ISAIAH, XIII. 21.

"But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there : and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there."

The figure of an imaginary being called a Satyr, half man and half goat.-From a statue in Rome.

The ancients, at one time, probably believed that there really were such beings; but the representations of them vary. Sometimes they are men, with little more of the goat than a tail. They were supposed to be peculiarly endowed with sensual propensities, and to accompany the god Bacchus in his drunken processions. This satyr carries a basket of grapes on his head, to show his love of wine.

ISAIAH, XIX. 3.

"And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards."

Egyptian priests and priestesses. From a Roman basrelief in Bartoli's Admiranda.

The first is the serpent-charmer, called in the Hebrew a "whisperer," from their custom of speaking to the serpent in an under tone. She carries the serpent coiled round her left arm.

The second, the scribe, who carries a book-roll, from which he is reading aloud. He has feathers in his cap, from which he is also named a Pterophorus.

The third is the prophet, or fortune-teller. He carries a large jar, or speaking bottle. He is a ventriloquist, and he pretends that the bottle, which is supposed to contain a familiar spirit, answers the questions of those that consult it as to the future, while in reality he speaks without moving his lips.

The fourth is the singer, or musician. She carries the systrum, or tinkling rod, mentioned in Note on 2 Sam. vi. 5.

Of these priests the serpent-charmer and the owner of the familiar spirit are mentioned in our text, and called in the Hebrew the "whisperer," and the "speaking bottle." These speaking bottles are more particularly mentioned in 1 Sam. xxviii, when Saul very properly wishes to drive their owners out of the land as impostors, but afterwards goes to Endor to consult one himself.

ISAIAH, XIX. 15.

"Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch [more literally, palm-branch] or rush may do."

The prophet contrasts the lofty palm-tree with the humble rush in the ditches. They are two of the important productions of Egypt, the first for its beauty, the second for its usefulness. The palm-tree of Lower Egypt is the Phoenix dactylifera of the botanists, and is the same as the palm of Palestine. It has an unbranching stem, and is thus distinguished from the Doum palm

of Upper Egypt, of which the stem is forked again and

again into two branches. Its wood is of very little use for timber.

I

ISAIAH, XXIX. 3.

"And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee."

The siege of a city, by means of an earth-mound.— From the sculptures brought from Nimroud, in Bonomi's Nineveh.

The besieging army are shown to be Assyrians by the pointed cap worn by one of the soldiers. They have cut down a date-bearing palm, which the Jews were forbidden to do in an enemy's country by the Mosaic law of Deut. xx. 19. Of the three ranges of walls by which the city is guarded the lowest is higher than a small palm-tree, and to attack these a mound of earth has been heaped up. Up