SIVAN, the 9th civil month, the 3d sacred ditto, has 30 days, and answers to the moon of MAY. FEASTS, FASTS, ETC. 6. Pentecost, or feast of weeks. The firstfruits of the wheat harvest presented in two loaves made of fine flour and leaven. 23. A fast in memory of Jeroboam's commandment, not to carry their first-fruits to Jerusalem. 1 Kings xii. 27. 25. A feast in memory of Alexander the Great's judgment in favour of the Jews, against the Ishmaelites, who by virtue of their birth-right maintained a possession of the land of Canaan; against the Canaanites, who claimed the same as the original possessors; and against the Egyptians, who demanded restitution of the vessels, &c. borrowed by the Hebrews when they left Egypt. WEATHER, PRODUCTIONS, ETC. Heat renders the soil barren. Some rain. with hail and thunder. At the beginning of May the mercury reaches 700; then rises gradually from 760 to 80°. In the afternoon it does not rise above 60 or 9°. Snows on Libanus thaw rapidly; but still very cold on the summit. Wheat is cut. Barley is sometimes not finished till this month. The early apples ripen. The vine bears the latter grapes. Cotton is sown. Mandrakes yield ripe fruit. Sage, rue, purslain, yellow and white cucumber, are common. Grass and herbs very high. THAMMUZ, the 10th civil month, the 4th sacred ditto, has 29 days, and answers to the moon of JUNE. 14. A feast for the abolition of a book of the Sadducees and Bethusians, by which they 17. A fast in memory of the tables of the law AB, the 11th civil month, the 5th sacred ditto, 1. Fast for Aaron's death. 9. Fast of the fifth month, in memory of the punishment of the murmuring Israelites. On the same day the temples were taken and burnt; Solomon's by the Chaldeans, Herod's by the Romans. 18. A fast, because in the time of Ahaz, the evening lamp went out. 21. Xylophoria, the wood necessary for use, brought to the temple. 24. A feast for the abolition of the law of female inheritance. ELUL, the 12th civil month, the 6th sacred ditto, 17. Fast for the death of the spies. Num- Summer commences at the beginning of June, As the month advances, the mercury gradually rises from 760 to 800 in the morning; and it stands between 840 and 920 in the afternoon. Extreme heat even at night. Rain very rare. Winds are generally from W. Corn is some. times not all cut before June. Rice, early figs, apples, plums, cherries, and mulberries ripen. Cedar gum distils spontaneously. From the balm tree, the Arabs get opobalsamum, or balı of Gilead, in June, July, and August. The common melon is gathered, at Algiers, at the end of June. The simoom sometimes blows in Persia and Arabia. has 30 days, and answers to the moon of JULY. Heat more intense. Mercury at 80° at the beginning; 850 or 860 towards the end of July. In the afternoon it does not rise above 80 or 10°. Libanus only has snow where the sun cannot penetrate. Dates, apples, pears, nectarines, and peaches ripen. Grapes are ripe about the end of July. Anguria, or gourd, called citrul, ripens in all countries of the same latitude. Cauliflower and water parsnip are sown. Pasturage sometimes fails. Simoom blows sometimes in Persia and Arabia. has 29 days, and answers to the moon of AUGUST. Hot season commences at the beginning of August. The sky is clear. The heat extreme. The mercury, till the clouds rise, continues the same as last month, afterwards it falls 4 or 5 degrees. At Aleppo, the weather is the same (for the first 20 days) as in the former months, afterwards white clouds, called niliaca, rise generally till the end of the month. Dew falls, but not in any great quantity. Korte saw snow on Libanus on 18th August, but it was wet and slippery. Figs, olives, and pomegranates ripen. Al-kenna, brought from Egypt into Palestine, puts forth leaves and blossoms this month. Grapes in clusters of great size and sweetness. The simoom sometimes blows in Persia and Arabia. Earthquakes sometimes felt. Besides the festivals mentioned above, it is to be remarked, that the first day of every month is a feast-day for the new moon. EXPLANATIONS, &c. CISLEU 21.-The feast of mount Gerizim."The Jews relate, that when their high priest, Simon, with his priests, went out to meet Alexander the Great, the Cutheans, or Samaritans, went also, and desired this prince to give them the temple of Jerusalem, and to sell them a part of mount Moriah. Which request Alexander granted. But the bigh priest of the Jews afterwards presenting himself, and Alexander asking him what be desired; Simon intreated him not to suffer the Samaritans to destroy the temple. The king replied to him, that he delivered that people into his hands, and he might do what he pleased with them. Then the high priest, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, took the Samaritans, bored a hole through their heels, and tying them to their horses' tails, dragged them along to mount Gerizim, which they ploughed and sowed with tares; just as the Samaritans had intended to do to the temple of Jerusalem. In memory of this event, they instituted this festival." (Jewish Calendar, Calmet's Dict.) It is very evident, that every word of this is false, and built upon Josephus's account of the meeting of Alexander the Great and the high-priest Jaddua. (See Joseph. Antiq. lib. II. cap. 5.) This, with many other similar to it, is, if I mistake not, a rabbinical tale of that wonder-forging age, the third century. SHEBETH 15.