were constrained to be more frugal. This of course discovers the propriety of the words of Solomon, when he says, he that loveth wine and OIL shall not be rich.

No. 205.-xxiii. 6. An evil eye.] Whether the same ideas are to be attached to this expression as used by Solomon, and as understood by the Egyptians, may not be easily ascertained, though perhaps worthy of consideration. PocoCKE (Travels, vol. i. p. 181.) says of the Egyptians, that "they have a great notion of the magic art, have books about it, and think there is much virtue in talismans and charms: but particularly are strongly possessed with an opinion of the evil eye. When a child is commended, except you give it some Elessing, if they are not very well assured of your good will, they use charms against the evil eye; and particularly when they think any ill success attends them on account of an evil eye, they throw salt into the fire."

No. 206. xxiii. 20. Be not among wine-bibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh.] The Arabs are described by Shaw (p. 169.) as very abstemious. They rarely diminish their flocks by using them for food, but live chiefly upon bread, milk, butter, dates, or what they receive in exchange for their wool. Their frugality is in many instances the effect or narrow circumstances; and shews with what propriety Solomon describes an expensive way of living by their frequent eating of flesh,

No. 207.-xxiv. 26. Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer.] The rescripts of authority used to be kissed whether they were believed to be just or not; and the letters of people of figure were treated in this manner; but it is possible these words may refer to another custom, which D'Arvieux gives an account of in his description of the Arabs of mount Carmel, who, when

they present any petition to their emir for a favour, offer their billets to him with their right hands, after having first kissed the papers. Voy. dans la Pal. p. 155.) The Hebrew manner of expression is short; every lip shall kiss, one måketh to return a right answer, that is, every one shall be ready to present the state of his case, kissing it as he delivers it, when there is a judge whose decisions are celebrated for being equitable.

HARMER, vol. ii. p. 52.

No. 208.-xxv. 13. As the cold of snow in the time of harvest.] As the mixing of snow with wine in the sultry time of harvest is pleasing and refreshing, a successful messenger revives the spirit of his master who sent him, and who was ready to faint from an apprehension of his failure. The custom of cooling wines with snow was usual among the eastern nations. It was derived from the Asiatics and Greeks to the Romans. Plutarch describes the manner in which they preserved it (Sympos. lib. vi. 2, 6.) by covering it with straw, and coarse cloths unshorn. Xenophon says, it was necessary to procure snow to cool the wines in summer, which otherwise could not be drank with any pleasure. The Orientals more early used it for this purpose, and Athenæus mentions it as an ancient custom, and that they used oak branches for the same purpose. Various instances among the eastern nations of this custom of cooling their wines may be produced, and particularly among the Jews. In some hot countries it was often difficult to obtain it, and they were obliged to search into the hollow cliffs to collect it. Mount Hebron, which was always covered with snow, plentifully supplied the inhabitants of that country, from whence it was often carried to Tyre. (BARRY's Observations on the Wines of the Ancients, p. 169.)

No. 209.-xxvi. 8. As he that bindeth a stone in a sling.] The custom, which prevailed almost universally among the heathens, of erecting memorials of stone, both for a witness of covenants, and for an object of worship, to the idol Margemah, Markolis, or Mercury, seems extremely ancient. R. Elias Ashcenaz (cited by Kircher in his Oedipus synt. iv. c. 2.) says, that the religious honour which was paid to Markolis (the same as the Anubis of the Egyptians, as the Hermes of the Greeks, and Mercury of the Romans) consisted in throwing stones together into a heap; which practice originated from an idle fable concerning the gods, not worth repeating. To this idolatrous rite Solomon is supposed (by Selden and others) to allude in this passage: where, instead of rendering the text, as he that bindeth a stone in a sling, which does not afford the comparison of folly intended, it should have been translated, as he that throweth a stone to Margemah, or Mercury, which cannot profit the idol, so is he that giveth honour to a fool, of which he is wholly insensible. (SELD. de Mercurii Acervo.) There were also Mercurii, or Hermæ viales, for the direction of travellers. Dr. Plot, (in his Natural History of Oxfordshire) thinks, with Dr. Stillingfleet, that the Britons, long before the arrival of the Romans, were acquainted with the Greeks and that they learned from them the practice of setting up unpolished stones, instead of images, to the honour of their gods: and he asserts from Pausanias, that, near the statue of Mercury, there were thirty square stones, which the Pharii worshipped, and gave to every one of them the name of a god. Stones were universally set up for memorials, and were sacred to the election of kings, &c. by the Danes and other northern nations. The same author seems also of opinion, that the celebrated Stonehenge, in Wilts, was neither a Roman temple nor Danish monument, but rather somewhat belonging to the idol Markolis. (Nat. Hist. Oxf. c. 10.

