while we read; we may imagine that the desolation is spreading while we turn over the pages. DR. SHAW, in the following description of this fearful insect, has furnished us with an interesting illustration of the prophetic denouncement: "I never observed the mantes (a kind of locusts) to be gregarious; but the locusts, properly so called, which are so frequently mentioned by sacred, as well as profane authors, are sometimes so beyond expression. Those which I saw, anno 1724 and 1725, were much bigger than our common grasshoppers, and had brown spotted wings, with legs and bodies of a bright yellow. Their first appearance was towards the latter end of March, the wind having been some time from the south. In the middle of April their numbers were so vastly increased, that in the heat of the day they formed themselves into large and numerous swarms, flew in the air like a succession of clouds, and as the prophet Joel (ii. 10.) expresses it, they darkened the sun. When the wind blew briskly, so that these swarms were crowded by others, or thrown one upon another, we had a lively idea of that comparison of the Psalmist, (Ps. cxix. 23.) of being tossed up and down as the locust. In the month of May, when the ovaries of these insects were ripe and turgid, each of these swarms began gradually to disappear, and retired into the Metijiah, and other adjacent plains, where they deposited their eggs. These were no sooner hatched in June, than each of the broods collected itself into a compact body of a furlong or more in square, and marching afterwards directly forward towards the sea, they let nothing escape them; eating up every thing that was green and juicy, not only the lesser kinds of vegetables, but the vine likewise, the fig tree, the pomegranate, the palm, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, (Joel, i. 12.) in doing which, they kept their ranks like men of war, climbing over, as they advanced, every tree or wall that was in their way; nay, they entered in our very houses and bed-chambers like thieves. The inhabitants, to stop their progress, made a variety of pits and trenches all over their fields and gardens, which they filled with water; or else they heaped up therein heath, stubble, and such like combustible matter, which were severally set on fire upon the approach of the locusts. But this was all to no purpose, for the trenches were quickly filled up, and the fires extinguished by infinite swarms succeeding one another, whilst the front was regardless of danger, and the rear pressed on so close, that a retreat was altogether impossible. A day or two after one of these broods were in motion, others were already hatched to march and glean after them, gnawing off the very bark, and the young branches of such trees, as had before escaped with the loss only of their fruit and foliage. So justly have they been compared by the prophet Joel (ii. 3.) to a great army, who further observes, that the land is as the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness.— SHAW'S Travels into Barbary and the Levant. p. 187. 4to, Lond. 1757. ISAIAH, vii. 20. Dr. LowтH renders this passage "In that day, JEHOVAH shall shave by the hired razor, The head and the hair of the feet; And even the beard itself shall be destroyed." and illustrates it in the following way: To shave with the hired razor the head, the feet, and the beard, is an expression highly parabolical; to denote the utter devastation of the country from one end to the other, and the plundering of the people, from the highest to the lowest, by the Assyrians; whom God employed as his instrument to punish the Jews. Ahaz himself, in the first place, hired the king of Assyria to come to help him against the Syrians, by a present made to him of all the treasures of the temple, as well as his own: and God himself considered the great nations, whom he thus employed, as his mercenaries, and paid them their wages; thus he paid Nebuchadnezzar for his services against Tyre, by the conquest of Egypt. (Ezek. xxix. 18-20.) The hairs of the head are those of the highest order in the state; those of the feet, or the lower parts, are the common people; the beard is the king, 6 the high priest, the very supreme in dignity and majesty. The Eastern people have always held the beard in the highest veneration, and have been extremely jealous of its honour. To pluck a man's beard is an instance of the greatest indiguity that can be offered. (See Isaiah, 1. 6.) The king of the Ammonites, to shew the utmost contempt of David, cut off half the beards of his servants; and the men were greatly ashamed and David bade them tarry at Jericho till their beards were grown.' 