fiftance of their clotted hair, except the yeomen of the knights and efquires, under the fubjection of the English, whose lords were obliged by the ftatute of Henry VII. to find them falets, and other armour. Body armour of every kind was unknown to the Irish before the tenth century; the coat of mail is however mentioned in the Brehon Laws, and by the ftatute of Henry VII. the Irish gentry, as above mentioned, were directed to provide their yeomen with jacks as well as falets; they also wore the haubergeon. Corfelets of pure gold have been found in the county of Kerry; these Mr. Walker rather thinks might have been left by the Spaniards, who had a fortification near that place. Refpecting the fhields ufed by the Irish, the author is not very explicit; he fays, that but one metal fhield has been found in the bogs. Spencer fays they were long and broad, made with wicker rods, and alfo defcribes round leathern targets, coloured red after the Spanish fashion, as being used in many parts of Ireland. The Pavice is mentioned in the ftatute of Henry VIII. The offenfive weapons were the Sword, the Skeine or dagger, the Fiadhgha, or Crannuibh, a fpear or javelin, chiefly appropriated to hunting; it was pointed with flint or bone, and with this they killed their prey; to the end which remained in the hand was affixed a thong of leather, by which either the beaft was retained or the fpear recovered. As arts improved, the Irish used metal headed fpears of different forms, for throwing which they became famous. The Tuagh Catha, or battle axe, was another offenfive weapon ufed by the Irish, borrowed, as is fuppofed, from the Norwegians; the dexterity, fays Mr. Walker, with which it appears the Irish used the battle axe, evinces their fondnefs for it. It was probably in order that they might deal the more deadly strokes with this weapon, that, as Campion relates, they left the right arm of their children unchriftened. The Krann Tabbath, wooden fling, or fling fixed to a ftaff, was also used by the Irish; which Mr. Harris, as quoted by Mr. Walker, conjectures to have been fimilar to that defcribed by Vegetius, as a ftaff four feet long, to which was fastened a fling of leather; this being driven forward by both hands, directs a stone almoft like a wild afs. This fentence is fomewhat obfcure, as it seems doubtful whether Mr. Harris means the animal called a wild afs, or the onager, a machine named after it. Mr. Walker just mentions the Celt as another weapon, which he names a fling hatchet, but modeftly owns his inability to decide the question fo long agitated among antiquaries, i. e. to what use the Celt was appropriated, whether that of a weapon or a tool. The Crannib, or club, as the author juftly observes, requires no defcription. Archery, Archery, Mr. Walker thinks, was not ufed by the Irifh till the English invafion; divers laws were afterward enacted to enforce the practice of it in the English pale, and for fupplying bow ftaves. A fociety of archers long fubfifted in Dublin. The ancient military machines were the Crax Tabhaill, an engine for throwing ftones; and The Sow, a kind of movable houfe of ftrong boards, used to cover the workmen in their approaches to the walls of a town or caftle. One of thefe Sows was used against the walls of Lifchane, in the year 1599. The ancient Irifh are faid to have likewife ufed the Carab, or military chariot. Fire arms, Mr. Walker fays, were unknown in Ireland till the year 1489, when fix mufquets were brought to Dublin from Germany, and prefented to Gerald Earl of Kildare, who armed his guard with them. The Appendix, No. 1. gives a very entertaining account of the cuftoms, manners, and drefs, of the inhabitants of the Roffes, in the County of Donegal. No. 2. contains a defcriptive catalogue of the Irish implements of war in the collection of Ralph Oufley, Efq. No. 3. An account of three relics of antiquity found in Ireland; the firft a golden crefcent, floped like an officer's gorget; 2d, A brazen head, with a fingular head-drefs; the 3d, a golden ring or amulet, with an Irish infcription, in Gothic characters of the 14th century. No. 4. Statute of the 10th of Henry VII. enacting that the fubjects of Ireland fhould have bows, and armour. No. 5. A lift of the plates, with obfervations; in which Fig. 1. Plate 12. is called a Knight Templar; but on what grounds, it is not apparent. We cannot fay much in the praife of feveral of the