■• V ftSOL na DjyS»k w sec No - TH £ O U TUNES O F A NEW COMMENTARY O N SOLOMON'S SONG, Drawn by the help of Instructions from the EAST. CONTAINING, I. Remarks, on its General Nature. II. Obfervations, on detached Places of it. III. Queries, concerning the Reft of this Poem. Obfervat By the Author of /3v,- J+ ^ lA ^ 1 ^. ions on divers Paffages of Sc: icripture. CORRECTED WITH CARE. P jzt> /~7- 'J"/"^ *. LONDON; Printed for J. Buckiand, in Pater-nofter Row. MDCCLXVUI. PEIIICJBTOH RtC. APR 1882 PREFACE. » ABOUT the time my Qbfer- vatio7is on divers Pajfaves of Scripture were publifhed, there ap- peared in the world, a New Tran- slation of Solomon's Song, with a Commentary and Annotations. 3 Upon my perufing that Perform- ance, the Learning, the Candor, and the Elegance, that appeared in it, gave me much Satisfaction ; but I did not feel myfelf, I confefs, fo much pleafed as this Writer with Boffuet's notion, that this Song was to be explained by the consider- ation, that the Jews were wont to celebrate their Nuptials for feven days together, dijlinguijhed from each a Printed for R. and J. Dodfley in Pall-Mali. A 3 other vi PREFACE. other by different Solemnities. I know no folid ground for fuch a fup po- sition: I mean, the diftinguifhing each day by fome different Cere- mony. This however the Author acknowledges to be the Balls of his Explanation ; and feems to have thought it a very lucky hit of the Bifhop of Meaux, when he made this Obfervation. The very learned and ingenious to Dr. Lowth has adopted Boffuet's Scheme, and others, without ^doubt, among the Learned ; but this Pre- judice in its favour has not been Univerfal. The curious Michaelis, a Profeffor in his Majefty's Univer- fity of Gottingen, who drew up the Inftruclions for the Danifh Aca- demicians, by which they were to guide their Enquiries in a lateEaftern Tour, was extremely dirTatisfied with this PREFACE. vii this notion, as appears by this book itfelf, at the clofe of the Annota- tions on this Sacred Song. But at the fame time Mkhaelis feems tame to have carried things much too far, when he fuppofed it was not a Nup- tial Song; and that the ground on which it was put among the other infpired writings, was merely to teach God's approbation of Marriage : a point which the Jews did not want to have eftablifhed among them in the days of Solomon ; and which was fupported by much clearer proofs derived from other facred books of theirs. Uneafy upon this in my fituation, I examined this part of Holy- Writ with much greater Attention than I had ever done before; and endea- voured to try, how far the method I had before made ufe of in illuftrating A 4 other viii PREFACE. other parts of Scripture, (which the Public feemed to countenance by a very favourable reception of that Attempt, notwithftanding the very difadvantageous manner in which that book was printed,) might be fuccefsfully applied to this celebrated Poem. I fet myfelf then to recolletl what I had read in thofe Authors I had before pern fed, (of whom I have given a large account in the preface to that volume,) which might throw light on this ancient Song. I ex- amined alio fome other books on this occaflon, which I imagined might be of fervice. I read HajfelquiJFs Travels, in particular, printed in 1766. I read alfo the account that BuJbequiuS) an Imperial Amb a ffador^ has given us of his Journey into the Eaft about 500 years ago, printed PREFACE. ix printed at Oxford in 1660. With thefe I joined the fprightly and in- ftructive Letters of an Englifo Am- baffadrefs into the fame countries, which are of a much later date : my Reader will be fenfible I mean Lady Mary Worthy Montague^ who redded there in the beginning of the reign of George I, though her Letters were not publifhed till very lately. b I have run over alfo, upon the recommendation of this Lady, the Arabian Nights Entertainments^ tranflated from the Arabian MSS by Monfieur Galland, of the Royal Academy, and out of the French into Englifh, in twelve volumes. A work which however romantic it may be, we are affured by this very fenfible Lady, was really written by b The Edition I made ufe of, which was the third, was printed in 1763, 4 an x PREFACE. an Eajlern Author^ who has given (excepting the Enchantments,) a true reprefentation of their manners there. They muft however be read, I have obferved, with fome caution, and it requires a little fkill in thefe matters to judge what may be de- pended on, flnce either Monfieur Galland, or his Englifh Tranflator, has taken the liberty fometimes to exprefs a general thought by Euro- pean Ufages, inftead of giving us a literal, and more exact tranilation. So, I remember, he gives an ac- count fome where, of perfons get- ting off by walking over the Leads of the adjoining houfe ; and of do- ing perfons honour by placing them on the right-hand : thefe I dare fay are variations from the Manufcripts, it being well known, that the flat tops of the houfes in the Eafl: are made PREFACE. xi made of a ftrong Mortar or Plaijler\ not covered with Lead; and that the left-hand is the place of honour among thofe nations. As thefe Ara- bian Tales give an account of fome Royal Marriages, as well as of other things, I hoped they might be ufe- ful in explaining the Song of Solo- mon, nor have I always been dis- appointed . As however they are, we may believe, almoft entirely a work of Imagination, I have been very fparing in my citations from thefe volumes. I have depended much more on an Eaftern Song, compofed by Ibra- him , the great Favourite of Sultan Achmet III, addreffed to the Sul- tana, his eldeft daughter, who was Ibrahim's contracted Wife, and car- ried to his houfe, but whom not- c Shaw, p. 210. with- xii PREFACE. withftanding he was not fuffered to vifit at the time the Song was writ- ten, except before Witnefles. This piece of modern Eaftern Poetry Lady Montague has given us at length, in one of her Letters, telling her Cor- refpondent me did not doubt her being of her mind, as to its won- derfully refembling the Song of So- lomon, Her Ladyfhip's account of it is by no means a mifreprefenta- tion. This Song, and the xlvth Pfalm, (an ancient jfewijlj Nuptial Song J have furnifhed me with moft of thofe Obfervations I have made, which form the fecond part of this work ; as the Remarks of the firft part, concerning the general Plan of explaining this part of the Scrip- ture, are often derived from thefe Letters of Ladv Montague. The PREFACE. xiii The xlvth Pfalm is, or ought to be, in the hands of every body ; but as that of Ibrahim may not, very poflibly, be at hand, when my Reader is perufing thefe papers, and it is requifite he mould have it be- fore him, I will here fet it down. Stanza I. i. The Nightingale now wanders in the Vines ; Her Paffion is to feek Rofes. 2. I went down to admire the Beautv of the Vines ; The Sweetnefs of your Charms hath ravim'd my Soul. 3. Your Eyes are black and lovely, But wild and difdainful as thofe of a Stag. Stanza II. 1. The wifhed Pcffeffion is delayed from day to day. The xlv PREFACE. The cruel Sultan Achmet will not permit me To fee thofe Cheeks more Ver- million than Rofes. 2. I dare not fnatch one of your Kiffes, The Sweetnefs of your Charms hath ravifh'd my Soul. 3. Your Eyes are black and lovely, But wild and difdainful as thofe of a Stag. Stanza III. 1. The wretched Ibrahim fighs in thefe Verfes, One dart from your Eyes has pierced through my Heart. 2. Ah! when will the hour of Pof- feflion arrive ? Muft I yet wait a long time? The Sweetnefs of your Charms hath raviuYd my Soul. 3. Ah! PREFACE. xv 3. Ah! Sultana! flag-eyed .... an Angel amongft Angels! I defire, .... crad my defire re- mains' unfatisfied. Canft thou take delight to prey upon my Heart ? Stanza IV. 1 . My Cries pierce the Heavens ! My Eyes are without Sleep! Turn to me, Sultana, .... let me gaze on thy Beauty. 2. Adieu . . . I go down to the Grave. If thou calleft me .... I return. My Heart is ... . hot as fulphur ; .... ligh and it will flame. 3. Crown of my Life, fair Light of my Eyes! My Sultana ! my Princefs ! I rub my face againft the Earth ; .... I am drowned in fcalding Tears .... I rave! Haft xvi PREFACE. Haft thou no Companion? wilt thou not turn to look upon me ? This is fo good a Comment on many paffages of this Song con- cerning Solomon, that I could wifh her Ladyfhip had alfo given us the JLphhalamium which me heard fung at a Bagnio of Conftantinople, when a Turkifh Bride was received there d ; or any other Compositions of that kind that are celebrated among them. In like manner, I cannot help wiming D'Herbelot had given us fome remarkable royal Epithala- miums he has mentioned : but they are not given us by him in his Bi- bliotheque ; nor can they, perhaps, be eafily found in the Eaft. The other Obfervations in this fecond part are very few : they are d Vol. III. p. 30 — 32. derived PREFACE. xvii derived from a very celebrated Greek Poem of this kind, often quoted by Commentators on this Book, and therefore were not wholly to be omitted, though they are of no great confequence* In this fecond part I have had occasion to refer to a Drawing in MandeljlO) in order to illuftrate the Defcription the Sacred Poet gives us of the Chariot of King Solomon, in which his Bride made her entry into Jerufalem. As this Writer is in few hands, and many of my Readers may not have an immediate oppor- tunity of viewing that Drawing, re- prefenting an Eaft-Indian Vehicle, which feems to me very much to refemble that prepared by Solomon, it has been thought that a copy of that plate in Mandeljlo might be agreeably placed on the Title-Page of this Work, as it may ferve, at a oncej XV111 PREFACE. once, for an embellishment to that, and an illuftration of what my Readers will meet with in the 126th and 127th pages of thefe papers. Such a Plate therefore has been en- graven, and I hope will be accept- able. The Chair in which Aifchah % a great Princefs among the Arabians, rode, when fhe led fome troops againft one of the Khalifes, which we are told was placed on the back of a Gamely furrounded with troops, was, I imagine, very much like this ; but D'Herbelot gives us no Drawings nor any very particular Defcription of it ; he only informs us [P. 90.] that it was a Vehicle for wh'ch the Arabs have a particular Name, and that it was made fome- thing like a Cage. As notwithstanding all the Re- marks of the firft part, and all the Cbfervations of the fecond, many pafiages PREFACE. xix paflages of this Song will be found not to have been touched in either of them, I have ventured to propofe fome Queries on what remain. By thefe means a tolerable Sketch of an Interpretation of this very obfcure book will, I hope, be found here ; though nothing like a perfeSl Commentary. The candid Reader will be fo good as to remember, I only propofe to exhibit a Rough Draught, and coarfely to draw the Outlines of an explanation of it. I beg it may be remembered too, that many of thefe things are only propofed as Queries ; nor will I be very pojitive as to feveral others, to which I have given the lefs dubious names of Remarks and Obfervations. That two Wives of Solomon, the one jujl married^ and another whofe Jealoufy was greatly awakened by that event, are referred to in it, and a 2 indeed XX PREFACE. indeed introduced as Speakers, which is the Groundwork of the whole of what I have offered, and, for aught I know, a thought perfeElly new, is a point about which I have very little doubtfulnefs in my own mind, tho' perhaps I may not be fo happy as to have the generality of my Readers adopt the Sentiment : I would take the liberty however to recommend it to them, attentively to think of it. When I fpeak of my flcetching out the Interpretation of this vene- rable Song, 1 would be underftood to mean as to the literal fen fe of it, the giving of which, the Author of the New Translation very judicioufly obferves, is " the firft duty of an * c Expofeor," without which, " it " is impoflible to difcdver what * c other truths are couched under it," though it has been terribly neglect- ed, I fhould have been pleafed to have PREFACE. xxi have feen, what Allegorical fenfe that Writer would put on this an- cient Poem, but it will be difficult, I imagine, to point out any fenfe of it, of this kind, more Jimple and eafy, and at the fame time more im- portant, than what is hinted at in thefe papers. If the literal fenfe is once afcertained, the other will follow of courfe ; and if that other fenfe fhall be found at once fimple, natural, and important, it will ferve to eftablim the belief, that the literal explanation here given of it is the true one. If I am right in my appreheniions, the literal fenfe is all that requires any particular care in the explana- tion of the fever al verfes ; the alle- gorical being a fingle thought, and a kind of improvement of the whole, and by no means to be purfued with anxiety through every line of the Song. I take xxii PREFACE. I take little or no notice of the different Readings of the Hebrew, which Father Houbigant has pro- pofed, and the Author of the New Tranflation frequently refers to. If Errata are allowed to be in other parts of our Copies of the Hebrew Bible, they will not be found, un- doubtedly, to have been wanting in the tranfcripts of a Poem, whofe fenfe has been long confidered as extremely obfcure, if not inexpli- cable. The Homilies of Origen y tranflated by aSY. Jerome^ evidently mew that the prefent Copies confl- derably differ from the old ones, as to the parts to be affigned to the different Speakers in this Poem ; or that the Ancients in translating it were very incorrect:, of which mere Tranfcribers muft be imagined to have been, at lead, equally guilty. But Criticifms of this kind muft be prema- PREFACE. xxiii premature, till Dr. Ke?mkott\ im- portant work makes its appearance; and at the fame time it ought not to be forgotten, that however re- quisite they may be to a complete ex- planation of this book, they cannot be neceffary to the drawing the Out- lines of one. If my Readers mould not be led, by what I have faid, to adopt the fentiments contained in thefe papers, I am willing however to hope, that this way of explaining this obfcure part of Scripture will not appear, to the candid and ingenuous, an unna- tural Attempt: What can be more likely to lead us into the literal fenfe of an Ancient Nuptial Poem, than the comparing it with fimilar modern productions of the Eaft, along with Antique Jewim Compofitions of the fame kind ? efpecially if we enlarge our Plan, by carefully taking in every additional xxiv PREFACE. additional account relating to the Marriages of Princes in thofe coun- tries, mentioned in the Holy Scrip- tures, as well as modern Travellers ? This general management however, as well as the more dubious particu- lars contained in thefe meets, I chearfully leave to the Judgment of the Public ; and would take the li- berty to add, that it would give me great pleafure to receive, through the hands of my Bookfeller, the Re- marks any ingenious Gentleman mail be fo good as to communicate, either of a confirming^ an enlarging^ or a cor reeling kind. T 1. The Outlines of a NEW COMMENTARY O N T H E Song of Solomon. PARTI. Remarks on the Nature, Design, and Structure, of this Song in general. REMARK I. rnr^HOUGH the So?ig of 'Songs which g is Solomon's, ought not to have been called a Pajloral; ought not to have been called an Epithalamium ; as has been done by celebrated Writers, An- cient and Modern, yet certainly it relates to a Royal Marriage, and celebrates an event of that kind, n U ,B It 2 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. It ought not, certainly, to be called a Pajioral : for it evidently defcribes the Love-Converfations of a King * with his Bride ; and introduces an account of other perfonages of like Rank, together with their Attendants. " There are threefcore Queens, " and fourfcore Concubines, and Virgins " without number," Cant. vi. 8. Is it right now to clafs fuch a piece of Poetry as this, with thofe that defcribe the Love- Adventures of Shepherds, and that merely becaufe in one verfe, or, it may be, two b , we find an Allufion to their Employments ? And this, when we know that Poetry de- lights in tranjlated and borrowed expreffi ons ? We might almoft as well call the 8othPfalm a Pajioral, which begins with thefe words, " Give ear, O Shepherd of Ifrael, thou that " leadeft Jofeph like a Flock," though no- thing appears in the fucceeding verfes to fupport fuch a Title. 3 Chap. i. 4. 12, Chap. iii. 9. 11, Sec. b ct Why fhould I be as one that turneth afide by " the Flocks of thy Companions ? If thou know not, *' O thou Faireft among women, go thy way forth by " the footfteps of the Flock, and feed thy Kids befide " the Shepherds Tents." i. 7,-8. If of the Song of Solomon. 3 If its being termed an Epithalamiwn be imagined lefs improper, yet I mufl obferve, that even this word doth not feem to be a term that exprefles the Nature of this Poem with accuracy, fince that word is generally understood, I think, to import a number of Verfes, defigned to be fung near a new- married pair laid hi bed, in compliment to them. For if we mould fuppofe this Gre- cian and Roman Cuftom was alfo a Jewifh one, this Song appears not to have been drawn up for any fuch purpofe, having none of the Congratulations, &c. which formed poems of this kind, but is, on the contrary, evidently of a much more extenfive Nature, and contains a multitude of particulars which would never have been introduced into fuch a fort of Poem. It inconteftably, however, defcribes a Royal Marriage, like the 45th Pfalm, and may therefore be denominated, in the Eaf- tern Style, a Song of Loves, as that is. Were not this allowed, with great Univer- fality, the laft verfe of the 3d chapter would clearly prove it, " Go forth, O ye Daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the Crown wherewith his Mother crown- B 2 ed 4 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. ed him in the day of his Efpoufals, and in the day of the Gladnefs of his Heart : In the day of his Efpoufals, or rather, in the day of his making Affinity, of his Marriage, iince the word Efpoufals is at leaf an am- biguous word, fignifying betrothing, or con- trailing, a Solemnity preceding marriage, as well as marriage itfelf ; and indeed is apt to lead the thoughts of many Readers, rather to fuch a preparatory Solemnity, than to that which was deligned without doubt to be expreffed by it — that of a perfect mar- riage : for the Verb from whence it is de- rived is ufed to exprefs Solomon's Marriage with Pharaoh's Daughter, i Kings iii. i ; and another word derived from the fame Verb is ufed to denote a proper Bridegroom, and even a Son-in-Law that had been mar- ried a confderable time, as we may learn from Judges xix. 5, and 1 Sam. xxii. 14; while a quite different word is ufed for be- trothing, or a contracting previous to Mar- riage, as appears from Deut. xx. 7, &c. This ancient piece of Poetry then refers to a Marriage, (though it is no Epithala- mium,) defcribing at large feveral circum- ftances which preceded, and others which 4 followed, of the Song of Solomon. 5 followed, thefe Nuptials. No unufual fub- ject, we may believe, of Eaftern Poetry, any more than of that of the Weft. So the inge- nious Editor of the Ruins of Palmyra tells us of the Arabs that efcorted him thither, that after the bufinefs of the day was over, they were wont to lit in a circle, while one of the company entertained the reft with a Song or Story, the Subject Love or War c . The 45th Pfalm, in like manner, inconteftably mows that Songs alfo were made on fuch Subjects among the ancient Jews, and par- ticularly on the Marriage of their Princes. This Remark is no Novelty, it is not propofed as fuch, but as certainly juft, and requifite for the introducing what follows with ad- vantage. REMARK II. The Nuptial Feafts among the ancient Hebrews, I readily acknowledge, continued /even days, but I very much queftion whe- ther they were all dijlinguified from one an- other, as a very agreeable Writer fuppofes d , e P. 34- d See the Introduction to the New Tranflation of Solomon's Song, p. 16. B3 6 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. by peculiar Solemnities : the devoting fuch a fpace of time to Feafting and Pleafure in general, on fuch occafions, feems rather to have been all that was then done, as it is allowed to be all that is now ; neverthelefs I prefume we may venture to conclude, that the Going out of the Daughters of Zion to meet King Solomon, refers to the firjl day of the Nuptials. I do not deduce this conclufion from his being defcribed as then wearing a Marriage- Crown, but from another confideration. For it cannot now, I imagine, be deter- mined, how long a Jewi/lj Bridegroom wore the Crown that was put upon his head on the day of his Marriage, whether all the /even days of the Nuptial Feaft, or only the firjl: perhaps his wearing it at all, would not have been known, had it not been for this paf- fage; but this paffagedoth not inform us how long: he wore it. If that Crown was made of Flowers, or of other very fading Vege- tables, it would be moil probable, that it was worn only on the firft day of the Mar- riage ; but it might be made of more dur- able Materials, as Maillet aflures us they frequently are now in the Levant. For in defcribing of the Song of Solomon. 7 defcribing the Ceremonies that are obferved on thefe occaiions, at this time, by thofe of the Greek Church that live in /Egypt, he tells us that the parties to be married are con- ducted into the middle of the Church, " op- ?' pofite to a Reading-Defk, upon which *' the book of the Gofpels is placed, and " upon the book two Crowns, which are " made of fuch materials as people choofe, " of Flowers, of Cloth, or ofTinfel. There ** he continues e his Benedictions and Pray- " ers, into which he introduces all the Pa- " triarchs of the Old Teftament. He after " that places thefe Crowns, the one on the " head of the Bridegroom, the other on " that of the Bride, and covers them both " with a Veil." He then poes on to de- o fcribe the other Ceremonies of their Form of Matrimony, 'till at the concluiion he fays, " Laftly, he takes off their Crowns, and " after fome other Prayers difmifTes them f . It appears from an Apocryphal Writer, that the Ancient Jews wore Garlands of Flowers on their heads in times of Feflivity e Which were begun when they came to the En- trance into the Church. f Defcription de 1' Egypte, Let. x. p. 85. B 4 and 8 Remarks on the general Nature, &c, and Joy, " Let us fill ourfelves with coitly " Wine and Ointments : .and let no Flower " of the Spring pafs by us. Let us crown Ci ourfelves with Rofe-Buds before they be " withered 11 ;" to which cuftomalfo a Prophet alludes, when he defcribes the permanency of the Joy of Ifrael, in their Return to their own Country, by faying, they mail come to 25ion with Everlajling Joy on their heads ', tacitly oppofing their Joy to that of the vo- luptuous Sinners of Ifrael, which was as fading as the Flowers they wore on their heads : but then, it is to be acknowledged, Crowns of Gold too were ufed by the Ancient Ifraelites, Pfal. xxi. 3, Zech. vi. 11, fo that no conclufion can be drawn from the fading nature of the Nuptial Crown, that this go- ing out to meet him with it on his head, was . on the firfl day of the Marriage, fince though it might be a Crown of Flowers, it may as well be fuppofed to have been made of more durable Materials, as the Egyptian Greeks ufe Crowns of both kinds in the Solemniza- tion of Matrimony among them now, and the Jews of Antiquity made ufe of Crowns b Wifdom, ii. 7, 8. s Ifa. xxxv. 10, Chap. li. n. of of the Song of Solomon. 9 of gold as well as of Flowers, on other oc- cafions of Joy. Nor can this conclufion be drawn from the early laying afide of thefe Nuptial Crowns in iEgypt, which it mould feem, from Maillet's account, are left in the Church where the Marriage is celebrated, and not put on 'till their Arrival there, becaufe as the Cuftoms of different Nations and Ages may vary, fo, it is evident, there was a dif- ference in this reipect, the Jewifi Bride- groom being fuppofed to wear the Nuptial Crown when he Jhould be met by the Virgins, whereas the Greek Bridegrooms in iEgypt, it mould feem, neither wear it in their Pro- ceffion to, or frGm, the Church, if Maillet's account be accurate and full : if there was this difference, there might be greater, and, in particular, there might be a difference as to the time of wearing thefe Crowns. .But though this Conclufion, that this part of the Song refers to the firft day of the Marriage, ought not to be drawn from the circumftance of his wearing the Nuptial Crown, the Going out of the Virgins to 7neet the Bridegroom feems, to me, determinately to point out the firft day of thefe Marriage- Solemnities i io "Remarks on the general Nature, &c. Solemnities ; it being apparent, that our Lord makes the ProceJ/ion of Virgins to meet a Bridegroom, in the 25th of Matthew, to be what immediately went before the be- ginning of the Marriage-Feaft, " Then " mall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened " to ten Virgins, which took their Lamps, " and went forth to meet the Bridegroom — - " And at Midnight there was a Cry made, " behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out " to meet him — And while they" (the Virgins whofe Oyl was all fpent) " went tc to buy, the Bridegroom came, and they c< that were ready, went in with him to the " Marriage, and the Door was (hut." The going in with him to the Marriage, cer- tainly means going in with him to the Marriage-Feaft, the defign of the Parable requiring us to understand it after this man- ner -, as we find the making a Marriage elfewhere means making a Marriage-Feait, and the coming to a Marriage coming to fuch an Entertainment ; " The Kingdom * s of Heaven is like unto a certain King, " which made a Marriage for his Son- " tell them that are bidden, behold, I have tl prepared my Dinner, my Oxen and " my of the Song of Solomon. i 1 " my Fatlings are killed, and all things " are ready : come unto the Marriage" Matth. xxii. 2. 4. Now if our Lord re- prefents the ProceJJion of Virgins, as what im?nediately -preceded the Marriage - F eaji -, there can be no imaginable reafon amgned, why we mould fuppofe it was otherwife in- troduced into this ancient Poem. Agreeably to this notion a Feaft is fup- pofed to follow the Procemon in this Song : '" Eat, O Friends, drink, yea drink abun- ** dantly, O Beloved, Chap. v. i« REMARK III. The Beginning of this Feaft, and much more the preceding ProceJJion of the Virgins, muft be fuppofed to have been prior to the Confummation of the Marriage, if we re- gulate our explanation of this ancient Poem by modern Eaftern Ufages in thefe cafes : which agree perfectly well with thefe Re- prefentations of Antiquity. D'Arvieux, in his account k of the Mar- riages of the Arabs, tells us, that the Bride- groom and Bride being brought in ceremony k Voy. dans la Pal. Chap, xviii. to 1 2 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. to the place of Marriage, the Men and Wo* men fit down to 'Table in different huts, where the Marriage-Feafr. is celebrated ; that in the Evening, the Bride is thrice prefented to the BHdegrootrt ; that the third time he car- ries her into the Tent where the Marriage is to be confummated -, and that after the Confummation the Bridegroom returns to the Relations and Friends, (whom he had left feafting together,) with fuch a proof of the Virginity of his Bride, as Mofes fuppofeth the Jews were wont to preferve with care, that in cafe the Honour of their Daughters Jhould afterwards be afperfed, they might be freed from the Reproach, which being fiewn, the Bridegroom is complimented afrejh, and paffes the reft of the Night with them in rejoicing. The Lady withdraws in like manner, to the Women, who conduSl her early in the morn- ing to the Bagnio, as they had done the day before. The Feaft continues all the reft of that day, and then every one retires home, and the new-married People begin to aftfume the common way of living. As the Ufages of the Arabs have been the leaft altered, of any of the Eaftern Na- tions, fo this account, of the Ceremonies of cf the Song of Solomon. 1 3 of Marriage among them, is the mofl di- ftind:, I think, of any I have met with. If now we apply D'Arvieux's relation of an Arab Marriage to this account of the Mar- riage of Solomon, celebrated in this book, the words of the Bridegroom, " Eat, O Friends, drink, yea drink abundantly, O Beloved," mini: be underftood of what was faid upon the Return of the Bridegroom to his Friends after the Confummation of the Marriage, when there was a Renewal of the Joy. And this Remark ferves, at the fame time, to confirm the fuppofition of the Author of the New Tranflation \ that the 1 2th verfe of the 4th chapter contains a Declaration made by the Bridegroom, of his finding his Bride pure and inviolate : ex- preffed indeed with great Delicacy, but fo as to be perfectly underftood, ufing Eaflern Metaphors ftrongly expreffive, and, it mould feem, appropriated to Nuptial Ideas. This He endeavours to eftablifh in his Notes af- terwards m , by quoting this Petition from a Prayer, which the modern Bridegrooms among the Jews put up before Confumma- tion, " Suffer not a Stranger to enter into 1 Introduction, p. 28, 29, m P. 75. " the 1 4 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. " the sealed fountain, that the Ser- " vant of our Loves (the Bride) may keep " the Seed of Holinefs and Purity, and may " not be barren." D'Arvieux only fpeaks of the Gratulation and Joy of the Bridegroom among his Friends, the Jewifh Poet, on the contrary, exprefTes the Tranfport of the Bridegroom's Affection to his Bride, when alone with her, upon his finding her pure and inviolate, and then afterwards his Joy among his Friends. This is a mofl eafy, and, I per- fuade myfelf, thofe who have read D'Ar- vieux's account of the Arab Marriages will think, a moil natural interpretation of this Paragraph n . a The Declaration of the Bridegroom to his Friends, doth not begin, if our prefent Copies be right, with the Chapter, but with thofe words, u I have gathered " my Myrrh with my Spice," Sec ; a very fmall alteration however, fomewhat fimilar to that propofed by the Author of the New Tranflation in p. 66 of his Notes, the fuppofing ^i i was originally nilv, the lat- ter part of the Thau being fuppofed to be erafed by time, would make the Chapter begin with the Bride- groom's Addrefs to his Friends, " I have gone into the Garden of my Sifter, my Spoufe, &c. But though this, if fupported by ancient Manufcripts, might be thought to be the preferable Reading, it is by no means a nccefiary Alteration! M The of the Song of Solomon, 1 5 The Remotene/s of the Images that are made ufe of, to exprefs the Confummation of the Marriage, will, to thofe that know the Eaftern Tafte, be no reafon why they mould reject this interpretation. For how- ever homely fome of their Expreilions may feem to us, and however offenjive that Tes- timony of the Innocence of their Virgins may be to the people of the Weft, which the Arabs always require, and Mofes fup- pofed in his laws, yet it is certain they are, in fome cafes, more nice and deli- cate than we pretend to be, fo as to admit very diftant and figurative expreffions, even in the Adminiftration ofjujiice, in things of this nature, where our laws require wit- nefTes to fpeak out, and admit not of re- mote and emblematical terms. There is a remarkable Inftance of this in D'Herbelot, in the account he gives of the Khalife Omar's Examination into a charge of Adul- tery, brought againft a Governor of the city BafTorah, which thofe that are fo difpofed may read in that Author °, where they will find the expreffion full as diftant as what is ufed here by a Poet, to exprefs a King's Bib. Orient, dans l'Art. Omar Ben Al Khetab. 4 having 1 6 Remarks on the general Nature, &c* having found his Bride a perfect Virgin.- If in their law-proceedings they ufe very figu- rative terms, certainly fuch a Writer as the Author of this Jewifh Poem, may be ima- gined to have ufed the moil: remote expref- fions that were capable of being underflood. D'Herbelot has given us another p Story, which comes nearer the cafe we are now confidering, being the Complaint a perfon of Royal dignity made, on account of an in- jury of this kind : Cabihah, the Mother of the Khalife Motaz, he tells us, complained of Saleh, the Son of Vaflif, General of the Turkiih troops of her Son Motaz, that he had rent her Veil, had killed her Son, had driven her out of her Country, and at length left her for the fake of a common Profitute : of thefe the firft claufe of complaint, he has rent my Veil, fignifies, he allures us, that Saleh had dijhonoured her. The Interpretation then, I apprehend, of the Author of the New Tranflation of Solomon's Song is juft, and ought to be ad- mitted. Only I would propofe to confi- deration, whether it is not more natural, to underftand what is faid in the 4th chap- r P. 644. ter of the Song of Solomon. ij ter, of what pafr. in privacy betwixt the Bridegroom and his Bride, antecedently to the public declaration of her Virtue in the Ears of his Friends, who are mentioned in the beginning of the vth, than to fuppofe,. as I think he does % that thofe words, " A *' Garden inclofed is my Sifter, my Spoufe, ** &c." were addrelTed to them. REMARK IV. Trifling as the two laft Remarks may ap- pear to fome of my Readers, they are how- ever, I apprehend, of great confequehce to the due explanation of this piece of ancient Eaftern Poetry. For if they be juft, or if only it be allowed, which feems to be in- conteftable, that the Procejion of the Vir- gins to meet king Solomon, muft be fup- pofed to have been prior to the Beginning of the Nuptial Feaft, and to the Confum- mation of the Marriage, it ftrongly follows, that the Lady who fpeaks in the ift verfe of the iiid chapter, could never be the Bride, whofe Marriage with Solomon is here cele- brated, but which is not fuppofed to have * Commentary, p. %% t C hen 1 8 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. been then confummated -, on the contrary, it muft have been fome Wife that Prince had before married, as he had done feveral be- fore the Subject of this Song happened, as we learn from chap. vi. ver. 8. For what are the words of that Lady ? They are, " By Night, on my Bed, I fought " him whom my Soul loveth : I fought him, " but I found him not ;" Are not thefe ap- parently the words of one to whofe Bed Solo- mon was no Stranger ? Of one with whom he is fuppofed to have cohabited ? No reafonable doubt can, I think, be made of this ; and if this be admitted, the Perfon that fpeaks here muft be a different Perfon from her whofe Nuptials were then folemnizing, and are here celebrated. It is aftonifhing that none of the Com- mentators fhould have remarked this, yet furprizing as it is, for any thing I know, the Obfervation never was before made. Nor is there any imaginable way, that I know of, of eluding this Remark, but by fuppoung, that the Lady whofe Nuptials are here celebrated, had been a Concubine before of Solomon, but was now to be mar- ried in a more folemn manner, and admit- 5 ted of the Song of Solomon. i g tea Into the higher Order of Wives, and that they are Nuptials of this fort which are here celebrated. I allow that Solomon had two forts of Wives : chap. vi. 8. incontellably proves it > " There are threefcore Queens, and " fourfcore Concubines." I allow too that fuch a Tranlition is not totally unknown in the Eaft, for Bufbequius telleth us that fuch a thing was tranfacled in the court of Su- leiman the Turkifli Emperor r , to whom he was fent AmbafTador, by Ferdinand, (the Brother of Charles V.) then King of the Romans. Roxolana, a Slave and a Con- cubine of this Eaftern Prince, of whom he" was alfo extremely fond, bore him, it feems, a Son, and being by that means made free, according to their laws, me refufed to cohabit with him any more, unlefs he would raife her from the State of a Concuh'nei to that of the mofi dignified kind of Wives. Sulei- man, he tells us, did fo, appointing her a Dowry, which is precifely, he fays, the thing by which Wives of the more ho- r Commonly called Solyman the Magnificent. C 2 nourable 20 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. nourable kind are diftinguimed, from thofe who are called Concubines s . But when I have allowed thefe two things, and in confequence of them, that the mar- riage here celebrated might pojjibly be of this kind, I (hall allow all that ought to be al- lowed : it might pojjibly be of this kind, but it is improbable that it was, to the lafi degree improbable. For to fay nothing of its being abfolutely inconfiftent with the fuppofition of the Author of the New Trans- lation, that thofe expreffions, " a Garden " inclofed is my Sifter, my Spoufe, &c," are equivalent to a Declaration of the Vir- ginity of the Bride, which yet is extremely probable : I would obferve, in the firft place, that fuch an Event as Bufbequius fpeaks of, doth not appear by any means to be com- mon -, and may naturally be fuppofed to be productive of great Events, as it was in the cafe of Roxolana, of which however no- thing appears in the hiftory of Solomon, no- thing at all. Secondly, fo far as we can trace Oriental Cuftoms, there would have been in fuch a cafe as that of Roxalana, no FroceJJion of Virgins to meet the Bride- 8 P. 29. and p. 121. groom ; of the Song of Solomon. 