manner, will belt deferve the name of infpired. 



As our learned countryman has denied rhime to the Hebrew, and 

 as his authority mufl always carry great weight, the academy may not 

 be difpleafed to fee in this place what the illuftrious LowlIi has faid 

 on this fubjeft. I fliall not detain them with a long anfwer, 



" Quod ad eorum attinet fententiam, qui Hcbraici carmiiiis artificium 

 " in of/.omAjwoi! unice ponunt, in verfuum claufulis fimilitcr definentibus ; 

 " earn quanquam multos habuerit fautores, et eruditos propugnatores, 

 " Clericum, Garofalum, Fourmentium, multo tamen effe arbitror om- 

 *' nium vaniffiraam, quippe ciijus vanitas tarn manifefte deprehenditur. 

 " Nam cum in carminibus alphabeticis nonnullis certo definiuntur ver- 

 " fuum claufulae, cumque in eis plane apparet verfuum claufulas non 

 " effe fimiliter definenteS, nullum adhibitam fuiffe circa <,uoim>.wTcc curam aut 

 " cogitationem ; clare id evincitur, Hebraici carminis artificium in o^ioioTs^ii-To.; 

 •' pofuum non effe." (^Met. Har. Brev. Confut.') 



This fort of Brevis Confutatio is not the proper mode of difpofing of a 

 great and important queftion ; a queftion that at once involved the in- 

 terefts of biblical literature, and had been maintained by pens furely as 

 learned as his own, without the fmallefl; difparagement to his great 



erudition 



