220 
mentin that countfy (Jeremiah XLIII. ¢); 
for his confidential fecretary, Baruch, was 
fnortly after difpatched (Baruch I. 1) to 
Babylon, whither Jeremiah appears to have 
ultimately* followed. After the captivity 
at leaft (Jeremiah XIII. v.17 and 5) his 
walks were befide the Euphrates: ~fo that 
the CXX XVI Land fomeotherfimilar pfalms 
may probably, if not confidently, be allo 
afcribed to him. 
Of thefe elegiac pfalms there is one, the 
ecighty-ninth, (it feems to have begun ori- 
ginally at the nineteenth verfe) written with 
that carping difappoinment which pervades 
every work of Jeremiah, and adapted 
exatily to the fortunes of king Jofiah. 
Fis defcent from David, his anointment 
(vs 20), his refpite (v. 22), his piety 
{v. 26), his renewal of the covenant 
(v. 28) are firft noticed. Then, witha 
fomewhat querulous impiety, his defertion 
by Providence is bewailed. ‘The mrup- 
tion of Necho (v. 40), the plunder of the 
Jand (v.41), the triumph of the adver- 
fary (v.42), and the monarch’s flight, 
wounded, from the battle (v. 43). is de- 
tailed. The confequent lofs of the throne 
(v. 44), bis early death (v.45), at the 
age of thirty-nine, and the difgrace of his 
memory are fucceflively lamented. 
poem clofes with another angry expoftula- 
tion againft Providence, as if the king 
had performed his part of the covenant, 
Original Poetry. 7 
The , 
f OGober 15 
and had not been duly feconded by the 
Lord whom he worfhipped. The various 
particulars enumerated do not all fuit any 
other Jewith fovereign than Jofiah: to him 
therefore they ought to be referred. The 
latter part of the LX XX pfalm then is to 
be confidered as Jeremiah’s Lamentation 
for the death of king Jofiah. 
This dirge receives from Herodotus 
(Euterpe, 159) fome light; and throws 
much on the often mifinterpreted twelfth 
chapter of Zechariah, which is apparent- 
ly out of its place, and fhould occur 
among the earlier fragments of Jeremiah. 
Here too is narrated the expedition of Ne- 
cho againft Jerufalem: for on no other 
occafion was Jerufalem threatened with a 
fiege, full of exertion againit the enemy, 
delivered finally from the danger, and yet 
filled with mourning after the event. The 
expreflion there shall be as much mourning 
in Ferufalem as in the valley of Megiddo, 
where Jofiah and his companions fell, ren- 
ders the application unequivocal. The 
fix firft verfes of the enining chapter be- 
long to the fame oracle. [Ft is no compo= 
fition of Zechariah’s, becauie it profeffes 
to have been written before the event, 
and he was born after: to fay nothing of 
the allufion (Zechariah XIII.6) to the 
painful punifhment F incurred by Jeremiah 
(Jeremiah XX. 2, and Pfalm XXII. 16,) 
which would fuffice to identify the author, _ 
: ‘ a 
ORIGINAL POETRY. 
EL 
To the MEMORY Of the REV. G. WAKEFIELD. 
RIEND of departed worth! whofe pil- 
grim feet 
Trace injured merit to its laft retreat, 
Oft willthy fteps imprint the hallow’d fhade, 
Where Wakefield’s duft, embalm’d in tears, 
is laid 5 
€*Here (wilt thou fay) a high undaunted foul, 
‘That fpurn’d at palfied caution’s weak con- 
troul— 
* The two books of Kings were apparently 
compiled and finifhed by Jeremiah 5 for they 
contain long paffiages alfo occurring in his ac- 
knowleged works (Compare 2 Kings XXIV 
and XXV with Jeremiah LI1). Thefe books 
were drawn up in Chaldea, fince Babylonian 
names of months (1 Kings VI. 1), and 
other allufions to Perfian religion (1 Kings 
XXII. z9), occur; and after the acceffion of 
Mereiach, whofe kindnefs to Jehoiachin is, 
there nrecorded. It is confequently probable 
that feremiah, under Merodach, was living 
‘ at Babylon. - One is difiatisfied to obferve no 
“et 
A mind by learning ftor’d, by. gentus fir’d, 
In Freedom’s caufe with gen’rous warmth ine 
{pir’'d— 
Moulders in earth; the fabric of his fame 
Refts on the pillar of a fpotlefs name !”’ 
Tool of corruption—f{paniel flave of power ! 
Should thy rafh fteps in fome unguarded hour 
Profane the fhrine, deep on thy fhrinking 
heart 
Engrave this awful moral, and depart ! 
a 
mention of the fate of Jeremiah, in the book 
of his grand-nephew Ezra. The office al- 
lotted to Shethbazzar (Ezra I. 11) would 
have been a natural reward of Jeremiah’s 
loyalty. May it not have been the real 
one? Such Jews as were promoted at Ba- 
bylon moftly afflumed a new name or title 5 
and the fignature of Jeremiah occurs at Je 
rufalem, after the return, on the docu- 
ment quoted at length. in the tenth and 
contiguous chapters of Nehemiah. 
+ A fort of ftocks pierced to receive the 
hands and feet, 
‘That 