2 1 groom : Bufbequius expreflly affirms ', that a Wife is diftinguifhed from a Concubine, in Turky, merely by a Dowry ; which feems alfo to have been the diftinction among the Jews u ; but if this was All, there was no ProceJJion of Virgins. Thirdly, the Words of the perfon, whoever it be fuppofed to be, who calls upon the Virgins of the royal city, to go forth to meet king Solomon, (if we mould againft. all appearances allow there were fuch Procemons in cafes of this nature,) by no means agree with this fup- poiition, " Go forth and behold- King " Solomon, with the Crown wherewith his " Mother crowned him in the day of his " Efpoufals, and in the day of the Glad- " ?iefs of his Heart : " the day that made an Alteration in the Quality of Roxo- lana, might with great juftnefs be called the day of the Gladnefs of her Heart, but few Authors, I fuppofe, would have called it the day of the Gladnefs of Suleiman's * Uxor jufta a Concubina fola Dote dignofcitur. Servarum nulla Dos eft. Dote di&a veluti Matres- familias in reliquas mulieres totamque Mariti Domum Imperium habent, p. 121. u See the Notes to the New Translation, p. 82, 83. C 3 Jrleart; 22 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. Heart ; he was prevailed upon to gratify a favourite Concubine, but it could be no matter of great Joy to him. The fame may be objected to the words of this facred Song, if underftood of Nuptials of this kind. Laftly, none of the following Converfations give the leaft hint of the Gratification of inch an Ambitious Requeft, no Acknow- ledgments on the part of the Spoufe ; no making a Merit of it on the part of the Bridegroom ; on the contrary, every thing exprefles the Emotions which arife from the Sight of a Beauty but lately brought into view. The Nuptials then, which arc jhe Subject of this Poem, were not of a like nature with the appointing Roxolana a Dowry, but a Marriage entirely 7iew -, from whence it follows, that the Lady that fpeaks in the beginning of. the hid chapter, was not the Bride of Solomon, but a former Wife of his. Nor is it allftrange that fuch an onefhould be made a Speaker in this Song, fince the other Queens are inconteitably reprefented as fpeaking concerning the Bride, in the 9th verfe of the vith chapter. REMARK of the Song of Solomon. 23 REMARK V. All agree, that this Book is compofed of different Speeches of different perfons on this Marriage ; but the great Variety of Per- fonages here introduced has not been, it mould feem, happily explained. This there- fore requires Attention. In the Introduction to the New Tranfla- tion of this Song, the Speakers are fuppofed to be, 1 . Solomon ; 2. His Spoufe ; 3 . the Virgins, her Companions ; and that Author thinks, 4. the Friends of the Bridegroom w . This is no new divifion : Origen, one of the oldefi Commentators on this book that are come -down to us, has given juft the fame account, as we learn from the Preface to four Homilies of his on the Song of Songs, of which a tranflation is given us among the writings of Jerome, whether done by that father, or by Ruffin, as others contend, it nothing concerns us here to enquire ; but if the observation I was making in the clofe of the lafl remark be juft, fome additions ought to be made to this catalogue of Speak- » P. 13. C 4 ei?s, 24 Remarks on the general Nature t &c. ers, and another Wife of Solomon, of lon- ger {landing confiderably than {he whofc Nuptials are here celebrated, is to be con- fidered 5. as a diftincl Speaker. It mhft be of the greateft confequence, not only to remark this in general, but* in order to enter into the true meaning of this ancient Song, it muft be neceflary to point out particularly, which are the words in it that belong to each of thefe two Ladies re- flectively. Here is a new field opened to the curious. Some of them, perhaps, may be determined without much difficulty ; but to do it with that Univerfality that is defirable, and at the fame time with any thing like Precijion, will require a great deal of Care, and the nicefi Skill, in a Critic. It has been often obferved that the dif- ferent Speakers, in this book, are not mark- ed out as diftinctly as in fome other writ- ings. There are no fuch defcriptions of the Perfons that are going to fpeak, interwoven into the Poem, as we meet with in Homer ', one of the oldejl of the Greeks ; or to make ufe of a more proper illuftration, when con- iidermg a facred book, as we find in that of Job, of the Song of Solomon, 25 Job, " After this Job opened his mouth, " and curfed his day. .Then Eliphaz the " Temanite anfwered, and faid But fob " anfwered Then anfwered Bildad the " Shuhite, and faid — — &c." There are no fepar ate Names, or the Initial Letters of the Names here, at leaft in any of our co- pies, as we find in 'Terence, to mention a Claflic referred to on this occafion by the Author of the New Tranflation x , by which the Speakers may be known. We are left to collect the knowledge we want to gain, on this point, to other Confiderations. This, in fome cafes, is not difficult. A King is fpoken of in this piece of poetry : where a verb then is in the Jingular number, and at the fame time mafculine in its termination, (for the Hebrew verbs are known by all that are acquainted with that language, in a flight degree, to have terminations, in many cafes, that diftinguifh a Male from a Female,) we readily fuppofe that King is the Speaker ; when they are plural, and of a feminine termination, we fuppofe the words belong to a Company of Virgins ; when fe- minine, but fmgular, we fuppofe it is -the * Introd. p. 12. Spoufe 26 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. Spoufe that fpeaks. But if there are two different Ladies, that fpeak fingly, at dif- ferent times, the termination of the Hebrew verb, &c, cannot determine whether it is the Spoufe or a former Wife of Solomon that fpeaks, it may as well be the laft as the firft, and it is the fenfe alone of what is then faid, that can enable us to affix thofe parts of the Song to the right Perfon; and as thefe parts may be fometimes obfcure, and at other times too fhort to be very determinate, the fettling all the parts of this Poem, with ex- actnefs, muft be very difficult. If it fhould be found, that there are two Sets of Virgins introduced into the poem, which very poffibly may be the cafe, there may be Uncertainty, in like manner, at- tending thofe claufes in which we find fe- minine but plural terminations of verbs and pronouns ; but the adjufting of thefe will be, comparatively, of little confequence : the diftinguifhing the words of the other Wife of Solomon, from thofe of the Bride, whofe Nuptials are here fung, muft be the Capital Object of Attention. REMARK of the Song of Solomon. 27 REMARK VI. It has been commonly fuppofed, that this Nuptial Song was occafioned by Solomon's Marriage with Pharaoh's Daughter. The very ingenious Author of the New Tranfla- tion of it doth not, however, approve of this conjecture" ; but the Reafons againft it, which he mentions, do not appear to me conclufive. By the Pages of the New Translation which he refers to, in order to fhew that the Suppolition is incompatible with many circumftances in the Poem, and indeed con- trary to the whole tenor of it, his Reafons, if I miftake not, may be reduced to thefe four- — The Supporition, in one place, of her being one of the Daughters of Jerufalem, (chap. iii. 10.) ■ The Bride's Mother's having an Apartment within the Precincls of the Royal Palace, which is utterly unima- ginable, if me was the Daughter of the King of /Egypt — Her Solicitude about the fit ure Marriage of a Siller of hers, for which there could have been no caufe, had fhe y Notes, p. 86, been 28 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. been an Egyptian Princefs The Nature of the Fortune fhe brought Solomon. As to die firft of thefe, which dotji not at all appear in our Verfion, but is infinu- ated in the New Tranflation, which renders that pafTage afer this manner, " The mid- u die thereof is wrought in ' needle- work ' by her, whom he loveth * befV " among *' the Daughters of Jerufalem ;" it is fuf- ficient to obferve, that the Author of that tranflation himfelf confeffes, in the Notes, p. 67, 68, that this, which is the interpre- tation of Father Houbigant, feems to be a little forced , and that, upon looking back, he is inclined to follow the verfion of Le Clerc, and to render the words, 'The middle thereof is wrought ' in needle-work' by the daughters of Jerufalem * as a tejlimony of their 1 love (or, out of regard). This is not only confemng, that the pafTage is too obfcure, to be made an Argument againfl the common notion ■ — that they were the Nuptials of Solomon with Pharaoh's Daugh- ter that are here celebrated; but that he himfelf was afterwards inclined rather to follow a verfion, which is not, in the leaft, incontinent with it. of the Song of Solomon. 2^ It can never indeed be fuppofed, that the Wife of a King of ^Egypt mould dwell in the Palace of Solomon, which is the fe- cond Objection. A Nurfe may very well be imagined to have attended her into Ju- daea, as Rebekah's Nurfe went with her Fofter- Child, from Padan-Aram into Ca- naan ; or fome ancient ^Egyptian Lady, of very high quality, may very naturally be fuppofed to have lived with a Daughter of Pharaoh in the houfe of Solomon ; but not a, Wife of that Prince. Very true ! But if it fhould be found that thofe paffages, which fpeak of a Mother's dwelling within the Precincts of the Palace of Solomon, relate to another Wife of his, and not to his ./Egyptian Bride, the Difficulty vanishes. Not to mention here, what may be better obferved hereafter, that it doth by no means appear, that this Mother-in-law of Solo- mon did dwell in his Palace. ' Nor can the other two reafons avail any thing, 'till it appears that thofe parts of the Poem are the words of the Bride, This, I fuppofe, is not the cafe as to the nrft of them -, that paflage being, I apprehend, to be referred to her that had of a long time been 30 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. been the Wife of Solomon. To which" I will venture to add, that I very much ques- tion, whether its Senfe be rightly given us in the New Tranflation, which makes the day fhe mould be fpoken for the day of Marriage, And if it mould be acknowledged, that the other paffage, which mentions the Pof- feffions brought by Marriage into the hands of Solomon, are the words of the Bride, I cannot fee any thing in them, I confefs, in- compatible with the fuppofing her to have been a Princefs of ^Egypt. Nothing there can be faid, furely ! to be inconfiftent with the Grandeur of fuch art one. For if a Vineyard ; if the letting it out to Keepers, at the rate of a iooo pieces of Silver each man ; were not unworthy the Majefty of Solomon, or improper to be men- tioned in a piece of poetry written to cele- brate his Nuptials, why mould the like cir- cumftances be imagined to be inconfiftent with the Grandeur of a Daughter of Pha- raoh ? Nothing in this matter appears, to me, to be incompatible with the imagining her to have been a Foreigner. As the Author Qf of the Song of Solomon. 31 of the New Tranflation has not explained himfelf with Precifion, we are obliged to guefs at his thoughts as to this pointy and poffibly he might take it for granted, that a foreign Lady could bring no poffemons to Solomon, as is here fuppofed, and as an Heirefs of the Tribe of Judah certainly might, according to the Laws of Mofes z , it being utterly unimaginable, that any Por- tion of the Land of iEgypt mould be dif- membred from that Crown, to be given, with a Daughter, to a Jewiih King. An Eaftern Bridegroom rather purchafes his Bride, according to the unanimous tefti- mony of Travellers, than receives a Portion with her-, nor would the Weft admit of fiach a difmembering, and efpecially from Princes and States remarkable for Haughti- nefs and Pride, which, every one knows, was the character of ^Egypt and of her Kings. This it muft be owned, at firft fight, may feem to be a preffing Difficulty ; it is however capable of a molt, eafy and authentic Solution : the facred Hiflorian himfelf hav- ing happily mentioned acircumftance, which may be made ufe of effectually to anfwer z Nuijib. xxvii, and chap, xxxvi. this 32 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. this purpofe. For he tells us, i Kings ix» 1 6, 17, that Pharaoh King of /Egypt hav~ ing gone up, and taken Gezer, he burnt it with fire, having jlain the Canaanites that dwelt there, and gave it for a Prefent unto his Daughter, Solomon's Wife ; and So- lomon built Gezer. She then had pofTeffions, which became, in confequence of her Mar- riage, annexed to the Kingdom of Ifrael ; fo that there is no room to conclude from hence, that the Bride was no foreign Prin- cefs, and that me mufl, for this reafon, have been an Heirefs of the 'Tribe offudah. Thefe PofTeffions the Bride is reprefent- cd in this Song as calling a Vineyard, This too is a circumftance, by no means in- confiftent, with the fuppoling her to be the Daughter of Pharaoh, to whom that King gave Gezer for a prefent. Gezer is fuppofed by Reland, the great Writer on the Geo- graphy of this Country, to be the fame with Gadara or Gazara, in the neighbourhood of Joppa and Jamnia a , which Gazara is represented by Jofephus as a place abound- ing with fprings of Water b . Reland in- a Vide Relandi Palaeft. p. 778, &c. h Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. ix. Edit. Hav. dezd 9 of the Song of Solomon. 33 deed, who cites this paffage of Jofephus, in the clofe of his account of Gadara, expref- fes himfelf as if he had fome doubt con- cerning the authenticity of this reading, but as it doth not appear that he had any par- ticular reafon for fuch doubt, but only the frequent corruptions that are to be met with in that ancient Author, they feem rather, in this cafe, to be the words of unmeaning dif- fidence than any thing elfe. Spanheim, on the contrary, in a note which Havercamp hath given us, on that very occafion, refers to another paffage of Jofephus, that, I fup- pofe, where he gives fuch an account of the places where Solomon was wont to build, as amply confirms his reprefentation of Ga- dara's being a well-watered place : for ha- ving fpoken of his rebuilding Gadara, and two other cities near it, he fays, He built alfo others y besides these, in proper filia- tions for Pleafure and Delight, happy for the Jweet Temperature of the Air and for Sum- mer-Fruits, and refrefied with Springs of Water \ Now every body knows fuch a place muff have been extremely proper for delightful Plantations of all forts of Trees * Antiq. lib. 8. cap. 6. § 1, X> and 34 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. and Flowers, which kind of places, it is certain, are called Vineyards in this Song,, the term being by no means retrained to mere plantations of Vines, in which' no other Trees or Shrubs were intermixed. So in chap. i. 14, we read of the Cam- fhire of the Vineyards of Engedi ; which Camphire, Dr. Shaw fuppofes, as well as fome others before him, means the Hen- nab, a beautiful and odoriferous plant of thofe countries, which requires a great deal of Water b ; but whatever vegetable was in- tended by it, certainly it was not a Vine, and confequently the word tranflated Vine- yards, doth not fignify always places where only Vines grow, but Orchards, Shrubberies, 6cc. So we read of Pomegranates, in the Vine- yards mentioned chap. vii. 12. The calling then the lands of the Spoufe, brought by her marriage to Solomon, a Vineyard, is no valid Objection to the fuppofing her the Daughter of Pharaoh -, the account of the Jewifh Hif- torian, on ,the contrary, perfectly agrees with it. Withjofephus concur modern Travellers. The Plain of Ramah, on the borders of b P. 113, 114. which, of the Song of Solomon. 35 which, it fhould feem, Gadara flood, is re- prefented by feveral of them as extremely fertile. Mr. Wood in particular, in his ac- count of the Ruins of Balbec c , fpeaks of it in this manner, u Bocat d might, by a little " care, be made one of the rich eft andmoft * c beautiful fpots in Syria : for it is more " . fertile than the celebrated Vale of Da- " mafcus, and better watered than the t* rich Plains of Efdraelon and Rama. In f* its prefent neglected flate it produces i f Corn, fome good Grapes, but very little " Wood. Though Shade be fo ejfential an €C Article of Oriental Luxury, yet fewPlan- f* tations of Trees are feen in Turky j the "■ Inhabitants being difcouraged from la- *f bours which produce fuch diflant and " precarious Enjoyments, in a country «' where even the annual fruits of their In- " duftry are uncertain." I cite this pafTage from the curious Editor of thofe magnifi- cent Ruins, as he at once defcribes the Plain of Rama, in or near which Gezer flood -, and compares it with the valley in which Balbec flands, which, according to the firm be- The Name of the Valley In which Balbec ftands. D 2 lief 36 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. lief of the People of the Eaft, was one of the Seats of the Pleafures of So- lomon, and might, very poffibly, be the very place called here e Baal-Hamon. Some relation to Baal is vifibly expreffed in both Names ; and though Baal-Hamon is fup- pofed, by feveral Commentators, to have been in the neighbourhood of Jerufalem, yet as no mention is made of it by Reland, in his Palasftina, there is reafon to believe he could find nothing fatisfaclory about it, and that it is, moft probably, the name of fome place in Syria, where Baal had been worfliipped, and which had lately come into the pofTeffion of Solomon, and been added to his Territories. Some acquifitions So- lomon certainly made in that country : the Cities that he gave to Hiram, and which, when that Prince rejected them, he built, and caufed the children of Ifrael to dwell there, 2 Chron. viii. 2, moft probably were of that kind. Their being in Ruins, when he prefented them, mews that they were acquired by force ; his caufirig the Children of Ifrael to dwell there, that they were no part of their old pojfeffions -, and their being c Cant. viii. 11. given of the Song of Solomon, 37 given to the King of Tyre, that they were in the neighbourhood of that city, at leaft not very far diftant from it, and confequent- ly in Syria, To this the divine hiftorian adds, that Solomon went to Hamath-Zo- bah, and prevailed againft it, ver. 3 ; and that he built Tadmor in the Wildernefs, which was unqueftionably out of the an- cient limits of the land of Ifrael -, and that he built feveral Cities in Hamath, ver. 4 ; Though then Solomon was, upon the whole, a peaceful Prince, yet fome Acquiiitions he made in Syria, and that by War j if now Baal-Hamon was fuch a place, the Daugh- ter of Pharaoh might very naturally fet Gezer in contrafi with it, and the noble Gar- dens of the one, againft thofe of the other. Nor can a more natural interpretation, I imagine, be given of tmYpafTage. REMARK VII. So far then are thefe Reafons, amgned by this Writer, for proving that the Spotfe could not be the Daughter of Pharaoh, from being fatisfactory and conclufive, that the Examination of the laft cf them rather pre- D 3 judices 38 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. judices us in favour of that fuppofition -, to which other confiderations may be added, that make it very probable, and ftrongly in- cline the mind to believe, that that old fenti- ment is juft. What other fenfe can, with equal pro- bability, be put on the bringing up the Bride from the Wildernefs, which this Song mentions ? " Who is this that cometh out " of the Wildernefs like Pillars of Smoke, " perfumed with Myrrh and Frankincenfe, " &c ?" chap. Hi. 6. u Who is this that " cometh up from the Wildernefs, leaning " upon her Beloved?" chap. viii. 5. TheAu- thor of the ift book of Maccabees, deferr- ing a great Arab Wedding, telleth us, That Jonathan and Simon his Brother, (two Jew- ifh Commanders of the Maccabee Family,) having heard that the Children of Jambri, (an Arab Clan, according to Jofephus,) made a great Marriage, and were bringing the Bride from Nadabat ha with a great Train, fie being the Daughter of one of their great Princes, they went up, and hid themfelves under the covert of a Mountain, from whence they J aw the Bride carried along with much ado, and the Bridegroom coming forth to meet them x of the Song of Solomon, 39 them, with his Friends and Brethren, toge- ther with Drums and Injlruments of Mufc, and many Weapons, upon which, rifing up from the Jmbufi which they had laid againft them, they made a dreadful Slaughter among them, forcing the reft to fly into the Moun- tain, and fa turned the Marriage into Mourn- ing, and the noife of their Melody into Lamen- tation'. This is, without doubt, a lively Re- presentation of the Meeting of Solomon and his Bride, dropping the Terror and the Slaugh- ter and heightening the Solemnity and the Joy- for Arab Cuftoms and Jewijb Manage- ments may reafonably be fuppofed greatly to refemble each other - The Bride and the Bridegroom, living in diftant cities, meet one smother in the way between Both Stories mention the Weapons of the Attendants That of Solomon the burning Perfumes, which probably were ufed in the Arab So- lemnity; that of the Apocryphal Writer; 'the Injlruments of Mufic, which doubtlefs attended the Ifraelitifh Monarch, though they are not mentioned. Now as the two places from which Solomon and his Bride let out, are indiredly mentioned in this f 1 Mac. ix. 37—41- P 4 Song 40 Remarks on the general Nature, & c . Song of Songs, namely Jerufalem and a place m, or beyond, the Wildernefs, we may, with great probability, determine whence thev came: for what Wildernefs could be meant but that betwixt Judsa and iEgypt ? H ad' t been any of thofe fmaller Wildernefies, which are known to have abounded in T u - fea, we may believe its proper name would have been mentioned Who is this that cometh up from the Wildernefs of Ziph t -or from the Wildernefs of Maon ? but as it is only called the Wildernefs in general, that which by way of eminence was wont to be called the wilderness muft, furely ' be meant; now that we know was the wtldernefs that laid between Jud*a and JEST*. " Every place," f ays MofeS) whereon the Soles of your Feet mall ' tread > "Mil be yours ; from the Wil " demefs and Lebanon, from the River the River Euphrates, even unto the ut- " termoft Sea, fhall y 0ur Coaft be." Deut Xf, 24. And as it is well known there were lew or no inhabited places in this Wilder- nefs, a Bride that came up from the Wilder- nefs is to be understood to have been ■ /Egyptian. 2 If of the Song of Solomon. 41 If the coming up from the Wildernefs ftrongly marks out her being an /Egyptian, Solomon's going to nieet her fumciently fignifies me was a Princefs. The Arab Bride, who was met by her Bridegroom, is exprefly faid, by the Apocryphal hifto- rian, to have been the daughter of one of the. chief Princes among them -, and fhe, certainly, whom Solomon went to meet, mult have been a Lady of very high quality, others were brought to the great Eaflern Princes : fo the Virgins that were denVned for the Bed of Ahafuerus, were gathered to- gether to Shufhan the Palace, not met by that great Prince, Efth. ii. 8. And in the fame manner, there is reafon to believe, mofl of thofe that were married to Solomon, at lean: after his being placed on the Throne of his Father, were introduced into his Pa- lace : if her coming up then from the Wilder- nefs, marks out her being an /Egyptian ; Solomon's going to meet her, may juftly in- duce us to believe fhe was a Princefs of that Country. The mention that is made, at the clofe of this Song, of the PofTeflions fhe brought to Solomon by her marriage, is not only no proof 42 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. proof to the contrary, as the very fenfible Author of the New Tranflation unhappily fuppofes, which I have already endeavoured to mew, but in reality gives very great ad- ditional Strength to this Suppofition, A Foreign Princefs, in general, would have brought no lands to Solomon, rich Prefents of Jewels and of Gold, or other precious Moveables, would have been all her Portion ; but in the cafe of the Daughter of Pharaoh, we know from the moft authentic hiftory, there was an exception, Gezer was prefented to her. Again, an Heirefs of the Tribe of Judah, might have brought Solomon an ample eftate, a large Vineyard, in particular, it is moft certain -, and the eftate of a Pri- vate perfon might have appeared to a way- ward and perverfe-tempered Prince, or Prin- cefs, a thing of very great confequence, Na- bot/js Vineyard did fo to Ahab : but would the Lady that a wife King chofe out of his Subje&s, for his Bride, have ventured to compare it with the Royal PorTemons of the moft magnificent Prince that Ifrael ever knew, as is evidently done here ? Or if fuch an one had been fo weak, and excejjively in- difireet, would the Writer of a Song de- fined of the Song of Solomon. 43 figned to do honour to thefe Nuptials have in- troduced it there ? Whereas if we fuppofe the well- watered and rich territory of Gezer was intended, the Princefs of JEgypt might well compare that tracl: of land with fome other foreign Acquifition of Solomon's, and the Poet might fee caufe to mention it, as will appear more clearly by and by. At prefent it will be fufficient to remark, that Strabo feems to mention it as a great objeft of Attention to the Jews, in a pafTage Re- land has cited in his account of this town 2 ; and Jofephus reprefents the Jews as parti- cularly fpecifying the lofs of Joppa and its Ports, and of Gazara and its Springs, among more general complaints of the Mifchiefs Antiochus had done them, as in like manner he defcribes the Romaiis, as being extremely careful to have thofe places reftored them \ Gezer then was a place of great confequence to the Jewi/h Nation, and as fuch might be mention- ed by the Daughter of Pharaoh with great propriety; and be introduced by a £ Palzeft. p. 779. h Vide Romanorum Senatufconfultum pro Judaeis apud Jofeph. Antiq. lib. xiii. cap, ix. § ii. Edit. Hav. 4 JewiJJj 4.3. Remarks on the general Nature, &c. Jewijh Prophet, with the fame juftnefs, into this Song. REMARK VIII. However magnificently the Marriage of Pharaoh's Daughter with Solomon might be folemnized, and with what Joy foever it might be celebrated, it is extremely pro- bable, that it muft have occafioned a good deal of Jealoufy and Uneafinefs in the Court of that Prince -, and very pombly this con- iideration may be of moment for the Ex- planation of this Song. Learned men in- deed have never, that I know of, taken notice of this, but the extreme probability of this Suppofition muft be very apparent, to thofe that attend to the Cuftoms of the Eaft. As this will require fome detail, and the number of particulars involved in this Re- mark is confiderable, I will fet them down with great Diftinctnefs, that a Stranger to thefe things may more ealily make himfelf Mafter of what I have in view. I. It was, it fhould feem, the cuftom anciently in the Eaft, as it is certain it is among of the Song of Solomon. 4$ among the Turkiih Princes now, to have one among their many Wives Superior to all the reft in Dignity. Thofe that are called Queens in this Song, appear to have beert of an higher quality than thofe denominated Concubines, being fuch, it mould feem, as were married with greater Solemnity, having had a Dowry affigned them, which the others had not ; but this is by no means to be imagined to be the only Diftinction among thofe great Ladies. Lady M. W. Montague exprefly tells us \ that fhe learnt from the Sultana Haften, Favourite of the late Emperor Mitftapha, to whom fhe made a vifit, and from whom (he endeavoured to learn all me could, relating to the Seraglio, that the firft thofe Prin- ces " made choice of, was always after the " firft in Rank, and not the Mother of the " Eldeft Son, as other Writers would make " us believe." There is one then fuperior in Rank to the Reft, which is fo vifible, we find, that writers in common fuppofed this, though they miftook the Ground of this Precedence, which is a point we have nothing to do with here. * Vol. ii. P. 156. The 46 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. The Arabian Nights Entertainments in like manner, I remember, fuppofes the Ca- lifF Haroun Alrafchid had a Wife of Supe- rior Dignity and Power to the reft k , Zo- beide by name, (who was alfo his Kinfwo- man,) though another was his great Favou- rite, who is faid to have been buried alive, through the Jealoufy of Zobeide. The like Priority, it is vifible, obtained in the more ancient Court of Ahafuerus, where Vafoti was diftinguifhed from all the reft of his Women, (who doubtlefs were very numerous before fhe was difgraced, as it is certain they were afterwards,) both by her wearing a Royal Crown, and by her being called ^ueen in a dijlinguified manner. EJlher, every body knows, fucceeded her in thefe Honours, and obtained the like Pre- cedence. To come nearer ftill, it is evident from the facred hiflory, fomething of the like kind was practifed in the Court of the Jew- ifi Princes. For the Writer of the book of Chronicles, in his account of the Reign of k Vol. viii. p. 16. Monf. D'Herbelot fufficientlv confirms this account, in the Article Zobeidah, when he defcribes her as the Princefs Haroun folemnly efpoufed. Rehoboam, of the Song of Solomon. 47 Rehoboam, the Son and immediate Suc- ceffor of Solomon, only fays that Prince loved Maacah above all his Wives and Con- cubines, of which Wives he had eighteen, and threefcore of the others, and that he made Abijah her Son Chief among his Chil- dren, and declared him his Succeffor, 2 Chron. xi. .21, 22; but in a following part of his hiftory, we are exprefly told, fhe was re- moved from being Queen, becaufe of her Idolatries, 2 Chron. xv. 16: confequently me muft have been made Chief of the Wives of Rehoboam by that Prince, as well as dif- tinguijhed by his Affection as a Favourite Wife, though that circumftance was not mentioned, for it was impomble fhe could lofe an Honour that had never been con- ferred upon her. If then Rehoboam, the Son of Solomon, had one Wife to whom he gave Precedence before all the reft, it is reafonable to believe, there was the fame Diftinction in the Court of his Father. This is confirmed by the xlvth Pfalm, which is fuppofed to refer to Solomon, where Kings Daughters are faid to be among his honourable Women, but among them One is fpoken of as firft in Rank, " Kings (( Daughters 48 Remarks on the general Nature, &c\ " Daughters were among thy honourable « Women, upon thy right hand did ftand " the Queen, in Gold of Ophir." II. If there was the fame Diftin&ion in the ancient Jewiih Courts, in that of Solo- mon in particular, which now obtains among the Ottoman Sultanas, and One of their Queens had fome Pre-eminence above the reft, it is natural to fuppofe it arofe from the fame cauie — Priority with refpecl to the time of being taken to wife. This Lady M. W. Montague expreily tells us, in the laft citation from her Letters in thefe pa- pers, is the Ground of this Precedence and Authority among the Sultanas ; and it is fo natural and fo obvious a foundation for this Diftin&ion, that one can hardly imagine it was otherwife among the ancient Jewifh PrincerTes, though the particulars of this fort, which are mentioned in the facred Hiftory, are fo few, that it is difficult to draw any thing from thence. But if the Jewiih Hiiloiy be filent on the point, the Jewiih Law feems to me to fpeak, and may ferve to confirm the fuppofition I am now making. Mofes gives this prohi- bition in the xviii. Lev. (ver. 18,) " Nei- " ther of the Song of Solomon. 49 ueen, on account of her Idolatries, 2 Chron. xv. 16. There was fome difference, indeed, ia the cafe of Maachah, from that we are cou- ntering, fines fhe was not the Wife of the King that removed her, but the Widow of one of his Predeceifors ; however, if it was poflible to do this where Divorce could have no place, if the Honours due to the Principal Wife of a deceafed King could be taken from her, it certainly muft have been as eafy to deprive the Wife of a living One of her Dignity and Prerogatives. It is even moft probable, that Maachah obtained this Dignity at ficft, by depriving another of the Song of Solomon. 