tion of this prince characterized in the subsequent verfe?

"And God gave Solomon wisdom and "understanding, exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the fand that " is on the lea fhore."

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He had, it feems, not only the greatest wealth, but the niceft judgment, and the nobleft inclination, to distribute that wealth, to make it conducive to general felicity. He equalled his father in his poetical capacity, and even furpaffed him as a moralist: his fongs are marked by an enthusiasm, a tenderness, and a pathos, in which all the treafures of the warmeft, gayest, and sublimeft imagination, appear to have been exhaufted. Image and metaphor were equally at his command; and a genius, fo etherial, is fometimes difcovered in these fallies of his pen, that his conception takes a flight too lofty for the eye to reach him. But, however amazing the powers of his fancy, they were, at leaft, equalled by the graver

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graver abilities of his judgment. He, by no means, figured lefs as a moral writer: for, his Proverbs are a collection of concife maxims, which ftand, altogether unrivalled and are the foundation of all those fhort, multitudinous remarks, which have. been iffued from the prefs, fince his time: but thofe of Solomon will, indeed, be ever feparated. from all others. Such knowledge of life, fuch various beauty in the expreffion-fuch aftonishing terseness in the ftyle-fuch poignancy in the fatirefuch purity in the phrafe, and fuch folidity in the fenfe, entitled their author to the immortality which he claims, and which he poffeffes.

There feems to have been a epocha in his genius his compofitions prefent us with a climax. From the Poet, he rises to the Moralift, and from the Moralift he foars to the Divine. The book of Ecclefiaftes, is one of the finest systems, or bodies of divinity. Every fentence is found His obfervations are accu

and orthodox.

rate

rate and devotional; and the whole book well becomes the preacher and the pulpit. In a word, Solomon was the greatest and moft general literary character that ever wrote. As a prince, he was amiable, beloved, and popular; and it is impoffible to give a more pleafing affurance of it, than the pacific and tranquil idea fuggefted by the text "Every man dwelt in fafety "under his own vine and fig-tree, even all "the days of Solomon." It is fomewhat painful to view him in a religious light. Ah, Solomon, thou wifeft of the wifehow couldest thou, at any time, forget the power who had dealt by thee in fo liberal a manner? eminent alike, in intellect, and in magnificence, how couldst thou so stain thy annals, as to turn aside from the author of all thy greatnefs? How couldst thou fo difgrace-fo proftitute the fplendour of that temple which thou hadst reared and dedicated to the true God, to the dreams and weaknesses of idolatry? What, alas, could the vifionary goddess of the Zidonians do for thee? What could Molech,

or Afhtoreth, that deferved thy devotion, or facrifices? Could they infpire thee with intelligence above all others, and store thy mind with all the ornaments of tafte and science, and elegance and joy?

One apology, however, not a little mitigating, prefents itself. He did not yield to this infatuation till he was in the decline of life-poffibly, when his faculties were fomewhat impared-and when the ill advice of those who were about him, especially his concubines, teazed him into error. The power of a bad woman, who has any hold upon the heart, is unlimited, and will generally render pliable to its purposes, not only the finest head, but the finest heart and it must be alfo remembered, that the strength of the tender passions is always in proportion to the ftrength of the genius; fo that Soloman might be led, as it were, captive, in the bonds of love, and facrifice to Chemofh, not because he venerated that imaginary deity, but to avoid the perfecution of the female party, which

was

was formed aganft his religious integrity. At all events, let us not be too rigid, to degrade fo great a character. It is well known, that the wifeft men, are the most frequently feduced into the weakest trefpaffes. With all his fagacity, Solomon was a human creature. Great fenfibility is liable.

to great mistake

where we cannot defend his conduct, let us avoid it, and where we are ftruck with the splendour of his capa city, let it inspire us with a modeft imitation.

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