way he was to give it out, when his finger touched the hair-trigger. How unfortunate that I did not know of this in time to speak to General Jesup, when one word from him would have set all right and saved the imminent risks incurred! This inquiry, "May I not disable him?" was still on Mr. Randolph's mind and dependent for its solution on the rising incidents of the moment, when the accidental fire of his pistol gave the turn to his feelings which solved the doubt. But he declared to me that he had not aimed at the life of Mr. Clay; that he did not level as high as the knees-not higher than the knee-band, "for it was no mercy to shoot a man in the knee;" that his only object was to disable him and spoil his aim; and then added, with a beauty of expression and a depth of feeling which no studied oratory can ever attain, and which I shall never forget, these impressive words: "I would not have seen him fall mortally, or even doubtfully, wounded, for all the land that is watered by the king of floods and all his tributary streams." He left me to resume his post, utterly refusing to explain out of the Senate anything that he had said in it, and with the positive declaration that he would not return the next fire. I withdrew a little way into the woods and kept my eyes fixed on Mr. Randolph, who I then knew to | be the only one in danger. I saw him receive the fire of Mr. Clay, saw the gravel knocked up in the same place, saw Mr. Randolph raise his pistol, discharge it in the air; heard him say, "I do not fire at you, Mr. Clay," and immediately advancing and offering his hand. He was met in the same spirit. They met halfway, shook hands, Mr. Randolph saying, jocosely, "You owe me

a coat, Mr. Clay" (the bullet had passed through the skirt of the coat, very near the hip); to which Mr. Clay promptly and happily replied, "I am glad the debt is no greater." I had come up, and was prompt to proclaim what I had been obliged to keep secret for eight days. The joy of all was extreme at this happy termination of a most critical affair, and we immediately left, with lighter hearts than we brought. I stopped to sup with Mr. Randolph and his friends— none of us wanted dinner that day—and had a characteristic time of it. A runner came in from the bank to say that they had overpaid him, by mistake, one hundred and thirty dollars that day. He answered, "I believe it is your rule not to correct mistakes except at the time and at your counter," and with that answer the runner had to return. When gone, Mr. Randolph said, “I will pay it on Monday: people must be honest, if banks are not." He asked for the sealed paper he had given me, opened it, took out a check for one thousand dollars, drawn in my favor, and with which I was requested to have him carried, if killed, to Virginia, and buried under his patrimonial oaks-not let him be buried at Washington with a hundred hacks after him. He took the gold from his left breeches-pocket, and said to us (Hamilton, Tatnall and I), Gentlemen, Clay's bad shooting sha'n't rob you of your seals. I am going to London, and will have them made for you;" which he did, and most characteristically, so far as mine was concerned. He went to the herald's office in London and inquired for the Benton family, of which I had often told him there was none, as we only dated on that side from my grandfather in North Carolina. But the

On Monday the parties exchanged cards, and social relations were formally and courteously restored. It was about the last high-toned duel that I have witnessed, and among the highest-toned that I have ever witnessed, and so happily conducted to a fortunate issue-a result due to the noble character of the seconds as well as to the generous and heroic spirit of the principals. Certainly duelling is bad and has been put down, but not quite so bad as its substitute --revolvers, bowie-knives, blackguarding and street-assassinations under the pretext of self

defence.

THOMAS H. BENTON.

HEBREW POETRY.

FROM THE GERMAN OF J. G. HERDER.

10 the poetical age of Israel's liberty belongs the beautiful fable of Jotham. Like the fables of Esop and Menenius Agrippa, it was spoken to the people for their instruction respecting an actual event, and such is the truest and best origin and aim of fabulous compositions. In this fable trees speak and act, for Israel then lived beneath the trees the life of herdsmen or cultivators of the soil. The youngest son of a worthy father, who alone was left after the murder of all his brothers, goes upon the top of the mountain, raises his voice and addresses in the following language the peo

"Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem,

That God may hearken unto you.

The trees went forth upon a time

To anoint a king to rule them; They said unto the olive tree, 'Be thou the king over us.' But the olive tree said to them, 'Shall I give up my oily sap,

For which both God and man respect me, And go to wave above the trees?'

