purpose then is the circumstance of its being rolled up mentioned? But if it may be understood of the case in which their books were wrapped up, the thought is not only clear and distinct, but very energetic, amounting to this, that the sum and substance of the sacred book is, that the Messiah cometh, and that those words accordingly might be wrote or embroidered, with great propriety, on the wrapper or case in which they were kept. Maran-atha (the LORD cometh) is a Syriac expression, which St. Paul makes use of when writing a Greek letter, and should seem, therefore, to be some form of speech frequently made use of among the people of those times, and much noted among them; perhaps then, these were the very words the Jews in ancient times frequently had inscribed on the covering of their sacred books. A Greek Scholiast, according to Lambert Bos, has remarked that the Jews kept up their old custom till his time, of keeping their sacred books under such coverings. This may be seen in the Jewish synagogues of our times; but I never observed any words wrought in embroidery on these silken coverings, and suppose they are not now to be found, at least in our country. Another translation, if I understand Bos aright, renders the word Ev Touw, which seems εν f 1 Cor. xvi 22. xvi. It should rather be translated, our LORD cometh, which is the literal meaning of these Syriae words. EDIT. to suppose, that in his apprehension this motto was inscribed on the cylinder, on which books of this form are wont to be rolled. In such a case it is to be presumed, that it was written on that part of the cylinder, which reached beyond the parchment, linen, or whatever material was used, and which was convenient enough for exhibiting, in brief, what the purport of the volume was. Thus I have sometimes been ready to think, that the circle of gold, with the name of one of our Saxon princes upon it, and ornamented after the manner of those times, might be designed to cap the end of the cylinder, or of one of the cylinders, on which some book belonging to that monarch, or relating to him, was rolled, of which ancient piece of gold an engraving is given in the latter end of the seventh volume of the Archæologia, or Transactions of the Antiquarian Society. This sort of capping to those cylinders was wont, I think, to be called the Aestel. See Dr. Milles's Observations on the Aestel: Archæol. Vol. 2, No. 10. The custom of writing some expressive word or sentence upon the outside of books is very frequent in the East. The following words are frequently to be met with embossed on the covers of MS. copies of the Koran: لا يمسه الا المطهرون تنزيل من رب العالمين None shall touch it but those who are purified: See Al Koran, Surat 56. v. 80. 81. I have seen several sentences embossed on the covers of Arabic MSS.; and particularly on the flap that covers the fore edge. EDIT. There is only one remark more that I would make before I close this article, and that is, the expression, volume of a book, is made use of in two or three places, it may be, where it cannot well signify the wrapper of a book, but the book itself; and therefore is not to be considered as a tautology in other places, where I have supposed it is requisite to understand it of a case, or wrapper of a book; such, for instance, is that passage of Jeremiah, Take thee a roll (or volume) of a book, and write therein all the words I have spoken unto thee against Israel, &c. chap. xxxvi. 2. Now I here would remark that many things were rolled up, much in the shape of an ancient Jewish manuscript, which yet were not fit to write upon; the words then in this, and some other similar cases may be understood to mean, Take thee a roll (or volume) fit to be made a book of, (fit to be written on,) where it would be no tautology; whereas in such a case as in the 40th Psalm it seems very much to resemble one, unless we understand it of the wrapper. OBSERVATION V. Curious Titles of their Books. MANY nice cbservations have been made on the titles of the Psalms, but attended with the greatest uncertainty. Later Eastern customs, respecting the titles of books and poems, may perhaps give a little more certainty to these matters; but great precision must not be expected. D'Herbelot tells us, that a Persian metaphysical and mystic poem was called-the Rose bush. A collection of moral essays-the Garden of Ancmonies. Another Eastern bookthe Lion of the Forest. That Scherfeddin al Baussiri called a poem of his, written in praise of his Arabian prophet, who, he affirmed, had cured him of a paralytic disorder in his sleep -the Habit of a Derveesh; and because he is celebrated there for having given sight to a blind person, this poem is also intituled by its author-the Bright Star.1 'The ancient Jewish taste may reasonably be supposed to have been of the same kind. Agreeable to which is the explanation some learned men have given, of David's commanding the bow to be taught the children of Israel, 2 Samuel i. 18, which they apprehended did not relate to the use of that weapon in war, but to the hymn which he composed on occasion of the death of Saul and Jonathan, and from which he intituled this elegy, as they think, the Bow. The BORDAH, a famons poem by Al Basceree, every couplet of which ends with the letter meem, the first let, ter in the word Mohammed. i Other titles are as odd: as Gulistan, the region of roses. Boostún, the garden. Derj el Durrar, the casket of pearls. Ajaeeb al Makhlookhat, the wonders of creation. Bahar Danish, the spring of knowledge. Nigaristan, the gallery of pictures, &c. EDIT. The twenty-second Psalm might in like manner be called the Hind of the Morning; the fifty-sixth, the Dove dumb in distant places; the sixtieth, the Lily of the Testimony; the eightieth, the Lilies of the Testimony, in the plural, and the forty-fifth, simply the Lilies. It is sufficiently evident, I should think, that these terms do not denote certain musical instruments. For if they did, why do the more common names of the timbrel, the harp, the psaltery, and the trumpet, with which Psalms were sung, (Ps. lxxxi. 2, 3,) never appear in those titles ? Do they signify certain tunes? It ought not however to be imagined that these tunes are so called from their bearing some resemblance to the noises made by the things mentioned in the titles, for lilies are silent, if this supposition should otherwise have been allowed with respect to the Hind of the Morning. Nor does the fifty-sixth Psalm speak of the mourning of the Dove, but of its dumbness. If they signify tunes at all, they must signify, the tunes to which such songs or hymns were sung, as were distinguished by these names: and so the enquiry will terminate in this point, whether the Psalms to which these titles are affixed, were called by these names; or whethey were some other Psalms or Songs to the tune of which these were to be sung. And as we do not find the bow referred to, nor the same name twice made use of, so far as our lights reach, it seems most probable |