These "silverings," then, are supposed to be "shekels, value 2s. 4d. each;" so that each vine, according to our author, was worth about half a crown annually, or 1257. the 1000. But we ought to observe, that the bride had only her portion of a royal vineyard; and this was all she could transfer to Solomon. What proportion her share might bear to the whole is not said, but only the revenue she drew from it, as her individual property, is noticed; and that, no doubt, after all expenses of cultivation were paid out of it. The passage in Isaiah implies a plantation of prime cultivation and value: possibly rather better than common. N. B. The rendering of the LXX. who resided in Egypt has great weight, in reference to an Egyptian

custom.

If these remarks are read with the same temper as they are written, the cause of truth will be served in conjunction with urbanity; and be it remembered, that to serve the cause of truth is an honour, which, we dare say, is consciously enjoyed by Mr. Williams, and which long may he continue to enjoy!

We find ourselves invited, from several quarters, to give our opinion on the allegorical meaning of this poem. We shall only say in reply, that we wonder nobody has yet set it in so strong a light as it is capable of, the idea that this Song may allegorize the Union of the Jewish and Gentile churches. The Jewish church, in that view, would be the bridegroom, which, 1. resides at Jerusalem, 2. whose chief, and whose prolocutor, is the Messiah, 3. whose dignity is superior. The Gentile church would be (1.) from a distance, (2.) new in this intimate relation, (3.) swarthy in some respects, yet fair in others, (4.) modest, yet affectionate; elegant, yet rustic: (5.) willing to yield obedience, property, &c. to her lord. (6.) This Union would naturally be referred to the days of the Messiah; but, (7.) there would be many countries not directly informed of his coming; may these be the little sister, not yet mature in person?—and to close the whole, (8.) may the absence of the Chief of the Jewish church, and the earnest desire of the Gentile church for his return, with which the poem closes, be in any way related to the actual state of things, or allude to the still expecting Hebrews, and the still immature heathen?

No. D. APPENDIX.

LETTER from SIDNEY SMITH, Esq. (now Admiral Sir SIDNEY SMITH,) to his Father, JOHN SMITH, Esq.

"DEAR FATHER,

Morocco, Jun. 12, 1787.

"You will, no doubt, be anxious to hear of my arrival at this place; an opportunity offers of a courier to-morrow: 'tis too long a land journey to send the heavy packet of anecdotes and adventures that I have begun for you; so I shall make this single sheet just to tell you thus far, that I am well, having had no ailment but such as an exertion of a power you know has easily removed. The heat of this place is beyond any thing I ever felt, even in the West Indies. In short, I find I never felt heat or thirst in reality, before this journey. The mornings and evenings are cool, nay even cold, from the vicinity of Mount Atlas; from whence we have a regular breeze, according to my favourite principle of winds. We were four days on the road,

