noble one; and in its accomplishment she certainly has not wholly failed of success. Yet how much more remains to be done! How much further might its sphere be widened, and its power increased, by one whom heaven had gifted with an eye to discern the poetic beauty, and a heart to feel the moral meaning, which are so mysteriously blended in the changeful scenes around us! The sacred bard performs no higher office than when he teaches us to mingle the sentiments of piety with the incidents and objects which present themselves along the familiar pathway of common life.

Among the female writers of the age, the place of Mrs. Hemans is a high one. There may be others who have excelled her in single departments, or in particular qualities of poetry; but we know not where to look for one, who has attained a wider influence over her own sex, or made a deeper or more lasting impression upon the general mind of the age. The place in our literature which she has left vacant, is yet unfilled. Critics have sometimes expressed a regret, which seems also to have been deeply felt by herself, that she did not, to use her own words, "concentrate all her mental energy in the production of some more noble and complete work, something of pure and holy excellence (if there be not too much presumption in the thought), which might permanently take its place as the work of a British poetess." "It has ever been one of my regrets," she says, in one of her latest letters, "that the constant necessity of providing sums of money to meet the exigences of the boys' education, has obliged me to waste my mind in what I consider mere desultory effusions;

'Pouring myself away,

As a wild bird, amid the foliage, turns

That which within him thrills, and beats, and burns,
Into a fleeting lay.'"

But though we sympathize with the amiable feeling which is thus uttered, and honor the aspiration from which it springs, yet we can bardly believe, that her vocation as a poet would have been better accomplished, had she devoted her energies to a single work. There are minds, whose powers are best exerted, not so much in soaring to "the brightest heaven of invention," as in pointing out the calm and sunny spots of earth, the delightful retreats to which the pilgrim of life may resort and be refreshed, amid the toils and tumults of his pilgrimage. It is this office which Mrs. Hemans has performed,

and for which we think her genius, both by nature and by the circumstances of her life, was admirably fitted. It is for this, and for the images of truth, and beauty, and holiness, which live in her poetry, that the world will cherish her memory. And though men may resort to other temples for the deeper oracles of poetic truth, yet will they often come to this humbler shrine, to hear the responses of simple piety, to catch the spirit of calm devotion, and learn the lessons of humble faith and cheerful resignation.

ARTICLE V.

TRANSLATION OF ISAIAH 17: 12-18: 7, WITH A BRIEF COMMENTARY.

Lo! a tumult of many people!

Like the raging of the sea they rage.

A commotion of nations!

They rush like the rushing of mighty waters,

Like the roar of many waters the nations shout.

He rebuketh them, and they flce far away;

They are driven like chaff of the mountains before the wind,
Like stubble before the whirlwind.

At evening time, behold, terror!

Before the morning they are not!

This is the portion of those who rob us,
The fate of those who spoil us.

Ho! thou land rustling with armies!

Bordering on the rivers of Cush,

Which sendeth messengers over the sea,

In boats of papyrus over the face of the waters.

Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation brave and fierce,
To a nation terrible from the first and onward;

A conquering, destroying nation,

Whose land the rivers overflow.

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth,
When he lifteth up a standard on the mountains, behold!
When he bloweth a trumpet, hear!

For thus saith Jehovah unto me:

I will sit still and behold in my dwelling-place,
Like the clear heat when the sun is up;
Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

For before the vintage when the flower is gone,
And the blossom has become a ripening grape,
He will cut off the shoots with a pruning-hook,
The branches he will cut down and take away.

They shall be left together to the birds of the mountain,
And to the wild beasts of the field.

The bird of prey shall summer upon them,

And every beast of the earth shall winter upon them.

At that time shall gifts be brought to Jehovah of hosts,
From a nation courageous and fierce,

From a people terrible from the first and onward;

A conquering, destroying nation,

Whose land the rivers overflow,

To the dwelling-place of Jehovah of hosts,—to Mount Zion!

