proverbially distinguished his counting-house, the office of the secret committee of Congress, and that of Finance. An introduction to Mr. Morris, was a matter in course, with all the strangers in good society, who for half a century visited Philadelphia, either on commercial, public, or private business, and it is not saying too much to assert, that during a certain period, it greatly depended upon him to do the honours of the city; and certainly no one was more qualified or more willing to support them. Although active in the acquisition of wealth as a merchant, no one more freely parted with his gains, for public or private purposes of a meritorious nature, whether these were to support the credit of the government, to promote objects of humanity, local improvement, the welfare of meritorious individuals in society, or a faithful commercial servant. The instances in which he shone on all these occasions were numerous. Some in reference to the three former particulars have been mentioned, and many acts of disinterested generosity in respect to the last could easily be related. The prime of his life was engaged in discharging the most important civil trusts to his country, that could possibly fall to the lot of any man; and millions passed through his hands as a public officer, without the smallest breath of insinuation against his correctness, or of negligence, amidst "defaulters of unaccounted thousands," or the losses sustained by the reprehensible carelessness of national agents.

From the foregoing short account we may have some idea of the nature and magnitude of the services rendered by Robert Morris to the United States. It may be truly said, that few men acted a more conspicuous or useful part; and when we recollect that it was by his exertions and talents that the United States were so often relieved from their difficulties at times of great depression and pecuniary distress, an estimate may be formed of the weight of obligations due to him from the people of the present day. Justly, therefore, may an elegant historian of the American War say, "certainly the Americans owed, and still owe, as much acknowledgment to the financial operations of Robert Morris, as to the MARCH. 1823,-No. 251.

25

negotiations of Benjamin Franklin, or even the arms of George

Washington."

99*

After the close of the American war, Mr. Morris was among the first in the States who extensively engaged in the East India and China trade. He died in Philadelphia, in the year 1806, in the 73d of his age. year

ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE.t

ALTHOUGH the Bible was intended for the use of the whole world, yet, as it was primarily committed to the traditive care of a particular people, it must necessarily partake of the characters which their peculiar habits would attach to the literature of their country. The sacred writers, in their historical narratives, in their devotional compositions, and in their didactic and prophetical writings, abound in the use of terms and figures, of allusions and illustrations, peculiar to Oriental regions, and intelligible only to readers previously acquainted with the customs and manners of the East. An intimate knowledge of the physical and moral circumstances of the people of those countries, is indispensable, therefore, in order to our obtaining a correct interpretation of the holy Scriptures. Without the aids which are to be derived from this kind of knowledge, the most skilful philologists could but furnish us with a vernacular translation of the Bible, as unintelligible, in many instances, as the original itself would be to the mere English reader. Without detracting from the paramount merit and value of the labours of translators and critical expositors of the sacred text, we are disposed to award a high share of commendation to those useful subordinate labourers in the field of Biblical interpretation, who have collected and applied the facts and customs described by travellers in their reports of their foreign excursions, to the illustration of the Bible. In this department, the meritorious labours of Harmer are well known to the student. The "Oriental Customs" of Mr. Burder have also obtained a deserved popularity; and the ingenious Editor of Calmet, has, in his "Fragments," added considerably to the materials by means of which the obscurities of the Sacred Writings may be removed, and the truth of their representations illustrated.

* Botta's Hist. Am. War. vol. iii. p. 343.

Illustrations of the Holy Scriptures: in three parts. 1. From the Geography of the East. 2. From the Natural History of the East. 3. From the Customs of Ancient and Modern Nations. By the Rev. George Paxton, Professor of Theology under the General Associate Synod, Edinburgh 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 1240. Price 1. 65. Edinburgh. 1819.

The copious volumes of Professor Paxton differ in their plan from those of Harmer and Burder, and exhibit a more ample range of subjects. Not confining his details and remarks to the several classes of objects to which their researches were directed, he has aimed to make his work a general depository of knowledge illustrative of the text of the Bible, in the several particulars of Geography, Natural History, Customs and Manners. On the first of these subjects, he has availed himself largely of the work of Wells, the titles of whose chapters will be suggested to the recollection of our readers by the distribution of the contents of Mr. Paxton's Part I. Chap. 1. The garden of Eden-The Land of Nod-The City of Enoch. Chap. 2. The mountains of Ararat. Chap. 3. The Land of Shinar, and the City and Tower of Babel. Chap. 4. Of the Dispersion of Mankind. Chap. 5. Of the Conquests and Kingdom of Nimrod. Chap. 6. Chaldea-Ur-Haran-Canaan. The Mountains of Canaan―The Lakes and Rivers of Palestine-State of the weather in Palestine and the East-The General Fertility of Palestine-are the subjects of chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10. Very laudable pains have been taken by the author to collect information on these topics, from Bochart, Wells, Maundrell, Volney, &c. &c. Of the manner in which it is applied, the following paragraph is a specimen.

