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,
"Vouchsafes to be my guide;

"The shepherd, by whose constant care
My wants are all supplied.

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,
And feed me with a shepherd's care;
His presence shall my wants supply,
And guard me with a watchful eye;
My noon-day walks he shall attend,
And all my midnight hours defend.

When in the sultry glebe I faint,
Or on the thirsty mountain pant:
To fertile vales and dewy meads
My weary, wand'ring steps he leads,
Where peaceful rivers, soft and slow,
Amid the verdant landscape flow.

Though in the paths of death I tread,
With gloomy horrors overspread,
My stedfast heart shall fear no ill,
For thou, O Lord, art with me still;

Thy friendly crook shall give me aid,
And guide me through the dreadfu shade.

Though in a bare and rugged way,
Through devious lonely wilds I stray.
Thy bounty shall my pains beguile,
The barren wilderness shall smile

With sudden greens and herbage crown'd,
And streams shall murmur all around.

ADDISON.

PSALM XXIII.

O LORD! amid this desert wide,
Thou art my shepherd, thou my guide;
From day to day, from year to year,
I shall not want, for thou art near.

Thou hast ten thousand gifts bestow'd,
And strew'd with flow'rs my mortal road;
Through pastures fair, I take my way,
Or by the peaceful waters stray.

All those who call upon thy name,
Shall find thy bounty still the same;

Goodness and mercy shall attend

The man who makes his God his friend.

And when th' appointed time shall come,
That I must seek my narrow home,
Follow where all the prophets led,
Down to the chambers of the dead:

Close my sad eyes on ev'ry scene,
Which once my dear delight had been ;
Forsake the fair abodes of men,
And dust to dust return again;

I will not dread, for thou art near,
Thy smile shall calm each rising fear;
Thy rod and staff new joy impart,

And cheer, with hope, my fainting heart.

Confiding in Jehovah's power,
I then will meet the trying hour;
And hail, with my expiring breath,
The cold and lonely vale of death.

Our fathers pass'd that gloomy road,
Awhile, our fathers there abode;
None hath in heaven his anchor cast,
Who hath not Jordan's billows past.

When death shall summon me away,
If thou but smile, my night is day;
That dark and dreary vale once trod,
And I ascend to thee, my God!

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.