"Then said all the trees unto the bramble,
'Come thou and be our king.'

The bramble said unto the trees,

If in truth ye anoint me over you,
Come and put your trust in my shadow;
But if it be not so,

Let fire come out of the bramble

And devour the cedars of Lebanon.''

The fable, as a species of composition, lives wholly in the wild period of uncontrolled liberty. In the spirit and feeling of such freedom it represents the quiet happiness of the several fruitful and luxuriant trees, none of which are desirous of the proposed elevation. It clearly exhibits the gifts and qualifications by which the bramble attains the royal dignity, and of which on the first proposal it is conscious in itself. It shows the inward and essential character of the

kingly office, as cold and barren, without oil and joyless, to wave above the blooming trees. Finally, it relates the first gracious acts of the bramble, the conditions offered to the cedars of Lebanon, either to come and place themselves under the shadow of the bramble or be consumed by it with fire. Beautiful fable, full of sad truth for more than one age!

The East is full of such ethico-political fables. What the historians of European nations propose in aphorisms the Orientals clothe in the dress of fiction or fable. The tyrant who took from them their freedom of speech must at least leave them their fables, their proverbs, their wild and romantic tales. These not only commended themselves to the minds of the common people, but sometimes ventured in humble guise to approach the ear of the monarch. Thus Nathan related to David the king a little story of the one ewe-lamb of the poor man. Thus, too, Isaiah sung to his well-beloved, the people, a fabulous song of another beloved, the sentiment of which is simply that the former is an unfruitful and unprofitable vineyard, which the latter, the Lord of the vineyard, threatens with immediate destruction. prophets paint symbols upon the wall or themselves become symbols, living fables; and when curiosity prompted the inquiry, "What is this? What does this witless figure mean?" the prophet explained its pregnant import. Often, too, this is given. dressed in verbal conceits:

What seest thou, Jeremiah ?""A rod of an almond tree.""Thou sawest truly,

For I will watch over my word Till I accomplish it,"

The

where the words in the original exhibit a paronomasia.

What play of words, too, in regard to proper names, monuments and historical events do we find abounding in the historical and poetical writings of the Hebrews! And, as the riddles and puns of Samson belong here, it may perhaps be the most fitting occasion to illustrate more at large both these topics, which are so great favorites in Oriental poetry.

When Samson celebrated his marriagefestival, he knew of no better way to entertain his guests than by a riddle, which he propounded in verse:

We find this respect and fondness for riddles even in later books. The queen of Sheba came to test the wisdom of Solomon by trials of the same kind, and the last chapter but one of his proverbs contains little else but riddles, though, indeed, in a different and higher style.

THE WORDS OF AGUR THE SON OF JAKEH.

In lofty phrase the man to Itheil spake,

To Itheil and Uchal spake he thus:

'More brutish surely am I than a man;

What men call prudence I have not;

I have not learned their wisdom,

And should I know the knowledge of the holy?
Who up to heaven ascended or came down?
Who gathered up the wind within his fist?
Who bound the waters in a garment?
Who gave the earth its several bounds?
What is his name? and what his son's?
Inform me, if thou knowest."

A race whose teeth like daggers,
And forward teeth like knives,
Devour the poor from off the land,
The needy from among mankind.

Here is the beautiful elegy of David on Saul and Jonathan. To me the heart of Jonathan remains sacred, and may his name for ever adorn the altar of friendship!

DAVID'S LAMENTATION FOR JONATHAN HIS

FRIEND.

Beautiful roe, thou pride and glory of Israel,
Thus, then, art thou wounded upon thy high places!

CHORUS.

Fallen, fallen are the heroes! How are the heroes fallen!

Tell ye it not in Gath,

Publish it not in the streets of Askelon,
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,

TWO WISHES WITH RESPECT TO HUMAN

LIFE.

But two things only have I asked of thee;
Deny me not so long as I shall live:
Put far from me idolatry and lying,
Allot me neither poverty nor riches,
But give me food in just allowance,
Lest I, too full, become a liar,
And say, Who is Jehovah?

