The fiery courfer, when he hears from far } Now follows that in the book of Job; which un• der all the difadvantages of having been written in a language little understood; of being expreffed in phrafes peculiar to a part of the world, whofe manner of thinking and fpeaking feems to us very uncouth; and above all, of appearing in a profe tranflation; is • nevertheless fo tranfcendently above the heathen defcriptions, that hereby we may perceive how faint and languid the images are which are formed by mortal authors, when compared with that, which is figured, as it were, juft as it appears in the eye of the Creator. God fpeaking to Job, afks him, "Haft thou given the horfe ftrength? haft thou "clothed his neck with thunder? Canft thou make him "afraid as a grafhopper? the glory of his noftrils is "terrible. Ee paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his ftrength: he goeth on to meet the armed men. He "mocketh at fear, and is not afrighted; neither turneth "he back from the fword. The quiver rattleth againit "him, the glittering fpear and the fhield. He fwalloweth "the ground with fiercenefs and rage: neither believeth "he that it is the found of the trumpet. He faith "amongst the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he fmelleth the "battle afar off; the thunder of the captains, and the "fhouting." Here are all the great and fprightly images, that thought can form, of this generous beaft, expreffed in fuch force and vigour of ftile, as would have given the great wits of antiquity new laws for the fublime, had they been acquainted with thefe writings. • I cannot I cannot but particularly obferve, that whereas the claffical poets chiefly endeavour to paint the outward figure, lineaments, and motions; the facred poet makes all the beauties to flow from an inward principle • in the creature he defcribes, and thereby gives great fpirit and vivacity to his defcription. The following phrases and circumstances feem fingularly remarkable. "Haft thou cloathed his neck with thunder?" Homer and Virgil mention nothing about the neck of the 'horse, but his mane. The facred author, by the bold figure of thunder, not only expreffes the fhaking of that remarkable beauty in the horse, and the flakes of hair which naturally fuggeft the idea of lightning; but likewife the violent agitation and force of the neck, which in the criental tongues had been flatly expreft by a metaphor lefs than this. 66 "Canft thou make him afraid as a grafhopper? There is a twofold beauty in this expreffion, which not only marks the courage of this beaft, by afking if he can be feared? but likewife raises a noble image of his swiftnefs, by infinuating, that if he could be frighted, he would bound away with the nimbleness of a grafhopper. "The glory of his noftrils is terrible." This is more frong and concife than that of Virgil, which yet is the nobleft line that was ever written without infpi ration. Collecumque premens volvit fub naribus ignem. And in his noftrils rolls collected fire. He rejoiceth in his ftrength-He mocketh at fear -neither believeth he that it is the found of the trumpet---He faith among the trumpets, Ha, ha;"are figns of courage, as I faid before, flowing from an inward principle. There is a peculiar beauty in his "not believing it is the found of the trumpet:" that is, ⚫ he cannot believe it for joy; but when he was fure of it, and is amongst the trumpets, he faith; Ha, ha;" ⚫he neighs, he rejoices. His docility is elegantly painted in his being unmoved at the "rattling quiver, the 66 glitterin 66 < glittering fpear and the fhield;" and is well imitated by Oppian (who undoubtedly read Job as well as Virgil) in his poem upon hunting. How firm the manag'd war-horse keeps his ground, "He swalloweth the ground" is an expreffion for ⚫ prodigious swiftnefs, in ufe among the Arabians, Job's countrymen, at this day. The Latins have something like it. Latumque fugâ confumere campum. NEMESIAN. In flight th' extended champain to confume. Carpere prata fugâ. In flight to crop the meads. VIRG. Georg. 3. 142. -campumque volatu Cùm rapuere, pedum veftigia quæras. SIL. ITAL. When in their flight the champain they have snatch'd, No track is left behind. It is indeed the boldest and noblest of images for swiftnefs; nor have I met with any thing that comes fo ⚫ near it, as Mr. Pope's in Windfor Forest. Th' impatient courfer pants in ev'ry vein, "He fmelleth the battle afar off," and what follows about the fhouting, is a circumstance expressed with great fpirit by Lucan. So when the ring with joyful fhouts rebounds, With rage and pride th' imprifon'd courfer bounds: He *He frets, he foams, he rends his idle rein; Springs o'er the fence, and headlong feeks the plain. I am, SIR, Your ever obliged fervant, JOHN LIZARD. N987. SATURDAY, June 20. -Conftiterant hinc Thisbe, Priamus illinc, Inque vicem fuerat captatus anhelitus oris. OVID. Met. 1, 4. v. 71. Here Pyramus, there gentle Thisbe, ftrove M Y precautions are made up of all that I can hear and fee, tranflate, borrow, paraphrafe, or contract, from the perfons with whom I mingle and converfe, and the authors whom I read. But the grave discourses which I fometimes give the town, do not win fo much attention as lighter matters. For this reafon it is, that I am obliged to confider vice as it is ridiculous, and accompanied with gallantry, elfe I find in a very fhort time I fhall lie like wafte paper on the tables of coffee-houses. Where I have taken moft pains I often find myfelf least read. There is a fpirit of intrigue got into all, even the meaneft of the people, and the very servants are bent upon delights, and commence oglers and languishers. I happened the other day to pass by a gentleman's house, and faw the most flippant scene of low love that I have ever obferved. The maid was rubbing the windows within fide of the house, and her humble fervant the footman was fo happy a man as to be employed in cleaning the fame glafs on the fide toward the street. The wench began with the greatest severity of afpect imaginable, and breathing on the glafs, followed it with a dry cloth; her oppofite obferved her, VOL. II. B and and fetching a deep figh, as if it were his laft, with a very difconfolate air did the fame on his fide of the window. He ftill worked on and languished, till at laft his fair one fmiled, but covered herself, and fpreading the napkin in her hand, concealed herself from her admirer, while he took pains, as it were, to work through all that intercepted their meeting. This pretty conteft held for four or five large panes of glafs, till at last the waggery was turn'd to an humorous way of breathing in each other's faces, and catching the impreffion. The gay creatures were thus loving and pleafing their imaginations with their nearnefs and diftance, till the windows were so tranfparent that the beauty of the female made the man-fervant impatient of beholding it, and the whole houfe befides being abroad, he ran in, and they romped out of my fight. It may be imagined thefe oglers of no quality made a more fudden application of the intention of kind fighs and glances than those whofe education lays them under greater restraints, and who are confequently more flow in their advances. I have often obferved all the low part of the town in love, and taking a hackney-coach have confider'd all that paffed by me in that light, as these cities are compofed of crouds wherein there is not one who is not jawfully or unlawfully engaged in that paffion. When one is in this fpeculation, it is not unpleasant to obferve alliances between thofe males and females whofe lot it is to act in publick. Thus the woods in the middle of fummer, are not more entertaining with the different notes of birds, than the town is of different voices of the feveral forts of people who act in publick; they are divided into claffes, and crouds made for crouds. The hackney-coachmen, chairmen, and porters, are the lovers of the hawker-women, fiuitreffes, and milk-maids. They are a wild world by themselves, and have voices fignificant of their private inclinations, which ftrangers can take no notice of. 'Thus a wench with fruit looks like a mad-woman when the cries wares you fee fhe does not carry, but thefe in the fecret know that cry is only an affignation_to an hackney-coachman who is driving by, and underftands her. The whole people is in an intrigue, and the |