§ 81, 102.) Plutarch, in his life of Cimon, mentions the erection of stone Mercuries, with inscriptions upon them, in honour of taking the city Eione from the Persians And Gyraldus asserts that the heathens had their deus lapideus or stone god to swear by, and relates from Polybius the form of an oath, which was so taken, bctween the Romans and Carthaginians, relative to a treaty of peace. Many have thought that the whole of this custom was a vile abuse of Jacob's consecration of the stone at Bethel.

No. 210.-xxvii. 9.

Ointment and perfume.] At the close of a visit in the East, it is common to sprinkle rose or some other sweet scented water on the guests, and to perfume them with aloes wood, which is brought last and serves for a sign that it is time for a stranger to take leave. Thus it is described by M. Savary: "Towards the conclusion of a visit amongst persons of distinction in Egypt, a slave, holding in his hand a silver plate, on which are burning precious essences, approaches the faces of the visitors, each of whom in his turn perfumes his beard. They then pour rose water on the head and hands. This is the last ceremony, after which it is usual to withdraw." As to the method of using the aloes wood, Maundrell says, (p. 30.) they have for this purpose a small silver chafing-dish, covered with a lid full of holes, and fixed upon a handsome plate. In this they put some fresh coals, and upon them a piece of lignum aloes, and then shutting it up, the smoke immediately ascends with a grateful odour through the cover. Probably to such a custom, so calculated to refresh and exhilarate, the words of Solomon have an allusion.

No.211.-xxvii. 22. Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his fool

ishness depart from him.] That such a punishment as this was used in the East will clearly appear from the following testimonies. "Fanaticism has enacted in Turkey, in favour of the ulemats, (or body of lawyers) that their goods shall never be confiscated, nor themselves put to death, but by being bruised in a mortar." BARON DU TOTT, vol. i. p. 28. "As for the guards of the towers (who have let prince Coreskie, a prisoner, escape,) some of them were empaled, and some were pounded or beaten to pieces in great mortars of yron, wherein they do usually pound their rice, to reduce it to meal." (KNOLLES'S History of the Turks, p. 1374. See also Complete System of Geography, vol. ii. p. 16. and VOLNEY's Travels, vol. ii. p. 250.)

No. 212.-xxx. 8. Food convenient for me.] This expression properly signifies an allowance or proportion of food; it is an allusion to the custom which then prevailed, of giving daily to servants and other dependants a certain daily supply.

No. 213.-xxx. 33. The churning of milk bringeth forth butter.] The ancient way of making butter in Arabia and Palestine was probably nearly the same as is still practised by the Bedoween Arabs and Moors in Barbary, and which is thus described by Dr. Shaw. "Their method of making butter is by putting the milk or cream into a goat's skin turned inside out, which they suspend from one side of the tent to the other, and then pressing it to and fro in one uniform direction, they quickly occasion the separation of the unctuous and wheyey parts." (Trav. p. 168.) So "the butter of the Moors in the empire of Morocco, which is bad, is made of all the milk (comp. Prov. xxx. 23. above) as it comes from the cow, by putting it into a skin and shaking it

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