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HIS Ahasuerus can be no other than Cyaxares; who, as Sir ISAAC NEWTON shews, was called Achsuerus, Assuerus, Oxyares, Axeres, prince Axeres or Cy-Axeres, the word Cy signifying prince in the Median language.

See his Chron. of ant. kingd. amend. p. 309. Over a hundred and twenty seven provinces] The Persian empire under Darius the Mede (Dan. vi. 1) was divided into 120 provinces. On the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses, and of Thrace in India by Darius Histaspes, seven other provinces were added to its former number.

See Univer. Hist. vol. iv. p. 403. Artaxerxes Longimanus was the Ahasuerus who married Esther; as appears from the following authorities and arguments. 1. The Septuagint throughout this whole book translate Ahasuerus by Artaxerxes. 2. JOSEPHUS tells us in express terms, that Esther's husband was Artaxerxes Longimanus. (Antiq. I. xi. c. 6.) 3. The apocryphal additions to this book' constantly call her husband Artaxerxes; and from several circumstances related of him, both in the canonical and apocryphal Esther, as to the extraordinary favor and kinduess shewn the Jews by Artaxerxes Longimanus, there arises a convincing proof, that they had such a powerful advocate as Esther to intercede for them.. Verse 1.

Ibid. vol. v. p. 11.

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3522. [Esther i. 6.] At Rome, to this day are extant the places, the beds, where the masts stood which supported such a magnificent court veil as this, under which the interior part of that immense amphi-theatre, the Collisco, was sheltered. At Calcutta also, and in other cities of India, it is still a custom, during an anniversary-solemnity held in honor of their deities, to cover the court yard with a kind of awning or canopy, to exclude the otherwise too intense heat of the sun. This awning is made of strong canvass, and is sup-. ported by ropes from the roof of the house: it is also lined, with striped calico, in which as an ornamental ceiling the color green usually predominates.

3523.

Frag. to CALMET, 2d Hundr. pp. 151, 153.

This, says FORBES, is exactly descriptive of a shahinyanah, or large canopy, spread on lofty pillars, in the gardens and courts of the Mogul palaces, and attached by similar cords of various colors. Some of these awnings, helonging to the Indian emperors, were very costly and distinguished by various names; the most so was that called the bargab, mentioned in the Ayeen Akberry, belonging to the emperor Akber; which was of such magnitude, as to contain ten thousand persons; and the erecting of it employed one thousand men for a week, with the help of machines: one of these shahmyanahs, without any ornaments, cost ten thousand rupees.

The beds of silver and gold may receive illustration from modern Asiatic furniture: The divan, or hall of audience, as also the room for receiving guests in private houses, is gene-, rally covered with a Persian carpet; round which are placed cushions of different shape and size, in cases of gold and silver kiucob, or of scarlet cloth embroidered: these are occasionally moved into the courts and gardens, and placed under the shahmyanah, for the accommodation of company.

Orient. Mem. vol. iii. p. 191.

3524. [9.] It is the custom of Persia, and of all the East, for the women to have their feasts at the same time with, but apart from the men.

CHARDIN.

3525. [Esther i. 10.] One day, Shah Safi, a Persian emperor, returning from the kalenter of Julfa's house, where he had drank to excess, gave order that his Georgian queen should come to him. As she understood that he was in liquor, she made no great haste: so that he fell asleep. But, awaking soon after, and not seeing her, he called for her a second time; on notice of which, she immediately went to him. When she entered the chamber, she found the king fallen asleep again; and, in expectation of his awaking, hid herself in a niche behind the haugings, where generally the mattresses and coveriets are laid by. Sufi presently after coming out of his slumber, and not yet perceiving the queen, in a great haste demanded the reason of her stay. The Queen-Mother, who was a Georgian slave, and hated the young queen, because she was a king's daughter, took the occasion to put her out of favor; and, having first spoken ill of her, gave the shah to understand by a sign, that she was hidden in such a place. On this, Safi, rising in a fury, stabbed her four or five times in the belly, with a dagger; and, scarcely knowing what he had done, went to his bed again. Next day, forgetful of the fact, he called for the queen: but when they told him what had happened the night before, he became extremely afflicted, and sent an express mandate throughout his domnions, that no man should drink wine; with an order, that the governors should stave all the casks, and spill the liquor, wherever they found any. (See TAVERNIER, l. v. c. 1. p. 198. Also Modern Univer. Hist. vol. v. p. 475)— We hence learn, that in a royal harem, there is a QueenMother over the slaves; as well as a King's Mother, or Royal Matron, over the Princesses, or Maids of Honor. This fact In this may throw considerable light on 1 Kings xi. 3. sense one of Mahomet's wives [women] is called the Mother of the faithful." (See Smith's MICHAELIS, vol. i. p. 458.). It has been remarked that slaves were not permitted to use the term Abba, father, or Imma, mother, in accosting their masters and mistresses.