5$ another of it : for we nnd that Rehoboam had two Wives at lead before he married Maachah, and thofe perfons of Diftin&ion, who we mull believe were more than Concu- bines, Mahalath a Grand- daughter of David, and Abihail a Niece of that Prince, 2 Chron . xt . 18.; and though pojfibly they might both die before he married Maachah, yet as it is faid ver. 21, that Rehoboam loved Maachah above all his Wives and his Concubines, it mould feem, (he did not arrive at that Dig- nity of being his Principal Wife in the com- mon courfe of things, but at the expence of fome other Princefs. But whether fie did, or not, it is evident, from what is faid above, the Principal V/ife might loie her Royal EJlate. V. If a Princefs was' on any account, whether juft or not, thus degraded, it doth not feem neceffarily to follow, that the next Wife in courfe, that is, the fecond who was married with a Dowry, was to enjoy this Privilege, but rather that the Hulband had Power to raife whom he pkafed to this Dignity. E a. It 56 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. It is certain that the Law of Mofes which I mentioned, Lev. xviii. .18, faith nothing upon this point. It forbids the Vexing the Firfl Wife, but if me was de- prived of her Prerogatives, for which cer- tainly there might be juft caufe, lince there might be fufficient reafon to divorce her, that Law makes no provilion for a fecond Wife with Dowry, preferably to any other of equal rank, and as the Law did not limit a Prince in fuch a cafe, I do not know that it can be mown, by any other means, that he was fo limited. And it mould feem, in other Countries, they were not confined in this refpect : for when Vajhti was deprived of her Dignity, Ahafuerus did not give her Royal Eflate to the fecond of his Wives, or to any one of thofe whom he had married with Dower, but to Ejiher, who, it is notorioufly known, was then, upon that occafion, brought with a number of others to his bed. It may in- deed be faid that Ahafuerus had no Wife but Vajldtiy and that all his other Women were Concubines -, but as the modern Eaftern Princes, are wont to have feveral of both forts of Wives, fo we find ancient Princes of that of the Song of Solomon. 57 that Country, befides the Jewifh Kings, had Wives and Concubines — Belfhazzar in par- ticular, we are exprefly told, had both, Dan. v. 2, 3 : the probability lies then on the other fide. VI. If it was pofjible that a Princefs mar- ried to Solomon, after his having before made one Lady his Principal Wife, and hav- ing efpoufed near threefcore others with Dowries, might yet notwithstanding, by the Removal of the Firft, and the Pafjing over of the others, become his Principal Wife, there is all the realbn in the world to imagine, that the ./Egyptians would propofe this, v/hen they treated about making Af- finity with Solomon, and would flrennonfly infiji upon it. The great Superiority of the Daughter of Pharaoh, in point of high-birth, to all the other Wives of Solomon ; and the well- known Haughtinefs of the /Egyptian Court ; will not allow us to doubt of this. Thofe very ancient Jewifh Kings might, and we know fometimes did, marry the daughters of other Princes, fo we know that David married the daughter of Talmai King of Gelhur, 5 8 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. Gemur, 2 Sam. iii. 3 -, but what were thefe petty Princes, in comparifon of the King of JEgypt ? And as they were, none of them, comparable to the King of JEgypt, the moft puiiTant Prince then in the world, fo the /Egyptians were perfectly well aware of their Superiority : the Boailing of fome of their Servants of the Antiquity of thofe Princes, is mentioned by a Prophet, Ifa. xix. 11.. " How fay you unto Pharaoh, I am the " Son of the Wife, the Son of ancient ** Kings?" Their Contempt of other Nations t on account of the P opuloufnefs and Power of their Country, is mentioned by an- other, " I will bring again the Captivity •* of iEgypt — 1 — into the land of their ha- " bitation, and they mall be there a bafe *' Kingdom. It mall be the bafefl of King- e( doms, neither mail it exalt itf elf any more il above the Nations : for I will diminim *'< them, that they mall no more rule over 11 the Nations." Ezek. xxix. 14, 15. The Eaftcrn Princes certainly knew how to keep State as well as any of the Weftern, and are very tender with reipecl to the, Dig- nity of their Daughters when they marry them. So Okarius tells us, that even a Tartarian of the Song of Solomon. 59 'Tartarian Princefs of Circafjia, whofe Daughter was one of the three Wives, of •the firft Rank, of that King of Perfia to whofe court he went, with the Holrlein A mbaiiadors, fent word to that Prince, when her daughter was conducted into Perfia, that fhe did not fend her as a Concubine, or as a Slave, but in the quality of z.Wife, and that ifihe apprehended fhe would be ill-ufed, fhe mould rather have chofen to have drowned her in the River Bull row, to which, it feems, fhe herfelf attended her n , and at which they parted from each other. If a Tartarian Princefs, of little confideration, fent fuch a Meiiage to a powerful Perjian Monarch* what muff, have been the Demands of M,gypt on the behalf of a Daughter of Pharaoh, when fhe was to be efpoufed to a JewifTi Prince, whofe Kingdom was of new Erection, and his People but jufl enierged out of a ftate of OpprefTion and Contempt ; his Family of a mean Original, his Father having been a Shepherd ; in the frft fart of his Reign, before his Character was fo well eftablimed, or his Name fo " P. 939- celebrated, 60 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. celebrated, as afterwards ? Certainly her not being a Concubine would not alone have fatisfied the /Egyptians, the haughty /Egyp- tians, the Crown Royal muft have been de- manded, as well as a Dowry ; nor can it be imagined they could brook her being de- pendent on another Wife, and outihone by a Princefs taken out of fome Jewijh Family. VII. And this, or fomething like this, did accordingly take place -, the ^Egyptian Princefs was not put upon a level with the threefcore Queens, and herfplendorundiftin- guifnable among them ; on the contrary, fhe had certainly fome Pre-eminence. Not to cite the xlvth Pfalm, which fpeaks of a foreign Princefs as being Queen in a diftinguifhed fenfe, " Kings Daughters H were among thy honourable Women : " upon thy right-hand did Hand the Queen " in Gold of Ophir. Hearken (O Daugh- *' ter) and conlider, and incline thine Ear ; <( forget alfo thine own People, and thy Fa- " ther'sHoufe," though it is very generally, if not univerfally underftood to be a Song compofed on thefe fame Nuptials; let us examine the plain Hiflories of the Reign of Solomon, of the Song of Solomon. 61 Solomon, as they are given us in the books of Kings and Chronicles, and no one will doubt, I believe, her being honourably dif- tinguifhed from the common Wives of So- lomon of the firft Rank. I will only here fet down the places in the book of Kings, where fhe is mentioned, as fumcient to prove the point, to every confiderate Reader. And Solomon made Affinity with Pharaoh King of JEgypt, and took Pharaoh's Daugh- ter, and brought her into the City of David, until he had made an e?id of building his own Houfe, and the Houfe of the Lord, and the Walloj J 'erufalem round about, i Kings iii. i. 'Then he made a Porch for the throne where he might judge, even the Porch of Judgment : and it was covered with Cedar from onefde of the floor to the other. And his Houfe where he dwelt, had another Court within the Porch, which was of the like work : Solo?non made alfo an houfe for Pharaoh's Daughter, (whom he had taken to wife) like unto this Porch, i Kings vii. 8. Pharaoh's Daughter came up out of the City of David, unto her houfe which Solo- mon had built for her : then did he build Millo, i Kings ix. 24. 2 But 6 2 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. But King Solomon loved ma?7y Jirange wo- men, (together with the Daughter of Pharaoh) Women of the Moabites, &c, I Kings xi. i . Thefe places want no Commentary : no other Marriage but this is particularly men- tioned ; a mod fumptuous Building is reared up for her, and exactly like that in which he intended to exhibit his Glory and mag- nificence to all that came near him ; the mentioning this circumflance over and over again in this very fhort hiftory, &c ; all fhew that me was advantageoufly diftin- guifhed from the Reft. But, if fhe was diftinguiflied in this manner from the Reft, it was making a great Alteration in the Family of Solomon. VIII. Such an Alteration could riot take place, could not be expeded, without oc- calioning Apprehenfion, Difpleafure, and Complaint, as to Solomon's Principal Wife ; and, we may believe, as to the Jewifh Na- tion in general. The Law of Mofes, Lev. xviii. 1 8, fup- pofes that the introducing a fecond Wife, ivith Equality, would vex the firft -, and certainly if fuch Juperinduc^ion pained a woman ef the So Jig of Sol&mon* 63 woman in Common Life, it mult be more grievous flill to one that poifefled the great- eft Female Dignity in a Kingdom. The human hrart is certainly the more attached to Diminutions Of Honour the more consi- derable they are, and can lefs patiently bear the Lofs of them, or their Diminution. Since this Song of Songs then was com- pofed on occafion of thefe Nuptials, and this firft Wife of Solomon is introduced as a Speaker in it, is it not natural to expedt to .find the traces of this Appreheniion and thefe Complaints there ? And is not , the felf-undervaluing, felf-debafing language of the beginning of the iid chapter, " I am " the Rofe of Sharon," or the Rofe of the Field, " a Lily of the Vallies," or a com- mon Lily that grows in the low lands, for this defcription of herfelf is understood by the ingenious Author of the New Transla- tion to be the language of Self-Abafement, I fay is not this to be underftood as com- flaming with Softnefs f And is not the Fainting hinted at in ver. 5. to be un- derftood as flowing from Apprehenfion and Jealoufy ? Is not this too to be confidered as'the caufe of that Anxioufneisdeicribed by the 64 Remarks on the general Nature, &c, the facred Poet, chap. iii. 1 ? No furer Guide can, perhaps, be found to the true method of interpreting thefe and other paf- fages of this Song, than the keeping in re- membrance this fituation of the Mind of Solomon's Firfl Wife ; no happier Illuftra- tion given, it may be, of thofe Scenes. If the Anxiety of Solomon's Principal Wife is fuppofed to be moil fevere, as being moll deeply interefbed in it, it cannot how- ever be imagined there was no Concern at fuch a Profpect in the Ifraelitifh Nation in general, efpecially the Female-part of it : the Triumph of a foreigner, over one of the Natives, mull be thought to have been difpleafing. Origen in one of his Homilies on this Song of Solomon, preferved, in a tranflation, among the Writings of Jerome , takes notice of the upbraiding that Moles fuffered, on account of his marrying an /Ethiopian Woman, where there was no- thing of any hardfhip done by it to any Ifraelitefs ; can we imagine then, there was no apprehenlion in any breaft, excepting in the perfon's moll deeply concerned, when • Vol. vii. p. n8. this of the Song of Solomon. 65 this Marriage of Solomon with a Princefs of JEgypt was tranfacting ? I am fuppofing lhe was an Ifraelitefs, for as this is moffc natural in itfelf, fo his Sue- cefTor's being laid to have been born of an Ammonitefs, ( 1 Kings xiv. 2 1 , and 2 Chrom xii. 13,) in no wife proves the contrary: he might not be the Eldejl Son though he fucceeded, Elder Sons often die ; and if he was the Eldeft Son, and the Elder! Child too, it doth not follow that his Mother was the Principal Wife, it doth not even fol- low that me was a Wife with Dowry, (he might, on the contrary, be no more than a Concubine. For the Children of fuch are known to inherit equally with thofe bom of Wives of an higher order in the Eaft, at this day; and might do fo in the times of Solomon; Judges ix. 1 8, it is certain, is no proof to the contrary. So Lady M. W. Montague exprefly tells us, the firft the Turkifh Princes make choice of is always frjl in Rank, and not the Mother of the Eldeji Son, REMARK 66 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. REMARK IX. It doth not however follow, that Solomon, in making Affinity with Pharaoh, divorced his former Queen, to make way for the Egyp- tian Princefs ; nor yet that he deprived her of her Prerogatives, and reduced her to the Rank of Wives in common that had Dow- ries, in order that that Princefs might take her place : Solomon might, Solomon more probably did, find fome Temperament. That he married Pharaoh's daughter, and that he gave her the Pre-eminence of a Principal Wife, is not, I think, to be doubted ; but then neither of the other things, the Divorce or the Degrading of his former Queen, necerTarily follows, fince an Accommodation might have been contrived by f° w lf e a P rmce as Solomon, and might actually take place. And moll probably did fo : for as we find the former Queen of Solomon was alive at the time of thefe Nuptials, from the part affigned her in the Converfation of this Song by the facred Poet ; fo the foft and tender things fpoken to her by the Bridegroom, in the latter part of the Song, and even in the firil 5 P art • :<-<:. of the Song of Solomon. 67 part of it, will not permit us to fuppofe a Divorce was intended, or even a Degrada- tion, but rather fome Accommodation. Nor is there any Difficulty in conceiving how this might be done. His former Queen might have her Dignity and Power over the Women of the Palace of Solomon confirmed to her j while Independence, 2ifeparate Court, Power over the Moiety of New Wives So- lomon might after take, or over all the Fo- reigners he mould marry, with equal Badges of Royalty, might be given the Princefs of iEgypt. An equal Divifwn of Honours has frequently reconciled jarring Interefts, and may very naturally be fuppofed to have occur- red to a Prince, who was fo remarkable for finding Expedients, that folved difficulties which were extremely perplexing and in- tricate p . The Silence of the Books of Kings and Chronicles, in which we meet with no ac- count of this firfl Queen of Solomon, while feveral circumitances are mentioned there relating to the Daughter of Pharaoh, is no Objection at all to the fuppofing fuch an p 1 Kings iii. 16 — 28. F 2 Arrange- 6S Remarks on the general Nature, &c. Arrangement as we have been fpeaking of. Nothing, perhaps* at all is to be concluded from this filence; but if any thing is to be de- duced from it, it can only be, that me might live but a little time after this Settlement -, or at moil, that her UnfubmifTivenefs and Refentment might draw on a Divorce : but that at firft, no fuch Severity was defigned, and a contrary IfTue hoped for, we may conclude from the Gentlenefs, and the Af- furances of continued Aff'eclion, to be met with in this Song. REMARK X. As this Superinduction however of the Daughter of Pharaoh, when fuppofed to be tranfacled in the f oft eft manner, might not appear to the Jewifh People fo well to agree with the Law in Leviticus q , fo often men- tioned, as it might be expected it mould, it may be naturally imagined Solomon would not have made this Affinity with Pharaoh, which drew after it fuch confequences, had he not at leaft received fome Affurances, that it was not contrary to the Divine Will. i Chap, xviii. 18. PoiTibly of the Song of Solomon. 69 Poflibly he might be directed, by fome In- timation of the Prophetic Spirit, to enter into this Alliance. For though we find Rehoboam, his Son, violating a Law of Mofes without fcruple, that had fome relation to thefe matters, it is not natural to fuppofe the fame thing was done at this time by Solomon. It. was the Law r , " If a Man have two Wives, One " Beloved, and Another Hated, and they " have born him Children, both the Belov- " ed and the Hated : and if the firji-born " Son be hers that was h#ted\ then it mall « be when he maketh his Sons to inherit " that which he hath, that he may not " make the Son of the Beloved Firft-Bom, « before the Son of the Hated, which is « indeed the Firft-Born : But he mail ac- « knowledge the Son of the Hated for the «« Firft-Born, by giving him a double Por- " tion of all that he hath, Sec" Reho- boam however, notwithstanding, preferred the Son of Maacah to the reft of his Sons, and made him his Succeflbr, though it k plainly intimated he had fons elder than he, * Deut. xxi. 15 — 17. F 3 merely yo Remarks on the general Nature ; &c. merely becaufe he loved Abijah's Mother above all his Wives and Concubines: " Re- " hoboam took him Mahalath the daugh- f* ter of Jerimoth the*fon of David to wife, " and Abihail the daughter of Eliab the fon " of Jeffe: Which bare him Children} *' Jeufh, and Shamariah, and Zaham. And " after her" fays the prophetic Hiftorian, " he took Maachah the daughter of Abfa-* " lorn, which bore him Abijah, &c. And " Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter *' of Abfalom above all his Wives and Con- " cubbies, &c. And Rehoboam made A- " bijah the Son of Maachah the Chief, to " be ruler among his Brethren : for he " thought to make him King/' 2 Chron. xi. 18 — 22. And accordingly when " Re- " hoboam flept with his Fathers, Abijah *t his Son reigned in his Head." 2. Chron. xii. 16. Rehoboam did this indeed, but Solomon his father was a very different kind of perfon from his Son, more efpecially in that part of his time : poffefled of Wifdom in a nobler manner than any mortal of that age enjoyed, andconfequently thoroughly ac- quainted with the Laws God had given to Mofes, confequcntly with the Law of Lev. xviif. of the Song of Solomon. 7 1 xviii. 18 j and at the fame time paying due deference to the precepts of God, for his heart was not then alienated by the Love of Strange Women. And therefore he mufl not be imagined to have done this without due fatisj aclion, that it was not contrary to the Divine Will> if not, that it was of the Lord, that had occafioned this propofal to be made, in order to accomplish his own holy fecret purpofes. Such an ArTurance he might receive by a prophetic Bream, after which manner v/e know God did fometimes reveal himfelf to Solomon, and by which Jofeph was after- wards directed to take to himfelf Mary ^ his Efpoufed wife without fear-, or he might have it by a meffage conveyed to him by fome Prophet, as a Prophet s afterwards foretold, that, on account of his undue Love of Strange Women, ten tribes mould be taken from under the Government of his Family, and be given to his adverfary. As this latter method mult have been moil efficacious to filence the murmur- ings of the Ifraelitifh Nation, we may be- * Ahijah the Shilonite. 1 Kings xi. F 4 . ' l ieve -j i "Remarks on the general Nature, &c. lieve it was rather made ufe of by God ; e- fpecially if we confider how this corre- fponds with the celebrating thefe Nuptials by fome Prophet or Prophets, of which we have fome Remains that continue to this day, befides that Song of Songs we are now confidering, if the xlvth Pfalm was drawn up on this occafion, as it is believed it was, where the Writer is evidently diftinguimed from the King, whole Marriage with a Fo- reign Princefs is there approved of, com- mended, celebrated, i( I will make thy *' Name to be remembered in all genera- *' tions : therefore mall the people praife u thee for ever and ever." (ver. 17.) There can be nothing harm then, in fuppofing there might be a previous prophetic affurance, that this Marriage, conducted in the manner golomon conducted it, would not be dif- pleafing unto God, would rather accom- plish his purpofes, feeing it was fo honoured afterwards, or during its Solemnization, by a Poetic Compofition, drawn up by a Pro- phet. Efpecially as we know, the Pious Men of thofe days were wont to do nothing of confequencc, without fome how confut- ing God. C So of the Song of Solomon. 73 So David was freed from the obligation of that Law which Rehoboam broke, by the difpenfing power of God, who by Nathan his prophet permitted, or rather directed, David to make Solomon his Succeflbr, in preference to Adonijah his Elder Son. See I Chron. xxviii. 5, 2 Sam xii. 25, and j Kings i. 6. REMARK XL ' If this account of matters be admitted, if thefe Nuptials were celebrated by fome froohet, to lhew that they were agreeable to the Mind and Will of God, the nrft verfe ought to have been otherwife rendered than in our tranflation, for " The Song of " Songs which is Solomon's," it mould have been, " The Song of Songs which is " concerning Solomon." .It will certainly admit of this tranflation, and the view of things I have been giving, inclines us to this fenfe of it. The Author of the New Tranflation makes no altera- tion here, in the Verfion he has given, but in the beginning of his Annotations ' tells us ' P. 49* that 74 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. that perhaps it ought to have been rendered, WHICH IS CONCERNING SOLOMON I and that the original word has evidently that fenfe in the title to Pfalm lxxii. It will follow from hence, this is not a. book of Solomon's, but of fome Prophet of God, excited to celebrate this Marriage of that Prince. REMARK XII. Whatever was the Intention of God, in bringing about this Marriage in the courfe of his Providence, and in caufing it to be celebrated in fuch an extraordinary manner, by Songs that ivere directed to be placed among the sacred writings, it is certain, there never was any Refemblance more Jlriking, be- tween the Circumjlances and < Tra?7jdclions of any of the remarkable Perfonages of the Old Teftament and thofe of the Mefiiah, than the Likenefs we may obferve between Solo^ mon's marrying a Gentile Princefs, and making her equal in Honour and Privileges with his former jewifh Queen ; and in her being frequently mentioned afterwards in hif- tory, while the other is pailed over in total Silence i of the Song of Solomon. 75 Sr/ence -, and the Conduct of the Meffiah to- wards the Gentile and Jewifh Churches. The two remarkable things in the con- duct of the Meffiah towards the two Church- es, are the making the Gentiles Fellow-Heirs, of the fame Body, and Partakers of the Pro- mifes, without any difference -, and the giving up to neglect the Jewifh Church, while that of the Gentiles has long flourished in great Honour, and been the fubjecT: of many an Hiftory. St. Paul takes notice of both thefe circumft.ances, with particular Solemnity : pf the firft, in the iiid of Ephefians, and elfe- where ; of the other, in the xith of Romans. They are points then that deferve great. At- tention. They are both called Myfteries, u that is things that had been concealed aforetime -, but it by no means follows, that there were no fhadowy Reprefentations of thefe Events in the preceding Ages, only that they were not clearly and exprefsly revealed. Kingdoms and Cities are frequently fpo- ken of, in Holy Writ, as Women. Sacred as well as Secular Bodies of Men are repre- u Rom. xi. 25. Eph. iii. 3. fented 76 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. fented under that Image. The Univerfal Church, is fpoken of under the Notion of a Bride, and the Meffiah as her Hufband, Eph. vth. The two Churches of Jews and Gentiles, or the Church under the Mofaic Difpenfation and the Church freed from thofe Ceremonies, are reprefented as two Women, (the one formerly treated as the Pr/»- cipal Wife, and the fecond as having been for a long time neglected, but afterwards producing a much more numerous Iflue than the firft,) by the prophet Ifaiah, in his livth chapter, according to the explanation St. Paul has given of that paffage in Gal. ivth. Particular Churches are mentioned after the fame manner : fo concerning the Church at Corinth St. Paul fays, I have ef- poufed you to oneHuJband, that I may prefent you as a Chajle Virgin to Chrift, 2 Cor. xi. 2. Since then it is common for the Scrip- tures to reprefent the Church of God under the notion of a Woman, and the Meffiah un- der that of her Hujband; fince the two Bo- dies of Men, that which worfhipped God according to the Mofaic Rites and that which obferved them not, are compared to two of the Song of Solomon. 77 two Women ; and fince the circumjtances of thefe two Churches are fuch as I have given an account of from St. Paul ; it mull: be ac- knowledged, that there is a lively Refem- blance, betwixt Solomon's efpoufmg the Egyptian Princefs and the Memah's admit- ting the Gentiles to equal Privileges with the. Jews, whether it was or was not defigned by God as an Emblem and Type of it ; ce- lebrated by his Prophets for this caufe in holy Songs ; and thole Songs preferved with care to this day, among Writings of the mofi facred kind, on that account. REMARK XIII. The fuppofing that a reprefentation of thefe matters by a remarkable Emblem, was actually the defign of God in celebrating this Event, and that this Song is accordingly fo to be confidered, is an Interpretation, at once fufficiently Simple and fufficienly Noble, to engage the Acquiefcence of the Mind ; and much more when it is confidered, that fuch an Interpretation comes recommended to us by fome of the Ant lent Jewifi Writers 5 and 78 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. and above all when it is remembered that it is perfectly in the Tajie of that Explana- tion that is given us in the ivth qfGalatians, of another piece of the Old Teftament Hif- tory, I mean where St. Paul fays the fliory of Hagar and Sarah may be confidered as an Allegory. The learned and curious Michaelis, Profef- fot at Gottiugen, is faid to controvert the received opinion, of this Poem's being a fa- cred Allegory, and to be inclined to look no farther than the literal meaning ; he fuppofes, we are told, that it was inferted in the facred Code, to obviate the miflakes of fuch mo- rofe Bigots, as hold Conjugal Love incon- fiflent with the Love of God. w This indeed is Simple to the laft degree, but then it wants the requifite Noblcnefs. Surely it could ne- ver have been compofed,» never inferted in Holy Writ, for this purpofe ! The Jews do not feem to have had any fuch Morofenefs among them ; x and if they had wanted Ad- monitions w See Notes on the New Tranflation p. 103. x One Order of the E(Tens, the moft rigorous Seel: of the Jews, and the leaft inclined to Matrimony, not only pracrifcJ it, but blamed their Brethren that did not; of the Song of Solomon. 9 7 monitions of fuch a kind, the Precept — hi- creafe and multiply, and the Elogium given to Enoch, that he walked with God, and begat Sons and Daughters, &c, would have been much more effectual to the Jews on this point ; as thofe places, together with that Declaration of an Infpired Writer — Marriage is honourable in ALL, and the Bed undefited, muft be to us Chriftians. On the other hand, the Allegorical Specu- lations of Origen, and Writers of that Caft ; and the Interpretations of thofe that fuppofe it to be a Book of Prophecy, however Noble they may be, have not the due Simplicity, as well as are to the laft degree Uncertain. It gives pain to ingenuous Minds, that would reverence the Memories of pious and diligent Men of former times, when they read fome of their Fancies of this kind. My good-natured Reader, I dare lay, will feel uneafy Senfations, when he finds fuch a Man as Bp. Patrick, giving fuch a Note as not ; and the other part of them who abftained from JVtarriage, did not abftain, according to Jofephus, from their fuppofing Matrimony unlawful, but from their en-' tertaining, it mould fecm, too mean an opinion of the virtue of the other Sex. Dc Bello Jud. Lib. 2. chap. 8. this, 8o Remarks on the general Nature, &c* this, on that part of the Bride's Drefs — Thy Navel is like a round Goblet, which wanteth not Liquor : thy Belly is like an Heap of Wheat, Jet about with Lilies, " What is the " myftical meaning of this Hieroglyphick " Vefiure (as it may be called) is very hard " to fay. It may be applied to the two Sa- ** craments, which the Church adminifters 25- Nor of the Song of Solomon. 83 Nor is it any wonder the Jews fhould preferve the notion of the Meffiah's being to be confidered as a Bridegroo?n, or even believe that this Book refers to him r , without entering into the views, which, according to thefe papers, are fo intimately connected with it; the admitting the Gen- tiles to equal Privileges with the Jews was too mortifying a thought to be preferved by their Teachers, and inftilled into their Pu- pils. It is enough for us, that they have preferved the Book among their other holy Writings, which might have been fufficient, with other prophetic parts of Scripture, to have reconciled the Jews of the Apoftolic Age to the managements of Providence, when they faw they agreed with the inti- mations of their facred Books; and may give to us the pleafure of obferving, that known unto God are all his works, from the Beginning of the World 7 '. The likenefs, in the laft place, between this way of interpreting this Song, and St. Paul's method of explaining the hiftory of Sarah and Agar, they being evidently in the y See Patrick's Preface to his Annotations on this Sbiig. 2 A&s xv. 18. G 2 fame 84 Remarks on the general Nature, &c- fame I'ajle, completes the Satisfaction of the mind upon this point, and gives it all the, Determinatenefs that can be expected, in a- matter that has been fo perplexed by the Learned, and of no greater confequence to our Salvation. REMARK XIV. I have been endeavouring to ffeew, in this manner, by a Series of Remarks, that trifling as the fecond and third of them might at nrfl fight feem to be, they were yet of great confequence to the due expla- nation of this Hebrew Song; nor have I yet done with them, fince they may ferve to lead us, not only into the general Defign of it, but enable us to penetrate frill farther then we have hitherto done into its struc- ture : for though this is evidently a Poem conliderably different from thofe Nuptial Songs that were fung before the Bride, or the Bridegroo?n, in their Procejjions, 5ce, be- ing of a much more ample nature, de- fcribing with exaBnefs the circumftances of the marriage of Solomon at length, as they are fuppofed to have palled, and taking in the of the So?2g of Solomon. 85 the Events of a coji/iderable portion of time> yet it may be imagined it includes in it a •reprefentation of thofe Procefjional Songs. Nay it can hardly be thought that they can be omitted in fuch a large account of thefe Solemnities, and confequently fome part of this Poem may reafonably be conftrued as fuch. Nothing can be more natural than fuch a fuppofition, for as thefe Songs conftitute a great part of thofe folemnities, they can- not be ealily imagined to be entirely dropped in fo ample a Reprefentation of that Mar- riage. REMARK XV. If they are introduced at all into this poetic and lively Defcription of this Mar- riage, the firft part of the firft chapter, and the firft part of the fourth, muft be, I ihould think, the places that give a Repre- fentation of thefe Songs. The Eaftern PrincefTes are at this day conducted, even to a common Vifit, accord- ing to D'Arvieux % with Songs. Their own 9 yoy. dans la Pal. p. 249. 3 Women, 86 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. Women, it feems, precede them fnginr, 'till they come near the Perfon to whom they go to pay their refpects, when the At- tendants of the Perfon to be vifited perform this office, their own Women folio win o- be- hind, jn filence, if I underhand the account aright, though it is not exprefly affirmed by D'Arvieux that they are filent, only that they follow. It appears from a pallage of Scripture alfo, which I have elfewhere illu- ftrated b , that this was an honour cuftom- arily paid Princes in former times. And as Songs are ufed now in the Nuptial So- lemnities even of the common people, every Bride among the Arabs being conducted, according to D'Arvieux, from the place of preparatory Bathing to their Camp, where the Marriage is to be folemnized c , with Singing, much more mull it be fuppofed they are made ufe of in the Marriages of their Princes. But however that may be, it is certain, from the xjvth Pfalm, that Songs of Gratulation and Joy were not for- gotten in the Marriages of the ancient b See Obferv. on divers Paffages of Scripture, ch. 6 Obf. 30, 31. c P. 224. Jewifh of the Song of Solomon. 87 Jewifh. Kings, and in particular when their New Queens were Foreigners, and were introducing into the Royal Palace. If fo, nothing can be more natural, than to underftand the 4th chapter, from ver. 1 . to the end of the nth, of thofe Songs that were fung, by the Daughters of Jeruialem, before the Bride, as ihe was conveying to the Palace of Solomon. They were ordered to go out to meet King Solomon, who cer- tainly was attended by his Bride (ch. viii. 5) : What was this Proceffion for ? Was it only to meet him with Lamps? Or with Songs too ? Doubtlefs, according to the xlvth Pfalm, with Songs too. I do not know, that either this parTage, or the other I mentioned — the firfh part of the firfh chapter, have been confidered in this light ; but as it is natural in itfelf, fo it makes many things, in thofe parts of the Poem, appear infinitely more natural than they can otherwife be made to appear. The very jfirrc words of the Song, " Let him •■« kifs me with the KifTes of his Mouth, " for thy Love is better than Wine," feem not to be capable of explanation upon any other Hypothefis. Is it imaginable that an G 4 Eafiern 83 Remarks on the general Nature, &c. Eafiern Lady, an Eajiern Princefs, brought up in all the Delicacy and Referve of thofc Countries, mould exprefs herfelf, before marriage, after this manner? It is totally inadmhTible, and confequently could never be fo reprefented by a Poet that would fit- low Nature; but if it is only eonfidered as the Reprefentation of a Song, fung before her, it becomes quite a different thing. And as the other parts of this Poem, which confeffedly confiffs of the difcourfes of different Perfons, are not marked out, but the Reader is left to himfelf to diftin- guiih them, and apply them to the refpec- tive Parties to whom they belong ; fo it is not to be imagined, thofe parts of the Poem, which are intended to defcribe the Nuptial Songs, mould be more diitinctly pointed out. We muff believe, that it is left to us to iind thern out by their circum- ffances. As then the beginning of the firff chap- ter, defcribes the J: r/l Inter-Jew of the Bride with the Bridegroom; and the beginning of the fourth, immediately follows the mention that is made of the going out of the Daugh- ters of Jerufalem to meet them; they muff be I of the Song of Solomon. 