CAMBRIDGE. From the University Press-By Hilliard, Metcalf, & Co. ERRATA. INTRODUCTION-page v, line 8, for " Ch. i. 7." read Ch. i. ii. -page vii, line 5 from the bottom, for " of an Arabian into the mouth of a Jew," read of a Jew into the mouth of an Arabian. INTRODUCTION. or THE poem, which it is the design of this volume to illustrate, is, in many respects, the most remarkable production of any age country. Though its antiquity is at least equal to that of the most ancient monuments of Grecian genius, it has for its subject, not the sanguinary exploits of half-civilized heroes, and the fierce contentions of rival deities, but the providence of the one true God, and the duty of man. Its language is the natural effusion of a soul, full of the sublimest conceptions of the Author of nature, and his glorious works, and of true sympathy with all that is great, and amiable, and affecting in the character and condition of man. The imagination of the author seems to have ranged freely through every part of the universe, and to have enriched itself from almost every department of nature and of art. Whether he attempt to describe the residence of Him, who maintaineth peace in his high places,' or 'the land of darkness and the shadow of death;' the passions and pursuits of man, or the nature and features of the animal creation; the phenomena of the air and the heavens, or the dark operations of the miner; he is ever familiar with his subject, and seems to tell us of what his eyes have seen, and his ears have heard. What is most remarkable in a poem of so high antiquity, is the skill with which all the delineations of the heart, and all the descriptions of nature, are made subservient to the illustration of one important moral subject. He has not merely given a succession of isolated pictures, but a complete and regular poem, distinguished by unity of design, and judicious arrangement. It has been a much debated question, whether the Book of Job should be considered as an epic, or a dramatic composition. But as it contains no action, no variety of characters, and no scenes, but on |