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Dr. A. CLARKE, on Rom. viii. 15. See what is said elsewhere of the King's Mother, No. 1058, &c.

3526. [10-12.] Here two circumstances are introduced very foreign to the inanuers of India, although one is perhaps not uncommon in modern Persia, the drinking of wine in public, and the sending for the queen on such an occasion: her conduct in refusing to obey the command implies bow indecorous and indelicate she considered it.

FORBES' Orient. Mem. vol. iii. p. 193.

3527. [Esther ii. 7.] Mordecai having thus adopted Esther, became father-in-law to her husband, Ahasuerus: this accounts for Mordecai's ultimate promotion.

3528. [14.] In the patriarchal ages, it would seem,

that the women generally resided by themselves, in apartments allotted to them in the back parts of the tents of their parents and husbands; a custom loug after continued, and in some places at this day observed, among the descendants of the patriarchs.

Dr. W. ALEXANDER'S Hist. of Women, vol. i. p. 317.

3529. [Esther ii. 19.] The prime minister sat in the King's gate to hear complaints, and to pass judgments. MAVOR.

See No. 856.

3530. [Esther iii. 9, 10.] Thus the sovereign of Media and Persia, encircled by wealth, splendor, and power, accepts of ten thousand talents of silver (offered by a nobleman whose pride was offended at the neglect of a foreigner), to issue a decree, by which some hundred thousand unfortunate captives dispersed throughout his extensive empire were commanded to be put to death. (FORBES' Orient. Mem. vol. iii. p. 195.) — Base indeed! but the charge is erroneous: they were only to be disfranchised or reduced to the state of slaves; this would have completely gratified the pride of Haman.

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3532. [Esther v. 12.] Athenæus mentions it as a peculiar honor, which no Grecian ever had before or after, that Artaxerxes vouchsafed to invite Timagoras the Cretan to dine even at the table where his relations ate, and to send him sometimes a part of what was served up at his own; which some Persians considered as a diminution of his majesty's, and a prostitution of their nation's honor. Plutarch also, in his life of Artaxerxes, tells us, that none but the king's mother and his real wife were permitted to sit at his table; and therefore he mentious it as a condescension in that prince, that he sometimes invited his brothers. Consequently Hamau had reason to value so highly this particular favor.

Bib. Research. vol. ii. p. 199.

3533. [12, 13.] Thus one man is bent on subjugating another, not so much for the sake of seizing his proAmbition perty as to command his admiration, his reverence.

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proposes to itself no boundary short of this. To whatever condition the proud tyrant may be elevated, and however low his rival reduced; let him have at his mercy the fortune, the labor, the person of his adversary, he has gained no point unless he has gained his homage.

Ambition never rises but at the expense of another. Give it whatever specious name you please, it is ever the sworn enemy of all virtue. It is the source of vices the most dangerous and detestable; of jealousy, of hatred, of intolerance, and cruelty. It is forbidden to all men by Nature and Religion, and to the greatest part of subjects, by Government. St. PIERRE's Studies of Nature, vol. i. pp. 321, 386.

