25 MARCH 1922, Page 25

The Song of Songs. A New Translation by Morris Jastrow,

Junior. (Lippincott. 12s. 6d. net.)—The late Dr. Jastrow left almost complete at his death this interesting and attractive new version of the Song of Songs, with a lengthy introduction and a commentary. He regarded the book as a collection of twenty-three popular love songs, having no connexion with

Solomon or with each other. They were accepted as part of the Hebrew Canon, he thought, simply because of their age and their popularity. He 'ridiculed the efforts of innumerable commentators, Jewish and Christian, to devise an allegorical interpretation for the songs and to represent them as a kind of religious drains. Dr. Ja:strow's rendering of the lyrics in free verse is Spirited and attractive.