several companies, to music, near the town, while their women were sitting in groupes on the roofs of the houses, which are flat, as spectators, at the same time enjoying the soft air and serene sky." The ancient Egyptian festivals were observed with processions, music, and other tokens of joy. The sabbaths of Jehovah were to be regarded in a very different manner, as appears from the prohibitions contained in these words of Isaiah.

HARMER, vol. iii. p. 346.

No. 270.-lviii. 13. Call the sabbath a delight.] In honour of the sabbath the Jews are accustomed to light and burn a lamp, which they call the lamp of the sabbath. "The rest of the sabbath began on Friday in the evening, half an hour before sun-set. They then light a candle of four wicks, which burns part of the night, and this is one of the ceremonies, which they observe with the greatest exactness. The poor are obliged to beg to get oil, or to deprive themselves of sustenance, rather than fail to have a lamp burning in their houses, because that is necessary for the delight of the sabbath, mentioned by the prophet Isaiah." (BASNAGE's Hist of the Jews, p. 440.)

The account which LEVI gives of this custom in his Rites and Ceremonies of the Jews, (p. 8.) is rather different from the foregoing, but is on the whole more particular and satisfactory. He says, "as soon as the sabbath is begun, they are obliged to leave all manner of work, and, after having cleaned themselves in honour of the sabbath, go to the synagogue, to the evening service of the sabbath; and the women are bound to light a lamp with seven cotton wicks, in remembrance of the days of the week, saying the following grace: Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who hast sanctified us with thy commandments, and com

manded us to light the lamp of the sabbath.' This ceremony of lighting the lamp of the sabbath is invariably assigned to the women, the reason of which is, that as their original mother, by her crime in eating of the forbidden fruit, first extinguished the lamp of righteousness, they are to make an atonement for that crime, by rekindling it, in lighting the lamp of the sabbath."

No. 271.—lx. 4. Thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.] Chardin says, "it is the general custom of the East to carry their children astride upon the hip, with the arm round the body." Pitts relates (p. 68.) that when the Algerine slaves take the children out, the boys ride upon their shoulders. So Symes, describing a religious procession which he saw in Ava, says (v. ii. p. 23.) "the first personages of rank who passed by were three children of the maywoon, borne astride upon men's shoulders." See also HARMER, vol. ii. p. 366,

No. 272. lx. 8. Doves.] It appears from the sacred as well as other writers, that doves have been held in the highest estimation in the eastern nations. Modern travellers assure us, that this veneration for them con tinues to this day. Thus the Baron Du ToгT, (in his Memoirs of the Turkish Empire) describing how the Turks esteem these birds, says, "that whilst their government enforces the most rigorous monopoly of the corn which is consumed in the capital, by an exaction ruinous to the cultivator, and a distribution less burthensome to the baker than the consumer, it allows so much per cent. in favour of turtle doves. A cloud of these birds constantly alight on the vessels, which cross the port of Constantinople, and carry their commodity, uncovered, either to the magazines or the mills. The boatmen never oppose their greediness. This permission to feast on the grain

brings them in great numbers, and familiarizes them to such a degree, that I have seen them standing on the shoulders of the rowers, watching for a vacant place where they might fill their crops in their turn."

No. 273.-lx. 8. They shall fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows.] M. Savary, (in his Letters on Egypt) speaking of a victory, says, "on the morning of that memorable day, a pigeon was sent off from Manseura, to carry to Grand Cairo the news of the death of Facr Eddin, and of the flight of the Egyptians." This custom of employing pigeons to carry messages with expedition, which has so long subsisted in the East, is at present abolished. Possibly this practice of using the rapid swiftness of these birds for purposes of the utmost dispatch, and the vehemence with which they returned to their accustomed habitations, may be alluded to by Isaiah, who, when describing the eagerness with which the flocks of Gentiles should crowd into the church of Christ, says, they shall fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows.

Dr. Russel tells us, when pigeons were employed as posts, they not only placed the paper containing the news under the wing, to prevent its being destroyed by wet, but "used to bathe their feet in vinegar, with a view to keep them cool, so that they might not settle to drink or wash themselves, which would have destroyed the paper." (Hist. of Aleppo, vol. ii. p. 203.)

No. 274.-lxii. 5. As a young man marrieth a virgin.] In a note upon this passage Chardin observes, that it is the custom in the East for youths that were never married always to marry virgins; and widowers, however young, to marry widows. If this practice prevailed in the days of the prophet, his marrying a virgin musť

have appeared extraordinary; since, on account of his age, and the early period at which they generally married, it is probable he was now a widower. If this was the case, it must have appeared particular, and have excited great attention. HARMER, vol. ii. p. 482.

No.275.-lxv. 4. Who remain amongst the graves.] "The old Hebrews had an idolatrous custom among them of going among the tombs to receive dreams, by which they judged of events, and how to manage their affairs; for they are charged by the prophet Isaiah with remaining among the graves, and lodging in the monuments, which is rendered by the LXX. with sleeping in the tombs, upon the account of dreams: and it is reasonable to believe that the sepulchre of Moses was purposely concealed, lest in after times it should become an object of worship and adoration; for, says R. Levi ben Gersom, future generations perhaps might have made a God of him, because of the fame of his miracles; for do we not see some of the Israelites erred on account of the brazen serpent which Moses made?"

LEWIS's Origines Hebrææ, vol. iii. p. 381.

No. 276.-JEREMIAH iii. 2.

hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness.

CHARDIN has given a very strong and lively description of the eagerness with which the Arabians look out for prey. "The Arabs wait for caravans with the most violent avidity, looking about them on all sides, raising themselves up on their horses, running here and there to see if they can perceive any smoke, or dust, or tracks on the ground, or any other marks of people passing along." HARMER, Vol. i. p. 95.

No. 277-iv. 17. As keepers of a field are they against her round about.] Plantations of esculent vegetables are not unfrequently cultivated in the East, without inclosures; they would of course require to be watched as they improved in value and became fit to use. So Chardin says, that "as in the East, pulse, roots, &c. grow in open and uninclosed fields, when they begin to be fit to gather they place guards, if near a great road more, if distant fewer, who place themselves in a round about these grounds."

HARMER, vol. i. p. 455.

No. 278.-iv. 30. Thou rendest thy face with painting.] Several authors, and Lady M. W. Montague in particular, (Letters, vol. ii. p. 32.) have taken notice of the custom that has obtained from time immemorial among the eastern women, of tinging the eyes with a' powder, which, at a distance, or by candle-light, adds very much to the blackness of them. The ancients call the mineral substance, with which this was done, stibium,