& mething of
I a g iIm- He-
. vidence thai it did exist, nor even a probable conjecture \ rude kind of farce i- described by ii, ch. vii |, the play< rs of which I i,. se frequently perform prior to weddings and circumcisions al the hou | and Bometimes attract rings of
auditors and spectators in the public places in Cairo. Their performances are Bcarcely worthy of description : -,\ by vulgaT gestures and indecent actions that they amuse and obtain applause. The actors are-only in. -n and boys, the pari of a woman being alv formed by a man or boy in female attire." Then fol- i m of one of these plaj s. the plol of which was extremely simple. Bui the mere facl ol the of these rude exhibitions among the Arabs I the | . r« - -■ -i 1 1 day is of no weighl when the question to be decided is whether the Song of r< presented, as a simple, pastoral drama. Of course, in a h a ques-
tion, refen nee i- made only to ilio external form of the poem, and, in order t" prove it, ii musl be shown that the dramatic is the only form of representation which assume, and nol that, by the help of i n o actors and a chorus, it is capable of being exhibited in a dra- matic form. All thai has been done, in our opinion, is the latter. It is but fair, however, to give the views
h ■ hold tl pposite. Ewald maintain- thai
designed for a simple stage, be-
plete action and admits of defi-
:. which ar.' only suited to the
inguishes it in this respect from the
) Job, which is dramatic in form only, though, as
ipied with a Bublime subject, he con with tragedy, while the Song of Songs, being taken
from the c mon lit'.- of the nation, may be compared
Bui M. R( nan, who i- compelled, in ac- ■•'. ith hi- own theory of the mission of the She- mitic races, to admit that no trace of anything approach- ing to the r. gular drama i- found among them, does nol ' - Songs as a drama in tbe same si nse
as the products ol the Greek and Roman theatres, bul rj in the n idest application of the tern).
composition iducted in dialogue and
ling to an action. The absence of the reg-
ib he attributes to the wanl of a complicated
i to that poss sed by the Indo-
i Monotheism, the characteristic re-
Shen i
and checked the development of the
as it may. dramatic representation ap-
i to the feelings of the 1 1
] ■ ■.■>rv the age of Hi rod is
' ■ i 1 1 m, whatever
have been adopted; and
: - which the high-prii I
1 establish a mnasiura and
-mii| n
■ Ii tor such spec- rhe pn Bent day pts to iiitroduci
llj railed. Urn.
i ■ . there-
■ I'd in private; and he I
■ compli ted by the plaj
private families, probably at marriage-feasts, the repre- sentation being extended over the .-viral days of the feast. Tbe last supposition removes a difficulty which has been fell to be almost fatal to the idea that tbe poem i< a continuously developed drama. Each act i- com- plete in itself; there is no suspended interest, and the structure of the poem is obvious and natural if we re- gard each act as a separate drama intended for o if
the days of the least. We must look for a parallel to it in the Middle Ag< s, w hen, besides the mystery plays, then- wen- scenic representations sufficiently dei i topi d. See I vjjticles.
Ii is scarcely necessary after this to discuss the ques- tion whether the book of Job is a dramatic poem or not. Inasmuch as it represents an action and a prog- ress, it ia a drama as truly and really as any be which develops the working of passion, and the alter- nations of faith, lmpe. distrust, triumphant confidence, and black dopair. in the struggle which it depicts the human mind a< cn-a-ed in. while attempting to solve one of the most intricate problems it can be called upon to regard. It is a drama as life is a drama, the most powerful of all tragedies; bul thai it is a dramatic poem, intended to be represented upon a stage, or capa- ble of being so represented, may be confidently denied. Si i Job, Book <>f.
i I., Icrostics. — It only remains to notice that there are twelve poems in which the letters beginning each verse or couplet or stanza are arranged in alphabetical order. These are seven Psalms (viz. xxv. xxxiv.
XXXvii, exi. cxii. cxix. cxlvj. PrOV. x\xi. 10 31, and the first four chapters of the hook of Lamentations. The device is a very simple one. and was probably
adopted for the purpose of assisting the memory, and to make up for the want of a logical connection and prog- ress in the thought. The more sublime poetry does not admit of being thus fettered. The Psalms in which we meet with it are all ofa subdued and simpli ter, usually didactic Vet even in these the alphabet- ical arrangement is seldom quite exact, usually one or two letters are omitted or repeated or transposed. In some of the alphabetic poems the strophical arrange- ment is marked more distinctly than in any other of the Hebrew poetical compositions; for example, in Psa, cxix. which consists of twenty-two stanzas of eight lines each : and I. am. iii. in which the stanza i- oi three