LOTES The Notes in brackets have been added by an American Gentleman. SEE the Apocrypha. (FIRST SERIES.) [(1) "Sirach's son." Page 1.] (2) "And thine enfranchised fellows hail thy white victorious sails." Page 4. See the story of Theseus, as detailed in Dryden's translation of Plutarch, Life I. [The Minotaur was a fabulous monster of mingled form, which devoured the chosen young men and maidens, which the tyranny of King Minos yearly exacted from the Athenians. Theseus, a prince of Athens, delivered his country from this shameful tribute, when it had fallen to his lot to be sacrificed to the voracity of the Minotaur, and, by means of Ariadne, the king's daughter, he destroyed the monster, and made his escape from the windings of the labyrinth. He then sailed from Crete homeward, with the youths his victory had redeemed from death. The use of white sails was to be a signal of good success; that of black ones, a token of his misfortune.]__ [(3) Page 4. Wisdom, says Bellamy, consists in choosing the best end, and contriving the most proper means to attain it.] (4) ["The alchemist * * * findeth out many inventions, though his crucible breed not gold." Page 5. The grand object of alchemic art was the transmutation of the baser metals into gold; but nature proved refractory. Yet, though abortive in regard to their anticipated results, it was productive of the good effect of inducing Philosophers to descend from disputes upon words to experiments upon things. Many and great were the discoveries made in the wild pursuit of the golden phantom.] Who hath companioned a vision from the horn or ivory gate?" Page 6. Virg. Æn. VI. 894-897. "Sunt geminæ somni portæ ; quarum altera fertur [Two gates the silent house of Sleep adorn : Of polished iv'ry this, that of transparent horn: True visions through transparent horn arise; Through polished iv'ry pass deluding lies. DRYDEN.] [(®) "The giant Upas of creation, whose deadly shade," &c. Page 7. The Upas is a tree common in the forests of Java, and of the neighbouring is:es, the secretions of which are poisonous. It has been fabulously reported that the atmosphere surrounding it is very deleterious.] (7)" The seawort floating on the waves," &c. Page 10. The common sea-weeds on the shores of Europe, the algæ and fuci, after having, for ages, been considered as synonymous with every thing vile and worthless, have, in modern times, been found to be abundant in iodine, the only known cure for scrofula, and kelp, so useful in many manufactures. Horace has signalized his ignorance of this fact in Od. III. 17, 10, "algâ inutili," [the useless sea-weed,] &c.; and, in II. Sat. 5, 8, ironically saying, that " virtus, nisi cum re, vilior algâ est." Virgil also has put into the mouth of Thyrsis, in Ecl. VII. 42. [And viler than the sea-weed cast ashore. WRANGHAM.] (8) "Hath the crocus yielded up its bulb," &c. Page 10. The autumnal crocus, or colchicum, which consists of little more than a deep bulbous root, and a delicate lilac flower, (see page 111,) produces a substance which is called veratrin, and has been used with signal success in the cure of gout, [rheumatism,] and similar diseases. A few lines lower down, with reference to the elm, I would remark, that no use has yet been discovered in the principle called "ulmine"-[an exploded name of ulmic acid, which spontaneously exudes from the elm, the oak, the chestnut, and various other trees, constituting the essential ingredient of peat, &c. It appears to constitute what is usually called vegetable manure.] "The boon of far Peru" is the potato. (9) "When acorns give out fragrant drink," &c. Page 11. At a meeting of the Medico-Botanical Society, (in 1837,) the President introduced to the notice of the members a new beverage which very much resembled coffee, and was made from acorns peeled, chopped, and roasted. [Acorns have long been considered as the best substitutes for coffee, when they are toasted brown, and have absorbed some fresh butter. The fruit was used as food before the cultivation of corn. In Spain, it has been considered as a delicacy, and served up as a desert; and in seasons of scarcity, the Norwegians grind it into meal for making