No. 796.-RUTH ii. 4. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, the Lord be with you; and they answered him, the Lord bless thee. SUCH, says Bp. Patrick, was the piety of ancient times, that they used to pray that God would prosper the honest labours of those they saw employed: and they made a return of the same prayers for those who thus expressed their good will. This was also practised by the heathen, especially in harvest time, which they would not begin by putting the sickle into the corn, till Ceres had been invoked. Thus Virgil: -Neque ante Falcem maturis quisquam supponat aristis, Georg. lib. i. 347. Thus in the spring, and thus in summer's heat, DRYDEN. No. 797.-ii. 14. Dip thy morsel in the vinegar.] We are not to understand this of simple vinegar, but vinegar mingled with a small portion of oil; the Algerines indulge their miserable captives with a small portion of oil, to the vinegar they allow them with their bread. Pitts (Account, p. 6.) says, that when he was in slavery his allowance was about five or six spoonfuls of VOL. II. P vinegar, half a spoonful of oil, a small quantity of black biscuit, a pint of water, and a few olives. HARMER, vol. iii. p. 160. No. 798.-iii. 3. Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee.] According to the custom of the ancient nations, washing generally preceded anointing. Many instances of it occur in Homer; as when Telemachus is entertained by Nestor, and when Telemachus and Pisistratus are invited to the court of Menelaus. The custom was so ancient and general, that the Greeks had one word to express this anointing with oil after washing with water, which they called χυτλα and χυτλωσαι. See more in PEARSON on Creed, p. 99. ed. 8. No. 799.-iii. 9. Spread therefore thy skirt over thy handmaid.] This phrase imports taking a person under protection and tuition; and here not a common, but a matrimonial one. The Chaldee therefore plainly renders it, let thy name be called upon thy handmaid, by taking me for thy wife. From hence, when two persons are married among the Jews, the man throws the skirt of his talith over his wife, and covers her head with it. BUXTORF, Synagoga Judaica, cap. 39. No. 800.—iv. 7. Now this was the manner in former times in Israel concerning redeeming, and concerning changing, to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour; and this was a testimony in Israel.] It is not easy to give an account of the origin of this custom; but the reason of it is plain, it being a natural signification that he resigned his interest in the land, by giving him his shoe wherewith he used to walk in it, that he might enter into and take possession of it himself. The Targum instead of shoe hath right-hand glove; it being then the custom perhaps, to give that in room of the shoe: in later times the Jews delivered a handkerchief for the same purpose. So R. Solomon Jarchi says, we acquire, or buy now, by a handkerchief or veil, instead of a shoe. The giving of a glove was in the middle ages a ceremony of investiture in bestowing lands and dignities. In A. D. 1002, two bishops were put in possession of their sees, each by receiving a glove. So in England, in the reign of Edward the Second, the deprivation of gloves was a ceremony of degradation. With regard to the shoe as the token of investiture, Castell (Lex. Polyg. col. 2342) mentions that the emperor of the Abyssinians used the casting of a shoe as a sign of dominion. See Psalm lx. 8. To these instances the following may properly be added. "Childebert the Second was fifteen years old, when Gontram his uncle declared that he was of age, and capable of governing by himself. I have put, says he, this javelin into thy hands as a token that I have given thee all my kingdom. And then turning towards the assembly he added, you see that my son Childebert is become a man; obey him. Montesquieu, Spirit of Laws, vol. i. p. 361, No. 801.-iv. 11. The Lord make the woman that is come into thy house like Rachel and like Leah.] Such a solemn benediction of those who were going to be married was very ancient, Gen. xxiv. 60. The Jews continue it to this day. They say that it was always pronounced in the presence of ten persons at the least, the eldest of whom gave the benediction, which was a ratification of what had been agreed upon. See SELDEN Uxor. Hebr. lib. ii. cap. 12. No. 802.-1 SAMUEL ii. 19. Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year. THE woman made wearing-apparel, and their common employment was weaving stuffs, as making cloth and tapestry is now. We see in Homer the instances of Penelope, Calypso, and Circe. There are examples of it in Theocritus, (Idyll. 15.) Terence (Heaut. act ii. sc. 2.) and many other authors. But what appears most wonderful is, that this custom was retained at Rome among the greatest ladies in a very corrupt age, since Augustus commonly wore clothes made by his wife, sister, and daughter. (Suet. Aug. 73. See also Prov. xxxi. 13. 19.) FLEURY'S Hist. of Israelites, p. 72. No. 803.-v. 4. The head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold.] The destruction of Dagon before the ark of the Lord clearly discovered the vanity of idols, and the irresistible power of God. The circumstances attending his demolition are remarkable; and in them it is possible may be traced a conformity with the manner in which different nations treated the idol deities of each other. Dagon was not merely thrown down, but was also broke in pieces, and some of these fragments were found on the threshold. There is a circumstance related in Maurice's Modern History of Hindostan (vol. i. part. 2. p. 296.) which seems in some points similar to what is recorded of Dagon. Speaking of the destruction of the idol in the temple at Sumnaut, he says, that "fragments of the demolished idol were distributed to the several mosques of Mecca, Medina, and Gazna, to be thrown at the threshold of their gates, and trampled upon by devout and zealous mussulmans." In both instances the situation of the fragments at the threshold seems to intimate the complete triumph of those who had overcome the idols, and might possibly be a customary expression of indignity and contempt. Tibullus informs us, that to beat the head against the sacred threshold was with many an expiatory ceremony. It probably originated with the Egyptians in the worship of Isis. Non ego, si merui, dubitem procumbere templis, B. i. el. 5. For crimes like these I'd, abject, crawl the ground, GRAINGER. No. 804.-vi. 4. Then said they, what shall be the trespass-offering which we shall return to him? and they answered, five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines.] The ancient heathens used to consecrate to their gods such monuments of their deliverances, as represented the evils from which they were rescued. They dedicated to Isis and Neptune a table, containing the express image of the shipwreck which they had escaped. Slaves and captives, when they had regained their liberty, offered their chains. The Philistines hoping shortly to be delivered from the emerods and mice wherewith they were afflicted, sent the images of them to that god from whom they expected deliverance. This is still practised among the Indians. Tavernier (Travels, p. 92.) relates, that when any pilgrim goes to a pagod for the cure of any disease, he brings the figure of the |