leaving Mogadore the 23rd ult. escorted by an hundred horse, commanded by the chief Alcaid of the black army, whom the Emperor sent with three standards, and a piece of artillery, by way of doing honour to the English, whom he has even illtreated, till now, that he has taken it into his head to be afraid of us, as he knows that we have no enemies on our hands. We were accompanied out of town by the European consuls, and merchants established at Mogadore: our dinner, under an olive-tree, was an earnest of the life we were to lead. These gentlemen dined with us; and as there was a man of every nation in Europe, the jumble of languages, to which were added Arabic, to servants, made the most curious conversation I ever heard. As soon as we were quit of these, the only civilized beings in the country, I commenced savage, like the rest, putting on the Moorish dress and turban. The white linen one is only worn by the Hagi, or pilgrims, who have been to Mecca; but as the others were striped, I put on an English waistcoat-piece of blue-and-yellow striped silk, which took the fancy of the Moors so much, that I am persuaded they would be an acceptable article of commerce for that use, if sent here. I was told by every body that the Moors were jealous of any body wearing their dress, and disliked it, but I did not believe it, because I could not suppose them to be exceptions to the rest of mankind, who like being followed in any custom, as it is certainly flattering to them. I found it as I expected; they were delighted with it; and we went very merrily together, I learning Arabic, and they taking pleasure in teaching me, and were surprised that a Christian had any ideas at all, since Mahomet was not his guardian angel. I was mounted on a fine Arabian horse, that, on the lifting the right hand, sprung like an arrow out of a bow; and on the slightest touch of the rein, as suddenly stopped on his haunches. This they teach them, by means of a bit of a most cruel construction. The whole exercise of the soldiers consists in firing on full gallop, and then stopping suddenly with the musket swung at arm's length over the head. They were mightily surprised that I could do that too; not considering that the horse had the most difficult part to play, which he was already taught. The Moors are indolent, unless called on for some such violent exertion as this. They are ignorant, because they have neither seen, read, or heard of any thing. They are quick of apprehension; but all their cleverness, or rather cunning, is exerted in tricking and over-reaching whoever they have any dealings with. However, they have hearts, and I have found that the road to them is pretty near the same as that to other men's. The Imperial savage is the greatest rogue of them all: his mode of receiving the tribute and homage of us, his European subjects (for I will call it no otherwise), is exasperating to the last degree. I have more than once wished for a seventy-four gun ship to knock the green tiles of his palace about his ears, which would bring him to his senses with regard to us, sooner than rolls of parchment, which, if they contain language, nobody dares interpret to him, for fear he should be put in a passion; and then the heads of his loving subjects are not very secure on their shoulders. This being the case, 'tis worth while for one Englishman to learn the language, well enough at least to prevent an interpreter deceiving him. Languages being my forte, I am hard at work. You would laugh if you saw me with my turban, whiskers, and beard, sitting on a mat under an orangetree, writing Arabic hieroglyphics, with a slit reed for a pen, and surrounded by my instructors, who don't comprehend how a christian can learn, in half an hour, what has cost them their whole lives. Reading and writing is a distinct profession here. Thus I employ myself till I can once more have an opportunity of trying my pump. Adieu, your affectionate Son,

66

W. S. S.

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS OF A LATE EMINENT CRITIC. "MY DEAR FRIEND,

"You ask me the signification of the word MORROW, whether it does not begin at twelve o'clock? It is not, perhaps, easy to give a satisfactory answer to this question. I freely send you what occurs to me, but do not mean it as decisive. « The word Morrow, as I suppose, denotes the next succeeding period of light, which commences a little before the rising of the sun, and is opposed to the preceding period of darkness, as day is to night. The Hebrew term Meher, or, which is still nearer to the true sound, Mewher, rendered Morrow, signifies the exchange of one thing for another. Light was given instead of the preceding hours of darkness; during which, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, Gen. i. 2. The idea of the Hebrews, under the word Mewher, may be further understood from the two following passages :-" And the people stood up all that day, and all night, and all day on the MORROW ;" which phrase our translation renders all the next day (Numb. xi. 32.), as opposed to night. "But God prepared a worm in the rising of the dawn for the Morrow," or, against the morrow, which is in our translation, when the Morrow rose the next day, Jonah iv. 7. This phrase shews that the Hebrew Morrow did not commence before the light. Now I consider the Anglo-Saxon Morrow as derived from the Eastern Mewher; and as it is evident from Tacitus and Julius Cæsar, that both the Germans and the Gauls computed time in the manner of the Hebrews, and other Eastern nations, there is the greater reason for supposing that our ancestors used the word Morrow according to the idea of the Hebrew Mewher.

"Sic condicunt, says Tacitus, nox ducere diem videtur. The Anglo-Saxon to morgen, our to-morrow, is found in the following passages, Exodus vii.15;viii.23;xvi. 23; xvii. 9; xxxii. 5; xxxiv.2; Numb. xi. 18; Matthew vi. 30; Luke xiii. 32, 33, &c.

"The old Germans had their morgen gabe, morgen gife, morgen jaube, that is, morrow gift, the portion of goods which the new-married husband gave to his wife the day after the nuptials. Morgen deagung, that is, morrow day going (diluculum). They also used morgen, of the morning. The old English writers, and, if I mistake not, Chaucet has it, morownginge. To mergen-to merien-to merigen-to merne-and to morgen, are all the same word. Hence, I doubt not, the Gothic verb mergan, to discover, to divulge, to make known."