bread. V. Edin. Encyclo. Art. Acorn.] Bread made from saw-dust is certainly not very palatable, but no one can doubt that it is far more sweet and wholesome than "no bread;" in a famine, this discovery, which has passed almost sub silentio [in silence or secresy], would prove to be of the highest importance. The darnel, [a kind of grass,] it may be observed in passing, is highly poisonous, and a proper opposite to the lotus [a leguminous plant]. (10) "And He, who seeming old in youth," &c. Page 16. Compare Isa. lii. 14, "His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men," with the idea implied in the observation, John viii. 57, "Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" Our LORD was then thirty-three, or, according to some chronologists, even younger, [IRENEUS, one of the first fathers, with this passage supports the tradition, which he says he had from some that had conversed with ST. JOHN, that our SAVIOUR lived to be fifty years old, which he contends for, Advers. Hæres, lib. 2, cap. 39, 40. Some think that the countenance of CHRIST was so altered with grief and watching, that, together with the gravity of his aspect, it made him look like a man of fifty. (11) “A sentence hath formed a character, and a character subdued a kingdom." Page 20. A better instance of this could scarcely be found than in the late LORD EXMOUTH, who first directed his thoughts to the sea from a casual remark made by a groom. See his Life. [(12) "Horn of Plenty." Cornucopia, among the ancients, an emblem of fruitfulness and abundance.] [(13) "The wild electric flash.. may give case to an ailing child." Page 21. Electric shocks have been applied as remedies for diseases, and have often been productive of good. The chief disorder where they are found valuable is the case of para. lyzed limbs. Relief has also been given to patients suffering from tic, spasmodic affections, rheumatism, deafness, toothache, and suspended animation. About the year 1720, it was asserted by SIGNOR PRIVATI of Venice, and many others, that if odoriferous substances were confined in glass vessels, (afterwards called medicated tubes,) and the vessels excited, the odors and other medical virtues would transpire through the glass, infect the atmosphere of the conductor, and communicate their virtue to all persons in contact with it; also, that those substances, held in the hands of persons electrified, would communicate their virtues to them, so that the medicines might be made to operate without being taken into the stomach. This doctrine was proved false by NOLLET.] (14) "That small cavern," &c. Page 22. The pineal gland, [so called from its resemblance to the pine-apple,] a small oval about the size of a pea, situated nearly in the centre of the brain, and generally found to contain, even in children, some particles of gravel. GALEN, and after him DES CARTES, imagined it the seat of the soul. [(15) Page 22. "Petra"-the rocky part of Arabia, now called Hedjaz. "Palmyra"-once a mag. nificent city of Syria, the Tadmor of Solomon; the stupendous ruins of which are in the midst of a sandy desert, bounded on three sides by lofty mountains. "Carmel"-a mountain in Palestine, noted for having been the retreat of the prophet Elias. "PLATO" -a celebrated philosopher of Athens, who, after much travel through the East, and also in the southern part of Italy, returned, and opened a school in a public grove at Academia, over which he presided during 40 years, his lectures being attended by crowds of illustrious pupils. "ZENO"-a noted philosopher, and founder of the sect called Stoics. He opened his school within the limits of Athens, in the celebrated portico called Pocili. "PYTHAGORAS”- a celebrated philosopher of antiquity, who first supported the doctrine of metempsychosis. "Stagyrite"- an appellation given to ARISTOTLE a philosopher, and pupil of PLATO. Persepolis"-a famous city, once the capital of the Persian empire; laid in ruins by ALEXANDER.] [(16) "Cabala." Page 23. A mysterious kind of science among Jewish rabbins, pretended to have been delivered to the ancient Jews by revelation, and transmitted by oral tradition.] [(17) "Belus." Page 25. One of the most ancient kings of