nished with siluer bridles, guilt trappings, rich saddles, their necks and brests armed with plates of yron: the horseman himselfe was commonly content with a coat of maile, or a brest plate of yron. The chiefe and wealthiest of them vsed head pieces: the rest a linnen couvering of the head, curiously folded into manie wreathes, wherewith they thought themselves safe ynough against any handie strokes; the common souldiers vsed thrumb'd caps, but so thicke that no sword could pierce them." KNOLLES'S 's History of the Turks,

p. 529.

REV. xix. 17, 18. Come and gather yourselves together, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, both small and great.] "The river dividing the armies, our fatigued troops were incapable of pursing flying cavalry; we therefore marched a mile further, and encamped near Hossamlee, on ground lately occupied by the enemy, who, in that expectation, had cut down the trees, destroyed the village, and burnt all the corn and provender they could not carry off; the surrounding plain, deprived of its verdant ornaments, was covered with putrid carcasses and burning ashes; the hot wind wafting from these fœtid odours, and dispersing the ashes among the tents, rendered our encampment extremely disagreeable. During the night, hyænas, jackals, and wild beasts of various kinds, allured by the scent, prowled over the field with a horrid noise; and the next morning a multitude of vultures, kites, and birds of prey, were seen asserting their claim to a share of the dead." FORBES's Oriental Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 73.

GEN. xxvii. 24. And they took him and cast him into a pit.] What is here meant by a pit, is an empty cistern or reservoir dug in the ground, in which the rain water is collected, of which there are many in the Arabian deserts. RAUWOLF (Journey through the Desert of Mesopotamia) says (b. i. p. 188.), "That the camels, besides other necessaries, were chiefly laden with water, to refresh themselves and their cattle in the sultry heat of the sun, as they do not easily meet with springs or brooks in crossing the desert: though they may by chance meet with pits or cisterns, which are for the most part without water, which only runs into them from the rain."

LEV. xxix. 19, 20. If a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done unto him: breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.] The opinion that it is every man's right and duty to do himself justice, and to revenge his own injuries, is by no means eradicated from among the Afghans, a people of India, to the southward of Cashmere, and supposed to be descended from the Jews (Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. p. 69.), and the right of society, even to restrain the reasonable passions of individuals, and to take the redress of wrongs and the punishment of crimes into its own hands is still very imperfectly understood; or, if it is understood, is seldom present to the thoughts of the people: for, although in most parts of their country justice might now be obtained by other means, and though private revenge is every where preached against by the moollahs (priests) and forbidden by the government, yet it is still lawful and even honourable in the eyes of the people, to seek that mode of redress. The injured party is considered to be entitled to strict retaliation on the aggressor. If the offender be out of his power, he may

wreak his vengeance on a relation, and, in some cases, on any man in the tribe. If no opportunity of exercising this right occurs, he may defer his revenge for years; but it is disgraceful to neglect or abandon it entirely; and it is incumbent on his relations, and sometimes on his tribe, to assist him in his retaliation. ELPHINSTONE'S Caubul, p. 166. The aborigines of the Canary Islands stoned those who were worthy of death; but for crimes of a minor description, they used the lex talionis. GLASSE'S Canary Isles, p. 71. Among the American Indians, if a boy shooting at birds accidentally wounded another (though out of sight) with his arrow, ever so slightly, he, or any of his family, wounded him in the same manADAIR'S North American Indians, p. 216. See also MAURICE'S Indian Antiq. vol. vii. p. 327.

ner.

NUMBERS, XXXv. 19. The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer.] The following extracts will prove how tenaciously the Eastern people adhere to the principle of revenging the death of their relations and friends.

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Among the Circassians, all the relatives of the mur_ derers are considered as guilty. This customary infatuation to revenge the blood of relations generates most of the feuds, and occasions great bloodshed among all the tribes of Caucasus; for unless pardon be purchased, or obtained by intermarriage between the two families, the principle of revenge is propagated to all succeeding generations. If the thirst of vengeance is quenched by a price paid to the family of the deceased, this tribute is called thlil-uasa, or the price of blood; but neither princes nor usdens accept of such a compensation, as it is an established law among them to demand blood for blood." PALLAS'S Travels, vol. i. p. 405.

