TRIUMPH OF THE ISRAELITES IN THEIR

DELIVERANCE.

AFTER the children of Israel had been so signally delivered from imminent ruin, by the destruction of proud Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, Moses composed a hymn of triumph, which may be regarded as the earliest specimen of the sublime poetry of the Hebrews. A more literal version of this noble hymn than that given in the authorized translation, will probably be acceptable to our readers:

Nations shall hear and tremble greatly,
Terror shall seize the dwellers in Palestine;
Then the leaders of Edom shall be alarmed:
The mighty of Moab-them shall a shuddering possess.
All those dwelling in Canaan shall melt away;
Upon them shall fall fear and terror:
By the might of thy arm they shall be still as a stone,
Until thy people pass over, O Jehovah !
Until thy people pass over, which thou hast purchased.
Thou shalt bring them and plant them in the mountain of
thine inheritance,

The place for thy rest, which thou, Jehovah, hast made;

He is my God, and I will make him a dwelling; The God of my fathers, and I will exalt him. Jehovah is mighty in war; Jehovah is his name.

Jehovah shall reigu for ever and ever.

For the horse of Pharaoh went with his rider and his chariots into the sea,

And the sons of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the floods.

This magnificent hymn appears to have been im

sea;

His chosen charioteers are sank in the sea of weeds*:

Depths have covered them: they sank to the dark recesses like a stone.

Thy right hand, O Jehovah, hath been glorified in power: Thy right hand, O Jehovah, hath dashed the enemy in pieces. And in the greatness of thy Majesty, thou hast thrown down those rising against thee.

Thou sentest forth thy burning: it consumed them like stubble;

And by the breath of thy nostrils the waters were heaped together.

The floods erected themselves as a heap :
The depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy said,-I will pursue :-I will overtake :-
I will divide spoil: my soul shall be satiated upon them.

I will draw my sword: my hand shall repossess them
Thou didst blow with thy wind: the sea hid them.
They sank as lead in the mighty waters.
Who is like unto thee among the gods, O Jehovah ?
Who is like unto thee,-glorious in holiness,-
Exalted in power,-doing wonders?

Thou didst stretch forth thy right hand: the earth swallowed them.

Thou hast led forth in thy mercy the people which thou hast redeemed.

Thou hast guided them in thy strength to the dwelling of thy

holiness.

Yam Suph, that is, "the Sea of Weeds," is still the oriental name of the Red Sea

letters of the Hebrew words in the line

Who among the gods is like unto thee, O Jehovah ? were inscribed on the standards of the Maccabees, and, indeed, gave them their name. The moment it was uttered, the Jewish maidens sang the hymn of triumph, with all the joy and exultation which so wondrous a deliverance naturally inspired.

Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them, in her hand; and all the women went out after her with Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. (Exodus xv. 20, 21.)

The engraving at the head of this paper, taken from the Egyptian monuments, shows us that the triumphal process,ns were generally formed by damsels, who danced in solemn measure, and accompanied themselves on the timbrels and cymbals. This was also the custom among the Israelites. Thus when Jephthah won such a signal victory over the Ammonites, and rashly vowed that he would sacrifice to the Lord "whatever came first out of the in her anxiety to head the choir of damsels who doors of his house," his daughter presented herself, assembled to celebrate her father's victory.

And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and,

behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back. (Judges xi. 34, 35.)

These dances were not only customary on festive occasions, but they were also consecrated to the service of religion, as appears from the words of David, in the psalm which he composed to celebrate the removal of the ark.

They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary. The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels. (Psalm LXviii. 24, 25.)

In the last of the psalms we find that the cymbals were the instruments most frequently used on occasions of public thanksgiving, for the Psalmist repeats his exhortation to their use with great emphasis: "Praise the Lord upon the loud cymbals, praise him upon the high sounding cymbals." (Psalm cL. 5.) The Psalmist also recommends the use of the sacred dance: "Praise the Lord with the timbrel and dance." (Psalm CL. 4.) It appears from the Egyptian monuments that the dancers and cymbal-players were of a lower rank than other musicians, and hence it was that when Michal, the daughter of Saul, saw King David "dancing before the Lord," in the triumphal procession which escorted the ark of the covenant unto Jerusalem, "she despised him in her heart." (2 Samuel vi. 16.)

