Again, it will be found that in the Biblical lyric songs and those of Heine there is a striking community of sentiment, and more particularly in the idealization of womanhood or of one of its fairest representatives. The following translation (again by Sir Theodore Martin) of two songs of Heine may serve as examples:— I Thou, so fair, so pure of guile, Maiden of the sunny smile, Would, to thee, it were my fate, All my life to dedicate. Like the sunbeam's tender shine, Gleam these gentle eyes of thine; Thy soft cheeks, so ruddy bright, Scatter rays of rosy light. Thy dear little mouth does show Pearls within, a shining row, But the gem of gems the best, Is enshrined within thy breast. It was love, divinely deep, That into my heart did creep, When I looked on thee erewhile, Maiden of the sunny smile^[170-1]. II Thou art as a tender floweret, So gentle, and pure, and fair; I gaze on thee, and sadness Comes over me unaware. I feel, as though I should lay, sweet, My hands on thy head with a prayer, That God may keep thee, my darling, As gentle, and pure, and fair^[170-2]. Several poems of Heine, which are coloured with what is called in modern phrase the “Weltschmerz,” show even more clearly that their author has inherited something of the sombre spirit of the prophets. Any one who has, for instance, read the Book of Lamentations, or the 137th Psalm beginning with the words “By the river of Babylon there we sat down, and when we thought of Zion our tears did flow,” will hardly fail to detect an identity of feeling in the fine verses of Heine on Zion. One of these poems runs in the original German as follows:— Brich aus in tiefe Klagen, Du düsteres Martyrlied, Das ich so lang getragen Im flammenstillen Gemüth! Es dringt in alle Ohren Und durch die Ohren ins Herz; Ich habe gewaltig geschworen Den tausendjährigen Schmerz. Es weinen die Grossen und Kleinen, Sogar die alten Herr'n, Die Frauen und Blumen weinen, Es weinen am Himmel die Stern'. Und all die Thränen fliessen Nach Süden im stillen Verein, Sie fliessen und ergiessen Sich all in den Jordan hinein. From the examples given it may be seen that whether Heine sang the praises of his lady-love, or whether he lamented the sad fate of his long-suffering people, he was imbued with the same spirit which abode in the old singers of Israel. Similarly he would seem to have gone to the Bible for his inspiration when he took the wonders of nature for his theme. If, for instance, the 104th and the 107th Psalms, in which the moods of nature in her opposite aspects are so effectively described, are compared with those poems of Heine which deal with the same subjects, it will readily be seen how close is the resemblance between Heine and the Biblical models.