2 Sam. x. 4, 5. Niebuhr, Arabie, p. 275, gives a modern instance of the very same kind of insult. "The Turks," says, Thevenot," greatly esteem a man who has a fine beard; it is a very great affront to take a man by his beard, unless it be to kiss it: they swear by the beard. Voyages, i. p. 57. D'Arvieux gives a remarkable instance of an Arab, who, having received a wound in his jaw, chose to hazard his life, rather than suffer his surgeon to take off his beard. Memoires, tom. iii. p. 214. See also Niebuhr, Arabie, p. 61. GENESIS, xxix. 18. And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter. In this unadorned narrative of the persevering endeavours of Jacob to obtain for his wife the fair daughter of Laban, we have an example of such passages of Scripture as require, and amply receive, illustration from the researches of modern travellers. That it was usual both in ancient and modern times, among the people of the East, to purchase the bride, has been shown by ROSENMÜLLER, as cited by BURDER. (Oriental Literature, vol. i. p. 56.) "Among many people of the East, in ancient and modern times, we find it customary, not for the bride to bring a dowry to the bridegroom, but the bridegroom must, in a manner, purchase the girl, whom he intends to marry, from the father. Therefore Shechem says, (in chap. xxxiv. 12.) to Dinah's father and brothers, Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife.' In the same manner Tacitus relates, that, among the ancient Germans, the wife did not bring the dowry to the man, but the man to the woman. The parents and relations are present, who examine the gifts, and choose not such as are adapted to female dress, or to adorn the bride, but oxen, and a harnessed horse, a shield, and a sword. In return for these presents he receives the wife.' This custom still prevails among the Bedouins. When a young man meets with a girl to his taste, he asks her of her father through one of his relations: they now treat about the number of camels, sheep, or horses, that the son-in-law will give to the father for his daughter; for the Bedouins never save any money, and their wealth consists only in cattle. A man that marries must therefore literally purchase his wife, and the fathers are most fortunate who have many daughters. They are the principal riches of the family. When, therefore, a young man negociates with the father whose daughter he intends to marry, he says,-Will you give me your daughter for fifty sheep, six camels, or twelve cows ?-If he is not rich enough to give so much, he offers a mare or foal. The qualities of the girl, the family, and the fortune of him that intends to marry her, are the principal considerations in making the bargain.' Customs of the Bedouin Arabs by D'Arvieux, p. 119. This is confirmed by Sietzen, in his account of the Arab tribes whom he visited in 1808. The ceremonies at the marriage of a wandering Arab are remarkable; a young Arab knows a girl who pleases him; he goes to her father, and makes his wishes known to him. The latter speaks to his daughter. Daughter,' says he, there is one who asks you for his wife: the man is good, and it depends upon yourself if you will become his wife; you have my consent.' If the girl refuses, there is an end of the matter; if she is contented, the father returns to his guest, and informs him of the happy íntelligence. But,' he adds, I demand the price of the girl.' This consists of five camels; but generally, by the intervention of others, a couple more are added, and those given are frequently miserable enough. Niebuhr also found this custom among the Curds, and Turcomans, who lead a wandering shep 6 herd's life. It is said, that a Curd of an ancient family asks fifty purses (above 165,000 dollars) for his daughter, and gives her but a small dowry; whereas the considerable Arabs and Turks generally expend upon the dowry, not only what they have received from the bridegroom, but a great deal besides : many daughters are therefore to them a fortune.' Travels, part ii. p. 420. In Anderson and Iverson's Travels, (p. 22.) it is said of the Banians, that it is customary, on their marriages, for the bridegroom or his parents to give to the parents of the bride a piece of money for their daughter, and therefore to purchase the bride. He that has fair daughters and many, may become rich in this manner; and for this reason the Banians would rather have more daughters than sons. Adam Brands, in his enlarged description of his great Journey to China, says of the Siberian Tartars, when any body intends to marry, and the bridegroom asks his future father-in-law for his daughter, he does not immediately obtain bis consent, but the future father-in-law asks, - Have you the means of paying for the girl you desire? If you have, you may obtain her.-The bridegroom has to give forty or fifty rubles to his father-in-law for the bride, and in this manner the agreement is settled. Now if there is one who does not possess so much, nor is able to obtain it from others in order to pay this sum immediately, he is obliged so long to do without a wife; on the contrary, if he immediately pay the sum agreed upon, he obtains his bride without further difficulty. He says the same of the Tungese. Though these people now lead a miserable life, they still continue to take many wives. But they must give the father, for their wives, ten and sometimes twelve rein-deer.' Where such a custom prevails, it is very natural that the bridegroom, when he has no property, should obtain his bride by serving her father; and Jacob was obliged to have recourse to these means, because he was in a strange land, and saw no other way. Similar customs, according to an account written in the seventeenth century, are not uncommon in Guinea. Courtship is made in Guinea, by presents and services, and proceeds very slowly for some who have no means of giving presents, obtain their wives by servitude. They build 6 |