his contemporaries among the Arabians, Chaldeans, and all the neighbouring na tions. And with thefe Job poffeffed that ineftimable treasure, a heart enlarged as the vaft abundance he enjoyed, together with a mind fraught with every virtue; or as it is emphatically expreffed in holy writ," he was a perfect and upright man, one that feared God, and efchewed evil." With thefe immenfe riches, Job was bleffed with a numerous progeny; with feven fons, and three daughters; to whom he had given fuitable eftablishments. For at the time the circumstances of his life, here to be noted, took place, the fons entertained each other, in rotation, at their feveral houses, and invited their fifters to partake of their banquets. And fuch was their father's anxiety for their happinels, and his innate piety, that as foon as the days of their feafting were concluded, he always offered up facrifices in their be half, and fent and fanctified them, left, during their mirth and hilarity, they fhould have been guilty of any fins.

Thus bleffed with affluence, and happy in his connections, did this holy man enjoy uninterrupted tranquillity for fome years. Neither his riches nor his virtues, could, however, secure him from that reverfe of fortune, to which mankind are fo liable. For at one of thofe periodical revolutions, when the fons of God, the governing powers of every fyftem throughout the univerfe, come from every quarter (agreeable to the imagery of the poem,) to prefent themfelves before their great creator, and to pay their accuftomed homage, Job's piety and virtue became the fubject of celestial converfation.

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Satan coming among the reft to make thofe acknowledgments, which even his rebellious conduct, and degraded rank could not exempt him from, the Lord alked the prince of fallen angels, from whence he came? To which Satan replied, "From going to and fro in the earth." Haft thou then," faid the Lord, "confidered my fervant Job, that moft perfect and upright man ?" "I have," anfwered Satan; and allow the justice of the encomium thou doft pafs upon him; but doth he ferve thee for nought? haft thou not blessed him with affluence, and taken him under thy immediate protection? Put but thy hand forth, and deprive him of that wealth, and thofe comforts thou haft beflowed on him, or fuffer me to do it, and he will curfe thee to thy face."Be it Satan as thou haft faid," replied the Lord, "I permit thee to take from him what I have given him,

Ever ready to execute commiffions of this nature, Satan immediately retired from the prefence of the Lord, and by means of fecondary caufes; by the hands of the Sabeans, and the Chaldeans; by a fire from heaven; and by a hurricane, in a fhort time deftroyed not only the cattle and fervants of Job, but his children alfo, as they were feafting in their eldest brother's houfe.

This extreme viciffitude, this trying froke of fortune, was not, however, fufficient totally to deprefs Job. With that patience and refignation which fo eminently diftinguifhed his character, and which have caufed his name to be handed down through fo many generations, to this remote age, he bowed to the unfeen hand that gave the blow, but murmured not. We read that he only rent his mantle, as a token of his humiliation, and falling down upon the ground, worshipped the great Difpofer of events; breathing forth, at the fame time, this memorable ejaculation; "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked fhall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord taketh away, bleffed be the name of the Lord." Thus patient and fubmiffive to the divine will, did the venerable man bear this firtt trial, this first attack of his malign affailant.

On the next appearance of Satan before his Almighty Sovereign, the Lord, after the ufual interrogations, faid to him, "Thou feeft, Satan, that my fervant Job ftill holdeth faft his integrity, although thou movedit me to deftroy him without caufe." "True," replied the fallen potentate; "he does fo; fkin for fkin, yea all that a man hath, will be give for his life. But permit me to afflict him with difeafe, and I make no doubt but he will

curfe thee."

Having obtained permiffion to do this likewife, Satan again left the prefence of the Lord, and fmote Job with fore boils, from the fole of his foot, to the crown of his head. When Job found himself thus afflicted, inftead of breaking out into fruitless complaints and murmurings, he fill preferved his ferenity of mind, and patiently fitting down among the ashes, fcraped himself with a potfherd.

In this fituation he continued for feve

ral days. At length his wife, irritated by his fufferings, advised him, with the impatience natural to her fex, to curfe God; and by thus drawing down his immediate vengeance, put a fpeedier end to his mis

fortunes.

fortunes. But far from being excited by his wife's counfel to parfue the defperate means he pointed out, to obtain a releafe from his misfortunes, Job only calmly replied to her, "Thou fpeakeit as one of the foolish women fpeaketh. What! fhall we receive good at the hand of God, and fhall we not receive evil?"

Whilft Job laboured under these affictive difpenfations, three of his friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, having heard of his diftrefs, came by appointment with each other, to mourn with him, and to endeavour to afford him some comfort. As they approached the place where Job fat, they did not recognize him; fo much had grief, and the mean habit in which he was now cloathed, altered him. But no fooner did they perceive that the piteous object before them was no other than their once opulent and happy friend, than they all wept aloud, rent their mantles, and fprinkled duft upon their heads. And fo overcome were they by the excess of their forrow, that they filently feated themfelves by him on the ground, and continued there feven days and feven nights, without fpeaking a word; for they faw his dejection was extreme.

At the expiration of that time, Job first broke filence. Wearied out by his fufferings, he could not help bemoaning his hard fate, and bitterly lamenting that he had ever been born. This brought on an argumentative conteft between him and his three friends; who, instead of affording that confolation in it they might be fuppofed to have intended, only augmented his forrow. For they took great pains to convince him, and made ufe of many fubtle arguments for this purpofe, that God was a fevere and rigorous judge, and would not have inflicted the punishment on him he had done, had he not deferved it by proportionable tranfgreffions. They confequently would have perfuaded him that jullice must have its courfe, and that he had no room to hope God would fhew him any favour.

Job combated thefe dejecting tenets with afferting that the judgments which happened to mankind, were not a rule whereby to judge of their tranfgreffions. But that God had frequently fecret reafons for punishing them, which were beyond our difcerniment. He from thence argued, that though his prefent afflictions were exceffive, they ought not to drive him to defuair, or lead him to conclude that God had caft him off for ever.

Whilft Job's three friends, with an uncharitable fpirit, thus ftrove to deprefs him, and made ufe of inany acute and weighty arguments to fupport their illgrounded propofitions; he on the other hand deferved cenfure for giving way, in the bitterness of his foul, to an improper impatience; and dropping now and then expreflions that feem to upbraid the Almighty with chaffifing him more feverely than his faults demanded.

The contest was, however, at length put an end to by the interference of Eliliu, the fon of Barachel the Buzite, another of Job's friends, who had liftened to the whole of the arguments which had been advanced during it. Difpleafed with the conduct of both parties, he blamed Job, because he juflified himself rather than God; and reprimands his three oppo nents, becaufe, notwithstanding they had given no fatisfactory answer to Job's allertions, yet they had condemned him.

At laft the Almighty is fuppofed to interfere, and from a whirlwind to bring the drama to a conclufion, by convincing, Job of his ignorance and inability to reafon on his difpenfations. Upon which Job fubmits, and repenting of what he had advanced, thus exclaims; "I have uttered that I understood not, things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.”

But the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, “becaufe they had not fpoken of him the thing that was right, as Job had." Moreover, to fhew in what fuperior estimation he held Job, he commanded them (ieft he fhould deal with them after their folly,) to appease his difpleasure by a burnt-offering, which he promised to accept at the interceffion of their more righteous friend. Now alfo, as a compenfation for the fufferings and fevere trial Job had undergone, at the infligation of the great feducer of mankind, the Lord gave him twice as much as he had before his downfal.

1

Through the valuable prefents made him by his relations, whe now came to confole and affift him, he was enabled to recruit his broken fortunes. So that the Lord ble fled the latter end of Job more than his beginning; for his flocks and herds increafed to fourteen thousand fleep, fix thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand fhe-affes. He had alfo born unto him feven fons, and three daughters; and at laft died in a good old age, leaving this memento to fucceeding generations; that though neither riches,

power,

how to bring about their union. The difference in their circumflances, fhe flattered herself would not prove an irremoveable bar, as to a man of Boaz's generous difpofition, the beauty and virtues of Ruth might be eâeemed equivalent with his wealth. She accordingly gave her daughter-in-law fuch prudential inftruc

tions for ingratiating herfelf fill farther into the esteem of their rich relation, that in a fhort time he married her.

Thus was this Moabitish damfel, thro' her prudent and virtuous behaviour, raised from a low eftate, to fuch an eminence, that mighty kings defcended from her. (To be continued.)

A

Great number of black cattle of all ages have died fuddenly in Friefland in the neighbourhood of Sneek and Yift, without any previous fymptom but that of giving no milk a few hours before their death, as they continued to eat, drink and ruminate to the laft. In general, how ever, the beafts affected with this diforder lived feveral days, and had very large tumours in the cellular membrane, about the head and neck, in the axilla, and fometimes, though rarely, in the groin. Thele tumours, which were often as large as a man's head, were very hard and elaftic, with a dry borny fkin at the part which was most prominent. In fome, this fwelling entirely difappeared, while in others the dry piece of fkin feparated and left a large ulcer, which healed flowly. Some were foon relieved; others required many days, and even weeks, before they were entirely cured, and many, as I have already obferved, died fuddenly, or after a relapfe. The dung was in the greaternumber natural, but in fome it was of a blackifh colour, or at leaf darker than ufual.

The city of Sneck is about twelve English miles from my feat, and I paffed feveral days there in examining the diforder, and diffecting the cattle that died of it. This latter part of my inquiry, however, was not to be carried on without danger of being poifoned by the blood, flefh, and fkin, &c. of the animal.

The difeafe has gotten the name of venom, or venenum, from this circumflance, that the people who handle the hide or the flesh, are often poifoned, as it were, in the hands, especially when they have any fcratch or wound there to favour abforp tion, and fometimes without any fuch previous hurt. In a few hours an inflammation takes place, and, if not speedily prevented by fearifications and suitable remedies, terminates in a gangrene which fometimes fpreads to the aum, and in fome few inftances has occafioned the death of the patient. It is worthy of obfervation how◄

ever, that after the flesh of animals, who have died of this disease, has been boiled, the poor eat it without any bad confequence, but they carefully avoid the fteam of the meat.

