alfo; or more properly Hagareens, as defcended from Hagar, and Al Aarab Al Maftiaarabah the made Arabians, (that is made. fuch by cohabitation and converfation with the true Arabs) but those other true Arabs, the inhabitants of Arabia Defertum, and of Arabia Felix, the former of whom defcended from Nebaioth, the fon of Ifchmael, and are by Pliny, Strabo, and Ptolomy called Nabateans, (as the country itself Nabatea) the latter from Zaba, the fon of Chus, the fon of Cham, after whom they were ftiled Zabians (as the country Zabia) and (in distinction from the made Arabians, of Arabia the Defart) the native Arabians.'

A common Reader who hunts for fenfe through the labyrinth of thefe periods and parenthe fes, will certainly be bewildered and at fault: he will be apt to conclude, that Arabia the Defart is not Arabia Defertum that although the pofterity of Ifchmael are not true Arabians, yet the pofterity of his fons are, and that there are indeed two forts of true Arabians, one of which is not true. Thefe conclufions, however, cannot be admitted, though if the Author affords no clue, it will be very difficult to track better.

The Zabians, in plain English, are defcendants of Zaba, the third defcendant from Noah, by Cham; and inhabitants of Arabia Felix, a country that is also called Zabia. The Zabians are also distinguished by a particular religion, and therefore confidered not as a nation only, but a fect, the founder of whose opinions is unknown.

Dr. Pocock derives the name Zabian, not from that of Zaba, the father of a race, but from Zabuh, the hoft of Heaven, which certain Arabians were used to worship, and from which therefore they were denominated as a fect. They pretended to have books written by Adam; and their whole hiftory, as far as contained in this work, is not lefs extravagant and abfurd than the tales of the Talmud, except that, in confirmation of Dr. Pocock's conjecture, the hoft of Heaven were their gods.

The work called The Loves of Othniel and Achfah, is faid, in the original, to be a poem. The style of the tranflation, if a translation it is, is neither verfe nor profe, but fomething between both, having just as much verfe as deftroys all the harmony of profe, and just as much profe as deftroys all the har mony of verfe: it may rather be faid to hop than to flow, and confifts wholly of forced metaphor, and diffonant periods; it is printed too, in fantastic divifions, that are marked by ft okes, the intention of which can scarcely be guefled, as they indicate no inflexion of voice, nor are intended as flops, fome following a comma, fome a full point, and fome a note of admiration, The defcription of Othniel by Achfah may ferve as a fpecimen :

Tall and comely is my beloved,-with treffes-black treffes of hair. His eyes-effulgent as the ftones of the ephod-and REV. Oct. 1769.

T

in

in looking, his looks beam forth lightning!-O fweeter than This fellows!-Tell me; have ye feen my beloved?

How does it elevate and furprife,' when after having been told that the lover of Achfah had treffes, we find that they were treffes of hair! and to learn that when his looks beamed forth. lightning, it was in looking! If it is pretended that these strokes mark the interruption of the fentence, the pretence cannot be allowed; for, fuppofing Achfah intended to fay, how tall and comely is my beloved with treffes of hair,' and ftopped at treffes, to add the word black,' what can be fuppofed to intervene after beloved, and before with trees?

Though the Zabians, to whom this work is attributed, are faid to worship the hoft of Heaven, the deity is mentioned in it as one, by the names of Jehovah and Schaddai, and there are innumerable paffages in which it correfponds exactly with the Jewish theology, and no other: particularly one in which mention is made of the ark, of enquiring of God, and of obtaining an answer from between the cherubim. Probably it never exifted but in the language in which it now appears: if there had been a MS. in any oriental language from which the English is a tranflation, it is fearce poffible that the account of it should have been embarraffed and contradictory, as the account here given appears to be.

It confifts almoft wholly of defcant and declamation, by which the few incidents, fuch as they are, may be faid to be overlaid we have taken them from under the fatal load, and they are here prefented to our Readers.

