8. "And, since thou wast a laugher in their presence, from laughter shalt thou acquire a name. Then he gave to SHERMA the wide domain on the south of the snowy mountain,

9. "And to JYA'PETI he gave all on the north of the snowy mountain; but he, by the power of religious contemplation, attained supreme bliss.”

Asiatic Researches, vol. iii. p. 465.

No. 6.—xvi. 12. His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him.] "The one is the natural, and almost necessary consequence of the other. Ishmael lived by prey and rapine in the wilderness: and his posterity have all along infested Arabia and the neighbouring countries with their robberies and incursions. They live in a state of continual war with the rest of the world, and are both robbers by land, and pirates by sea. As they have been such enemies to mankind, it is no wonder that mankind have been enemies to them again; that several attempts have been made to extirpate them; and even now as well as formerly travellers are forced to go with arms, and in caravans or large companies, and to march and keep watch like a little army, to defend themselves from the assaults of these free-booters, who run about in troops, and rob and plunder all whom they can by any means subdue. These robberies they also justify, by alledging the hard usage of their father Ishmael, who being turned out of doors by Abraham, had the open plains and deserts given him by God for his patrimony, with permission to take whatever he could find there; and on this account they think they may, with a safe conscience, indemnify themselves, as well as they can, not only on the posterity of Isaac, but also on every body else; always supposing a kind of kindred between

themselves and those they plunder; and in relating their adventures of this kind, they think it sufficient to change the expression, and instead of, I robbed a man of such and such a thing, to say, I gained it."

SALE'S Prelim. Discourse, 30.

NEWTON on the Prophecies, vol. i. p. 42.

No. 7.-xviii. 1-8.] When a party belonging to Capt. Cooke (in his last voyage) went ashore on an island near that of Mangeea in the South Seas, they were forcibly detained by the natives a considerable time, which much alarmed them. But this detention proceeded, as they afterwards found, from pure motives of hospitality; and continued only till such time as they had roasted a hog, and provided other necessaries for their refreshment. In reviewing this most curious transaction, says the writer of that voyage, we cannot help calling to our memory the manners of the patriarchal times. It does not appear to us, that these people had any intention in detaining ours, different from those which actuated the patriarch in a similar transaction.

No. 8.-xviii. 6. And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.] These instructions are quite similar to the manners of the place, which even at present are little if any thing altered from what they anciently were. Thus Dr. SHAW relates (Trav. p. 296.) "that in cities and villages, where there are public ovens, the bread is usually leavened: but among the Bedoweens, as soon as the dough is kneaded, it is made into thin cakes, which are either immediately baked upon the coals, or else in a ta-jen, a shallow earthen vessel like a frying pan."

2 Sam. xiii. 8.

1 Chron. xxiii. 29.

No. 9. xviii. 7. Abraham ran into the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good.] Abraham appears to have taken a very active part in preparing to entertain the angels. But when it is said that he ran to the herd, and fetched a calf, we must not understand him as descending to an office either menial or unbecoming his rank, since we are informed, that "the greatest prince of these countries is not ashamed to fetch a lamb from his herd, and kill it, patient till she hath prepared her fire and kettle to dress it." SHAW's Travels, p. 301.

whilst the princess is im

No. 10.— xix. 24. The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire.] These cities are said by Moses, on account of their abominable impurities, to have been overwhelmed with a torrent of liquid fire, rained down upon them from heaven. His narrative is equally confirmed by profane historians and by modern travellers. Diodorus Siculus mentions the peculiar nature of the lake, which covered the country, where these towns were formerly situated. "The water of it is bitter and fetid to the last degree, insomuch that neither fish nor any other aquatic animals, are able to live in it." (Bib. Hist. lib. xix. p. 734.) Tacitus relates, that a tradition still prevailed in his days, of certain powerful cities having been destroyed by thunder and lightning, and of the plain, in which they were situated, having been burnt up. He adds, that evident traces of such a catastrophe remained. The earth was parched, and had lost all its natural powers of vegetation: and whatever sprung up, either spontaneously, or in consequence of being planted, gradually withered away, and crumbled into dust. (TACIT. Hist. lib. v. c. 7.) Strabo, after describing the nature of the lake Asphaltis, adds, that the whole of its appearance gives an air of probability to the prevailing tradition, that thirteen

cities, the chief of which was Sodom, were once destroyed and swallowed up by earthquakes, fire, and an inundation of boiling sulphureous water. (STRAB. Geog. lib. xvi.) Maundrell visited the lake Asphaltis in the year 1697, and makes the following observations upon it. << Being desirous to see the remains, (if there were any) of those cities anciently situated in this place, and made so dreadful an example of the divine vengeance, I diligently surveyed the waters, as far as my eye could reach; but neither could I discern any heaps of ruins, nor any smoke ascending above the surface of the water, às is usually described in the writings and maps of geographers. But yet I must not omit, what was confidently attested to me by the father guardian, and procurator of Jerusalem, both men in years, and seemingly not destitute either of sense or probity, that they had once actually seen one of these ruins; that it was so near the shore, and the waters so shallow at that time, that they went to it, and found there several pillars, and other fragments of buildings. The cause of our being deprived of this sight was, I suppose, the height of the water." (Travels, p. 85.) The account which Thevenot gives is much to the same purpose. "There is no sort of fish in this sea, by reason of the extraordinary saltness of it; which burns like fire, when one tastes of it. And when the fish of the water Jordan come down so low, they return back again against the stream; and such as are carried into it by the current of the water immediately die. The land within three leagues round it is not cultivated, but is white, and mingled with salt and ashes. In short, we must think that there is a heavy curse of God upon that place, seeing it was heretofore so pleasant a country." (Travels, vol. i. p. 194.)

No. 11.-xxi. 23. Swear unto me here by God.] This kind of oath appears not only to have been gene

rally in use in the time of Abraham, but also to have descended through many generations and ages in the East. When Mr. Bruce was at SHEKH AMMER, he entreated the protection of the governor in prosecuting his journey. Speaking of the people who wese assembled together at this time in the house, he says, (Travels, vol. i. p. 148.) "the great people among them came, and, after joining hands, repeated a kind of prayer, of about two minutes long, by which they declared themselves and their children accursed, if ever they lifted up their hands against me in the tell, or field in the desert; or in case that I, or mine, should fly to them for refuge, if they did not protect us at the risk of their lives, their families, and their fortunes, or, as they emphatically expressed it, to the death of the last male child among them." See also Gen. xxvi. 28, 29.

No. 12.-xxii. 3. Saddled his ass.] There is no ground for supposing that the ancient eastern saddles were like our modern ones. Such were not known to the Greeks and Romans till many ages after the Hebrew judges. "No nation of antiquity knew the use of either saddles or stirrups;" (GOGUET, Origin of Laws, vol. iii. p. 172. English edit.) and even in our own times Hasselquist, when at Alexandria, says, "I procured an equipage which I had never used before; it was an ass with an Arabian saddle, which consisted only of a cushion, on which I could sit, and a handsome. bridle." (Travels, p. 52.) But even the cushion seems an improvement upon the ancient eastern saddles, which were probably nothing more than a kind of rug girded to the beast. PARKHURST's Heb. Lex. p. 213.

No. 13. xxiv. 2, 3. And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, put, Ipray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and I will make thee swear by

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