the attendants had for a long time bewailed the death of this just person-he was at length understood to be restored to life, to have experienced a resurrection; signified by the re-admission of light. On this the priest addressed the company, saying, "Comfort yourselves; all ye who have been partakers of the mysteries of the deity, thus preserved for we shall now enjoy some respite from our labours." To which were added these words, "I have escaped a sad calamity, and my lot is greatly mended." The people answered by the invocation 'Iù Makaupa! Aaμτádnpoрos! "Hail to the Dove! the restorer of light!"

Now, if we can find in Scripture a person described as eminently just, righteous, or pious [and such we know is the character of Noah, Gen. vi. 9.]; if he be also characterised as one "who shall comfort us concerning our work, and the toil of our hands" (Gen. v. 29.); if he was, as it were, entombed for a time, that is, in the ark ; if he was restored from a bad to a better condition; to life and light, from his floating grave; if a dove appears in his history to be a restorer of hope, and expectation of returning prosperity, then we may, we think, venture to suppose, that this might be the person alluded to (even had he not been expressly mentioned) in the Orphic poem: and the ceremonies described in the poem seem to be precisely those which were practised in relation to Adonis, or Tammuz. Under this idea we cannot help thinking, that the pouring of sea water into the well at Tyre, as M. Volney mentions, in order to restore the clearness of its water, is an expressive action, a relic of a superstition much more ancient than those who practise it now can trace to its origin.

As we cannot have too much light thrown on ancient memorials of the deluge, that very prominent fact in the Mosaic history, and as the foregoing conjecture is strongly supported by the subsequent extract; the reader will not be displeased to peruse an ancient Greek narration of the great Cataclysm, the ruin of the old world, given at length, in connection with some of the ceremonies instituted in commemoration of it; on which we reserve our remarks to another opportunity.

No. CCCXVIII. LUCIAN'S ACCOUNT OF THE DELUGE. LUCIAN, who resided among the Greeks of Alexandria, who wrote in Greek, but was a native of Syria, relates (De Dea Syria), that "in the age of the Scythian Deucalion," by which epithet he plainly means to distinguish him from the Greek Deucalion of a later period (as the Flood in question must doubtless be understood of a different Deluge from that partial one which overwhelmed Thessaly), "all mankind perished in a general inundation of the globe." Speaking of the temple of Hierapolis, in Syria, he observes-" many persons assert that this temple was erected by Deucalion the Scythian; that Deucalion in whose days the grand inundation of waters took place. I have heard in Greece what the Grecians say concerning this Deucalion. The story they relate is as follows:-The present race of men is not the first, for they totally perished; but is of a second generation, which, being descended from Deucalion, has increased to a great multitude. Now, of the former race of men they relate this story:-They were insolent, and addicted to unjust actions; for they neither kept their oaths, nor were hospitable to strangers, nor gave ear to suppliants; for which reason this great calamity befel them. On a sudden the earth poured forth a vast quantity of Water, great showers fell, the rivers overflowed, and the sea rose to a prodigious height; so that all things became water, and all men were destroyed: only Deucalion was left to a second generation. On account of his prudence and piety, he was saved in this manner: he went into a large ark or chest which he had fabricated, together with his sons and their wives; and when he was in, there entered swine, and horses, and lions, and serpents, and all other creatures which live on

earth, by pairs. He received them all, and they did him no hurt; for the gods created a great friendship among them; so that they sailed all in one chest while the Waters prevailed. These things the Greeks relate of Deucalion. But as to what happened after this, there is an ancient tradition among those of Hierapolis, which deserves admiration; viz. that in their country a great chasm opened, and received all the Water; whereupon Deucalion erected altars, and built the temple of Juno over the chasm. This chasm I have seen, and it is a very small one, under the temple: whether it was formerly greater, and since lessened, I cannot tell; but that which I have seen is not large. In commemoration of this history they practised this ceremonial rite: twice in every year water is brought from the sea to the temple, and not by the priests only, but by the inhabitants of all Syria and Arabia; many come from beyond Euphrates to the sea, and all carry water, which they first pour out in the temple, and afterwards it sinks into the chasm; which, though it be small, receives abundance of water. And, when they do this, they say Deucalion instituted the ceremony in that temple as a memorial of the calamity, and of his deliverance from it." [Vide Commentators on pouring out the water brought from Siloam, John vii. 37, &c.]

