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From dealing with great men, and taking their word, From waiting whole mornings to fpeak with my lord, Who puts off his payments, and puts on his fword, Deliver me.

From trusting to hypocrites, wretches who trifle
With heaven, that on earth more fecure they may rifle,
Who confcience, and honour, and honesty stiffe,
Deliver me.

From black coats who never the gospel yet taught,
From red coats who never a battle yet fought,
From petticoats where the infide is mere naught,

Deliver me.

TH

THE VENISON FEAST.

HE fmoking viands crown the festive board, Whofe bending weight proclaims the mighty hoard. With napkin close enwrapp'd, e'en to the chin, The giant eaters bid the feaft begin.

The grace is faid, the mufic plays amain,

While many a foaming mouth applauds the ftrain ;
The geefe, the fowls, the pafties all deftroy'd,
The haunch comes on to cloy th' already cloy 'd.

Now the plump citizen, with portly paunch,
Strokes his fleek fides, and, greedy, views the haunch,
Surveys its beauties with a lover's eye,

And turns, indignant, from the broken pye.

Now "

charge your glaffes," ere you drench the knife, And eat as 'twere the latest meal in life:

Another flice-another-yet again

Who eats like monsters must be more than men.

The folid haunch has undergone its doom ;-
But marrow pudding lies in little room;
Two pounds to keep down five are not amifs :-
Who would not live in such a land as this?

The land where freedom in profufion reigns,
And all our parks, and all our paddocks drains;

Where

Where glorious glattony fupplies the treat,
And gives the firft great liberty-to eat.

TH

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HINK not, my Delia, that my honest lays
Flow from the fource of fancy's Himfy art;
'Tis not my voice alone that fings thy praise-
Who can behold thee with a tranquil heart?

Say not, that honour's voice must bid us part,
If e'er I fhew the paffion you infpire;
For know, my Delia, that this faithful heart
Feels the pure impulfe of the nobleft fire.

Such is my flame, as honour must approve,
An admiration chaften'd by esteem;
Warm as the fervent faint's enraptur'd love,
Pure as the facred veftal's hallow'd dream.

A foft return to fuch a love, my fair,

Sure honour's rigid voice can ne'er deny ;
Say then, my love, a fympathetic care
Wakes in thy bofom a congenial figh.

Verfes inferibed on a small Cottage in a ruftic Tafte, intended as a Place of Retirement.

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Within this folitary cell

Calm thought and sweet contentment dwell,
Parents of blifs fincere;

Peace fpreads around her balmy wings,

And, banish'd from the courts of kings,
Has fix'd her manfion here.

THE

WEEKLY ENTERTAINER.

For MONDAY, December 29, 1783.

AccoUNT of the MARRIAGE CEREMONIES, FOOD, UTENSILS, &c. of the JEWS. Written by a Jew.

VERY Jew is obliged to enter into the marriage ftate; and the proper time affigned for entering into that ftate is 18: a man that lives fingle till 20, is looked upon as a profligate. This inftitution is grounded upon the Almighty's especial command to our first parents-" Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth." Gen. chap. i. ver. 28.

It is lawful for coufins to marry; an uncle may alfo marry his niece; but her aunt may not marry her nephew: the reafon is obvious that the law of nature may not be reverfed; for when the uncle marries his niece, the fame perfon remains as the head who was fo before; but when the nephew marries his aunt, he becomes as it were her head, and fhe must pay homage to him, by which means the law of nature is reverfed.

The marriage ceremony of the Jews is as follows:

It is cuftomary for the bride and bridegroom to be betrothed, fometimes fix months, or a year, before marriage, as agreed on between the parties; during which time the bridegroom vifits her bride, but without having any further commerce with her.

On the day appointed for the celebration of the nuptials, the bride and bridegroom are conducted to the place appointed for the celebration of the nuptial ceremony; the bridegroom by the men, and the bride by the women; where are generally affembled all or most of their relations or acquaintance, for they VOL. II. 52. generally

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generally invite a great many, they being obliged to have ten men prefent at least, otherwife the marriage is null and void. When all the company are affembled, and the priest and reader of the fynagogue come, the ceremony is performed in the following manner:

A velvet canopy is brought into the room, fupported by four long poles, under which the bridegroom and bride are led in the following order:

The bridegroom being fupported by two friends, one under each arm, and the bride by two women (which two men and two women are always the parents of the bride and bridegroom, if living, otherwife their neareft kindred, one man and wite for the bride, and the other for the bridegroom, although the bridegroom is led by the men, and the bride by the women), having her face covered with a veil, in token of female modefty. The bride being in this manner led by the women, under the canopy, is placed oppofite the bridegroom: the priest then takes a glass of wine in his hand, and fays, "Bleffed art thou O Lord our God! king of the Univerfe, creator of the juice of the vine. Bleffed art thou, O Lord our God! king of the univerfe, who hath fanctified us with his commandments, and hath forbid us fornication, and hath prohibited unto us the betrothed, but hath allowed unto us thofe that are married unto us, by the means of the canopy and the wedding ring, Bleffed art thou, O Lord! the fanctifier of his people Ifrael, by the means of the canopy and wedlock."

Then the bridegroom and bride drink of the wine, after which the bridegroom takes the ring, and puts it on the bride's finger, in prefence of all thofe that ftand round the canopy, and fays, "Behold thou art betrothed unto me with this ring, according to the rites of Mofes and Ifrael." Then the inftrument of marriage contract is read, which specifies that the bridegroom, A. B. doth agree to take the bride C. D. as his lawful wife, according to the law of Mofes and Ifrael; and that he will keep, maintain, honour, and cherish her, according to the manner of all the Jews, who honour, keep, maintain, and cherish their wives, and keep her in clothing decently, according to the manner and cuf tom of the world: It likewife fpecifies what fum he fettles on her in cafe of his death; wherein he obliges his heirs, executors, administrators, &c. to pay the fame to her, of the first produce of his effects, &c.

The reader then drinks another glafs of wine, and after a prayer the bride and bridegroom drink of the wine, the empty glafs is laid on the ground, and the bridegroom ftamps on, and breaks it; the intent and meaning of which ceremony is to re

mind them of death, to whofe power frail mortals muft yield, fooner or later, and therefore to induce them to lead fuch a life, as not to be terrified at the approach of death.

This being over, all prefent cry out, mozol louv, i. e, may it turn out happily; which ends the ceremony.

Every Jew is obliged to have upon the pofts of the door of his houfe a mezuza, this is commanded in Deut. chap. vi. ver. 9. and chap. xi. ver. 20. "And thou fhalt write them upon the door-poft of thine houfe." But then it must be expressly built for a dwelling, otherwise they are not bound to fix a mezuza thereon. Maimonides mentions ten different things which are requifite to constitute a dwelling, every door of which is obliged to have a mezuza. The manner in which they are made is as follows: Two portions of fcripture, viz. from Deut. chap. vi. ver. 4. to ver. 9. inclufive; and from ver. 13. of chap. xì. to ver. 21. of the fame, being wrote on vellum, in like manner as the Phylacteries, wiih Shaddai infcribed upon it; thefe are rolled up, and put in lead, in the form of a cylindrical tube; and which, by means of two holes made in the lead to receive the nails, is thus faftened to the pofts of a door. At the fallening of the mezuza to the poft of the door, they muft fay the following grace: Bleffed art thou O Lord our God! king of the uni verfe, who hath fanctified us with his commandments, and commanded us to fix the mezuza."

We shall now defcribe what may and what may not be eaten by them, as alfo how prepared before they may eat thereof.

In the first place it must be obferved, that they may not eat of any beaft that does not chew the cud, and likewife part the hoof. As to fish, they may not eat of any but what have both fins and scales.

In regard to the different fpecies of fowls, there is no particular mark specified by the law by which we may be enabled to diftinguish between thofe which are clean, and those which are unclean; but as all the different fpecies which may not be eaten are enumerated, confequently all thofe that are omitted may lawfully be eaten.

They may not eat any blood, nor thing that dies of itfelf; but their cattle are obliged to be killed by a Jew, duly qualified, and especially appointed for that purpofe; and afterwards fearched by him, in order to afcertain the foundness thereof; for if the leaft blemish is found therein they may not eat thereof.

If it be found to be in the fate required by them, it is then called Koeber, and is fealed with a leaden feal, on one fide of which is the word Koefher, and on the other the day of the week,

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