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3535. The crown royal was not to be set on the head of the man, but on the head of the horse: this interpretation is allowed by Aben-Ezra, by the Targum, and by the Syriac version. No mention is afterward made of the crown as set on the head of Mordecai; nor would Haman have dared to advise that which could not be granted. But it was usual to put the crown royal on the head of a horse led in state; and this we are assured was a custom in Persia, as it is with the Ethiopians to this day; and so with the Romans. Horses drawing triumphal chariots were crowned.

GILL, in loc.

3536. [Esther vii. 8.] It was the custom among the Greeks and Romans to embrace the knees of those whom they petitioned to be favourable to them. SULPITIUS SEVERUS apprehends this to have been done by Haman in the present instance. See Gen, xxiv. 2.

3537. [- 10.] All the ill which a man does to his fellow creatures recoils sooner or later on himself. This reaction is the only counterpoise capable of bringing him back to humanity.

3538. [Esther viii. 9, 10.] In most of the large Oriental cities, there are a sort of news-writers, or gazetteers, who at

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3542. [——— 5.] The chief magistrate beareth not the sword of justice in vain. Rom. xiii. 4.

3543. [19.] Among the Gentoos, wherever men of the lowest rank, and husbaudmen, are very numerous, and where there is much ground for tillage, such place is called a town. See Gen. xix. 20. (HALHED's Gentoo Laws, p. 172.) — In the East, it is their custom to send a portion of the banquet to those that cannot well come to it, especially to their relations, and those in a state of mourning.

MS. CHARDIN.

3544. [ 24.] This Pur in Hebrew, and Purin (plural) in Chaldee, means lots, or a species of diviuation by five small stones, tossed about and caught on the hand in various ways. Our boys, says Colonel VALLANEY, play at this as a game, and so do those on the banks of the Nile, as you will find in Niebuhr. In the Memoirs of the Florentine Academy you will find a sorceress in the action of divination, drawn from a picture found in Herculaneum. Two stones remain on the back of the hand and three on the ground. Now this is the first cast of the Irish Purin, ciochatag, or tag-stones, corrupted by the Irish-English to jack-stones.

Archæologia, vol. vii. p. 168.

THE BOOK OF JOB.

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OB, or the author of the book, which takes its name from him, was of the Arabian stock, as the language of that sublime work incontestibly proves.

Works of Sir W. JONES, vol. i. p. 115. This book of Job the Arabian, which there is reason to believe is more antient than the Writings of Moses, contains views of Nature much more profound than is generally imagined; views, the most common whereof were unknown to us two centuries ago.

St. PIERRE's Studies of Nature, vol. i. p. 223.

3546. [Job i.] Origen (on Job) believes Moses to have translated this book from the Syriac into Hebrew, The scene of the whole transaction is in the vale of Gutta, that is, about Damascus ; and the time in which Job is placed, is during the residence of the Israelites in Egypt.

Smith's MICHAELIS, vol. ii. p. 438.

3547. [— 1.] Comera, the supposed residence of Job, stands on the banks of the Euphrates, about eight miles above Bassora.

PINKERTON'S Coll. part xxxii. p. 291.

It

3548. [ 19.] May 12th, 1811, at Hopton in Derbyshire a tremendous whirlwind or tornado began its destruc tive operations, and continued its course about five or six miles in length, and about four or five hundred yards in breadth. Its appearance was that of an immense cloud in form of a balloon whirled round with incredible swiftness. moved also in a circular direction, from S. by W. to N., having a pipe or tail which it extended down to the ground. This irresistible tube darted down and up continually, tearing up plantations, levelling barns, walls, and miners' cots. It tore up large trees, carrying them 20 and even 30 yards: it twisted the tops from the trunks of other trees, conveying them to the distance of 50 and 100 yards. Cows were lifted