No. CCCXIX. CLOTHING OF CAMELS' HAIR.

JOHN the Baptist, we are told, was habited in Raiment of Camels' Hair; and Chardin assures us (Harmer, vol. ii. p. 487.), that "the modern Dervises wear such Garments; as they do, also, great leather girdles."-Camels' Hair is also made into those most beautiful stuffs called shawls; but certainly the coarser manufacture of this material was adopted by John: and we may receive a good notion of its nature and appearance from what Braithwaite tells us (Journey to Morocco, p. 138.): "The tent was very low, to stand more out of the wind; it was made of Camels' Hair, something like our coarse Hair-Cloths; to lay over goods," by way of protecting covering. Here we find a pretty correct assimilation of Camels' Hair stuff, to an article known among ourselves; with an application of it to services which required a material of a durable nature, and to which the coarsest texture was sufficient. This inferior kind, then, was what John wore; whereby he was not merely distinguished, but contrasted, from those residents in royal palaces, who wore soft Raiment; such as shawls, or other superior manufactures, whether of the same material or not.

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We may conclude, that Elijah the Tishbite wore a habit made of the same stuff, and of the same coarseness, 2 Kings i. 8: "A man dressed in Hair (Hair-Cloth, no doubt), and girt with a girdle of leather:" Our translation reads " a hairy man”which might, by an unwary reader, be referred to his person, as in the case of Esau ; but it should undoubtedly be referred to his dress: his external habit.

Observe, too, that in Zechariah xiii. 4. a rough Garment, that is, a Garment of a Hairy manufacture, is characteristic of a prophet: "neither shall they wear a rough Garment (e. gr. a coarse cloak of Camels' Hair), to deceive: but shall say, I am no prophet."

No. CCCXX. HAIR-CLOTHING. SACK-CLOTH.

THE former number leads to the question-what might be the nature of the SackCloth mentioned in Scripture? and we the rather attempt to answer this, because, Mr. Harmer (vol. i. p. 430.), tells us, " it was a coarse kind of woollen cloth, such as they make sacks of, and neither Hair-Cloth, nor made of coarse hemp-nor was there that humiliation in the wearing of it which we suppose." This is unhappy, because, Scripture expressly mentions (Rev. vi. 12.), "the sun became BLACK as Sack-Cloth of Hair"-and Isaiah 1. 3: "I clothe the heavens with blackness, I make Sack-Cloth their covering." 1. Sack-Cloth, then, was made of Hair. 2. It was black. The Arab tents are black, being made of goats' Hair, forming a kind of

stuff closely resembling the nature of Sack-Cloth; but, we see by the foregoing number, that tents are made of camels' Hair also; suppose this to be black, and camels' Hair may be Sack-Cloth; which precisely accords with the dress of the ancient prophets. That Isaiah was thus habited, is clear, because God directs him (chap. xx. 2.) "loose the Sack-Cloth from off thy loins ;"-and Joel says (i. 13.), "be constantly [all night, in our translation] clothed in Sack-Cloth, ye ministers of my God;" meaning, night and day-incessantly. This, we apprehend, gives light on the expression (Rev. xi. 3.), "My two witnesses shall prophesy, clothed in Sack-Cloth;"--which has been understood as denoting the very deepest distress; whereas, if such Clothing were customary among the ancient prophets, it merely implies a revival, and resumption, of the ancient prophetical habiliment, according to the instances of Elijah, Isaiah,

and others.

But Sack-Cloth was mourning, as appears from numerous passages of Scripture ; and it is very credible, also, that it was used for enwrapping the dead, when about to be buried; so that its being worn by survivors was a kind of assimilation to the shroud, or dress, of the departed; as its being worn by penitents was an implied confession of what their guilt exposed them to, that is, death. This we gather from an expression of Chardin, who, in his Description of Ispahan, says-Kel Anayet, the Shah's buffoon, made a shop in the seraglio-qu'il remplit de pieces de cette grosse toile dont on fait les Suaires des Morts: "which he filled with pieces of that coarse kind of stuff of which winding-sheets for the dead are made.” And again—" the sufferers die by hundreds; la toile a ensevelir-mortuary wrapping-Cloth-is doubled in price." So that, however, in later ages, some Eastern nations might bury in linen, yet others still retained the use of a coarser material, that is, Sack-Cloth.

