412 COSMOS. 



presents the nations of the West with the special attraction of 

 being interwoven with numerous reminiscences connected 

 with the local seat of the religion professed by the followers 

 of the three most widely diffused forms of belief, Judaism, 

 Christianity, and Mahomedanism. Thus missions, favoured 

 by the spirit of commerce, and the thirst for conquest evinced 

 by maritime nations, have combined to bear the geographical 

 names and natural descriptions of the East as they are pre- 

 served to us in the books of the Old Testament, far into the 

 forests of the New World, and to the remote islands of the 

 Pacific. 



It is a characteristic of the poetry of the Hebrews, that as a 

 reflex of monotheism it always embraces the universe in 

 its unity, comprising both terrestrial life and the luminous 

 realms of space. It dwells but rarely on the individuality of 

 phenomena, preferring the contemplation of great masses. 

 The Hebrew poet does not depict nature as a self-dependent 

 object, glorious in its individual beauty, but always as in rela- 

 tion and subjection to a higher spiritual power. Nature is to 

 him a work of creation and order, the living expression of 

 the omnipresence of the Divinity in the visible world. Hence 

 the lyrical poetry of the Hebrews, from the very nature of its 

 subject, is grand and solemn, and when it treats of the earthly 

 condition of mankind, is full of sad and pensive longing. It 

 is worthy of remark that Hebrew poetry, notwithstanding 

 its grandeur, and the lofty tone of exaltation to which it is 

 often elevated by the charm of music, scarcely ever loses 

 the restraint of measure, as does the poetry of India. De- 

 voted to the pure contemplation of the Divinity, it remains 

 clear and simple in the midst of the most figurative forms of 

 expression, delighting in comparisons which recur with almost 

 rhythmical regularity. 



As descriptions of nature, the writings of the Old Testa- 

 ment are a faithful reflection of the character of the country 

 in which they were composed, of the alternations of barren- 

 ness and fruitfulness, and of the alpine forests by v> hich the 

 land of Palestine was characterised. They describe in their 

 regular succession, the relations of the climate, the manners of 

 this people of herdsmen, and their hereditary aversion to agri- 

 cultural pursuits. The epic or historical narratives are marked 

 by a graceful simplicity, almost more unadorned than those 



