adopted the view of Abrabanel, Leon Hebraeus, &c., that "the bride" represents wisdom, with whom Solomon is described as conversing.[1]
Whilst the battle between the allegorisers and literalists was being waged on the continent, the few champions who came forward in England to defend the literal interpretation received an important addition to their number in the person of Dr. Pye Smith, who denounced this method of treating Scripture as contrary to all laws of language, and dangerous to real religion. He regards this Song as "a pastoral eclogue, or a succession of eclogues, representing, in the vivid colour of Asiatic rural scenery, with a splendour of artificial decoration, the honourable loves of a newly married bride and bridegroom, with some other interlocutors."[2]
1839. The controversy between Drs. Pye Smith and Bennett[3] about the Song of Songs produced a salutary effect, inasmuch as it added considerably to the number of those who in this country defended the literal interpretation. A version of Chap. ii. 8-17 appeared in the Congregational Magazine,[4] in which the translator boldly affirms that "it celebrates the beautiful scenery of the spring, the attachment of two individuals to each other, and their meeting in that season of nature's gaiety and loveliness." He, moreover, declares that he can "see no more reason for the spiritual interpretation which Mr. Williams, Mr. Fry, and others give it, than for its application to the revival of letters, the termination of feudalism, or any other gratifying circumstance in civil or political life."
1840. Whilst the ranks of the literalists grew stronger in England, the band that defended the true design of this poem in Germany, also under the able leadership of Ewald, became
