No. 193.-PROVERBS iii. 8.

It shall be health to thy navel.

MEDICINES in the East are chiefly applied externally, and in particular to the stomach and belly. This comparison, Chardin says, is drawn from the plaisters, ointments, oils, and frictions, which are made use of in the East upon the belly and stomach in most maladies; they being ignorant in the villages, of the art of making decoctions and potions, and the proper doses of such things. HARMER, vol. ii. p. 488.

No. 194.-ix. 3. She hath sent forth her maidens.] Hasselquist observed a custom in Egypt, which he imagines to be very ancient. He saw a number of women, who went about inviting people to a banquet. They were about ten or twelve in number, covered with black veils, as is usual in that country. They were preceded by four eunuchs; after them, and on the side, were Moors with their usual walking-staves. As they were walking, they all joined in making a noise, which he was told signified their joy, but which he could not find resembled a pleasing song. pleasing song. This passage of So lomon seems to allude to this practice; for wisdom is said to have sent forth her maidens, and to cry upon the high places of the city. HARMER, vol. iii. p. 193.

No. 195.-xi. 21. Though hand join in hand.] To join hands was anciently, and still continues in the East, a solemn method of taking an oath, and making an engagement. This circumstance is probably alluded to in these words of Solomon; its present existence is clearly ascertained by what Mr. BRUCE (Trav. vol. i. p. 199.) relates: "I was so enraged at the trai

torous part which Hassan had acted, that, at parting, Í could not help saying to Ibrahim, now, shekh, I have done every thing you have desired, without ever expecting fee or reward; the only thing I now ask you, and it is probably the last, is, that you avenge me upon this Hassan, who is every day in your power. Upon this he gave me his hand, saying, he shall not die in his bed, or I shall never see old age." (See also 2 Kings 10-15.)

No. 196.—xi. 22. A jewel of gold in a swine's snout.] This proverb is manifestly an allusion to the custom of wearing nose jewels, or rings set with jewels, hanging from the nostrils, as ear rings from the ears, by holes bored to receive them. This fashion, however strange it may appear to us, was formerly, and is still, common in many parts of the East, among women of all ranks. Paul Lucas, speaking of a village, or clan of wandering people, a little on this side of the Euphrates, says, "The women, almost all of them, travel on foot; I saw none handsome among them. They have almost all of them the nose bored, and wear in it a great ring, which makes them still more deformed." (2d Voyage du Levant, tom i. art. 24.) But in regard to this custom, better authority cannot be produced than that of Pietro della Valle, in the account which he gives of Signora Maani Gioerida, his own wife. The description of her dress, as to the ornamental parts of it, with which he introduces the mention of this particular, will give us some notion of the taste of the eastern ladies for finery. "The ornaments of gold, and of jewels, for the head, for the neck, for the arms, for the legs, and for the feet, (for they wear rings even on their toes) are indeed, unlike those of the Turks, carried to great excess, but not of great value: as turquoises, small rubies, emeralds, carbuncles, garnets, pearls, and the like. My spouse dresses herself with all of them according to their fashion, with excep

tion however of certain ugly rings of very large size, set with jewels, which, in truth very absurdly, it is the custom to wear fastened to one of their nostrils, like buffaloes: an ancient custom however in the East, which, as we find in the holy scriptures, prevailed among the Hebrew ladies, even in the time of Solomon. These nose rings in complaisance to me she has left off; but I have not yet been able to prevail with her cousin and her sisters to do the same. So fond are they of an old custom, be it ever so absurd, who have been long habituated to it.". (VIAGGI, Tom. i. Lett. 17.) To this account may be subjoined the observation made by Chardin, as cited in Harmer (vol. ii. p. 390.) "It is the custom in almost all the East for the women to wear rings in their noses, in the left nostril, which is bored low down in the middle. These rings are of gold, and have commonly two pearls and one ruby between, placed in the ring. I never saw a girl or young woman in Arabia, or in all Persia, who did not wear a ring after this manner in her nostril."

Vide Bp. LowTH's note on Isaiah iii. 20.

No. 197.-xv. 19. The way of the slothful man is an hedge of thorns.] Hasselquist says, (p. 111.) that he saw the plantain tree, the vine, the peach, and the mulberry tree, all four made use of in Egypt to hedge about a garden: now these are all unarmed plants. This consideration throws a great energy into the words of Solomon. The way of the slothful man is an hedge of thorns. It appears as difficult to him, not only as breaking through an hedge, but even through a thorn fence: and also into that threatening of God to Israel, Behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns. Hosea ii. 6.

No. 198.-xvi. 11. Ajust weight and balance are the LORD's, all the weights of the bag are his work.] The

crimes, and that his way is (not froward and strange, as in our translation,) but unsteady or continually varying ; in which expression there is a most beautiful allusion to a beast which is so overburthened that he cannot keep in the straight road, but is continually tottering and staggering, first to the right hand, and then to the left.

PARKHURST's Heb. Lex. p. 187, 3d. edit.

No. 203.-xxi. 9. It is better to dwell in a corner of the house top, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.] During the summer season it was usual to sleep on the tops of the houses, which were flat, and properly guarded by a parapet wall; for this purpose they were accommodated with little arbours and wicker work closets, which, however agreeable in the dry part of the year, would prove much otherwise when it rained, as it would expose them to a continual dropping. To be limited to such a place, and to have no other apartment to live in, must be very inconvenient. To such circumstances it is, probably, that Solomon alludes, when he says, it is better to dwell in a corner of the house top, than with a brawling woman in a wide house. The allusion is rendered more perfect and striking by connecting with this passage the continual dropping mentioned, Prov. xix. 13. and xxvii. 15. HARMER, vol. i. p. 172.

No. 204. xxi. 17. He that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.] Pococke, in describing his journey to Jerusalem, after his landing at Joppa, tells us, he was conveyed to an encampment of Arabs, who entertained him as well as they could, making him cakes, and bringing him fine oil of olives, in which they usually dip their bread. (Travels, vol. ii. p. 5.) This Mr. Harmer (vol. i. p. 238.) considers not as their constant course, but as practised upon particular occasions, as the generality

were constrained to be more frugal. This of course discovers the propriety of the words of Solomon, when he says, he that loveth wine and OIL shall not be rich.

No. 205.-xxiii. 6. An evil eye.] Whether the same ideas are to be attached to this expression as used by Solomon, and as understood by the Egyptians, may not be easily ascertained, though perhaps worthy of consideration. PocOCKE (Travels, vol. i. p. 181.) says of the Egyptians, that "they have a great notion of the magic art, have books about it, and think there is much virtue in talismans and charms: but particularly are strongly possessed with an opinion of the evil eye. When a child is commended, except you give it some blessing, if they are not very well assured of your good will, they use charms against the evil eye; and particularly when they think any ill success attends them on account of an evil eye, they throw salt into the fire."

No. 206.-xxiii. 20. Be not among wine-bibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh.] The Arabs are described by Shaw, (p. 169.) as very abstemious. They rarely diminish their flocks by using them for food, but live chiefly upon bread, milk, butter, dates, or what they receive in exchange for their wool. Their frugality is in many instances the effect of narrow circumstances; and shews with what propriety Solomon describes an expensive way of living by their frequent eating of flesh.

No. 207. xxiv. 26. Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer.] The rescripts of authority used to be kissed whether they were believed to be just or not; and the letters of people of figure were treated in this manner; but it is possible these words may refer to another custom, which D'Arvieux gives an account of in his description of the Arabs of Mount Carmel, who, when