though the uppermost branches have each three flowers, yet the lower ones have more, and this perhaps may be incorrect; or, the number might be varied after the time of Moses, in order to render these almonds of a more uniform size, and to place the lights level. Otherwise, the upper flowers must have been smaller than the lower.

We shall now compare this figure with our translation of Exod. xxxvii. 17. “ And he made the Candlestick of pure gold; his shaft and his branch, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers. And six branches going out of the sides thereof: three branches out of one side, and three branches out of the other side. Three bowls made after the fashion of almonds in one branch, a knop, and a flower: so throughout the six branches. And in the Candlestick were four bowls, like almonds, his knops, and his flowers. And a knop under two branches of the same: and so of the second and third pair of branches. And he made seven lamps, snuffers," &c.

We remark, that our stem has four protuberances above the upper pair of branches, which might be the four almond bowls described in this passage. The stem also, at bottom, by its superior magnitude, deserves especial notice. It does not appear that the lamps are described by Moses as being on one level, i. e. of equal height.

Such seem to have been the general forms of the golden Candlestick, and its parts. It surely is not hypercriticism to censure the improper mode of representing this instrument, which disfigures some respectable historical pictures; as if it were one lamp with seven lights; or seven separate lamps, distinct and distant from each other; or seven golden Candlesticks, placed individually; set on the ground, like those we set on our tables.

As the passage, Rev. i. 12, 13, seems at first sight, in our translation, to countenance this idea of separate Candlesticks, a few thoughts in examination of it may be excused. "And I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven lights [Avxviac, branches for holding lights] of gold. And in the middle of [or amidst, èv pow] these seven lights [a person] like the Son of man.” Now, if we conceive of these branches, as having a circular motion on hinges, as shewn in Fig. 7, where one of them is moved from its regular station, then a person in the act of bringing them forward, &c. in order to trim their wicks, would appear, to a spectator, to be strictly in the middle-among-these lamps: nay, we would query, whether this very situation may not be farther implied, and expressed in the following particulars: "And having in his right hand seven stars ;" i. e. his arm being extended to trim the wicks of the lamps, in order to improve their splendour, they seemed, by that operation, to be brightened into so many stars; while by their position, they appeared to be held in his right hand, thus put forth among them, and which they surrounded.

Let us consider also the following passage. "The mystery,--allegorical representation, of the seven branches for holding the lights, is the seven churches; and the seven stars, upon these seven branches, are (the lights of the lamps themselves) the angels, or ministers, of these churches;" i. e. each branch is a church; and each star-like flame upon it, is the minister of that church. It will follow, that there were no stars seen by John, separated from the branches; but only a star on the termination of each branch, or sconce.

Observe, too, what is implied, verse 17. “He laid his right hand upon me;" surely, not stars and all, which some might suppose were in it; but, having withdrawn his right hand from among the splendid wicks, he laid it upon me. We need say nothing respecting the brighter burning of these stars, in consequence of their being snuffed; i. e. the vigour infused into the ministers of the churches, by means of the following exhortatory letters to them. 2 F

VOL. III.

The emblem, then, is this: Under the representation of a priest, engaged in the office of trimming the sacred wicks of the golden candlestick, of supplying them with oil, &c. our Lord is represented as inspecting the ministers of his churches, admonishing, reproving, exhorting, and dehorting them, that their conduct "may shine before men, and they may glorify their Father who is in heaven," Matt. v. 16. To this agrees the commencement of the first epistle, " To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things saith he who holds the seven stars in his right hand (while) walking amidst the seven golden candelabra, Repent, or I will remove thy lamp-sconce from its place." So chap. iii. 1, "To the angel of the church of Sardis write, "These things saith he who hath the seven spirits of God [to supply the necessary oil to], and the seven stars." Compare Zech. iv. where, under the figure of a supply of oil to the golden Candlestick, a pipe to each branch, “the Spirit of the Lord" (verse 6.) is implied, in a manner altogether analogous to the import of the present vision.

The word Avxvía constantly answers in the LXX. to the golden lamp-sconces of the tabernacle and temple, i. e. of the golden Candlestick; as in the passages above.

Josephus seems to suggest Egyptian ideas pretty strongly, when he says, "the seven lamps of the golden Candlestick resembled the seven planets; and the twelve loaves on the shew-bread table (resembled) the twelve signs of the zodiac."

