that Joshua is to be understood literally of a shower of stones. Such a circumstance, so far from being impossible, has several times occurred. The Romans, who looked upon showers of stones as very disastrous, have noticed many instances of them. Under the reign of Tullus Hostilius, when it was known to the people of Rome that a shower of stones had fallen on the mountain of Alba, at first it seemed incredible. They sent out proper persons to inquire into this prodigy, and it was found that stones had falled after the same manner as a storm of hail driven by the wind. (TIT. Liv. Lib. 1. decad. 1. p. 12. Idem lib. 25, 30, 34, 35. et Alibi passim.) Some time after the battle at Canne there was seen upon the same mountain of Alba a shower of stones, which continued for two days together. In 1538, near a village in Italy called Tripergola, after some shocks of an earthquake, there was seen a shower of stones and dust, which darkened the air for two days, after which they observed that a mountain had risen up in the midst of the Lucrine Lake. (MONTFAUCON,

Diar. Italic. cap. 21.)

No. 76. xxiv. 30.] There is a remarkable addition in the Septuagint to the Sacred History concerning Joshua, which deserves attention, and naturally engages the mind to enquire, whether it was made by the Eyptian translators of the Jewish scriptures, in conformity to what they knew was practised in the burials of Egypt, or whether it was on that account expunged by the Jewish critics from the Hebrew original. The Vatican copy of the Septuagint has given us this addition to the account that appears in the Hebrew copies of the interment of Joshua. (Ch. xxiv. v. 30.) "These they put with him, into the sepulchre in which they "buried him, the knives of flint with which he circum"cised the children of Israel in Gilgal, when he brought

"them out of Egypt, as the Lord commanded them, "and there they are unto this day." On the contrary, the famous Alexandrine copy of the Septuagint, and some others, have not these clauses. Whether this superadded account is spurious or not, there seems to be a manifest allusion to the manner in which the ancient Egyptians were accustomed to bury their dead. Maillet informs us, "that sometime before he wrote, the principal person of Sacara, a village near the plain where the mummies lie buried, caused some of these subterraneous vaults to be opened, and as he was very much my friend, he communicated to me various curiosities, a great number of mummies, of wooden figures, and inscriptions in hieroglyphical and unknown characters, which were found there. In one of these vaults they found, for instance, the coffin and embalmed body of a woman, before which was placed a figure of wood, representing a youth on his knees, laying a finger on his mouth, and holding with his other hand a sort of chafing-dish, which was placed on his head, and in which without doubt, had been some perfumes. This youth had divers hieroglyphical characters on his stomach. They broke this figure in pieces, to see if there was any gold inclosed in it. There was found in the mummy, which was opened in like manner for the same reason, a small vessel, about a foot long, filled with the same kind of balsam with that made use of to preserve bodies from corruption; perhaps this might be a mark by which they distinguished those persons who had been employed in embalming the dead." (p. 277.) He goes on; "I caused another mummy to be opened, which was the body of a female, and which had been given me by the Sieur Baggary, it was opened in the house of the Capuchin fathers of this city (Grand Cairo. (This mummy had its right hand placed upon its stomach, and under this hand were found the strings of

a musical instrument, perfectly well preserved. From hence I should conclude, that this was the body of a person that used to play on this instrument, or at least of one that had a great taste for music. I am persuaded that if every mummy were examined with the like care, we should find some sign or other by which the character of the party would be known." The burying of those knives of flint with Joshua, must have been done, or supposed to have been done, as a mark of an event the most remarkable of his life, in conformity to the Egyptian modes of distinguishing the dead, by tokens of a similar nature.

HARMER, vol. 4. p. 398.

K

No. 77.-JUDGES iii. 18.

When he had made an end to offer the present.

THERE is often in the east a great deal of pomp and parade in presenting their gifts. "Through ostentation," says MAILLET, (Lett. x. p. 86.) " they never fail to load upon four or five horses what might easily be carried by one. In like manner as to jewels, trinkets, and other things of value, they place in fifteen dishes, what a single plate would very well hold." Something of this pomp seems to be referred to in this passage, where we read of making an end of offering the present, and of a number of people who conveyed it. This remark also illustrates 2 Kings, viii. 9. So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camel's burden.

HARMER, vol. ii. p. 18.

No. 78.-iii. 19. All that stood by him went out from him.] From a circumstance mentioned by Mr. BRUCE, it appears that Ehud acted in strict conformity to the customs of the time and place, so that neither the suspicion of the king nor his attendants should be excited by his conduct. It was usual for the attendants to retire when secret messages were to be delivered. "I drank a dish of coffee, and told him, that I was a bearer of a confidential message from Ali Bey of Cairo, and wished to deliver it to him without witness, whenever he pleased. The room was accordingly cleared without delay, excepting his secretary, who was also going away, when I pulled him back by the clothes, saying, stay, if you please we shall need you to write the answer." (Tra vels. vol. i. p. 153.)

No. 79.-iii. 31. And after him was Shamgar, the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad.] Mr. MAUNDR ELL, (Journey at April 15.) has an observation which at once explains this transaction, and removes every difficulty from the passage. He says, "the country people were now every where at plough in the fields, in order to sow cotton. It was observable, that in ploughing they used goads of an extraordinary size; upon measuring of several, I found them about eight feet long, and at the bigger end six inches in circumference. They were armed at the lesser end with a sharp prickle for driving the oxen, and at the other end with a small spade, or paddle of iron, strong and massy, for cleansing the plough from the clay that encumbers it in working. May we not from hence conjecture, that it was with such a goad as one of these, that Shamgar made that prodigious slaughter related of him, Judges iii. 51. I am confident that whoever should see one of these instruments, would judge it to be a weapon not less fit, perhaps fitter, than a sword for such an execution. Goads of this sort I saw always used hereabouts, and also in Syria; and the reason is, because the same single person both drives the oxen, and also holds and manages the plough; which makes it necessary to use such a goad as is above described, to avoid the imcumbrance of two instruments."

No. 80.-iv. 17-20.] POCOCKE, giving an account of the manner in which he was treated in an Arab tent, in his journey to Jerusalem, says his conductor led him two or three miles to his tent, and that there he sat with his wife and others round a fire. "The Arabs are not so scrupulous as the Turks about their women, and though they have their harem, or women's part of