-The beginning of the year of trees. When the Jews planted a vine, or fruit tree, they were not allowed to eat of the produce for the first three years, and they offered to God that of the fourth year, and afterwards might enjoy their fruits at discretion. The fruit of the three first years was accounted unclean. Levit. xix. 23. It was from this day that they reckoned the years. Others place the beginning of the four years on the first day of the month. SHEBETH 22.-It is uncertain who this Niskalenus was. He had ordered the placing images, or figures, in the temple, which was forbid by the law: but he died, and his orders were not executed. The Jews place this under the high priesthood of Simon the Just. But this also is most probably a rabbinical figment. JIAR 27-A feast for the expulsion of the Galileans, or those who attempted to set up crowns over the gates of their temples and of their houses; and even on the heads of their oxen and asses; and to sing hymns in honour of false gods. The Maccabees drove them out of Judea and Jerusalem, and appointed this fast to perpetuate the memory of their expulsion. (Jewish Calendar, in Calmet's Dict.) Simoom, (mentioned in September, October, &c.) This extraordinary phenomenon, which also passes under the names of Sam, Samoun, Samiel, &c. is thus described by Mr. Bruce."On the 16th, at half-past ten, we left ElMout. At eleven o'clock, while we contemplated with great pleasure the rugged top of Chiggre, to which we were fast approaching, and were to solace ourselves with plenty of good water, Idris cried out, Fall on your faces, for here is the simoom!' I saw from the S. E. a thick haze come, in colour like the purple part of the rainbow, but not so compressed or thick. It did not occupy twenty yards in breadth, and was about twelve feet high from the ground. It was a kind of blash upon the air, and it moved very rapidly, for I scarce could turn to fall upon the ground with my head to the northward, when I felt the heat of its current plainly upon my face. We all lay flat upon the ground, as if dead, till Idris told csit was blown over." Vol. iv. p. 558.—“We had no sooner got into the plains, than we felt great symptoms of the simoom; and about a quarter before twelve, our prisoner first, and then Idris, cried out, The simoom! the simoom! My curiosity would not suffer me to fall down without looking behind me. About due south, a little to the east, I saw the coloured haze, s before. It seemed now to be rather less com pressed, and to have with it a shade of blue The edges of it were not defined as those of the former; but like a very thin smoke, with about a yard in the middle tinged with those colours We all fell upon our faces, and the simoon passed with a gentle ruffling wind. It con tinued to blow in this manner till near three o'clock, so we were all taken ill at night, and scarcely strength was left us to load the camels and arrange the baggage." Vol. iv. p. 581.In another place. Mr. Bruce describes the si moom as producing a desperate kind of indif ference about life; that it brought upon him a degree of cowardice and languor with which be struggled in vain; and that it completely ex hausted his strength. From the accounts of various travellers, it appears to have been almost instantaneously fatal and putrefying, though D'Obsonville ridicules the idea. (See D'Obsonville's Essays, &c. on the East. Barder's Oriental Customs, p. 317; and Fragments to Calmet's Dictionary, No. iv. Earthquakes.-In August, 1822, Aleppo, and many adjacent towns, were overthrown by one of these dreadful convulsions of nature. "On the 13th of August, (says Mr. Barker, the British consul at Aleppo,) at half-past 9 P. M. Aleppo, Antioch, Idlib, Riha, Gisser, Shogr, Darcoush, Armenas-every village, and every detached cottage, in this pachalic, and some towns in the adjacent ones-were, in ten or twelve seconds, entirely ruined by an earthquake, and are become heaps of stones and rubbish, in which, at the lowest computation, twenty thousand human beings, about a tenth of the population, were destroyed, and an equal number maimed or wounded. The extreme points where this terrible phenomenon was violent enough to destroy the edifices, seem to be Diabekir and Merkab, (12 leagues south of Latachia,) Aleppo and Scanderoon, Killis and Khan Shekoon; all within those points have suffered so nearly equally, that it is impossible to fix on a central point." Soon after, he informs us, that slight shocks had been felt from time to time in that country, but none bad done any material injury, except one 27 years ago, when Latachia was partially thrown down. In 1755, one was felt at Aleppo and Antioch, but occasioned very little injury. In 1759, OD occurred, which was productive of very ex tensive injury, and loss of life, in the valley of Baalbec and at Szaffad. And now Aleppo is overthrown!" Sic transit gloria mundi!”" - Earth to its centre feels THE CAMERA OBSCURA. (Continued from col. 814.) No. XI.