On the Author of the Poems afcribed to Ezekiel. 
Roams round the fences that the prize con- 
Se | fala f 
And madly rages at the flock in vain: 
Thus, as th’ embattled tow’rs the chief de- 
‘pp fcries, 
Rage fires his foul, and flafhes from his eyes. 
‘ Litt. 
The impo‘ent rage of the affailant, 
and the fecurity of thefe lodged within 
the walls, could f{earcely, in ali the 
range of nature, have met with an ap er 
- comparison. he 
A. ftriking circumftance of character 
-in. the wolf has fuggefted to Virgil a 
fimile applied io the cowardly Aruns, 
who, atter inflicting-a mortal wound on 
Camilla with his javelin, affrighted at 
his own deed, fhrinks back in fight. 
Ac velut ille, prius quam tela inimica fe- 
guantur, 
Continuoin moates, fefe avius abdidit altos, 
Occifo paftore lupus magnove juvenco, 
Conicius audacis facti, caudamgue remul- 
liens ; 
Subjecit pavitantem utero, filvafque petivit. 
fin. x1. Bog. 
As when a prowling wolf, whofe rage has 
flain smn 
Some ftately heifer, orthe guardian fwain, 
Flies to the mountain with impetuous fpeed, 
Confus’d, and conicious of the daring deed, 
Claps clofe ‘his quivering tajl between his 
thighs, 
Ere yet the peopled country round him 
rife, 
Pitt. 
.At is but. juftice to obferve, that the 
ftrong expreflion of the laft line but ‘one, 
in the tranjiation, is copied trom Dry- 
een ee 52'S. 
‘Milton could be no more than an imi- 
tator in chuling the Wolt for an objet 
of comparifon; but the application in 
the foliowing iimile is new, and the re- 
fernblance very periect. It refers to 
Satan, leaping with a bound over the 
wall of Paradile. ; 
As whena prowling wolf 
Whom hunger drives to feek new haunt for 
2 Ul BYCYp 
Watching where fhepherds pen their flocks 
ryge at-eve : 
dni hurdled cotes amid the field fecure, 
Leaps o tr the fence with eafe into the fold. 
tI 9981 i Par. Ey 1¥,) 433. 
SSE Ee 
For the Monib'y iii caxine, 
CONCERNING THE AUTHOR OF SOME 
»” POEMS ASCRIBED TO EZEKIEL. 
DROPRESSOR: Eichhorn» (Einleitung 
das alte Testament, vol.3; ps 374.) 
bas fapported the opinion, that the oya- 
183. 
cles of Ezekiel are genuine throughout, - 
that the collective fragments afcribed to 
hin, were all really written by this poet. 
A diffonance of chara&ter in thefe com- 
politions, invites rather to embrace an . 
oppofite fufpicion, 
Whoever reads the firft twenty-four 
chapters of Ezekiel, will be {truck with 
the identity of manner which pervades 
them. The poet is evidently a man of 
vigorous and-bufy imagination, but of 
. low and. ignoble taft:; prone to ideas 
phyfically and morally (c. iv. and c. 
xxil'.):obfe ne, He appears to know Je- 
rufalem and its Vicinity, and the banks 
of the Chebar, (Chaboras) from Carche- 
mifh (Kerkifieh) to Tel-abib (Thalla- 
ba): with the reft of the world he be- 
trays little acquaintance. His favourite 
formula is to begin with a parallel, or 
allegory, which he leaves awhile wholly 
enigmatical, and then explains by the 
narration of a correfponding event. (c.v. 
c. vitt. &c.) He is a diffult writer : not 
content to indicate, he compleats all his 
images; defcribes from head to foot, with 
neccdieis detail and induftrious circum- 
ftantiality ; and, inftead of {electing the 
fineft groupes, parades before us the en- 
tire procefiion of his thoughts. Of his 
writing, the general * tenour is didactic, 
and invites the perufal of fellow-captives. 
From the xxvth to the xxxitd chapter 
inclufive, a diftinct and loftier vein of poe- 
try prevails. Nothmg low, or fpun-out, 
here requires apology. Allis dignified, 
fimple, concife, fublime. A profufion of 
geographical knowledge is feduloufly dit 
played; fuch as might be expeéted from 
a proietled hiftoriographer of the cara- 
paigns of Nebuchadrezar, and frora the 
companion of his marches. ‘Thefe poeins 
all relate one or other enterprize. of. the 
king of Babylon; and feem rather ad- 
drefled to metropolitan readers than to 
captive Jews. They were evidently writ- 
ten on the {pur of the occafion ; “fince, at 
the moment of the blockade of Tyre, 
the poet does not hefitate to threaten its 
capture, (c. xxvil.) but, ina fubfequent 
poem, we find (c. xxix. v. 18.) that the 
iiege had been unfuccefsful, and that the 
king was marched forward to Egypt. For 
this mifcalculation, for this want of fore- 
fight, tle poet apologizes, and.addreffing 
himfelf to the king of Tyre, fays nearly: 
«© It is true, I called your refiftance 
proud, but [ perceive you ettimated 
rightly your ftrength 5° you ‘were wifer 
- 

* The xixth chapter indeed, might pats for 
PAgMenh ot [ereMNdMy ea. Tt epg 
anlofuistis 
Ps thai 
