CANTICLES. 



by the voice of antiquity, its divine au- 

 thority has been called in question by 

 many writers in modern days. Whiston 

 thinks it a dissolute loose song-, composed 

 by Solomon when advanced in years, 

 and degenerate in practice ; and that 

 therefore it ought to be excluded from 

 the canon of the sacred books. Taken 

 indeed in its primary and literal sense, it 

 must be considered as describing- a royal 

 marriage, and may therefore be denomi- 

 nated an epijthalamium, or hymeneal 

 song. The celebrated Michselis sup- 

 posed that the object of it was, to teach 

 God's approbation of marriage. But the 

 ideas of Harmer appear much more ra- 

 tional ; who, though unwilling to give it 

 the name of epithalamium, thinks it a 

 marriage song, to be explained by com- 

 positions of a similar nature in eastern 

 countries. " What can be more likely," 

 says he, "to lead us into the literal sense 

 of an ancient nQptial poem, than the com- 

 paring it with similar modern produc- 

 tions of the east, along with antique Jew- 

 ish compositions of the same kind ?" Bos- 

 suet, bishop of Meaux, was of opinion 

 that this song was to be explained by the 

 consideration, that the Jews were wont 

 to celebrate their nuptials for seven days 

 together, distinguished from each other 

 by different solemnities ; and this notion 

 has been adopted by the author of "A 

 new Translation of Solomon's Songs, with 

 a Commentary and Annotations." The 

 principal objection to this opinion is, that 

 the conduct of the poem does not admit 

 of such a distribution ; and the distin- 

 guishing each day by some distinct cere- 

 mony is a mere supposition, unsupported 

 by fact. The elegant and learned bishop 

 Lowth devotes two of his Prxlectiones 

 to an examination of this poem, and he 

 determines it, with Bossuet,tobe a sacred 

 drama, though deficient in some of the 

 essential requisites of dramatic compo- 

 sition. Sir William Jones, from his know- 

 ledge of eastern poetry, was led to com- 

 pare some parts of it with similar pro- 

 ductions among the Arabians, and de- 

 livers it as his opinion, that it is to be 

 classed with the Hebrew idyls. 



Supported by the high authority of this 

 illustrious scholar, Mr. M. Good, in an 

 elegant metrical version with which he 

 has favoured the public, considers the 

 Song of Songs as forming, not one con- 

 tinued and individual poem, but a series 

 of poems, each distinct and independent 

 of the other; and he denominates them 

 sacred idyls. "The Song of Songs," he 

 says, " cannot be one connected epitha- 

 1'amiuiTi, since the transitions are too ab- 



rupt for the wildest flights of the Orien- 

 tal Muse, and evidently imply a variety of 

 openings and transitions; while, as a re- 

 gular drama, it is deficient in every re- 

 quisite that could give it such a classifi- 

 cation." It has been also regarded as a 

 par-ible in the form of a drama, in proof of 

 which, we are told, First, when closely 

 examined, it will appear to possess all the 

 essential qualities of a drama. The mar- 

 riage of Solomon with the daughter of 

 Pharaoh, (as related 1 Kings i. 1,) apoli- 

 tical event, which, from the personages 

 concerned in it, would be interesting to 

 to the Jewish nation, was, as such, proper 

 to furnish the fable of it. The writer is 

 entirely left behind the curtain, and the 

 whole of the composition is brought for- 

 ward before the reader in parts between 

 the speakers. The dramatis persona are, 

 Solomon, the bride, her attendants, and 

 the virgins of Jerusalem. It should be 

 observed, though the fact has indeed 

 been overlooked by the critics, that all 

 advance is made by the lady herself. She 

 comes to his palace, unfetched, and ap- 

 parently unsolicited Finding him not 

 there, she goes in search of him, intreats 

 to be received into his embrace ; and 

 when without denying, he eludes her en- 

 treaties, she pursues him in the ardour of 

 her affection almost beyond the bounds 

 of female delicacy and modesty. On the 

 contrary, the royal spouse is cold at heart, 

 and distant, prone to recede, and to in- 

 trigue with his favourite concubines, but 

 anxious to conceal his indifference and in- 

 fidelity under laboured encomiums on the 

 beauty of his spouse. The action is com- 

 plete, possessing a beginning, a middle, 

 and an end, and composed of scenes, the 

 shifting of which, if observed by a modern 

 reader, as by an ancient spectator, would 

 have preserved the conduct of the piece 

 uniform and consistent. The plot, it 

 must be allowed, is very simple, the in- 

 tricacies of it arising only from those un- 

 forseen impediments which were thrown 

 by rival beauties in the way of the royal 

 bride, and which threatened to deprive her 

 of the object of her attachment. The ca- 

 tastrophe is the triumph of honourablelove 

 over the allurements of seduction, and the 

 security of virtuous enjoyment over the 

 torments of jealousy and illicit fruition. Se- 

 condly, considered as a parable; like other 

 parables, while it conveysa literal sense in- 

 teresting and appropriate, it conveys like- 

 wise a religious lesson of great impor- 

 tance. Now the method of decyphering 

 a fable or parable is, not by seeking, un- 

 der the veil of the allegory, certain max- 

 ims of recondite wisdom, which bear no 