89 be the places where, in all likelihood, thefe Proceffional Songs are reprefented. This, as to the nrfl of thefe Paragraphs, is confirmed by the very nrft words of the Song, as I have already obferved, which in the com- mon view would be infupportable, as being inconiiflent not only with Eaftern Rtferve, but even with European and Engli/Jj De- cency. REMARK XVI. It is no juft Objection to the underftand- ing thefe places of this ancient Poem after this manner, that is, as defigned to exprefs the Songs of the Virgins that attended this JEgyptian Bride, when fie was about to be frefeiited to King Solomon, and of the Daugh- ters of ferufalem, when they marched in fo- lemn Procefjion before them, into the Royal City, that they are addreifed to one who was abfent; or fung in the Perfon of the Bride or Bridegroom: fince nothing is more common, in the Eaftern Poetry, than fuch AddrefTes to the Abfent-, and the Poet's pr Singer's perfonating another in their Songs. So 90 Remarks on the general Nature, of the Song of Solomon. 1 1 1 fliew, how natural this interpretation of the Goblet is. Whatever difficulties Interpre- ters have met with, in explaining " the '* Heap of Wheat fet about with Lilies" of this ancient Princefs, it is evident that it is a very natural poetic defcription of Lady Montague's Waiftecoat, made of gold da- mafk, and fringed with Gold, beneath which appeared a large border of the finer!: white gauze, nothing being more common than to exprefs an exquifte white by that of the Lily, and to ufe the Epithet of golden when Poetry fpeaks of Grain. I will not affirm that the Queen here was dreiled jujl as her Ladyfhip was, but I am fure it is much more eafy to receive fuch a fuppoiition, than to imagine with Lamy m , that they might have a cujlom in Palafine of flrewing ilowers round the heaps of Corn after it was win- nowed, and that there is an Allufion to that Cujlom here. Not to fay that me, whofe Nuptials were fung in the xlvth Pfalm, is exprefly faid to have been clothed in a Gar- ment of wrought Gold. The Flowers of the Head-Drefs, would make the comparing the Head of a modern Eaftern Lady to Carmel 1)1 See Notes on the New Tranflation, p. 87. quite ii2 Objervations o?i detached Placet quite natural : Carmel being remarkable for" the richnefs of its Soil, and the noblenefs of its vegetable Productions n . And as we may believe the cuftom of adorning the head with Flowers,- either natural ° or arti- ficial, was of great Antiquity, though we may believe not then in near fo expensive a manner as now, according to our AmbaiTa- drefs, it in like manner explains and justifies this ancient comparifon. When the Hair of the head is faid to be like Purple, we muft, I think, admit the obfervation in the notes on the new tranflation, that this is not to be underflood of the Fillet, with which her Hair was tied up, or rather the Ribbon, braided according to Lady Montague into the' TrefTes of her Hair, becaufe the letter Caph then would be redundant, and it would have been faid the Hair of thy Head is Pur- ple, not like Purple. But then I do not be- lieve it is neceflary to fuppofe the Colour of the Plair is here alone referred to, as that n See Egmont and Heyman, Vol. II. p. n — 13. c So Dr. Ruflell tells us the Women of Aleppo are very fond of flowers, and decorate their head-drefs with them, in a paffage which gives an account of the Plants they cultivate, not of their Jewellers. Writer of the Song of Solomon* i 1 j Writer fuppofes, the Caph would be equally redundant in that cafe, were the hair pro- perty Purple ; not to fay that an hair black towards the roots, and lightly tinged with gold towards the extremities, cannot well* I mould think, be faid to be like Purple, with refpecl; to mere colour. Purple, we all know, was fuppofed to be the nobleit. of Colours, and when the Jewim Poet fays, " the Hair of thine Head is like Purple," I mould fuppofe he rather meant, that it excelled that of Ladies in common, in point of quantity as well as of colour, as Purple excels other Dies. So Lady Montague' goes on, in the letter from whence I drew this citation, " I never faw in my life, fo many " fine heads of hair. In one Lady's I have " counted an hundred and ten Trejj'es, all " natural; but it muft be owned, that every M kind of Beauty is more common here " than with us." Such a Lady's Hair I imagine, (hers that had an hundred and ten TrerTes,) whatever was its colour, provided it was an agreeable one, might be faid to be like Purple, precious that is as Purple, whofe value is exprefled in many palTage9 of Scripture. I The H4 Obfervations on detached Places The Beauty of the thought would be o-reatly augmented, if Father Houbigant's verfion of this place were admitted, who fuppofes the words are to be taken in con- nexion with what follows, and fignify, " the «« Hair of thy Head is like the Purple of " the King failened from the Cielings," like the Purple Curtains that is, that hang in magnificent Feftoons from the Cielings of the Palace; or perhaps from the Cieling over the Throne of King Solomon, {hading and ornamenting his Head in the moll ex- quifite manner. Nor is this Interpretation peculiar to Father Houbigant, iince it ap- pears by the ancient Scholia, annexed to the London Edition of the Septuagint of 1653, that it was long ago underflood in much the fame fenfe p . Observation II. If this defcription of the beginning of the viith chapter, is to be underftood of the Queen's Drefs, agreeably to the turn of the xlvth Pfalm, the Defcription that is given p Km « ficiKoa [Ma Ufa at KQ^vfa. $xs Tz$t£i£iy.iw\ 1 hi]ua.^/;ztf;z d , but of their Danger. If Danger, what Danger is it fo likely a facred Poet would fpeak of as that of Idolatry? Other King- doms, and ./Egypt efpecialiy, were as little infefled with Beafls of Prey as Judsa, but d See ver. 11. K 2 they 132 Obfervations on detached Places the;/ were all places of danger on account of the Idolatries practifed in them, and none more fo than the country of this ^Egyptian Princefs. Agreeably to this, it feems, that other places, confidered in contradiiKnction from Mount Zion, the Seat of the moji fo- lemn Worfiip of the true God, are called Mountains of Prey by the Pfalmift e . The Interpretation then, which I am now pro- pofing* is truly according to the Spirit of the Old Teftament Writings; perfectly cor- refponds with the plain meaning of another Hebrew Song, compofed on the fame, or a like occafion ; and at the fame time pro- pofes the consideration in the manner the moft proper in the v/orld, as being both moil refpeBful to Pharaoh and his people, with whom Solomon was making affinity, and moft. poetic, Poetry delighting in Images and Allegorical Expreiiions. I can hardly imagine the turn of the New Veriion, " Look down [fecurely] from the " top, &c," is exact : her coming from places of Danger, not her looking forth with Security from the midfl of them, is what is .here meant. And as the fame word is ufed e Pfalm lxxvi. 4. to of the Song of Solomon. 133 to ilgnify looking with AfFeclion toward, or .on a Perfon> If. lvii. 9, we are undoubtedly to under/land it in fome iuch fenfe here, Come with me from Lebanon, turn away thine Eyes from Amaria, &C, and look on me with Tendernefs. La Roque tells us, in his defcription of Lebanon*, that there are many Tigers and Bears in that Mountain, but he makes no mention of Lions on that occafion : Ruflell, on the other hand, after telling us that one part of Mount Taurus gives fhelter to the Ounce, and that fome few Tigers are found in moil of the high Mountains about Aleppo, goes on to inform us, that it is on the Eu- phrates, betwixt Bagdad and Biiforah, that the Lion is found, that is, in low grounds, near Water. Perhaps then, it is not that a Change has been brought about, as to the favage inhabitants of the places mentioned in this ancient Poem, but that this Old Writer never intended we ihould conlider thefe two claufes — " from the Lions Dens, " from the Mountains of the Leopards," as merely explanatory of the nature of the 1 Voy. de Syrie, &c. p. 70. K 3 places 1 34 Obfervations on detached Places places he had mentioned, but as quit§ dif- tinct from them, Look on me from the moun- tainous Haunts of Bears and Tigers, from the lower places where the Lioneffes have their Dens, and from the Hills where Leo- nards range : from places of danger that is of every kind. This may ferve as a farther confirmation of the thought, that it is not from one particular place where lhe had en^ camped, or rejled, that the Singers exhort this Lady to proceed with Solomon, but that fhe is invited to abandon all places of Dan^ ger whatfoever, how different and oppofite foever their natures might be, Mountains or Low-Lands, and confequently that the words are to be underflood as Allegorical, Observation VIII. As Dignity of Defcent is a topic of Praife among all Nations, it is no wonder that it appears in the xivth Pfalm, " King's Daugh- I acknowledge, well know what is meant in this account by the feeing him behind the Wall of an houfe ; and I very much queftion whether the Statelinefs of their Forms of Decency, and efpecially thofe obferved by Eaftern Kings, would have admitted the putting his head through the lattice-work of the Queen's Apartments, when he came to invite her to come forth k See the Notes on the New Translation. 1 P. 61. and of the Song of Solomon, 145 and enjoy the Beauties of the Spring -, but if they would, no interpretation feems to me more natural than what I am propoling from this Song of Ibrahim. Observation XI. Hills, it is very well known, are the proper places for planting Vines, and Dr, Shaw accordingly fpeaks of the Mountains of Judaea, as having been anciently very fruitful in producing Wine, as well as Oil and Milk, p. 337, &c, it may feem flrange then that the prophetic Poet here mould ipeak of going down to fee whether the Vine flourimed, chap. vi. 11; lelt fuch a diffi- culty mould prefent itfelf to the mind, it mould be remarked, that Ibrahim exprelTes himfelf pfecifeiy after the fame manner, " I went down to admire the Beauty of " the Vines:" which mews this way of fpeaking is per- fectly natural in the Eaft. The truth is, though their Vineyards were commonly planted upon Hills, their Gardens were wont to be in low places, on the Banks of Brooks and Rivers, as all the L Gardens 1 46 Obfervations on detached Places Gardens of Aleppo are at this time by the fides of a River, or of a Rill that feeds their Aqueduct, according to Ruilell ; and a Garden without water was anciently fup- pofed to be a miferable one, If. i. 30 ; fo that the term going down appears to be per- fectly proper, efpecially if I add, that the Vine will grow in thefe low lands fo well, as thoroughly to anfwer the purpofes for which they are planted in Gardens : fo Capt. Norden, in defcribing the Gardens of Old Cairo, only mentions Palm-Trees and Vine- Arbour vr, which leads us to fup- pofe they were the molt, nourifhing, or at leaft the moil grateful and remarkable of their productions. Observation Xll. All the Notes of the Sea/on that occur in this book, fo far as they are underftood, agree to the time of the blofjoming of the Vine ' y an Obfervation from whence feveral confequences may be drav/n. Ibrahim makes the Singing of the Night- ingale, and Rofes, contemporary things with, the bio [joining of the Vine- " The of the Song of Solomon. 147 c< The Nightingale now wanders in the " Vines -, " Her Faflion is to feek Rofes. " I went down to admire the Beauty of . " the Vines ; " The Sweetnefs of your Charms hath " ravifhed my Soul." As the Song of Solomon makes the time of Singing, and of the Vines with the tender Grape giving a good Smell, coincident. The time when Rofes blow and Vines bio/Tom with us is about the end of June m , and confequently about the end of April, I imagine, in Palseftinej for though I do' not remember to have obferved in any Traveller an account when they bloffom there, 1 have remarked, that other vegetable productions are, according to their reports, about two months forwarder than with us n . I fay about ™ In my Garden here, in Suffolk, the Vine did not begin to bloflbm till the beginning of July in 1765 and 1766, while the Rofes, I obferved in 1766, blof- fomed two or three. davs before June ended ; but with fome of my neighbours the Vines be ^an to blofibm the end of June both in 1765 and 1766. n So Dr. Shaw tells us, that the Plains of the Holy- Land, particularly betwixt Jaffa and Ramah, were every L 2 where 148 Obfervations on detached Places about two months, becaufe as they proba- bly were not very exact in their Obferva- tions, fo different Soils and Expofitions will make a difference of fome days among us. Agreeably to this Lady Montague, in a letter dated the firft of April, (it is to be re- membred £he ufed the Old Style,) tells us the country was then full of Nightingales, whofe Amours with the Rofes is an Arabian fable, as well known there, as any part of Ovid among us, and confequently the Singing of the Nightingale and bloffoming of the Rofe where planted with a beautiful variety of Tulips, in the beginning of March, (O. S.) p. 340 ; on the other hand, Tulips were gone April 9. N. S. when Tlievenot travelled this Road, part 1. p. 181 j in my Garden, which lies fo as that its productions are rather back- warder than in fome other places in the neighbourhood, Tulips did not begin to bloflbm till the beginning of May N. S. 1765, and were not quite gone the end of that month. So HafTelquift, p. 120, tells us he found the fields in fome places of the Holy-Land white with a fort of Feverfew, in the beginning of April, and Fe- verfew with us is known not to blorTom till June, and fometimes July. Agreeably to this remark, I have by a number of Obfervations found that the Trees and Plants about Aleppo are forwarder than our's about two months, and it fhould feem, from the relations of travellers, there is no great difference in this refpedt betwixt that part of Syria and Judati. muft of the Song of Solomon, 149 mail be fuppofed to be contetnporary things : and indeed that ingenious Author directly remarks, that thefe lines of Ibrahim were a defcription of that Seafon of the year there . •'•;■■ Solomon's Song joins the time of the finging of birds, (of Nightingales it with- out doubt means,) and the voice of the Turtle together - 3 and Lady Montague in the fame Letter, or in one of the fame date at leaft, April 1. O. S, fpeaks of Turtles as cooing on the Cyprefs-Trees of her Gar- den from morning till nights At Aleppo, about the middle of April O, S. the country is faid to be in full bloom; and as the productions of the country about Aleppo and of Judaea are nearly in the fame degree of forwardnefs q , it is no wonder the Jewiih Poet reprefents the time of the blof- foming of the Vines, of the ringing of the Nightingale, and of the cooing of the Tur- tle, as the time of Flowers too : it is the time when they are in the greatefh abun^ dance, Vol. II. p. 52. p P. 40. 4 See Obferv. on divers pafiages of Scrip. Ch. 1. Obf. j 8. L 3 Ch e 150 Obfervations on detached Places Ch. vi. 11, and ch. vii. 12, make the: times of the flowering of the Pomegranate and the blofTomln^ of the Vine coincident ; I have not had an opportunity of remark- ing myfelf when the Pomegranate does flower, but according to Miller of Cheifea, in his Gardener's Kalendar, the Pomegra- nate that produces Angle, as well as that with double blorToms, flowers in June or July, which is precifely the time I have found Vines bioiTom here. The finl of thefe places fpeaks alfo of Nuts as growing in this Garden. Dr. Shaw fuppofeth it mould have been tranflated Walnuts ; and it is certain they are very fhady and plea- fant at the time the Vine blorTometh. From this Obfervation we may deduce feveral confequences. 1. That our Jewifh Poet has abfolutely confined himfelf to Na- ture in his defcriptions. Mr. Addifon ob- ferves in one of the Spectators r , that a Poet is not obliged to attend Nature " in the " flow advances me makes from one Seafon " to another, or to obferve her conduct in " the fuccefiive Production of Plants and e( Flowers. He may draw into his De- 1 No. 418. " fcription of the Song of Solomon. 151 « fcription all the Beauties of the Spring << and Autumn, and make the whole year " contribute fomething to render it the " more agreeable, &c," but the Jewifh Poet has not taken this Liberty, he has followed Nature, it feems, more clofely. Now this may be an happy Clue, by which we may be enabled to extricate ourfelves from feveral difficulties, with which Commentators have been confiderably puzzled, and is a Remark of fome confequence. The Maarbanie, the Eaftern Winter, is certainly paft by April O. S ; but all Showers are not over then, they hold till May; con- fequently we muft not understand " the *.* Rain is over and gone" as fignifying, that all the Showers of the Spring were paft, but only that it had juft then ceafed raining, after which, according to Ruifell, feveral days of Fair Weather are wont to fucceed. It is to fuch a pleafant Interval thefe words refer : had the Drought of Summer been evidently begun, the Country would have loft its delightful appearance. If the Writer of this Song was thus ac- curate, our Tranflators muft certainly be wrong in their verfion, " the Fig-Tree L 4 " putt el h 152 Gbfervations on detached Places " putteth forth her Green Figs," fince I have found in my neighbourhood, in a yard where they were neglected, and had none of the advantages of cultivation, they were bigger than a large Damfon the middle of June N. S, which muft therefore have been their fize at leaji in the royal Jewiih Gar- dens at the time here defcribed. At the fame time we are not to imagine the word iignifies they were ripe then, as the Note of the New Tranflation feems to do, which tells us, " the Fig-Trees in Judaea bear " double crops 5 the firft of which is ripe " in Spring:" fince we find in Dr. Shaw*, that the black and white boccore, or early fig, (the fame we have in England, and which in Spain is called breba, quaji breve, as continuing only a fliort time,) is pro- duced in June. To which he adds, that the kermez, or " fig properly fo called, " which they preferve and make up into f< cakes, is rarely ripe before Augujl." The meaning then muft be, the Fig-Tree be- ginneth to make her Figs fpicy, or palata- fifef which however requires a long time to 5 P. 144. make of the Song of Solomon, 153 make them perfectly fo, as a dead Body to be perfectly embalmed, for the fame in- structive Author tells us, that though the Boccores, or firjl ripe figs, were hard, and no bigger than common plumbs, in the Holy-Land, in the beginning of April, yet they had a method of making them foft and palatable, by fieeping them in oil\ tho they are not ufually ripe there, on the trees, till the middle or latter end of June u , that is not till about feventy days after, the time the Egyptians took up in embalming a dead body, which embalming the original word fignifies— The Fig-Tree beginneth to em- balm her green Figs, to give them a fine ilavour. At the fame time that the Vine and the Pomegranate blofTom it feems the Man- drakes of Antiquity gave their Smell, ch.vii. 13. I do not know that this circumftance will determine what plant was anciently meant by the Dudaim of the Scriptures, which we tranflate Mandrakes, but it may perhaps prove, that fome things that have })een imagined to have been the Dudaim 1 p - 335- u P. 342. were 1 54 Observations on detached Places were not fo ; and it will be fome advantage to be able at all to fhorten the difquiiitions of the Learned on this point, and fhew that fome of their conjectures are inadmifiible. 2. Another confequence is, that the time of the Action of this Poem is fuppofed to be very fhort, every thing being fuppofed by the Poet to be tran faceted juft as the Vines %vere going into blojjom. Critics have en- quired with care into the number of days which the refpective Actions of the Iliad, JEneid, &c, took up, I will not undertake to be fo exact, but after the manner of the Indians of North America, who mark out the time of their tranfactions, by faying fuch an event happened when Strawberries bloomed, or the leaves fell, I would fay the whole Action celebrated in this Song was in the time when the tender grape began to appear, and was expected to give a good Smell. This is more to be depended upon than to diflribute thefe events exactly into feven days, as the Bifhop of Meaux has done w ; and at the fame time is fufficient to determine, that every thing mentioned here w See the Preface to the New Tranflation. has of the Song of Solomon. 155 has an intimate connexion with thefe Nup- tials, and happened juil at that time. A qd Confequence is, that the Marriage of Solomon with Pharaoh's Daughter was cele- brated towards the latter end of April. An obfervation of no great moment, but what, perhaps, may be fomewhat amufing to the Imagination, as there is a pleafure in fettling the chronology of trifling Events when they* refpect great perfonages. Observation XIII. Every body knows that the Eye is an efTential point in confiderations of Beauty, and that nothing is more common than to refer to it in Love-Songs. We talk upon thefe occalions of Eyes black as a Sloe, or fparkling as a Diamond, and the Eaftern People with great Univerfality of the Eyes of the Antelope 3 yet neither Ibrahim or the Song of Solomon make ufe of this Image : perhaps what the Turkiih Poet has faid, may ferve to account for this difference in the Song of Solomon from the eflablifhed Ufage of the Eaft, on this fubjecl. That 156 Obfervations on detached Places That the Eaftern Lovers are wont to com- pare the Eyes of thofe they admire to the Eyes of the Antelope, appears from Monf. D'Arvieux*. ^ heir Love-Songs, (according to him,) /peak fcarce of* any thing elfe but the Antelope's Ryes ; and it is to this Crea- ture they always compare their Miftreffes, when they would exprefs at once a finiflded Beauty. And he tells us, there is in the Antelope, in particular, a fort of Fear, mixed with Innocence, which ftrongly refem- bles a Young Girl's Mode/ly and timidity. To which la Roque adds, in a Note, that the Eafiern People are very fond of this Animal, on account of its gentlenefs, when it is once tamed. We meet with nothing of all this in the Song of Solomon. The Eyes of his Queens are celebrated, as it is natural they mould in a Song of this kind, but they are never compared to thofe of an Antelope, his Bride's being compared to Doves Eyes, ch. i. 15, and ch. iv. 1 ; and thofe of his Jewifh Queen to FiuVPools, ch. v'iL 4, This could not arife from their unacquaint- * Voy. dans la Pdl. par Monf. dc la Roque, p. 215, 216. erfnefs of the So?2g of Solomon. i yj ednefs in thofe elder days with this Animal : for Dr. Shaw allures us they are very com- mon in Judaea, Syria, and j^Egypt ; and he fuppofes that Mofes allowed the Ifraelites to eat of them, among other wild, but clean Animals, p. 413, 414. Nor are we to imagine there has been a change among the Eaftern people fince the time of Solo- mon, with refpect to the Symbols by which they were wont to denote Beauty, the con- trary quality is the great characteristic of thofe nations : if the Arabs now compare the Eyes of their MiftrefTes, in their Love- Songs, to thofe of the Antelope, we have reafon to think it was cuftomary to do fo in the time of Solomon. As there is a Variation then, it is probable \\\2Xfomc thing elfe befides the Beauty of the Eye was intended. Something elfe is evi- dently pointed out by Ibrahim, when he compares the Eyes of his Princefs to thofe •of a Stag, inftead of to the Eyes of the An- t elope. " Your Eyes are black and lovely, " But wild and difdai?ifnl 'as thofe of the Stag; " Ah Sultana! Stag-eyed, &c." 3 Her ic8 Obfervations on detached Places Her Eyes as being black and lovely might have been compared to thofe of an Ante- lope, but as Wildnefs and Difdain, and not a modeft 'Timidity, appeared in them, he thought the Eyes of a Stag were more pro- per Symbols of her Eyes, than thofe of the Antelope-, and full of the thought he re- peats it three times. In like manner, had the Jewifh Poet compared the Eyes of the Bride to thofe of an Antelope, it would have been nothing more than a common compliment, and have only pointed out the largenefs and blacknefs of them; but when he calls them Dove's Eyes, fome other Idea is to be joined to that of their Beauty : but what ? The Eyes of Eagles and Vultures are referred to when piercingnefs of Sight is intended, Job xxviii. 7, ch. xxxix. 29 ; and thofe of the Levia- than are defcribed as remarkable for a fiery Fiercenefs, in another paffage of that book 5 Eyes of heavenly Majejly are compared to Lamps of Fire, Dan. x. 6 ; but what do Dove's Eyes mean ? If we examine the Scriptures, we mall find that Doves are oppofed there to Ser- pents, whofe Eyes are known to be fpark- ling of the Song of Solomon. 159 ling with terriblenefs when they draw near their prey, "• Be ye wife as Serpents, harm- *< lefs as Doves;" they are defcribed as a mournful kind of Bird there ; and their Name is ufed. in, expremons of conjugal Tendernefs and Affection ; which of thefe Ideas is to be added to that of Beauty, when the ^Egyptian Princefs is faid to have Dove's Eyes, is a queftion that will not admit of much hefitatiom She might, very poffibly, weep at leaving her country, but would that have been celebrated in this Poem? would me not rather in that cafe have been ad- dreffed in language like that of the xlvth Pfalm, " Hearken (O Daughter) and con— " fider, and incline thine Ear ; forget alfo " thine own people, and thy Father's " Houfe?" Not to fay that the Eyes of the Royal Bridegroom are compared to thofe of Doves alfo, ch. v. 12, where it cannot be allowed that the Idea of weeping or mourn- ing could have any place. Certainly no Eaftern Writer would have compared the Eyes of Artaxerxes to thofe of a Dove, when he looked upon Eflher, as flie prefented herfelf to him, after the manner in which an Apocryphal Writer defcribes 1 60 Obfervations on detached Places defcribes him, " And he was very dread-* " ful. Then lifting up his Countenance " that JJjone with Majejiy, he looked very n fiercely upon her: and the Queen fell " down, and was pale, and fainted." Sorne^- thing of this kind the Ifraelites might ex- pect to have found in this high-born Prin- cefs, but finding the contrary, it is no won-* der that they are reprefented as celebrating the Gentlenefs of her Eyes in Songs, Cant* iv. 1. And as Solomon when ufing the tendereft language calls his Queen his Dove, Cant. ii. 14, ch. v. 2, ch. vi. 9, the having Dove's Eyes may mean, in ch. i. 1 5, a dif- covering of reciprocal affection. When mere largenefs and blacknefs were intended, it mould feem they called them the Eyes of an Antelope ; when piercingnefs of Sight was meant, they talked of the Eyes of Ragles and Vultures ; the Eyes of folemn Majejiy were compared to Lamps of Fire-, thofe of a Majejiy that was cruel, it is probable, were likened to thofe of a Dragon or of the Leviathan ; of remark- able Benignity to thofe of a Dove. The Jewifh Poet departed from the common form of celebrating the Eyes of an Eartern Bride, bf the Song of Solomon * 1 6 1 Bride, Ibrahim has done the fame, and fo he has taught us to enter into the beauty of this part of the defcription, better than we mould otherwife have done. The Difdain of the Daughter of Sultan Achmet, certainly occalioned her Eyes to be compared to thofe of a Stag ; the unexpected Benignity and Sweetnefs, which appeared in the Eyes of this ^Egyptian Princefs, defcended from an ancient and haughty Race of Kings, and the Native of a Country remarkable for de~ fpiling other nations, probably occalioned her's to be called Doves Eyes, ch; iv. i. Something of Gentlenefs too, we may be- lieve was intended, when Solomon's Eyes are compared to thofe of a Dove, ch^ v. 123 a quality at all times amiable in the Greats and which the JewifTi Queen there had par- ticular reafons not to forget, in the enume- ration of his Excellencies. Agreeably to all this, we find irt D'Her- helot r , that Eyes red with weeping are wont to be called Eyes of Argevan. The Arge- van is, it feems, the Oriental name for a tree, which the French call the tree of y P. 126*. M Judas 262 Obfervations 6n detached Places Judas, and which is entirely covered with blorToms of a purple colour, before the green leaves appear. From hence, he informs us, Saffron Faces and Argevan Eyes are common expremons among them, fignify- ing pajjionate Lovers, whofe Melancholy appears in their Countenances, and whole Eyes become red by the violence of their Tears. The Eaftern Nations then do not confine themfelves to Eyes of Antelopes, when they are fpeaking of a Lover's Eyes, they vary their Expremons as circumftances alter, and Dove's Eyes accordingly was thought moil proper in the cafe of Solo- mon's Bride. It was without doubt fome confideration, diftincl from any that have been mentioned* that occasioned the Eyes of his Queen to be likened to the Fifh-Pools of Hefhbon, in the viith chapter, but what, is not fo eafv to determine. Observation XIV. Every body knows, that we in the Weft. are wont to compare that pleaiing Ruddi- nefs, which health diffufes over part of the Face, of the Sotlg of Solomon. 163 Face, to the colour of Rofes; but it is not fo univerfally known that this is the lan- guage of Love in the Eaft too, though it appears with certainty to be fo from thefe Verfes of Ibrahim. " To fee thofe C keeks more Ver?nilion *f than Rofes," is one of the lines of this remarkable Song* We may then believe, I mould think, that Cant. v. 13, refers to Rofes. The words are, " His Cheeks are as a Bed of Spices/' and fince it now appears, that the com- paring the ruddy colour of the Cheeks to that of the Rofe, is a Simile common to the Eaft and the Weft, nothing can be more natural than this explanation* The word tranflated Spices, undoubtedly fometimes fignifies odoriferous Plants, or Flowers, of their Gardens, it's plural doth fo in this very Song, eh. iv. 16; If it may iignify fome odoriferous production of their Gardens, what is more likely to be meant than a Rofe, which Ibrahim refers to in exprefs terms. The Rofes of thofe Countries are extremely fragrant. The Water diftilled from them is ufed as a noble Perfume, being thrown on the hands and M 2 the 1 64 Obfervatlons on detached Places the face, and this though they are accuf- tomed to make ufe of the Smoke of Wood- Aloes % which is perhaps one of the moft fragrant things that we know of. And the Colour of thefe Flowers perfectly corre- fponds with that of a beauteous human Cheek. The two fucceeding words by no means difagree with this fuppolition, on the contrary they are a confirmation of it — ■ " His Cheeks are as a Bed of Spices, as fweet " Flowers," or according to the Marginal tranflation, " Towers of Perfumes :" for may not Rofe-Bufies be confidered, among feveral other fweet-fmelling kinds of Flowers, as the Archangel by Milton, " .,, ■■ He above the reft, " In Shape and Gefture proudly eminent, " Stood like a Tower ?" And is not the Scent of the Rofe as grate- ful as many of thofe compounded Perfumes human Art has prepared, where the hap- pier!: AiTociation of fweet Smells has been aimed at ? for that, I prefume, is the Spirit of the palfage, this word being in the plural, as the preceding word translated Spices is in 21 See Arab. Night's Ent. Vol.V. No. 171, &c. the of the Song of Solomon. 165 the Angular. This latter claufe then, which in our verlion feems to be a repetition with- out any beauty, understood according to the Margin, feems to be added as a Poetic explanation of what was expreffed at firft. by a general term, and perfectly agrees with the Flower which Ibrahim makes the Em- blem of his Sultana's Cheek \ It is not here to be forgotten, that our translators, in quitting the exacl fenfe of an original wordy have weakened the energy of the expreffion : for Gnarugah, which is the term, certainly Signifies a Furrow, of that kind that is made ufe of in the' Eaft, for the conveying water to the plants of their Gardens, and is accordingly fo tran- a Or, the word Tower may fignify a Vafe in which odoriferous Waters, or other rich Perfumes are kept, as I have fometimes been ready to think, the Ivory Palaces of Pfalm xlv. 8, are to be understood of the VefTels in which Perfumes might be anciently kept, made high like a Tower or a Palace, and formed of Ivory. It is certain the Vafe Dr. Pococke defcribes, made of China, and ufed for fprinkling Rofe- Water on Guefts at their departure in iEgypt, is formed like a tall nar- row bottle, having a Silver Top, with holes made thro* it, for the difcharge of the liquid, as any one may fee that examines the copper-plates of his firft Volume of Travels into the Eaft. M 3 dated, 1 66 Obfetruatjons on detach pd Places Hated, Ezek. xvii. 10, " Yea behold, be- " ing planted, fhall it profper ? fhall it not " utterly wither, when the Eaft Wind " toucheth it ? it mall wither in the Fur- " rows where it grew." Dr. Shaw calls thefe Rills and Trenches, (p. 408,) and tells us their Safranon, (or Carthamus,) their Melons, &c, are planted in thefe Rills. Thev mav therefore certainly be called Beds in one view, agreeably to our verfion, as they are long (Trips of earth in which their Flowers are planted j but it would un- doubtedly have conveyed the Idea of Solo- mon with more precifion, had it been tran- slated, as in Ezekiel, Furrow, or in the iiyle of Dr. Shaw, Trench or Rill, the fenfe pf this pafTage being, his Cheeks are as a well-watered Rofe, beautiful for it's lively Colour, and highly-fcented with refpeel to it's Fragrancy. The Image here is ftronger than in Ibra- him, lince not only did the Colour of the Rofe expyefs that of his Cheek; but its Fragrancy that pf the hair of his Cheek, che Beard being obferved to fuck in very ftrongly an odoriferous gummy fmoke, and Jong to retain it \ > See Maundrcll, p. 30. Obser- of the Song of Solomon, 167 O B S E R V A T I O N XV. Thofe words of this facred Poem, " Turn " away thine Eyes from me, for they have !" overcome me," ch. vi. 5; and that line of Ibrahim, " One Dart from your Eyes has pierced " through my Heart ;" are, I prefume, much the fame in fenfe, and Ibrahim may be confidered as a Com- mentator on the Jewifli Poet. The Original word, which our verlion tranflates, have overcome me, is well known to fignify enlarging : for it is applied to Countries to which new Territories are added-, to a Tent which is made bigger^-, See. What this Idea hath to do with over- coming, doth not appear to every reader > perhaps I may fay, has not been obferved by any one hitherto, but is made clear by this line of Ibrahim. Poifoned Arrows, or Darts, 'were in ufe in thole very ancient days, as they are ftill made ufe of in countries that know nothing of modern improvements, fo Job complains, " The Arrows of the " Almighty are within me, the Poifon ** whereof drinketh up my Spirit," Job vi. 4 ; M 4 3 1 68 Ob/ervations on detached Places a known effect of Poifon is the caufing the body to fweir ; the tfanflating this word from the common ufe to fignify the fwel- ling of a body wounded by a poifoned Dart, is perfectly agreeable to the rules of Poetry, and is extremely lively -, fo that the thought here is iimilar to that of this piodern Eaftern Writer, but much ftronger, Turn away thine Eyes from me, which have given me a pain, bitter as that which a poi- foned Dart gives, when it's Venom takes place, and caufes the body to /well. Our Tranflators have rendered the word in the Margin, they have puffed me up: if their thought there was like that which arifes from Ibrahim's explanation, they have expreffed it but unhappily in this marginal Alteration. The New Tranflation, of 1764, varies not at all here from our common verfion, and is abfolutely filent about it in the notes : it however may be thought to deferve fome attention, and the illuftration of it by thefe words of Ibrahim may be confidered, in confequence, as one obliga- tion more that we are under to Lady r - See A&s xxyiii. 