had juft rifen, while the moon (fomewhat paft the full) was nearly fetting, and ftill perfectly visible. In this cafe, the propriety of the addrefs to them both, for the prolongation of the temperate hour of morning, to enable Jofhua to complete his victory, is particularly ftriking. The fituation of Joshua feems to confirm this. Having attacked the five kings of Gibeon, he puts them to flight, and purfues them by Bethoron, to Azekah. His courfe lay therefore nearly, if not directly, weftward; Ajalon in the tribe of Dan being directly before him in the west, and Gibeon immediately behind him in the eaft. In this fituation, as day advanced, he would fee the moon finking before him, as the fun began to rife in the oppofite point of the horizon, and to elevate itself juft over Gibeon, behind him.

From there circumstances we may, I think, collect, that the time was certainly morning; and that the Aalon here intended was in the tribe of Dan; for there were two other Ajalons; one in the tribe of Ephraim, and one in the tribe of Zebulon.

We may alfo obferve, that Joshua had a moon-light night for his march from Gilgal, whence he went up all night (verie 7.); and for commencing his attack.

If thefe obfervations are at all worth infertion in your valuable Mifcellany, they are much at your fervice. If my idea is an erroneous one, fome of your learned correfpondents may perhaps condefcend to correct it.

I take this opportunity of faying, that I fhould be much obliged to any of your readers, who could point at the pailage in Efchylus, refpecting the filence of the fun, referred to by Mr. Wefton, with a-" locus non occurrit."

HOW

C. D.

Mr. URBAN, Little Queen-freet, OW comes it, that, when nations bear the nanie of their fuft father, the world will not any attention to it? If I announced

pay

myself to an Antiquary as named Gilbert, fhould I not be furprized to hear him, without the fmalleft addition of authority, or the least pretended fimilarity of found, very coolly fet down fome Otho as my progenitor? Yet this is the cafe with the Spaniards. From remoteft antiquity to the prefent age they have been IBERI, a name more di-. re&tly formed from Eber, the greatgrandfon of Shem, than even Hebrews, the name of his acknowledged defcendants. A principal river of Spain is the Ebro, formerly the Iberus; and a principal town Ebura, now Evora. But Italy and Spain were both Hefperia-Greater and Lefs. With permiflion of Grecians, I fhall make Hefperia, Heberia. Arabia allowedly fignifies Weft; and when written Ereb, as it often appears to have been, is a direct tranfpofition of the two fyllables of Eber; probably intended merely to diftinguifh Abraham's children, by Hagar, from his defcendants by Sarah *. In Italy too we have the Tyber; probably the firft river that was there met with by emigrating Eberians or Iberians. But we alfo read of the Peligni in Italy, and Peleg was Eber's eldest fon. We meet with the Marfi alfo; probably defcended from Mash, a grandfon of Shem. Now let us take a trip to France. The Gauls were originally Celts. Be it fo; and who were Celts? Why Salaites, the defcendants of Salak, Eber's father. And what is the Salique Law, whofe fountain has been as recondite as that of the Nile? Why, the Salic.

This is all plain English, Mr. Urban; and why, because a blind horte has been purfuing thefe genealogies, without rhyme, reafon, analogy, or etymology, from Gomer, the fon of Japhet, all others are to follow him I cannot conceive. But, becaufe this will be antwered from Genefis, I will make this matter plain Scripture as well as plain En

*There is a more mile reafou; but this

will do for the prefent.

gifh. The reafon then given for Gomer will be from Gen. x. 5, "Of these were the Iles of the Gentiles peopled." And fo this has ftood the perfpicacity of hiftorians and antiquaries for centuries upon centuries, and ferved them to prove that the Continent was peopled by them! This is not all. It fhould appear, that Shem led the way in all emigrations: for Noah fays of Japhet, "he fhall dwell in the tents of Shem." Now, whether this means, that he fhould fucceed to a fettlement deferted by them, or fhould follow his fteps into new lands, it proves the fame fact of Shem's prior emigrations. I fhall advance a conjecture, in fupport of circumftance, Grecian

was

I thought to conclude; but must add another argument. It is faid, that the dwelling of Shem's fons "from Mefha as thou goeft unto Sephar, a mountain of the Eaft." Whether this firft Sephar were or were not Spain, is of no confequence; because they could very well transfer the name of one place to another, as all Europe have done with refpect to their American fettlements: but Sephar is as good an etymon for Spain as Hifpal, Shapkar, or Saphar: and the Jews actually do underfand SPAIN meant by SEPHARAD in the 20th verfe of Obadiah. GILBERT.

Mr. URBAN,

difference of

as

Jan. 10.

of Dodona has been already referred by fome to Dodanim, a grandfon of Japhet but it is allowed to have furt belonged to the Pelafgi; who were probably the defcendants of Peleg, already named *.

I have faid, that Ifles are not Continents. It is afked, what Ifles the fons of Japhet peopled? Why, as Javan was one fon, I anfwer, the Iland of Fava for one Ifland. The very meaning of Eber is paffing over.