-The Story of Amarsal. reap." ST. PAUL. Regardless of the horror of the deed he was about to commit, and equally regardless of the piercing shrieks of the lady upon whom that deed was to be perpetrated, and only thinking upon the promised reward of his labour, he, after very little deliberation, PARAHMAN, king of Persia, had a son, by name Amarsal, who, as historians tell us, was proud, haughty, and wick-performed the work, and severed her ed. As this son was one day hunting, he parted from his companions in the chase, and rode along till he came to a beautiful plain, in the middle of which stood a small round tower of black marble. Curiosity prompted him to ride up to the tower; and, alighting from his horse, he walked round it till he came to a small door, which, as he pushed it with his hand, flew open. Through this door he was admitted into a small apartment, in the midst of which he beheld a square hole, and looking down, he saw, to his surprise, a flight of steps. Being naturally courageous, he descended into the hole, in spite of threats and cries, which, appearing to come from below, were redoubled at every step he took. At the bottom of the steps he discovered another door, which opened as easily as the first, and he immediately found himself in a large and spacious room, richly and splen didly adorned, and hung round with beautiful tapestry. At one end of the room he beheld a terrible black monster of a man, the sight of whom caused him to shudder with horror; and before him (looking as if she would sink into the ground with fright) there stood a beautiful female, whom the giant (for he was full ten feet high) threatened immediately to destroy, if she did not yield to his wicked and lustful designs. Amarsal had scarcely stepped within this last chamber, when the ugly Indian (for he was as ugly as sin) spoke to him in a thundering voice to the following import : 66 head from the trunk, exclaiming as he did so,-"Now for my reward!" The monster immediately presented him with a small glass, telling him, if he wrote the name of what he wished to behold upon any thing, and placed it at the back of the glass, the scene would immediately be perceived at the front; at the same time he gave him a girdle, telling him that by tying it round his waist he might go to any place he wished; and finally added, "Beware thou usest them not upon any but earthly beings." The prince, leaving his horse to its fate, on putting the girdle around him, instantly transported himself to his father's capital. Arrived there, he began immediately to exercise the powers with which he had been put in possession, and (which has been before observed) being naturally wicked, he was enabled to perpetrate many sinful actions and odious designs, by means to which no one else had access. But evil will some time or other meet with its punishment, and frequently that punishment will be inflicted by the same means through which the evil was committed. This Amarsal very shortly experienced. Having one day a curiosity to know what was passing in the place where he had received his extraordinary powers, he adjusted his glass to the scene, and looking upon it, beheld the apartment where he had decapitated the unfortunate lady, and there he saw a majestic woman surrounded by her attendants, who were all inexpressibly beautiful; and on one side of the Amarsal, I know thee; and if wall of the room was written, "Here thou wilt do as I wish, I will befriend dwell the fairies." As he looked, alleyes thee. Mark thou my words. I am a appeared to be turned upon him, and magician, possessed of powers far be- all seemed to frown that he should by yond thy thought or comprehension; his power intrude upon their secrecy; and if thou wilt take this scimitar, at the same time he thought he heard (holding one out to him,) and cut off one of them exclaim, "Behold how the head of the lady thou seest before mortals transgress the laws which are thee, I will impart to thee the power given to them!" He shuddered as he of beholding any thing, however dis- recollected the caution he had former, tant, at any time which thou