casals they danced during the repast; every dancer threw a piece of money to the players, and each guest brought a fowl. Until the commencement of the present century, in the city the wedding balls were given after the Spanish fashion, and they danced with castagnettes. The young bride passed the first eight days in her father's house; after that she was pompously received by her husband, to whom the parents gave a ball and supper. The Maltese never married in the month of May: they had so little confidence in any work they undertook during the course of this month, that they would not even order a new coat. This superstition recalls to us the division which the Romans made of the year into lucky and unlucky days: it is thus we find, in the ancient Maltese manners, a great number of customs of different people of antiquity: it is necessary to retrace them, to give some explanation of the ceremonies which the mixture and application of Pagan and Christian rites, have rendered singular and curious. Fish were regarded by the Syrians as household gods: these deities, by presenting themselves the wedding ring to the young betrothed, seem to call her by this signal into the house they protected. The Greeks wished that on her entrance her words should be agreeable to her husband; on this account they addressed their prayers to the god of eloquence.-Led af terwards to the altar of Hymen, the Romans offered her, in the garlands and knots of flowers, the emblem of the duties and pleasures of wedlock. The Hebrews wished that her modesty might always distinguish her, and covered her head with a veil. Her husband was obliged to give her two rings, one of gold, and the other of iron; which custom has descended to us in the rings which open and shut, and on which are engraven names or mottos. The Greeks accompanied her to the temple with the most lively demonstrations of joy; she marched surrounded by dancers and singers; they held over the heads of her and her husband a crown of flowers; the first fruits of the year were laid at the feet of the statues of the gods; cakes were consecrated to the lares; and corn, nuts, and almonds were thrown about in token of abundance of prosperity.

BURIALS.

The Romans hired women to weep at interments. The Carthaginians plucked off their hair, and tore their faces, to mark their sorrow. The Hebrews announced a death by the sound of trumpets and mournful instruments.

The

The Greeks of the lower empire distributed to the poor, bread baked on the day of the exequies. All the pagans, in short, had the custom of pronouncing over the grave the wish of "Sit tibi terra levis!" through fear that it might weigh heavy on the body it covered, in token of vengeance, Thus every nation varied in the testimonies of grief which it was honourable amongst all to shew at the death of a citizen. These different ceremonies have some connection with those anciently used by the Maltese in their funerals. When a man died, two hired women, called-Neuicha, dressed in a long mourning cloak, entered the house singing moral pieces in a low and sorrowful voice; they cut branches from the vines, run through all the rooms, overthrew the flower pots on the windows, broke some of the ornamental furniture, and carrying the pieces into a retired place, threw them into a cauldron of boiling water, together with soot and ashes; with this mixture they then stained all the doors of the house, giving deep sighs. They then went into the room where the corpse lay, already placed in the coffin and surrounded by his female relations, all dressed in black silk cloaks, and veiled: the room was entirely hung with black, and without furniture. They kneeled at the foot of the coffin, and sung the praises of the deceased; at the end of the couplets the other women beat their breasts, wept, and cut off locks of hair, which they placed on the coffin. They distributed on that day to all the relations cakes and boiled corn, and cut the hair off the tails of the horses found in the stables of the deceased. The procession was always composed of relations in mourning, preceded by players on hautbois and trumpets, and the Neuicha. When they buried the corpse, they put under the head a pillow full of leaves of the orange and olive, (these trees the Pagans regarded as expiatory,) and placed on the tomb a carpet, which remained some days, to indicate that during that time walking there was prohibited. During three days they lighted no fire in the kitchen of the deceased's house; his most distant relation or most intimate friend sent the family a dinner, which they eat sitting on a mat with their legs across. The women remained shut up for forty days; the men went out on the eighth; and the mourning lasted one year or two, according to the degree of consanguinity. The contagious malady, which desolated the island in 1676, interrupted the practice of these ceremonies, and they have not been renewed.

REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

National Judgments; a Discourse on the Public Fast. and Humiliation, Oct. 19, 1803. By W. Hales, D. D). Rector of Killesandra, (Ireland).

