If Mrs. Schim

a devotional and spiritual interpretation." melpenninck conceives that she has given "an accurate literal interpretation," she has deceived herself; for, of all the pas sages which she supposes to require emendation, we find not` one amended.

Our authoress presumes the first Psalm to have been.composed by Samuel, at the consecration of David, and to have been used by his four-hundred adherents in Adullam; and conjectures, that David and Saul are intended in the contrast of character which it presents. For this, however, she adduces neither authority, nor even probable reason, and the origin of some other Psalms is no less arbitrarily decided..

The title of the fourth Psalm is, which is rendered, in our version, "To the Chief Musician on Neginoth," by this writer, "to the Giver of Victory over Afflictions." At p. 415. she observes, "that the word musician is not warranted by the slightest trace of the original," and at p. 424. says, that the root whence NEGINOTH is deduced, signifies to strike, or give persecution to play on a stringed instrument, which is struck." From the specimens which we have seen, we suspect that Mrs. Schimmelpenninck has been led astray by a blind adherence to Parkhurst's most imperfect Lexicon, and has taken the force of roots on his sole and continually erring testimony. We grant that has the sense of conqueror, (not of giver of victory); but it has various other significations, and had Mrs. Schimmelpenninck referred to 1 Chron. xv. 21. she would have perceived that it was also applied to musical eminence, or performance. Hence, our translation is authorized in rendering * "to the musician, or chief musician." In like manner we are certified by several passages, that is a stringed instrument, and metonymically, a song, whence it follows that this psalm was directed to the chief musician, or prefect of those who played this sort of stringed instrument. We discover no example of its sense "to give persecution."

No remarks are made on the ivgauua of the next Psalm, although Reinhard, Weidlingius, and Michaelis have proved the term to have been the name of a certain species of musical instruments. This silence, however, is supplied in the

למנצח בנגינות על השמינית following, in which we observe

ren

dered to the giver of victory over afflictions, upon the superabundance (of them.)" The whole of this translation is

unwarranted, and contrary to the genius of the Hebrew:-we have shewn that Neginah was the name of a stringed instrument, and it is manifest to the most careless observer that this was merely a species of Neginah, differing in the octave: for,

C) כנרות על השמינית and of the כנרות we read of the simple

Chron. xv. 21.) which is an example precisely in point.

In Psalm vii. 1. is translated "wandering song." It is evident, that Mrs. Schimmelpenninck has derived it from

; yet, as numberless passages of the Bible prove, that the Hebrew, in its existing state, does not contain every signification which formerly belonged to the root, we cannot derive it from the sense of "erravit," especially, as the Syriac has preserved the identical root, in the sense of "cecinit," and continually uses a for any sort of song. The nature of this song, if we advert to the Arabic, was of a sorrowful description, which derivation harmonizes with the style of the Psalm. The idea of "wandering song," is not peculiar to Mrs. Schimmelpenninck.

This writer renders the inscription of the eighth Psalm, “To the Giver of Victory, concerning the presses." The Hebrew term is . As this word has the gentilitial termination, it was most probably a musical instrument invented at GathRimmon, as Jarchi observes on the passage: the Chaldee Paraphrast calls it a sort of harp, which David brought from Gath." There is no difficulty in imputing the name to this circumstance, because we know that the Greeks called some of their instruments and melodies from the countries whence they were borrowed. If the Л derived its name from the wine-press, it could only be on the principle stated in the Supplement to Michaelis's Hebrew Lexicon. This idea is favoured in the LXX, ὑπὲρ τῶν ληνῶν, which would represent it as the instrument that accompanied the "vo einvío, such as those which are recorded by Anacreon. Suffice it to say, whatever be its origin, that we are to understand not as presses, but as an instrument.

The title of Psalm ix. is translated "To the Giver of Victory over death. For the Son," and p. 417. "To the Conqueror, upon the Death of the Son." It is easy to perceive the interpretation designed for this psalm, which the Syriac translator first suggested; but, it is the office of sound criticism to examine how far the different parts of the evidence cohere. If be the prefix to 12, and it be not the name of a mán, Absalom must have been the individual intended; but this supposition is

contrary to the tenor of the Psalm. If any individual be designated, Aben Ezra and Jarchi,- who affirm that Labben was a king, who oppressed the Israelites, are probably right, since, with the mere difference of the Masoretic system, we observe as a man's name in Genesis, and find and i used by the Arabs, as names of women.

Some, however, not without reason, have doubted the correctness of making by two words; and joining them, as moby, have interpreted them to apply to the music of the day. If Mrs. Schimmelpenninck adopts the Masoretic vowels, as it appears from some Hebrew words placed in our character, she has here greatly violated their rules by translating death, since death, according to the Masorah, is not expressed by but by . The supporters of this criticism explain

YT

as the name of a man, with prefixed, and that they have historical authority is manifest from 1 Chron. xv. 18. where BEN is mentioned as a Levite of the second degree. This may be the true interpretation of the inscription.

