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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), August 1830, Edition 1 of 1, Page 518

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      In templo [ Qw . templum ?] Dei offert tmusquisque quod potest . —HiKitoNvni . Job iii . 6 , — That night—let Darkness seize upon it . Bishop Lowth * properly considers this language < c as the strongest indication of passion and a perturbed mind , and as an example of sublime poetic diction arising from the state of the emotions . To illustrate it , he quotes a passage from the Odes of Horace , *! " which is extremely pertinent and impressive . Speaking of that fine effusion of the pen of the Roman poet , he says , w anger and vexation dissipated the order of his ideas , and destroyed the construction of his introductory sentence . " The criticism is exact and tasteful : so far , the two compositions throw light upon each other ; and thus , in judicious hands , classical learning may he made explanatory of parts of the Jewish Scriptures .

      One description of my readers may not be displeased , if I transcribe a further remark of Lowth s on the words that he cites from Horace : it is , I am sorry to add , a personal remark , yet serves to elucidate his own literary histoTy and that of the times in which he lived . After enlarging on the beauties of the commencement of the Ode , the critic subjoins the following sentence :

      ' * But should some officious grammarian take in hand the passage ( for this is a very diligent race of beings , and sometimes more than sufficientlyexact and scrupulous ) , and attempt to restore it to its primitive purity and jerfection , the whole grace and excellence of that beautiful exordium would ? e instantly annihilated , all the impetuosity and ardour would in a mement > e extinguished . " J The individual designated as " some officious Grammarian , '' is Bentley He who consults the edition of Horace by that most sagacious verbal critic [ Lib . ii . Od . xiii . ] , and Lowth ' s Letter to Warburton , &c , pp . 80 , 81 , will have no doubts in respect of the accuracy of this statement . In matters of pure taste , Lowth was eminently superior to Bentley : but , for the credit of the accomplished author of the Prcelectiones , &c , we must wish that he had not expressed himself so contemptuously of a scholar of almost unequalled fame in one branch of learning . ^ Prov . vi . 6—8 , compared with xxx . 25 , ** Go to the ant , thou sluggard , consider her ways , and be wise : which having no guide , overseer , or ruler , provideth her meat in the summer , and gathereth her food in the harvest . ' " The ants are a people not strong , yet they prepare their meat in the summer , " On the former of these texts , Poole [ Annot ., &c , ver . 8 ) observes that " in winter ants stir not out of their holes . * ' The observation may be accurate enough , in point of feet , but appears superfluous and misplaced ; since in neither passage does Solomon mention the inactive or torpid state of ants

      ? De Sacra Poesrtlebraeor ., &c ., Prael . xiv . f Lib . ii . xiiL , pronounced by Dr . Joseph Warton [ Essay on the Genius , &c , of Pope , ed . 5 , Vol . I . p . 250 ] *< the best ode of Horace . " The received and unquestionable text is , " llle et nefasto , " &c . Bentley , against authority of every kind , would read , ' Ilium 6 nefasto , " &c . X Gregory ' s Transl . of Lowth ' s Lectures , &c , No . XIV . § In Warton ' a Essay on Pope , II . 200 , there seems to be a severe but not disrespectful censure of the style of the Rqmbler , &c .

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      NOTES ON PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE .

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      C 518 )

  • Citation
    • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1830, page 518, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2587/page/14/