SECTION IV. OF THE IMAGERY EMPLOYED IN THIS SONG. MY object in this section will be two-fold : 1st. To shew that the images employed are quite in the style of the best eastern writers; and 2dly, That they are not justly chargeable with indelicacy or licentiousness. Sir W. JONES will be admitted one of the best judges of the eastern style. He tells us, ' the • Arabian poets compare the foreheads of their ' mistresses to the morning'; their locks to the 'night; their faces to the sun, to the moon, or ' to the blossoms of jasmine; their cheeks to roses 'or ripe-fruit; their teeth to pearls, hail-stones, ' and snow-drops; their eyes to the flowers of the 'narcissus; their curled hair to black scorpions, and to hyacinths; their lips to rubies, or to 'wine; the form of their breasts to pomegranates, ' and the colour of them to snow; their shape to ' that of the palm tree3; and their stature to that " of a cypress, palm', &c. In the above quotation I have marked with italics both the features described, and the images employed; with some references in the margin, to the passages of this song, where similar images occur; and I shall pursue the same method in the following extracts. The following is an extract from a literal translation by Sir W. Jones of a 'TURKISH ODE, by 'MESHI'.' 'Thou hearest the tale of the nightingale, that 'the vernal season approaches2. The spring has 'spread a bower of joy in every grove, where the ' almond-tree sheds its silver blossoms. • The roses and tulips are like the bright cheeks ' of beautiful maids, in whose ears the pearls hang ' like drops of dew. 'The time is passed in which the plants were 'sick, and the rose-bud hung its thoughtful head ' upon its bosom.' Lady Montague, in her tour in the east, met with a TURKISH LOVE SONG, which struck her as remarkably resembling, in its style, the canticle of the king of Israel. Mr. Harmer has copied the whole, and I shall transcribe so much of it as appears to our purpose. The nightingale now wanders in the vines ; ' her passion is to seek roses. 'I went down to admire the beauty of the * wines: the sweetness of your charms bath ra' vished my soul+. 1 Asiatic Poems. 3 Ch. vi. 11, 12. vii. 12. 2 Sol. Song, ii. 11, 12. Ch. iv. 9. • Your eyes are black and lovely; but wild and disdainful as those of a stag. 'The wretched Ibrahim sighs in these verses: ' one dart from your eyes hath pierced through my heart'. • 'Ah, Sultana! STAG-EYED: an angel among angels! I desire, and my desire remains unsatisfied. 'Turn to me, Sultana ! -let me gaze on thy • beauty2. Adieu-I go down to the grave: If thou callest me, I return. ‘My heart is hot as sulphur ; sigh, and it will flame.3 On this song I will subjoin two observations; the first is from Mr. Harmer, that 'the passion of the nightingale is to seek roses,' alludes to a popular Arabian fable of the amours of the nightingale and the rose. -The second is a criticism of Sir W. Jones, on the epithet STAG-EYED in the translation of this song: he supposes the original [ahû chesm] to intend the eyes of a young fawn-the same as the GAZEL of the Ara. bians, and the ZABI of the Hebrews. I have 'seen one (says Sir William,) it is exquisitely -beautiful, with eyes uncommonly black and 1 Ch. iv. 9. 2 Ch. vi. 13. Essay on Eastern Poetry. * Ελικώπες, fawn-eyed. Pers. Gram. p. 71. 3 Ch. viii. 6, 'large: -The Turks mean to express fulness, ' with a soft and languishing lustre.' The above are sufficient to give an idea of the eastern taste in poetic composition; and the similitude between these images and Solomon's, is too obvious to be insisted on. In the critical notes to the commentary, however, I may subjoin some other passages from the easterns to illustrate the text. I come now to justify the language of my author from the charges of immodesty and indelicacy. In order to which I must submit to the consideration of my readers, the difference between the manners and customs of different nations, particularly in the east and west. Many of the Mosaic laws and regulations respecting women, sound very indelicately to the ears of English ladies, and are certainly very improper to be read in our religious assemblies, or in mixed companies; but does this fix the stain of immodesty on the Jewish legislator? Certainly not; the legal code of the Hindoos contains many of the same laws, quite as naturally expressed; and so do those of other eastern nations. On the other hand, our laws, in many cases, demand that kind of evidence from injured females, in an open court, which would by no means be required by an eastern judge. Also many liberties between the sexes, which, from their intermixture in conversation are thought innocent with us, would be esteemed highly criminal in Turkey and other parts of the east. 'The promiscuous dancing of the two sexes, for instance, so fashionable in Europe, is viewed with 'horror' by the Turks; and an European ball is an object of disgust and detestation to Musselmen 1.-I may add that the Hebrew language, in its ancient state, wants words for many indelicate and offensive objects named by us without hesitation 2. It is also to be observed that even in the same country, in different periods, the same expressions are either modest or indelicate. As a nation proceeds in luxury and refinement, the language is also refined, while the manners, perhaps, grow more licentious. This has been particularly the case with us. I doubt not but the passages-excepted against in our translation of this very poem appeared modest enough to our translators, who were grave and learned men: and though this certainly is not the case at present, who will say that the morals of the nation are not more relaxed than in the reign of Elizabeth and James I ? To instance in one circumstance, I doubt not but our ladies were as modest when they wore their besoms exposed, as they are at present; and then I suppose the description of this feature appeared no more indelicate than now the description of a female face. Such appear to be the ideas of the eastern poets above referred to by Sir W. Jones; and even the colder poets of the north, who are neither chargeable with lewd intentions nor unchaste expressions. • Niebuhr's Travels, vol. I. p. 140. 2 The Hebrew has no word for urine, but calls it the water of the feet; nor have they any literal term for those sexual distinctions which our modest writers generally name in Latin, Σ |