Him all revere, and all obey His delegated reign, The flocks that through the valley stray, The herds that graze the plain. The furious tiger speeds his flight, In fear of his superior might,. Whatever horrid monsters tread, O Lord, how far extends thy name ! That sun thy wonders shall proclaim, PSALM X. THINE is the throne: beneath thy reign, What eyes, like thine, eternal Sire, The meek observer of thy laws Thou, Lord, thy people's wish can'st read, The weeping orphan's cheek to dry, MERRICK. 1 PSALM XI.* THIS psalm seems to have been composed by David, either during his persecution by Saul, or in the time of Absalom's rebellion.-From the latter part of the first verse to the end of the third is contained the advice of David's timid friends. David's reply, in the fourth verse, is abrupt, but beautifully poetical.-GEDDES. WHY do you prompt my soul to fly, * RICHARD Cumberland, esq. whose writings are so well known, and so deservedly admired, published, some years ago, + A Poetical Version of certain Psalms of David." My reader will, I doubt not, be so well pleased with the two specimens here given, as to have recourse to the work itself. + I have rendered into English metre fifty of the Psalms of David, which are printed by Mr. Strange of Tunbridge Wells, and upon which I flatter myself I have not in vain bestowed my best attention.-Memoirs of Richard Cumberland, written by himself, vol. ii. p. 274. God is my hope, and though my foes Tho' truth and justice be o'erthrown, Thou, Lord, descending from above, They, who with faith sincere and pure A glorious prize shall gain; But the oppressors of mankind, The Lord, in his vindictive ire, With storms and showers of sulphurous fire These monsters shall destroy; Whilst virtue reaps eternal peace, In mansions where all sorrows cease, A heav'n of boundless joy. CUMBERLAND, Was composed, I think, during the rebellion of There are great beauties in this psalm, Absalom. which disappear in a dry prosaic theological version. The transitions are as bold as those of Pindar, and more emphatical.-GEDDES PSALM XIII.* OFFENDED Majesty! how long * NATHANIEL Cotton was a Physician at St. Alban's, where he acquired considerable reputation. Dr. Anderson, in the life prefixed to Cotton's Works, laments that Of the family, birth-place, and education of Nathaniel Cotton, there are no written memorials.' He died 1788.-Mr. SOUTHEY'S Specimens of the Later English Poets, vol. iii. |