Or lest, too poor, I steal,

And take the name of God in vain.

How beautifully are the two objects here related to each other in life! How true and convincing the mode of presenting them!

THE EVIL RACE.

There is a race who curse their father And bring no blessings on their motherA race in their own eyes for ever pure, But yet not washed from their own filth; A race whose eyes are carried loftily, And eyelids lifted up with pride;

Ye mountains of Gilboa, on you henceforth
Let no more rain nor dew descend for ever;

No more on you, ye mountains blighted with a curse,
For there the shield of heroes was struck down-
The shield of Saul, as of one unconsecrated with oil.
From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the strong,
The bow of Jonathan never turned backward,

The sword of Saul returned not empty. (It reached the

blood of the slain.)

Saul and Jonathan! Dear to each other in life,

They went undivided in love to the realm of shades; Swifter than eagles, bolder were they than lions. Daughters of Israel, weep ye for Saul:

No more will he clothe you in garments of purple, Nor deck your apparel with ornaments of gold.

CHORUS.

Ah! how are the heroes fallen in the midst of battle! Jonathan, thou lovely roe, slain on thy high places!

I am afflicted for thee, my brother Jonathan:
Lovely wast thou to me, exceeding lovely;
Yea, my love for thee surpassed the love of women.

CHORUS.

Ah! how are the heroes fallen,

And their weapons of war perished! Translation of JAMES MARSH.

GREEK LANGUAGE AND LITERA

IT

TURE.

T is impossible to contemplate the annals of Greek literature and art without being struck with them as by far the most extraordinary and brilliant phenomena in the history of the human mind. The very language, even in its primitive simplicity, as it came down from the rhapsodists who celebrated the exploits of Hercules and Theseus, was as great a wonder as any it records. All the other tongues that civilized man has spoken are poor and feeble and barbarous in comparison with it. Its compass and flexibility, its riches and its powers, are altogether unlimited. It not only expresses with precision all that is thought or known at any given period, but it enlarges itself naturally with the progress of science, and affords, as if without an effort, a new phrase or a systematic nomenclature whenever one is called for. It is equally adapted to every variety of style and subject -to the most shadowy subtlety of distinction and the utmost exactness of definition as well as to the energy and the pathos of popular eloquence; to the majesty, the elevation, the variety, of the epic and the boldest license of the dithyrambic no less than to the sweetness of the elegy, the simplicity of the pastoral or the heedless gayety and delicate characterization of comedy. Above all, what is an unspeakable charm, a sort of naïveté is peculiar to it, which appears in all those various styles, and is quite as becoming and agreeable in a historian or a philosopher-Xenophon, for instance-as in the light and jocund numbers of Anacreon. Indeed, were there no other object in learning Greek but to see to what perfection language is capable of being carried, not only as a medium of communica

tion, but as an instrument of thought, we see not why the time of a young man would not be just as well bestowed in acquiring a knowledge of it-for all the purposes, at least, of a liberal or elementary education-as in learning algebra, another specimen of a language or arrangement of signs perfect in its kind.

But this wonderful idiom happens to have been spoken, as was hinted in the preceding paragraph, by a race as wonderful. The very first monument of their genius-the most ancient relic of letters in the Western world-stands to this day altogether unrivalled in the exalted class to which it belongs. What was the history of this immortal poem and of its great fellow? Was it a single individual, and who was he, that composed them? Had he any master or model? What had been his education, and what was the state of society in which he lived? These questions are full of interest to a philosophical inquirer into the intellectual history of the species, but they are especially important with a view to the subject of the present discussion. Whatever causes account for the matchless excellence of these primitive poems, and for that of the language in which they are written, will go far to explain the extraordinary circumstance that the same favored people left nothing unattempted in philosophy, in letters and in arts, and attempted nothing without signal, and in some cases unrivalled, success.

Winkleman undertakes to assign some reasons for this astonishing superiority of the Greeks, and talks very learnedly about a fine climate, delicate organs, exquisite susceptibility, the full development of the human form by gymnastic exercises, etc. For our own part, we are content to explain the phenome