The following is from Rabbis Kimchi, and Levi Gerson, on 1 Sam. iii. The concluding thought of Kimchi is certainly ingenious:

These lamps were called the candle of the Lord, 1 Sam. iii. 3. where it is said, "before the candle of the Lord went out, the Lord called to Samuel," &c. upon which words, David Kimchi gives this glosse: "If this be spoken concerning the lamps in the candlestick, this was somewhat before day: for the lamps burnt from even till morning, yet did they sometimes some of them go out in the night. They put oil into them by such a measure as should keep them burning from even till morning, and many times they did burn till morning; and they always found the western lamp burning. Now it is said, that this prophecy came to Samuel, before the lamp went out, while it was yet night, about the time of cock-crowing; for it is said afterward, that Samuel lay till morning or, allegorically, it speaks of the candle of prophecy; as they say the sun ariseth, and the sun sets: before the holy blessed God cause the sun of one righteous man to set, he causeth the sun of another righteous man to rise. Before Moses' sun set, Joshua's sun arose; before Eli's sun set, Samuel's sun arose; and this is that which is said, before the candle of the Lord went out."

No. CXXXIV. ANCIENT WRITING.

IN those Fragments which contain extracts from the Asiatic Researches, relative to the history of Noah, we have supposed, that the art of Writing was known before the time of Moses, and was not originally revealed to him on Mount Sinai. Mr. Wakefield has lately attempted to maintain, that God at that time taught this art to Moses. As this appears to us to be one of Mr. W.'s mistakes, we shall offer some hints on the subject:

"There are three different [kinds of] characters, which I observe have been in use at the same time in Egypt: hieroglyphics, the mummy character, and the Ethiopic. These are all three found, as I have seen, on the same mummy, and therefore were certainly used at the same time. The last only I believe was a language.

"The hieroglyphics are of four sorts: first, such as have only the contour marked, and, as it were, scratched only in the stone. The second are hollowed; and in the

middle of that space rises the figure in relief, so that the prominent part of the figure is equal to the flat unwrought surface of the stone, and seems to have a frame round it, designed to defend the hieroglyphic from mutilation. The third sort is in relief, or basso relievo, as it is called; where the figure is left bare and exposed, without being sunk in, or defended by any compartment cut round it in the stone. The fourth are those mentioned in the beginning of this description, the outlines of the figure being cut very deep in the stone.

"All the hieroglyphics, but the last mentioned, which do not admit it, are painted red, blue, and green, as at Dendera; and with no other colours.

"Notwithstanding all this variety in the manner of executing the hieroglyphical figures, and the prodigious multitude I have seen in the several buildings, I never could make the number of different hieroglyphics amount to more than five hundred and fourteen, and of these there were certainly many, which were not really different, but, from the ill execution of the sculpture, only appeared so. From this I conclude, certainly, that it can be no entire language which hieroglyphics are meant to contain, for no language could be comprehended in five hundred words, and it is probable that these hieroglyphics are not alphabetical or single letters only; for five hundred letters would make too large an alphabet. The Chinese have many more letters in use, but have no alphabet: but, who is it that understands the Chinese ?"-Bruce, vol. i. p. 122.

We shall trespass no farther on the reader here, than to suggest what has struck us in respect to the hieroglyphics :-that they may be genealogical inscriptions, and contain allusions to the names of ancestors; as Hunter,-Fisher,-Smith, &c.

"Two sorts of characters appear to have been known to Moses. The two first were employed on those tablets written by the finger of God. In what character they were written is not said: but as Moses received them, to read them to the people, he surely understood them. Afterwards, God directs him specially not to write in the Egyptian character of hieroglyphics; but in the current hand used by the Cushite merchants, like the letters on a signet, i. e. in characters representing sounds, or letters, which the trading nations had long used in their business, for invoices," &c. Bruce, vol. i. p. 121.

The passage stands thus (Exod. xxviii. 21.): "And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names: like the engraving of a signet, every one with his name shall they be, according to the twelve tribes." "Cut like the signet of a man," says the Hebrew: so that it implies-in the ordinary figure and mode. As to this resemblance to a signet, it should be remembered, that in the East," the Imams, the Kadis, and other learned Arabs usually write their names, with letters interlacing each other in cyphers, in order that their signature may not be imitated. Those who cannot write, cause their names to be written by others, and then stamp their name, or their device, with ink, at the bottom of the paper, or on the back of it. But usually they have their name, or their device, engraved on a stone, which they wear on their finger." Niebuhr, p. 90, French edition. Such then is the customary, general" signet of a man." And as such Josephus describes the signet ring which Pharaoh gave to Joseph, Gen. xli. 42. Now, if signets, inscribed with the wearer's name, were common in the days of Moses, as this passage seems to imply, then Writing was practised before Moses was legislator of Israel.