Carmel was one of the barriers of the promised land, which Sennacherib boasted he would take with the multitude of his horses and his chariots. "I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel."* Ungrateful as the soil of this mountain is, the wild vines and olive trees that are still found among the brambles which encumber its declivities, prove that the hand of industry has not laboured among the rocks of Carmel in vain. So well adapted were the sides of this mountain to the cultivation of the vine, that the kings of Judah covered every improvable spot with vineyards and plantations of lives. Its deep and entangled forests, its savage rocks and lofty summit, have been in all ages the favourite retreat of the guilty or the oppressed. The fastnesses of this rugged mountain are so difficult of access, that the prophet Amos classes them with the deeps of hell, the height of heaven, and the bottom of the sea: " Though they dig into hell (or the dark and silent chambers of the grave,) thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down; and though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent and he shall bite them." The Church, in her most afflicted state, is compared to a fugitive lurking in the deep recesses of this mountain; "Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage which dwell solitarily in the wood in

* 2 Kings xix. 23.

+ Amos ix. 2, 3.

the midst of Carmel." 99* Lebanon raises to heaven a summit of· naked and barren rocks, covered for the greater part of the year with snow; but the top of Carmel, how naked and sterile soever its present condition, seems to have been clothed with verdure in the days of Amos, which seldom was known to fade: "And he said, the Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the habitation of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither." These are the excellencies answering to the "glory of Lebanon," for which this mountain was so greatly renowned. Even the lofty genius of Isaiah, stimulated and guided by the Spirit of inspiration, could not find a more appropriate figure to express the flourishing state of the Redeemer's kingdom, than the "excellency of Carmel and Sharon." Vol. I. p. 150.

Some passages in these volumes are examples of indigested remark, rather than of explanatory discussion. Referring to the use of the olive branch as the sign of peace, Professor Paxton remarks:

'Dr. Chandler, indeed, is of opinion, that the idea of reconciliation and peace was not associated with the olive branch till ages long posterior to the deluge. The olive groves, he argues, are the usual resort of doves, and other birds, that repair to them for food; and thus endeavours to find a natural connection between the dove of Noah and the olive leaf. The olive might, he thinks, be the only tree which had raised its head above the subsiding waters, near the place where the ark was floating, although it is only of a middling height; but if the dove saw a greater number of other trees above the water, the habits of the bird naturally led it to the olive plantation for shelter and food, in preference to all others.

But the greater part of this reasoning avowedly rests upon mere assumption; and although the olive grove may be the favourite retreat of the dove, how are we to account for the olive branch being chosen by almost every nation, from the remotest times, for the symbol of reconciliation and peace? It is far more probable, that the dove was directed by the finger of God, to prefer the olive leaf, or a sprig of olive leaves, as being the symbol of peace with which Noah was already acquainted, or that it might in future, be the token of reconciliation between God and his offending creatures, and between one nation and another,' Vol. I. pp. 289, 290. The Author might surely have perceived that his own observations rest as much on mere assumption as Dr. Chandler's; and he has evidently overlooked the application of Horace's Nec Deus intersit. What limits the Professor would fix to his remotest times,' we cannot say; but, as no instances are produced of the use of the olive as a symbol of friendship in the antediluvian riods, it is reasonable to believe that the custom of bearing an olive * Mic. vii. 14. + Amos i. 2.

pe

branch to indicate peace, might be derived from the dove of Noah. The olive leaf, it would seem from the expression in Genesis, "plucked off," was not selected from the countless variety of leaves which floated on the subsiding waters of the Deluge, or bestrewed the slimy tops and declivities of Ararat, as the Author supposes.

Part II. contains Illustrations of the Scriptures from the Natural History of the East. In this division of the work, the Author has made great use of Bochart's Hierozoicon. The profound and splendid learning of that extraordinary scholar is amply displayed in that immortal work. The treasures of oriental and classical literature were at his command; and they are applied unsparingly in his erudite discussions: in quotation he is peculiarly rich and felicitous. From the pages of this learned and laborious illustrator of Scripture, Professor Paxton has borrowed the very numerous passages from Homer, Virgil, &c. which ornament his own illustrations of Natural History; and we should have been glad to report, that he has apprized his readers of the kind and extent of his obligations, which are by no means indicated by an occasional reference to Bochart." The 66 Hierozoicon" is not in the hands of every reader, and we shall, therefore, supply this deficiency by transcribing, as a specimen, from Bochart, the passage to which Professor Paxton has been indebted for the learned illustrations in the following paragraphs.

The incantation of serpents is one of the most curious and interesting facts in natural history. This wonderful art, which soothes the wrath, and disarms the fury of the deadliest snake, and renders it obedient to the charmer's voice, is not an invention of modern times; for we discover manifest traces of it in the remotest antiquity. It is asserted, that Orpheus, who probably flourished soon after letters were introduced into Greece, knew how to still the hissing of the approaching snake, and to extinguish the poison of the creeping serpent. The Argonauts are said to have subdued, by the power of song, the terrible dragon that guarded the golden fleece: Hden ovorn Beλtai regas. Ovid ascribes the same effect to the soporific influence of certain herbs and magic sentences: "Hunc postquam sparsit Lethæi gramine succi, Verbaque ter dixit placidos facientia somnos."

It was the custom of others to fascinate the serpent, by touching it with the hand. Of this method Virgil takes notice in the seventh book of the Æneid.

"Spargere qui somnos cantuque manuque solebat." Silius Italicus is still more express in his first book:

"Nec non Serpentes diro exarmare veneno

Doctus Atyr, tactuque graves sopire chelydros."

But it seems to have been the general persuasion of the ancients,