much more. The miracle was by no means needless or superfluous: it was very proper to convince Balaam that the mouth and tongue were under God's direction; and that the same divine power which caused the ass to speak contrary to its nature, could make him, in like manner, utter blessings contrary to his inclination.”

According to the Levitical law, the ass was considered unclean, because it neither divides the hoof nor chews the cud. To what an extreme state of destitution therefore must the inhabitants of Samaria have been reduced during the siege by the Syrian armies, when an ass's head sold for fourscore pieces of silver! (2 Kings, vi.25). It has indeed been contended that the Hebrew word homer does not here signify an ass, but is the same as homer a measure of grain; but, besides the ambiguity of the passage, supposing it to be so rendered, the sacred writer not mentioning whether it was a homer of wheat, or of barley, or of oats, all of which were of different values, the term "head of an homer" is obscure and unintelligible, whereas the head of an ass conveys a distinct and definite idea. The prices, besides, at which flour

them to use it, but even to devour it with greediness."

The "burial of an ass" was, in the later ages of the Old Testament, deemed the last disgrace to which the body of a criminal could be subjected. Ignominiously cast out into the open fields, a prey to the wild beasts or ravenous birds, or tumbled into the nearest ditch and left to moulder into dust, the fate of the despised ass was in the last degree revolting. Yet to this dishonourable end did Jeremiah, by the command of Heaven, condemn Jehoiakim, king of Judah: "His dead body shall be cast out, in the day, to the heat, and in the night, to the frost. They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah, my brother! or, Ah, sister! They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah, Lord; or, Ah, his glory! he shall be buried with the burial of an ass; drawn and cast forth beyond the walls of Jerusalem" (Jer. xxxvi. 30; xxii.18). "Not," says an anonymous writer, "that Jehoiakim should have so disgraceful an end in the vicinity of Jerusalem, as is commonly supposed, for he was carried to Babylon, and in all probability died there; but that in the land of his captivity he should die con

temned and neglected by the Babylonians, and unregretted even by his captive countrymen; and that his carcase should be treated with all the neglect with which the inhabitants of Jerusalem were accustomed to treat their dead asses, which they dragged out of the city and cast forth to corrupt or be devoured."

THE DOG.

So widely is the dog spread over the face of the earth, and so numerous are the races of this most useful animal, that it seems impossible to fix upon the locality of which he may more especially be reckoned native, or of the race which we ought to regard as the original type. From the "thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice," to the burning heat of the equator, the dog is equally at home, and in all places seems to derive his chief pleasure from the protection and companionship of man. Attempts have been made to prove his descent from the wolf; but the very imperfect state of our knowledge on some of the most material points in the

investigation, render such discussions far from satisfactory.

The Egyptians, in ancient times, regarded the dog as a sacred animal. Among the Hebrews, on the contrary, it was held in the utmost contempt. It was, by the law of Moses, declared unclean; yet it was permitted to prowl about their cities in considerable numbers. The earliest mention of the dog in scripture occurs during the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt. In the passage containing the threatening of the death of the first-born, it is used to mark the difference between the distress of the Egyptians under the afflictive chastisements of God, and the peace and security of Israel: "And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more: but against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue," (Exod. xi. 6, 7). In the Book of Psalms we find allusion made to its nocturnal and prowling habits; David compares his enemies to hungry and rapacious dogs, howling around the city, seeking after a prey: "They return at evening; they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the