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□ to weigh, balance, make even :—and of similar import is the term

زون

N-though it does not occur as a verb, yet "in Arabic the cognate verbs and signify to weigh, balance;" and DND a pair of scales: Lev. xix. 36. Jer. xxxii. 10. Ezek. v. 1. a particular weight; from its radical signification of distributing or computing by weight, as well as number.

Rev. xvi. 21. seems the only example, in the New Testament, of the occurrence of this term ; where ταλαντιαία, the weight of a talent, is read by the Syriac , obviously from a talent.

A standard was provided for the Hebrew weights in a variety of ways:—by the golden candlestick in the sanctuary: Exod. xxv. 31-39.; and the silver sockets on which rested the vails of the tabernacle: Exod. xxxviii. 27.-besides the particularspecifications of Exod. xxx. 13. Lev. xxvii. 25.

The superintendents of weights and measures among the Israelites were much in the Egyptian style, the priests and Levites. To them the standards were delivered; and indeed, article by article, to particular persons; that so, if of gold or of silver, they might re-deliver it by weight; besides, the whole tribe of Levi were maintained by the public, in return for their devoting themselves to the sciences,3 See likewise David's appointment: 1 Chron. xxiii. 29.

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, the smallest weight, seems to be thus denominated as resembling in smallness the dust which a saw makes from wood. Thus the smallest coin among the Greeks was called λπtov,

eat them, and they should become lighter. They were all made of stone-and hence the Vulg. reading of Prov. xvi. 11.-Lamy's Introduction, &c. p. 254. note.

Dr. Castell, referred to in Parkhurst's Hebrew Lexicon, p. 10.

2 For additional illustration, the reader may consult pages 392-394. of Vol. iii. of Michaelis' Comment., &c.

3 Michaelis' Comment., &c. Articles LII. and CCXXVII. in Vols. i. and iii.

little; and our ancestors also had their mite. The variations of its weight, by different writers, are from five to twelve ounces. ypa, to separate or cleave asunder, is a shekel broken in two; a half shekel. Gen. xxiv. 22.

Sp the standard weight, to which all others were conformed; as they are in England to our pound, significantly derived from pendo, I weigh. It is generally reckoned at about half an English ounce. The weight of Absalom's hair, mentioned 2 Sam. xiv. 26., was 6 pounds of our Avoirdupois or grocers' weight. A comparison of Exod. xxx. 13. with Ezek. xlv. 9, 12. proves that the common shekel and that of the sanctuary were really the same. The reason of the appellation pnp was because the standard of this, as of all other weights and measures, was kept in the Sanctuary, according to 1 Chron, xxiii. 29; as with us in the Exchequer.

I

usually estimated from Ezek. xlv. 12. at 60 shekels or 2 pounds: but by Josephus and Parkhurst at 100 shekels, the latter directing to compare 1 Kings x. 17. with 2 Chron. ix. 16. It is observable, that this word is to be found only in the books of Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, and Ezekiel.

a talent, appears from Exod. xxxviii. 25, 26. to have been equal to 3000 shekels; and consequently about 125 lbs. Dr. Cumberland, however, estimates it at 93 pounds; and Michaelis, at little more than 32 English Avoirdupois.3

Arga, in John xii. 3. and xix. 39. a pound; and is supposed to have been somewhat less than 12 ounces, as it is well known the Roman librat was. This word, says Scapula, is used by the old Greek writers; and by the Sicilians for the obolus, or weight of 12 ounces.

January, 1824.

(Money in our next.)

J. W.

Thus remarks Parkhurst, who has given a judicious discussion of the subject, in his Hebrew Lexicon, p. 767.

2 Calmet's Bib. Encyclop. on Mina, Vol. ii. last edition.

3 These distinguished writers are noticed by Parkhurst-Hebrew Lexicon, pp. 313, 314.'

4 Dr. Adam's Roman Antiquities-Weights and Coins, p. 490. fifth edition, 1801.

5 Encyclop. Britan., on Medals, No. 45.

255

Is the Nightingale the Herald of Day, as well as the Messenger of Spring?

No. III. [Concluded from No. LV.]

Que bien cantan los Ruiseñores

Las mañanitas con zelos

Y con tristezas las noches.

Principe d'Esquilache.

THIS is, as Mr. Bowring remarks in a letter addressed to me,
"a curious fiction of the Spanish poets, that the Nightingale
sings of jealousy in the morning, and of sorrow at night."
The same enlightened gentleman has referred me to Shak-
seare's Song in the Passionate Pilgrim, beginning:
As it fell upon a day,

In the merry month of May,
Sitting in a pleasant shade,
Which a grove of myrtles made,
Beasts did leap, and birds did sing,
Trees did grow, and plants did spring:
Every thing did banish moan,

Save the nightingale alone:

She, poor bird, as all forlorn,

Lean'd her breast up-till a thorn,

And there sung the dolefull'st ditty,

That to hear it was great pity:

Fie, fie, fie, now would she cry,

Teru, Teru, by and by.

