the eastward. The traveller had contented himself with the usual understanding upon this subject. In the matter of the prophecy both he and Dr. Keith might have spared themselves much trouble by an examination of the Biblical text in the original before founding a question upon it. In an article on this head, which appeared in the New York Review, we pointed out an obvious mistranslation in the Hebrew words of the prediction a mistranslation which proves Mr. Stephens to have thrown away his courage and labour. The passage in Isaiah xxxiv. 10, which is rendered in our Bibles by the sentence, "And none shall pass through thee forever and ever," runs in the original Hebrew thus:

Lenetsach netsachim ein over bab.

Literally Lenetsach, for an eternity; netsachim, of eternities; ein, not; over, moving about; bah, in it. For an eternity of eternities (there shall) not (be any one) moving about in it. The literal meaning of bah is "in it," and not “ through it." The participle over refers to one moving to and fro, or up and down, and is the same phrase which is rendered "current," as an epithet applied to money, in Genesis xxiii. 16. The prophet only intends to say that there shall be no marks of life in the land, no living being there, no one moving up and down in it. A similar mistranslation exists in regard to the prophecy in Ezekiel xxxv. 7, where death is threatened (according to the usual construction) to any traveller who shall pass through. The words are:

Wenathati eth-har Seir leshimemiah ushemamah, webickratti mimmennu over wasabh.

Literally, "And I will give the mountain Seir for a

desolation and a desolation, and I will cut off from it him that goeth and him that returneth." By ❝ him that goeth and him that returneth" reference is had to the passers to and fro, to the inhabitants. The prophet speaks only of the general abandonment and desolation of the land.

We are not prepared to say that misunderstandings of this character will be found in the present "Incidents of Travel." Of Central America and her antiquities Mr. Stephens may know, and no doubt does know, as much as the most learned antiquarian. Here' all is darkness. We have not yet received from the Messieurs Harper a copy of the book, and can only speak of its merits from general report and from the cursory perusal which has been afforded us by the politeness of a friend. The work is certainly a magnificent one - perhaps the most interesting book of travel ever published. An idea has gone abroad that the narrative is confined to descriptions and drawings of Palenque; but this is very far from the case. Mr. S. explored no less than six ruined cities. The "incidents,” moreover, are numerous and highly amusing. The traveller visited these regions at a momentous time, during the civil war, in which Carrera and Morazan were participants. He encountered many dangers, and his hair-breadth escapes are particularly exciting.

NOTE. For the accurate form of this scrap of Hebrew learning, see Professor Anthon's letter, Vol. XVII.

ED.

THE QUACKS OF HELICON: A SATire.

WILMER.

By L. A.

[Text: Graham's Magazine, August, 1841.]

Odes,

A SATIRE, professedly such, at the present day, and especially by an American writer, is a welcome novelty, indeed. We have really done very little in the line upon this side of the Atlantic — nothing, certainly, of importance-Trumbull's clumsy poem and Halleck's "Croakers" to the contrary, notwithstanding. Some things we have produced, to be sure, which were excellent in the way of burlesque, without intending a syllable that was not utterly solemn and serious. ballads, songs, sonnets, epics, and epigrams, possessed of this unintentional excellence, we could have no difficulty in designating by the dozen; but in the matter of directly meant and genuine satire, it cannot be denied that we are sadly deficient. Although, as a literary people, however, we are not exactly Archilochuses; although we have no pretensions to the ἠχηέντες ἴαμBo; although, in short, we are no satirists ourselves, there can be no question that we answer sufficiently well as subjects for satire.

We repeat, that we are glad to see this book of Mr. Wilmer's; first, because it is something new under the sun; secondly, because, in many respects, it is well executed; and, thirdly, because, in the universal corruption and rigmarole amid which we gasp for breath, it is really a pleasant thing to get even one accidental whiff of the unadulterated air of truth.

"The Quacks of Helicon," as a poem and otherwise, has many defects, and these we shall have no

scruple in pointing out; although Mr. Wilmer is a personal friend of our own, and we are happy and proud to say so, but it has also many remarkable merits merits which it will be quite useless for those aggrieved by the satire quite useless for any clique, or set of cliques, to attempt to frown down, or to affect not to see, or to feel, or to understand.

Its prevalent blemishes are referrible chiefly to the leading sin of imitation. Had the work been composed professedly in paraphrase of the whole manner of the sarcastic epistles of the times of Dryden and Pope, we should have pronounced it the most ingenious and truthful thing of the kind So close is the copy, record. upon that it extends to the most trivial points; for example to the old forms of punctuation. The turns of phraseology, the tricks of rhythm, the arrangement of the paragraphs, the general conduct of the satire-everything - all - are Dryden's. We cannot deny, it is true, that the satiric model of the days in question is insusceptible of improvement, and that the modern. author who deviates therefrom, must necessarily sacrifice something of merit at the shrine of originality. Neither can we shut our eyes to the fact, that the imitation, in the present case, has conveyed, in full spirit, the higher qualities, as well as, in rigid letter, the minor elegances and general peculiarities of the author of Absalom and Achitophel." We have here the bold, vigorous, and sonorous verse, the biting sarcasm, the pungent epigrammatism, the unscrupulous directness, as of old. Yet it will not do to forget that Mr. Wilmer has 'been shown how to accomplish these things. He is thus only entitled to the praise of a close observer, and of a thoughtful and skilful copyist. The images are, to be sure, his own. They are neither Pope's, nor Dry

den's, nor Rochester's, nor Churchill's; but they are moulded in the identical mould used by these satirists.

This servility of imitation has seduced our author into errors, which his better sense should have avoided. He sometimes mistakes intentions; at other times, he copies faults, confounding them with beauties. In the opening of the poem, for example, we find the lines : "Against usurpers, Olney, I declare

A righteous, just, and patriotic war."

The rhymes war and declare are here adopted from Pope, who employs them frequently; but it should have been remembered that the modern relative pronunciation of the two words differs materially from the relative pronunciation of the era of the "Dunciad.”

We are also sure that the gross obscenity, the filth we can use no gentler name which disgraces the Quacks of Helicon," cannot be the result of innate impurity in the mind of the writer. It is but a part of the slavish and indiscriminating imitation of the Swift and Rochester school. It has done the book an irreparable injury, both in a moral and pecuniary view, without effecting anything whatever on the score of sarcasm, vigour, or wit. "Let what is to be said, be said plainly.' True; but let nothing vulgar be ever

said, or conceived.

In asserting that this satire, even in its mannerism, has imbued itself with the full spirit of the polish and of the pungency of Dryden, we have already awarded it high praise. But there remains to be mentioned the far loftier merit of speaking fearlessly the truth, at an epoch when truth is out of fashion, and under circumstances of social position, which would have deterred almost any man in our community from a similar Quix