Isaiah, lii. 13–15. Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonished at thee; (his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men ;) so shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see, and that which they had not heard, shall they consider.

Imagine, says Calmet's Editor, a king, saying, "I consider my officer of state, wise and prudent, but in the eye of strangers, his appearance is unpromising; they are astonished at him, especially when he welcomes them by dashing them with fragrant waters: but this arises from their unacquaintance with our manners, of which they are now getting some notion." Often have I at marriages among Cingalese, called this passage to mind, when the parties have been welcomed after the ceremony, by being dashed in this way.

In Cingalese, the fore-finger seems designated from the word for quarrel, (dabaraya.) Dr. Lowth reads, "the pointing of the finger and the injurious speech." The Cingalese when scolding, frequently extend and shake the fore-finger." And speaking vanity," Women may be heard uttering abuse against each other for hours in succession.

Isaiah, lxiii. 1-6. Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?....

This certainly refers, as Mr. Robinson and the most judicious commentators suppose, not to the crucifixion of Christ, as commonly thought, but to the exercise of his character as Judge, punishing the enemies of himself and his church. "The glorious person is a conqueror, not a sufferer. The blood on his apparel, staining his garments, is the

blood of enemies, not his own. It is he that smites the nations, and tramples them in his fury; it is not God smiting him. It is like the day of judgment, the year of his redeemed: but it differs from the time of his death, which though it was a day of vengeance to the Jews, was not a day of vengeance to the Edomites, and to all men both free and bond, both small and great, as this is said to be. He was alone, and there was none to help: he will be so at the day of judgment, for the Father hath committed all judgment to the Son."

Jeremiah, vii. 34. Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness; the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate. See also John iii. 28, 29.

In eastern marriage processions, music precedes the parties, and attracts the attention of the crowd, who express their delight in loud acclamations.

Jeremiah, x. 2. Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

The Cingalese are perhaps less under the influence of superstitious fears than the Hindoos, but objects of terror which fright them from undertakings of importance, are trifling as they are numerous.

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

The cracks in the earth in Bengal before the descent of the rains are in some places a cubit wide. -Towards the north of Ceylon, in particular, in hot seasons the earth is surprisingly chapt.

Jeremiah, xv. 18. Why

......

wilt thou be altogether unto me

as a liar, and as waters that fail?

A failure of periodical rain in India is often fatal to the crop, and followed by dearth and famine.

Jeremiah, xxv. 10. Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.-Matthew, xxiv. 41. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken and the other left.

Marriages of children of such persons as Modliars are scenes of festivity and joy.-Hand-mills worked by one or two women, may be seen very generally throughout the east. Their rumbling 'gives an air of bustle to the otherwise silent habitation.

Jeremiah, xxxv. 7. Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers.-Isaiah, xiii. 20. Neither shall the Arabian pitch his tent there.

The Bedoween Arabs are described as leading a wandering life; and divided into small companies, who encamp in a spot about a twelvemonth at a time-dealing with the neighbouring villages, and paying to the Bey a tax for the use of the ground they occupy and cultivate. Sometimes they establish themselves without caring for the government, and defraud the revenue of the tax.-See Gen. xxvi. 16, and Exod. i. 9. Hence the anxiety of Abimelech and Pharaoh, lest Isaac and Israel should master them. It is remarkable, that a detachment advanced to Colonel Capper's party, in number four hundred, -the same with Esau's guard, Gen. xxxii. 6.

Ezekiel, xxiii. 40. And furthermore that ye have sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and lo, they came for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thine eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments.

Dancing-boys in female dresses are darkened about the eye-lids, and under the eyes. So are children, I am informed, (on being bathed when ten days old,) with the soot of a brass lamp.

Lamentations, i. 1. How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! How is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!

It appears that on the occasion referred to, a coin was struck, representing a woman in tears, sitting under a palm-tree.

Ezekiel, iv. 1. Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem.

The tile was probably an undried one.-Lord Cornwallis got a good idea of Bangalore from a Brahmin, who acted as spy, and drew a plan of the place with great accuracy in a short time in moist clay.

Ezekiel, ix. 2. One man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's ink-horn by his side. [Margin, upon his loins.] The Cingalese keep the stylus in a case stuck into the foldings of the cloth wrapped round the waist. The case is commonly a piece of cane seven or eight inches long, about the bigness of one's little finger. About it is a cord, with a noose to put over the head of the stylus to keep it from slipping out. A knife is often furnished with a stylus, as an English one may be with a cork-screw. One of these is in the writer's possession.

Exekiel, ix. 4. And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh, and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

"The different sects of Hindoos, make the distinguishing mark of their sect upon the forehead, with the powdered sandal-wood, or the clay of the Ganges."-Malabar people in Ceylon may be often seen marked this way.

Ezekiel, xxxii. 27. And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war; and they have laid their swords under their heads,

An ancient warrior's weapons were buried with him. The Cingalese sometimes denote rank this way. Some trinket in modern times is occasionally put in a coffin, to signify the profession and rank of the deceased, as a chalice for a bishop. An ecclesiastical historian writes, "The archbishop died about the same time; and, poor man! was buried in sacerdotal habits with two cups, and with all the honours usually paid to the archbishops of Prague. One hundred and sixty years after, his remains, little more than cups, rags, and red hair, were removed to make room for the corpse of a Jesuit."

Ezekiel, xxxiii. 30. Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls, and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.

The marginal reading, "of thee," in place of against thee, is unquestionably the preferable one, and harmonizes the connexion.-See note on Luke x. 4.

Daniel, i. 3.

And the king spake unto Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes.