their ravenous propensities. Of a ferocious man it is said, "That fellow is in every place with his talons." "What! wretch, have you come hither to snatch with your talons?" "Alas! alas! how many has this disease snatched away in "True, true, even my own children have now

its talons?" got talons."

XIII. 4.—“Take the girdle that thou hast got, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates and hide it there in a hole of the rock." 6. "And it came to pass after many days that the Lord said unto me, arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there." 7.-"Then I went to Euphrates and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it, and behold the girdle was marred; it was profitable for nothing."

The girdle of the Orientals is sometimes made of silver or gold, or embroidered silk, or highly dyed muslin. Its uses are, to keep the lower garments fast to the loins, to strengthen the body, and to command respect. Chiefs have numerous folds of muslin round that part, and they march along with great pomp, thus enlarged in their size. That, therefore, which was of so much use, and which indicated the dignity of the wearer, was to be marred, typifying the degradation of the Jews in their approaching captivity. The Hindoos have a custom of burying certain articles by the side of a tank or river, in order to inflict or prefigure evil in reference to certain obnoxious individuals who are thus placed under the ban. Thus eggs, human hair, thread, a ball of saffron, or a little of the earth on which the devoted person has had his feet, are BURIED in the situations alluded to.

18."Say unto the king and to the queen, humble yourselves, sit down; for your principalities shall come down, even the crown of your glory. The

margin has, instead of "principalities," "or head

tires."

"Have you heard "Her head orna

This again alludes to the threatened judgments which were to befall the people and their rulers. Dr. Boothroyd has, instead of "principalities," "the diadem of your glory." Of a proud man who treats another with contempt it is said, "Ah! his turban will soon fall.” "Yes, imperious upstart! thy head-dress will soon come down." of the proud wife of Kandan?”—“ No.” ments have fallen; she is humbled." "Ah," says the bereaved father, over the dead body of his son, "my crown is fallen! my crown is fallen." When men quarrel, it is common for the one to say to the other, "I will beat thee till thy turban fall." When they fight, the great object of the combatants is to pull off each other's turban or head-dress; because it shows that the individual is then disgraced and humbled. The feelings of a man who has his turban knocked off his head, are probably something like those which are produced by the knocking off of a man's wig. For the turban to FALL off the head by ACCIDENT is considered to be a very bad omen. Jehoiakim and his queen were to have their "head tires" brought down; they were to be humbled on account of their sins.

XIV. 2." Judah mourneth and the gates thereof languish."

"Have you heard that the wife of Muttoo and all the children have died of the cholera? Alas, the poor old man is left alone, and the gates are in sorrow- even they pity him."

4.-"Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the ploughmen were ashamed, they covered their heads."

This refers to a drought which was to take place in Judah. At such times, in the East, the ground is "chapt;" large

fissures meet your eye in every direction, and the husbandmen are then ashamed and put to confusion: they know not what to do: to plough the land under such circumstances is of no use; and, therefore, they are obliged to wait till it shall rain. Thus, should the rains be later than usual, the people are daily looking for them, and after one night's fall, the farmers may be seen in every direction working in their fields with the greatest glee, in the full hope of soon casting in the seed.

XV. 7.—“I will fan them with a fan." (Matt. iii.

12.)

When the cholera or any other pestilence rages, it is said, "Alas! this sickness has fanned the people away." "Truly they have been suddenly fanned from the earth." See on Isa. xxx. 24.

9.- "Her sun is gone down while it was yet day." (Amos viii. 9.)

Of a person who is dead, it is said, "He is set," and of one dying," He is setting." Should a beautiful young man or woman be reduced by sickness, it is said, "He is like the evening! which is occupying the place of the morning!"

10. "Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me!"

When a man is in great trouble, he often exclaims, "Alas! alas! my mother, why did you bear me?"

XVI. 7. Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead." The margin has, instead of "tear themselves," "or break bread for them." (Ezek. xxiv. 17. "Eat not the bread of men." 2 Sam. iii. 35.) "The people came to cause David to eat meat, while it was yet

day." This was when David lamented the death of

Abner.

D'Oyley and Mant say, "Friends were wont to come, after the funeral was over, to comfort those who had buried the dead, and send in provisions to make a feast, it being supposed that they themselves were so sorrowful as not to be able to think of their necessary food."

After the corpse has been consumed on the funeral pile or buried, the relations of the deceased prepare and send a fine kind of gruel (made of the Palmirah killunga) to the funeral house. At the anniversary of a funeral, the relations of the deceased meet to eat together, and give food to the poor. Hence great numbers on these occasions get plenty of provisions.

XVII. 6. "Shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land, not inhabited."

Nothing can be more desolate and solitary than the salt plains of the East. Not a shrub, not a tree, to cheer the eye; even birds and beasts seem affrighted at the scene. What with the silence of these solitudes, the absence of shade, of water, of vegetable and animal life, the traveller moves on with renewed speed to escape from such dreary

wastes.

Idolatrous Judah had trusted in idols; her sin was written "with a pen of iron;" it could not be erased; and for thus trusting in them, and in man, she was to dwell in "the parched places," the "salt land," which was "not inhabited."

8." As a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh."

To appreciate the beauty of this allusion, it is necessary to think of a parched desert, where there is scarcely a green leaf to relieve the eye. In the midst of that waste is per

haps a tank, a well, or a stream, and near to the water's edge will be seen plants, and shrubs, and trees covered with the most beautiful foliage. So shall be the man who puts his trust in Jehovah.”

XVIII. 6." As the clay is in the potter's hand."

It is said of an obedient son, "He is like wax; you may shape him any way you please; you may send him hither and thither, this way or that way, all will be right.”

17.-"I will show them the back, and not the face." (Chap. ii. 27.)

Nothing exasperates a person more, when he goes to see another, than for the individual thus visited to arise and turn his back to the visiter. To see a man thus erect with his back towards another has a striking effect on the mind. In the face of the man thus insulted is chagrin and confusion; in the other, contempt and triumph. After a pause, the figure who shows his back moves forward, leaving the other to indulge in spleen and imprecations.

XX. 9.

His word was in mine heart, as a burning fire shut up in my bones."

Of awful language it is said, "It burns up my eral, i. e. my liver." Does a man see acts of oppression, he says, when speaking of them, "My bowels burned to see those sights." “Fire, fire, a fire is in my heart," says the man who is half frantic in grief.

15.-"Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my

father, saying, A man child is born unto thee: making him very glad." (Job iii. 1, 2. and 3.)

I have already noticed the great anxiety of the people of the East to have male children. At the time of parturition the husband waits in an adjoining room or the garden; and so soon as the affair shall be over, should the little stranger