XXXI.

voice of lamentation instead of the voice of joy.

Mr. Lowth, in his Commentary, fuppofes this paffage of Nahum defcribes Huzzab as a great princess, attended by her maids of honour, bewailing her and their condition; but neither has he, nor any other commentator that I know of, entered into the force of the expreffion," her maids fhall lead her," any more than of the term brought up.

OBSERVATION XLI.

The women of the Arab princess led her camel finging. This is not peculiar to the Eaftern princees. Hanway tells us, that Nadir Shah', when he removed his camp, was preceded by his running-footmen, and thefe by his chanters, who were nine hundred in number, and frequently chanted moral fentences, and encomiums on the Shah, occafionally proclaiming his victories alfo".

[The like practice, it seems, obtained among the inhabitants of Mount Libanus, in the time of Pope Clement VIII; for Dandini, the Pope's Nuncio to the Maronites, fays, "We were always accompa"nied with the better fort of people, who "walked on foot before our mules, and out "of the refpect they bore to the Pope, and " in honour to us, they would fing certain

'Kouli Khan, as we commonly called him. 2 Vol. I. P. 249, 251.

2

"fongs,

fongs, and fpiritual airs, which they "ufually fung as they marched before the patriarch, and other perfons of quality'." It was not confined, according to this account, to mean perfons; but perfons of figure went before him in proceffion with fongs.]

We are willing to fuppofe, that Elijah's running before Ahab's chariot to the gates of Jezreel was not unworthy his prophetic character; but as the idea of the mob's running before a royal coach will present itself to fome minds, when they read this paffage, so commentators are not very happy in explaining this piece of the hiftory of Elijah. Bishop Patrick fuppofes he ran before Ahab like one of his footmen, in which he fhewed his readiness to do the king all imaginable honour, and that he was far from being his enemy: would it however have become Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to have run before the horfe of Henry II, to fhew he was not his enemy? or even Friar Peito before Henry VIII, to do him all imaginable honour?

But if Ahab had chanters running before him, like Nadir Shah, it doth not appear at all contrary to the rules of decorum, for one brought up to celebrate the divine praises, put himself at the head of them, to direct them, in finging praife to him that was then giving them rain, and to intermingle due

to

3 Ch. 17. p. 68.

VOL. II.

I

4 1 Kings 18. 46.

enco

encomiums on the prince that had permitted the extermination of the Priefts of Baal; or if he had none fuch, yet if it had been practised in those times, and was thought graceful and becoming a prince, nothing forbad Elijah's doing it alone: and perhaps what is faid concerning the fingers of the contemporary king of Judah, 2 Chron. xx. 21, 22, may enable us to guefs, whether or no it was a practice totally unknown at that time. The expreffion of the divine hiftorian, that the band of the Lord was upon him, perfectly agrees to this thought; for it appears, from 2 Kings iii. 15, that it fignifies enabling a Prophet to prophecy and confequently we are rather to understand these words, of God's ftirring him up to the compofing, and finging, of fome proper hymns on this occafion, than the mere enabling him to run with greater swiftness than his age would otherwise have permitted him to do, in which fense alone, I think, commentators have understood that claufe.

[The Eastern dances, with which the great in thofe countries have been fometimes honoured, are extemporaneous, if I may be indulged the expreffion, as well as their fongs.

I have elsewhere taken notice of the extemporaneousness of their fongs; and I will here fet down a paffage, from the letters of 5 See Chap. 5. Obf. 7.

Lady

Lady Wortley Montague, which fhews their dances are equally free. "Their manner of "dancing is certainly the fame that Diana "is fung to have danced on the banks of "Eurotas. The great lady ftill leads the dance, and is followed by a troop of young girls, who imitate her steps, and, if "the fings, make up the chorus. The "tunes are extremely gay and lively, yet "with fomething in them wonderfully foft. "The steps are varied according to the pleafure of her that leads the dance, but always in exact time, and infinitely more agreeable than any of our dances, at least "in my opinion. I fometimes make one in "the train, but am not skilful enough to "lead. Thefe are the Grecian dances, the "Turkish being very different

This gives us a different apprehenfion of the meaning of the words in Exod. xv. 20, than we fhould otherwife form: "Miriam "the Prophetefs, the fifter of Aaron, took

દ

a timbrel in her hand, and all the women "went out after her, with timbrels and "dances." She led the dance; they imitated her steps, which were not conducted by a fet well-known form, as with us, but extemporaneous. Probably David did not dance alone before the Lord, when the ark was removed, but led the dance in the fame authoritative kind of way2.

XXXII.

Lady Montague was fo ftruck with this Eastern management, that though the cites Homer, and tells us thefe were Grecian dances, yet she could not help observing too, that these Eastern manners give great light into paffages of Scripture.]

OBSERVATION XLIII.

The alighting of those that ride is confidered in the Eaft as an expreffion of deep reSpect: fo Dr. Pococke tells us, that they are wont to defcend from their affes in Egypt, when they come near fome tombs there, and that Christians and Jews are obliged to fubmit to this '.

[So Haffelquift tells Linnæus, in one of his letters to him, that Chriftians were obliged to alight from their affes in Ægypt, when they met with commanders of the foldiers there. This he complains of as a bitter indignity; but they that received the compliment, without doubt, required it as a most pleasing piece of refpect.]

Achfah's and Abigail's alighting' were without doubt then intended as expreffions of reverence; but is it to be imagined, that Naaman's alighting from his chariot*, when Gehazi ran after him, arose from the fame principle? If it did, there was a mighty change in this haughty Syrian after

Vol. I. p. 35. 1 Sam. 25. 23.

4

2 P. 425.
2 Kings 5. 21.