Frogs fo much valued and eaten in France, whilft in England, they are never touched, much less reckoned a Dainty? Whatever then was deem'd in the Eaft in any Nation proper for Food, That was reckoned Clean, whilft all other Animals were treated as Unclean. Mankind in general feem agreed that carnivorous Animals are unfit for Food; and where Politeness and more refined Manners have prevailed, there even fome Species of creatures that live on the Herbs and Fruits of the Earth have been ever look'd upon, as coarfe, improper, diet. Experience foon had taught Mankind the difference betwixt Animals that divided, or did not divide the Hoof; those that did, or did not chew the Cud; And these were Signs, in general, to them, by which they diftinguish'd one Species of Creatures from another, as what were fitter for Food, or were better to eat than * Signa illa-Ruminationis Cibi, et fiffionis Ungularum in Beftiis, Pinnarumque et Squammarum in Pifcibus-non effe caufas propter quas fint licitæ et permiffe; Sicuti nec defectus illorum, Cauffas cur prohibeantur; Sed Signa tantum, unde nobilis et infignis aliqua Species, ab alia minus præftantiore et noxia poteft difcerni Maimon. More Nevoch. 1 iii. c 48. Others were: And they offered in Sacrifice not only fuch as were clean, but the Best of fuch as they conceiv'd to be fit for Food; and because all were concern'd to Sacrifice, what was common to be had by all, was appointed for all. And therefore one cannot but remark, that under the Mofaic Law, not Every thing that was eaten by the People was burnt upon the Altar, but only three Species of clean Animals, viz. Bullocks, Sheep, and Goats; And Two Species of Birds, viz. Turtle Doves and young Pidgeons, were allowed to be offered as Sacrifices. When the Sacrifice was thus prepared, of a clean Species, it was a ruled cafe all over the world, that the Sacrificer was to have * pure Hands, pure Garments, pure Veffels, a pure Victim, and pure Wine. Of all which Brissonius has produced Variety of Inftances. And these were defigned as Rites fignificant of the Moral Difpofition of the Mind. + In facris puras Manus,-puras Vefles, et pura Vafa, et puram Hoftiam, et purum Vinum defiderabant. Brissonius de Formulis, p. 9. Secondly, Secondly, Salt was the known Symbol of Friendship; and because it was fomething fixed made out of a fluid, and that it preserved Meat from Corruption, it came to be particularly applied to all fuch things as were defigned to be durable. For this reafon, when it was declared in the Law, that fuch and fuch things were to be given to the Sons of Aaron and to his Daughters by a Statute for ever, Numb. xviii. 19, it is thus expreffed in the Original *, It is a Covenant of Salt for ever, before the Lord to thee, and to thy Seed with thee. And fo again, Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Ifrael gave the Kingdom of Ifrael to David for ever, even to him, and to his Sons by a Covenant of Salt? 2 Chron. xii, 5. i. e. by a Covenant that should surely laft, or by a very durable Covenant. And it is more than barely probable that the Pillar of Salt, Gen. xix. 26, ought to be understood in the fame manner; Not, that * This is rendered in the LXX, Δέδωκά σοι καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς σε, εὶ ταῖς θυγατράσι σε μετα σου, νόμιμον αιώνιον. Διαθήκη ἀλὸς αιωνία ἔσιν ἐναντι Κυρίω, σοὶ καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου μετά ☛. It is a Covenant of everlasting Salt before the Lord, to thee, and to thy Seed after thee, Numb. xyiii. 19. G 2. Lot's Lot's Wife was turned into a real Pillar of Salt, but that She was a lafting inftance, or memorial, of Difobedience; who when She was fo expressly forbidden to * look behind her, yet could not, or would not, forbear doing what she ought not, and died in the common misfortune of thofe unhappy people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Vid. Le Clerc's Differtation on this Paffage of Scrip ture. I took notice that Salt was the common Symbol of Friendship: and let me observe, that Erafmus in explaining the Proverb, Salem et Menfam ne prætereas, Αλα καὶ τράπεζαν μὴ παραβαίνειν, has produced feveral paffages from Theocritus, Euripides, Laertius, Origen, and 2.Curtius, to fhew what a Crime it was deemed to * One cannot help remembring, on this Occafion, how elegantly Virgil has painted Orpheus looking back on his Euridice. Redditaque Euridice fuperas veniebat ad Auras Virg. Geor. iv. 485. tranfgrefs tranfgrefs, or violate Friendship contracted by Eating Salt, or by eating Bread together. From this general Opinion every where prevailing it is that we express long Friendships by our having ate a Bushel of Salt together: The Latins expreffed it by eating many Bushels; Multos modios Salis fimul edendos effe. Cicero de Amicit. There is a Paffage in Ezra, which in the Original ftands thus,- Now because we are falted with the Salt of the Palace, it was not meet for us to fee the King's dishonour, Ezra iv. 14. The meaning is not as we translate it, Because we have maintenance from the King's Palace; But, because we are ftrongly engaged in firm Friendship to the King, it was not meet for us to see the King's dishonour. It was indeed the Perfian Cuftom to have Meat sent from the King's Table to fuch as He honoured with eminent Marks of his Favour: And Jofephus in his Antiquities, 1. x. c. II. and Heliodorus, 1. vii. mentions this Cuftom: And from them Briffonius in his Book de Regno Perfico, 1. i. has observed it. And the Grand Seignior at this day ufes fomething of the fame Cuftom. For |