firft to fing of the generation of the Gods, of the birth of the Giants, of the Creation of the world, and of the Origin of man: he fung, we are told, of the Æther, as feparated from Night and Chaos; of the Light that first illuminated the World; of Love, as the operating principle in this work: he diftinguished a First Caufe from inferior Ministers; and, in order to impress these leffons more * Συιδ. περὶ ΟΡΦ. Τιμοθ. &ς. διφυή περιοπεα κυδον EPOTA. Apgoraut. Thus he defcribes the Supreme Mind; ΕΙΣ δ' ες αυτογένης. ενός εκγονα παντα τέτυκται. Ουδέ τις εστ Ετερος, &ς, We must however acknowledge, that as Authors are at a lofs with regard to the writings of Orpheus, fa they differ fill more from each other in their account of his Theology. In general indeed he is allowed to have been the Father of Polytheifm, on account of his deducing the generation of the Gods and is therefore filed by a Writer, in the first ages of Chriftianity, Tas Πολυθεότητος πρωτον διδασκαλοι, Juft. Mart. Others however, confidering his doctrines as myfterious exhibitions of the moft fublime truths, affirm, that he inculcated the belief of the Divine Unity and ΟΡΦ. Επη. Self-existence; infift, in proof of this, upon the esteem in which he was held by the Pythagorean and Platonic Philofophers; and affert, that his feeming belief of Polytheifm arofe from the characters of the people whom he addreffed, who were wholly uncultivated, and whose attention could only be arrested by the objects of fenfe. See Burn. Archæol. Philofoph. p. 120, 121. Thele opinions, however appa rently contradictory to each other, may yet, I think, with no great difficulty be reconciled; efpecially when we confider, that the Orphic Philofophy was veiled in allegory. Upon more powerfully on the minds of his wondering audience, he professed in all to be infpired by Phœbus, or the power of divine illumination.—When the Reformer of mankind turned his Lyre, and raised the mind to the contemplation of these fublime objects; accompanying the researches of Philofophy with the irrefiftible charms of melodious verfification; his hearers grew infenfibly mild as they listened; their thoughts were exalted by the greatness of his fubjects; their ferocity subdued by the sweetness and harmony of his numbers; and fucceeding generations, aftonished at the change which this divine Poet had wrought upon the characters of mankind, fabled, that he had taught the woods to dance, the Upon this hypothefis we need only fuppofe, that Orpheus, as a POET, took the liberty of giving expreffion and action to the most important of those objects which he undertook to delineate; and we may believe that he might appear to have inculcated Polytheism, at the time when he acknowledged the Unity of God. Thus the names of Minerva, Mars, Apollo, Hermes, &c. and the actions in which thefe are particularly engaged, will be confidered only as various perfonifications of the attributes afcribed to the Supreme Being, reprefenting his wisdom, power, univerfal intelligence, and that care with which C4 he fuperintends the government of mankind. This is the manner in which Homer appears to have contemplated the Deity; and his Perfections as the moral Governor of the universe, when displayed with fuch ftrength of colouring by a creative imagination, to a fuperficial mind may appear as fo many feparate Beings; whereas, when the veil is thrown afide, these are beheld as emanations from the Supreme Mind, which enlighten indeed feparately the various departments of his government; but which all of them center, when traced to their fource, in one compleat and undivided Original. ftreams ftreams to hang fufpended, the tyger to leave his prey, and even the lion to become gentle, obsequious and fubmiffive : Sylveftres homines, Sacer, Interprefq; Deorum "Cædibus & victu fœdo deterruit Orpheus ; "Dictus ob hoc lenire tigres rabidofq; leones. HoR. The wood-born race of men when Orpheus tamed, The tyger's fiercenefs, and the lion's rage. FRANCIS. As the perfons however, to whom this difcourfe was addreffed, were by no means qualified to purfue a detail of philofophical difquifition, their firft Teachers compofed Hymns or fhort fonnets, in which their meaning was couched under the veil of beautiful allegory, that their leffons might at once arreft the attention, and be impreffed upon the memory.