even the smoking flax, or the wick of a lamp, which, when it first begins to kindle, is put out by every little motion. With such kind and condescending regards to the weakest of his people, and to the first openings and symptoms of a hopeful character, shall he proceed till he send forth judgment unto victory, or till he make his righteous cause victorious. This place is quoted in Matt. xii. 20, where, by an easy metonomy, the material for the thing made, flax, is used for the wick of a lamp or taper; and that, by a synecdoche for the lamp or taper itself, which, when near going out, yields more smoke than light. He will not extinguish, or put out, the dying lamp.'

In Jer. xiii. 1, a linen girdle is mentioned; and in Ezek. xl. 3, a measuring line of flax.

Our version having more than once mentioned 'the fine linen of Egypt,' numbers of people have been ready to imagine, that their linen manufactures were of the most delicate kind; whereas, in truth, they were but coarse. This is proved by examining that in which their embalmed bodies are found wrapped up. So Hasselquist observes: The ancients have said much of the fine linen of Egypt; and many of our learned men imagine that it was so fine and precious, that we have even lost the art, and cannot make it so good. They have been induced to think so by the commendations which the Greeks have lavished on the Egyptian linen. They had good reason for doing it, for they had no flax themselves, and were unacquainted with the art of weaving: but were we to compare a piece of Holland linen with the linen in which the mummies were laid, and which is of the oldest and best manufacture of Egypt, we shall find that the fine linen of Egypt is very coarse in comparison with what is now made. The Egyptian linen was fine, and sought after by kings and princes, when Egypt was the only country that cultivated flax and knew how to use it.'

Our translators have been unfortunate in this article, says Dr. Harris, in supposing that one of the words might signify silk, and forgetting cloth made of cotton. When Joseph was arrayed in Egypt as viceroy of that country, they represent him as clothed in vestures of fine linen' (Gen. xli. 42), but being dubious of the meaning of the word there, they render it 'silk' in the margin. This was very unhappy: for they not only translate the word linen' in a multitude of other places; but, certainly, whatever the word signifies, it cannot mean silk, which was not used, we have reason to think, in those parts of the world, till long after the time of Joseph. They have gone farther, for they have made the word 'silk,' the textual translation of the Hebrew term, in Prov. xxxi. 22, which verse describes the happy effects of female Jewish industry. 'She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is pink and purple.' They suppose, then, that the Jewish women, of not the highest rank in the time of Solomon, were clothed with vestments made of a material so precious in former times, we are told, as to be sold for its weight in gold.

CHAPTER III.

TREES.

We now advance a step higher in our botanical researches, and proceed to a consideration of the dendrology of the sacred writings. The consecration of groves to the gods of Pagan antiquity is a circumstance with which every reader of ancient history must be familiar. The custom is so ancient, that it is thought to have been antecedent to the consecration of temples and altars. This, however, is very questionable, for the ashel of Abraham, rendered grove' in the English version of the Bible, being differently expressed from the consecrated groves spoken of in the Old Testament, is rather to be understood of a single tree; perhaps the oak, or the tamarisk. But be this as it may, it is certain that the use of sacred groves, for the celebration of mysteries, is of very high antiquity, and perhaps of all others the most universal. At first there were in these groves neither temple nor altar: they were simple retreats, to which there was no access for the profane, or such as were not devoted to the service of the gods. Afterwards temples were built in these retreats, and to preserve so ancient a custom, they took care, whenever they had it in their power, to plant groves round the temples and aitars, which groves were not only consecrated to the gods in honor of whom the temples had been built, but were themselves a place of sanctuary or an asylum for criminals, who fled thither for refuge.

This very prevalent custom seems to have originated in the conception, that shade and solitude gave an air of mystery and devotion to religious services; and were adapted to inspire the worshippers with a solemn and superstitious dread of those divinities which they were taught to believe were present in such sacred places. 'If you find,' says Seneca, a grove thick set with ancient oaks, that have shot up to a vast height, the tallness of the wood, the retirement of the place, and the pleasantness of the shade, immediately make you think it to be the residence of some god.' The prophet also intimates this to have been the reason: They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn inceuse upon the hills, under oaks and poplars, and elms, because the shadow thereof is good,' Hos. iv. 13.

