His naked breaft their impotence defies;

The dart rebounds, the brittle fauchion flies.
Shut in himself, the war without he hears,
Safe in the tempeft of their rattling spears;
The cumber'd ftrand their wafted vollies ftrow;
His fport, the rage and labour of the foe.

His paftimes like a cauldron boil the flood,
And blacken ocean with the rifing mud;
The billows feel him, as he works his way;
His hoary footsteps fhine along the fea;

385

390

The foam high-wrought with white divides the green,

And diftant failors point where death has been.

His like earth bears not on her fpacious face;
Alone in nature ftands his dauntless race,
For utter ignorance of fear renown'd,
In wrath he rolls his baleful eye around:
Makes every fwoln, disdainful heart, subside,

And holds dominion o'er the fons of pride.
Then the Chaldæan eas'd his labouring breaft,
With full conviction of his crime oppreft.

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400

"Thou canst accomplish All things, Lord of Might: "And every thought is naked to Thy fight.

But, oh! Thy ways are wonderful, and lie "Beyond the deepest reach of mortal eye. "Oft have I heard of Thine Almighty Power; "But never faw Thee till this dreadful hour. "O'erwhelm'd with fhame, the Lord of life I fee, "Abhor myself, and give my foul to Thee. "Nor fhall my weakness tempt Thine anger more: "Man is not made to question, but adore.”

405

410

NOTES

NOTES ON THE PARAPHRASE.

Book of Job.] It is difputed amongst the critics who was the Author of the Book of Job; some give it to Mofes, fome to others. As I was engaged in this little performance, fome arguments occurred to me which favour the former of thofe opinions; and becaufe I do not find them mentioned by any one elfe, I have flung them into the following notes, where little elfe is to be expected.

Ver. 1.] The Almighty's fpeech, chapter xxxviii, &c. which is what I paraphrafe in this little work, is by much the finest part of the nobleft and most antient Poem in the world. Bishop Patrick fays, its grandeur is as much above all other poetry, as thunder is louder than a whifper. In order to fet this diftinguished part of the Poem in a fuller light, and give the reader a clearer conception of it, I have abridged the preceding and fubfequent parts of the Poem, and joined them to it; fo that this Piece is a fort of an epitome of the whole Book of Job.

I ufe the word paraphrafe, because I want another which might better anfwer to the uncommon liberties I have taken. I have omitted, added, and transposed. The mountain, the comet, the fun, and other parts, are entirely added: thofe upon the peacock, the lion, &c. are much enlarged; and I have thrown the whole into a method more fuitable to our notions of regulaVOL. I.

rity

rity. The judicious, if they compare this Piece with the original, will, I flatter myself, find the reasons for the great liberties I have indulged myself in through the whole.

Longinus has a chapter on interrogations, which fhews that they contribute much to the fublime. This fpeech of the Almighty is made up of them. Interrogation feems, indeed, the proper ftyle of majesty incenfed. It differs from other manner of reproof, as bidding a perfon execute himself, does from a common execution; for he that afks the guilty a proper queftion, makes him, in effect, pafs fentence on ..himself.

Ver. 41.] The Book of Job is well known to be dramatic, and, like the Tragedies of old Greece, is fiction built on truth. Probably this most noble part of it, the Almighty speaking out of the whirlwind (fo fuitable to the after-practice of the Greek Stage, when there happened "dignus vindice nodus") is fictitious; but is a fiction more agreeable to the time in which Job lived, than to any fince. Frequent before the Law were the appearances of the Almighty after this manner, Exod. c. xix. Ezek. c. i. &c. Hence is he faid to "dwell in thick darkness and "have his way in the whirlwind."

:

Ver. 69.] There is a very great air in all that precedes, but this is fignally fublime. We are ftruck with admiration to fee the vaft and ungovernable ocean receiving commands, and punctually obeying them; to find it like a managed horfe, raging, toffing, and foaming,

foaming, but by the rule and direction of its master. This paffage yields in fublimity to that of "Let there "be light," &c. fo much only, as the abfolute government of nature yields to the creation of it.

The like spirit in these two paffages is no bad concurrent argument, that Mofes is author of the Book of Job.

Ver. 191.] Another argument that Mofes was the author is, that most of the creatures here are Egyptian. The reafon given why the raven is particularly mentioned as an object of the care of Providence, is, because by her clamorous and importunate voice, she particularly feems always calling upon it; thence gásow, à nípzg, Ælian. 1. ii. c. 48. is "to afk earnestly." And fince there were ravens on the bank of the Nile more clamorous than the rest of that fpecies, thofe probably are meant in that place. Ver. 195.] There are many inftances of this bird's ftupidity let two fuffice. First, it covers its head in the reeds, and thinks itself all out of fight:

:

"Ridendum revoluta caput, creditque latere

"Stat lumine claufo

"Quæ non ipfa videt."

CLAUD.

Secondly, They that go in pursuit of them, draw the fkin of an Ostrich's neck on one hand, which proves a fufficient lure to take them with the other.

They have fo little brain, that Heliogabulus had fix hundred heads for his fupper.

Here we may observe, that our judicious as well as fublime author just touches the great points of distinc

tion in each creature, and then haftens to another.

A

defcription is exact when you cannot add, but what is common to another thing; nor withdraw, but fomething peculiarly belonging to the thing defcribed. A likeness is loft in too much defcription, as a meaning often in too much illuftration.

Ver. 205.] Here is marked another peculiar quality of this creature, which neither flies nor runs directly, but has a motion compofed of both, and ufing its wings as fails, makes great speed.

"Vafta velut Libyæ venantùm vocibus ales "Cum premitur, calidas curfu tranfimittit arenas, "Inque modum veli finuatis flamine pennis "Pulverulenta volat."

CLAUD. in Eutr.

Ver. 206.] Xenophon fays, Cyrus had horfes that could overtake the goat and the wild afs; but none that could reach this creature. A thoufand golden ducats, or a hundred camels, was the stated price of a horfe that could equal their speed.

Ver. 207.] Though this bird is but just mentioned in my author, I could not forbear going a little farther, and spreading those beautiful plumes (which are there fhut up) in half a dozen lines. The circumftance I have marked of his opening his plumes to the fun is true: "Expandit colores adverfo maximè fole, "quia fic fulgentius radiant." PLIN. 1. x. c. 20.

Ver. 219.] Thuanus (de Re Accip.) mentions a hawk that flew from Paris to London in a night. And the Egyptians, in regard to its fwiftnefs, made it their fymbol for the wind; for which reason we may fuppofe