that these are the names of those very Psalms to which they are prefixed.

k

1

The forty-second Psalm, it may be thought, might very well have been intituled the Hind of the Morning, because, as that panted after the water-brooks, so panted the soul of the Psalmist after God; but the twenty-second Psalm, it is certain, might equally well be distinguished by this title, Dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: and as the Psalmist in the forty-second Psalm rather chose to compare himself to an hart than an hind, the twenty-second Psalm much better answers this title, in which he speaks of his hunted soul in the feminine gender, Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling (which in the original is feminine) from the power of the dog.

Every one that reflects on the circumstances of David, at the time to which the fifty-sixth Psalm refers, and considers the Oriental taste, will not wonder to see that Psalm intituled the Dove dumb in distant places: nor are Lilies more improper to be made the title of other Psalms, with proper distinctions, than a Garden of Anemonics to be the name of a collection of moral discourses.

The huntings of the Eastern people, according to Dr. Shaw, are managed by assembling great numbers of people, and inclosing the creatures they hunt, p. 235.

OBSERVATION VI.

The same Subject continued.

THE Works of seven of the most excellent Arab poets, who flourished before the times of Mohammedanism, were called, d'Herbelot observes, Al Moallacat, because they were successively fixed, by way of honour, to the gate of the temple of Mecca; and also Al Modhahebat, which signifies gilded, (or golden,) because they were written in letters of gold upon Egyptian paper and d'Herbelot in a succeeding page tells us," that the Arabs, when they would praise any one's poems, were wont to say, these are the golden verses of such or such an one, which he seems to suppose was derived from the writing of these poems in letters of gold."

Might not the sixtieth Psalm, and the five others that are distinguished by the same epithet, be called golden, on account of their having been, on some occasion or other, wrote in letters of gold, and hung up in the Sanctuary, or elsewhere? Not, it may be, on account of their being judged to have a superior excellence to the other hymns of this collection, absolutely speaking, but their being suited to some parti

m P. 593.

" A fine prose translation of these seven poems may be seen in Sir Wm. Jones's WORKS, vol. iv. p. 245. at the conclusion of which is the original Arabic. EDIT.

eular circumstances, which might occasion their being treated with this distinction.

Hezekiah, we know, went up to the house of the LORD, and spread the letter of Sennacherib before him there, Is. xxxvii. 14.-hung it up, it may be, before the LORD. What Hezekiah did with a paper of threatening, other princes might do with these Psalms of encouragement and hope.

Some have imagined they were called golden. Psalms merely on account of their distinguished excellence. That distinguished excellence however does not appear and what is more, the ancient Jews, it is certain, had a different way of marking this out-The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's, not the golden Song of Solomon.

Ainsworth supposes the word no michtam signifies a golden jewel. That the affixing such a title to a Psalm, would have been agreeable enough to the Eastern taste anciently, we may believe from what appears in these modern times. D'Herbelot has actually mentioned a book, intituled Bracelets of Gold, containing an account of all that history had mentioned relating to a month sacred among the Arabs." I cannot, however, easily admit that this is the true meaning of the word michtam, because there are several Psalms which have this word prefixed to them; whereas, if it signified a jewel of gold, it would have been intended, if we may judge by modern titles of

• Cant. i. 1. 1 P. 714.

In his Annot. on the sixteenth Psalm.

Eastern books, to have distinguished one Psalm from all the rest. To which may be added, that some of these Psalms have another name given them: the fifty-sixth being called the Dove dumb in distant places, and the sixtieth the Lily of the Testimony.

I will only farther add, that this writing in letters of gold still continues in the East. "The greatest part of these books," says Maillet, speaking of the royal Mohammedan library in Egypt, which was so famous, and was afterwards destroyed by Saladine, 66 were written in letters of gold, such as the Turks and Arabs, even of our time. make use of in the titles of their books,' And a little after,' speaking of the ignorance of the modern Egyptians as to the burnishing of gold, so that their gilding has nothing of the ancient splendor, he adds, "It is true, to make up this defect, they have preserved the art of making gold liquid, and fit for ink. I have seen some of their books written with this gold, which were extremely beautiful."

Lett. 13. p. 189.

P. 192.

A copy of the Koran now lying before me, besides the most splendid illuminations at the beginning and end, and on each leaf, has the first, middle, and last line in every page written in letters of gold. Many others have their titles and the titles of chapters written in golden letters; and some in blue, red, and letters of gold alternately. Add to this, that most of the finer MSS. have the whole surface of the paper powdered with gold, and each page enclosed in a splendid border of gold, blue and red, in the finest style of what is called Arabesque. EDIT.

OBSERVATION VII.

Eastern MSS. highly ornamented.

ST. JOHN evidently supposes paintings, or drawings, in that volume which he saw in the visions of GOD, and which was sealed with seven seals; the first figure being that of a man on a white horse, with a bow in his hand, &c." We expect copper-plates in our printed books, but it may be, never thought of drawings in a manuscript.

The Eastern manuscripts however are not without these ornaments. So Olearius, describing the library belonging to the famous sepulchre of Sheekh Sefi, says, that the manuscripts are all extremely well written, beautifully bound, and those of history illustrated with many representations in miniature.*

The more ancient books of the East are also found to be beautified after this manner: for Dr. Pococke speaks in his travels of two manuscripts of the Pentateuch, one in the monastery of Patmos, and the other belonging to the Bishop of Smyrna, adorned with several paintings, well executed for the time, one of which is supposed to be above nine hundred years old. Such a book, it seems, was that St. John saw in a vision.'

* P. 638.

" Rev. vi. ▾ Persian MSS. are frequently adorned with very elegant paintings of men, women, birds, beasts, fishes, armour,