—This, according to Aristotle, was the first dress in which Poetry made its appearance. You will, my Lord, I make no queftion, readily acknowledge, that in all arts whatever, the fimpleft ex hibitions, and fuch as are leaft complicated or ornamented, are commonly the firft. The TMNOE, therefore, or "Song of Praise," as the first rude essay of Lyric compofition, we might readily have afcribed to Orpheus as its original Author, was it not that we find this fpecies of Poetry to have been carried to far greater perfection some ages before the birth of this Philofopher, by a people who came from that very kingdom, in which he acquired the rudiments of Science®. I need scarce mention subject, and confiftent with the moft perfect perfpicuity; in one word, an invention retained within proper limits, and never fatiguing the mind with a difplay of too many objects at one time: these which constitute (as we fhall fhew afterwards) the diftinguishing beauties of this branch of compofition, form the character of the Lyric productions to be met with in the inspired Writings, and of that in particular which we have formerly mentioned. -It begins with a spirited and fublime addrefs to the Supreme Being, in whom the Author expreffeth a confidence, founded upon the deliverance which had been wrought for the Jewish nation; "I will fing “unto the LORD, for he hath tri"umphed gloriously; the horse It will not perhaps be deemed exaggeration, by any intelligent reader who confiders this fubject, to fay, that the Lyric compofitions of the facred Writers contain all the beauties, of which this fpecies of the Poetic Art is naturally fufceptible, without any mixture of the faults, which, among other Authors, we find to have arifen from the unlimited indulgence of imagination. In proof of this remark, we need adduce only the noble addrefs of Mofes to the Supreme Being; "When he had feen (it is faid) the great work which God did upon the Egyptians; and the people feared the Lord," Exod. xiv. 31.-A fublimity, accompanied with the greareft fimplicity; defcription rendered picturefque, by a felection of the happiest and most appropriated epi-" and his rider hath he thrown into thets; tranfitions, arifing from the "the fea," &c. Thus he continues for mention to your Lordship upon this occafion, that the people here referred to are the Jewish Nation, who left Egypt about two hundred years before the period at which Greece was civilized; and among whom, as they lived under a Theocracy, we find the most perfect branch for a few verses, and then breaks into an apostrophe fo bold, and at the fame time animated with fuch ftrength of colouring, and energy of expreffion, as must command admiration: Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious; thy right hand hath dafhed to pieces the enemy: Thou fenteft forth thy wrath, which confumed them **as ftubble. With the blast of thy noftrils, the waters were gathered together; the flood ftood upright as an heap; and the * depths were congealed in the heart of the fea." Pharaoh and his hoft are then introduced as Speakers, in order to form an image of the Deity, calculated to fill the imagination with the moft fublime idea, and, as far as words can reach it, fuited to the object; "The enemy faid, I will purfue, I will over"take; I will divide the fpoil; my luft fhall be fatisfied upon "them; I will draw my fword, my hand fhall deftroy them." How noble is the tranfition in the verfe immediately following, from thefe to the GoD of lfrael! "Thou of "didft blow upon them with thy "wind, the fea covered them; "thou stretcheft out thy right hand, "the earth fwallowed them. Who "is like unto thee, O LORD ?" &c. Exod. xv. - We have felected this addrefs in particular upon the prefent occafion, not on account of its eminence compared with others, but because it is the first of the kind we meet with. How would the few ftrokes of fublime description mentioned here have been admired, had thefe been met with in any of the writings of the Ancients! So eminent, I will venture to say, are the facred Writers above all others in that majeftic fimplicity; that awful and uniform grandeur of fentiment; that Pathos, often pointed like light. ning, which penetrate the heart, and exalt the imagination, that to perfons either capable of diftinguishing these beauties themselves, or of feeling their influence when pointed out by others, perhaps a stronger argument could not be adduced by the inspiration of these Authors, than will arife from comparing their defcriptions of the greatest |