אילת השחר

The Title of Psalm xii. is rendered, "To the Giver of Victory, upon the superabundance (of afflictions,)"-on which words we have already offered our remarks; and that of Psalm xxii. has this most unintelligible version, "To the Giver of Victory, concerning the interposition of darkness, or, to the Giver of Victory on the ram of morning (sacrifice)." The original words are nлy, which are confessedly incumbered with difficulty. The Chaldee Paraphrast conceives them to mean concerning the efficacy of the daily morning sacrifice," and others have interpreted them concerning the time, when the psalm was to be sung. Some have deemed to be a musical instrument, because certain writers have recorded a species of pipe made from the bones of stags, but this is unworthy of attention: others arguing from the force of the cognate Syriac words, have rendered them "concerning the help, or remedy of affliction." Mrs. Schimmelpenninck, however, has erred in her concord, by translating ram, the true signification of which is a doe. The phrase was probably the name of a metre used by the Hebrews at this period; if not, from numberless examples in the rabbinical and Arabic writers, it certainly implied that the Psalm was to be sung at that division of time which is called in Talmud ♫ cerva Aurora. We rather conceive it the beginning of an ode, to the tune of which this psalm was set., in Psalm xxxii. is translated "" an instruction:" a didactic ode would be better. Michaelis imagines it to imply a connected poem.

t

99

A considerable dispute has arisen concerning the sense of Л, , which Mrs. Schimmelpenninck interprets "a confession! The dispute, however, is absurd, since it is the name of a man who is mentioned in 1 Chron. xxv. 1. 3. xvi. 41. 43. and Kimchi in loco asserts, that David delivered this psalm to Jeduthun the singer. She has, in like manner, blundered in Psalm xlii., where she conceives the sons of Korah to mean "the Sons of Mourning," whereas, we so frequently read of this name in the Scriptures, that no reasonable doubt can be agitated respecting it. Heman, Asaph, and Jeduthun were, as it appears from the inspired account, prefects of certain orders of singers, and Heman was a Korahite, as we are positively informed in 1 Chron. vi. 33—37., consequently the were not "the Sons of Mourning," but the company under his superintendance, who probably were of the same extraction.

The version of the title of Psalm xlv. is borrowed in part from the LXX and Vulgate : " To the Giver of Victory upon those who shall be changed. An instruction for the Sons of Mourning. A Song of Loves:" or, (as at p. 423.) " To the conqueror concerning joyful things, being an instruction for the Sons of Mourning: a Song of Loves, or of the Beloved." Lampius and Theodore Hässe have proved the □ to have been musical instruments, which are supposed to be cymbals, the ancient form of which they assert to have corresponded with the lily of the valley, from whence the name was derived. One species of lilium, viz., the Martagon, is still called Cymbalum in some places. The TT seems analogous to the poopiλès Mos of Theocritus, and perhaps may have been the name of one class of Hebrew poetry.

In Psalm xlvi. by by are translated," a Song of Mysteries to come," and (p. 423.) "a Song upon hidden things to come." Before Mrs. Schimmelpenninck had resolved to charge our version with "coining ideal musicians," she should have been certified that her own system was unanswerable : yet, here, as in former instances, we detect a total ignorance of sound criticism, and manifest proofs of very little reading on the subject. The fact is, she has excogitated a system which she does not prove by the Scriptures, but to support which she forces and distorts the written text to barbarous significations, continually irreconcileable with the genius of the Hebrew tongue. Now, there can be no rational dispute that the

by were either musical instruments, or musical keys, as we may argue from 1 Chron. xv. 20. Whether the box-wood tibiæ of the Phrygians, called "vuoi by Athenæus and Pollux, were of the same description, we know not. Yet, as Magius

has shewn, that λor and spóλue were names given to some parts of the tibia and λeos was the term for a dirge or ditty, the similarity of sound adds weight to the arguments in favour of these conjectures. But, we discover the word in conjunction with the in the historical books, which circumstance restricts its sense to the music of the age.

In the same manner SD, the Title of the fiftieth Psalm is rendered "a Psalm of Gathering," though Asaph repeatedly occurs in the Old Testament, as the name of a man. In Psalm liii. the words by are interpreted" concerning the profane." In this instance the Septuagint sufficiently assures us, that an instrument was intended, (eg Maɛλ,) which the Æthiopic version, in Gen. iv, 21. has identified with the The ordinary occurrence of and of on, in a musical sense, should have directed our authoress to the true meaning of the word. In the next psalm, is construed "concerning afflictions," and the whole title, (p. 424.) " to the Conqueror over Stripes, an instruction concerning the Beloved, when the Spiers came and said to the infernal Powers, doth not the Beloved seek protection from us?" This monstrous absurdity is explained by the miracles of Christ being assigned, in the New Testament, by his enemies, to demoniacal agency. We have already shewn that is a musical instrument, struck by the hand or plectrum: cf. 1 Sam. xvi. 23. and, in the remaining part the proper names of tribes and of individuals, continually repeated in Scripture, are translated as referring to Christian circumstances. Here some sad blunders are discovered Almost the very words are repeated in 1 Sam. xxiii. 19., and the context shews their historic signification. We were at a loss to know how the Ziphites are translated Spiers: is the Scriptural word (cf. Josh. vi. 22. 23.) but the authoress solved our difficulty, by acknowledging her deduction of the word in the most unauthorized way from !! Yet, even from this root, the idea would be that of persons surveying the enemy from a watch-tower, rather than spies. In the next place, she has mistaken, the name of the first king of Israel, for Sixy gons and the Grave, which in no one instance can mean the infernal powers. D is rightly translated in our version to hide, and by following it should have convinced her that her interpretation violated the structure of the sentence: her application of it, in fact, is most unnatural, if not blasphemous, and intimates a combination with that evil agency which Christ is every where asserted to have destroyed.