paffing of an herd into a valley', if we understand it as a reference to the flying of the wild Arabs of the Defert from their enemies, by which they fecure their liberties, and avoid the effects of the ambition of great princes, defirous of enflaving as many of mankind as they poffibly can; yet, I think, it has never been confidered in that light. The paffage I refer to lies thus in our common tranflation: "That led them through "the deep, as an horse in the Wilderness, that they should not ftumble? As a beast goeth down into the valley, the spirit of the "Lord caufed him to reft; fo didft thou "lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name. I do not know how it affects the mind of other people; but understood as merely referring to the unobstructed running of a fingle horse in a plain, and the defcent of a beaft into a valley to take it's repose there, it seems to me too low and unanimated, especially confidering the manner in which this prophet is wont to write. More furprising ftill, when we recollect that the prophet is here describing a scene by which God acquired to himself a glorious name, and which, confequently, demanded the greatest Strength and magnificence of thought. The Bishop of London, who fo often affifts us through the difficulties that occur in Ch. 63. 13, 14. reading reading this prophet, fails us here, only "So didft thou lead thy people, to make thyself a name illustrious. 66 And giving a different reading or two in a note on the 14th verfe. The manner in which his Lordship has pointed these verses is, undoubtedly, an improvement, as are alfo fome things in the translation; but ftill an uneafy fenfation is felt, arifing from fomething like meannefs in the metaphors here made ufe of, though it is fomewhat abated in this his tranflation. Nor doth it appear, why, in order to rest, an herd should defcend into a valley. According to Dr. Shaw, the hills must afford them as pleafing and comfortable places for their repofe, as the valleys. The Eastern hills, according to this agreable writer, are oftentimes stocked" with fhrubs and a delicate "fhort grafs, which the cattle are more "fond of, than of fuch as is common to▸ "fallow ground and meadows. Neither is "the grazing and feeding of cattle peculiar "to Judæa; it is ftill practised all over "Mount Libanus, the Caftravan mountains, " and "and Barbary, where the higher grounds are appropriated to this ufe, as the plains and "valleys are referved for tillage. For, be"fides the good management and œconomy, there is this further advantage in it, "that the milk of cattle fed in this manner, "is far more rich and delicious, at the fame "time, their flesh is more fweet and nourishing '.' A page or two after he tells "Even at prefent, notwithstanding the want there "has been for many ages of proper cul"ture and improvement, yet the plains and "valleys, though as fruitful as ever, lie "almost entirely neglected, whilst every little hill is crowded with inhabitants. us, "The reafon is plain and obvious; inas"much as they find here fufficient con"veniences for themselves, and much greater for their cattle. For they themselves have "here bread to the full; whilft their cattle "brouze upon richer herbage; and both of "them are refreshed by fprings of excellent "water, too much wanted, efpecially in "the fummer feafon, not only in the plains "of this, but of other countries in the fame "climate"." If this account is juft, a reader may wonder why the prophet mentions an herd's defcending into a valley, in order to it's resting. P. 338. ed. 1757. 4to. 2 P. 340. But But if we confider this metaphor as pointing at what happens among the wild Arabs, every part of it will appear, I apprehend, perfectly clear and juft; and the image will be placed in a point of light, in which it will strike us with it's liveliness and magnificence both. I would begin the explanation of the paffage, by obferving, that the original Hebrew word (Sus), in the fingular, fignifies not only a fingle horse, but cavalry, or a number of horses with riders on them: juft as we use the word horfe to exprefs a fingle animal of that fpecies; and at other times use it to express the horsemen of an army. Thus the word is ufed Exod. xiv. 9, 23, to express the horfe of Pharaoh's army that pursued after the Ifraelites. Now if it expreffes the horse of the Egyptian army, it may as well here express the horse of the inhabitants of the Wilderness, that is, the Arab horfe or cavalry. For in the Scriptures the Arabs are reprefented as diftinguished from other nations, by their abode in the wilderneffes of the Eaft. Jer. iii. 2, is a fufficient proof of this: "Lift 66 up thine eyes to the high places, and fee "where thou haft not been lien with in "the ways haft thou fat for them, as the ' "Arabian in the wilderness, and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms." The Arab horse are now, it should seem, remarkable for the surprising swiftness with VOL. III. G which which they withdraw themselves out of the reach of mighty princes, who have sometimes attempted to purfue them. I have elsewhere given an account, from Maillet and de la Roque, of this prodigious fwiftness with which they withdraw out of danger': to which I may add, from the last of those two writers, that the great Emir of Mount Carmel had a mare (for it seems they ride them in preference to ftallions, or even caftrated horfes, as beft fuiting them, on account of their greater filence, gentleness, and ability to bear fatigue, hunger, and thirst, which qualities they have found from experience they poffefs above the males of that fpecies; I fay this prince had a mare, according to him,) whom he would not have parted from for 5000 crowns, having carried him three days and three nights together without eating or drinking, and by this means delivered him out of the hands of those that pursued after him 2. Such an account of the horse of the Wilderness, takes away all meannefs from this part of the reprefentation of the prophet, (v. 13,) and throws the utmost livelinefs into the defcription of the withdrawing of Ifrael, through the Red-Sea, from Pharaoh, and escaping out of his hands, when he pursued after them with a great army, and in a terrible rage; yet they were brought off, by a divine interObferv. ch. 2. obf. 2, 10. 2 Voy. dans la Paleftine, ch. 11. p. 163. pofition, |