AMENDED VERSION.

17 Thy life shall be brighter than the noon day;

Now thou art in darkness, thou shalt then be as the morning.

18 Thou shalt be secure, because there is hope;

COMMON VERSION.

17 And thine age shall be clearer than the noon day; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning.

18 And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt Now thou art disappointed, thou dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy shalt then rest in safety. rest in safety.

19 Thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid;

And many shall make suit unto thee. 20 But the eyes of the wicked shall be wearied out;

They shall find no refuge;
Their hope is but a breath.

19 Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; yea, many shall make suit unto thee.

20 But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.

The following passage is of a different character.

AMENDED VERSION.

CHAPTER XL.

15 Behold the riverhorse, which I
have made, as well as thyself;
He feedeth on grass like the ox.
16 Behold, what strength is in his
loins!

And what vigor in the muscles of
his belly!

17 He bendeth his tail, like the cedar, And the sinews of his thighs are twisted together.

18 His bones are pipes of brass,

And his limbs are bars of iron. 19 He is chief among the works of God,

He that made him, gave him his scythe.

20 For the mountains supply him with food,

Where all the beasts of the field play.

21 He reposeth under the lote-trees; In the covert of reeds, and in the fens.

22 The lote-trees cover him with their shadow,

And the willows of the brook compass him about.

23 The stream overfloweth, but he fleeth not;

He is unmoved though the Jordan rush against his mouth.

24 Can one take him by open force, Or pierce his nose with a snare? 44

VOL. II.

COMMON VERSION.

15 Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an

OX.

16 Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.

17 He moveth his tail like a cedar the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.

18 His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.

19 He is the chief of the ways of God; he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.

20 Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.

21 He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.

22 The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.

23 Behold he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not; he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.

24 He taketh it with his eyes; his nose pierceth through snares.

On this passage a learned note may be found on page 63, which deserves the attention of the reader.

We ought, in general, to say that the notes contain an ample fund of happy illustration. They are at once learned and judicious; at times unfolding the sense, and at other times illustrating

the poetical beauties of the original. There is scarce any redundancy on the part of the author, although exercised in a species of compilation, to which there are no limits but such as a writer may choose to impose on himself; and where there is every temptation to diffuseness, digression, and ostentatious display of learning.

In conclusion, we observe, that he must have been many years a diligent and successful student of the Scriptures, who can go through this little volume, without being instructed and gratified.

America or a General Survey of the Political Situation of the several Powers of the Western Continent, with Conjectures on their future Prospects. By A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES, Author of "Europe," &c. Philadelphia. Carey

& Lea. 1827. 8vo. pp. 364.

No speculations are less satisfactory than those which relate exclusively to the future condition of the world; and many men in real life, as well as Cato in the play, have found reason to be weary of "conjectures," however plausible in themselves or confidently advanced by their authors. There are other men, who delight in sublimating their own imaginations and those of others, by splendid visions of the future, and who seem to think their minds and hearts are profitably exercised, while they are uttering or listening to magnificent predictions; and in this sort of well doing they are never weary. According to this diversity of temperament will usually be the different reception given by different readers to new works of a prophetic strain. Some will believe all that they wish to be true, hope and opinion being one and indivisible with them. Others distrust all favorable and cheerful anticipations, their fears and their faith being indissolubly united. An author, therefore, who attempts to lift the veil of futurity, and who would guard against being chagrined by a partial and moderate acclamation in his favor, will always do wisely to consider that "prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe," and that there are divers ways in which belief and unbelief are produced, besides that of a thorough and impartial examination of evidence. We greatly misjudge, if the author of the volume before us has given this consideration its proper weight; and we therefore suspect that the reputation

of his book will by no means satisfy his wishes, or answer his expectations. We doubt not that the exercise of writing it was, as he asserts, in itself a pleasure to him; and we give him equal credit for his declaration that the flattering image, which he has presented of the present situation and future prospects of the United States, was drawn for the purpose of showing the inestimable worth of their political institutions; and that he has represented our government as occupying a lofty station among the leading powers of the world, with a view of impressing upon the minds of our rulers and of the nation, the deep responsibility under which they act, in consequence of the immense influence which is necessarily attached to their position. It is, nevertheless, a very plain truth, that the tendency of a book is not always to be ascertained by the writer's motives, and that its effect may be directly the reverse of his intentions. Writers are as liable as other men to strange errors of judgment, and to blind and ridiculous partialities for their own offspring; and readers are as intractable and perverse, as proud and conceited as other men, whether writers, or unable either to write or read.

We mean not, however, to speak censoriously of this author's panegyric on our country and all that pertains to it; because, as we stated on a former occasion, we have no disposition to be skeptical about this comfortable view of our affairs, and also because he has, in our judgment, succeeded better than most other writers, who have attempted a similar strain, in avoiding those flagrant extravagancies, which shock the taste of our own well educated and sober citizens, and justly provoke the derision of foreigners. Still, for the reasons which we gave in a late notice of Mr. Wharton's Discourse, and in which we are daily confirmed, we should be willing to exchange some of the declamations on our greatness, which we find in this volume, for a discussion of our political duties and dangers. To this latter, and, as we hold, more useful task, the author of "America" is surely not incompetent; and we should especially rejoice to see from his pen a convincing proof that any administration of our government can sustain itself during a protracted war of its own waging, when heavy direct taxation shall become the indispensable means. He knows full well that a most fortunately opportune peace in 1815, prevented Mr. Madison's administration from making proof of the strength of our government on this important point. We do not deny its strength, but we do deny that it has yet been shown in a manner to warrant the confident assertion sometimes made-that experiment has proved our government to be sufficiently strong to en