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Though nothing once could daunt, yet now alarm'd
At ev'ry shadow, and with terrors seiz'd,

And dark forebodings, where no danger threats.
With tott'ring pace he moves, and pants for breath
At ev'ry step; to him the smoothest path
Seems rugged. 1 Thus enfeebled, not unlike
To early blossoms of an Almond-tree,

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The hoary honours of his head shall fall,

And baldness leave. The dull Grasshopper, late So active, gay, and sprightly, to itself

- which is high, and fears shall be in the way, 1 and the almond tree shall flourish, 2 and the grassshopper shall be a bur

1 The plain meaning of these words is, that, among all the uneasy and disquieting passions, to which old men are liable, such as anger, hatred, grief, impatience, &c., fear, or distrust, chiefly predominates. The same man, who, in his youth and vigour, was intimidated at nothing, when broken with age, is apt to be so dispirited and enfeebled, both in body and mind, as to be alarmed at every thing. In this condition, he is not only terrified at that which is high, (whether this expression is to be understood of eminence of place, as difficult of access to one who can scarce stand on his legs; or of matters which require deep study and application of mind; or of any great and hazardous undertaking; for in all these senses the words have been expounded,) but fears also shall be in the way; that is, the easiest things shall seem to be attended with insuperable difficulties: he shall be full of dreadful apprehensions, and starting mighty obstacles, where no danger or difficulty appears. This seems to be the most natural exposition, and therefore we shall trouble the reader with no other.

2 As we have given a turn to the last word so different from most Versions, it may be necessary to give our reasons for this deviation. "It is agreed on all hands, that under the emblem of an Almond tree, is denoted the hoary head of an Old Man but then, why is this tree said to flourish, which naturally implies joy and gladness? Does not such an expression convey an idea totally repugnant to all the preceding and subsequent ones, whether allegorical or literal, which imply nothing but what is defective, sad, gloomy, and melancholy? With regard to an old man, as here described, quite broken with infirmities, and just dropping into the grave, every one knows, that his hair, instead of growing or flourishing, is apt to fall off, and leave

DA pond'rous burden grown, wrinkled its skin,
Of ugly hue, distorted limbs, its flesh
Worn to the bones, which far" protrude," it crawls,
And drags with pain its weight. 3 The sensual flame,
That flame which glow'd so fierce within the breast

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den, 3 and desire shall fail; 4 because man goeth to his long the head entirely bald. Is it not therefore reasonable to conclude, that this emblematical Almond tree, in order to make the emblem, to answer the thing represented, and that the whole description might be of a piece, instead of being said to flourish, should rather be stripped of its white blossoms? For though Solomon, on other occasions, when he speaks of the reverence due to old age, calls the hoary head, its crown, its glory, and ornament; yet nothing could be farther from his intention here, than to render such a state desirable on the contrary, he endeavours to set it in the most wretched and contemptible light that his exalted imagination could suggest.

How then shall we clear up the matter? Another interpretation is to be sought for, of the word p, commonly rendered, shall flourish, which, as some observe, must, according to the radical letters, be derived from 3, which has never signified to flourish, nor any thing like it, but quite, the reverse, viz, to cast away, dissipate, tread under foot; and though, to this derivation it has been objected, that the word in dispute is the future from ", yet others reply, that this is to force a sense on the word, which it will by no means bear, as there is no example of an's, inserted in the middle of an Hebrew word, between the two radicals. Some indeed insist, that this letter is redundant, standing in the room of, and, to support their assertion, derive the word from another root. We shall trou"ble the reader with no more of these grammatical niceties, the discussion of which we leave to those who are better versed in the original; and have only to add, that, whatever may be thought of the present criticism, we flatter ourselves, we shall be easily pardoned 'the liberty we have taken, as it does not affect the essential beauties of this ancient Poem, and what we have here attempted, was never désigned as a formal comment.

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3 The common exposition of these words, is, that man shall be so weakened by the infirmities of age, as to be unable to support the lightest weight, even that of so small a creature as a Locust, or Grasshopper. But it appears from the grammatical construction of the words, that, whatever is denoted by this emblem, the burden ascribed to it, evidently relates to the thing itself. There is the same ambiguity in our Version, as in the Latin phrase, oneri erit, which signifies either to be burdensome to another, or to be burdened one's

Entirely quench'd, cold, impotent, and dead
To Beauty's charms. 4 How short an interval

home, and the mourners go about the streets: 5

self; in which latter sense the present passage must necessarily be taken. Now what can be meant by this burthened Grasshopper ? Undoubtedly man, who is the subject of the whole description. The several resemblances between this insect in its declining state, and a decrepit old man, have been minutely pointed out by Commentators; and it must be owned, that some of them, of which we have taken notice, are so striking, that an apter emblem could not be easily thought of.

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But the comparison, as we apprehend, chiefly holds, with respect to the dulness and sluggishness of that insect, which, though at first so exceeding sprightly in its motions, yet, when the season of its youth and ravages is over, is so changed, that it can scarce crawl on the earth. It is not improbable, as an ingenious commentator has observed on the present passage, that the Ancients were no strangers to the propriety of this emblem, and that the fable of Tithonus, who is said by the Poets to have been so extremely ematiated with age, that at length he was turned into a Grasshopper, from hence took its origin. Be this as it will, it cannot be wondered at, that so noble a creature as Man should, on this occasion, be represented by so despicable an insect, when we find him compared, in other places of scripture, to a wild Ass's colt, nay, even to the vilest reptile. What can be more sublime, and, at the same time, more mortifying, than that expression of Job? I have said to corruption, Thou art my father to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister.