No. CCCXXI. BLOOD ON GIRDLE AND SHOES.

THE reader, very probably, has never seen, in the expression of David respecting Joab (1 Kings ii. 5.), any thing beyond a simple idea of shedding Blood unlawfully; and that may be a sufficient acceptation of the passage; yet, we think, it may acquire a spirit, at least, if not an illustration, by comparison with the following history. The dying king says to Solomon, his successor," Thou knowest what Joab, the son of Zeruiah, did to me and to the two chiefs of Israel, Abner and Amasa, that he slew them, and shed the Blood of war (Blood which only might be shed in fair and open warfare) in peace, under friendly professions (vide Nos. xcIII. ccxvIII.), and gave (sprinkled) Bloods of war into his Girdle, which was on his loins, that is, on the very front of his Girdle; and into the Shoes which were on his feet," that is, into the front of his Shoes.

It is evident that David means to describe the violence of Joab, the effects of which seem to have been coincident with the sentiment of the valiant Abdollah, who "went out and defended himself, to the terror and astonishment of his enemies, killing a great many with his own hand, so that they kept at a distance, and threw bricks at him, and made him stagger; and when he felt the Blood run down his face and beard, he repeated this verse:

The Blood of our wounds doth not fall down on our heels, but on our feet;" meaning, that he did not turn his back on his enemies;" but that his Blood fell in front, not behind. Ockley's Hist. Saracens, vol. ii. p. 291. In like manner, the Blood shed by Joab, fell on his feet, " on his Shoes," says David; it was not inadvertently, but purposely shed: shed in a hardened, unfeeling manner; with malice aforethought; with ferocity, rather than valour. This explanation is very different from Mr. Harmer's, vol. iii. p. 312.

No. CCCXXII. ILLUSTRATIONS OF ISAIAH, CHAP. XVIII. (PLATE LXXXVIII.) IT may be seen that, so early as No. LXV. a pictorial Illustration of part of the eighteenth chapter of Isaiah was hinted at: some of the materials for that purpose were prepared, but were not then combined; neither, perhaps, would they have been combined in the present article, had not public attention been lately drawn to this passage of Scripture, by the recently published "Critical Disquisitions" of the Bishop of Rochester [Dr. Horsley.] Much as his lordship's learning is entitled to respect, it should seem, for once, to have failed him; not for want of powerful perception, but rather through a perception too powerful, or misled by a spirit of too recondite disquisition. "This eighteenth chapter of Isaiah, it is remarked, is one of the most obscure passages of the ancient prophets. It has been considered as such by the whole succession of interpreters from St. Jerom to Bishop Lowth. [1.] The object of it, says Bishop Lowth, [2.] the end and design of it, [3.] the people to whom it is addressed, [4.] the history to which it belongs, [5.] the person who sends the messengers, and 6.] the nation to whom they are sent, are all obscure and doubtful. Much of this obscurity lies in the diction (propter inusitata verba, says Munster, propter figuratas sententias) in the highly figured cast of the language; and in the ambiguity of some of the principal words, arising from the great variety of senses often comprehended under the primary meaning of a single root.' Such are the embarrassments of the learned! Let us in the first place propose a free translation of this difficult chapter: "Ho! land of shadows of wings! which lies about-adjacent to-at-ALONG-the rivers of Cush: sending-which art in the habit of sending-confidential agents— servants—even in [with] floats composed of vases and reeds, upon the face of the waters ; and following the course of the waters, that is, down the stream. Change now the direction of thy floats, send some of them up the stream-send away from us, as the word signifies it is used to express the motion of the ark's first floating on the waters: so Ahaziah says to Jehoshaphat, "let my people go-that is, sail away from us -with thy people," 1 Kings xxii. 49.] messengers, light-ready-swift, to a people at no very great distance from thee; to a people contracted and deprived; to a people terrific from within, among themselves; and also to their circumjacent neighbours: [or," from their very beginning-ab origine, to later times ;"] a people extending themselves, stretching greatly, continually extending themselves; even a treading; a people whose lands the rivers have long despoiled. Thy mission with my message shall excite general attention: all the inhabitants of the world, and of the islands of the earth, like unto the lifting up of a banner on the mountains, shall see—that is, observe it: and like unto the sounding of a trumpet, shall hear, that is, attend to it.

