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In that part of Tartary which lies between the Jaik and Sir, and is inhabited by the Eluths, the Russians, about the year 1714, discovered a town, amidst vast sandy grounds, quite deserted. It is about half a league in compass, with walls five feet thick, and sixteen high: the foundation freestone, and superstructure brick, flanked with towers in several places. The houses were all built with sun-burnt bricks, and side-posts of wood, much after the common fashion in Poland. In most of the houses was found a great quantity of writings done up in rolls. One sort was in China ink and silk paper, white and thick. The leaves were two feet long, and nine inches broad, written on both sides; and the lines ran from the right to left across the same.

The writing was bounded with two black lines, which left a two-inch margin. The second sort was engrossed on fine blue silk paper, in gold and silver, with a line round each, in one or the other. The lines were written lengthways, from right to left; and varnished over to preserve them. Jer. xxxii. 14, 15, 43, 44.

2705.

Modern Univer. Hist. vol. iv. p. 307.

They shall spread the cloth [or zone] before the elders of the city] - When a Husband bad taken off the zone, at the conclusion of a marriage, he gave it to the officiating priest, who laid it up in the gate or court of the city, as a memorial of the marriage.

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2709.

This marriage-veil, having on it the husband's name, when taken off and examined, would necessarily discover to a second husband when it was his father's skirt. Rather, this skirt was a waist-girdle, given the bride in place of her virgin-zone; or of a waist-girdle given her by a former husband.

The skirt was a curtain-veil, falling from the forehead over the eyes, given to a bride when her virgin-zone was taken from her; and changed, when she married a second time: such was the veil recommended by Abimelech to Sarah, Gen. xx. 16.

2710. [Deut. xxiii. 1-8.] As the judges of the Jews are called the congregation of God, the prohibitions in the text must mean, that such disqualified persons were not to enter into the council of God, or into the magistracy.

Bib. Research. vol. i. p. 319.

2711. 2.] The dispositions of the children will [ be liberal and virtuous, when they are not born of base parents, and of the lustful conjunction of such as marry women that are not free.

JOSEPH. Antiq. b. iv. ch. viii. § 23.

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2712.[ 13.] When, in the year 1760, the king of Spain determined, by a public decree, to free Madrid from the abominable custom of throwing the ordure out of the windows into the streets, it was ordered, by a proclamation, that the proprietor of every house should build a proper receptacle, and that sinks, drains, and common sewers should be made at the public expense. Every class," says HAWKESWORTH (Voy. vol. iii. p. 192. 3rd Edit. 8vo.)," devised some objection against it; but the physicians bid the fairest to interest the king in the preservation of the antient privileges of his people for they remonstrated, that if the filth were not thrown into the streets as usual, a fatal sickness would ensue, because the putrescent particles of the air, which such filth attracted, would then be imbibed by the human body!"

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2719. [24, 25.] It would hence appear, that not only servants, but also day-labourers, might eat of the fruits they gathered, and drink of the must which they pressed. The wages of the latter seem to have been given them over and above their meat, and, in consideration of this privilege, to have been so much the less; for with a labourer, who found his own victuals, and yet had the right of eating and drinking of whatever came under his hands, a master would have stood on a very disadvantageous footing.

See Smith's MICHAELIS, vol. ii. p. 191.

2720. [Deut. xxiii. 24, 25.] The man who thus steals, as it were, from real hunger, deserves to escape without any punishment; in conformity to the indulgence manifested to thieves of this description, by the criminal code of Charles the Fifth ;- that truly venerable monument of legislative wisdom and clemency, of which Germany has reason to be proud. Ibid. vol. iv. p. 266.

2721. [Deut. xxiv. 1, &c.] On account of the "hardness of heart" or want of affection among the Jews, Moses allowed betrothing, and divorce after betrothing; but not after full marriage. This is JESUS CHRIST's own explanation of the subject in Matt. xix.

2722. [ 5.] Respecting the solemnization of marriage among the Israelites, previously to the Babylonish captivity; we gather from Moses and the other writers of the Hebrew Scriptures, says MICHAELIS, That the father, or some relation, sold, or gave away the bride; between the espousals and the marriage there usually intervened the space of ten months, or a full year (as is still the practice of the Jews); the marriage was then celebrated, and among the more opulent, there was a feast that lasted for a week. But Moses no-where says one word as to the manner in which marriage was to be concluded, but either presupposes this as fully known, or leaves it to future times to change what they might think fit in the forms.

2723. [

See Smith's Michaelis, vol. i.

pp. 475, 477.

-6.] Though corn-mills were thus early invented, water was not applied to them before the year of Christ 600, nor wind-mills used before the year 1200.

2724.

EMERSON.

