nan, and biting, ws. The latter has been generally supposed to relate to compound interest. The peasants in Syria mortgage the whole or part of their future crop to procure the means of tillage. The Cingalese are sadly racked in this way by the Moors in particular, who claim in return for the seed, I am told, half the crop. In Syria, where the most moderate interest is 12 per cent., and the usual rate is 20;-sometimes it rises to 30; and in Ceylon, where interest is 10 per cent. at the lowest, compound interest is destructive as the bite of a serpent.

Joshua, ix. 13. And these bottles of wine which we filled were new, and behold, they be rent. See also Matthew, ix. 17. Job, xxxii. 19. Psalm, cxix. 83.

These passages denote nothing like glass bottles, but skins prepared to answer the same purpose. They were of various sizes, according to the animals from which the skins were taken. Water is frequently conveyed by buffaloes in Ceylon; and two bags of this description form a load.

Judges, iii. 19. But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him.

Eglon seems to have observed the established usage. Bruce observes, that on saying he had a confidential message, the room was instantly cleared; and even the secretary rose to depart.

Judges, v. 30. To Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework ...... on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil.

Denoting the upper garment or mantle of a gentleman, such as Christ laid aside, John xiii. 4; and

it should seem, his robe worn under. Hence it has been observed, that his appearance was respectable; and perfectly free from that austerity by which Jewish and other Pharisees rendered themselves singular. Peter pulled off his upper garment, John xxi. 7. (Campbell.) So 1 Sam. xix. 24, and Job. xxii. 6, denote not nudity, but being undressed. In 2 Sam. vi. 20, David is to be understood as having divested himself of every thing royal. Isaiah, liii. 1. -Revealed-denotes uncovered, stripped, fit for

action.

Judges, ix. 13. And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?—John, x. 34. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, ye are gods?

The exposition of Jotham's parable adopted by King Charles's cook, is confessedly ingenious and evangelical-that wine forming part of the Jewish drink-offerings, and being typical of the blood of the Redeemer, might be said to cheer God, inasmuch, as he was well-pleased with the Christian atonement; but I should think the opinion in a note on the story I remember reading many years ago, is more likely to have been Jotham's meaning. He was addressing the idolatrous Shechemites: and by

he may be supposed to (אלחים ואנשים) God and man

mean, high and low, rich and poor.

Judges, xvi. 19. And she made him sleep upon her knees.

Mention is made of a favourite court lady, in whose lap the Emperor of Morocco constantly laid down his head and slept, when intoxicated,

Judges, xvi. 21. But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, [margin, bored out] and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.

Scooping out the eyes, is a common punishment under Eastern tyrants, as oriental history bears witness.

Judges, xvii. 6. In those days there was no king in Israel; but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

There was no king, strictly speaking, in Israel, for ages after; but the meaning evidently is, no supreme magistrate. Samuel, without pretending to royalty, was invested with higher authority than any of their kings. The natives of Ceylon often style the governor, and judges of the Supreme Court, rajas or kings.

Judges, xviii. 19. And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest.

Low-caste people, when listening to a superior, cover their mouth with their finger. When astonished, they rest the cheek on the palm of the hand, cover the lips with two fingers, or put the fore-finger between the teeth.

1 Samuel, v. 4.

And the head of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshhold; only the stump [margin, or fishy-part] of Dagon was left to him.

Dagon, in figure a mer-maid, (sea-maid,) was doubtless a figure of Noah's preservation. It seems the same with the Vishnoo of India-represented in the Budhuist temples in the human form, and painted the colour of the sea.

1 Samuel, vi. 12. And the kine took the straight way to the way of Beth-Shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them into the border of Beth-Shemesh.

If bullocks when yoked, were as refractory in Judea as they are in Ceylon, the Divine interposition must have been very remarkable, especially as the calves of the milch kine, in the text, were shut up, at home. In a meadow, it is extremely difficult to catch them; and when yoked they are often very troublesome. Two usually draw a cart, and unless carefully driven, they will turn out of the road, and run with great fury.

1 Samuel, ix. 7. For the bread is spent in our vessels.

The Tartars at the approach of winter, make similar provision for a journey in pursuit of cattle allowed to ramble over a right of pasturage through the summer. Each proprietor, on sending them to graze, sets his mark on his beasts; and in the course of his ramble in search of them, makes inquiries of people scouring the plain on the same errand.

1 Samuel, ix. 7, 8. There is not a present to bring to the man of God: What have we? And the servant answered Saul again, and said, Behold I have here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver; that will I give to the man of God, to tell us our way. See also Genesis, xliii. 11; and Judges, iii. 17, 18.

Presents are essential to intercourse between superiors and inferiors throughout the East. They are considered not in the light of bribes, but as tokens of acknowledgment of superiority and dependence. The pepper-corn, the rose, and the like, required by a landlord of his tenants on court-days in Europe, seem fragments of the same usage. A Cingalese having to solicit a favour of a superior, when

away from home, says, I must go to my village, and procure the presents. When rejected by a European, it is considered disrespectful. On presenting them to me, I have either declined receiving them, and explained my reason, or at their solicitation, accepted them, and told the persons to come in future with none.

1 Samuel, xiii. 19. Now there was no smith found throughout the land of Israel: (for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears.)

The Arabs in some cases, suspecting the people of a disposition to emancipate themselves, have allowed the inhabitants of a subjected village but one knife.

1 Samuel, xvii. 10. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man that we may fight together.Verse 43. And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

The Cingalese frequently utter imprecations in the name of the most malignant of their deities.

1 Samuel, xix. 16. And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goat's hair for his bolster.

With several respectable authorities, I am inclined to think the article described as a bolster, was in fact a curtain suspended to guard the sleeper from gnats; and which was happily calculated to deceive the messengers, in case they insisted on glancing into the room to satisfy themselves whether or not David were there. The same word is used for it, which in 2 Kings viii. 15, is rendered a thick cloth. Moschetto curtains are hung about the superior order of beds in the East. The sting of the moschetto resembles that of a bee or gnat, and often by day