SS

How literally true this prediction might be in such a plague of Locusts as the Prophet describes, chap. ii. 2. the invasion of 's a great * people and a strong, such an invasion as there ss had never been the like, neither should there * be any more after it, even to the years of

many generations, we may learn from the ac, counts given of the Locusts from Pliny, and from the Chronicon of HERMANUS CONTRACTUS.»

Pliny's account is as follows." Their eggs

are destroyed by the rains in the spring, but " in a dry spring there is a larger increase:

they are driven away by the winds in swarms, 6 and fall into seas and lakes. Perhaps this “ happens to them by accident, and not, as the “ ancients supposed, by their wings being wetted 66 with the moisture of the night. The ancients “ also tell us, that they fly not by night through “ fear of the cold, not knowing that they will “ pass over wide seas, and, which may seem to “ us most wonderful, that they will endure

hunger for several days together, for the sake “ of the provision of foreign countries. This “ plague is attributed to the anger of the Gods; « for sometimes they are very great, and make “ such a noise with their wings, that you would

suppose them to be a larger kind of flying crea“ tures. They also darken the sun, while the “ people from below behold them with a painful “ folicitude, left they should light upon their u fields. Their strength is very great, and, as if it was a small matter to fly over the seas, they run

through “ through immense tracts of land, and in the “ harveft overspread the earth with a dreadful “ cloud, burning up almost every thing only by u their touch, biting and eating through every “ thing, even the doors of houses *.”

In the Chronicon of HERMANUS CONTRACTUS; under the year 873, we are told, “ that so great 65 a multitude of Locufts of an unheard-of size

coming from the east in swarms, after the

manner of an army, passed through these 66 countries (Germany) that for two whole months “ they often in their flight obscured the rays

of 16 the sun for the space of a mile, and in one « hour destroyed all kinds of verdure upon an w hundred or more acres, which being afterEs wards driven into the sea by the wind, and * thrown up again by the waves, fo corrupted

Vernis aquis intereunt ova. Sicco vere major proventus. Gregatim sublatæ vento in maria aut ftagna decidunt. Forte hoc cafuque evenit, non, ut prisci existimavere, madefactis nocturno humore alis. lidem quippe nec volare eas noctibus propter frigora tradiderunt, ignari etiam longinqua maria ab jis tranfiri, contingata - plurium dierum (quod maxime mire. mur) fame quoque, quam propter exterpa pabula petere sciunt. Deorum iræ,peftis,ea intelligitur. Namque & grandiores cernuntur, & tanto volant pennarum ftridore, ut aliæ alites credantur. Solem que obumbrant, folicitè fufpectantibus populis, ne fuas operiant -terras, fufficiunt quippe vires, & tanquam parum fit maria tranfiffe, immensos tractus permeant, diraque meflibus contegunt nabe, multa contadu adurentes : omnia vero morsu erodentes, & fores quoque tectorum. Plin. Nat. Hift. lib. xi. cap. 29.

« the air with their stench, that they caused no $6 small peftilence 7."

Such is the description of the plague of Locufts by the Prophet JOEL, and with fuch truth and precision is this most formidable judgment of the Almighty represented. That we may have a view of this Hypotyposis in its full strength and beauty, it may not be amiss to collect together all the verses upon which we have descanted. 3s For a nation is come upon my land, ferong s and without number, whose teeth are the teeth es of a lion, and he hath the cheek-teeth of a

great lion. He hath laid my vine waste, and *s barked my fig-tree (or laid it to a scum), he ss hath made it clean bare, and cast it away , *** the branches thereof are made white. The - land is as the garden of Eden before them, # and behind them a defolate wilderness; yea, ss and nothing shall escape them. The

appeare ss ance of them is as horses, and as horfemen, lo ss shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on

the tops of mountains shall they leap; like is the noise of a flame of fire that devours the

ss ftubble;

+ Tanta multitudo inauditæ magnitudinis locatarum ab oriente gregatim, more exercituum, veniens has pertranfit rea giones ; ut per duos continuos menses fæpe radios folis per unius fpacium milliarii volitances obnubilarent ; & in ung hora, quicquid in centum vel amplius jogeribus viride inve. nerunt, depascerentur ; & poftea in mare vento actæ, & fuce tu rejectæ, fotore corrupto aere, non modicam gignerent pels tilentiam. CANIsli Thefauri Monument. Ecclefiaft. edit. Antuerp.

1725. vol. .

* stubble; as a strong people set in battle-array:

They shall run like mighty men; they shall * climb the wall like men of war; and they * Thall march every one on his ways, and they # Ihall not break their ranks. Neither shall one # thrust another ; they shall walk every one in * his path: and when they fall upon the sword,

they shall not be wounded. They shall run to o and fro in the city: they shall run upon the

wall; they shall climb up upon the houses : they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.

The earth shall quake before them, the heasvens shall tremble; the sun and moon shall s be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their • shining."

I shall conclude the instances of the Hypotypofis from the facred Writings, after I have mentioned that very fine character of the good wife, fo admirably delineated in Proverbs xxxi. from the roth verse.

Among the female world we rarely find
Th' harmonious beauties of a virtuous mind.
But such a mind, whenever it appears,
A richer radiance than the ruby wears.
Her husband on her care secure relies,
Nor wants the wealth the spoil of war supplies.
Thro' all the long fucceffion of her days
She proves his constant bleffing and his praise.
The choicest fax and choicest wool she buys,
And with delighted hands her spinning plies.
Like merchant-fhips that traverse ocean o'er,
T'import the products of a foreign shore,

She

She her fupplies from distant countries gains,
And noble plenty thro' her houshold reigns.
Before the night resigns its gloomy sway
To the first glimpses of returning day,
She rises, for the swains the meal prepares,
Whofe toils abroad demand their early cares,
Then to her maidens gives the needful dole,
And bids the stagnant wheels of labour roll.
A spot of earth contiguous fhe surveys,
Its produce and its value wisely weighs,
And with her ample treasures buys the field,
Or with the profits her employments yield
She on some funny mountain plants her vines,
To Aourish there, and blush themselves to wines.
Strength, like a girdle, binds her loins around,
Her hands by action with fresh strength are crown'd:
She finds the gains of traffic; hence by night
She feeds her lamp with unconsuming light:
Her diftaff with the snowy fleece is full,
And from her distaff runs the willing wool.
She opens wide her hospitable door,
And deals her daily bounties to the poor.
When winter in relentless rigour reigns,
Freezes the floods, and heaps with snow the plains,
Her houshold 's cloth'd against the driving storm,
And scarlet is their noble uniform.
Her rooms and couches glow with tap'stry gay,
And filk and purple are her rich array.
Her honour'd husband fills the judgment-leat,
And shines distinguish'd where the elders meet.
Fine linen, produce of her curious pains,
She barters, and proportion'd profits gains.
Girdles, thick-woven with refulgent gold,
Her costly work, are to the merchants Cold.

Her