plates, particularly thofe reprefenting the human figure. The Frontispiece, the Broche, and the plate of weapons, are the best. On the whole, Mr. Walker has drawn together many curious particulars, which were fcattered through a number of different authors; and has given us defigns of divers ancient weapons and other remains of antiquity, locked up in the cabinets of the virtuofi. His work, therefore, we conceive, will give information to many of his readers, and pleasure to all. Gro-e. ART. V. An Attempt to tranflate and explain the difficult Passages in the Song of Deborah, with the Affiftance of Kennicott's Collations, Roll's Verfions, and critical Conjecture. By the Rev. Stephen Weston, B. D. Re&tor of Mamhead, &c. 4to. 28. Payne, &c. 1788. I F the poetical beauties of the Song of Deborah are the object of general admiration, the obfcurity which envelopes many parts of it ftill remains to be deplored by the critic and the Chriftian. Chriftian. Some light has, indeed, been thrown on it by fcholars of diftinguished reputation, and particularly by Profeffor Schnurrer, in a Differtation, marked by found learning and critical fagacity. Yet much, very much, ftill remains to be done, nor fhould he who endeavours to perform it be charged with arrogance or vanity. The merit of good intention, at leaft, cannot be denied to Mr. Wefton; and if he hath failed in an attempt which always feemed difficult, and which the failure of fo many refpectable writers has now rendered almoft hopeless, his character as a critic can receive no injury. We confefs he has not often convinced us that his obfervations are juft, and we have fometimes feen, or thought we faw, reafons for pronouncing them erroneous. His intemperate ufe of conjecture must be condemned, unrefervedly, fince whoever, on-such a subject, appeals to no authority but his own guefles, incurs a perilous risk of being wrong, without the poffibility of eftablishing what may happen to be right. The praise, however, of learning and ingenuity we wish not to with-hold from Mr. W. That he is entitled to it, will indeed appear in fome measure, even from those paffages of his work in which we shall cenfure him without apology, and diffent from him without referve. After enumerating fome of the most remarkable tranflations which have been given of verfe 2. and rejecting each in its turn, the author proceeds to propofe and eftablifh his own. Inftead on the authority of the Vatican copy פרכת he reads פרעות of כפרע פרכת בישראל of the LXX. and tranlates the words For the taking away the veil that was in Ifrael.' He thinks that this reading agrees, admirably, with the exigencies of the paffage, and may be defended from Ifaiah, xxv. 7. where the deftruction of the veil fpread over all nations is the deftruction of the enemy and the oppreffor. The veil on Ifrael, he fays, means the terror of Sifera and Jabin. We cannot affent implicitly to this emendation, and we must remark that the word n is very different from that which is ufed by Ifaiah. It fignifies properly velum difterminans, and is, we believe, in every paffage of Scripture where it occurs, exclufively applied to the veil of the Tabernacle, or the Temple, which feparated the Holy of Holles from the Sanctuary. But Ifaiah, xxv. 7. is velum fuperne tegens, tegumentum, tegmen. The word is found but twice in the whole Bible, Judges, v. 2. and Deut. xxxii. 42. In order, therefore, to rid us' entirely of a word of uncertain import and no fmall difficulty,' Mr. W. after having expelled it from the former paffage, very kindly fteps out of his way to fubftituren for it in the latter, on the authority of one Samaritan MS. He is of opinion that the verfion of Aquila, arо negaλng aπomeтaσμevwv, is grounded on this reading: and he renders the phrafe WD a capite pubefcentium, aut expanforum. expanforum. Inftead, however, of adopting Mr. W.'s conjec tures, we are difpofed to acquiefce in the fenfe which Schnurrer, and after him Kennicott, has affixed to y. The Arabic root fignifies in fummo fuit, fummum cepit, vel tenuit. Hence, probably, the name of the Pharaohs, the Kings of Egypt, and hence the Arabs call the head or chief of a family or tribe E. We think that two diftinct claffes of men are clearly pointed out, the common people and their leaders. In Judges, the people are marked by the ufual term y, in Deuteronomy by and, and in both paffages we would tranflate .leaders פרעות יבחר Mr. W. reads יבחר