440 LECTURES AND ESSAYS [iS 74 - 



Thus Ewald seems right in contrasting the lyric as the 

 poetry of nature with those later forms of composition in 

 which the poet, instead of simply expressing what he sees 

 or feels at the moment, sets before him a definite end, and 

 enlists his fancy and poetic enthusiasm in its service. It 

 is probable that in all nations the later forms of poetry 

 were gradually developed from a lyrical germ, and in the 

 poetry of Israel this process can still be distinctly traced. 

 The Hebrew was so eminently a man of strong emotion 

 and impulse, always deeply stirred by what was present 

 and personal, that every interest of life was a ready source 

 of song. The extraordinary opinion of Keil, that in 

 Israel secular poetry was never able to thrive beside the 

 sacred muse, finds its refutation on almost every page of 

 the prophets and the historical books. Of the strains in 

 which national victories were extolled or national calamity 

 bewailed, we still possess examples in the song of Deborah, 1 

 in the ironical Mashal of Num. xxi. 27 seq., and in the elegy 

 of David over Saul and Jonathan. 2 The sacred record 

 could not, of course, present us with examples of the 

 riotous &quot; song of the drunkard,&quot; 3 or of the lays in which 

 the prosperous wicked expressed their careless happiness ; 4 

 but the darkest side of primitive life is still pictured in the 

 savage &quot; sword song &quot; in which Lamech exults in the 

 prowess of his irresistible weapon : 



Adah and Zillah, hear my voice ; 



Ye wives of Lamech, give heed to my speech. 



I slay a man if he wound me, 



A young man for a stroke ! 



For Cain s vengeance is sevenfold, 



But Lamech s seventy and seven. 5 



The gleeful carols of the vintage, 6 and the bridal songs 

 that celebrated the virgins of Israel, 7 have sunk into 

 oblivion ; but the lay of the well, already quoted, still 



1 Judges v. 2 2 Sam. i. 3 Ps. bcix. 12. 4 Job xxi. n, 12. 



5 The point of the conclusion lies in the contrast between Cain, the 

 club-bearing man, and Lamech, whose family had reached the secret of 

 forging weapons in metal. 



6 Isa. xvi. 10. 7 Ps. Ixxviii. 63, A.V. margin. 



