17 AUGUST 1895, Page 25

of " Wisdom-Literature." It was convenient, however, to include this

book, as the subject, begun in Dr. Davison's "Praises of Israel" (dealing with the Psalms), is thus completed. Our author applies a very reasonable and moderate criticism to the documents with which he deals. He is not destructive, and he is not bound by a traditional conservatism ; "Ecclesiastes" he attributes, we see, to the third century B.C., or thereabouts ; it is, he thinks, pre-Maceabeean, but post-exilic. The treatment of that very difficult subject, the " Song of Songs," is particularly admirable.