Garden of Nuts in Winter, with approaching Spring; Portrait of

the Bride by the Daughters of Jerusalem, now becoming one with

Her.-PART IV. Garden in the Fields with Blossoms, early Fruits,

and Stores from the previous Autumn,

CANTICLE V.-CHAP. VIII. 5-14.

Union of the Bride with a Younger Sister, and Transference of the Vineyard.

ART I. Quenchless Love.-PART II. The Little Sister.-PART III. The

United Bride in the Vineyard, Her Lord's and Her own, .

PAGE

19

28

EY TO THE EMBLEMATIC TERMS OF THE SONG,

33

HE SONG IN THE AUTHORIZED VERSION, WITH THE CONTENTS INTER-

69

PRETED SPIRITUALLY,

The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's.

2

CANTICLE I.—CHAP. I. 2-II. 7.

THE BRIDE SEEKING AND FINDING THE KING.

PART I. -CHAP. I. 2-8.

The Search for the King.

THE BRIDE.

Let Him kiss me with the kisses of his lips,
Since better is thy love than wine;

3 For odour are thine ointments precious;
Ointment poured forth is thy Name;
Therefore have the virgins loved thee.
Draw me, after thee we will run ;

4 The King brought me in to his inner chambers, We shall be glad, and outjoy in thee,

5

We will remember thy love above the wine feast,
The righteous ones have loved thee.

Swarth am I, yet beautiful,

Daughters of Jerusalem,

Like the tents of Ishmael,

Like the hangings of Solomon:

6

7

8

9

Gaze ye not on me, since I am so black,
For glanced upon me hath the sun;
My mother's sons were wroth with me,
They made me keeper in the vineyards;
My vineyard, mine own, have I not kept.

Tell me, Thou whom my soul loveth,
Where thou feedest thine own,
Where thou restest them at noon;
For why should I become

Like to a wandering one,

By the flocks of thy companions?

THE KING (absent).

If thou know not of thyself,
O Fair One amongst women,
Go thy way forth

In the footprints of the flock,

And feed thy kids

By the tents of the shepherds.

PART II. CHAP. I. 9-II. 7.

The King Found.

THE KING (present).

To the horses in the chariots of Pharaoh

Have I likened thee, my Friend;

ΙΟ

II

Beautiful are thy cheeks with rows of jewels,
Thy neck with strings of pearl;

Circlets of gold will we fashion for thee,
With studdings of silver.

12

3

4

THE BRIDE.

While sits the King in his banquet circle,
My spikenard giveth forth its odour;
A bundle of myrrh is my Beloved unto me,
Between my breasts shall it lodge alway;

A cluster of the fragrant-grape my Beloved is to me,
Amidst the vineyards of Engedi.

THE KING.

Lo thou fair one,
My Companion;

Lo thou fair one,

Thine eyes the eyes of doves!

THE BRIDE.

Lo Thou fair One,

My Beloved;

Yea how pleasant,

And our couch how green!

THE KING.

II. I am the Rose of Sharon,

2

The Lily of the Valleys;

Like a lily among thorns,

So is my Love among the daughters.

THE BRIDE.

3 Like the apple-tree amid the trees of the wood, my Beloved in the midst of the sons; In his shadow I delighted,

So is

And have sat down beneath it,

And his fruit hath been sweet to my taste; 4 He has led me within the house of wine, And his banner above me hath been Love.

5

6.

7

O stay ye me with cordials,

Strengthen me with citron-apples,
For I am sick of Love;

His left hand is beneath my head,

And his right infolds me.

I lay on you a charge,
O daughters of Jerusalem,

As among the roes,

Or amid the hinds of the field,

If ye shall arouse,
Or if ye awaken

Love until consenting.1

1 See note at foot of page 31.