As the Israelites had no public mills, every family was obliged to grind its corn at home; and, for that purpose, had either a hand-mill, or one somewhat larger, turned by asses. Now, such a hand-mill, or the stone of the larger sort, would, no doubt, have been a most likely pledge to enforce specdy payment of a debt: but then the debtor, even though not absolutely poor, would thus, if unable to pay at the proper time, have been brought into a difficulty, utterly disproportioned to his loan; for however abundant his corn, he and his family must have wanted bread.

Smith's MICHAELIS, vol. ii. p. 320.

2725. [Deut. xxiv. 10, 11.] A person in want, and much straitened for a loan, stands in so dependent a relation towards his rich neighbour, and is so humbled, that he will make many compliances contrary to agreement and to justice. Now, if the creditor himself may go into his house, he will probably be disposed to lay hold of the very best article he sees, pretending that the pledge agreed on is not sufficient; or, at any rate, he may choose some other pledge that strikes him as more valuable: nor will the other party venture to remonstrate against it. Such cases may, perhaps, have then happened, and given occasion to this law. Such cases,

at least, says MICHAELIS, I myself recollect to have seen at the university; where pawn-brokers, that lent money to the students, came into their apartments to choose their pledges: and yet our students are seldom so submissive and humble as other debtors.

Ibid. p. 317.

2726. [10-13.] Among a poor people, such as we must suppose every people to be in their infancy, the evils of pledging are peculiarly oppressive. The poor man, in that case, often finds himself under a far greater necessity of borrowing than we can easily imagine, because there is nothing to be earned; and the husbandman, who has had a bad harvest, or his crop destroyed by hail, or locusts, must often borrow, not money, but bread, or else starve. In such circumstances, he will give in pledge, whatever the rich lender requires, however greatly it may be to his loss. Nor has he, like borrowers in our days, many articles which he cau dispense with, and pledge; such as superfluous apparel, changes of linen, household furniture, and various little luxuries, that are become fashionable among our poorest people; but he must instantly surrender things of indispensible use and comfort, such as the clothes necessary to keep him warm, his implements of husbandry, his cattle, and (who could suppose it?) his very children.

Job xxiv. 3,9.

Ibid. p. 315.

2727. [12, 13.] The Hyke, commonly six ells long and five or six feet broad, serves the Kabyls, as well as the Arabs, for a complete or full dress by day; and as they sleep, as the Israelites did, in their clothes, it becomes their covering by night: (Dr. SHAW.) The common Arab, on the floor or couch where he means to rest, spreads out his large girdle, and forms with it an under bed; and then with the Hyke that he throws across his shoulders, he covers his whole body and his face, and sleeps naked betwixt the two in peace and contentment

NIEBUHR'S Description of Arabia, p. 64.

2728. [ 16.] Among the Gentoos, if a son commit

a fault, the father shall not be held as guilty for the fault of the son.

HALHED's Gentoo Laws, p. 260.

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2731. [4.] When Moses, in terms of this benevolent custom, ordained, that the ox was not to be muzzled while thrashing, it would seem that it was not merely his intention to provide for the welfare of that animal, but to enjoin with the greater force and effect, that a similar right should be allowed to human labourers, whether hirelings or slaves. He specified the ox, as the lowest example, and what held good in reference to him (proverbially), was to he considered as so much the more obligatory in reference to man. That he wished to be understood in this way, we have the less reason to doubt, from this consideration, that in Chap. xxiii. 24, 25, we meet with other statutes, in which he carries his attention to the calls of hunger so far, as to allow the eating of fruits and grapes in other people's gardens and vineyards, without restraint.

2732.

Ibid. vol. ii.

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The natives of Aleppo still religiously observe the antient practice of permitting the oxen to remain unmuzzled, when they separate the corn from the straw. See RUSSEL's Nat. Hist. of Aleppo,

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2738. [7.] When in a certain case, a Turkish lady sues for a divorce, her husband being summoned before a judge, and the charge read against him, she is asked if she will then affirm the truth of that accusation; hereupon she stoops, and taking off her slipper, SPITS ON THE Sole, and strikes it on her husband's forehead. Modesty requires no further confirmation; sentence is immediately pronounced in her favor, and she is thenceforth free to marry as she pleases.

AARON HILL'S Trav. p. 104. For a peculiar sense in which the word foot or feet is used, See Jer. ii. 25. Ezek. xvi. 25. Isai. vii. 20. xxxvi. 12, &c.

2742. [13, 15.] As the people were allowed to use, beside the shekel of the sanctuary, a royal shekel, and foreign shekels in their dealings with other nations; the meaning here is, that they were not to have two different weights of the same denomination, a larger to purchase by, and a lesser to sell by.

2 Sam. xiv. 26. See No. 863.

Smith's MICHAELIS, vol. in. p. 397.

2743. [Deut. xxvi. 5.] Justin (l. xxxvi. c. 2) reckons Abraham among the kings of Damascus. Univer. Hist. vol. ii. p. 257.

2744. [ 14, I have not given aught thereof for the dead] That is, I have not consecrated any of it to an Idol, which was generally [the figure and shrine of] a dead man, whom superstition and ignorance had deified.

Dr. A. CLARKE. See on Psal. cvi. 28.

2739. [9, 10.] The Hindoo, religiously abstaining from animal food and intoxicating liquors, becomes thereby of so very mild a temper, that he can bear almost any thing without emotion, except slippering; that is, a stroke with the sole of a slipper or sandal, after a person has taken it off his foot, and spit on it. This is dreaded above all affronts; and considered as no less ignominious, than spitting in the face, or bespattering with dirt, among Europeans.

See QVINGTON'S Voy. to Surat, p. 357.

2745.

In the year 1744, as some persons were digging a cellar in East Jersey, they came at a huge stone, like a tomb-stone. This being removed, they found under it, at the depth of about four feet, a quantity of human bones and a cake of maize, The latter being yet uninjured by time, several of the people present tasted it out of curiosity. From these and other circumstances it was concluded, that this had been the grave of some distinguished Indian; it being their custom to bury along with the deceased, such

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2746. [Deut. xxvii. 4.] Dr. KENNICOTT seems to have proved that we should read here, not Ebal but Gerizim. When the Samaritans had built their temple on mount Gerizim, because there Moses had ordered the covenant-stones, and an altar to be erected, it was quite natural for their enemies, the Jews, in order to discredit their temple, to alter the names in the book of Deuteronomy, and for Gerizim insert Ebal. (Dr. GEDDES.) — Rosenmuller thinks that the altar, mentioned ver. 5, is the same with the stones on which the law was to be written.

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2747. [——————— 15-26.] Thus the person to be sworn did not pronounce the formula of the oath, either when it was a judicial one, or taken on any other solemn occasion. He only heard it pronounced; but when it was finished, he, in all cases, ratified it, by uttering the words Amen, Amen, thus subjecting himself to the curse it contained.

Smith's MICHAELIS, vol. iv. p. 342.

2748. [Deut. xxviii. 5.] The tana, though not similar in form, had the same use as our hamper or panniers. And the masheret, in which the Israelites carried their dough out of Egypt, was a kind of leathern bag drawn together by rings. (See HARMER'S Observations, vol. ii. p. 181.) – Baskets made of the leaves of the palm-tree are still used by the people of the East on journeys and in their houses. See HASSELQUIST, p. 261.

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Sicilians to desert the consumptive patient, and when he dies, they burn his bed and bed-clothes, and well ventilate and fumigate the apartments in which he lay. It does not seem probable, however, that phthisis pulmonalis is infectious, at least it is not regarded so among us at present, although Morgagni, Van Swieten, and of a still later date, Morton were of that opinion, but it often occurs in a family from an exposure to the same occasional causes, or from a similarity of constitution and hereditary predisposition. The only way in which I conceive the disease can be conveyed from one person to another, if at all possible, is by sleeping constantly in the same bed with one who labours under it, in its ulcerative stage, accompanied with fetid expectoration and cadaverous-sinelling night-sweats, and so inhaling the breath. THOMAS'S Modern Practice of Physic, p. 444.

2751. [Deut. xxviii. 23, 24.] This is descriptive of a volcanic eruption: In the sky, the glowing clouds appear like sheets of brass; on the ground, the burning lava runs like fused iron; while the ejected cinders and ashes, in their descent, form, as it were, a rain of powder and dust.

Mr. EDWARD BERKELEY, afterwards bishop of Clogher in Ireland, gives the following description of an eruption of Mount Vesuvius which happened in the year 1717. "On the 5th of June, the mountain was observed to throw a little out of the crater, and the same continued the day following. On the 7th, in the evening, it began a hideous bellowing, which continued till noou the next day, causing the windows and even the houses in Naples to shake. From that time it vomited vast quantities of melted matter to the south, which streamed down the side of the mountain, like a pot boiling over. On the 10th, it roared and groaned most dreadfully; of which one cannot form a juster idea, than by imagining a mixed sound, made up of the raging of a tempest, the mur mur of a troubled sea, and the roaring of thunder and artillery confused together." This induced our author, it appears, with three or four more in company, to visit the mountain; and they arrived at the burning river about midnight, when the roaring of the volcano was exceedingly loud and horrible. "There was," says he, "a mixture of colors in the cloud over the crater, a ruddy dismal light in the air over the fiery torrent, and ashes continually showering on our heads; all which circumstances, augmented by the horror and silence of the night, made a most uncommon and astonishing scene. During this eruption," he adds, " the cinders showered down so fast at Naples, that the citizens were obliged to screen themselves beneath umbrellas; and vessels at the distance of twenty leagues were exposed to equal inconvenience."

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