the service of religion. To celebrate the praises of God, to decorate
his worship, and give force to devout sentiments, was the employment of
the Hebrew Muse."

The choral song, that is, a sacred ode united with appropriate action,
distinguished the Jews and Greeks alike. At a later period of Jewish
history, the chorus became perfected, yet without receiving any organic
change. Among the Greeks, however, the chorus passed by degrees into the
drama. To simple singing and dancing they added a variety of imitative
action; from celebrating the praises of the Divinity, they proceeded to
represent the deeds of men, and their orchestras were enlarged to
theatres. They retained the chorus, but subordinated it to the action.
The Jews, on the other hand, did no more than dramatize the chorus. So,
Bishop Horsley says, the greater part of the Psalms are a sort of
dramatic ode, consisting of dialogues between certain persons sustaining
certain characters. In these psalms, the persons are the writer himself
and a band of Levites,--or sometimes the Supreme Being, or a personation
of the Messiah.

We find, then, the Jews and the Greeks running parallel in respect of
the drama, or that out of which the drama sprung, the chorus, for a long
series of years. The practice of the two nations in this respect
exhibits a striking coincidence, indeed, Lowth conceives that the Song
of Solomon bears a strong resemblance to the Greek drama. "The chorus of
virgins," he says, "seems in every respect congenial to the tragic
chorus of the Greeks. They are constantly present, and prepared to
fulfil all the duties of advice and consolation; they converse
frequently with the different characters; they take part in the whole
business of the poem." They fulfilled, in a word, all the purpose of the
Greek chorus on the Greek stage.