Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, BY ENOCH HUTCHINSON, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York. PREFATORY REMARKS. THE music of the ancient Hebrews is yet imperfectly understood, though the subject has been investigated by Calmet, Taylor, Pfeiffer, Saalchutz, Harenberg, Winer, Jahn, Reland, De Wette, Villoteau, and other distinguished scholars. Many of the terms, in the Sacred Scriptures, relating to the art, are obscure, chiefly, no doubt, from the fact that their antiquity is so great, that critical and authentic explanations of them have not reached our times, from a sufficiently early period to inspire confidence in their accuracy. It is perhaps impossible, in the present state of Oriental philology, to give, in every instance, a satisfactory translation of them; still, by a careful examination of their etymology, and of the probable resemblance between the instruments designated by them, and those found sculptured upon the ruins of ancient temples on the Nile and Euphrates, we can approximate, we think, nearly to their true signification. In the following pages the writer has endeavored to present a general view of the subject, and yet one sufficiently critical, to secure, to some extent at least, the confidence of the learned. 5377 488 (RECAP) APR 25 1907 213719 As the Poetry of the ancient Hebrews has been, from its earliest existence, intimately connected with music, it was thought that it would not be inappropriate to give, in connection with an account of the latter, a brief general view of the former, and in so doing, it seemed best, on the whole, to present copious extracts from the most interesting poems of the sacred writers, rather than mere references to them, though the length of some quotations, which could not be divided without marring their beauty, has swelled the pages of this volume more than was originally intended. That this slight contribution to biblical literature may aid, in some small degree, to elucidate the sacred text and advance the glory of our common Lord, is the earnest desire and prayer of NEW YORK, Nov. 1863. THE AUTHOR. |