On what is the mind of the prophet here fixed? There is a plain correspondence between this prophecy and certain events recorded to have taken place in the time of Hezekiah, about seven hundred years before the Christian era. We turn to the history. The Assyrian king, Sennacherib, with his victorious army, is marching through Judea. Already the royal treasures have been exhausted, the temple itself has been despoiled of its gold, to satisfy the rapacious demands of the invader. But his ambition has no such limit. The whole land must submit. And why should it not? "As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, whose graven images did excel those of Jerusalem and of Samaria, shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?"

He sends a large detachment from his army, to summon the city to surrender. They array themselves before the walls of Jerusalem. Mark, now, their insolence, their proud boasting, their impious railing against Jehovah, to whom the Jews are looking for deliverance! They would terrify the city into submission. Foiled, however, in their aim, they withdraw, and rejoin the main body of the Assyrian army.

A new force from Ethiopia is now announced to be on its way in aid of the Jews. Sennacherib, undismayed by this intelligence, and arrogantly re-demanding, by messengers, the surrender of the city, prepares himself, as we are left to infer, to meet the coming army. Alas for the inhabitants of Jerusa

lem, unless God, by miracle, interpose! If victorious over the auxiliary forces, the invader will return with redoubled forces, to wreak his vengeance on the unyielding city.

It is a time of perplexity and dismay at Jerusalem. They know the rage of the Assyrian; they dread his power. King and priest are clothed in sackcloth. The cry of the city goes up to heaven,-O, Lord of Hosts! God of Israel! hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to reproach the living God! Save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know, that thou art the Lord, even thou only!

The prayer is heard. Jerusalem is safe under the protection of the Almighty. The angel of death goes through the Assyrian camp. The host of the invader is routed. Sennacherib returns to his own country, where the swords of his own sons put an end to his life.

Such was the fate of that mighty host presented to the eye of the prophet, rolling like the waves of a tempestuous ocean, and raging against the people of the Most High. At evening, they are a "terror" to the whole land. The morning comes, and they are not! Those warriors, who laid them down to awake strong for the conflict,-see them now! their features fixed in death,-outstretched upon the ground through all the camp! the pride of that invading host cut down and withered in a night! Amazement seizes their surviving companions. They fly," driven like chaff of the mountains before the wind; like stubble before the whirlwind."

The correspondence is complete, between the language of the prophet and the event before us, the overthrow of the Assyrian host by the destroying angel. Every point in the prophecy finds a corresponding circumstance connected with the event. Does the prophecy speak of spoilers? Behold the royal treasures exhausted, the temple despoiled of its gold. Does the prophecy speak of the rage of a tumultuous host? Behold the arrogance, the blasphemous insolence of the Assyrian army, in its march through Judea and before the walls of Jerusalem. Does the prophecy speak of those, who, a "terror" at evening, before the morning are not? Behold the Assyrian camp, as the morning light reveals the work of the destroying angel. Do they fly at the rebuke of the Almighty? Behold the remnant of that host, as they escape, panic-struck at what the morning reveals. Thus far, then, the prophecy and the history clearly coincide. The fate of the Assyrian army is a commentary on the language of the prophet.

At this point, the scene changes. What relation has the remaining part of the passage recited, to the foregoing? One fact, already alluded to, carefully viewed with the attending circumstances, will, perhaps, unlock the mystery. Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, is advancing with his army, in aid of the Jews, against the invader. While yet at a distance, it is announced to the prophet what is to be the fate of the Assyrian army. The whole scene, yet future, is before his eye, in all the vividness of a present reality. How natural would it be, that the prophet, thus beholding the signal overthrow of the invader's army, should turn to the land from which auxiliary forces were advancing: Ho! thou land rustling with armies! The work shall be done without your aid. Thus saith Jehovah: "I will sit still and behold in my dwelling-place. Jehovah will look upon Jerusalem with an eye of favor, as when the morning sun shines serenely on the dew-wet field. Jehovah will elevate his banner on the mountains. He will blast the ripening schemes of the invader. His choice ones shall fall, as when a man lops off the branches of a vine with his pruning-knife. Let the enemy boast; let him dream of victory and of conquest; a power mightier than the Assyrian is in his camp." By an invisible hand they die. The bird of prey from the mountains hovers, and alights upon their corpses. The ravenous beasts of the field are there.

The whole passage, then, we suppose, refers to the same event, the destruction of the Assyrian army by the special interposition of the Almighty.