The stringed instruments used by the ancient Egyptians differed very little, if at all, from those which we find mentioned in the Old Testament. The most remarkable of them are represented in the following engraving. The figure to the right bears a portable harp, which is without a fore-piece; but the harps used by male performers, and by females when they were stationary, had very large fore-pieces, rising to the height of about one-third of the instrument, and fancifully carved. The performers played them both sitting and standing; and the music was so highly valued, that it was believed capable of dispelling cares, and even curing mental diseases. When Saul was visited by an evil spirit after disobeying the Divine command, we find his servants recommending him to seek out a skilful harper, and particularly pointing out David, whose attainments in music were celebrated even in his early youth.

And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul that David took an harp, and played with his

hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. (1 Sam. xvi. 23.)

The second figure to the right carries a lyre, which was also a favourite instrument among the Jews, but which has been confounded with the harp by our translators; it was generally, if not always, used as an accompaniment to vocal music, and hence we find the harp, or lyre, so constantly mentioned in the psalms.

The instrument in the hand of the third figure is a viol, which was played with the fingers like the modern guitar. It was an instrument particularly used upon festive occasions, and hence Isaiah, denouncing God's wrath against Babylon, declares,

Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. (Isaiah xiv. 11.)

And the prophet Amos, similarly proclaiming the punishments which God was about to inflict upon the kingdom of Israel, connects the viols with the vocal music:-" Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs, for I will not hear the melody of thy viols." (Amos v. 23.)

The trumpet and the reed-pipe appear to have been the only wind instruments with which the ancient Egyptians were acquainted. We see a double pipe, of very simple construction, borne by the fourth figure in our engraving, but we cannot determine the number of holes with which it was perforated. This instrument was chiefly used on joyous occasions; for it is particularly recorded, that when Solomon was proclaimed, "The people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them." (1 Kings i. 40.) It appears, from a passage in the New Testament, that pipes were commonly used by children in their sports, for our Lord compares the froward generation of the Jews to children, who would not dance when their companions piped for them. (Matt. xi. 16, 17.)

The next figure carries a harp, or psaltery, of singular construction, on her shoulder. This instrument was only valuable as an accompaniment, for we find no example of it in the hands of an isolated performer.

The last of the musical train is keeping time with her hands, a custom which seems to have prevailed in almost every nation.

It is improbable that the Israelites, on their departure from Egypt, could have brought with them all the musical instruments necessary for a perfect concert; indeed, the timbrels alone are mentioned: but in later ages, especially in the reign of David, the national hymns of thanksgiving were accompanied

It deserves to be remarked, that the cymbals which were so highly valued in the earlier part of the Jewish history, seem to have fallen into contempt after the Roman invasion; for St. Paul compares the worthlessness of a man, destitute of charity, to "sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." (1 Cor. xiii. 1.) But while the Jewish kingdom flourished in its integrity, cymbals were so highly valued, that they were always introduced into public worship; for we are told of Hezekiah, that,

He set the Levites in the house of the Lord with

cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets. (2 Chron. xxix. 25.)

than in its natural state it ought to be. The ciliary apparatus and that belonging to the iris is overworked, and hence arises derangement of the functions of the different parts. Extreme caution requires to be exercised in the use of these instruments; the eye should be allowed long intervals of repose, and much will depend on the state of the individual's health generally. Above all things, we caution our young readers to beware of adopting that silly bauble, a quizzing-glass; for, even to shortsighted persons its operation is bad, since it contributes to render the adjusting powers of the two eyes unequal; and if the healthy eye persist in its use, a few years will suffice to bring the floating muscæ to the eye which so needlessly employs the glass, as a prelude to disorders of a more serious kind.