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4 Some understand nothing else by these words, but the weakness of the stomach, which now loaths all kind of food out as this symptom has been already mentioned, we must recur to the original word, here translated desire, which, according to the LXX. means the fruit of the Caper shrub, and from the known property of this vegetable, in not only exciting the languid appetite, but as a provocative to venereal pleasures, is here transferred from its primary signification, and chiefly, if not solely, applied in the latter sense. The old man, drawing near his end, and almost at the last gasp, is quite cold and dead to those sensual enjoyments wherewith he was once so transported. Not only the organs themselves, which administered to those pleasures, as some understand the word, are totally enervated; but the very flame of concupiscence, as it is well rendered in our ancient English Translation, extinguished. Solomon undoubtedly wrote this Poem when he was grown old himself, and therefore could speak more feelingly on the subject; and, in all probability,

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Betwixt this transient state, and that long Home 5
Allotted to the sons of men! Ev'n now

Thy mourning friends the fun'ral rites prepare,
Will soon bear out the breathless corse, and pay
The tribute of their sorrows o'er thy grave:
For warmest Friendship then can do no more.

the infirmities of age, which he so pathetically describes, came the faster upon him, from the immoderete indulgence of his passion for women. There is reason to believe, that he hints at the pernicious consequences of this excess, in the last verse of the preceding chapter, where he advises young men to put away evil from their flesh, being convinced, from his own experience, that as lust naturally enervates the mind, and clouds the understanding, so nothing more debilitates the body, nor sooner hastens its decay.

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5 These words, being a plain and easy transition from the various symptoms attending man's declining state to those which immediately precede his dissolution, need no explanation. However, it may not be wholly impertinent just to observe, with respect to the word by (of which we have already taken notice in the first chapter) here rendered long, that it has three significations in Scripture, every one of which is strictly applicable to the present subject. The first, which seems to be its original meaning, as we before remarked, is secret, hidden, unknown; in which sense it is undoubtedly used in the last verse of this chapter. Now the grave, that home to which the sons of men are perpetually travelling, is the hiding-place, or secret receptacle for the whole human race, where they are no more seen; and besides the impenetrable secrecy and obscurity of the place itself, which, for this reason, is emphatically styled the Land of Darkness, who can tell how long he shall remain in it? The Preacher has told us, that the days we must spend there, are many; but what man can ascertain their number? Secondly, the word signifies an indefinite space of time, commensurate to the thing or person spoken of; in which sense, the term for ever, so frequently occurring in Scripture, may here also be taken, since every man must continue under the dominion of death, till that final period when the grave shall give up its dead. Finally, it signifies an endless duration; in which sense it is taken by St. Jerome, who renders this passage, in domum æternitatis sua; forasmuch as the state, which death puts a man into, is absolutely irrevocable and eternal. We shall add no more on this head than just to hint, that the phrase, long home, used in our own Version, is an Anglicism, and not without its peculiar beauty, and, as it comes up, at least, as near to

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Poor unreflecting Wretch! 'Tis now too late
To think of thy Creator, when thou hast
Forgot thyself, and like a Harp unstrung,
Which t' obey the skilful Artist's touch
Refuses, ev'ry organ of the soul

Is grown quite useless; when the Silver Cord,
Which held the frail machine in strict embrace,
And, swift as thought, to ev'ry nerve convey'd
The subtile animating flame, relax'd,

Hangs like a slacken'd Bow-string, which no more
The pointed shaft can send. 6 Well may the streams

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[6] Or ever the silver cord be loosed, 6 or the golden bowl the original as any of the other constructions, could not be changed for a better.

[The word hy is also sometimes used to signify the period of time to the Jubilee, which was, says Parkhurst, an eminent type of the completion of the Jewish and typical dispensation by the coming and death of Christ; and of the final consummation of the great py, or of the end of the world. Comp. Exod. xxi. 6. Deut. xv. 17. with Lev. xxv. 8, 9, 10. I Cor. xv. 52. I Thess. iv. 16.

Mr. Swinton (Phil. Trans. vol. 53. p. 276.) reads the beginning of a Punic inscription, found in the island of Malta, thus ( by the chamber of long home

See other illustrations in No, cccclxxxix. of Fragments appended to Calmet. The following description of old age is striking:

PA} {16_BÈ MIG de The sixth age shifts

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gab sinto the lean and slipper'd Pantaloon, aie browWith spectacles on's nose, and pouch on's side; His youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide ovingFor his shrunk shank and his big manly voice, Komu nefTurning again towards childish treble, pipes dnse And whistles in his sound: Last scene of all, sub e That ends this strange eventful history, will enstis second childishness and mere oblivion;

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Sans teeth, suns eyes, sans taste, sans every thing.
Jadets ban gidasovo

SHAKESPEARE. ED.]

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6 The most judicious Commentators are now universally agreed,

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