Babylon. His temple was the most magnificent in the world, originally the Tower of Babel] [ (18) Page 26. Ambition, says COLTON, is to the mind what the cap is to the falcon; it blinds us first, and then compels us to tower, by reason of our blindness.] Kóopos [literally signifying a set form, order, or ornament; also, applied to the universe from its perfect arrangement; opposed to chaos. On the history of this Pythagorean usage, v. Bentl. Phalar. p. 351, Näke Opusc. pp. 16-26.]: The Latins also, who rarely can show a beautiful idea which they have not borrowed from Greece, have made a similar application of the term "mundus" to the fabric of the world. [(20) Page 29. See 2 Kings, chap. xxiii. xxiv. and xxv. "KORAH;" see Numb. c. xvi. see Dan. c. vi. "AZARIAS;" see Dan. c. i. 7, iii. 18.] [ (21) "The Roman father, strong in his stern integrity." DANIEL ;" L. VIRGINIUS, by a noble act, abolished the decemviral power. See Livy, lib. iìi. c. 37.] [(22) "Salu's son." Page 32. ZIMRI. See Numbers, chap. xxv.] [(23) "Bucephalus." Page 32. A celebrated war-horse, whose head resembled that of a bull. Alexander was the only person who could mount on his back, and he always knelt down to take up his master. See Rollin, vol. 6.] [(24) "Belial." Page 33. In the original, signifies worthlessness. Deut. xiii. 13. "ELI;" see 1 Sam. c. ii.] The ancient name of China. See Robertson's India, p. 51.} (26) " To this our day, the Rechabite wanteth not a man," &c. Page 34. I have heard it related of WOLFE, the missionary, that when in Arabia, he fell in with a small wandering tribe, who refused to drink wine, not on Mohammedan prin. ciples, but because it had in old time been "forbidden by JONADAB, the son of RECHAB, their father." Compare Jeremiah xxxv. 19, "JONADAB, the son of RECHAB, shall not want a man to stand before me for ever." [Also, verse 8.] It will be found in MR. WOLFE'S Journal. ["Magog," see Ezek. xxxviii, xxxix.] (27) "Of Rest." Page 35. A very obvious objection to the views of Rest here given, has probably occurred to more than one religious reader of the English Bible; "there remaineth a rest for the people of God," doubtless intending the heavenly inheritance. If the Greek Testament is referred to (Heb. iv. 9), the word translated "rest" will be found to be σaßßarioμós; a sabbatism, or perpetual sabbath, a rest indeed from evil, but very far from being a rest from good: an eternal act of ecstatic intellectual worship, or temporary acts in infinite series. It is true that another word, kаяáяаνσis, implying complete cessation, occurs in the context; but this is used of the earthly image, Joshua's rest in Canaan; the material rest of earth becomes in the skies a spiritual sabbath; although I am ready to admit that the Apostle goes on to argue from the word of the type. In passing, let us observe, by way of showing the uncertainty of trusting to any isolated expression of the present scriptural version, that there are no less than six several words of various meaning which in our New Testament are all indifferently rendered rest; as in Matt. xii. 43, ἀνάπαυσις: in John xi. 13, κοίμησις : in Heb. iii. 11, κατάπανσις: in Acts ix. 31, ɛipývn: in 2 Thess. i. 7, ävɛots: and in Heb. iv. 9, caßßarioμós. The Koiμnois is, I apprehend, what is generally meant by rest; so wishes Byron's Giaour to "sleep without the dream of what he was;" so he who in life "loathed the languor of repose," avows that he "would not, if he might, be blest, and sought no paradise but Rest." Such, at least, is not the Christian's sabbath, which indeed fully agrees, as might be expected, with metaphysical inquiries: a good spirit cannot rest from activity in good, nor an evil one from activity in evil. Rest, in its common slothful accepta. tion, is not possible, or is at any rate very improbable, in the case of spiritual creatures. (28) "Calm night that breedeth thoughts." Page 35. Euopóvn [i. e., night, and strictly euphemistic for vú, the kindly, or the balmy, refreshing one; fr. suppwv,] Another delicate example of the Greek elegance in mind and language. (29) "Proteus," &c. Page 42. Compare Virgil, Geor. IV., 405, 412. "Tum variæ eludent species atque ora ferarum. |