meanders through the fertile plain. The scene which was before his eyes consisted of rude hills and vallies, deep, gloomy, dark, and horrid, the haunts only of the fiercest animals. There is no safety for the sheep in these vallies but in the care of the shepherd. You are therefore presented with a great variety of contrasted imagery in this psalm; on the one hand, the open pastures, and the flowing rivulets, the recollection of which never fails to delight; and, on the other hand, the cheerless and gloomy vallies, which inspire. the reader with fresh horror. Descending from figurative to plain language, he next celebrates the bounty of God in preparing him a banquet in the face of his enemies; and therefore regales himself with the delicious hope, that he shall once more be restored to his sacred temple.-MICHAELIS. Mr. Tate (in our common version of the Psalms) has been remarkably fortunate in his paraphrase of the first verses of this psalm; so much indeed, that, for simplicity, and a close adherence to the spirit of the original, I cannot help preferring it to the celebrated translation of Mr. Addison: "The Lord himself, the mighty Lord, "The shepherd, by whose constant care 16 F "In tender grass he makes me feed, "And gently there repose, "And leads me to cool shades, and where "Refreshing water flows." DR. GREGORY. PSALM XXIII. THE Lord my pasture shall prepare, When in the sultry glebe I faint, Though in the paths of death I tread, Thy friendly crook shall give me aid, Though in a bare and rugged way, With sudden greens and herbage crown'd, ADDISON. PSALM XXIII. O LORD! amid this desert wide, Thou hast ten thousand gifts bestow'd, All those who call upon thy name, Goodness and mercy shall attend The man who makes his God his friend. And when th' appointed time shall come, Close my sad eyes on ev'ry scene, I will not dread, for thou art near, And cheer, with hope, my fainting heart. Confiding in Jehovah's power, Our fathers pass'd that gloomy road, When death shall summon me away, COTTLE. PSALM XXIV. The subject of the following poem is possessed of the highest dignity and splendour, though still no inconsiderable part of the sublimity is to be attributed to its general plan and arrangement. The induction of the ark of God to mount Sion by David, gave occasion to the twenty-fourth psalm *. The removal of the ark was celebrated in a great assembly of the people, and with suitable splendour during every part of the ceremony. The Levites led the procession, accompanied by a great variety of vocal and instrumental music; and this ode appears to have been sung to the people, when they arrived at the summit of the mountain. The exordium is expressive of the supreme and infinite dominion of God, arising from the right of creation : * See 2 Sam. vi.; 1 Chron. xv. |