6, Montague. of the Song of Solomon. 169 Montague. A Dart from the Eyes is in- deed known to be language very common to Weflern Lovers, but it is to this per- formance of Ibrahim's, which me has given us, that we are indebted for the knowledge of its obtaining in the Eajl too, a circum- ftance of fome moment to the explaining, with fatisfaction, thefe words of this an- cient Song. Observation XVI. s< Turn to me, S ulta n a, .... let me " gaze on thy Beauty:" are the words of Ibrahim; and " Return, " return, O Shulamite, return, return, that " we may look upon thee," are the words of the Jewiih Poem ; the paffages very much refemble each other, mofl probably therefore the principle from which the be- haviour of thefe two Ladies fprung was jufr. the fame — Difdain. If fo, this mult be afcribed to Solomon's Ifraelitifh Queen, not to the Princefs of /Egypt whom he efpoufed, and who is de- fcribed on the contrary as having turned her face towards him, though from the grace- ful 1 70 Obfervations on detached Places ful Modefty of a new- married Lady he faw only /6^ of it, " thou haft ravifhed my heart ff with one of thine Eyes," ch. iv. 9. Observation XVII. I do not know whether it will be thought worth while, in the laft place, to remark that Ibrahim defcribes the Agitations of his Mind ? by the fame Images which prefented themfelves, many ages before, to the Writer of the facred Poem we are now coniidering : fhofe words, " I die . . . . I go down to the Grave: *' My heart .... is hot as Sulphur -, greatly refembling that paffage, " Love is " ftrong as Death, Jealoufy is cruel as the •" Grave: the Coals thereof are Coals of " Fire, which hath a moft vehement Flame," Cant. viii. 6. Ibrahim indeed fpeaks of Sulphur, the Prophet of Coals of Wood that burn moft vehemently, of Juniper we may believe he means, from what is faid Pfalm cxx. 4, in oppofition to embers of Cow- Dung, of which the Eaftern Fires chiefly coniift, ■cf the Song of Solomon. iji confift d , or elfe Thorns, which alfo burn with great ftrength and violence, Ecclef. vii. 6. But as there- is no difficulty as to the meaning of thefe words of Solomon's. Song, and the Similarity between the paf- fages is all that is to be taken notice of, nothing more need be faid on this point. . Thus far the Song of Ibrahim leads us. It is no wonder Lady Montague was fo ftxuck with it, as bearing fuch a Refem- blance to the Song of Solomon. Thofe of my Readers that have read the Article in D'Herbelot concerning Haflan the Son of Sahal or Sohail, whofe daughter Touran Dokht was married to the Khalife Al Ma- mon, and the Nuptials folemnized with extraordinary magnificence, and celebrated by all the Poets of that time, who vied with each other in the eompofing of Epi- thalamiums on the occaiion, will perhaps wim fome Writer had given us thofe Love- Songs, that we might have compared them too with this made on the Marriage of So- lomon, as we have Ibrahim's : but I am afraid they are irrecoverably loft ; we will d See Obferv. on clivers Paflages of Scripture, ch. iv. Obf. 4. there- 172 Obfervations on detached Places therefore now turn to a celebrated Poem among the Greeks, written on the fubjecl: of the Marriage of one of their Princes, to a Princefs of that Nation of moil; exquifite Beauty, which has been frequently quoted by Commentators on this Song, though it is by no means comparable to the Song of Ibrahim in point of refemblance. Observation XVIII. Among the unpolified Similes of this Jewifh Poem, as a modern Weftern Reader is ready to think them % perhaps there is not one that feems more uncouth than that of chapter i. 9, u I have compared thee, " O my Love, to a Company of Horfes in " Pharaoh's Chariots;" or, as the Author of the New Tranflation tells us the word literally fignifies, " to my Mare\ which is agreeable to the Septuagint Verfion alfo. On which he remarks, with great propriety, that the Learned have obferved that Theo- critusy in a Greek Epitba!a7niu?n, has made ufe of the very fame image to exprefs the e See Spectator, No. 160. { Notes, p. 56. 5 Agree- of the Song of Solomon. \j>> Agreeablenefs of Helen, comparing her to a Thefalian Animal of that kind in a Cha- riot. If Grecian Elegance admitted this, it is no wonder a Song compofed in more an- cient times has made ufe of this Simile. But what I would obferve upon this paf- fage is, that if we may believe Maillet, the horfes of &gypt are remarkable for their 'Beauty and Statelinefs, and are fent as Pre- fents of great value to the great Men of Conftantinople, but that Strangers cannot procure them, and that he himfelf, though Conful General, could not obtain permiffion, to tranfport only two of them g ; arid that it appears from the Old Teftament they were not lefs valuable anciently, being eagerly fought for by the Kings of Syria \ On the other hand, I would remark that the Eaflern People are excerlively attached to their Horfes, particularly the Arabs, who are fond of them as if they were Children. D'Arvieux in particular gives a diverting account, of the affectionate Careffes an Arab ufed to give a Mare of his, he had fold to a Merchant at Rama, when he came to fee s Let. 9 & 13. h 2 Chron, i. 17. it, 1 74 Obfervaiions on detached Places it, (which was very frequently,) he would weep over it for Tendernefs, kifs its Eyes, and when he departed, go backwards, bidding it Adieu in the moft tender man- ner \ The comparing her to fuch a Jlately Creature, and thofe that were in the Cha- riots of Pharaoh, were doubtlefs the moft noble they could find in the country; and to an Animal treated in the Eaft with fo much Veneration and Tendernefs, are two confideratiofis that, put together, may ferve very much to take off the difagreeable Im- preffions this comparifon is wont to make on people of the Welt, and may account for its being ufed in the Epithalamiwn of Helen, as well as in that of the Princefs of JEgypt. Tallnefs and a majeftic Corpulence is what Theocritus feems to have had in view, and are, I fuppofe, the Qualities the Ifraelitifh Singers intended. Such were the horfes of JEgypt as well as of ThefTaly ; and this liking to Corpulence is remarkable in the Eafl to this day : fo the Travels of Egmont and Heyman obferves, that Cor- pulency is in high EJleem, efpecially amo?2g 1 Voy. dans la Pal. p. 164, 165. 5 . the of the Song of Solomon. 175 the forks, and that the fupreme Beauty in all thefe parts is a large fat Body, and pro- minent Breajls . Observation XIX. When Theocritus in this Epithalamium fays, that the Bridal Bed-Chamber was newly-written, before which the Virgins danced, Hpocfre reoypoLTriot) GaAajonw %ogov sscx.cra.rJo, I cannot help thinking, that he intimates the ancient Grecian Rooms were like thofe of the modern Eaftern people, adorne'd with Sentences painted on the wainfcotting ', which on the occafion of Helen's marrying with Menelaus were new done, and the Sen- tences accommodated with Art to that occafion. I am very fenfible the word may be tranilated new-painted ; but as fuch a circumftance would hardly have deferved to be mentioned, fo probably the word ygatqfci k Vol. I. p. 93. 1 Shaw, p. 209. Their deling is generally of Wain - fcot, either very artfully painted, or elfe thrown into a variety of pannels, with gilded mouldings and fcrolh of their Koran intermixed, &c. would 176 Obfervations on detached "Places would never have been ufed for painting as well as writing, had it not been ufual for them to have words, as well as flowers, and other lively ornaments, painted in their Rooms. And when I think of this circumftance, it feems to me to throw fome light on a pafTage of this Song of Solomon, which has hitherto been very obfcure : the words are, " The Midft thereof being paved with " Love, for the Daughters of Jerufalem." The Author of the New Tranflation fup- pofes, with le Clerc, that it fignifies that the middle thereof was wrought in needle-* work, by the Daughters of fei-ufalem, as a teflimony of their Love, or out of regard > but the fupplemental words here in his Notes, as well as in his Tranflation, are too many, and too important to be eafily admitted. But if we fuppofe that the Co- vering of the bottom of this Royal Vehicle, was wrought by the Daughters of Jerufalem, not only with Flowers and fuch like Orna- ments, but with well chofen Sentences, fet- ting forth the amiable Qualities of the Bride, and Solomon's Love to her, nothing is more eafy than the paflage tranflated with great Simplicity, of the Song of Solomon, ijy Simplicity, " The Midft thereof paved," or if you will, " glowing like a Coal [with] " Love, by the Daughters of Jerufalem," where no fupplemental Word is introduced but the prepofkion withy which they, that know any thing at all of the Genius of the Hebrew language, will admit is very often to be fupplied. So Letters were anciently embroidered on Veftments : agreeable to which, St. John in the Apocalypfe reprefehts the Lord Jefus, as having on his Vejlure and on his 'Thigh, or on that part of the Vefure that laid over his Thigh, a name written, 'King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. So the mo- dern Hangings that are fent yearly from Cairo to Mecca, to place about the Holy- Hbufe there, as the Mohammedans reckon it, are embroidered all over with Letters of Gold, as long, broad, and thick as a per- fon's finger m . The Embroidery of the Carpet that covered the bottom of this Vehicle of King Solomon ieems to have been of the fame kind, * Thevenot, part I. p. 149, N O 2 S E R- 178 Oofervations on detached Places Observation XX. Diftant as the ways of writing of the? Greeks and the Hebrews were from each other, yet both agreed in their Nuptial Songs to compare a beauteous Bride to the Morning. The Prophet in thofe words, " Who is me that looketh forth as the " Morning" and Theocritus in the middle of his Epithalamium. The Notes of the New Tranflation have taken notice of this, but as I am comparing thefe three Songs of Love it ought not to be omitted. Observation XXI. Theocritus alfo compares Helen to 3 Cyprefs-T'ree in a Garden. This is quite according to the Eaftern Taile, Cyprefs- Trees being planted very commonly in their Gardens, and in the Courts of their houfes, being greatly admired on account of their Tallnefs, their Smell, and other agreeable Qualities. So HafTelquifl found the Cy- preffes of very great height about Smyrna; and fays they are agreeable both Summer and bf the Song of Solomon* 179 and Winter to the Sight and the Smell*. Thefe were planted in the Burial-Places about Smyrna, and he fays the Turks efleem them Mourning-Trees 5 however it appears from other Authors that they plant them in the Court-yards of their houies % and their gardens: fo Lady Montague defcribes her Garden at Adrianople as full of tall Cy- prefs-Trees, Vol; II. p. 39* and tells us that the Garden of the Seraglio, (or Em- peror's Palace,) at Constantinople, is full of Cyprefs-Trees, Vol. III. p* 12. They am not then fo trees of Mourning as not to appear in Gardens of Pleafure and Joy* The thought is jufl the fame > though a different tree is mentioned, when the Jewifli Poet fays, " Thy Stature is like to a Palm- " Tree," Cant. vii. 7. The Palm-Tree being remarkable for its height, as well as the Cyprefs ; and appears to have had fome particular' relation to Judaea, being ftamped on the Roman Coins which reprefent that Province, and being fpoken of by their Writers, when they ipeak of that country, though there are few of them now to be feen there.. ■ P. 27. 28. c SeeRufieli; N 2 An I So Obfervations on detached Places An Apocryphal Jewifh Writer has twice joined them together to exprefs the fame Idea, that of Height. " I was exalted " as a Cyprefs-Tree upon the mountains of " Hermon," fays the Son of Sirach, fpeak- ing concerning Wifdom, " I was exalted " like a Palm-Tree in Engaddi," Ecclefi- afticus xxiv. 13, 14; and of Simon the High-Prieft, the Son of Onias, he fays, he was " As a Cyprefs-Tree which groweth up " to the clouds .... as a young Cedar in " Libanus, and as Palm-Trees compalfed " they him" (the inferior Priefts that is,} " round about," ch. 1. 10, 12. Observation XXII. The Virgins in Theocritus propofed to return again, early in the Morning, with their Songs, and therefore bade them take care and awake early, and not forget, fmce asfoon as the Cock had crowed they fiould be there : it being it feems the cuftom on thofe occafions, to fmg before the Nuptial Cham- ber when the Bridegroom and the Bride withdrew to bed, and again early in the morning. That of the Song of Solomon. 181 That which appears to have been prac- tifed among the Greeks on thofe occafions, feems to have been ufed at all times among the Eaftern Kings. So the Arabian Night's Entertainments reprefent the Mohammedan CalifFs, as wont to be fur rounded by young a?id handfome Ladies in a morning, with all forts of Instruments of Mufic in their hands, Jlanding with great Mo defy and RefpecJ, who on their fitting up in their Beds, in order to rife, prof rated themfelves, and thofe with Inftruments of Mafic began a Concert of f oft Flutes, Sec. In the Halls in which they eat and drank, Bands of Mulicians are fuppofed to attend them in like ma?iner ? . As fome- thing of this was practifed in the Court of David, as appeareth from the words of Barzillai to that King, when he invited him to Jerufalem, and propofed to have him eat at his Table, " Can thy Servant tafte what " I eat or what I drink ,? can I hear any rt more the Voice of Singing-Men and " Singing- Women ?" q we may be fatisned it was ufed in that of Solomon, who excelle4 his PredeceiTors in Magnificence. p Vol. IX. p. 20, 21, 32, 33. 1 2 Sam. xix. 35. N 3 To 1 82 Obfervaiions an detached Places To this ciifiomary early M ufic I preiume the Queen refers, ch. iii. 5. It is certain it could not refer to any part of the Marriap-e Ceremonial, fmce this pafiage vifibly rer ktes to Solomon's cohabitation with one that had been for fome time his Queen 5 it mould allude then, I imagine, to the cuf- tomary morning Mufic that was played when the King awoke from his Sleep, like that which was played in the hearing of Perfons of a much lower Station the morn- ing after the Solemnization of their Mar- riage. The Charge, I mould fuppofe, ra- ther exprciTmg her Affection and the Joy ihe had in his Prefence, than intended to jniinuate they were in common wont to awake the King out of Sleep : the Rever- ence and Awe with which Oriental Majefty v/as treated, hardly allowing that fuppo- fition. If this pafiage is not to be confidered as, relating to his Nuptials, it will not be ne- ceffary to underhand the two other places, Cant. ii. 7, and ch. via. 4, as relating to them. A very beautiful Poem, in a very cele- brated Collection ofpapeis, paraphrafes the c fecond of the Song of Solomon, 183 fecond chapter of this Song, and illuflrates the words, '* I charge ye, O ye Daughters " of Jerufalem that ye ftir not up, nor " awake my Love, till he pleafe/' in thefe lines, " I charge you, Nymphs of Shn, as you go " Arm'd with the founding Quiver and the » Bow, " Whilft thro the lonefome Woods you rove, " You ne'er diilurb my ileeping LoveV I leave it entirely to my Reader to judge, .when he lays afide the Prejudice the foftnefs of Poetry may produce, which Illuftration is moft natural, the fuppofing him awaked by the Virgins of Zion in a lonefome Wood, as they purfued their hunting ; or by the Singing- Women that attended on him ; and will only obferve, that his Sleeping in the third chapter is plainly fuppofed to be in tl? Jloufe of his Mother-in-law. r Sped. No. 38 P, N 4. PA K. 1 [ lS 4 3 PART III. Q_u e R I e s concerning the reft of this Sacred Poem. ^PHE thing of the greatefi importance -■■ to be done with refpect. to the Song or Solomon, is to fhew its main Intention and its Ufe, this I have attempted to do in the firft Part. I have alfo mentioned feveral things relating to the Structure of the Poem there; and made fome Obfervations expla- natory of feveral diftinct paiTages in the fe- cond, which are the more amufinp- to the Imagination, as I have derived them, for the moft part, from two other celebrated Eaftern Songs of Love, the one Ancient, the other Modern. I might perhaps here have finifhed my difquifitions with fufficient propriety, as I am only propofing to draw the Outlines of a Commentary on this book; but as feveral other things have occurred, tending to fupport what I have already ad- vanced, as well as to illustrate fome other matters through the whole Poem, I would propofc them to the candid Reader as £>ue- 5 riesi Queries concerning the reft, &c. 185 rks, which may deferve fome attention. When the leading Confideratrons are ad- jufted, and fixed witlva good deal of Pre- cifion and Conviction, flill the Explanation of fo obfeure a Poem may be moulded into very different forms ; and will admit of confiderable Variety in the forming things into a regular and cohering Syftem. This I fhall leave to fome future Interpreter, my intention being only to remove fome Ob- flructions, and furnifh fome Materials, to make the labours of fuch a future Writer fomewhat the more eafy. Poffiblyfcme of my good-natured Readers may imagine I might, conformably to the terms I have before ufed, have called fome of thefe Queries Remarks, and others Ob- fervations. I mall be glad they may ap- pear fo clear and convincing, but I rather choofe to call them ail Queries, as the Sub- ject is undoubtedly of an obfeure nature,- and mail be very well pleafed if my Readers mall not be inclined to think fome of my Remarks, and of my Obfervations, ought rather to have been called by the fame term of dubioufnefs. Should things appear to them in that light, I mail not think it ftranee, 1 86 Queries concerning the reji ftrange, and indeed I would not have it underilood i" am rnyfelf very pofitive about them. I propofe them with fome diffidence, but with much more many things that follow. QJJ ERY I. May not a Tent be made a very fit Em- blem of Beauty ? Might not fome of thofe of Antiquity be {o y and in particular thofe of Solomon ? f f I am black, but comely, O *' ye Daughters of Jerufalem, as the Tents ** of Kedar, as the Curtains of Solomon." Modern Tents are fometimes very beauti- ful. " It muft be owned," fays the Tra- vels of Egmont and Heyman s , " that the " Turks fpare for nothing in rendering their *.* Tents convenient and magnificent . Thofe " belonging to the Grand Signior were ex-* " ceeding fplendid, and covered entirely with " Silk; and one of them lined with a rich f< filk fluff, the right fide of which was the *' apartment for the Eunuchs. But even " this was exceeded by another, which I iC was informed colt twenty-five thoufand 8 Vol. I. p. 212. *< piafters. of this Sacred Poem. 187 " piafters. It was made in Periia, and " intended as a Prefent to the Grand Sig- te nior, and was not finifhed in lefs than " three or four years The Outfide of *< this Tent was not indeed remarkable, but " it was lined with a fingle piece made of " Camel's hair, and beautifully decorated " with Feftoons and Sentences in the Tur- '■ kim language." The Improvements that have been made in late ages have been very connderable, but there were very magnificent Tents be- fore the time of Solomon, witnefs that fa- cred Hent made by Mofes in the Wilde'rnefs. The Tents then of Solomon were doubtlefs extremely glorious, as he was a Prince that lived in very great fplendor, as well as his lefs moveable places of Abode. When then me is reprefented as comparing herfelf to the Curtains, or the Tents, of Solomon for Comelinefs, it is fuppoiing that me claimed to herfelf great Beauty ; though me acknowledged herfelf of a dufky comolexion by likening herfelf to the Tents of Kedar, or of the Wild Arabs, whole Tents are piade of black goat's hair. QJJ ERY J 88 Queries concerning the reft QJJ E R Y II. Is not this Blacknefs which is afcribed to the Princefs of /Egypt to be confidered as adventitious F And the reafon given for it by no means to be literally underflood ? It may perhaps have been imagined, that her natural complexion was dufky; and it is not impoflible that the fwarthy hue of our Gypiies, or pretended JEgyptian For- tunetellers, may have prefented itfelf to fome minds on this occafion ; but it feems plainly to be fuppofed here, that this black- nefs of her fkin was a thing the Damfels of Ifrael did not expecl, and that it was adven- titious and extraordinary \ fince a caufe is affigned for it. Agreeably to this, D'Arvieux obferves of the Arabs of the Holy-Land, that though the ordinary women are extremely tawny, yet that their PrincerTes are not fo, but of a very clear complexion 1 , being always kept from the Sun. This he faw with his own Eyes, as to fome of them, and he was amired the other PrincerTes were the fame. Dr. Shaw made a like obfervation as to the 1 Fort blanches are the words of la Roque, p. 214. Women of this Sacred Poem. 189 Women of Barbary : that the Arabians are very fwarthy, and of a dark complexion, thofe doubtlefs he means that he law, who were expofed to the Sun ; but the Moori/Jj Women, by which term we know he means the Arab Women that live in Towns and Cities, and who therefore were iheltered from the Sun, would be reckoned Beauties, even in Gr cat -Brit ai?i, and that we have a wrong notion of the Moors in taking them for a fwarthy People u . The fame therefore we may, without queflion, believe of the WoiJien of /Egypt, and confequently of this Princefs, as to her natural complexion. Maillet himfelf allows it, when he fays they are pretty fair, [aifez belles are his words,] though he lets us know the Na- tives of that country are wont to be de- fpifed by the Turks, who generally efpoufe women from Circaffia, Mingrelia, Georgia, and other countries, where the blood is more exquifite. Which is alfo farther con- firmed by his remarking, that they are the Abyjjin W'omen, (who are much more to the South than the ^Egyptians,) whofe na- tural Complexion is fomewhat fwarthv, 01% to u P- 241. r. t I go Queries concerning the reft ipeak he lays with greater exadtnefs, of the colour of that mixt metal called Bronze, when new~cafl w . The fwarthy colour of the Spou fe then was not natural. But the reafon affigned for it, is furely by no means to be literally underflood, but ought to be coniidered as poetically ex- prefied : the want of attending to this has led Interpreters into itrange Abfurdities. In the firft place, can the words [Mo- ther's Children] be fuppofed to mean her Brothers and Sifters ? would the Sons and the other Daughters of Pharaoh have been fuffered to rnifuje a Sifter j in fuch a manner as to force her to afiume a very mean Em- ployment ? The fuppofition of Father Hou* bigant, which the Author of the New Trails ilation mentions s without either Cenfure or Praife, is flill more infupportable; for would the Children of her Mother by another Fa- ther have been fuffered thus to have ufed a Daughter of the reigning Prince f Surely the expreffion is rather to be underflood of her Countrymen, nothing being more com- mon in the Old Teilament, than to fpeak of Cities and Kingdoms under the name of w Let. ii. * Notes, p. 54. Mothers, of this Sacred Poem. 191 Mothers, and to call their Inhabitants their Children. The keeping of Vineyards, in the next place, is not a Female Employment. Vine- yards, in thofe countries, are watched 7 , but not by Women. The Eaftern Women were, and flill are, engaged in very Jlavijh works, they fetch Water, they cut Wood, &c, z but they are never rep relented in Scripture, nor, fo far as I have obferved, in modern Travellers, as dreffing y or as watching Vineyards : thefe are the Employ- ments of the Men. Doth it not, in con- fequence, follow from hence, that her -keep- ing their Vineyards, and negledling her gw%, can only mean her promoting their Intereits at the expence of neglecting her own ? Laftly, if we come to confider what could have been mentioned with proprietv } in a Poem where me was celebrated, perhaps in a Proceflion-Song with which me was in- troduced to Solomon, could any thing of this fort have been mentioned, but the Lofs of her Beauty by the fcorching of the Sun, in a journey her Countrymen had put her y Pococke's Trav. Vol. II. p. 137. z Shaw, p. 241. Voy. dans la Paleftine, p. 230. upon 192 Queries concerning the rejl upon with Warmth, as fuiting their Interejls and their Views, but which had coil her that, which was the proper concern of a Lady to preferve ? Look not upon me with Contempt, becaufe I am Black, becaufe the Sun has looked upon me : my Countrymen were difpleafcd with me, becaufe I propofed a de~ laying this Journey for the better preferving my Complexion, and in giving way to their Defres, I have confulted their Concerns at the expence of my own. No other Anger could furely have been gracefully mentioned on this occafion. Moil: ill-judged would have been the mentioning, on fuch an occa- iion as this, any difgrace me might have iuffered from her own Family or her Coun- trymen, when ihe is defcribed as intro- ducing as a Bride into the Prefence of a moil: powerful and magnificent King. But un- derftood after the manner I have been pro- poling, it is obliquely, and confequently with the greater Politenefs, paying an high Compliment to Solomon : for it is iniinua- ting, that the Zeal of the ./Egyptians to ac- cept the propofals of an Alliance with So- lomon was fuch, as to hurry on the Journey of a Princefs of the Blood Royal of their ancient of this Sacred Poem, 1 9 3 ancient Kings, and oblige her to pafs thofe Deferts in a time when the Sun muft injure her Beauty. The Coolnefs of the Winter certainly fa- vours the Complexion, and a Journey in the Spring frequently extremely tarniflies it. It is to be remembered it was in April this Lady was brought to Judsea^ a month, in thefe countries, oftentimes extremely hot. There were doubtlefs Contrivances, then in ufe, to preferve the face from the vio- lent Impreffions of the . Sun's Heat -, and that a Princefs of iEgypt; going to be mar- ried to a potent King, had all the Convex niencies thofe times knew, muft be fup- pofed; but then we are to confider thofe were very early days of the World* and that travelling in the Eaft, with all the Ad van-* tages they noza know, is ftiil oftentimes at- tended with Effects fimilar to thofe here complained of* So Thevenot tells us a , that "when he travelled into Mefopotamia, though he w,ore upon his head a. great black hand- kerchief, like a Woman s hood, which fort of handkerchiefs the Turks commonly ufe upon - 1 Part IT. p. 52. O the J 94 Queries concerning the reft the road> yet his Forehead was fcorched many times, and his Hands continually. QJJ E R Y III. Was there not a particular Beauty in the making the Bride here compare herfelf ta the Curtains of Solomon ? Is it not to be fuppofed that his Tent, and the Tents of his Attendants, were fet up, at this time, in all the Pomp that attends Royalty and Mag- nificence ? The Bridegroom is fuppofed in this Poem to have gone out to receive his Bride, and the Daughters of Jerufalem confequently to go out to meet them both b . This was not at all beneath his Dignity, efpecially confidering who the Bride was. Thus the Khalife Al Mamon, according to D'Herbe- lot c , went to Fommalfaleh, (a City built on the Tigris between Vafetb and Coufah,) in order to receive Touran-Dokht his Bride,, the daughter of the brother of his Vizir and Favourite, who lived in this town, and to conduct her from thence to the Imperial * Ch. iii. ii, and viii. 5. e Voy. 1'Article Hafian Fils de Sahal. Palace. of this Sacred Poem* 195 Palace. A Khalife was a Prince of the greateft Dignity among the Mohammedans, and it mould feem fuch an one went from Bagdad, where the Imperial Palace was, to Fommalfaleh, a town at a conliderable dis- tance, to receive his Bride, who was only the daughter of one of his Subjects, though a perfon of great diftinclion among them : ho wonder then Solomon went out of Jeru-» falem to receive a Princefs of /Egypt. It is not however fiippojed that he went, like Al Mamon, to the dwelling-place of his Father-in-law to receive his Bride : when they entered Jerufalem it was only the day of bis E/pouJa/s, ch, iii. 1 1 j and the Marriage was unconfummated, ch. iv. 12. Confiderations of Importance forbad his going into iEgypt ; Policy might prohibit it; and the StriSinefs of the Law of God againft Idols on the one hand, and the vehement Superjiition of the /Egyptians on the other, certainly did. Not to fay Meeting on the Road in Marriage Solemnities was no un- nfual thing. So the Arab Bridegroom, mentioned by the Apocryphal Hiftorian d , went forth with his Friends and Brethren to d 1 Macca. ix. 37 — 39. O 2 meet 1 96 Queries concerning the' reft meet his Bride, who was then bringing f? him with a great train, as being the daugh- ter of one of the great Princes of Chanaan, to ufe the terms of that Writer. So Ifaac, the Son of Abraham, who lived like a mighty Prince among the ancient inhabitants of the Holy-Land, went out to meet his Bride, who was bringing to him from Me- fopotamia e .. For I can by no means fuppofe, as I think is generally done, that that Meeting of Ifaac and Rebekah was cafual and unde- fined: the Eaftern People are, and always have been, too ceremonious to admit fuch a fuppofition. No! as there was fuch a Number of Servants fent to fetch her, who were now returning home with that Bride, one of them, without doubt, had been dif- patched before to give notice of her ap- proach. The Genius of that people re- quires us to fuppofe this ; as doth alfo, I think, the account that is given us of Ifaac's going out to meet her. Devout Writers have understood it as Signifying, that Ifaac went out to meditate, or to pray. They are both, doubtlefs, duties of great im- * Gen. xxiv. 63, 65. portance, 54. *' our of this Sacred Poem. 219 our Trivet, by the Arabians called Al- canna, or 'Henne, &c, which they have from /Egypt, where (but above all in Cayro) they grow in abundance : The Turks and Moors nurfe thefe up with great care and diligence, becaufe of their fweet-fmelling Flowers, and put them into . earthen Pots, or wooden Cafes or Boxes, to keep them in the Winter in Vaults from the Froji, which they cannot endure. And becaufe they hardly begin to fprout before Aagiifi, they water them with Soapfuds, but others lay Lime about the root, to make it put forth the earlier, that it may flower the fooner, becaufe of thePleafantnefs of the Smell of the Flowers, which is fomewhat like Mufk : they are of a pale yellow colour, and ftand in Spikes of the length of a Span, but not very clofe, fo that leaves appear between them." Then after having: given an ac- count of the great ufe that is made of the leaves of this Plant in thofe countries, for flaming the Hair and the Nails of a red Colour z , Rauwolff obferves, that this Shrub ? Dr. Shaw calls it a tawny Saffron colour. is 220 Queries concerning the rejl is mentioned in the firft chapter of Solo- mon's Song. Other Writers dwell chiefly on the great ufe that is made of the leaves of this plant, when dried and powdered, for tinging the hair, the hands, the feet, &c, but RauwolrT takes notice of the exquifite Fragrance of its Flowers ; he defcribes its Flowers as growing in Spikes or Clutters ; he mentions its tendernefs, that it would not bear cold, and accordingly it is fpoken of as growing in the vineyards of Rn-gedi, which was a place in a very warm fituation ; and he mentions its coming from JEgypt, where it feems it is greatly cultivated, from whence the Bride of Solomon came. What I have farther to add here is a curious remark of Flailelquiit, who affures us he faw the Nails offome Mummies tinged with the x\l-hennah a . For fince Mummies are very antique things, the Al-hennah muft have been in high efteem among the very ancient ^Egyptians ; and if ufed by them for tinging the Nails, as now, we may believe "was admired for thzfragrancy of the 3 P, 246. Flowers of this Sacred Poem. 221 Plovers then as it is in thefe times. It is certain it was known to them, and it is not to be fuppofed the tinging virtue of its leaves mould have been earlier remarked than the odoriferonfnefs of its Flowers. How it came to be tranflated Camphire, in our verfion, we need not enquire ; but the marginal tranijation [Cyprefs] appears to be derived from the Septuagint, where the word is xvirg©*, which, how nearly fo ever it refembles our word Cyprefs, is known by the learned to mean this very plant Al- heimah, and not that tree we call Cyprefs, So St. Jerome fpeaks of it as a foreign Shrub ; though he affirms the fame word lignified a flowering Clufter of the Vine, and is inclined to underftand the word in the lafl fenfe b ; a ilrange want of judgment this, fmce he fuppofes this Cyprus, whatever is meant, was more odoriferous than the Spikenard and the Myrrh before fpoken of, which the Flowers of the Vine by no means are, though their Fragrance is very con- fiderable. b In Cant. Cantic. Horn, 2. QJJERY 222 Queries concerning the reft QJJ E R Y XI. Are not the three laft verfes of this chap- ter, (whether we confider them as a Con- tinuation of the Proceftional Songs of thefe Virgins, or as the Defcription the Poet would be underftood to give himfelf of what palTed,) to be confidered as defigned to reprefent the Converfation of the Bride and King together, in an interview previous to their fetting out for Jerufalem ? It feems from the hiflory of Ifaac c , that when a Bridegroom of diilinclion went out to meet his Bride, me was prefented to him on the Road, and that they converfed toge- ther ; it is natural then to fuppofe Solomon and the Princefs of iEgypt talked with each other in like manner. The third chapter refumes the account of the Bride, at the 6th verfe, and fpeaks of the conducting her in folemn pomp to Jerufalem ; and the intermediate words feem to relate to what palled between Solomon and fome former Wife of his & -, confequently thefe three verfes, now under consideration, mull be fuppofed to defcribe their conver- c Gen. xxiv. d See the firft part. fation of this Sacred Poem. 223 fation in the Wildernefs, or the Road be- tween the Wildernefs and Jerufalem, if they had any at all. Nor is it at all mate- rial to the underilanding them, however it may be requifke for the perfect explaining the Poem, to determine whether the Repre- fentation of their converting together be fuppofed to be given by the Virgins, in Sing- ing before her -, or by the Poet himfelf, in his own perfon, defcribing this Solemnity. If this Obfervation is juft — if thefe verfes are defigned to reprefent the Converfation between Solomon and his Bride, in this their Meeting on the Road, the conlidering in what light Poetry would, probably, then reprefent them, muft be the heft Key to decypher thefe words : now the repre- fenting him as pleafed with her Perfon, and expreffing it with great Affection, and pref- fing her to proceed in her journey, that the Marriage might be confummated - y her re- turning the Compliment with refpect, but with a Virgin Ba/hfulnefs, expreffing a loth' nefs to fet out ; and the Bridegroom on the contrary as prejjing her departure -, will not, I imagine, be thought unnatural. As Z2.A. Queries concerning the reft As to the iirft thing: the reprefenting him as pleafed 'with her Per/on, perfectly agrees with Ifaiah's defeription of a Bride-* groom's rejoicing over his Bride, " Thou " [Jerufalem] lhalt no more be termed, *' Forfaken, neither mall thy Land any " mere be termed Defolate : but thou lhalt "■ be called Hephzibah," that is, my De- light is in her .... for, " as the Bride- " groom rejoice th over the Bride, fo mail thy " God rejoice over thee," ch. lxii. 4, 5: the Bridegroom's rejoicing over his Bride, is his faying my Delight is in thee ; and that is perfectly anfwerable to the words, li Be- " hold, thou art Fair, my Love; behold, " thou art Fair." I have before fhewn that having Dove's Eyes naturally imports, that he hoped he faw in her Eyes a tender gentlenefs'% which gave her the. greater! degree of Amia- blenefs in his Eyes fhe could porTefs : " Be- " hold, thou art fair, my Love ; behold, <( thou art fair, [thou art fair indeed, for] '* thou hall the Eyes of Doves." Eyes tender and affectionate as that Bird has, « Part II. Obf. 13. 