It is a point of much importance in the choice of spectacles, that the substance of the glass should be

EYE-SIGHT. No. V.

ON THE CUSTOMARY USE OF GLASSES.

IN young persons, long-sightedness is occasioned by the flatness of the crystalline lens, and may be remedied by employing a convex lens, which prevents the convergency of the rays beyond the retina, which otherwise occurs, by which vision is indistinct, for a reason the very opposite to that by which short sight is produced.

The powers of the eye are so influenced by the employments to which it is habitually subjected, that we must, in many cases, refer acuteness or dimness of vision to the exercises fitted or unfitted to the function of the optic structure.

The short or the

long-sighted eye, provided the organism of the parts be healthy, have their comparative want of adaptive power remedied, as we have seen by the assistance of a concave or convex lens; but no single lens will confer on the landsman the perfect adjusting power to great distances of the seaman, to whose eye the speck on the extreme horizon, often invisible to the unaccustomed eye, appears in all the detail of a wellappointed vessel, the number of whose guns, her flag, her masts, &c., are accurately detailed, while, on the other hand, the same long sight is inadequate to the detail of near and minute objects, which the shortsighted eye appreciates so well. But, however wise and beneficent is the principle which gradually adapts an organ to its accustomed employments, provided they are not at variance with its legitimate use, the same principle fails to explain the great superiority in vision of sorne individuals, among the lower animals as well as in man, over others. The eagle and other birds of prey possess remarkably acute vision for near as well as distant objects: soaring high in the air, so as to command an extensive range of prospect, they have the power, it is said, of pushing out the cornea to increase its convexity, and so include a wider range of vision; but it is probable that this superior vision, ascribed to a more complete and comprehensive power of adaptation, which theory only assumes, and experience does not confirm, ought rather to be ascribed to a superior sensibility of the retina, since anatomy shows that the optic nerve in such animals is not only large, but ramified in a complete manner, such as is not found in man.

Let us now suppose that a healthy eye is constantly employed in looking through optical glasses, such as watchmakers, engravers, naval officers, philosophical instrument-malkers, astronomers, &c., the adjusting powers of the eye are being constantly taxed, that is,

scratches or indentations, because the existence of either of those irregularities necessarily occasions an unequal action of light upon the retina. Let us illustrate this by an extreme case. Suppose an individual were constantly to wear spectacles, and that of an inch diameter near the centre, the retina at when one of the glasses had a black spot, an eighth one particular spot spherically opposite to the opaque spot on the glass, would be deprived of the direct rays usually impingent upon it, and would only receive those coming by oblique directions; the consequence of which would be, that the retina would be unequally acted upon, and so far from being benefited by that spot being less excited, it would produce those unnatural effects, which always accompany another part, which is generally an inflammation of the partial exercise of an organ to the exclusion of the line of separation between the active and the inert portions. This being the case in an extreme instance, we may expect effects somewhat analogous, but slighter, when the irregularity is smaller, independent of the dimness which is given to the images of objects on the retina.

than is necessary for absolutely distinct vision, or Spectacles should always be chosen less powerful the eye gets wearied and distressed by the use of them, and what is perhaps as bad, the disease is increased by the violence of the intended cure.

The

writer, speaking from experience, recommends nearsighted individuals to be content with vision a little obscured, and to be thankful that science affords the means of attaining even that imperfect degree of visual perception.

In concluding this article we may remark that our object has not been to excite alarm by contributing to the fears of the many, the employment of whose trades and professions that we have named, and eyes furnishes them with daily bread. The several from which many of our illustrations have been taken, may, we are convinced, be exercised with impunity, provided the exercise be attended with caution. Cleanliness, bodily exercise, and temperance, are the main safeguards which will not fail to prevent the evils we have cited, or to mitigate their action if they have already begun.

Those who have obtained the farthest insight into nature have been in all ages firm believers in God.—WHEWELL. No object is more pleasing to the eye, than the sight of a to the ear, as the voice of one that owns you for his bene man whom you have obliged; nor any music so agreeable factor