N.B. The same word is used for signet ( CHUTEM), in this passage of Exodus, and in Gen. xxxviii. 18. where Tamar demands of Judah "thy signet;"-no doubt engraved with his name or device, as a demonstrative sign of his person. If this be just, it carries the antiquity of Writing much beyond Moses; perhaps to ABRAHAM.

It is well known that the Hebrew a ceтuв, like the Greek ypápw, which signifies to write, signifies also to draw, or delineate: though this be a very natural association of ideas, yet it may be pleasing to see by what means these ideas became associated. ...The following is from Baron du Tott, vol. i. p. 8:

"My Turkish master began by teaching me to write such is the practice; and my knowledge of drawing made my progress rapid. I afterwards read, and then my difficulties increased. The suppression of the vowels may suffice to give some idea of my first perplexities, and the painful and difficult labour I was obliged to undergo; but this was not all. The vowels being expressed by marks, or points, which are placed over, or under, or between the consonants, their writers frequently neglect to insert them, and leave them to be supplied by the reader. The obscurity which this often occasions produces many literary disputes; but to avoid any such discussions on passages of the Koran, that book is never written without vowel points."

This extract will remind every Hebrew scholar, of some of the difficulties of that language. Did the ancient Hebrews, when commencing a course of learning and science, begin by drawing the letters of the alphabet? Did they study the forms of the letters, before they combined their sounds? If they did, will that idea determine the spirit of the passage, Deut. xvii. 18?" And it shall be when he [the king] sits on the throne of his kingdom, and he writes to himself a copy-duplicate-of the law which is in this book," &c. i. e. " however he may have been brought up in ignorance, before he came to the throne, when he is thus exalted, he shall learn to write, and read; and shall even copy out this law with his own hand, so that he must, in some degree, know, and understand it for his future guidance and obedience; which forbids the plea of ignorance in excuse of his deviation from it."

As we see that books are still written in the East without vowel points, and that such writings occasion literary disputes, we should not be surprised at finding the Hebrew writings liable to some difficulties arising from the same cause: but it is sufficiently extraordinary, that the Koran, the sacred book of the Mahometans, is never written without vowel points; while the sacred books of the Jews, which are read in their synagogues, are never written with those points.

No. CXXXV. EXPENSES UNDER THE THEOCRACY.

THE following is Dr. Durell's estimate (Parallel Prophecies, page 179.) of the taxes paid by the proprietors of estates in Judea, to the support of religious institutions. The subject may be new to some readers, and the presenting it at one view may be agreeable to most of them.

"Let it be observed, that that which is usually called the LORD's Part in Scripture, was really appropriated by him to three different purposes; part to the national treasury, part to stated sacrifices, and the other part to the Priests and Levites. By the estimate underneath, it will appear that the estates in the Holy Land, so far from being all set at a rack-rent for the aggrandizement of the hierarchy, were as clear from burdens and impositions as any estates can well be in the freest and best policied forms of government; that the tribe of Levi, all things considered, did not receive a thirteenth, nor the priesthood (strictly so called) a fiftieth part of the whole.

"Let us suppose an estate of £300. per annum value of our money, and which consisted, as was usual in the land of Canaan, of soils, the produce of which was different; one third pastures, for instance; one third corn-land; one sixth producing wood, partly underwood, partly timber; and the remaining sixth being fruit grounds; then the onus on the landholder will be as follows (being the whole that was paid by him for religious and civil purposes), viz.

The whole Onus on £300. per ann. (besides personal Service in War)

Or per cent.

63 18 4

21 6 14

"N. B. If there was a greater proportion of corn or pasture lands in any one estate, the onus would be greater than here stated; yet the estate would be more valuable to the owner, as the payments were directly in proportion to the produce of the land."

* "The tenths thus marked (called second or third) were in reality one and the same (see Deut. xiv. 23, 28, and 29), and they were to be spent in hospitality and charity. If, therefore, you subtract two of them from the portion of Levi, that tribe will have received about one fifteenth part of the whole, or £6. 12s. 24d. net per cent. But, as the first-fruits of corn and fruit belonged to the priests, deduct and, and afterwards from the first tenths taken away (to which also they had a right), and it will appear that the certain clear yearly revenue of the priests was £1. 15s. 14d. per cent. and that of the Levites £4. 17s. Id. per cent. which sums are proportionable to their respective number of cities, and perhaps also to their respective share of sacrifices, and of second or third tithes."