2 which of this Sacred Poem. 225 which is made the Symbol of a perfon dearly beloved, and whofe Name is there- fore made ufe of among the endearing ex- preffions, and fond epithets, with which a Prince addrefTes his Confort, ch.'v. 2. The purport of all this, and whither it tended, the ^Egyptian Princefs muft be fup- pofed perfectly to have apprehended, and this of courfe muft be imagined to draw after it, along with refpectful returns of his Agreeablenefs in her Eyes, fome expremon of lothnefs to leave the place in which fhe then was. Catullus points at fuch a difpo- fition and management in his Epithala- miurn, Clauftra pandite Janus Virgo adeft, Viden' ut faces Splendidas quatiunt -comas ? Sed morarisy abit dies; Prodeas, nova Nupta. 'Tardet ingenmis Pudor, Quern tamen magis audiens Flet, quod ire neceffe fit, Sed moraris, abit dies; Prodeas, nova Nupta. Shall we fuppofe the Delicacy of the Eaji did not operate in fuch cafes with equal Q^ force ? 226 Queries concerning the rejl force ? Or that an Eajlern Poet would for-* get to reprefent it,, when it might be pro- perly introduced, in a Nuptial Song ? If this is junv after paying a due Compliment to the Bridegroom — Behold thou art Fair, my Beloved,, yea pleafant : what follows is naturally underftood to be expreffive of a modeji Reluctance to go to Jerufalem, where the Marriage was to be confummated, in- finuated in the happier! manner — by com- mending the Sweet nefs of the place where- ihe then was. It is after fome fuch a man- ner as this, I imagine, the words [our Bed is green] are to be underftood, of which no tolerable account, fo far as I know, has* been given. It is very well known that Travellers in- general in thofe countries,, and efpecially Princes when attended with a numerous* Retinue, take care to have their Tents placed near fome Water when they ftop f . This management is of great Confequence in thofe hot and dry places. Now fuch places may be believed to be peculiarly ver- dant, and accordingly they are fo reprefented f See Obfervations on divers places of Scripture. by 6f this Sacred Poemt 2 27 by Travellers, as thofe that have read their accounts muft have frequently remarked. In a place of this kind, without doubt> Solomon encamped ; and the Agreeablenefs of it, which 'the Modefty of the Princefs 6f iEgypt might be fuppofed to lead her td mention, as a fort of plea to delay her fet- ting out for Jerufalem, is, it mould feem, what is meant by the expremon, " Our " Bed is green." The word tranflated Bed, I have elfe- where s obferved, feems to mean what was fpread on the floor of their Duans., and confequently is equivalent here to a Carpet, which the Eaftern people fpread anciently, as they do now, on fuch places, " Behold " thou art Fair, my Beloved," the very word ufed concerning the royal Bridegroom in the xlvth Pfilm, " Yea pleafant, but " our Carpet is Green," or " Flowery," as the word is rather fuppofed to mean by fbme, perhaps without {Sufficient foundation. This difference however is of no manner of confequence, fince where a Rill of Water flows, it will not only occafion Grafs to £ See Obfervations on divers places of Scripture, ch. 6. Obf. 19. Q_2 grow, 228 Queries concerning the reft grow, but Flowers alfo ; and as Flowers; render a place agreeable, fo mere Verdure is exquifitely pleating to an Eaftern Eye :- the general fenfe of the place will be the fame then, tranflate it either way, how ex- quifitely delightful is the place where we now are! Muft we, muft we then leave this charm- ing Abode- thus foonl The Reader will obferve that I have ren- dered the particle di/cretively, which in our Verfion is tranflated also: the Authority of Noldius will fupport me in this way of tranflating it. This would be indeed more eafy, and at the fame time convey the thought I am propofing to consideration with greater ftrength, if the Emendation: propofed by the Author of the New Tranfla?- tion be admitted, for then the Reading might be, " Behold thou art Fair, my Be- " loved : but Pleafant,. but Green, (or " Flowery,) is our Bed." But to judge folidly *of this, we muft firft fee Dr. Ken- nicott's Collections, and therefore I would make no ufe of Criticifms of that kind in thefe Papers ; though, I muft confefs, I am very much inclined to believe the Emenda- tion may be juft. The of this Sacred Poem, 229 The Reply of the Bridegroom perfectly cor- xefponds with this interpretation of the words of the Bride — " The Beams of our Houfe <( are Cedar, and our Rafters of Fir," or of Cyprefs, if the tranilation of the Seventy be right. But whatever the fecond fort of Wood may be thought to be, and however difficult it may be found perfectly to afcer- tain the fenfe of the original word tranflated Rafters in the text, but in the margin here, and in the text itfelf, in the viith chapter, Galleries, flill it is .evident the Bridegroom puts her in mind, that his houfe was an houfe of Cedar, which, every body knows, was efteemed in thofe days the nobleit. ha- bitation an human creature could live in h . Arife, my Love, and quit this place, plea- fant as it is, for equally pleafant, and much more commodious will you find the Abode to which I am conveying you, it being built of the fragrant Cedar, and of other precious Wood. The Temple itfelf was built of Cedar, and the other kind of wood here mentioned, if we fuppofe a fault in one lingle letter, h Confult 1 Chron. xvii. 1, and Jer. xxii. 14, 15. 0^3 a "d 239 Queries concerning the rejt and believe there was a Schin formerly in the word, where our prefent Copies have a Tau. QJJ E R Y XII. Might not the habitation of Chimham pro-? bably be the place where Solomon met the daughter pf Pharaoh ; or fome place there- abouts ? It would be a Temerity, like that of the, Monks that attend Pilgrims in the Holy-r Land, to pretend abfolutely to determine the place where Solomon met this Princefs. However it may not be amifs to remark, that the habitation of Chimham feems to be as likely to have been the place of Meeting as any. The Dijiance to which Solomon went, we may believe, was not very great j no greater than migh{ be very well travelled over between the decline of the Day and Midnight, notwithstanding the Slownefs in marching the Nuptial Pomp required. Travellers in the Eafl are wont to reft during the hotteft. hours of the day, of this their Journals afford us ample proof, and to of this Sacred Poem. 231 to this thofe words of the Song feem to refer, 'Tell ?ne, (O thou whom my Soul lovethy) where thoufeedejl, where thou makeji to reft at noon, for why Jhould I be, &c. Again, Nuptial Proceflions were wont to he in the Night: fo our Lord reprefents the Cry — The Bridegroom cometh, as made at Midnight, Matt. xxv. 6. Accordingly, the Entrance of Solomon into ferufalem with his Bride is fuppofed to be in the Night. Every Man hath his Sword upon his Thigh, be- caufe of Fear in the Night, ch. iii. 8. The habitation of Chimham anfvvers all this, being near Bethlehem, which is known to be onlyjix miles diftant from Jerufalem; and, if we may have any dependence on Tradition, the place where Philip baptized the ^Ethiopian Eunuch was not very far from Bethlehem, which place of Baptifm St. Luke tells us was in the Road to Gaza, and that Road called the Defert, or Wilder- nefey Acts viii. At the fame time, it ap- pears to have been a place fit for the Ac- commodation of a confiderable number of people, for there Johanan and his troops, with the Remnant of the People whom Ifh- mael attempted to carry away captives, flop- 0^4 pedi 232 Queries- concerning the reft fed-, and the laft place it mould feem, in the Road that way to ./Egypt, proper for the flopping of a large body of people, Johanan getting, as it fhould feem, as near the bor- ders of the country as he conveniently could, before he finally determined whether they mould go into iEgypt or not \ What place more proper then for the Reception of this Princefs by Solomon, fo far as ap- pears to us ? But becaufe it feems to us very probably to have been the place, it doth not therefore necejfarily follow this was the place of Meeting. I only propofe it as a Query. QJJ E R Y XIII. As this firft chapter concludes with a defcription of a Royal Palace, and at ch. iii, 6. the account of the Journey to Jerufalem is refumed, is it not moil natural to fuppofe that all the intermediate part relates to an- other fubject? and as part of it certainly refers to a former Wife of Solomon k , is it not reafonable to interpret the whole of this part of it of her ? * Jeremiah xli. 17. k See ch. iii. 1, and the firft part of this work. QU £RY of this Sacred Poem. 233 QJJ E R Y XIV. If it be admitted, that the firft words of the fecond chapter are to be understood as uttered with a tone of Complaint, which is a fuppofition of the ingenious Author of the New Translation \ yet is it necefTary to fuppofe it refers to Beauty ? May we not- more probably underftand the expreilions as relating to the difference of Birth f as fignifying, / am a mere Rofe of the Field, where thoufands and thonfands grow of equal value; and a Lily of the V allies, where-there are fo many that no lingle one can attract much Attention, or be greatly efeemed ? That the Sentiment of this Tranflator is right in the general, and that they are to be confidered as depretiating words, uttered with a tone of Complaint, mult, I think, be juft, from the Nature of the King's An- fwer. But then I think that it is moil probable, that the turn of thought is fome- what different from that propofed by this Writer. » Notes, p. 58, 59. For 2 34 Queries concerning the rejl For as me was an Ifraelitefs that here fpeaks, according to my manner of explain- ing this Song, who had for fome time been the principal Wife of Solomon, without any Rival, it was natural for the Sacred Poet to reprefent her as beginning her Ex- populations with Solomon, on his Marriage with a Daughter of Pharaoh, with fome Complaint of this kind, in which fhe fpeaks of herfelf degradingly, or rather as likely to have little fhare now, in the Attention of his Mind, Jirongly impreifed with the Ideas of Royal Birth ; of Defcent from a Family 7 or a Race of Kings, of great Antiquity™ -, of being born in a foreign country greatly cele- brated in the world: No! I am no more in your EJieem now, O King! than a cojnmon Flower of the fewijh Fields, placed before you in company with fome admired Exotic. The circumftances of that time perfectly agrees with this thought : for as theEaflern People now are very fond of foreign Plants, and cultivate them with care^ as we learn from Dr. RufTell -, fo curious Exotics were highly valued in the time of Solomon. I m Ifaiah xix. II. need of this Sacred Poem, 235 fieed not cite Jofephus to prove this, his own words, (Ecclef. ii. 4, 5,) do that fuffi^ ciently, efpecially if they are connected with fome paflages of this Song : " I planted me *' Vineyards, L made me Gardens and Or- c hards" which fort of places, according to eh. iv. ver. 13, 14, of this Song, produced the moil precious foreign Plants of Per- fume. Alluding then to the circumftances of that time, me mournfully compares herfelf to a common neglected Flower ofthejewife Fields, and this Princefs ©f the houfe of Pharaoh to fome curious /Egyptian, or other Foreign Plant, highly valued and ejleemed ; expreffing the firft part of the thought in direct terms, while the other is left, by a mofl beautiful Supprefjion of the Poet, to the imagination of the reader to fupply, " I, I am a mere f common Flower which grows in every " fruitful Field, and one that throws itfelf *' out in every moift fpot of ground" And having faid this, her Vexation is fup- pofed to make her itop, while the Imagi- nation of every Reader may be thought readily to add, what fhe would have faid to Solomon 236 Queries concerning the reft Solomon concerning her Rival, and his high Efteem of that Princefs. As to the Flowers meant by the original words, it may be difficult to determine with Precifion what they are; but if we take them, as our Tranflators have done, for Flowers of the Rofe and of the Liliaceous kinds ; and if prefent Ufages obtained as anciently as the time of Solomon; thejewifh Queen might with great Energy fet the pro- ductions of fome of thefe kinds in iEgypt, In oppolition to fome kinds of thefe Flowers that grew in Judaea, to which fhe compared herfelf. For HarTelquift. tells us n , that the white Rofe, which is cultivated, in great quantities, in the province of Fajhum in /Egypt, emits the moft fragrant Odour of any he hadfeen. 'That incredible quantities of Rofe -Water are diftilled from this Jpecies, fold in /Egypt, and tranfported into foreign countries ; theJLafiern People ufing the Water in a luxurious manner, fprinkling it on the Head, Face, Hands, and Clothes of thofe Guefts they mean to honour. If this was an ancient pra&ice, confiderable quantities, with- * P. 248, 249. 2 out of this Sacred Poem. i^y out doubt, were itfed in the Court of Solo- mon, and this Rofe of /Egypt muft appear much more precious than flowers of that Genus that grew in Judsa, and be referred to by this Lady, when, in contradift.inc~t.ion from the Daughter of Pharaoh, me calls herfelf a Rofe of Sharon, or of the Field. In like manner, as precious Balfams are at this day, according to HalTelquift, wont to be prefented to the great people of the Eaft , fo he tells us, the /Egyptians put the blof fotns of the Tuber of e y (which is by fome of our Writers on Gardening exprefly called a Flower of the Lily kind,) into fuoeet OiI y and by that means they give the Oil a mojl excellent Jmell*. If they did fo anciently, and fuch a kind of Unguent was fent into Judaea with other Perfumes, might me not in like manner, in the tone of Complaint, compare herfelf to a Syrian Plant o£ the Lily kind, wont to grow in low lands % and the daughter of Pharaoh to an /Egyptian P. 294. p P. 267. 1 Every one almoft knows, that the Lilies cf the Vallies, in Solomon's Song, do not mean thofe delight- ful Flowers which we call by that name, but which grow in Woods. Tu^eroje, ^3^ Queries concerning the fefi Tuberofe, which gave fuch an exquifite Fragrancy to the Oil in whieh they were infufed ? But it Will foon appear to be doubtful, what the true meaning is of the words tran- flated Rofe and Lily. QJJ E R Y XV, Is not the fuppofition juft, that what is tranflated Apple-Tree, Cant. ii. 3, mould rather have been rendered the Citron-Tree? " As the Citron among the Trees of the *' Wood, fo is my Beloved among the Sons." Thus it is rendered in the New Tranjla- tion y upon the Authority of the Chaldee Paraphrafe ; and thofe that would more particularly examine this point, may con- fult the Obfervations on divers paflages of Scripture, Ch. IV. Obf. 3 1 . Thus under* ftood, it is an exquifite compliment paid to the King. QJJ E R Y XVI. . If there is the fame turn in the preceding words, a§ in this 3d verfe, the original word of this Sacred Poem. 23^ word was not defigned to exprefs a Lily r but the flower of fome thorny Shrub, is it not therefore moil probable that it is to be underflood of a Wild Rofe ? and that the firft. word of the firft verfe is to be under- ilood as referring to the fame Flower, either fignifying a Flower in genera/ as the Sep- tuagint underflood the word ; or as another term to exprefs that very Flower in par- ticular ? It feems to me moil probable, that only one Flower is meant in the firft. verfe, fince only one is mentioned in the return piade by the King in the 2d verfe. And fince the Citron-Tree is compared to the other Trees among which it might grow, and not preferred to things of a quite different na-» ture, it feems moil likely, that the Flower that excelled among the Thorns, is to be understood of the Flower of fome thorny Shrub, compared with other Shrubs of the prickly kind: and if fo, it mould mean the Eglantine, or the Briar, or Dog-Rofe as it is fometimes called. For this Flower is now highly eileemed in thofe Countries, according toD'Herbelot', r Dans l'Article Afchair. 3 and 240 Queries concerning the refl and he exprerTes his remark upon it in very ftrong terms. " Nefrin and Nifrin in Ara- " bic and the Perfian language, fignifies the " Plant which the Greeks call Cynorrhodos " or Cynofbatos, and the Romans Rofa " canina, and Rubus caninus, whofe flower " and leaf are odoriferous. The Arabian " and Perfian Poets highly ejieem it; for "they often draw their Comparifons from " it, which may make us believe that this " Shrub has more exquilite qualities in the " Eaft, than what our common Sweet- " Briar poflTelTes." The Interpretation then that I am pro- poring, agrees much better with the notions of the Eaft, than that of the ingenious Mr. Binnel, of whom the Author of the New Translation fpeaks, and juftly fpeaks, with very great reipect. According to him, this reply of the King might be thus paraphrafed. "Be it fo that my Love is a Lily in the " Vallies, yet me is as much fuperior to the " Maidens about her as the Lily is to the " poor dull flowers of the briar , and the " bramble." The Flowers of the Briar cannot, I think, be juftly called poor and dull : they are not inelegant to our Eyes, they of this Sacred Poem, 241 they make grateful and lively impreffions on our organs of.fmelling; and what is worfe, they are highly ejieemed in the Eaji now, and were equally fo. we may believe, in the days of Solomon, the productions of Na- ture being alike in different ages, and the taite of the Eaftern people, in other re- flects, jufl the fame it ever was; HaJ'ciquift 5 , notwithstanding his diitin- guifhed attention to Botany, does not pre- tend to endeavour to determine the fenfe of the various words that are ufed in the Bible t to exprefs different kinds of thor?iy plants that grow in the Holy- Land, only men- tioning Rejl-harrow, (which pernicious and prickly plant, he tells us, covers entire fields and plains in Mgypt and Paleftine, and which grows promifcuouily with the large T^hijlle,) he fuppofes it may probably be this which Mofes refers to, when he fpeaks of the Earth's being curfed. What he, who actually vifited the Holy-Land, and with great curiolity made his remarks on it, did not care to attempt, mult not be expected from me, nor is it at all requifite in the * Po 288, 289. R prefent 242 Queries concerning the reft prefent cafe, it being fufficient to obferve, that of all the prickly plants that have baen obferved in that country, the Refi-h arrow, the Box thorn, the Buckthorn, (called (Thrift's Thorn,) the Bramble, &c, there is no one that grew wild there to be compared with the Briar, for the Elegance and Perfume of its Flowers. It may perhaps be faid, that D'Herbelot is fpeaking, not of the common Briar, but of that we call the Sweet-Briar : he is fo, but it is to be remembered, that though the leaves of the one are fweet-fcented, while thofe of the other are not, the Odour of their flowers is nearly, if not altogether, the fame. They can never therefore be called poor and dull. Anfwerably to what is fuppofed in this fong, that thefe flowers grow in the Vallies, we find the Son of Sirach reprefenting them as growing in moift places, ch. xxxix. 13, " Hearken to me, ye holy Children, and " bud forth as zRofe growing by the Brook " of the field," or by the Rivers of Waters. And I have farther to obferve, that Catebi, a modern Eaftern Poet, made ufe of much the fame thought with that of our Jewifh Writer, of this Sacred Poem. 24.3 Writer, when he faid, r fpeaking of Nifcha- bur, the City in which he refided, " I, likeAtthar that famous Poet, came out " of the Garden of Nifchabur ; *« But Atthar was the Rofe of that Garden, " and I am only a Bramble*." The Paraphrafe of Mr. Binnel feems alfo* to me, to be faulty in another point — in ex- plaining the word Daughters of the Maidens about her. There is no great fpirit, one would think, in giving her a fuperiority over her Maids of Honour, to ufe a modern exprerTion ; and it* in a manner, avows, if underftood in this way, that he had nothing at all to fay to her on what fo much pained her, a Jealoufy, that is, of his much greater regard for the Princefs of ^Egypt than for her. What figniiied it to a perfon in great anguifti on that account, to be told* her 1 D'Herbelot, p. 263. u All this while I niuft allow, that I do not find the Dig- Rofe mentioned by Haflelquifl: in his account of the Plants of Palseftine, but neither doth he mention Lilies. In fhort, his Account of thefe matters is evi- dently imperfecl, and it is to be wifhed fome future Traveller may be more exacl:, or at leaft, mote large upon thefe matters. It is certainly an Eajlern Plant, from what D'Herbelot fays. R z Lord 244 Queries concerning the rejl Lord preferred her to her Attendants. The word Daughters is, I own, ufed in this fenfe in another place of this Song, ch. vi. 9, where it apparently fignifies the Attendants on the Queens and Concubines of Solomon ; but then, in other places, it is as vifibly ufed for Women in general : fo when Leah fays, " Happy am I, for the Daughters " will call me blerTed," Gen. xxx. 1 3 -, and when it is faid of the induftrious Woman, Prov. xxxi. 29, " Many Daughters have " done virtuoufly, but thou excelleft them " all." And after this manner, I fuppofe, the words of the Bridegroom are to be un- derstood, Is my Love a common Rofe of the Vallies, as fhe affirms me is in my Eyes, foe however is to me as much fuperior to others, as that Flower is to thofe of the 'Bramble, or of the other prickly Shrubs of this country? This was extremely foothing, and though it did not directly touch the point that pained her, excited very flatter- ing Ideas of Superiority in general, and that his Love to her was not trifling. He might, it is to be fuppofed he did, go farther in after converfe, which is very ftrongly inti- mated, though not direclly expreiled in what of this Sacred Poem. 245 what follows, a way of writing Poetry delights in. QJJ ERY XVII. Doth not this foothing language of the King in the 2d verfe, as it evidently is, prove, in a molt, fatisfactory manner, that the firn: verfe is to be underftood as fpoken in a tone of complaint ? QJJ ERY XVIII. Though the Converfation between thefe two Perfonages, may be fuppofed to have been carried on a confiderable time, yet are we to imagine the Poet is to be underftood, as directly and diftinctly reprefenting it ? is he not rather to be confidered as prefently after the 3d verfe reprefenting the King as abfent ? 'For after having given an anfwerable re- turn of the Queen to the foothing words of Solomon, As the Citron-Tree among the Trees of the Wood, fo is my Beloved among the Sons, or among Men, he is prefently fpoken of in the third perfon, and that in R 3 fuch 246 Queries concerning the reft fuch a manner in the 4th verfe, as will not admit the fuppofition of his being prefent : what follows therefore, from the beginning of the 4th verfe, if not from the middle of the 3d, is to be underftood as fpoken by the Queen, in the ab fence of the King, to her Attendants, the Daughters of Jerufalem as they are called, ver. 4. Nor doth the 6th verfe contradict this interpretation. Our tranilation here indeed, (and the new one doth not vary in this point,) fuppofes the King prefent, " His " left hand is under my head, and his right " hand doth embrace me;" but in the ori- ginal, the laft claufe is literally, " his right *' hand mail embrace me," and as the firft is expreifed in a mort manner, " his left " hand under my head," and neither .is, nor feall be, in the original, it mufl be fup- plied from the latter claufe, and made in the fame tenfe with that, " His left hand " mail be under my head, and his right " hand fhall embrace me;" this would be the fh-icl: tranilation, but as the Gramma- rians affirm, that the Hebrew future tenfe is fometimes to be underitood optatively, and as it is fo underflood fometimes by our tranilation. of this Sacred Poem. 247 tranflation, and that in this very Song, ch. i. 2, this verfe, if rendered with true Spirit, . I prefume mould be, " O that his left " hand were under my head, and his right " hand did fuftain me!" which perfectly agrees with the notion 'of his being abfent, being an affectionate complaint of his fo foon leaving her. The 7th verfe is to be underflood in the fame ftrain. QJJ ERY XIX. Is there not a reference in thofe words, " I fat down under his fhadow with great " delight, and his Fruit was fweet to my " tafte," to the great fatisfaclion theEaftern people take in fitting under fliady Trees ? and alfo to their way fometimes of making down the Fruit on thofe that fit under them ? Shade, according to Mr. Wood, in his •defcription of the Ruins of Balbec, is an eJJ'ential article in Oriental Luxury w . The great eft people feek thefe refrefhments, as well as the meaner, fo Dr. Pococke found w P. 5- R 4. the | 4.8 Queries concerning the reft the Patriarch of the Maronites, (who was of one of their greateft families,) and a Bifhop, fitting under a tree x . Any Tree that is thick and Jpr ending doth for them, but it muft certainly be an addition to their enjoying themfelves, when the tree is of a fragrant nature, as well as fiady, which the Citron-tree is y . Farther, the people of thofe countries not only frequently fit under fiady trees, and take collations under them, but fome- times the Fruit of thofe trees* under which they fit, is ihaken down upon them, as an agreeablenefs. So Dr. Pococke tells us, when he was at Sidon, he was entertained in a Garden, in the made of fome Apricot- trees, and the fruit of them was fhaken upon him z . He fpeaks of it indeed, as if it was done as a great proof of their abun- dance, but it feems rather to have been defigned as an agreeable addition to the En- x Defcription of the Eaft, Vol. II. p. 95. y Travellers there we find in their accounts have made ufe of Plane-trees, Walnut-trees, &c, and Eg- mont and Heyma'n were entertained with Coffee at Mount Sinai under the Orange-trees of the Garden pf that place, Vol.11, p. 178. * Vol. \l. p. ^5. ' tertainment. of this Sacred Poem. 249 tertainment. P leaf ant is every Tree in this hot country, but efpecially thofe that are re- markably fhady, among which none have f leafed me fo well as the Citron, whofe made, and whofe Fragrancy, have both been ex- tremely reviving, and fill more it's Fruit, and fuch as the Citron-tree is to me among the 'Trees of the Wood, fuch is my Beloved unto me among the Sons. The extreme Agitation of Mind me had 'for fome time undergone, made this Tree more particularly defirable to her. It was fiady, and made Jonah found peculiarly de- firable to one under great perturbation of Spirit: " The Lord God prepared a Gourd, " and made it to come up over Jonah, to < e deliver him from his Grief," Jon. iv. 6. At the fame time its Fragrancy was in her cafe very ufeful, at leaft its Fruit was fup- pofed to be fo, ver. 5. Full of thefe things me tells her Lord, he was to her as a Citron- tree, which furparTed all the Trees of the Wood, far furpafled them. QJJERY 2 5° ^u,eries concerning the reji QJJ E R Y XX. Is not the converfation of the King with his Jewifh Queen, fuppofed by the Poet, to be carried on in the fame tender ftrain, though he doth not pretend diftinclly to recite it? Are we not to look upon his carrying her into the Houfe of Wine, as a circumftance intended to infinuate this ? And did it not mark out Preference and DiflinBion, though it did not in fact re- move Jealoufy and Angaifh from her breafr. ? The giving a perfon drink is, among the people of the Levant, an ArTu ranee of Friendlinefs, and that they may lay afide Stfpicion and Diftrufi a . It feems to have been the fame anciently among the Jews, and that for this reafon the Prophet, that was fent to cry againfr. the Altar at Bethel, was commanded to eat no Bread, and drink no Water there. The admitting a perfon to a Baiiquet of Wi?ie feems to exprefs fomething more, and to have been a mark of Dijlinciion and Pre- ference : it feems, at leaft, fo to have been 3 Voy. D'Herbelot, dans l'Article Harmozan. Et 'yidz Bufbeq. Ep. 3. p. 89. underftood of this Sacred Poem. 251 underftood by Haman, when admitted by Queen Efther to fuch a Banquet. I think then, we may look upon the mention that is here made of being brought to the ban- queting-houfe; or, according to a more literal tranflation, the Houfe of JVme, as defigned to exprefs Preference and Difr tinction, which he was ftill refolved to continue to her; and intended to remove all caufelefs jealoufy and diftruft from her mind. That her Jealoufy and Anguijh ftill how- ever remained is very evident : the whole Song in general, and the very next v'erfe in particular, demonstrate this. I have elfewhere explained the moft pro- bable meaning of the words, " his Banner " over me was Love b 5" and the ufe of Ci- trons to recover performs that are greatly difordered c . QJJ E R Y XXI. As the King is evidently fpoken of in the 4th verfe as abfent, and is again repre- * Obfervations on divers places of Scripture, ch. 5. Obf. 14. c The fame, ch. 4. 31. , fented 2 5 2 Queries concerning the refi fented as abfent in the 17th verfe, is it not moft natural to fuppofe it is one Abfence that the Poet defcribes ? and that what is mentioned in the 8 th, and feveral of the following verfes, is to be underftood as what had been tranfacled before the converfation of the find: verfes began, of which the Queen gives an account to the Daughters of Jerufalem? The tranfponng of things may be allowed of without difficulty, it is rather more agreeable to the Spirit of Poetry, if not too intricate, as certainly it is not here. Nor doth the variation of the tenfe, the 8 th and 9th verfes being in the prefent, and the 10th and following in the paft, forbid our underflanding things after this manner, iince the 8th and 9th verfes might as well have been tranflated, " Behold he came " leaping, &c, my Beloved was like a « Roe, &c." QJJ E R Y XXII. Are we not to fuppofe that the conver- fation betwixt the King and the Queen, with which this 2d chapter begins, and. in which ef this Sacred Poem, 253 which Solomon endeavours to footh her mind, and difpel her Anxiety, was held under a Citron-tree ? and that the Queen refers to the Converfation that paffed there, when (he fays me fat under its Shadow with great delight ? The words of the 3d verfe of this 2d chapter prove nothing of this, tho' they are perfectly confident with it ; but chap, viii. 5, " I raifed thee up under the Ap- " pie-tree," or according to the foregoing explanation of the word, " under the Ci- " tron-tree," feems to prove it: for how- ever obfcure thofe words are, they feem to me to refer back to this part of the Song, and if fo, the fitting in the (hade of a Ci- tron-tree mult be underftood literally, they being in a country Retirement at the time- QJJ E R Y XXIII. •If we underftand the 14th verfe as con- nected with what goes before, and confe- quently as a continuation of Solomon's in- viting his Queen to quit the Palace at Jeru- falem, in which fhe then was, for this Re- tirement, mud we not understand it as a Defc option 2 54 Queries concerning the reft Defcription of that Palace, embellifhed with the Ornaments of Eaftern Poetry ? Doves in thofe countries, it feems, take up their abodes in the hollow places of Rocks and Cliffs : fo Dr. Shaw tells us, that the city of Hamam-et, in Africa, is fo named from the Hamam, or Wild Pi- geons, that copioufly breed in the adjacent Cliffs d . The firft word, [Rock,] " O my "Dove that art in the Clefts of the Rock" feems to point at the Rockinefs of thofe Cliffs in which they build; as the fecond, [Stairs,] " in the fecret places of the Stairs," expreffes, I apprehend, their Steepnefs. That word which is tranflated Stairs, oc- curs but once more, in Ezek. xxxviii. 