It has the farther meaning of Anger. And what nations, both as to religious intolerance, and the revenge of private quarrels by affaffination, better fupport this characteristic of Eber, than the Spaniards and Italians? I fufpect the Greek word Babapos to mean nothing but fuperlative Hebrew; tenacioully maintaining his priftine ferocity, and unembued with, or fpurning, the edulcorations of learning and the arts. This etymon is confirmed by the derivatives containing the real Hebrew fuperlative, which is fimply a repetition; as good, good! Eber, eber! or, with St. Paul, a Hebrew of the Hebrews.

There were Pelafgi alfo in Italy. Might not the Greek winalo; have become the appellative of the fea, from the fons of Peleg being confiderable, or the firft navigators?

bench of bishops, relative to the wearing or not wearing wigs, has induced me to offer you a few thoughts on the fubjeét. I do not mean to enter into the question, if a queftion it can be, whether artificial or natural hair is the most proper for the head of a prelate, or whether any thing can be io little like capillary nature as a bishop's wig. It is, indeed, a coftly piece of drefs; and I doubt not but many a curate would be glad of a falary, equal to the annual expence of epifcopal perukes. I am moreover informed, that the ecclefiaftical canons prohibit the clergy from wearing wigs. At all events, church hiftory informs us, that, very violent animofities have taken place at different periods from the various modes of dreffing the hair, wearing beards, and wearing perukes.

In the Pagan world great veneration was paid to the hair of the human head. The treffes of pious virgins were thought an acceptable offering to their tutelary goddess; and, among the Greeks and Romans, the firft-fruits of the human temples, as well as of the chin, were claimed by the altars of Bacchus, Neptune,and otherprefiding divinities. In the early part of the Chriftian æra, an oath was fuppofed to de

mand

mand inftant conviction, when a man fwore by his hair; and the act of falutation was never fo graceful as when it was accompanied by plucking an hair from the head, and prefenting it to the perfon who was the object of respectful attention. The offering the hair to be cut was an acknowledgment of fovereignty; and an acceptance of the offer was confidered as an affurance of adoption. The Corf, or Bondfman, was diftinguished by the fhortnefs of his hair, and the infolvent debtor, on the refigning himself to the future fervice of his creditor, was deprived of his flowing locks, the perks of that freedom which he no longer pofesied.

Long hair being, at this period, the diftinguishing proof of a gentleman, and confequently an object of great care and attention, became a fabject for the difpleafure of the preacher. Atiength, Iowever, fome of the younger clergy, ambitious of fathionable life, ventured upon the reigning mode, and gave a new tes to the clerical coiffure; nor were they without their followers.

This fchifm in drefs caufed the ecclefiaftics to turn the tide of invective from the lay world to each other; and occafioned a divifion in the church, which produced for fome time the retaliating menaces of damnation from the long-haired and fiert-haired clergy.

The wig or poruke, with the clerical tonfure, have been the caufe of as much ecclefiaftical contention as the Arian and Socinian fchifms. The last century experienced all its fury; nor would it have given way to lefs important events than the edifts of Nantes, and the queftions of JANSENIUS. The former turned bigotry to a more interefting object, while the latter opened a new vent in the combuftious volcano of religions difcord.

The fir wig which is mentioned hiftory, was made of the hairy skin of a goat, which the daughter of Saul is related to have employed to fave the life of her husband. In

a fucceeding age, Xenophon mentions the periwig of Aftyages, the grandfather of Cyrus; and defcribes the aftonishment which feized the royal boy, on beholding his anceftor fo majestically covered. Suidas and Tacitus both bear teftimony, that Hanibal of Carthage wore a peruke; and that his wardrobe was furnished with a very large affortnient of wigs of all kinds, fashions, and colours, not only for the purpose of magnificence, but ako from the policy which frequently obliged him to change his i appearance.

The Romans, and particularly the Roman ladies of fashion, had a very general recourfe to falte hair. That of a whitish appearance was the ton in Ovid's days; and it was imported from Germany in thofe times, as it "is in our own

"Nunc tibi captivos mittet Germania crines;

"Culta triumphatæ munere gentis eris.' This gallant poet is very fevere upon the custom; Martial has made it the fubject of feveral epigrams; and Juvenal charges Metalina with wearing falfe hair, in order to conceal herfelf in the purfuit of her debaucheries.

Louis XIII. of France, having loft his hair, was obliged for afk the comfortable aid of a periwig; and the neceffity of the fovereign inftantly cut off all the hair of his courtly and loyal fubje&ts. Louis XIV. annexed great dignity to his wig, which he increafed to a very large fize. This monarch, who daily ftudied the part of a king, was never feen with his head bare but by the barber who shaved him. It was not his practice to exchange a wig for a night-cap till he was inclofed by his curtains, when a page received the former from his hand, and to which he delivered it in the morning before he undrew them. In the reign of good queen, Aune, the most thread-paper form of a man of fathion must have been covered with a wig of as full a bottorn as any we now fee on our own judiciary benches. But to proceed."

The