Nevertheless, at that time (so says Jehovah to me) I shall rest, continue stationary— without stirring: and I shall abide--acquiesce, that is, wait and watch the result in the place prepared for me.

In the same motionless, quiet manner as the settled heat attends on clear light: in the same tranquil manner as the misty cloud of dew is generated in the heat of harvest.

In like manner, in the face of harvest, 'ere the bud of the ear of corn be completing, and ere the flower of the green sour grape be ripening; even then the pruning-hook shall remove the rampant branches, and the very shoots shall the cutting-bill lop away.

Then, the places where harvest and vintage should ripen, they shall be left alike to the birds of prey of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth; and the birds of prey of the mountains shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.

In that time be the gift-offering to Jehovah of Hosts from [or consisting of the nation

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itself] a people contracted and deprived; even a people terrific within itself, and round about, also; a people extending, vehemently extending itself; even a treading, that is, of the nations conquered by it, a people whose lands the rivers have ordinarily spoiled. Be the gift-offering, I say, to the place of the name of Jehovah of Hosts-Mount Zion.

1. OF THE PEOPLE SENT WITH THIS MESSAGE.

To ascertain what People is entrusted with this commission by the prophet, observe, they are a People, 1. of shadowing wings-that is, who described their own country as shadowing wings; or, who adopted this emblem as the insignia of their country. 2. They were adjacent to the rivers of Cush. 3. They were accustomed to send floats, or rafts, by the waters, with confidential servants in them. These three particulars unite to describe them.

As to the first particular (vide PLATE, fig. 1.), the winged cnephim, which is the very word the prophet uses ( CNEPHIM), is sculptured over the entrance-gates of the temples in Upper Egypt. It is so general, that almost every temple in Norden, from whom this is taken, is embellished with it: and it is, no doubt, a religious symbol, importing the power (CNEPH) to which the temple is dedicated. Indeed, we think it evident, that southern Egypt adopted universally this symbol of the winged serpent; and that its inhabitants committed themselves to the special protection of that deity to whom, under this symbol, they consecrated their temples and their country. It is very credible, therefore, that the prophet's" land of shadowing wings" should be the very country where, as was well known in the time of the prophet, this symbol was peculiar and popular; and we rest perfectly assured that, long before the period when Isaiah wrote, this was the customary symbol of southern Egypt. Every thing conspires to demonstrate, that not only this writer (who is remarkable for his knowledge of Ethiopia, says Mr. Bruce, vide No. LVI.) but also his countrymen at large, were well acquainted with this fact, and would readily understand this reference.

Now, this idea agrees perfectly with the second particular: the " land of shadowing wings" is adjacent to the rivers of Cush. As we perceive that the Bishop, in common with others, has taken the word (OBER 1y) for beyond, extensively speaking, and that on the force of this word he [and Mr. Bicheno, transcribing him] concludes that some power in western Europe, that is, beyond the Nile, is addressed, whose ships are to succour the Jewish people, we shall offer a remark or two on its scriptural use.

1 Kings iv. 24: Solomon "ruled over all the region on THIS SIDE the river (y ba BeCAL OBER) Says our translation-over all the kings ON THIS SIDE ( OBER) the river"-certainly it could not be said, with any shadow of truth, that Solomon reigned Over ALL the kings BEYOND the river; that was utterly false: at most, he ruled over those alongside the river; and this sense of the word is confirmed by the last clause of the verse," he had peace (OBERIU ) all ALONGSIDE of his borders," the limits of his territories; for it is evidently impossible peace could be to him (Heb.) BEYOND the boundaries of his dominions. In this verse, then, the word ober occurs three times, and in all three is taken, rather interiorly than exteriorly of a determinate limit; but, at most, for running alongside of that limit, or boundary.

Joshua xiii. 27: The tribe of Gad had "Beth-aram... Jordan and his border, to the edge of the sea of Cinnereth, on the other side (y OBER) Jordan, eastward. Now, consult the Map; the sea of Cinnereth is not beyond Jordan, since Jordan runs through it; and it may be said to form a part, or continuation, of Jordan; it is properly an enlargement of Jordan. The idea, then, of along with, or along the Jordan, accompanying the Jordan, geographically, is the utmost it will bear; for the water cannot be beyond the stream it forms.