"The Nubians possess few traces among them of government, or law, or religion. They know no master although the cashief claims a nominal command of the country. They look for redress of injuries to their own means of revenge, which, in cases of blood, extends from one generation to another, till blood is repaid by blood.

On this account they are obliged to be ever on the watch and armed; and in this manner even their daily labours are carried on; the very boys are armed." LIGHT'S Travels, p. 95. See also WELD's Travels in America, vol. ii. p. 84. MICHAUX's Travels, p. 215.

"If one Nubian happen to kill another, he is obliged to pay the debt of blood to the family of the deceased, and a fine to the governors, of six camels, a cow, and seven sheep, or they are taken from his relations. Every wound inflicted has its stated fine, consisting of sheep and dhourra, but varying in quantity, according to the parts of the body wounded." BURCKHARDT'S Nubia,

p.138.

“When a man or woman is murdered, the moment the person by whom the act was perpetrated is discovered, the heir-at-law to the deceased demands vengeance for the blood. Witnesses are examined, and if the guilt be established, the criminal is delivered into his hands, to deal with as he chooses. It is alike legal for him to forgive him, to accept a sum of money as the price of blood, or to put him to death. It is only a few years ago that the English resident at Abusheher saw three persons delivered into the hands of the relations of those whom they had murdered. They led their victims bound to the burial-ground, where they put them to death; but the part of the execution that appeared of the most importance, was to make the infant children of the deceased stab the murderers with knives, and imbrue their little hands in the blood of those who had slain their father. The youngest princes of the blood that could hold a dagger were made to stab the assassins of Aga Mahomed Khan. When they were executed, the successor of Nadir Shah sent one of the murderers of that monarch to the females of his harem, who we are told, were delighted to become his executioners." MALCOLM'S History of

Persia, vol. ii. pp. 110. 451.

This practice, however it may have been sanctioned by custom, and the indulgence of a vindictive and malevolent spirit, is wicked and mischievous.

Under

absolute or tyrannical 'governments it may exist, but it cannot prevail where a proper spirit of liberty and justice is found. It ought the more carefully to be discountenanced, as it gives an opportunity for the exercise of selfish passions, and the infliction of vengeance, if they are resisted and defeated. The diffusion of knowledge, especially of that wisdom which is derived from Christianity, tends to eradicate such pernicious systems, and to establish in their place, laws, equitable and impartial, the administration of which is the best and indeed only security of personal liberty and private property. HoвHOUSE'S Journey in Albania, p.166.

JOSHUA, Vii. 24. And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan, and his sons and his daughters, and stoned them with stones.] "The custom of including whole families in the punishment due to the heads of them, has been observed in the East Indies and South America. When the king of Ava conspired against the king of Pegu, his nephew, the king of Pegu declared war against Ava, and ordered his grandees (by whose advice one of his ambassadors had been murdered) to be imprisoned and burnt alive on a large scaffold, with their wives and children: which I saw (says Gaspard Balbi), hearing with great pity their lamentable shrieks and cries." HARRIS'S Collect. vol. i. p. 279.

"We learn from the ancient Mexican paintings that such was the practice. In the Codex Mexicanus, so called from having been presented to the emperor Charles the Fifth by the first viceroy of Mexico, Antonio de Mendoza, is represented a governor of a province, strangled for revolting against his sovereign, and the infliction of punishment upon his whole family." HUMBOLDT, vol. i. p. 187.

JUDGES, i. 7. Having their thumbs and their great toes cut off.] That this was an ancient mode of treating enemies, we learn from ELIAN (Var. Hist. l. ii. c. 9.), who tells us, that "the Athenians, at the instigation of Cleon, son of Cleaenetus, made a decree that all the inhabitants of the island of Ægina should have the