sTOCK’S TRANSLATION OF ISAIAH. 
of the fact, that the general run of verses 
throughout the Old Testament, are what 
| the learned bishop Lowth distinguishes by 
the appellation of Z'etrameters, I conceived 
a wis 
Isaiah, would appear in his proper dress, as 
a poet, his lines being reduced to metrical 
arrangement. Accordingly, I prescribed to 
myself the laborious task of transcribing the 
original; purposing at the same time to ac- 
company the text with the justly celebrated 
version of bishop Lowth, corrected where 
it should appear necessary, either by the late 
‘discoveries of the excellent German critic 
and translator, Rosenmuler, or by my own 
observation.” 
Strictly adhering to his system, Dr. 
Stock has thrown into a metrical form, 
not only those parts of Isaiah which are 
confessedly historical, and taken with 
very little variation from the book of 
Kings, but even the titles of the differ- 
ent prophecies which are introduced 
into this oracular fasciculus: with what 
effect let the reader judge. 
ny. Vv. 1. 
«* The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos, 
which he saw concerning Judah and Jeru- 
salem, 
In the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, 
Hezekiah, kings of Judah.” 
Ch. xxxvi. 1. 
«« It came to pass in the fourteenth year 
Of king Hezekiah, 
There went up Sennacherib, king of As- 
syria, 
Against all the fenced cities of Judah, 
And he teok them.” 
Ch. xxxvii. 2. 
_ ** And he sent Eliakim, who was over the 
household, 
And Shebua the scribe, 
And the e!ders of the priests, 
Covered with Chon 
Unto Isaiah, the son of Amos, the pro- 
phe.” 
me?" 
«« Have the gods of the nations delivered 
those 
Which my fathers have destroyed ; 
Gozan and Haran, 
And Rezeph, and the sons of Eden, which 
> were in Thelassan?” 
By the help of masoretic punctuation, 
the originals of these passages are made 
_ to assume something like the appearance 
of metrical arrangement ; but is it cre- 
dible that these plain and undignified 
lations should have been invested even 
ith the exterior garb of poetry? Remove 
the points, and the charm is dissolved. 
Take away this artificial clothing of the 
Ann. Rey. Vor. II. 
. 
to see how the first of the prophets,’ 
113 
masora, and not even the disjecti membra 
poete will be found. 
In his arrangement of the stanzas, 
which are generally acknowledged to be 
poetical, Dr. Stock is not always more 
successful. We cannot perceive any ad- 
vantage that is derived from such a 
location as the following. 
Ch. vii. 17. 
*« Jehovah shall bring upon thee, and upon 
thy people, 
And upon thy father’s house, days, 
Such as have not come, from the day that 
Ephraim departed 
From Te: even the king of Assyria,” 
Ch. xv. 5. 
<< The heart of Moab belloweth out at the 
bare approach thereof, 
Even to Zoar, like a heifer of three years - 
For in the ascent of Luhith, with weeping 
Shall weeping go up ; in the road of Ho- 
ronaim 
The cry of destruction they shall raise up:” 
Ch. xxi. 8. 
«© And he cried, A caravan! 
Sir, on my watch I stand 
Constantly, during the day; and on my 
ward 
Have been set for nights together.” 
The division in the Hebrew exactly. 
corresponds with that which is preserved 
in the translation; and a small portion 
of taste only is necessary to conVince 
the reader, that such an arrangement is 
not deserving of the name of verse. 
Such instances as these are indeed few: 
but in many passages, we think, the 
bishop’s ear has deceived him, and in- 
duced him to make some lines too long, 
others too short; injudiciously to mix 
hexameters, tetrameters, trimeters, and 
dimeters; and occasionally to destroy 
the parallelism, which appears to us to 
constitute the surest guide in the mazes 
of Hebrew poetry. The bishop has 
trusted too much to the Masoretes, with 
whose cumbersome punctuation he has 
loaded and disfigured his page. 
It is time to advert to the translation. 
Here the bishop has been more fortunate. 
His first object, as we have already seen, 
was to produce a metrical arrangement 
of the Hebrew text, accompanied with 
the version of Lowth, corrected where 
necessary. As he proceeded, corrections 
of this nature became more numerous 
than he expected, till, at length, almost 
a new translation arose. ‘To judge, 
therefore, of the real advantage which 
the labours of Dr. Stock have produced 
to sacred literature, (for all relating to 
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