1803.] 
The filence I had hitherto preferved could 
now no longer ferve me: the day was 
drawing to a clofe, and I wanted lodg- 
ings for the night.. After fome ineffec- 
tual efforts to procure. direction to fome 
merchants for whom I had letters of in- 
troduétion, or to the Kaifer’s Hof, the 
hotel at which I intended to fix my quar- 
ters, I cafually rencontred an Englifh ac- 
quaintance. Atter exciting the aftonith- 
ment of one of his companions, (at leaft 
fo the gentleman pretended,) at my bold- 
nefs, in thus daring to enter Hamburg, 
a ftranger and alone, I was enabled, by 
my countryman’s affiftance, to procure a 
porter, and particular direétions for every 
gentleman to whom I was addrefled.— 
Fortunately one of thefe (for on a holiday 
it was doubtful) I found at home, and, 
after delivering my credentials, was by 
him conducted to the Kaifer’s Hof. 
27th Aug. 1803. M. Y. 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
WHO WROTE the WISDOM? 
Maxapios ‘ot copiay AaCovres "Inow Xpiorey OTs 
autos ‘ures “Crbiste xAnOncovras. 
Maturion tés agias Theklas 
MONG the books called apocryphal 
; one is entitled the Wifdomof Solomon. 
This gnomology, or moral common-place- 
book, or collegtion of heads to preach from 
(for fuch is its moft adapted deftination) 
contains fometimes in a very condenfed 
form the trains of argument by which to 
commence, and fometimes in a very ample 
form the illuftrations with which to pero- 
rate. Thefuperfcription, or title, an{wers 
to Salomonie Wildom, and rather refpects. 
the proverbial form than the imputed 
autlority of the precepts ; unlefs perhaps 
it was affixed becaule the dilcourfes, of 
which it preferves the outline, were deli- 
yered in that porch of the temple of Jeru- 
falem, called Solomon’s : as we might 
now name fome late fermons of the 
Bifhop of London, the Saint James’s Lec- 
tures. ‘ 
This book is faid by commentators to 
coniit of two parts, of two difting {weeps 
of argument, or courfes ef differtation ; 
the one terminating with the math chap- 
ter, or with the firft verfe of the eleventh 
chapter ; and the other including the reft 
of the book. The tenth chapter poffibly 
forms a conneSting medium written by the 
joiner or compiler of the two treatifes, 
- Some heterogeneity of idea has been 
thought to juaify the attribution of thefe 
writings to diftinct perfons. ‘The fecond 
Who-wrote the Wrifdam ? 
221 
part feems the more antient of the two, 
At leaft it was-written for a country lef 
advanced in civilization of mind (if the 
exprefiion may be pardoned) than the 
preceding part. It oppofes to true reli- 
gion, idolatry or falfe religion; whereas 
the firft part oppofes to true religion, un- 
godlinefs or irreligion: fo that opinions 
analogous to thofe of Epicurus already 
began to prevail, where it was writ- 
ten, or planned. Both parts are tinc. 
tured, deeply tin¢tured, with what is 
called the Platonifm of the Alexan- 
drian fchool, with a theology refembling 
Philo’»; but the fecond part difplays 
more the nationality of a Jew, and the 
firft part the -philanthropy of a cofmo- 
polite, “| 
Thefe phenomena can be explained 
without the hypothefis ef two authors ; 
for thofe relative fates of culture, which 
are always fucceflive on the fame fpot, 
may be cotemporary in different places, 
He who was preparing difcourf-s to be 
delivered in the fynagocue of Jerufalem, 
might trace fuch a fkeleton as the fecond 
part; who, if folicited to lecture in the 
fynagogue of Algxandria, would prefer 
fuch a fyllabus as the fir? part. On 
the borders of the Jordan, religion might 
be in danger from fuperfition; while, 
on thofe of the Nile, it was in danger 
from infidelity. Frefh from the Beth- 
hammidrath, a ftudent might retain the 
narrower ken of the fecond part ; who 
would acquire the comprehenfive views of 
the firft part, after affociating with the 
philofophers of the Moufaioas The fame 
perfon then may, after no great interval of 
time and place, have compofed the whole 
book, which is throughout pervaded by 
a myitical but gnoftic cat of opinion. 
And furely the fprinkled* Syriafos, the 
orizntal profufion of fanciful illuftration, 
the confcious difplay of expreffional fkill, 
and the anxious elaboration of a fttyle 
freaked with allufions, indicate uniformly 
the hand of fome accomplifhed Barbarian 
-exulting in his Greek. ' 
To the firft part, which has not been 
neatly f{eparated into its nine chapters, too 
much attention cannot be drawn. It 
comprizes in little compafs more probable 
religious philofophy, and more u’eful 
morai inftruétion, than any other facred 
book. A mere critic would not ex-cevt 
evea the G fpels. It agrees with them, 
“efpecially with Jehn’s Gofpel, and indeed 
with ail the Chritian Scriptures, in fpiric 
* Such as ‘aytov. mveuuae for mvevrares 
“ayiorns, S&C. 
nhs remarkably, 
