of the ploughshare; the name of which instrument is derived from it. The inhabitants of the lower part of Egypt are unacquainted with the use of the plough. When the Nile retires from their fields, they sow their seed broadcast on the alluvial deposit, left by its recession, subsequently turning in the hogs, who, digging with their feet, and rooting with their snouts, soon upheave the earth and thus bury the seed to its proper depth. It is not surprising then, that there are peoples who, for this reason, abstain from using the flesh of the hog, since we see, with the Barbarians, other animals receive the highest honors from trivial and often ridiculous causes. It is said, for example, that the Egyptians have deified the Musaraigne on account of its blindness; because they deem darkness more ancient than light. They also consecrate the lion to the sun, because, that of all the quadrupeds with crooked talons, its young alone are born with their eyes open; that it sleeps but little, and that its eyes shine during sleep. They ornament the spouts of their fountains with lions' heads, because the Nile inundates their fields when the sun is in the sign of the lion. They also assert that the ibis, when it is born, weighs two drachms, exactly the weight of the heart of an infant when it first sees the light, and that the spread of its feet forms with its beak an equilateral triangle. Wherefore, then, should the Egyptians be censured for these ideas as ridiculous, since the Pythagoreans themselves worship, it is said, a white cock, and among fishes abstain particularly from the surmullet and the ortie de mer; and the Magi, disciples of Zoroaster, honor with especial reverence the ground hedgehog, while they detest water-rats; regarding the man that kills the greatest number of them as the happiest of mortals, and especially favored of the Gods. I think that if the Jews really held the hog in horror, they would kill it as the Magi do the water-rats, but they are alike prohibited from killing or eating it. Perhaps in the same manner that they reverence the ass from its discovering to them a source of water in a time of extreme drought, they revere the hog from its teaching them the culture of the earth. Is it to be assumed that they abstain from eating the flesh of the hare, because it is a dirty and impure animal?"

"It is not for that," said Lamprias; "but it is from its resemblance to the ass, of animals, the one they most reverence; for though these animals differ in size and quickness, on the other hand they are of the same color, have long cars and shining eyes, and resemble each other in other respects, so that there are none, great or small, which are so alike as the ass and the hare. Perhaps, also, with the Egyptians, who attribute a mysterious signification to the qualities of animals, the Jews recognize something divine in the activity of the hare and the acuteness of its natural senses. Its sight is so keen that it sleeps with its eyes open; and sense of hearing so delicate, that the Egyptians make use of the figure of its ear in their hieroglyphics, as the emblem of the sense of hearing. As for the Jews, I think that they abstain from the flesh of the hog from fear of disease, for there are no maladies the Barbarians so much dread as the leprosy and the mange; believing, as they do, that these diseases end finally in the entire destruction of their victims. The hog, as we see, has, nearly always, parts of its body marked with white and leprous spots, and these eruptions appear to be the result of interior corruption. The filth in which it lives must give an additional bad quality to the flesh, for there is no animal which so delights to wallow in filth and ordure, with the exception of those which are born and exist in it. It is also said that the eyes of the hog are so fixed on the earth that he can see nothing above him, nor look upon the heavens, unless he is turned on his back; his eyes then take a direction contrary to their natural position, and though at first very noisy, when he is thus reversed, he soon becomes silent and tranquil, astonished either at the sight of heaven, to which he is unaccustomed, or in terror at seeing it. If it were necessary, fabulous traditions might be cited. Adonis was killed, it is said, by a boar, and it is thought that Adonis is identical with Bacchus ; and this opinion is confirmed by the ceremonies which are practised at the feasts of both of these divinities. There are those who assert that Adonis was the favorite of Bacchus, and it is the opinion of Phanocles, as is proved in this verse:

'Bacchus, in roaming o'er the fields of Cyprus.

Saw, and made captive, the beautiful Adonis.'"

Symmachus, surprised at this last allusion, said: "What! Lamprias, would you tolerate that the mysteries of the Jews should be confounded with those of the god of our country! or, is it indeed probable, that this God may be identical with that of the Jews?"

"Permit Lamprias," interrupted Meragenus; "I, who am an Athenian, assert that he is one and the same God. Most of the proofs which confirm it, can be communicated only to those who have been initiated in the third, and highest, order of the mysteries of Bacchus, But that which we are not prohibited from revealing to friends, and particularly at the table where we are enjoying the gifts of this God, if you so desire, I am ready to impart."