"This," says Mr. B., "evidently supposes the nightingale to sing in broad day-light."

Strada's verses have been already referred to; but I must refresh the mind of the reader with an excellent translation of them :

"ED. BR. If your Ladyship will allow me, I will repeat some lines, which I met with the other day in an old neglected Poet, Crashaw. They seemed to me wonderfully beautiful, though somewhat of the quaintest.

"LADY M. But are they to the purpose

"ED. BR. You shall hear. They are taken from a piece called Music's Duel. The contest is between 'a sweet lute's master' and 'the harmless syren of the woods.'

He lightly skirmishes on every string,

Charged with a flying touch; and streightway she
NO. LVIII.

VOL. XXIX.

CI. JI.

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Carves out her dainty notes as readily
Into a thousand, sweet, distinguished tones,
And reckons up, in soft divisions,

Quick volumes of wild notes....

Now negligently rash,
He throws his arm, and with a long-drawn dash,
Blends all together; then distinctly trips
From this to that; then quick-returning skips,
And snatches this again, and pauses there.
SHE measures every measure, everywhere
Meets art with art; sometimes, as if in doubt,
Not perfect yet, and fearing to be out,
Trails her plain ditty in one long-spun note,
Through the sleek passage of her open throat.
He, amazed
That from so small a channel should be raised
The torrent of a voice, whose melody
Could melt into such sweet variety,
Strains higher yet; as when the trumpets call
Hot Mars to the harvest of Death's field, and woo
Men's hearts into their hands;-This lesson too
She gives him back. Her supple breast thrills out
Sharp airs, and staggers in a warbling doubt
Of dallying sweetness; hovers o'er her skill,
And folds, in waved notes, with a trembling bill,
The plyant series of her slippery song;
Then starts she suddenly into a throng
Of panting murmurs, still'd out of her breast,
That ever-bubbling spring; the sugar'd nest
Of her delicious soul, that there doth lye
Bathing in streams of liquid melodie,
Her voice now kindling seems a holy quire,
Founded to th' name of great Apollo's lyre,
Of sweet-lipp'd Angels, ever murmuring
That men can sleep, while they their matins sing,
(Most divine service,) whose early lay
Prevents the eyelids of the blushing day.
Shame now and anger mix't a double stain
In the Musician's face; yet once again,
From this to that, from that to this he flies,
Feels music's pulse in all her arteries.
Caught in a net, which there Apollo spreads,
His fingers struggle with the vocal threads,
With flash of high-born fancies, and anon
Creep on the soft touch of a tender tone,
Whose trembling murmurs, melting in wild airs,
Runs to and fro, complaining his sweet cares,
Because those precious mysteries, that dwell
In music's ravish'd soul he dares not tell,
But whisper to the world.

Sweet soul, she tries
To measure all those wild diversities

Of chattering strings, by the small size of one
Poor simple voice, raised in a natural tone.

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Alas, in vain! for while her tender throat
Yet summons all its sweet powers for a noté,
She fails, and failing grieves, and grieving dies.
She dies, and leaves her life the victor's prize,
Falling upon his lute. Oh, fit to have,

(That lived so sweetly,) dead, so' sweet a gråve!

"LADY M. There is certainly a fine old spirit of genuine poetry in these verses."

Knight's Quarterly Mag. 2, 364.

The writer of this article ought to have known, or at least might as well have noticed, that the idea of these lines was taken from Strada; and the same remark may be applied to the verses of Chaucer, which are quoted by Antiquarius in Classical Journal 56, 365.

It may be remarked too, that in citing Crashaw's lines, certain liberties are taken in Knight's Mag. The entire passage is quoted in the Retrospective Review, No. II. p. 246. and introduced with the following remarks:-" Our quotations from this neglected Poet have been so copious, that we have no space left for observing upon any of the other pieces of translation except one; and that is so eminently beautiful in itself, and is translated with such a wonderful power over the resources of our language, that we hope to find favor in the eyes of our readers by extracting the whole Poem. The original is in the Latin of Strada; the subject, the well-known contest of the musician and nightingale. Crashaw entitles it, Music's Duel."

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But before I dismiss Knight's Mag., it will be right to criticise what is said in p. 259.:-"We might have been reading Tom and Jerry, or the Scottish Chiefs, or the Article on Nightingales in the Classical Journal, or a great many other things, all and each worse than reading Sir John Suckling's Plays.' But be it known to Edward Haselfoot that those, who admire the notes of Nature's sweetest songster, may be excused for inquiring into its habits, and that a question, which has not been satisfactorily determined by any modern ornithologist, is not unworthy even of a philosopher's attention.

J. W. in Class. Journ. 56, 343. refers to the Electra of Sophocles for a proof that "the Nightingale may be a morningsongstress." I thank him for his reference. But has he ascertained the fact from any modern ornithologist, that it is the female, which sings?

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"But best, the dear good angel of the spring,
The Nightingale.

B. Jonson's Sad Shepherd.

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