"That," said the Oxford professor, "is the true style of Homer; but what
pleases me still more is that I find in it the sublime eloquence of the
Hebrews. I could fancy myself to be reading passages such as these from
those fine canticles:
"'Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in
pieces like a potter's vessel. Thou hast broken the teeth of the
ungodly. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundation also of the
hills moved and were shaken because he was wroth. The Lord also
thundered in the heavens; and the Highest gave His voice hailstones and
coals of fire. In them hath He set a tabernacle for the sun. Which is as
a bridegroom coming out of his chamber.
"'Break their teeth in their mouth, O God; break the great teeth of the
young lions, O Lord. Let them pass away as waters that run continually;
when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in
pieces. As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away, like
the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. Before
your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as in a
whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
"'They return at evening; they make a noise like a dog. But Thou, O
Lord, shalt laugh at them; Thou shalt have all the heathen in derision.
Consume them in wrath; consume them that they may not be.
"'The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan, a high hill as the hill of
Bashan. Why leap ye, ye high hills? The Lord said I will bring again
from Bashan, I will bring up my people again from the depths of the sea;
that thy feet may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the
tongue of thy dogs in the same.
"'Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it. O my God, make them like a
wheel; as the stubble before the wind. As the fire burneth the wood, and
as the flame setteth the mountains on fire; so persecute them with Thy
tempest and make them afraid with Thy storm.
"'He shall judge among the heathen; he shall fill the places with dead
bodies; He shall wound the heads over many countries. Happy shall he be
that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones,'" etc.
The Florentine, having listened with great attention to the verses of
the canticles recited by the doctor, as well as to the first lines of
Fingal bellowed forth by the Scotchman, confessed that he was not
greatly moved by all these Eastern figures, and that he liked the noble
simplicity of Virgil's style much better.
At these words the Scotchman turned pale with wrath, the Oxonian
shrugged his shoulders with pity, but Lord Chesterfield encouraged the
Florentine by a smile of approbation.