The guests all urging him warmly, he resumed: "First," said he, "the greatest and most solemn of their feasts is celebrated at a time, and in a manner, which proves its analogy with those of Bacchus. They give to it the name of the fast, and solemnize it in the height of the vintage, covering their tables with all kinds of fruits, and during the time that it lasts, living under tents constructed mainly of palin branches and ivy interlaced; and the first day of this solemnity they call the feast of the Tabernacles. A few days after, they celebrate another, the connection of which, with those of Bacchus, is no longer even enigmatical, but formally consecrated to this God. It is called the feast of the Crateraphorie and the Thyrsophorie (the cups and the thyrsies). In it they bear in their hands branches of palms or thyrses, with which they enter into their Temple. What they do there, we are ignorant of; but it is probable they celebrate some Bacchanal; for they make use, to invoke their God, of little trumpets, similar to those which the Greeks employ in the feast of Bacchus; other priests play on harps, and are called Levites, either from the name Lysius, or more probably that of Evius, two surnames of Bacchus. Neither is the celebration of the Sabbath as it appears to me foreign to Bacchus. Even now, in many parts of Greece they give the name of SABBES to the initiates of Bacchus, who, in their mysterious ceremonies, pronounce this word. The oration of Demosthenes on the crown, and Menander, furnish proofs of this fact. It appears also proba

ble that it is from this name that there has been formed that of Subbat, and that it indicates that species of furor or enthusiasm with which those who celebrate the mysteries of Bacchus are inspired. What confirms this conjecture as to the worship which they render to Bacchus Sabbasien is, that on the day of the feast they urge each other to drink to intoxication, and if any by grave motives are prevented from becoming inebriated, they are at least compelled to drink their wine pure. To these proofs can be added others of still greater force. For instance, those derived from the costume of the high priest; who, on days of solemnity, wears a mitre on his head, and is clothed in a tunic, made from the skin of the stag, trimmed with gold, with a training robe hanging from his shoulders; his feet clad with laced buskins. Below and around the bottom of the robe are attached little bells, which cause as he walks, the same sounds that we hear in the nocturnal mysteries of Bacchus, and from which reason they are called the nurses of this god. Still another proof, is the thyrses and the tambourines, which are seen engraved on the walls of their temple. All this can have relation to no other god than Bacchus. The Jews do not employ honey in their sacrifices, because, mixed with wine it spoils it. Before the art of cultivating the vine was understood, honey was made use of, both as a drink and in the libations to the Gods. Even now, the Barbarians who are unacquainted with the use of wine, make a drink composed of honey, the insipidity of which they correct with bitter and vinous roots.

The Greeks themselves render sacrifices to Sobriety, in which they offer honey; because its qualities are antagonistic to those of wine. Another, and very strong proof of the worship they render to Bacchus, is that the greatest and most ignominious punishment that they can inflict, is to deprive the criminals from the use of wine during a certain time prescribed by the judge. Those who are thus punished"

[The rest of the book is lost.]

ART. V.-The Reign of Law. By the DUKE OF ARGYLE. Fifth edition. Alexander Shahan. London: 1867.

WE regard this as a work of decided interest and value. The noble author holds no mean place among the philosophi cal thinkers of the day; a position fairly won by the acuteness of his reasoning powers, and the clearness and ability with which his views are enforced. Acting in the spirit of the motto on his escutcheon, "vix ea nostra voco," and determined to win an honorable fame which should be all his own, he early entered, as an author, those lists in which fortune, rank, and illustrious ancestry avail nothing, but success must depend on personal merit alone. There is a manliness in such a course which naturally enlists the sympathies and good wishes of the public, and secures their congratulations on his well-earned reputation.

The volume presents some of the mature and revised opinions of its author, the greater part of which had already appeared as contributions to the Edinburgh Review and other British periodicals of high character. The subject, as the title imports, is the Reign of Law; not, however, of human law, but of that which controls the course of nature and the operations of the mind of man. Over all this region he thinks its empire is absolute, binding the universe, as far as we know it, in the relation of cause and effect, as in a chain of necessity which is never broken even by the power of the Deity himself. This hypothesis has always been a favorite with those scientific men who disclaim the authority of faith to impose checks on the speculations of reason, but has generally been regarded with suspicion and dislike by orthodox Christians, as scarcely compatible with those intimate personal relations which religion. teaches have been established between man and his Maker. Yet the author is not a sceptic, but a believer in revelation, and one object of his work is to wrest from the practical atheist the advantage he claims in that uniformity of natural operations, which appears to exclude all immediate divine. intervention.