20,- and is there tranflated Steep-Places ; it is joined with Mountains and Walls, fo that it feems to mean Cliff's. Steps are cut in fome of the Eaftern Rocks, to facilitate the climbing up to their tops, Mount Sinai in particular; but as that is not known by every reader, it might better, perhaps, have been tranflated here Steep Places, or Lofty Cliff Si " O my Dove that art in the hollow Places d IL90, 91. " of of this Sacred Poem. 25$ (t of the Rock f in the fecret Holes of lofty " Cliff's, let me fee thy countenance, &c," in this delightful retreat. • Having in the foft language of Affection called her his Dove, nothing was more na- tural, to an Oriental Imagination, than the immediate comparing the then Refidence of the Jewifh Queen, to the Rocky Cliffs in which their Doves were wont to build, as there was fuch a ffrong Refemblance be- tween them. Palaces, among the Jews, were wont to be built of Stone, Amos v. 1 1, If. ix. 10; and Magnificence was then fup- pofed, as well as now, to require Loftinefs in their Structures ; it is no wonder then her Apartments in a lofty Palace of Stone were compared tq the holes in a rocky Cliff, in which their Pigeons are wont to breed, efpecially after calling her his Dove. What advantage the Author of the New Tranflation propofed, by rendering the par- ticle through, " O my Dove, through the " Clefts of the Rocks ; through the fecret " places of the Stairs; let me fee thy coiin- " tenance, &c," as he has not explained to us in his Notes, I mall not take upon me to guefs. QJJ E R Y £$6 Queries Concerning the rejh QJJ E R Y XXIV. Is not Dn Shaw's fuppofition e moft na- tural, that by the Shualim, the little Shua- lim, of the 1 5th verfe, Jackalls are meant* rather than Foxes, though fome of his rea- fons are not very convincing? The Fox properly fpeaking is, it feems, rarely met with in the African Countries he gave an account of, but Hajfelquift arTures us, that Foxes, as well as Jackalls, are very common in Judaea, and that they do great damages in the Vineyards, the Canis Vulpes, the Fox, fays he, " is common in Palaeftine, ". they are very numerous in the ftony " country about Bethlehem, and fome- " times make great havock among the te Goats. There is alfo plenty of them " near the. Convent of St. John, in the " defart, about Vintage time -, for they de- " ftroy all the Vines, unlefs they are ftriclly " watched V HaiTelquiil's Authority will be allowed, I fuppofe, to be a fufficient proof of the numeroufnefs of Foxes in the Holy- Land and near Jerufalem ; their fewnefs then in the kingdoms of Algiers and Tunis, is e P. 174, 175. f P. 184. See alfo p. 211. I BO of this Sacred Poem. i^j nb reafon to fuppofe they are not meant in this place of the Canticles. But as it mould feem that the Sbualim were gregarious, from Samfon's taking fome hundreds of them g , which fackalls are, but not Foxes; and as they are exprefly called the little Foxes, as Jackalls are now diftinguifhed from Foxes properly fpeaking, and there feems to >be no reafon to under- hand the term little, as equivalent to young, Foxes being purfued and deftroyed whether old or young, it is moft probable that Jack- alls are here meant. So Hafelquijl, fpeaking of the hedges about Jaifa, fays, that wild Beafls had their paffages and habitations in them, particu- larly the little Eaflern Fox, jackall, which are found in great numbers in that neigh- bourhood, p. 119. And in another place, fpeaking of thefe Animals, he fays, this Species " is common in JEgypt and the "'Eaft, but very numerous in Palcejline. I " faw many of its Caves and Holes in the " hedges round the Gardens. This is fatal M to the Herds and Flocks of the Arabians, Judges xv. 4. S " and 258 Queries concerning the reft " and is therefore hunted continually, and •' they often throw great numbers of them " into the Sea A Species of Muftela,. " which is very common in Palaeftine, efpe- " cially during the Vintage, and often de- *' ffroys whole Vineyards, and fields of Cu- i( cumbers,'' p. 277. As thefe Creatures are wont to make their habitations in the hedges that furround the Eaftern Gardens, and are fo very deftruc- tive to their fruits, it is no wonder it is de- iired here they ihould be extirpated ; but belides this another reafon might be affigned for this order, for Dr. Shaw tells us, they yelp every night about the Gardens and Vil- lages, and make all night long a perpetual howling or fqualling noife, which cannot but be excemvely difagreeable. Their fpoiling then the Vineyards (for fo the word pro- perly iignines, not Vines,} even the Jema- dar Vineyards, or Gardens of Pleafure, as the iaft claufe of the verfe very probably fignifies, may as much refer to thefe melan- choly and difturbing howlings, as to the damage they might do, in treading down the Flowers, and eating up the Fruits of thofe Pleafurc-Gardens. So of this Sacred Poem, 259 So Okarius complains of a fort of Foxes in Perfia, called Schakal, (our Jackalls, without doubt,) which abound in that coun- try. " We heard them," fays he, " roam- " ing in troops about the Village in the M night, and we were very much dijinrbed " with their Cries, which were melancholy, " and very like thofe of a man in diftrefs, " which they made without cealing V If Olearius found himfelf fo much difturbed by thefe Creatures, what muft a Princefs be, who was ufed to the Mufic of Solo- mon's Court ? There was furlicient Reafon then for the King to fay to his companions, " Take us the Foxes, the little Foxes that " fpoil the Vineyards of Pleafare, on ac- " count of their dijturbing noife, as well as " by running through them in troops, , eat- " ing and devouring what com^s in their " way. As to the Doctor's \ fuppoling they fpoiled the Vines by eating the tender grays, it doth not appear to be authorized >y any complaints of the inhabitants of Baroary ; nor does it well agree with HaJJ'eiquijTs, ac- * P. 531. j Shaw, p. 174. S 2 count, 260 Queries concerning the reft count, who fuppofes the mifchief they do the Vines is in the time of Vintage k , which was feveral months after the time that the reft of this Poem defcribes, which I have fhewn was the Spring, about the middle of April. ' QJJ E R Y XXV. Was not this taking their Shua/im, moll probably only deligned to render this re- treat more agreeable to his Queen ? and is it not moil likely that it in no wife referred to the bunting them for Diver/ion ? The hunting of fackalls is one of the modern Diverfions of the Holy-Land: fo Le Bruyn tells us, that while he continued at Ramah, he had often fccn the BafTa of Gaza, Ramah, and the whole country of the Philiftines, who was very fond of hunt- ing, go out in purfuit of Jackalls, which were in that country in great numbers \ They might be fond, we may reafonably believe, of the fame Diverfion in very an- cient times, but I mould hardly think thefe k See the preceding citations from Haflelquift. 3 Tom. fl, p. 154, words of this Sacred Poem. 261 words are to be underftood as an invitation of the Queen to go an hunting, or even a defcription of Solomon's going with his Companions a fporting, as the ingenious Author of the New Tranflation feems to fuppofe, when he defcribes the fecond day's Eclogue as beginning with her relating how the Bridegroom, accompanied with his Companions, and equipped for rural fports, had come and called on her under her win- dow, inviting her to come forth, and enjoy the beauties of the Spring, Introd. p. 25. Winter, I prefume, is the time for hunting Jackalls^jr dherfon in the Holy-Land, as well as Foxes in England. But they might be taken for other purpofes at other times, fo according to HafTelquin: the Arabs are continually endeavouring to deftroy them ; and Samfon took three hundred of them, in wheat harveft, which in that country was in May, and confequently a few weeks after the time of year this Poem defcribes. Thefe then are to be underflood as the words of the King, turning to his Compa- nions, immediately after fending the Mef- fage to the Queen inviting her into the country, directing them to do what he S 3 knew 262 Queries concerning the reft knew muft be extremely agreeable to her, if lhe complied with his defire, of which the fame perlbn that brought the meiiage is fuppofed to give her an account, all which fhe is reprefented as repeating at length to the Virgins that attended her. QJJ E R Y XXVI. Are we not to fuppofe that the Poet de- figns to reprefent Solomon, as endeavouring to conceal from the Jewifh Queen, the So- lemnities of the Entry of the Princefs of /Egypt into Jerufalem ? Is it not natural to fuppofe he mould endeavour to get her out of the way at that time? And was any me- thod of doing this more natural than the inviting her into a Country Retreat, by de- fcribing its Beauties at that time of the year ? Certainly, whatever other motive Solomon might have to wifh this Lady might be ab- fent from Jerufalem, at the time of this fb- lemn Entry, it would not have been natural to mention any other, than the extreme pleafantnefs of the Retreat he propofed. This then would be- a very natural turn in 3 the of this Sacred Poem. 263 the Poet -, and this, it mould feem, is the true explanation of this Invitation and this Defcription. I have elfewhere given an account of the feveral particulars relating to this Defcrip- tion of the Spring m . QJJ E R Y XXVIL Is it not natural to interpret the being in a Mother s houfe, in the life-time of an huf- band, as fignifying a being parted in Dif- pleafure from that Hufband ? And are we not thus to underftand Cant. iiL 4? < I do not know that this paffage has been ever underflood after this manner -, and it is certain, it is by no means confidered in fuch a light, in the Notes on the New Tranila- tion, neverthelefs it appears to me the mofl natural way of interpreting it. Wives, in the Eaft, do not fo frequently .viiit their Parents, as with us. They are almond immured in the houfes of their Huf- bands. The being then in the houie of a Parent iignines fomething particular — The m See part II, and Obfervations on divers paflages of Scripture, ch, 1. Obi". 8, and 1. S 4 D:ath 264 Queries concerning the reft Death of the Hufoand, Divorce, or at leafl great Difpleafure and Apprehenjion. So when the Concubine, or Wife of a lower Order, of the Levite whofe hiftory clofes the book of Judges, played the whore againft him, me withdrew to her Father's houfe ; and when a Reconcilement was in agitation, fie brought him into h$r Father s houfe ; Judges xix. 2, 3. It appears from other paffages that, in thefe cafes, the houfe of the Father, or of the Mother, is fpoken of indifferently, as it happened : fo when Naomi's fons were dead, fhe was for difmif- ling Orpah and Ruth, their Widows, to the houles of their Mother's, " Naomi faid to her " two Daughters-in-law, Go, return each " to her Mother s houfe," Ruth i. 8 ; whereas in the cafe of Tamar, the Widow of Er and Onan, me is faid to be difrniiicd to her Fa- ther s houfe, " Then faid Judah to Tamar (i his Daughter-in-law, Remain a Widow " at thy Fathers houfe, 'till Shelah my " Son be grown,'' Gen. xxxviii. 11. The Jewifh Queen's being at her Mother's houfe, in like manner, is not to be underilood, I apprehend, as a flepping in, as being nearer, or more commodious for her purpole, than 3 the of this Sacred Poem. 265 the Palace, but a previous taking up her abode there, on which account fhe carried the King thither, as the Levite's Concubine carried him to her Father's houfe ; and the Queen's retiring thither, being neither 011 account of her Huiband's Death, or of a Divorce, mould, according to what has been obferved, be underftood to be a with- drawing thither out of great Difpleafure conceived againfl: Solomon. In perfect con- formity to this, we find her reprefented, in the very next place of the Poem in which fhe is mentioned, as Angry, and expremng a Refentment) we JJjould hardly have expected even a Wife would have ventured to have Jhewn towards fo illiijlrious a Prince, ch. iv. 3, " I have put off my Coat, how mall I " put it on ? I have warned my feet, how " mall I defile them ?" Vain excufe this ! and no otherwife to be accounted for than from Refentment, and a defign that the King Jlfould fee how great was her Difpleafure : fince a Queen muft be fuppofed to have At* tendants at hand to open the Door of her Apartment, if me had chofen it mould be opened ; and if me had none, the Incon- venience fhe complains of would never be thought 266 Queries concerning the rejl thought of by a modern Sultana, when her hufband propofed making her a viiit. So far from it, that Lady M. W. Montague tells us n , When the Kyjlir Aga is fent to Jignify to the Sultana an honour of this kind that is intended her, fie is immediately com- plimented upon it by the others. Not to fay, that if notice was wont to be fent of fuch vifits in the time of Solomon, the Be- haviour of the Jewifh Queen muft. fo much the more Jlrongly mark out great Anger. As to the account that is given us, in the Notes on the New Translation, concerning this Lady's being at her Mother's houfe, which fuppofes this was a circumftance that belonged to Nuptial Solemnities, I would remark, i . That it fuppofes that this part of the Song refers to a Bride, which doth not appear to be true. 2. That Archbifhop Potter's account of the Circumflances of a Grecian Marriage, by no means agrees, in this point, with the defcriptions that are given us of Eaftern Nuptials, fo far as I have obferved ; nor will it be eafy, I be- lieve, to produce any inflances from that n Letters, Vol. II. p. 155, 156. part of this Sacred Poem. 267 part of the world, of the Bride's returning to the Father's or Mother's houfe, to lodge there during thefe Solemnities. What is more, 3. That there appears to be great uncertainty among the Learned, about the Grecian Rites themjelves on this very point, fome of them, according to Dr. Potter himfelf, making a.7rauA«x to be the fame thing with eirccvXtcc , which according to the Dottor, may be reconciled, by fuppofing the firft word fignifies departing from her Father's houfe, in order to lodge with the Bridegroom, which is expreiTed by the fe- cond : and if fo, this expofition of Cant. iii. 4, had it been even a defcription of a Grecian, inftead of a Jewifi Wedding, would have been extremely precarious, and in the prefent cafe is abfolutely groundlefs. QJJ E R Y XXVIII. If this fuppofition concerning the Nature of the Queen's being at her Mother's be juft, mult not this Refentment of her's have been occalioned by fomething that happened after her going into the country, Vol. II. p. 294. and 268 Queries concerning the reft and the foothing converfation of the fecond chapter ? and is it not of importance to the interpreting this part of the Poem aright to confider, when, or on what occafion, the Song fuppofes this Alteration com- menced ? It mufl have been, one would think, after that foothing converfation, not only on account of its being mentioned after it; but becaufe it appears to have continued till after the Confummation of the Marriage, according to ch. v. 3, &c. If it did not begin till after that foothing converfation, it could not commence, I ima- gine, before the clofe of the 1 5 th verfe of the iid chapter ; and if we examine the Poem from thence, to the mention that is made of the Mother s boufe, in the hid chapter, it mould feeiii moft natural to fuppofe it muft have begun, on her feeding him on her Bed, and not finding him, ch. iii. ver. 1. She could not have expected to have found him in the place of her Repofe, if me had puihed matters to this extremity before that time ; on the other hand, her Retirement to her Mother's mull have been previous to her fearching for him in the Streets and Eroad- of this Sacred Poem. 269 Broad-Ways, for otherwife, upon finding him, fhe would have conducted him to the Palace. Her T)ifappoint??wnt then, men- tioned in the firfl verfe, feems to have been the caufe of her Retirement to her Mother's houfe, according to the reprefentation of matters that the Poem gives. But why mould the miffing him then pro- duce fo violent a Refentment as this comes to ? efpecially in fuch a fituation, when Solomon had, at that time, threefcore Queens and eighty Concubines ? Either of the two following reafons may, perhaps, account for it — Its being a Night which of right belonged to her, as the Principal Wife -, or the prolonging the time of his coming back to her much beyond what me expected, united, perhaps, with foine intimation ihe had received of his being about bringing home the/EgyptianPrincefs, whom me confidered as a Rival. It is not impomble that both thefe reafons might concur, but either of them feems to be fufficient to account for her taking this ilep. QUER Y 270 Queries concerning the refi QJJ ERY XXIX. Was not the Night in which the Wife of Solomon fought him, (mentioned eh. iii. 2, 3,) a Night of Fejiivity f Was it not a part of that Time of Rejoicing obferved at Jerufalem on account of the bringing the Daughter of Pharaoh thither ? Belides the Poet's introducing that quef- tion immediately after, " Who is this that !* cometh out of the Wildernefs like Pil- " lars of Smoke," &c; it feems to be a Night of Rejoicing, firft, from the different Treatment fhe met with in another Night ; and fecondly, from the Places in which fhe fought him. It is certain, there is fuppofed to be a great difference between the Treatment fhe met with this Night, and that of another : She was then fmitten, wounded, her Veil taken from her, and fhe, it feems, was forbidden to proceed, ch. v. 7, 8 ; but no- thing of that fort appears to have happened the Jirfi Night. Why this difference ? I can affign no reafon for it, I confefs, unlefs we fuppofe the prefent Ufage of the Eaft is an ancient Cuflom, continued down to this of this Sacred Poem. 271 this time, their Zeenahs, or public Fe/livals, bei?ig now times of great Liberty, Crowds of both Sexes, drefjed out in their beji Apparel, and laying afide all Modejly and Refiraint, going in and out where they pleafe, accord- ing to Dr. Shaw p , whereas at other times, every body knows, their Women of Fi- gure are kept in with great Confinement q . If it was nearly fo anciently, and this a Zeenah for Solomon's bringing home the Princefs of iEgypt, it is no wonder me was at fuch liberty now to go about the City, and on the contrary fo jeverely re- Jirained not long after* It is certain the Daughters of Zion not only might, but it was expected they mould, go out to meet King Solomon, in one of the feflival Nights, verfe 1 1 . Another reafon which would make one believe it was on one of thofe foiemn nights is, that me fought him in the broad Streets, p.P. 207. ^ If this be allowed, this Poem is fo far from in- tending to defcribe the /even days of the Feaft, as has been fuppofed, that the Poet, by mentioning this cir- cumftance, Jhews, that he takes in a larger portion of time than that of the Feaft. for % j 2. Queries concerning the reft for fo I fuppofe the words — " in the Streets " and in the Broad- Ways," are to be un- derwood, which is perfectly agreeable to the ufe of the particle elfewhere : for why mould (lie go to feek him there ; rather than in his -palace, if me had not been informed that he was abroad, with fome particular pomp, which fuppofed his paffing along in the chief ftreets f Both thefe considerations agree perfectly well with what follows in the latter part of the chapter* So Maillet, in his defcription of the Solemnities attend- ing the Circumcifion of the only Son of the Bafhaw of /Egypt, which I' mall have oc- cafion to mention under the next query, tells us, it was performed in an old Mofque, to which the way laid through a great plain, which was chofen to avoid the being crowded in the Streets of Cairo, where an infinite number of people were waiting \ QJU E R Y XXX. Is it not moft probable, that the Night in which the Jewifh Queen fought her Lord in the Streets, was previous to that of the ■ Let. X. p. 78. Entry of this Sacred Poem. 273 Entry of the Daughter of Pharoah ? and was it not that in which Solomon fet out to meet her in the Wildernefs in particular ? It is much more natural that then his Old Queen {honldjlop him in the Streets ; mould prevail with him to go with her to her Mo- ther s houfe , and mould entertain fome hope of his continuing with her without waiting on his /Egyptian Bride in the Wildernefs^ infinuated in thofe words, " I charge you, " O ye Daughters of Jerufalem * . . . that ** ye ftir not up, nor awake my Love, till " he pleafe," ver 5; and therefore it is much rather to be fuppofed, than that all this was done in that Night, when with great Magnificence he was bringing her into Jerufalem* I do not recollect any account of an Eaftern King's marrying a Princefs of equal quality with himfelf, in the Writers I have perufed, and of the Solemnities obferved on thofe occafions, but it is certain there is no reafon to fuppofe there was nothing more than a feven-days Feaft, which attended the common Jewifh Marriages, when the Kings of Ifrael married with great Prin- ceffes ; nor is it contrary to other Ufages T , of 2^4 Queries Concerning the reft of the Eaftern People, if we fuppofe the Rejoicings on fuch an account preceded the Ceremony itfelf. What is more, in this cafe it feems to have been neceflary. The Circumcifion of a Child is attended with great Rejoicing. According to Theve- not ', the Child is fet on horfe-back, the day of its Circumcifion, is led about the town with Mufic, then returning home is circum- cifed, and that being done the Father makes a Feafty to which he invites all his Relations and Friends, who make merry, dance, and fmg ; and the day following, the Guejls make Prefents to the Child, according to the qualities of the Giver and Receiver. Here the Solemnity lafts only two days. But in Maillet's Relation of the Circumcifion of the only Son of the Bajhaw of Mgypt, in 1696, which was made a public Feftival, we rind the Feftival lafted ten days, that the Youth was to have been circumcifed on the ninth day, but being fatigued in his Caval- cade to the Mofque, where it was to be per- formed, it was not performed till the tenth day, but that the Great Lords of the Court- s P. 42. try, of this Sacred Poem. 275 try, the four and twenty Beys* the eight and forty Demi-Beys, all the Officers of the Kingdom, and all the People of Quality in /Egypt, each with a numerous and magnify cent Train of Attendants, came to the Ba- jhaws the firfl day of the Rejoicing, and were received with Mafic and firing of Can- non, &c. l Here then the time of the Re- joicing was ten days, inftead of two; and a great deal of the Solemnity preceded the Circumcifion* And indeed fome part of the Pomp, that attended Solomon's Marriage, mufl necefTa- rily have been before his Entry into Zion with the ^Egyptian Princefs : for as he mufl be fuppofed to have been attended by many of the Nobles of Iffael, in this Jour- ney of his into the Wildernefs ; fo their coming together was, doubtlefs, like the repairing of the Great Men of JKgjpt to the Caftle of Cairo, where the Bafhaw re- fided, upon occafion of the circumcifing his Son — with the Sound of Instruments of Mulic, and with great Splendor, to accom- pany King Solomon into the Wildernefs on * Let. X. p. 72 — 79. T 2 this 276 Queries concerning the rejl this occafion. And as they are wont, in that country, often to travel all Night, when the days begin to grow hot, or at leaft to fet out feveral hours before Sun- rife u , it is natural to fuppofe the Night be- fore that in which the Bridegroom and the Bride made their Entry into Jerufalem, or fome preceding Night at leafl, mufl have been a time of great Pomp, Noife, and run- ning about of People -, \ and confequently,. according to the modern cuftoms of the Eaft, a time of Liberty for the Women to go about the Streets at their pleafure, who are at other times kept in the clofeft con- finement. QJJ E R Y XXXI. Is it not very plain, that though the Queen fo far prevailed with the King, as to induce him to go with her to her Mo- ther's, yet that the Preach was not made up between them there, as it was betwixt the Levite and his Concubine, in the book of Judges ? and that he perliiled, on the one hand, in his Refolution to go and re- " See Obfervations on divers places of Scripture. i ceive. of this Sacred Poem. 277 ceive the Daughter of Pharoah, with the Pomp he intended ; and fhe, on the other, in her Refentment ? For her Refentment is taken notice of after this, fo far forward as ch. v. 3; and the pompous Entry of the royal Bridegroom and Bride is mentioned in the clofe of this third chapter. s QJJ ERY XXXII. If ch. iii. 1, was the occafion of the Queen's quitting the Country, which feems to be mentioned by the facred Writer, in order to give us the reafon why fhe with- drew to her Mother's houfe, from whence fhe hurried out, when fhe heard the noife of the people on Solomon's fetting forwards for the Wildernefs, yet is it necerTary to in- terpret that part of the Poem that imme- diately precedes, as expreflive of perfect Compofure ? As fhe had been jealous, and under great difquietudes, is it not moft na- tural to fuppofe they were not totally re- moved, notwithstanding the foothing words of the King, however they might be foft- €ned f T 3 It 2 7^ Queries concerning the rej It mould feem indeed, that they were the Remains of this Jealoufy that made her take his Abfence fo heavily, that night in which fhe expected him, and was difap- pointed. Q^U E R Y XXXIII. Are not thefe words then, " My Beloved " is mine, and I am his," rather to be un- derstood as the language of Jealoufy and Claim, than of Eafe and Complacency I In themfelves, and feparately confidered, they certainly may exprefs the latter. There is a Story, in the Arabian Nights Enter- tainments, that {hows this, A Wife of the Califf Haroun Alrafchid, is there repre- fented as having her Veil embroidered with gold letters, along the edge, which made up words that fignified, / am yours, and thou art mine, thou Dependent from the Prophet's Uncle: Haroun being defcended from Abbas, the Uncle of Mohammed. Here the words, it is vifible, exprefs Com- placence and Delight, and an affectionate Return to the Paffion of Haroun, of whom this Lady was the great Favourite, though not; of this Sacred Poem, 279 not the principal Wife, who was, on that account, fo jealous of her as to order a ftupifying potion to be given her, which brought her into the utmoft danger of be- ing buried alive'. But this is no fare proof, that the words of the Jewifh Queen, [My Beloved is mine, and I am fa's,] are to be underftood in the fame maimer, feeing her circumftances were very oppofite — She was the principal Wife, was jealous of a Rival, was under great dif- quietudes. If therefore the words are ca- pable of another meaning, the difference of her fituation would lead us to adopt fuch a meaning. My Beloved, be whom my Soul has loved, and doth love, is .mine, I claim him in an efpecial manner as tnine -, and I am his, in a way of Pre-eminence and Diflinc- tion, and I hope Jhall ever remain fo. Thus God fpeaking of Samaria and Jerusalem, under the figure of Women married to him, fays of them, u they were mine," when he doth not fpeak of them with tendernefs, but is feverely complaining of them. It may then be underflood, I mould think, to be the language of Jealoufy and Claim in Solomon's Queen : and confidering T 4 her 28q Queries concerning the reft her fituation at that time ; as alfo that this expreffion never occurs in thofe parts of the Poem, that defcribe the affectionate con- verfe betwixt Solomon and his Bride, as far as I remember; I am inclined to believe it is thus \p be underilood here, and in other places of this Song, and not as the words of Tendernefs and Eafe of Mind. QJJ E R Y XXXIV. Is not the feeding among the Lilies, mentioned ch. ii. 16, to be underftood as expreffing, according to the Eaftern kind of Delicacy, Solomon's cohabiting with his pther Wives and Concubines ? And is not the whole fentence accordingly to be un- derstood as Signifying, He is mine, and I am his, with Pre-eminence and Distinction, he who is now abfent, converjing with his other Wives and Concubines f It is fure, I think, that the expreffion is figurative : it feems to compare the King to a creature of the Deer-kind, according to what is faid ch. iv. 5 -> to which is to be added, that neither Lilies, nor Rofes, if we mould choofe to underftand the original word of this Sacred Poem. 281 word as fignifying them, agreeably to a preceding Query, are ufuaily found in thofe i.rts, where Antelopes and other wild tures of the Deer-kind are wont to ■, they grow rather in mbifi places, ac- iing cO the Apocryphal Writer of Eccle- Ideas, ch. xxxix. 13, and ch. 1. 8, and in Vallies according to Cant. ii. 1. Had the Prophet here meant Lilies ftriclly fpeak- ing, the Queen, who was now in a Country Retirement : , was rather feeding among them than her Lord, who was abfent from her, and it mould feem, from her feeking after him in the Streets and Broad-Ways 'of a City prefently after this, known, or at leaft fuppofed, to have been in Jeruialem. If they were figurative Lilies that are meant here, can any interpretation be eaiier, than the fuppofing they mean Women, mean his Wives ? The Spoufe calling herfelf a Lily in the beginning of this fecond chap- ter; and conjugal converfe being expreffed, it mould feem, by coming into a Garden, ch. iv. 12, and ch. v. 1. * See Ruins of Palmyra, p. 33, and other Writers. Agreeably 282 Queries concerning the rejl Agreeably to this apprehenfion, that Li* lies are here made Emblems of beautiful Women, D'Herbelot tells us, from the Oriental Writers, that melancholy Lovers are defcribed by their having faces like Saf- fron, and eyes of Argevan, whofe bloffoms are, it feems, of a purple colour, and there- fore thought by them proper emblems of eyes red ivitb weeping ; the Tulip alfo is made by them the reprefentative of a paf- Jionate Lover. QJJ ERY XXXV. Is not the following claufe, " Until the '* day breathe, and the Shadows flee away," moft probably to be underftood as a de- fcription of the Morning, rather than of the Evening ? Our common verfion determines this at once, tranilating the original word break, " Until the day break," but as it more truly fignifies breathe, it becomes fome- what doubtful whether the breeze of the Morning or Evening is meant. If thefe words are to be confidered as connected with the preceding claufe, the j Morning of this Sacred Poem. 283 Morning Breeze is undoubtedly meant, but we are not fo well acquainted with the eoiirfe of the winds i?i that country as could be wifhed, and fo as, independently of that, to put the matter out of doubt. The Author of the Notes on the New Tranflation, takes it for granted there is a fine refreshing Breeze at the dawn of the day, much more grateful and defirable than the return of Light itfelf, but he cites no books of Travels to prove this, or gives any other authentic proof, he only quotes Vatablus. The proofs that others bring of the rifing of Breezes there in the Evening, are, in like manner, not at all fatisfactory, fince it might be fo in the countries in which Ariftotle and Pliny lived, and yet not in Judaea. I wifh I could perfectly, fupply this de- fect, but ail that I have met with on this fubject, fo far as I at prefent recollect, is a paffage of Egmont and Heyman x , in which we are told, though the Heat of the Coafi of the Holy-Land, and offome other places there, is very great, yet that this excejjive * Vol. II. p. 13. Heat 284 Queries -concerning the reft Heat is very much lejjened by a Sea-Breeze, which conftantly blows every Morning, and, by its Coolnefs, renders the heats of Summer very fupportable. How far thefe Breezes reach in Palaeftine and Syria, (for Egmont and Heyman fpeak of both countries,) I am not able to fay, but at Aleppo, which is in Syria, this pleafing Wefterly Wind frefhens after Mid-day, and continues through the Night 7 . And agreeably to this, in the barren waftes, which lie between JEgypt and Mount Sinai, Egmont and Heyman themfelves found the Breeze, which was fo refrefhing to them, began about Noon. Jofephus takes notice of the exquifite plea- fantnefs of the Sea-Breezes in Palseftine, for he makes the fatisfaction they give, a re- prefentation of the Bleflednefs of good Men after Death, among the Jews of his time; but as he mentions not the time when they blow, fo neither can we from thence judge how far they were felt in the Jewifh Country \ y Ruffcll, p. 151. 2 Vol. II. p. 148. * De Bello Jud. Lib. II. cap. 8. QJU E R Y of this Sacred Poem, £85 QJU ERY XXXVI. HarTelquift tells us b he had an excellent opportunity of feeing the Capra Cervicapra, or Rock-Goat, hunted near Nazareth in Galilee, which it feems was done by a Fal- con, which kept diftrefling the Creature till the huntfman came up and cut it's throat, the Falcon drinking it's blood as a reward for it's labour c . Shaw gives us the like account of hunting Antelopes in thofe countries with Hawks, which flop and per- plex the creatures till the Greyhounds come up and relieve them d . Ought not this cir- cumftance to be attended to in ill uflra tins: this Song ? This way of iifing Hawks, for the flop- ping of creatures that would otherwife be toofwift for their Dogs, gives a much more lively idea of the fpeed of thefe wild Ani- mals on the Mountains of Bether, than per- haps we fhould otherwife have. > P. 190. c It (hould feem, by feveral circumftances which HafTelquift mentions in other places, that by this term he meant the Antelope. ' P. 347, 348. The 2 86 Queries concerning the reft The Queen then wifhes Solomon would return to her, and return with the fpeed of thefe creatures, when running in the Moun- tains with a velocity which requires Wings to flop them. QJJ E R Y XXXVII. As we apprehend the firft part of the ivth chapter, namely from the firft verfe to the end of the eleventh, is beft interpreted, by fuppoling it to reprefent the Songs of the Daughters . of Jerufalem before the Bride, is it not to be expected that this part of the Poem mould contain encomiums on her Perfon, and celebrate her good Qua- lities ? Thefe are the Subjects of the Songs of the Arabs before their PrincefTes in com- mon % and before their Brides of lower quality f , and is even practifed, according to Buxtorf, in his Synagoga Judaica e , by e Voy. dans la Pal. p. 250. f P. 224. g P. 638. Praeceptum nobis eft exhilarare Sponfum & Sponfam, faltare ante eum, & illam, in Sponfi gra- tiam, a forma prajiantia, & altis don'is laudare j quam- vis id ncn mereatur. the of this Sacred Poem. 287 the Wefiern Jews, who think themfelves, it feems, under an obligation to celebrate the Beauty, and other accomplifhments of the Bride, even when fhe is not poilerTed of them. Nothing can agree better with this ac- count than this part of the Poem, though it mult be obferved, that many of thefe Encomiums differ from the modern de- fcriptions of Beauty in the Levant, though not all. I have already obferved the Eyes of the Antelope are more frequently referred to, on thefe occafions, than thofe of the Dove, by the prefent inhabitants of thofe countries -, I would now add, that in like manner the Teeth are, in thefe times, rather compared to Pearls h , than to Sheep 1 ; and that the colour of the Cheek k is more com- h Arab. Nights, Vol. VI. No. 214. 