“MY DEAR FRIEND. "Mrs.'s query must have the first place; Whether Jezebel painted, or only stained her eyelids? I consider Jezebel as painting her eyelids, in order to colour the eye itself. She might also tinge her eyebrows; but the sacred historian does not mention her face; nor do I suppose that she painted it. Literally, “ she trimmed her eyes with pouk;" that is, stibium, or an impalpable powder of lead ore. Dr. Shaw tells us, that none of the Moorish ladies (many of whom, I doubt not, derive their original, as well as their customs, from Phoenicia) think themselves completely dressed till they have tinged their eyelids with al kahol, the powder of ore, which is done in this manner. They dip into the powder a small bodkin of the thickness of a quill, and then draw it between their eyelids, over the ball of the eye. Thus a sooty colour is communicated to the eye, which was thought a great addition to their beauty. This throws light on that strong expression of Jerem. iv. 30: "Though thou rentest thine eyes with pouk." Vide also Ezek. xxiii. 40. Dr. Shaw supposes keren happuc, that is, the horn of pouk, the name of Job's daughter, is relative to this practice. Its antiquity is undoubtedly great. It was a custom among the Medes, Xenoph.

Cyropæd. lib. i. sect. 11. Astyages also painted his face. In Juvenal (Sat. ii. ver. 91, 95,) the eyebrows were adorned, and finely painted, and then the person trementes attollens oculos. Vide the whole passage.-Also Shaw's Travels, p. 229. Natural History of Barbary, chap. iii. sect. 7.

"I could wish my intelligent friends, when they read the Scriptures, to use the larger Oxford Bibles, and to attend particularly to the marginal references, and to the marginal readings, which are exactly literal, and therefore, I believe, always suggest the true sense. Make a trial on 2 Kings, ix. 30; and on the passages before quoted from Jerem. and Ezek. This will be a means of conveying much valuable knowledge and true criticism. Try also as specimens, Amos iii. 9; Job xxxiii. 27, 28."" "MY DEAR FRIEND,

"I cannot delay answering any questions of yours. But you have called my attention to a difficult passage. The term rendered hunting is a metaphorical expression, borrowed from the action of a hunter, when he comes sideways upon his game. Hence it signifies to watch along the side of a person, with a view of engaging or decoying and indeed this last term will express the prophet's meaning. I suppose the pillows here mentioned to be nearly the same with the lectisternia pulvinaria of ancient idolaters. These the Western nations placed in temples and religious houses; but the Eastern idolaters placed them in gardens and groves; not being always so fond of temples. Perhaps they might be under tents. The word rendered arm-holes denotes the sides, or all the parts of the body lying under the arm, and is put for the sides. I will endeavour to give you the prophet's words literally.

Ver. 18: Woe to them sewing pillows for all sides, under the arm, and making veils, or coverings for the head, of every stature or height, to decoy souls! Will ye decoy the souls of my people? and the souls, with yours, will ye keep alive?' Ver. 20: Wherefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I am against your pillows (or couches), wherewith ye decoy these female souls to flower gardens, and I will tear them away from beneath your arms; and I will let go (nepheshuth) the female souls, wherewith ye decoy (nepheshim) the male souls to flower-gardens, and I will tear away the veils, and my people shall no more be in your hand to be decoyed.'

"Be pleased to observe the following things-that the prophet spoke these words in captivity, before the captivity of Zedekiah: read Jer. xxix.: that souls are here for persons that gardens were places consecrated to idols (Neh. i. 29; Isa. lxv. 3.); and most probably to Ashra the goddess of prosperity, so often mentioned in the Jewish history, and styled "Queen of heaven," Jer. xliv. which read, from the 15th verse, where it will appear the women were peculiarly engaged in the worship; that, perhaps, the prophet may allude to some obscene rites which belonged to this goddess, who was the Eastern Venus; the same may be hinted by Jeremiah: that the Romans, in their public calamities from Hannibal, used rites, which seem to resemble those here mentioned by the prophet; tum lectisternium perhedrium habitum—sex pulvinaria in conspectu fuere, Livy, lib. xxii. cap. 10; read the whole passage that those pulvinaria seem to have been used in connection with divination and predictions of prosperity; and that, by means of those couches, or pulvinaries, the false prophetesses seduced the people, and prevented their recovery to the true worship of God by his prophets; which thing made the heart of the righteous sad, who feared the enlargement and continuance of desolation. You see I can only give general hints, which, if they be good for any thing, will be sufficient."

END OF THE THIRD VOLUME.

I. T. Hinton, Printer, 8, Warwick Squate.

K