438 LECTURES AND ESSAYS [1874- 



many passages which at first sight seem pure prose. 

 Thus 



The Lord on thy right hand j 



Smites down kings in the day of his wrath, |j l 



is not one picture, but two distinct images, with a rapid 

 movement from the rest of the first to the activity of the 

 second. 



An extremely effective example is the tristich, Ps. xlv. 6, 

 which is entirely lost in our version : 



Thine arrows are sharp 



People fall under thee 



In the heart of the enemies of the king. 



In the first line the warrior bends his bow, in the second his 

 chariot sweeps over the fallen, and then when he has 

 passed by it is seen that his shafts are truly planted in the 

 heart of the slain. 



The rhythmic figures of Hebrew are not confined to the 

 distich and tristich. Verses occur which have four, five, 

 or even six members, and in these again the variety of 

 form got by choosing which pairs of members shall corre 

 spond is as great as the variety of rhyme possible in a 

 modern stanza of four or six lines. But to exemplify the 

 rich multiplicity of such effects would fill pages, and would 

 necessarily lead on to a not less intricate and much 

 disputed theme the arrangement of groups of verses in 

 larger unities or strophes. Instead of entering on these 

 details, let us take simply one stanza from Ps. xlviii., which 

 will illustrate the majestic effect that can be produced 

 by the Hebrew rhythm of sense, even when recast in a very 

 inadequate translation : 



God in her palaces | hath proved himself a stronghold. 



For lo the kings assembled | they sprang forth together : 



When they saw, straightway they marvelled | were panic-stricken, and 



fled; 

 Tremor seized them there | pangs like a woman in travail. 



1 Ps. ex. 5. 



