these of Isaiah, is adopted by the sublime author of the Revelation, (cap. vi. 15, 16.) who frequently borrows his imagery from our prophet. Bp. Lowтн, in loc. No. 232.-iii. 16. Making a tinkling with the feet.] Rauwolff tells us, that the Arab women, whom he saw in going down the Euphrates, wore rings about their legs and hands, and sometimes a good many together, which, in their stepping, slipped up and down, and so made a great noise. Sir John Chardin says, that “in Persia and Arabia they wear rings about their ancles, which are full of little bells. Children and young girls take a particular pleasure in giving them motion; with this view they walk quick." (HARMER, vol. ii. p. 385.) Niebuhr speaks of the great rings which the common and dancing women in Egypt, and an Arabian woman of the desert, wore round their legs. (Voyage en Arabie, tom. i. p. 133.) It appears from the Koran, that the Arabian women in Mahomet's time were fond of having the same kind of ornaments noticed. "Let them not (i. e. the women) make a noise with their feet, that the ornaments which they hide may thereby be discovered." (SALE's Koran, cap. xxiv. p. 291, note d.) "Let them not make a noise with their feet, &c. by shaking the rings which the women in the East wear about their ankles, and which are usually of gold or silver. The pride which the Jewish ladies of old took in making a tinkling with these ornaments of the feet, is (among other things of that nature) severely reproved by the prophet Isaiah.” No. 233.-iii. 17, The Lord will expose their nakedness.] It was the barbarous custom of the conquerors of these times to strip their captives naked, and to make them travel in that condition, exposed to the inclemency of the weather, and, the worst of all, to the intolerable heat of the sun. But this to the women was the height of cruelty and indignity, and especially to such as those here described, who had indulged themselves in all manner of delicacies of living, and all the superfluities of ornamental dress; and even whose faces had hardly ever been exposed to the sight of man. This is always mentioned as the hardest part of the lot of captives. (Nahum iii. 5, 6.) Bp. LowтH, in loc. No. 234.-iii. 22. Crisping-pins.] Mr. Bruce, describing the dress of the inhabitants of Abyssinia, says, they wear "their own hair short and curled like that of a negro's in the west part of Africa. But this is done by art, not by nature, each man having a wooden stick, with which he lays hold of the lock and twists it round a screw, till it curls in the form he desires." To this Mr. Bruce adds in a note, "I apprehend this is the same instrument used by the ancients, and censured by the prophets, which, in our translation, is rendered crisping-pins. (Travels, vol. iii. p. 82.) No. 235. v. 26. Hiss unto them.] "The metaphor is taken from the practice of those that keep bees, who draw them out of their hives into the fields, and lead them back again, by a hiss or a whistle." Bp. LowтH, in loc. No. 236. v. 28. The hoofs of their horses.] "The shoeing of horses with iron plates nailed to the hoof is quite a modern practice, and was unknown to the ancients, as appears from the silence of the Greek and Roman writers, especially those that treat of horsemedicine, who could not have passed over a matter so obvious, and of such importance, that now the whole science takes its name from it, being called by us far riery. The horse-shoes of leather and of iron, which are mentioned; the silver and the gold shoes, with which Nero and Poppea shod their mules, used occasionally to preserve the hoofs of delicate cattle, or for vanity, were of a very different kind; they inclosed the whole hoof, as in a case, or as a shoe does a man's foot, and were bound or tied on. For this reason the strength, firmness, and solidity of a horse's hoof was of much greater importance with them than with us, and was esteemed one of the first praises of a fine horse. For want of this artificial defence to the foot, which our horses have, Amos (vi. 12.) speaks of it as a thing as much impracticable to make horses run upon a hard rock, as to plough up the same rock with oxen. These circumstances must be taken into consideration, in order to give us a full notion of the propriety and force of the image by which the prophet sets forth the strength and excellence of the Babylonish cavalry, which made a great part of the strength of the Assyrian army.” Bp. LowTH, in loc, No. 237.-viii. 1. A great roll.] "The eastern people roll their papers, and do not fold them, because their paper is apt to fret. (Chardin.) The Egyptian pa, pyrus was much used, and the brittle nature of it made proper to roll what they wrote." it HARMER, vol. ii. p. 170. note. No. 238.-ix. 6. The everlasting father.] It is common in the East to describe any quality of a person by calling him the father of the quality. D'Herbelot speaking of a very eminent physician, says (p. 440.) he did such admirable cures that he was surnamed Aboul Berekiat, the father of benedictions. The original words of this title of Christ may be rendered, the father of that which is everlasting: Christ therefore as the head and introducer of an everlasting dispensation, never to give place to another, was very naturally in the eastern style called the father of eternity. HARMER, vol. ii. p. 479. No. 239.-x. 1. Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees.] The manner of making eastern decrees differs from ours; they are first written, and then the magistrate authenticates or annuls them. D'ARVIEUX (Voy. dans. la Pal. p. 61. 154.) tells us, that when an Arab wants a favour, he applies to the secretary, who draws up a decree according to the request of the party. If the emir grants the favour, he prints his seal upon it; if not, he returns it torn to the petitioner. Hence we learn wherein the wickedness of those persons consisted who wrote those decrees to be thus authenticated or annulled by great men. The latter only confirmed or rejected, whereas all the injustice and iniquity contained in those decrees originated with the petitioner and the scribe, who might so concert matters as to deceive their superiors. HARMER, vol. ii. p. 289. No. 240.-xiv. 4. The golden city.] To represent objects of a superior excellence and importance, comparisons of the highest order are very properly selected. These are sometimes merely simple, and are designed to convey to the mind some predominant quality; but in other cases they are complex, and the metaphor includes that variety of properties which peculiarly belong to its subject. Many figures are taken from gold, both as to its individual and collective attributes. It is made the emblem of value, purity, and splendor. Thus God is likened to gold. The Almighty shall be thy defence. (marg. gold.) Job xxii. 25. So is the word of God." Psalm xix. 10. The saints and their graces are thus represented, Job xxiii. 10. 1 Pet. i. 7. The vials of God's wrath are golden, because they are pure and unmixed with partiality and passion. Rev. xv. 7. Whatever is rich, pompous, and alluring, is called golden. So Babylon is called a golden city. This cannot undoubtedly be understood in a literal but figurative sense; for however great might be the profusion of that metal in the city of Babylon, it could not be sufficient to give rise to such a description of its magnificence, but by an allowed and perhaps common allusion. From the frequent recurrence of this figure, it must have been in very general use amongst the eastern people; and since its properties are probably better known than those of most other metals, would readily express the meaning of a writer, and be perfectly intelligible to the understanding of his readers. l'indar styles gold the Richest offspring of the mine; Gold, like fire, whose flashing rays Through the night's involving cloud, First in lustre and esteem, Decks the treasures of the proud. WEST'S Translation, Ode 1. But, in modern times, no instance perhaps occurs wherein this comparison is so universally made as by the Birmans. Whoever has read the recently published travels of Captain SYMES, in the kingdom of Ava, must have had his attention forcibly arrested by this circumstance; for there almost every thing peculiarly great is styled golden, and without exception every thing belonging to the king is so denominated. The city where he resides, the barge which he uses, are styled golden.. The following extract will completely explain this circumstance, and form a pleasing addition to the foregoing observations. "We passed a village," says Captain SYMES, "named Shoe-Lee-Rua, or Goldenboat-village, from its being inhabited by watermen in |