אלהים קדשים Verfe 8. for The Lord chofe Kedesh of the Weft.' Becaufe, fays he, we learn from the laft chapter that Barak was called out of Kedefh, and Kedefh of the Weft wants no explanation. We cannot admit the charge of corruption against this paffage, notwithstanding the confidence with which it is alleged by our critic and his emendation appears to us not only unneceffary, but far-fetched and unnatural. Verse 10. Mr. W. reads for ; and tranflates by, not very elegantly we think, or even intelligibly, Ye who fit ftill on a fufficiency.' Verfe 11. Mr. Wefton juftly remarks that the interpretations of this verse are more obfcure than the verse itself. We agree שיחו are to be connected with מקול מחצצים with him that in the preceding verfe; and we think that he has properly tranflated above the voice.' In the latter part of the verfe, he fays that Ty means courage, military prowess. Schultens and Schnurrer had made the fame remark before, though he has not thought proper to fhelter himself under their authority. Going down to the gates,' fays our author, fhews the fecurity of victory, in contradiftinction to the affertion in the eighth verfe. When the battle was over, and the enemy put to flight, the troops returned, each to its own gates, in fafety, and without annoyance. "Dum latrociniis Chananæorum obnoxii erant Ifraelita," fays Schulzius in his Scholia on this chapter, "multas urbes non fatis munitas deferuerant, aut in rupes etiam invias confugerant: at nunc, iis viltis, oppida fua repetituri erant, villafque vicinas iterum habitaturi." Verse 13. is thus rendered by Mr. W. Then when the remainder defcended after their chiefs, the people of Jehovah defcended with me againft the mighty.' Funkius confiders 77 as the imperative, and renders the paffage thus: Jam Fam defcende, fuperftes, ad heroas! Verse 20. Mr. Wefton underftands the expreffion the ftars in their courses fought againft Sifera' to mean, that the ftars did not appear for him, that he was routed and driven into the brook Kifhon in the dark. This interpretation appears to us ill fuited to the grandeur of the expreffion, or to the fublimity from heaven מן שמים גלחמו of the firft part of the verfe they fought,' de coelo pugnatum eft. Poffibly there is fome allufion to the popular opinion refpecting the influence of the heavenly bodies over human affairs. Or more probably, by that kind of parallelifm which is fo frequent in Hebrew poetry, the fenfe of both hemiftichs is the fame: and the whole, perhaps, refers to the violent form which Jofephus fays beat in the faces of the Canaanites, and deprived them of the ufe of their moft formidable weapons. Hence too, perhaps, fome light may be thrown on the next verfe, The river Kishon swept them away.' According to Shaw, the river Kifhon is not large enough to produce the effects which are here afcribed to it, unless we fuppofe it, like other torrents which defcend from the mountains, to have been fuddenly fwollen by fome fuch ftorms as Jofephus describes. Verfe 21. In the fecond claufe, Mr. W. omits the first word and tranflates, The river כדמים reads קדומים for-נחל Kishon cut them off;' or literally, as their cutting off was the river Kifhon.' This emendation appears to us inadmiffible. We think p is the true reading; and we would translaten, on the authority of Simonis, torrens victo riarum. is rendered by בספל אדירים הקריבה חמאה .2 Verfe Mr. W. In a lordly difh, the brought him cream.' Our readers will, perhaps, thank us for tranfcribing the judicious and fatisfactory note of Schnurrer, with which we fhail close this article.-"Mirum videri poffit, homini lafso et fitibundo, qui ad calorem refrigerandum, fitimque reftinguendam aquæ hauftum petit, butyrum una cum la&te offerri. Verum non, ut vulgo credi tur, illud fignificat quod nobis butyrum eft, fed lactis potius quandam fpeciem, coagulatum nempe feu oxygalam Atque fic Jofepho etiam fua conftat fides atque autoritas narranti (Archæpl. lib. v. cap. 6.). Propofitum fuiffe Sifera yana diepopos non, lac corruptum, i. e. acidum factum, quod jufto copiofius hauftum mox ebrietatem cum ar&tiore fomno illi induxerit. Nimirum commode obfervat ill. Michaëlis in Not. ad Jud. iv. 19. camelini laɛtis, cum acidum faltum fit, eam effe naturam, ut vino etiam citius ebrietatem arceffat bibentibus, nec dubium videri poffe quin Heberus Kenita, ex Arabica gente oriundus, camelos aluerit, Arabibus omnium maxime adamatos. Sufpicatur |