1 The Wajhing, I imagine, was defigned by the Jewifh Poet to exprefs their colour ; and the following words their {landing clofe together (fee Exod. xxvi. 24, &c,) in a Row, not the being yeaned at the fame time, and their having no Chafm, none having loft its fellow, according to the New Tianflation. k What we tranflate Temples, is rendered in the New Tranflation Cheeks, agreeably to the Septuagint, nor will the nature of the pafTage allow us to doubt of the juftnefs of theVerfion. monly 288 Queries concerning the reft monly defcribed by that of the Rofe ', thai! of the Pomegranate, though the Pomegra- nate is fuppofed by Eaftern Writers to be of the colour of the Ruby m . When the modern defcriptions of Oriental Beauty reprefent the Neck, as being as fair as the whiteft Marble or Alabafter", and this ancient Jewifh Song, compares the Spoufe's Neck, to the 'Tower of David, the difference is not great : the Jews building their nobler edifices with white Stone, ac- cording to Jofephus -, which is confirmed by the 4th verfe of the viith chapter of this very Poem, in which mention is made of a Tower of Ivory (, built of Marble, I pre- fume, white as Ivory). To which may be added, that the Image became more ftriking, becaufe the Ladies of thofe elder times wore about their Necks fome Ornaments, which refembled thofe Shields, which, it feems, Were hung about this Tower; agreeably to which Sandys telleth us, that the fecond Gate of a modern Eaftern Palace, that of the Grand Signior at Conftantinople, was 1 D'Herbelot, p. 949, and Ibrahim's Song. m D'Herbelot, p. 722. n Ara b. Nights, Vol. VI. No. 214. hung of this Sacred Poem. 289 hung with Shields and Cymiters, through which people pafs to the Divan, where juftice is adminiftered, p. 25. Both ancient and modern Writers of the Eaft agree in defcribing the Mouth with Simplicity, " Her Mouth Small and Ver- " milion" fays the Writer of the Arabian Nights Entertainments, in the number laft cited; " Her Lips are like a 'Thread of Scarlet," fays the Jewifh Poet. Bifhop Pococke, in his Travels into the Eaft, (Vol. II. part II. p. 90,) tells us # that the A?igora Goats, whofe hair is fine as filk, and not diftinguifhable from it' but by the touch, degenerate when they are tranfported to other places ; perhaps there was fomething peculiar, in the days of So- lomon, in the hair of the Goats of Mount Gilead, which occafioned them to be re- ferred to in this defcription. What pro- perty however of the hair this points out, I am not able to fay -, the modern eaftern defcription of a Beauty, which I have cited more than once here, celebrates hair for being brown and extremely long, but whe- ther thefe were the properties of the Coat of the Goats of Mount Gilead, or what U were, 2oo Queries concerning the reft were, I have not been able to inform my- felf. Farrakh was the name of a perfon, ac- cording to D'Herbelot , who was looked upon in Perjia as a complete Model of Juftice, and Greatnefs of Soul, as was alfo Feridoun. Upon which occajion Ajjadi, one of their Poets, fays Feridoun and Farrakh were not Angels ; their Bodies were made neither of Amber nor Mufk ; it was their Juftice and Liberality that made them fo celebrated in hi/lory: praclife thofe two Virtues, and you will become a Farrakh and a Feridoun. As Eaftern, as well as Weflern Poets, fre- quently ftyle the Ladies they celebrate An- • P. 232. 2 P. 526. 3 Vol. II. No. 31, &c. QJJ E R Y of this Sacred Poem. 299 QJJ E R Y XLIL Is there not a Gradation in the 1 5th ver. which is not univerfally obferved ? doth not the term tranilaled a Fountain of Gardens, mean a Ciftern, or other Receptacle of Rain- Water; the Well of Living Waters, a Spring of Water -, and Streams from Le- banon, Water of the moil: fruitful and pleafant nature, and in the greatejl Copioiif- nefs ? I have elfewhere obferved b , that an E after n Garden cannot well be without Water. Now the people of thofe countries are wont to procure Water for their Gardens by different means: fometimes by a Refervoir, or Cif- tern of Water, this is common in iEgypt c ; fometimes a Spring of living Water enriches a Garden, which makes it much more plea- fant frill, fuch is that of IVlatharee, near Cairo, which is, it feems, fmgular in its kind in that country d , and fuch is that at Bethlehem (,MaundrelI, p. 88, 89); but the moil: pleafant of all, are copious Streams of Water fpreading through a Garden, fuch b Obfervations on divers pafiages of Scripture. f Shaw, p. 408. d Thevenot, p. 139, 14c. as 2 300 Queries concerning the reft as are derived in particular from Lebanon, which make the Gardens of Damafcus fo enchanting, and indeed perfect Paradifes 6 . If this obfervation be juft, the affembling fo many terms of the like general import in this verfe, adds very much to its beauty. Water is neceffary to a Garden in thofe fultry countries : a Refervoir of Rain-Water is the meaneft. convenience ; an unfailing Spring of Water is a much greater advan- tage; but the Streams of Lebanon make the moil delicious Garden of all. The words immediately following this paffage I have illuftrated elfewhere ; and to that Collection of Obfervations I muff re- mit my Reader, for the real meaning of the addrefs to the South- Wind. I will only add, that it is an Effect of Heat well known in our Gardens, to diffipate, and render in- effectual, thofe fine exhalations of our fra- grant plants and flowers, that are rendered very fenfible by the cool of the evening, e Egmont and Heyman, Vol. II. p. 250, and 255. See alfo the Ruins of Balbec, p. 5, 6, 7, in which we have an account of the exquifite plcafure Solomon might receive from the Shades and the Streams of Balbec, which Streams flow* from Liban us and Antilibanus. and 2 of this Sacred Poem. 301 and make then impreiTions on the organ of Smelling which are extremely grateful. QJJ E R Y XLIIL Is not the firfr. verfe of the fifth chapter to be confidered as defcriptive, in the nrft part of it, of an Eaflern Banquet? The Eajiern Banquets are fometimes held in Gardens, as this is fuppofed to be. So Egmont and Heyman f dined with the Epi- tropos of the Convent at Mount Sinai, and others of the Religious, under the trees of the Garden there, on one of their Feftival Days. The Eaftern People too of ancient times, as well as the Greeks and Romans, were wont to wearChaplets of Herbs and Flowers round their heads, when feafting, as is vifi- ble from thofe words of an Apocryphal Writer, " Let us fill ourfelves with cofbly "• wine and ointments : and let no flower " of the Spring pafs by us. Let us crown " ourfehes with rofe-buds before they be " withered," Wifdom ii. 7, 8. And agree- able to this we find in later times, that # 1 Vol. II. p. 178, Preceptor 30.2 Queries concerning the reft Preceptor of the Son of the Khalife Haroun, coming to his apartment, to read him a lec- ture, found him at table with his Friends ; upon which the young Prince wrote a couple of Verfes on a Myrtle leaf and fent him, to this effecl, " 'There is a time for Study, and " a time to divert one's f elf This is a time " for enjoying Friends, for Wine, for Rofes " and Myrtle." To which the Preceptor re- turned a fpirited Anfwer, on the back of the fa?ne leaf s . Rofes and Myrtle were ufed by this Eaftern Prince then in his Enter- tainment. After this I need not cite the Arabian Nights Entertainments, which re- prefent a perfon at Bagdad, as buying Myr- tles, Sweet Bafil, Lilies, JeiTamine, and other forts of Flowers and Plants that fmell well, along with Meat, Wine, Fruit, as preparatives for a Repafl K The gathering the Myrrh with the Spice, or fragrant Flowers, mentioned by the Jewifh Poet here, is to be understood, I prefume, to have been for the fame purpofe. It mould be no objection to this expla- nation, I mould think, that the Repaft is fuppofed to have been taken in a Garden, * D'Herbelor, Art. Keffiii. h Vol. I. No. 28. where of this Sacred Poem. 303 where the Fragrancy difFufed through the Air may be imagined to render thefe Gar- lands unneceffary, for Poetry is not wont fo nicely to attend to circumltances; not to fay the general' odour of a Garden is not fo itrong, as to render a nearer approach of thefe odoriferous fubftances abfolutely un- neceffary; and thus Horace thought: Cur nonfub alt a vel platano, vel hoc Pinu jacentes lie temere, & Rofa Canos odorati Capillos, Dum licet, AfTyriaque Nardo i% Potamus unfti t Lib. II. Od. 11. And again, Seu te in rcmoto gramine per dies Feftos reclinatum bearis Interiore nota Falerni: Qua phms ingens, albaque populus . Umbram hofpitalem confociare amant Ramis ; Sc obliquo laborat Lympha fug-ax trepidare rivo. Hucvina, & unguent a, &nimium&vw F lores amcena ferre jube rope; Dum res, & aetas, &c. Od. 3. As 304 Queries concerning the reft As for the Honey, nothing is more com- monly prefented at a Repair, in thofe coun- tries ; nothing need be faid about Wine ; and as for Milk, cooling liquors are fo agreeable in that hot climate, that we are told in the account given of Commodore Stewart's EmbaiTy, to redeem Britifh Cap- tives in the year 1721, that Butter-Milk is in the higher! efteem among the Moors, fo that* when they would give an idea of the extraordinary fweetnefs of a thing, they compare it to butter-milk. No wonder then that Milk is joined with Wine : whe- ther however it was butter-milk, or fome other kind of four Milk, which we often read of in Eaftern Travels ; or fweet Milk mingled with the Wine; we need not en- quire, it being ufed, it mould feem, of whatever kind it was, to allay the heat of the Wine in that climate. QJJ E R Y XLIV. Is not this Banquet reprefented here as pair.? and is it not for that reafon to be underftood to be quite diftincl: from the Eating and Drinking in the laft claufe? Our of this Sacred Poem, 305 Our common Translation reprefents it as pail, I have gathered — I have eaten— I have drunk; the new Tranilation, on the con- trary, ufes the prefent tenfe, I gather — I ea t — I drink. Every body knows, that is at all acquainted with the language, that it may be rendered either way, confidently with the rules of the Hebrew Grammar 5 but the circumflances determine, I mould think, in favour of our old Tranilation here, or of the uiing the part, tenfe. The gathering flowers and fragrant leaves, to form into a Crown, or otherwife to put about the head, mujl have preceded the fit- ting down to eat in the nature of things ; and therefore if we tranflate the words, " I " eat my honey-comb with my honey," the circumflances of the thing require us to tranflate the firil of thefe three claufes, " I " have gathered my Myrrh with my Spice," Farther we are told, that the prefent inha- bitants of thofe countries never drink while they are eating, at leafl unlefs their thiril is intolerable, but flay till they have done 1 . If this was the cujlom too anciently, and } Voy. dans la Pal. p. 203, X we 306 Queries concerning the reft we know they are very tenacious of old cufloms, then the eating mufl have been over, as well as the gathering the Myrrh, before he drank , and if it fhould therefore be tranflated, " I have gathered my Myrrh " — I have eaten my honey-comb," we may very well tranflate the other claufe too " I «' have drunk," finee there is no difference in the original. The only variation, in this point, from the common Tranflation that I would propofe, is, the changing " I am " come into my Garden," into, " I have u come, &c," which would be rather more agreeable to the intention of the Author, I fhould think. If this Entertainment of the Bridegroom was pail, it mull be different from that Eating and Drinking mentioned in the latter part of the verfe, for they are reprefented as yet to come. If they are different, which feems very plain, have we not reafon to think they refer to different thines, and that the firfl is figurative, and the fecond only, literal ; fince as the Bridegroom eats with his Friends in their nuptial folemnities in the Eaft, if he had eaten and drank, they would have finifhed of this Sacred Poem. 307 finifhed alfo. And indeed, as the 12th ver. &c, are to be underftood as a decent ac- count of the Virginity of the Bride k , thefe words of the Bridegroom, " I have come " into my Garden, &c," are to be under- itood as an account of his having confum- mated the Marriage, exprefTed after that diflant and modefl manner which is in ufe in the Eaft to this very day; while the latter part of the verfe is to be understood lite- rally, as a call upon his Guefts to rejoice on the occafion. So among the Arabs, after the Marriage is confummated, the Bridegroom returns to his Friends, receives frefh Compliments on the occafion, and paifes the reft of the night with them in a joyous manner 1 . All that is farther to be remarked here is, that the firft claufe of this verfe is addreffed to the Bride; what follows, " I have ga- " thered, &c," to his Friends. QJJ E R Y XLV. As the beginning of the third chapter defcribes the Wife of Solomon as being in k See the firft Part. 1 Voy. dans la Pal. p. 226. X 2 her 308 Queries concerning the reji her Mother's houfe, which was a token, of Anger, I would afk here, do not the 2d and 3d verfes of the fifth chapter exprefs Refentment alfo ? Are we not to iuppofe then the Poem returns to her again here ? And may we not for thefe reafons fuppofe this viiit was paid her at her Mother's ? And that though me had met the King, and with fondnefs introduced him at that time into the place of her Retirement, yet that as fhe could not prevail on him to dif- mifs his purpofe of receiving the Princefs of ./Egypt with the Solemnity he had pro- pofed, fhe continued there highly dif- pleafed ? Every circumflance agrdes with this fup- pofition. His pleading that his head was filled with Deia, {hews that it was not to an apartment in his own palace that he went, but to fome diflant place. His being fuff ere d long to knock, which is infmuated by his pleading the unwholefome- nejs of the Dew; as well as the words of his Queen, " I have put off my Coat, how " mall I put it on ? I have walked my Feet, " how mall I defile them?" flrongly mark ©ut Difpleafure and Refentment. Though- of this Sacred Poem. 309 me was withdrawn from the Royal Palace, {he mufl be fuppofed to have had Servants about her, her own and thofe of her Mo- ther; nay they are diredtly mentioned, ver. 8 -, thefe, without doubt, might have been called to open the door, if fhe had thought fit. Nay mod probably were ready to have done it, had fhe not retrained them. Queens mufl have had very little of that Attendance, that Ladies of much lower quality have there now, if this was not the cafe. What is more, had fhe been obliged to have rifen herfelf, there would have 'been no great difficulty in it, if we may make an eflimate from the prefent ufages of thofe countries. Dr. RufTell tells us, they deep in their Drawers at Aleppo, and at leafi one or two Waift coats, and fome of them, in winter, in their Furs m , that is, half dreft. li I have warned my Feet," fhe faid, " how u.eries concerning the reft much nicety as thofe of Ho 11 an J, take this for but mere pretence, and an evident proof of Refentment and Anger ? If notice was fent of his intention of making her a vifit, her Difpleafure was more ftrongly expreffed Hill. I cannot fay what the Ceremonial of the Court of Solo- mon was : but the Sultana Hafiten, the Widow of the Emperor Muftapha, and who had been his Favourite, allured Lady Montague, that this is the cuilom of the Ottoman Court ; and that of Solomon was, we know °, remarkable for Order and State; and therefore there is fome reafon to appre- hend the Jewifh Queen had fome notice of the intention. But without fuppoiing this, there is proof enough of Anger in her Ma- nagement. Now this can never be afcribed, I think, to the Bride: the Lady that acted this part muft have been another Wife of Solomon, mull have been me that thought herfelf moft affecled by this Marriage — his former principal Wife. ° i Kings x. 5. QUE RY &f this Sacred Poem. 311 QJJ E R Y XLVI. Doth not the mention of the injurioufnefs of the Dew here, allowing a former Obfer- vation I made,- that this Jewifh Poet clofely follows Nature in his defcriptions, ihow that the Tranfactions mentioned in this Song are fuppofed to have followed one another pretty clofely, and not to have taken up much time ? The invitation to this Lady to go into the Country, previous to the Marriage, in the 2d chapter, appears from the circum- flances mentioned there, in fo amuling a manner, to have been about the middle of April O. S, and this complaint, concerning the Dew, places this tranfaction before the end of May, for it mould feem, by the latter end of that month, O. S, there is no apprehenfion from the Dews, in that coun- try : for Dr. Pococke was entertained at Supper on the Houfe-Top, at Tiberias in Galilee, and was afterwards lodged there, towards the clofe of that month p , confe- quently there were no apprehenfions then of any danger from the Dew. p Travels into the Eaft, Vol.11, p. 69. X 4 Agree- 312 Queries concerning the reft Agreeably to this, Dr, RufTell informs us, that the inhabitants of Aleppo, who make their Beds in the Summery from the end of May to the middle of September, in their Court-Yards, or on the Houfe- Tops, yet in Winter choofe the loweft and fmalleft rooms they have for their bed- chambers, and often have charcoal burning in them; and he attributes the diforders the Natives of that place are wont to have in their Eyes, in great multitudes, to their laying expofed to the Dews, which begin to fall towards the clofe of Summer. It was not then Summer, it was not fo late as the clofe of May that Solomon made this attempt ; confequently he endeavoured Re- conciliation prefently after his New Nup- tials, probably as foon after as he well could. QJJ E R Y XLVII. Was it not to footh and /often her, that he begins his Addrefs at the Gate, " Open " to me, my Sifter," which is the firft time he is reprefented as calling her fo in this Paem ? i One of this Sacred Poem. 3 1 3 One King was wont anciently to call another Brother, as they do now : " Is he *' yet alive ? he is my Brother" faid Ahab concerning Benhadad, when he fpoke fa- vourably of hirri, 1 Kings xx. 32. He had called his /Egyptian Bride, over and over again, Sifter, who was defcended from Royal Anceftors. That therefore his former Queen fhould not complain, it mould feem, of this kind of Pre-eminence, he endea- vours to footh her by ufing the fame term, though in vain, it was his putting his hand in by the hole of the door that moved her, of which I have elfe where given fome ac- count q . Nor is it any wonder it melted her, when we confider how much good-nature ap- peared in this effort to fpeak to her, who notwithstanding his high . quality, and the rudenefs of her repulfe, periifted in his en- deavours after Reconciliation. In how dif- ferent a manner is the Turkifh Sultan treat- ed, when he propofes to vifit any one of his Wives ? It is reckoned fo great an ho- nour, Lady Montague fays, that fhe is im- 1 See Obfervations on divers pafTages of Scripture, ch. 3. Obf. 15. mediately 314 Queries concerning the rejl mediately compliment Wupon it by the others, and all due prep a?' at ions made for his Re- ception r . But though her Refentment for the pre- fent fubfided, it doth not follow that it re- turned no more : what the event was muft be learnt from the latter part of this poem. Q_U E R Y XL VIII. Doth not the Obfervation of the Author of the New Translation, on the Keeper's fmiting the Queen and wounding her, want fome enlargement, and indeed fome emen* da t ion ? Great was the difference between the treatment (he met with in purfuing the King this night, and what occurred in the night which is mentioned in the beginning of the 3d chapter : the probable reafon of this difference has been given in thefe pa- pers. But as to the treatment itfelf, which appears to us, in the cafe of a Prince/}, tin- natural to the laft degree, the Author of the New Tranfiation has made an Obfer- ■ Letters, Vol. II. p. 155. 3 nation of this Sacred Poem. 3 1 5 nation upon it, referring to the chaftife- ments wont to be given by the Eaftern Eunuchs (Jntrod. p. 30) ; and obferves, that the original word we tranflate wound- ing, does not always fignify a ghaftly wound, but fometimes fuch fharp ltripes as are in- flicted by wholeibine difcipline (Notes, P-78)- This Obfervatkn is, in general, juft, but he has hardly been explicit enough to gra- tify curiofity, or even to fatisfy the mind of one that only wants to have this an- cient Song explained. The accounts of fome Travellers, concerning the treatment the Wives of the Great fometimes meet with, is really afloniming. They not only talk to them in rough language, and hunt them about from place to place, but it feems, make no fcruple of punifliing them corporally too, if they think proper, and that with fevere itripes, on the part where School-boys are often puniiTied, though in- deed without the indecency of removing the Drawers they are wont to wear. I am forry I cannot point out the pafTages where thefe accounts are given, but unluckily I have made no memorandum of them : they however 3 1 6 Queries concerning the reft however certainly may be met with in fomc of our Travellers, and are, I fuppofe, hinted at by this Author. If this is the ftate of the Eaflern Ladies, the complaint of this Princefs will not appear fo unna- tural as we may have been ready to ima- gine. I do not, however, think, that this is directly a cafe in point, for it doth not ap- pear to me that this rough treatment, what- ever it was, came from the Guards of the Palace, but the Watchmen of the City, me fetting out not from the Royal Apartments, but from her Mother's Houfe ; nor did they know, we may believe, her quality, but treated her like a perfon who, by her un- feafonable appearance in the ftreets, gave great fufpicion of her being in purfuit of bad defigns. Nor is it any wonder, if upon taking off her Veil they knew her, they would not fufFer her to proceed. Women were not fuffered to go about the ftreets in the night in common, thofe liber- ties were only allowed at their Feltivals. Q\5 E R Y of this Sacred Poem. 317 QJJ ERY XLIX. Is it any objection to the account that has been given ■" of the different treatment the Queen met with on thefe two nights, that me fuppofes, in the 8th verfe, that the Daughters of Jerufalem might proceed tho' fhe was flopped ? Is not this rather a beau- tiful reprefentation of that incontinence and diffraction of thought that are wont to at- tend great anxiety ? QJJ E R Y L. Doth not the comparing the King's Lips to Lilies, ferve to confirm a fuppoiition I have before made, that the word tranflated Lilies may more probably mean Rofes § And doth not the odoriferous water which diftils from Rofes better anfwer the words " dropping fweet-fmelling Myrrh," than the drops of liquor that may be obferved in fome flowers of the lily-kind ? I have before illuflrated feveral particu- lars of this defcription, but there is a claufe s In part II, See alio Obfervations on divers paflages of Scripture. or 3 1 8 Queries concerning the reft or two I would here make fome remarks upon. This is the firil of them: Sir Tho- mas Brown, it feems ', refers the Lily's dropping fweet-fmelling Myrrh, to " the " rofcid and honey drops obfervable in " Bowers of Martagon and inverted flow- " ered Lilies, and is probably the Standing " fweet dew on the white eyes of the " Crown-Imperial, now common among " us." We may very well believe, the word Myrrh here is to be understood generically, and as Signifying any liquid perfume, Sir Thomas fo underilood it; but I am very doubtful whether thefe drops deferve to be called a perfume, and the beauty, and even the plain meaning of the comparifon is loft, if they are not, if the Prophet here refers to them. On the contrary, Rofe- Water is extremely fragrant in the EaSt, and ufed by the mofl delicate, like Myrrh, for the per- fuming themfelves and others. So the Ara- bian Nights Entertainments 11 , mentions a perfon's being perfumed by two Slaves, of whom one came with a fther perfume-box, f Notes on the New Tranflation, p. 79. ■ Vol. V. No. i-.u with of this Sacred Poem. njg 'with the beji of Wood Aloes, with which fie perfn?ned him y and the other with Rofe- Water, which /he threw on his hands and face. Dr. Rulfell w alfo, as well as other Travellers, mentions their fprinkling Rofe- Water on their Guefts, to perfume them. Perhaps it may be thought that Alem- bicks were not in ufe fo early, and confe- quently that this palTage alludes to fome naturally -diflilled perfume, not to Rofe- Water ; but if Alembicks were not ufed fo early, might not this odoriferous water have been collected in fomething of the like Am- ple method, which Dr. Hales has men- tioned in his vegetable Statics % the putting the flower into a clofe veflel, and fo gather- ing the perfpiring matter ? QJJ E R Y LI. Doth not the claufe, " his Countenance " is as Lebanon, excellent as tlje Cedars," intend a fweetly venerable majeuic calm- nefs ? Majefty cannot be fuppofed to be unin- tended, for if there are any Trees in nature w P. 80. * Vol. I. Exper. 17, that 320 Queries concerning the reft that are fo, they are the Cedars, Arias Montanus indeed fuppofes the word here fignifies Larc/j-Trees, not Cedars, as Pagnin had translated it ; but I would take this opportunity to remark, that this tranflation of Pagnin 's feems to be afcertained by an obfervation Egmont and Heyman made, when they vifited Mount Lebanon-^- that the country people call the Cedars Errs, which is very near the found of the original word here Erez, and which therefore we may be- lieve to be the word which anciently was ufed for a Cedar. As the Cedars are majeure, fo it is al- lowed by all that have fcen Lebanon, that there is fomething extremely pleafant and venerable in it, which therefore fufficiently fixes the fenfe of die words, " his Coun- " tenance is as Lebanon. QJJ E R Y LII. Is. it not natural to fuppofe, that after this return of Tendernefs, the Queen mould, notwithstanding the harm ufage me met with from the Watchmen, fet out in'pur- fuit of her Lord, as foon as me was at liberty of this Sacred Poem', 32 r liberty to do it? And doth not the nrft verfe of the fixth chapter refer to this ? It is plain that the eighth verfe of the fifth chapter fuppofes, that fhe was not per- mitted to go in fearch of her Lord ; and it is as plain fhe is in the beginning of the iixth chapter fuppofed to be at liberty to feek him : for the daughters of Jerufalem do not propofe to go and feek for him, and when found to come again and tell her, but they fpeak of feeking him with her. There muft then have been a change in her cir- cumftances in this time, and the coming on of the Day is fufficient to account for this change. The Eaftern Women are permit- ted, at leaft oftentimes, to go out in the day-time, though not in the night. Moil probably then this verfe defcribes the events of the next morning, for though the -length of the interval of time is not expreffed dL> redly, it is moll natural to fuppofe me did it as foon as me could. QJLJ E R Y LIIL Is it hot to be fuppofed that her Appear- ance now mould be very different from what Y it 3"2"2 lotteries concerning the reft it was in the night, in which fhe was fo> dishonoured ? Is it not to be thought fhe would drefs herielf in the mofl magnificent and graceful manner fhe could, when me Was- feeking. after Reconciliation, with him ? I do not now enquire whether the pom- pous defcription of a: Queen of Solomon's in the fixth chapter,, ©r that in the feventh, is to be underilood of her,. I would at pre- lent only obferve,, that it muft be fuppofed her Appearance now mufl be very different from what it was then. At that time fhe could only haflily throw a few things about her ; now probably fhe would drefs herfelf to the befl of her fkill. So Queen Eflher, when fhe appeared be- fore another Eaflern King, who fhe ap- prehended was alienated from her, put on her Royal Apparel, and dreifed herfelf with a magnificence that became the Wife of Ahafuerus, Eflher v. i. The Wife of Solomon being drefied, in like manner,, in the mofl pompous way, the morning after the repulfe fhe met with,; her Attendants might eaiily guefs what her intention was; as it was alfo natural to fuppofe (he -had- informed herfelf by fome- bf this Sacred PoenL 323 body, fent for that purpofe> where the King propofed Spending that day ; it is not then to be wondered at that they are represented as afkihg her whither her Beloved was gone, and that they told her they were ready to attend her. The mentioning this enquiry was alfo requifite for the Poet* the better to intro- duce the reft of the work. The Anfwer me returns to their Enquiry" will "not want any illuftration I can give it here, if my Reader remembers 1 the 3 2d and 33d articles of this part of thefe papers* QJJ ERY LIV; Is it not m$fi probable* that the Cbriver* fation of Solomon with his ./Egyptian Brides in that Royal Garden to which his Jewifht Queen was coming* is reprefented in the following verfes ? and confequently that the fcene changes from the one Prince fs to the other, as it had been changed three or four times before ? In the fireplace; a very cbnjiderabte part of the defcription, in thefe verfes, is ex- actly the fame with that of the daughter of Y 2 Pharaoh 324 Queries concernhig the rejt Pharaoh in the fourth chapter, and there- fore; one would imagine, mould refer to> the fame Lady. May it npt even be con— iidered as an ingenious contrivance to mark o out the change of the perfon here, and the turning of the Poem from the Jewifh Queen to t\\& Princefs of iEgypt ?■ Where thefe changes are not marked out with that diitinctnefs which is wont to be ufed in modern writings, this method feems to be requifite: But what is much more determining, the ninth verfe mews- that a Queen of Solo- mon's, newly brought into the view of the Virgins of his Courts and ©f his Queens and Concubines, is here fpoken of, who could be no other than the Bride cele- brated in this Song. QJJ ERY LV. Is it not mofi likely, that the words, " Who is me that looketh forth as the " Morning, &c," are to be underftood as defigned to exprefs Solomon's furprize, which he difcovered to his Attendants, upon the appearance of a perfon in the Garden> in. of this Sacred Poem. - 32^ in a fplendid and glittering Drefs, whofe xoming he in no wife thought of . ? The words of this tenth verfe may be fuppofed to be connected with the preced- ing words, and 'to exprefs the Admiration of the other Women of Solomon. They may be imagined to be the words of the Jewifh Queen, upon feeing the Princefs of JEgypt magnificently dreffed in this Garden. They may be believed to be the words of Solomon's Attendants reflecting the Jewifh Queen, not the Daughter of Pharaoh. Or they may be confidered as the words of So- lomon himfelf. Now to determine, in fach a .variety of fentiments, which is moil probable, I would remark, that it feems very clear that the words of the 13th verfe, "Return, return, " G Shulamite," or O Wife of Solomon y , reprefent a perfon's not being able to Jiand an Interview which had been meditated, and confequently muff, be attributed to the Jewifh Queen, who propofed going to meet y " Shulamite" fays a Note in the New Tranflation, « is evidently formed from T\tilW Shelomo, solomon, «* as Charlotte from Charles, &c, and is equivalent to !*« JVtfe or Bride of Solomon." Y 3 her 326 Queries concerning the refi her Lord, whom me had treated in a moil infufFerably rude manner, and who might well therefore feel her heart fail her accord- ing to the 1 1 th verfe, and caufe her to hurry back with the utnioft precipitation, and with a pace like that of a Chariot dri- ven by Jehu tfye fon of Nimmi in after- times z , or rather like one under the direc- tion of Ammi-nadib, a furious Driver of that age. As the Poem had returned to the Jewifh Queen before the mention of this circum- ftance, and the ninth verfe fpeaks of the Daughter of Pharaoh, what can be a m<5rs natural interpretation of the words, " Who t* is me that looketh forth as the Morning, " &c," than to fuppofe they are defigned to introduce the Jewifh Queen again on the Stage, ? And if they are fpojcen of her, it mould be a more eafy explanation to underftand the words as fpoken by a Jingle perfon, by the fame mentioned in the 1 1 th verfe, by Solomon that , is, rather than by his At? tendants. 2 2. Kings jx. 20. QJJ ERY ■cf this Sacred Poem,, 327 QJJ E R Y LVL Are not the words of Solomon, in the nth verfe, to be fuppofed to have been pronounced with fomething of a forbidding t?he Pe;-^an Queen, interefted all married Men in .fe dominions, Eft. i. 17. The considering it as fignifying every one is liftening to what thou wilt fay, may give the thought 'in general, without deter- mining the precife meaning of the word Companions here, which is by no means neceflary. QJJ E R Y LXXVI. Are not the laft words of this Song ex-* prefiive of the Continuation of that ft/ate of Diftance, betwixt Solomon and his Jewifli Queen, which began on ocean* on of his bringing home Pharaoh's Daughter > but without excluding all hopes of Reconcilia- tion ? " Make hafte, my Beloved, upon the " Mountains of Spices," certainly exprefies her refolution to keep her diflance ; but at the fame time there appears no thought of renouncing her relation to Solomon on her part, as there was not on his. There is even fome hope exprefTed that the Breach might be made up hereafter, which could only be founded on the extreme gen tlenefs with 364 Queries concerning the reft, &c. with which he treated her. Hope then is the clofe of this Poem. Such actually is the State of Things with refpect to the Merliah and the two Churches of Jews and Gentiles. Thejewifh Church pernfls in not receiving the Gen- tiles as Fellow-Heirs, but they renounce not their relation to the Merliah, nor has he utterly excluded them from hope. The ftate of diftance has long continued, but as they ftill remain a diftinB body of people, waiting for great events that are to happen, fo the New Teftament leads us to expect their Reconciliation. AMEN! May the Fulnefs of the Gentiles come in ; end the B/indnefs that hath happened to If- rael be done away! Rom. xi. 25. THE END. ERRORS. P. 194. /. 19. for Coufah read Coufah. P. 264. /. 15. for Mother's read Mothers, DATE DUE ariWBlSielgfsS ft*. DEMCO 38-297 ■ >/ Jrafctei ¥*&&&& ^R m m IS ■I mm