Achfah laments the abfence of Othniel, beneath a fir-tree in a valley; fhe rifes and attempts to walk, but is unable: fome damfels of Hebron find her fallen upon the ground, in an agony of diftrefs, but, like uncourteous damfels, they pass on without taking the leaft notice of her. She continues her complaints, declaring that he waftes herself in tears, and that when fombrous horrors reign upon the lawn, fhe roves lugubriously folitary.' At length exhausted with fatigue and forrow the faints, and Death is reprefented as about to lead her feet into the hills of darkness, and to bear her, to the pits of never ending night. As he was to be borne to a pit, and her feet to a hill, the would have been deplorably difmembered if Gabriel had not come to her affiftance. It was the delight of honeft Gabriel, it feems, to pour ftreamy comfort down floods of forrow,' and he kindly fupports Achfah to a grove that belonged to Barzai, a man of a venerable character, and great age: fhe is touched with gratitude, and exclaims, O gracious God how pitiable, how merciful! She certainly did not know that pitiable means not a difpofition to pity, but a ftate to be pitied, and therefore, as Sir Hugh fays, "her meaning was goot."

While fhe is fleeping in this grove, fhe is found by Barzai, who mistakes her for a celeftial Being, till he perceives fhe had been weeping; fhe wakes, and Barzai takes her to his house. After fome refreshment, the tells him that Othniel is abfent upon a military expedition, and the feats he will be flain. Barzai tells her that he too is wretched, having, in his early days, loft Elim, a beautiful and beloved wife. It must be fuppofed that this pious and forrowful pair drank temperately, yet it appears that Achfah fuddenly forgot that fhe was in a houfe; and, night approaching, he talked wildly of having no shelter but a cave in a wilderness, and being expofed to the fury of wild beafts. Barzai, however, brings her a little to her fenfes, reminds her that she is under an hofpitable roof, and conducts her to her chamber; but, as he was about to leave her, he remembers that he has an abfent daughter, Zeboim, and imagining the may have been seized by fome tyrant, he wishes ten thousand Hells may furround his noxious foul, and then faints; Achfah with much ado brings him to himfelf, and they part for the night.

In this place Achfah continued two months; and, wandering one morning into a thick foreft, he heard a female voice complain of misfortune, in a fong. Pursuing the found, she saw a beautiful young woman fitting with her legs in the water, and fhedding, as this Writer expreffes it, one tear foftly from her eye' the probably had two eyes, though she seems to have wept thus fparingly with but one. The two beauties foon become acquainted, and Achfah accompanies her new companion to a neighbouring grotto, where fhe is entertained with a collation of excellent fruits, and a relation of her adventures.

She was the child of a happy pair who lived in that country, and was born ten years after their marriage; her mother died in child-bed, and her father took up his refidence at one of the palaces of the kings of Hebron, which came to him by defcent, and lived in a total feclufion from the world. Here the dwelt fome time with her father, who was one night fuddenly ftruck fpeechlefs to the ground, as he was walking in a grove, by ruffians, who feized her, as this Writer fays, in their noxious arms,' bound her on a mule, and carried her off. In the way fhe was comforted by the angel Hamiel, who affured her of protection. She at length arrived at the palace of Anak, where he was received by twenty virgins, and placed upon a couch, under a moft magnificent canopy. Here the relation is interrupted by the approach of evening; the friends part, with a promife to meet next day.

Achfah related to Barzai, at her return, all that had hap-> pened, and the old man perceived that the perfon whose story fe had heard, was the daughter whose lofs he deplored: he fell

