1798.] 
‘He is'the God who girdeth me with ftrength, 
And rendereth my ways perfect ; 
Making my feet like hind’s feet, 
And caufing me to ftand firm on precipices 5 
‘Teaching my hands to war, 
So that mine arm can draw a bow of brafs. 
‘Thou haft given unto me the fhield’ of thy 
prefervation ; 
‘Thy right-hand hath fupported me, 
And thy condefcenfion hath made me great. 
Thou didft enlarge my paths, . 
So that my foles flipped not. 3 
{ will purfue mine cnemies, and fhall over- 
take them, : 
And not return until they be deftroyed. 
J will pierce them through, that they fhall 
not be able to rife ; 
They hall fall under my feet. 
Thou fhalt gird me with warlike trength, 
And fhalt caufe thofe who rife up againft me 
to bow down. 
‘Thou haf delivered to me the neck of mine 
enemies, 
And I fhall cut off thofe who hate me. 
Loudly shall they cry, byt there will be no 
deliverer: . 
nto Jehovah fhall they ery, but herill not 
amfwer them. 
Anecdotes of Eminent Charafters« 
199 
' 
As dut flying before the wind, will I grind 
them ; . 
As the mire of the ftreets will I reduce them. 
Thou haft delivered me from the eagernefs 
of the multitude ; +4 
Thou wilt make me the head of the nations. 
A peoslet have not known fhall obey me: 
Every car that heareth fhall hearken unto me}; 
And the fons of the ftranger fhall fubmit *, ° 
The fons of the ftranger fhall difappear ; 
They fhall tremble in their hiding-places. 
Jehovah liveth! Blefied be my rock ; 
And let God, wha delivereth me, be exalted. 
The God who giveth unto me vengeance, 
And brought the people under me, 
Thou art my deliverer from mine enemies 5 
Thou haf f{natched me from the man ef 
violence : 
Therefore I will celebrate thee, O Jehovah! 
among the nations, “ 
And to thy name will I raife the pfalm. 
A tower of fafety is he to his king, 
To his anointed he theweth kindnefs, 
_ To David, and to his feed for ever. 


* I have, in this place, preferred the 
Syriac verfion. 
! 
ANECDOTES OF EMINENT CHARACTERS. 
Davin, the Republican Painter. 
Bsa ier fublimicy of imagination, 
VY greatnefs of conception, noble 
fimplictty of compofition, truth of ex- 
pretfion, accuracy of defign, beauty of 
outline, warmth of colouring, harmony 
ef tints—when all thefe properties are 
united in the works of a painter, we may 
fafely affert that he isan artift of fuperior 
fiamp: and they are all found united in 
the finihhed pieces of David. I think it 
unneceflary to obferve, that, among thofe 
finiihed pieces, I do not include his 
Death of Marat, however great may be 
the relative merit of the painter in that 
performance, and in other revolutionary 
fubjeéts on which the pencil of David was 
employed :—TI have not {een them. 
It is to David and his pupils that the 
French School is indebted tor her refurrec- 
tion from the low tlate of decadency into 
which fhe’ was fallen, for the revived at- 
tachment to the ftudy of the antique, and’ 
for the combination of ideal beauty with 
the imitation of the beauties of nature. 
I have feen his Junius Brutus: I have 
feen his Horatii. How oft has my foul 
fed on the fight! how oft has my heart 
been warmed by the radiant emanations 
of his genius !—But let me firft fay a few 
words refpeéting the man hinifelf. 
David received me with an engaging 
politenefs, expreflive of perfect confi- 
dence, and void of all pretenfions—fuch 
as is not always experienced by foreigners 
from French artifts, whether endowed 
witha fuperiority or mediocrity of talents; 
and he often intrufted me with the key 
of his great painting-room, which I re- 
queited of him for the purpofe of going 
to enjoy the contempiation of his Brutus 
or his Horatit, while he was at work in 
a diftant apartment. David’s brain is 
not yet whoily free from his political 
phrenty, although he lives quite ilolated, 
and entirely devoted to his art. Some- 
times, in the midit of a converfation 
which had not the fmalleft reference to 
political fubjeéts, he ilightly glanced at 
them, then fuddenly funk into a fowbre 
iilence, from which it was difficulr ta 
awake him, in order to lead him back ta 
the details of his art: but on thofe occa- 
fions he patiently fuffered me to remind 
him that it was not for the guondam 
member of the conyention, but for the 
artift, that my vifits were intended,--- 
that his painting-room was, and ought 
ever to have been, the only theatre of his 
exertions. : 
The artift who fteps beyond the circle 
which his talents have marked out ta 
him, in order to throw himfe!lf into a dif: 
ferent {phere where he is, as it were, a 
ftranger, is never in his proper e! 
We cannot, therefore, but lament the 
WiLVOIr Cun 