On the 6th of September laft I opened a cow that had died the night, before at Ylft, which is not far from Sneek. In my way I vifited an old man whose hands were so much affected by the venom, that I was almofl deterred from attempting the intended diffection. I ufed the precaution, however, of greafing my hands with pomatum, and by frequently washing thein, and renewing the ointment, I prevented the poisonous juices from acting, fo that although I feparated the vifcera, &c. with my hands, I got not the leaft hurt.

The eyes, tongue, and throat of the cow were found. The udders were with out milk, but in other refpects healthy, and there was no where any appearance of tumour. But on opening the abdomen we found the omentum entirely mor tified, with a yellowish ichor within its cavity, and between the inteftines were obferved thick purulent coagulated membranes, fimilar to thofe appearances which are found in the human body, where death has been occafioned by an intiammation of the bowels.

Neither of the stomachs were affe&ted, but the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum were inflamed and mortified, as likewife the colon in fome places. The gall bladder, which was uncommonly difended, being larger than even the urinary bladder of a cow ufually is, was filled with air, and with a very thin bile. The uterus was a little inflamed with gangrenens fpots. The calf had been dead fome time, but the cow continued to give her ordinary portion of milk till the day before the died. The liver feemed to be pretty found, but its lymphatics were vifible and much enlarged. The fpleen was in a gangrenous flate, and there was emphyfeina between

the

the duplicature of the peritoneum, where it forms the mefentery.

The lungs were in a natural ftate, but the glandulæ cordis and the thymus were much inflamed. The heart itself was in a good condition.

I examined feveral other beafts that were affected with the fame diforder, which was evidently of the putrid kind. The pulfe was quick and low, as it is in all putrid fevers, and I had reafon to fufpect that thofe died very fuddenly, whofe blood was much affected by the putrid matter, and on the contrary, that others foon recovered whofe blood had a better difpofition. The tumours were neither a good nor a bad fign, for many died and as many recovered with and without any fuch fwelling. The peafants told me, that an old mare died of the venom, but upon opening her abdomen and thorax after death, I found nothing analagous to the diforder I have been defcribing.

*

The difeafe abated much towards the latter end of September, and the contagion is now totally over. I could find no account of this disease in books, till I confulted the famous Dr. Pallas's Northern Magazine (vol. I. b. I. fect. 4. p. 113) in which Dr. Jof. James Lerche has given a defcription of a contagious diforder that made great havock, after a hot dry fummer in 1756, amongst the horned cattle in Livonia and Finland, and which spread even as far as Moscow. He informs us, that the cows were attacked with large tu

mours in the neck, breaft, belly, and pudenda, and commonly died in two or three days. He adds, that horfes and hogs were likewife fufceptible of the contagion which generally carried them off in a day or two, and that it alfo proved fatal to a number of the human fpecies; but upon inquiry he found that the latter died of a mortification of the hands, &c. occafioned by an abforption of the venom. A fimi. lar plague was obferved in those countries in the year 1754.

I flatter nyfelf the defcription I have given of this disease, though fhort, will be fufficient to give you an idea of its nature, and to enable you and your medical friends to compare it with the fymptoms of the diforder which was obferved lately in England: for I have reafon to believe that the latter was of the fame fpecies, and of courfe different from that defcribed by Dr. Layard and others, which, by the bye, ftill prevails in this country. It may not be improper to add, that calves borne by cows that have paffed through the latter diftemper are inoculated here with great fuccefs.

I am now growing old, but I have not loft my public fpirit and zeal for useful improvements, fo that I fhall be very much obliged to you for any information you can furnish me with relative to the difor der I have mentioned to you. I am with the greateft refpect and fincerity, Klein Lancum, Dear Doctor, Oct. 21, 1783. Yours, &c.

Paris, Nov. 24.

LAST Friday this city beheld a fpectacle, the like of which was never hewn fince the world began. On that day Monf. Montgolfier's grand air-balloon, with two perfons, the Marquis D'Arlandes and Monf. Pilaftre de Rofier, in the gallery of it, was fent up into the air, from the king's palace of La Muette.

At fixteen minutes after twelve the machine was filled with inflammable air; but it was determined first to try it ftill once more, held fast with ropes, to know the exact weight, and to fee if every thing was in order. In this experiment an accident happened, namely, the machine was driven by the wind on one of the avenues of the garden, and the ropes then drawing too ftrongly, feveral rents were made in EUROP, MAG,

it, one of which was five feet long. In less than two hours the machine was repaired. There belonged nothing less to it than the zeal of these two gentlemen now to venture themselves with it; but they had always maintained, and as it feems with reafon, that they ran lefs danger when the machine was free, than when it was held faft. At fifty-four minutes after one the air balloon began to ascend; the two aerial travellers, having mounted 250 feet, took off their hats, and faluted the fpeftators, all of whom at that inftant felt a fenfation, rather the effect of fear than of aftonishment.

The machine, which was 70 feet high and 46 in diameter, contained 60,000 fquare feet, and weighed from 16 to 1700 pounds, afcended in a wonderful manner D