W

E have long esteemed Dr. Hales one of the first biblical critics of the present day. We know him to be deeply read in the alarming "Signs of" these dangerous "Times;" and we can assure our readers, that the discourse now lying before us, bears incontestable marks of profound thinking, patriotic concern, scriptural knowledge, and an ardent zeal for the advancement of true religion, and the reformation of our national character, as believing and obedient Christians. The manner of writing, which is peculiar to him, is not that which will please the superficial or careless reader. He who takes his sermon in his hand must study it; and we can safely affirm, that it will amply requite him for the pains he may bestow upon it. The mind of Dr. Hales seems cast in a mould similar to that of Bishop Warburton. It is great and comprehensive: it is aware of the strong and the weak parts of the argument which employs its attention. It presses home the former, and fortifies the latter, with materials drawn from first-rate authorities, and from those more recondite depositories of knowledge to which it knows the way, of which it possesses the key. To one who reads carelessly, the Doctor seems now and then to deviate into frequent digressions; and sometimes to dwell rather long on a subordinate point.— But it is not so in fact. His perspicucity discerns the whole of his subject; and his eye, well used to the vigilant guard which a polemic must ever keep, perceives a meditated stroke, where the ordinary beholder sees nothing but security; and, therefore, we caution common readers how they hastily censure, what common minds will not so easily apprehend. Ordinary capacities must be content to follow after," where and whither this Vol. VI. Churchm. Mag. June, 1804. Hhh great

great divine shall lead. Could such a sermon, it may be asked, be fitly delivered from the pulpit? An advertisement, prefixed, informs us, that the substance of this discourse was preached to a country congregation; but as the subject is of national concern, the most truly momentous and awakening, it has been since revised, corrected, and enlarged." The text is Isaiah lx. 12. "For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee, shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted." The learned Doctor's exordium is very impressive, and excellently adapted to exciting the attention, either of his hearers, or his readers. He then takes a view of those denunciations against the enemies of the church, set forth in the prophecies of Isaiah, comparing the language of this evangelical prophet with that of our Lord himself. He contends, with great strength of argument, that those terrible events, spoken of by our Lord, towards the conclusion of his ministry, under divers figures, drawn from convulsions of nature, are intended to represent the judgements to come" on the political world, among the enemies of Christ and his church, the proud and ungodly powers and authorities of the earth."

Dr. Hales esteems that glowing imagery, used by St. Peter, in the last chap. of his 2d epistle, a Commentary on the Prophecies of the Lord Jesus; concerning that distress and perplexity, which should afflict the

nations.

"That this darkness of the sun and moon, and falling of the stars, in our LORD's prediction, is to be understood figuratively, as intiinating political rather than natural revolutions, we learn from the admirable commentary of St. Peter, evidently suggested by this passage. 2 Pet. 3. 11.

"Where scoffers' shall arise in the last days,' denying the second advent of CHRIST; and saying, Where is the promise of CHRIST'S presence? for ever since the Patriarchs fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

"The apostle thus anticipates such objections, (which unhappily are now so prevalent.)

"The Lord delayeth not the performance of his promise, as some count delay, but is long-suffering to usward; not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance:

"For the day of the LORD will come as a thief by night; in which the heavens shall pass away with an explosion, and the elements shall be dissolved with heat, and the earth and the works therein, shall be burnt up.'

"The

The elements of the heavens, and the carth and its works,' in this passage, are collected to denote the political, not the natural, elements of the world; the proud and ungodly powers and authorities of the world, from the sequel:

"Since, then, all these are to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought ye to be in holy conversations and religious exercises expecting and hastening the appearance of the day of GOD; during which, the heavens shall be dissolved with fire, and the elements consumed with heat: for, according to his promise, we do expect a new heavens and a new earth, wherein righteousness shall reside.'

"Wherefore, beloved, expecting these, strive to be found by him in peace, unspotted and unblameable; and count our LORD'S delay, to be your salvation.'

"From the mention of a new heavens and a new earth, it is evident that the apostle meant a reformation of the present sublunary heavens, or the restitution of all things;' Acts 5. 21. not the end of the world. Such imagery is familiar throughout the prophetic writings of the OLD and NEW TESTAMENT; thus 1saiah 65. 17-18.

"For lo, I am about to create a new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, neither shall they cause regret; but ye shall rejoice and exult in [the world] to come, which I am about to create; for lo, I am about to create Jerusalem triumph, and her people joy.”

"And again, at the awful conclusion of his prophecies. Isa. 66. 22-24,

"For, according as the new heavens and the new earth, which I am about to make shall continue before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name continue.

"And it shall come to pass, that, from the time of new moon to new moon, and from the time of sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, saith the LORD:

"And they shall go forth, and shall see the carcases of the men that transgressed against ME; for their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.'

"St. John, also, in his mysterious apocalypse, adopts the same imagery, describing the future glorious state of the church triumphant upon earth; after the destruction of her foes.

Rev. 21. 1-5.

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and the sea was no more.

"And I John, saw the holy city the new Jerusalem, descending from GoD out of the heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

"And I heard a great voice out of the heaven, saying, lo, the tabernacle of GOD is with men, and HE shall sojourn with Hhh them: