countries very remote from each other. Our British ancestors were painted, and Dampier the celebrated voyager, brought over an East Indian prince, whose skin was very curiously stained with various figures. The wild Arabs adorn themselves in this manner according to D'Arvieux, who tells us among other things, in his description of the preparatives for an Arab wedding, that the women draw, with a certain kind of ink, the figures of flowers, fountains, houses, cypress-trees, antelopes, and other animals, upon all the parts of the bride's body. (Voy. dans la Pal. p. 223.) This the Israelites were forbidden to do. No. 715.-xix. 32. Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man.] The Jewish writers say that the rule was to rise up to them when they were at the distance of four cubits; and as soon as they were gone by, to sit down again; that it might appear they rose up purely out of respect to them. Most civilized people have adopted the practice. Juvenal says, Credebant hoc grande nefas et morte piandum, Si juvenis vetulo nor assurrexerat Sat. xiii. v. 54.~ The Lacedæmonians had a law, that aged persons should be reverenced like fathers. See also Homer Il. xv. 204. et xxiii. 788. Odyss. xiii. 141. No. 716.-xix. 36 Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin shall ye have.] Fraudulent practices were severely punished among the Egyptians, whether they were of a public or private wrong. Diodorus Siculus tells us, the law commands that both the hands should be cut off of those that adulterated money, or substituted new weights. Jupiter ipse duas æquato examine lances Sustinet. VIRG. En. xii. 725. Jove sets the beam, in either scale he lays No. 717. xxiii. 24. A memorial of blowing of trumpets.] Some commentators have conjectured, that this feast of trumpets was designed to preserve the memory of Isaac's deliverance by the substitution of a ram to be sacrificed in his stead it has sometimes been called by the Jews, the binding of Isaac. But it is more probable that it derived its name from the kind of trumpets (ram's horns) then used, and that it was intended to solemnize the beginning of the new year, to remind them of the beginning of the world, and to excite their thankfulness for the fruits, benefits, and blessings of the preceding year. The extraordinary blowing of the trumpets by the priests at that time in all their cities, as well as at Jerusalem, where two silver trumpets were also used at the temple, as well as those of horn, when the Levites sung Psalm lxxxi, was well adapted to promote those important objects. . No. 718.-xxiv. 11. And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name, and cursed.] The words, of the Lord, which immediately follow, blasphemed the name, being put in italics in our translation, shew that they form no part of the original text. Among the Palmyrenians it is a custom to inscribe on their marbles, "To the blessed name be fear for ever." "To the blessed name for ever good and merciful, be fear." This is exactly similar to the above cited passage, respecting the blasphemy of the Israelitish woman's son. FRAGMENTS, No. 490. No. 719.-xxvii. 32. Whatsoever passeth under the rod.] This expresses the manner of the tithing, which according to the Jews was thus performed. The cattle were all brought into a sheep-cote, in which there was but one gate, and that so narrow as to suffer only one to come out at a time. The dams being placed without, and the gate opened, the young ones were invited by their bleating to press out to them. As they passed by, one by one, a man who stood at the gate with a rod coloured with ochre told them in order; and when the tenth came out, whether it were male or female, sound or not, he marked it with his rod, and said, Let this be holy in the name of the tenth. Bochart thinks that Moses does not here speak of the rod of the tithes, but of the shepherd's crook; for the flock passed under his rod as often as he numbered them, which was particularly done every evening. PATRICK, in loc. - No. 720.-NUMBERS i. 49, Thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi. FROM this example the heathen learned to exempt all those who ministered to their gods from all other services, especially from war. Strabo notes (Geograph. lib. ix.) this custom to have been as old as Homer's time; for in all his catalogue there is no mention of any ship that went against Troy from Alalcomenon, because that city was sacred to Minerva. Cæsar (lib. vi.) also observes, that the ancient Druids were exempt from war and from tribute. No. 721. v. 17. And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel.] Similar to this ordeal by the water of jealousy is the practice of some of the Africans, among whom Mr. Park travelled. He says, that "at Baniferile, one of our slatees (slave merchants) returning to his native town, as soon as he had seated himself on a mat by the threshold of his door, a young woman, his intended bride, brought a little water in a calabash, and kneeling down before him, desired him to wash his hands; when he had done this, the girl, with a tear of joy sparkling in her eyes, drank the water; this being considered as the greatest proof she could give him of her fidelity and attachment." Travels, p. 347. "At Koolkorro my landlord brought out his writingboard or walha, that I might write him a saphie, to protect him from wicked men. I wrote the board full, from top to bottom, on both sides and my landlord, to be certain of having the whole force of the charm, washed the writing from the board into a calabash with a little water; and having said a few prayers over it, drank this powerful : draught after which, lest a single word should escape, he licked the board until it was quite dry." Travels, p. 236. No. 722.-vi. 5. And shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. The Egyptians used to let their hair grow in honour of their gods, particularly of Apollo, Bacchus, and Minerva. This superstitious practice indeed grew to such a height, that they consecrated it to rivers, in which they thought there was some divinity. In other instances they cut it off, and hung it upon trees, or laid it up in their temples, there to be preserved. At Athens there was a certain day appointed in one of their feasts, in which the hair of their children was cut off, and sacrificed to Diana. And according to Hesychius, before they performed this act, they brought a measure of wine, which they offered to Hercules, and then all who were present drank of it. This circumstance, if not an imitation, is a remarkable coincidence with the drink-offering mentioned ver. 17, Some writers have asserted that the laws of the Hebrew Nazarites were given to prevent an idolatrous adoption of Egyptian customs: but it seems much more probable that these usages are posterior to the time of Moses, and that they are borrowed from his institutions. See PATRICK, in loc. No. 723.-vi. 18. And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace-offerings.] It was probably from this custom of the Jewish Nazarites, that the Gentiles learned the practice of consecrating their hair to their gods. Lucia represents this as a very common custom, and that he had himself complied with it. Suetonius relates an instance of it in his life of Nero, |