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into an agony, and expreffed the utmost anxiety and impatience to know whether he had-efcaped violation. The reader may naturally fuppofe that he would be very inquifitive after the grotto in which he was to be found, and that he would repair thither with Achfah at peep of day, to gratify, his parental affection and refolve his doubts. This, however, was not the cafe: Achfah in the morning finds him at his devotion, in which the joins, and then repairs alone to the grotto, where the hears the fequel of the adventures of Zeboim, her new friend, without afking any queftion, or dropping the leaft hint that he was the guest of her Father. Zeboim, it feems, remained all night upon couch where the twenty virgins had placed her, but without fleep. In the morning fhe was told that she was brought thither for the king's pleafure, and foon after fummoned to his prefence. He made fuch a declaration of love as eastern tyrants usually do, and the fainted in the arms of an attendant, whofe name was Schekadfen. With this youth fhe fell defperately in love; the tyrant discovered it, and threatened violence and revenge; but an enemy fuddenly rushed upon the palace, fubverted the empire, feized upon her perfon, and ordered that the fhould join the other captives of her fex. Among the male captives fhe faw Schekadfen, with whom fhe could only interchange a look of tenderness and defpair. At length fhe found means to escape, and difcovering the grotto in the foreft, took up her refidence in it. Thus, faid the fair reclufe, thou hast heard the oppreffions of Anak, the hiftory of Zeboim, and the atchievements of Othniel.

The names of Othniel and Zeboim, produce fuch exclamations as might be expected on the occafion, and Zeboim fets out with Achfah to vifit her father: they meet, the old man gives them good counfel, and dies. The two friends continue to live together in the grove, and Achfah's father, Caleb, fends to feek her, but without effect. How fhe came to leave him does not appear. Kenaz, the father of Othniel, alfo fets out in fearch of his fon; he meets with an old man who is called the Seer of the Mountains, who tells him his fon is alive, but not where he may be found. As he proceeds in his fearch, he is taken prifoner by fome Chaldeans, under Rahazan, and put into prifon, but releafed by the advife of an Ifraelitish woman, who, from the captive of Rabazan, had become his mistress, and who, knowing Kenaz to be the father of Othniel, procures, in return for his liberty, a promife, that if Othniel fhall return fate from the war against Anak, fome of his spoils fhall be given to Rahazan. Rahazan, however, was foon after flain by Melchor, who was enamoured of his fifter, and reigned in his stead, With Melchor, Kenaz became a favourite,

In the mean time, Schekadfen having found means to escape from his captivity, wanders into the grove of Barzai, where he finds Achfah and Zeboim. He tells them that Othniel is living and victorious.

Othniel in the mean time carries on the war with various fuccefs, but at laft gains a compleat victory, and, after the manner of the Jews, cuts the throats of all the inhabitants, fparing neither the matron nor the virgin, infancy nor age. This, however, the Author fays, was not commanded, but difapproved by the Almighty.

As Othniel was returning from his conquefts, he was taken prifoner by fome Chaldeans, and brought before Melchor, where he found Kenaz, his father, with whom he foon after fet out for Hebron, accompanied by Schekadfen, who had returned to Othniel, and fought under him.

In the way, they pafs through the grove of Barzai, where Othniel finds his beloved Achfah, Kenaz his daughter, and Schekadfen his Zeboim. It now appears, that although Achfah had lamented Othniel as her spouse, they were not yet married, the parties therefore proceed together to Hebron, where Caleb gives his daughter Achfah to Othniel, but it does not appear that Zeboim and Schekadfen had the fame good fortune. Othniel, however, did not continue at peace. Incurfions were made upon him by neighbouring enemies, who carried off Achfah his wife, and Zeboim; but they were foon after recovered with a great flaughter of the enemy. So, fays the Author, Othniel continued to judge Ifrael many years, and the gracious Schaddai was with him, and with Ifrael, all his days; and this is the hymn which they fung over his tomb:

"Strong was thine arm in battle, O fon of Kenaz !--The enemies of Ifrael were trodden down.

"Thy fword and thy bow were terrible unto them.-Thy feet did tread upon the hofts of Anak.

"Our hearts fhall weep for Othniel.-Alas! he is gone down into the grave !-The ftrength of Ifrael is fallen-he is bowed like a broken reed.

"He did fpread forth his hands in the midst of Judah, and his fhield was as a covering unto Ifrael-but he is paffed by, as the fummer's cloud; and vanished like the gentle dew.

"Behold, Ifrael mourneth, even the plains thereof do languifh-for the light of Judah is gone out-the beloved of the Higheft is no more!

"For thy fake did Schaddai return unto his people-for thee was he reconciled unto Ifrael-but thou art gone down into the grave, and we are fallen with thee.

"Unto whom shall we now look for defence?-For the