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    fancy . As to the structure of the poem , we are of opinion that it is , for the most part , fabulous . The introduction , the concluding chapters , the preciseness and the care with which the leading speakers are brought before us , three several times , m rotation , have a very artificial appearance . Surely , Mr . Good contends for too much when he attempts to evince that in these circumstances there is nothing inconsistent with a narrative of facts .

    Will not sound criticism be satisfied with the admission that facts are the ground-work of the book ? Rosenmuller ' s arguments to this effect , * are at once concise and forcible . Mr . Good assumes a doctrine to

    which we cannot accede respecting the Satan of the book of-Job 5 and , for the better support of his theory , offers a construction of Chap , i . 8 . ii . 3 . upon which we shall animadvert in the proper place . He considers this poem as

    " a regular Hebrew Epic , '' and adds , " were it necessary to enter so minutely into the question , it might easily be proved to possess a 11 the more prominent features of an epic , as collected and laid down by Aristotle himself . " This I I criticism , formerl y maintained ns criticismformerly maintained

    , by a foreign author , has found an opponent in Eicliliornf , and is incapable of being supported . The book consists almost entirely of dialogue . There is so little action throughout that we cannot with

    reason style the poetry either epic or dramatic . And , though the composition is eminently sublime , beautiful and pathetic , yet , as Rosenmuller justly remarks , its merits are vindicated , and not lessened , by our forbearing to give it a technical classification * ' Quod auteni huic poemati et

    legitimi dramatis et epici carminis ti tulum abjiiciicamus , nihil de ejus pretio derogatum inius , quod ii potius facere censeudi sunt , qui ad alienam iiormam id inique exigere voluut , unde necesse est vitiosuni et man cum vidcri , quod sane in slo gtinere est pulcherriinuni et perfectissimum . " ];

    The present translator offers a valuable analysis of this composition , winch lie divides into six parrs ,

    in-* Prolcf >(> Hi . 3— -8 . f Einlcitung * in das A . T . . iii . 555 , &c ( Ed . 3 . ) t Preleg-. 22 .

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    eluding the opening or exordium . These are as follow : 1 . ) Ch . i . —iii . 2 . ) iii . — -xv . 3 . ) xv . —xxii . 40 xxii . —xxxii . 5- ) xxxii . —xxxviii . 6 . )

    xxxviii . Hereafter , we shall point out a few mistakes ( such we conceive them to be ) , both of sentiment and language , in this part of the Dissertation .

    III . We have the pleasure of agreeing with Mr . Good in his general statement of the difficulties attending a translation of the book of Job , and of the necessity of a knowledge of Arabic to the translator . If in modern

    times the sense of the poem has beea more fully developed than heretofore , we owe the Benefit chiefly to the nicer care with which the study of the Oriental tongues and dialects has

    been pursued . Sacred criticism has received great assistance from the cultivation of this branch of learning ; though , in the volumes of a few and even celebrated authors , it has often degenerated into puerile refinements .

    Kven the mere English reader of the poem before us , must be aware of the arduousness of making a vernacular translation of it j as he cannot fail to perceive that our public version of Job , though executed by men of ability and erudition , is frequently obscure . Perhaps no book in the

    Old Testament has so much engaged the attention of critics and theologians widely varying from each other in their degrees of knowledge , taste and judgment . Yet most of them have thrown light upon this fine vestige of ancient genius ; while room is still left for the efforts of future

    commentators and translators . IV . It is no easy task to ascertain the author and the aera of the book of Job . That is was composed before the delivery of the Jewish Jaw , cannot , we imagine , be reasonably questioned . We are unable to discover in this

    poem any traces of persons and transactions subsequent to the period we have just mentioned : and , indeed , it remains to be seen whether allusions are here made even to much earlier incidents recorded in the

    sacred history ? By whom the hook was written , can be a matter only oi conjecture . They who assign it to Moses , advance an opinion far more plausible than any other which has been hazarded on the subject : yt't the examples adduced by Mr . G . as

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    50 Review . —Good ' s Translation of the Book of Job .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1815, page 50, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1756/page/50/