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3549. [Job i. 19.] On the 4th of May 1764, as people sat at dinner in Charlestown, South-Carolina, they were alarmed with an unusual sort of stunning noise, as of the ruffling of many drums, intermixed with such a roaring, thundering, churning or dashing sound, as the sea makes, in breaking on a hollow rocky shore, during a violent storm; when, on running out of doors, a tremendous cloud (fraught with whirlwind) was seen advancing at a great rate, with a quick circular motion, its contents seeming in a violent agitation, while the contiguous clouds drove rapidly towards it in all directions, and were instantly absorbed in its tumultuous column. Every moment this meteor appeared differently. Some parts of it being black and dark, others of a flamecolor, they rolled over each other in a most confused and rapid manner, as if vast waves of the sea had risen into the air and, every now and then, large branches of trees might be seen hurled about in it. Its diameter was thought to be about 300 yards, and the height 30 degrees; a thick vapor emitted from it rising much higher. In passing along it carried the waters of the (Ashley) river before, in the form of a mountainous wave; so that the bottom was seen in many places. Such floods of water fell on those parts over which it passed, as if a whole sea had been discharged on them at once; and for a mile or two on each side of it, abundance of rain fell. As the wind ceased presently after the whirlwind passed, the branches and leaves of various sorts of trees, which had been carried into the air, continued to fall for half an hour; and in their descent, appeared like flocks of birds of different sizes. A gentleman, over whose plantation the skirt of this storm passed, not more than two miles from Charlestown, assured me, that had a thousand negroes been employed for a whole day in cutting down his trees, thicy

could not have made such a waste of them, as this whirlwind did in less than half a minute.

Dr. CHALMER's Account of South-Carolina, vol. i. p. 24.

On thursday last (July 1809), about six o'clock in the evening, the inhabitants of Cirencester were alarmed by the appearance of one of those phenomena, commonly described or known by the name of a tornado, or whirlwind. It was first observed about three miles to the southward of the town, where it assumed the appearance of a large conical hay-rick, encompassed with smoke. It moved rather slowly at first, in a direction towards Cirencester, throwing down many trees in the parish of Siddington. Indeed so tardy was its progress, that some persons had time to get upon the tower of Preston church in order to observe its course. When it approached nearer to Cirencester, it moved on with a velocity almost incredible; and making towards the basin of the canal, where it did considerable damage, skirted the town, and entered Lord BATHURST'S park from the Tetbury-road. Here its fury seemed to be at its height; for timber trees, measuring from six to ten feet in girth, were torn completely up by the roots, whilst others were stripped of their branches, or literally cut asunder. After crossing the park, it entered an orchard at Barton Farm, where it threw down several trees, &c. and seemed to disperse, as it could no longer be traced by the naked eye. It would almost be endless to attempt to describe the mischief it occasioned, by the blowing down of ricks, unroofing of warehouses, &c. near the basin. A waggon, loaded with fagots, with the horses taken off, standing at one end of the wharf, was impelled forwards nearly forty yards; and its progress was only stopped by encountering a building which broke the shafts off short.

Public Prints.

3550. [Job ii. 4.] Before the invention of money, trade used to be carried on by barter; that is, by exchanging one commodity for another and skins were a very antient tribute. Imagine a bad harvest, when wheat, the staff of life, is scarce: how many skins this year will a man give for this necessary article, without which he and his family must perish ! Why, each would add to the heap, and put skin upon skin, for all the skins that a man has will he give for his life. Imagine again, the party engaged to protect (by the moderns called rulers) raising the tribute, and threatening, if it were not paid, to put these merchants to death. What proportion of skins would they not give, in this case of necessity! Skin upon skin, yea, all the skins that they have will they give for their lives. The proverb then means, that we would save our lives at any price. ROBINSON. See Bib. Research. vol. ii. p. 88.

3551. [7.] The cure of this disorder (the leprosy)

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Earth rarifies to dew; expanded more,

The subtile dew in air begins to soar:
Spreads, as she flies, and weary of her name
Extenuates still, and changes into flame;
Thus having by degrees perfection won,
Restless they soon untwist the web they spun,
And fire begins to lose her radiant hue,
Mix'd with gross air, and air descends to dew;
And dew condensing, does her form forego,
And sinks, a heavy lump of earth below.

OVID'S Metamorph. b. xv. l. 376.

3556. [Job vi. 5.] The zebra, called by the Antients Asinus Silvestris, or wild ass, for the whiteness, smoothness, and blackness of its skin, the beauty and regularity

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