As these groves were the more immediate scenes of these impure rites which formed the leading feature of the systems of, idollatrous worship, the Jewish legislator prohibited his people from planting trees around or near the altar of God: "Thou shalt not

plant thee a grove of any trees, near unto the altar of the Lord thy God,' Deut. xvi. 21. From their proneness to imitate the customs of the surrounding nations, however, the Jewish people became guilty of sacrificing in high places and in consecrated groves : and one of their kings carried his impiety so far as to plant one of these groves at Jerusalem, 2 Kings xxi. 7.

Landseer has attempted to show, that the word rendered 'groves' in our translation of the Scriptures, means rather a kind of orrery or armillary machine used for purposes of divination, which he supposes to have been about the height of a man.

It is certain that the word translated 'groves' cannot always be interpreted to mean a grove of trees, since we read of setting up groves under every green tree' (2 Kings, xvii. 8, &c.); nor can it always be strictly taken as an image, for we also read that the people 'made them molten images, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven,' and used divination, ver. 16, 17. (See also Judges vi. 25, 26, 28, 30). Hence Selden supposes, that the term was used for the images worshipped in the groves, especially Astarte or Venus. Others have conjectured that as by Baal was meant the sun, so by ashre or groves' was meant the moon, shipped as the queen of heaven.'

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SECTION I.

FRUIT TREES.

THE APPLE, OR CITRON TREE.

THE apple tree, is, in the several passages where it is spoken of, represented as one of the most noble trees in the garden of nature, emitting a delightful fragrance, and bearing fruit of a most delicious kind. 'As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste,' Cant. ii. 3. 'I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof; now also thy breast shall be as the clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples,' chap. vii. 8. In the following passage it is classed with those trees which are peculiarly beautiful and valuable: 'The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men,' Joel i. 12.

There are six places in which the word occurs; and from them we learn that it was thought the noblest of the trees of the wood, and that its fruit was very sweet or pleasant (Cant. ii. 3,) of the color of gold (Prov. xxv. 11,) extremely fragrant (Cant. viii. 8,) and proper for those to smell who were ready to faint, chap. ii. 5. The fifth and sixth passages (Cant. vii. 5, Joel, i. 12,) contain nothing particular, but the description the other four give, perfectly answers to the citron-tree and its fruit.

To the manner of serving up apples in his court, Solomon seems to refer, when he says, A word fitly spoken is like apples [citrons] of gold in pictures of silver,' Prov. xxv. 11: whether as Maimonides supposes, wrought with open work like baskets, or curiously chased, it is not material to determine.

THE ALMOND TREE.

THE almond tree is too well known to need a description here.. It flowers in the month of January, or February, and by March brings its fruits to maturity. To this there is a reference in the vi

sion of Jeremiah (ch. i. 11, 12); The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen, for I am hastening or watching over my word to fulfil it.' In this passage there is one of those paranomasias so frequent in the Hebrew Scriptures, but which it is impossible to preserve in any translation.

It is probable, as Parkhurst has suggested, that the chiefs of the tribes bore each an almond rod, as emblematical of their vigilance (Numb. xvii. 6-8); the dead almond rod of Aaron, which afterwards blossomed and bore fruit, was a very proper emblem of Him who first rose from the dead.

Solomon has beautifully described the approach and appearance of old age, according to the generality of interpreters, in the expression,The almond tree shall flourish' (Eccl. xii. 5)-its white blossoms appearing so soon, and presenting themselves on the bare branches; but it must be admitted that there is considerable force in what Mr. Harmer has urged against this interpretation. Gray hairs, he remarks, are quite consistent with vigorous and unailing old age; besides which, it is very untoward to suppose that the appearance of these blossoms, which marks out the finishing of the winter, the approach of the spring, the pleasantest time of the year, and exhibits the tree in all its beauty, should be used to represent the approach of the winter of human life, followed by death, and a disappearing from the land of the living. Surely the one, he continues, can hardly be intended to be descriptive of the other: and, if not, some other explanation must be sought for; though this one seems very early to have obtained, if we may judge from the translation of the Septuagint.

We have already seen that the Hebrew word signifies, literally, 'a watcher,' and that it is used metaphorically of the almond tree. Admitting this, Mr. Harmer suggests that the clause may naturally be interpreted, by explaining it of the frequency of the attendance of physicians, who appear oftenest at court, and flourish most there when the prince is in a very declining state, drawing near to death. See 2 Chronicles xvi. 21. The functions of a physician, with regard to the body, and of a watchman with respect to a palace, are not unlike: they appear from time to time at court; but much more observable as well as frequently, in seasons of apprehension and danger, than at other times.