wishest,ly received from the black magician; and also of transporting thyself to any place in a moment." No, 70,-VOL, VI. but disdaining fear, determined to presume still further; and forthwith 3 M fastening the girdle around him, transported himself to the place. There he stood before the group of females, and had scarcely done so, when she who appeared to be their chief, thus addressed him : "Mortal, thou knowest thy conscience, hard as it was, accused thee of the foulest crime, when thou, at the command of the black, in this apartment, didst slay the lady, to obtain a reward which thou hast so basely used. Crime will not sleep for ever: And now, having, contrary to the caution formerly given, intruded thyself into our presence, thou must cease to exist, except in doleful shades of misery." Whereupon she touched him with a wand she held in her hand, and falling down senseless, he was conveyed back to his own apartment in the capital of Persia, and there his body was afterwards found, seemingly burnt to a cinder. (To be continued.) ENGLISH LAW.-DEFAMATION. SIR,-There is nothing, speaking of temporal matters, more exceedingly important to man, than a good reputation; and, perhaps, nothing is more easily lost: the breath of calumny will blast the fairest character, and a malignant spirit will eagerly spread the tidings of its loss both far and wide. There is a sortance in scandal, which babbling newsmongers find congenial with their own feelings; and ever reckless of the credit of others, these pests of social order are continually going from house to house, seeking to defame their neighbours by the grossest and most unmerited calumniation. By defamation that bitterest enemy to the peace, and well-being of society -the sensibility of some of the most useful and honourable members of our community has been deeply wounded; a melancholy stupor has been cast over the mind, followed by that alarming distraction, which has not unfrequently ended in suicide! Serious, however, as the evils resulting from scandal have actually been, we see it still resorted to by persons who are illiberal enough to envy the good name of others. It is now so prevalent and daring, that neither wealth nor indigence affords any protection against its shafts; it thwarts the industrious exertions of many an honest man, by destroying his credit, and ruining his family: and it gives rise to the deadliest jealousy, which neither the strongest assurances of fidelity, no the most sincere and inviolate affection can assuage. All slander should, at the beginning, meet our decided disapprobation; and more especially that which the invidious adopt when some sinister end is in view. In the latter cases, abominable falsehoods are fre quently asserted, and even crimes alleged. We should always receive unfavourable reports with the greatest caution; and however apparently well founded they may be, let us look well into the motives of the propagator; and should we find those reports to be true. still let us smother the fact in our own bosoms; and rather than blazon forth the faults of our fellow-creatures, endeavour to lessen the odium which they may have excited; and, as far as we can, obliterate from their sullied characters every stain even of merited reproach. The fair sex have long been charged with a love of scandal; but I question, whether, on a strict and impartial inquiry, as to the real principles from whence emanates this their exagge rated foible, we should not find our own sex the more sinful traducers. For instance, how rarely do we hear of a female defaming the character of him with whom she had entered into a solemn engagement, for the purpose of violating such obligation? But how often, Sir, are men to be found, who, after having passed several years in the closest intimacy with women distinguished for virtue and sentiment, and whom they have taught to look towards the approach of the bridal day with the fondest anticipation,-how frequently, I ask, have these treache rous men forgotten their plighted vows of constancy? They have become infatuated with some newly fancied chance of aggrandisement-deserted the victims of their insincerity-and, as a pretext, cast upon them the foulest aspersions! The world believes the traducing story-the villain rejoices in the success of his cruel schemes, and the hapless woman gentle, confiding, tried with chance and change, yet still the same," mourns unseen; chiding the tardy moments as they pass, and sighing for the grave 66 as some wearied traveller longs for sweet repose! Pursuing these ideas, Mr. Editor, I might introduce a variety of examples, shewing the prevalence of evil-speaking, with its baneful effects upon society; but suffice it to remark, that we shall do well, in the present days of refinement and taste, to consider that man who, both in public and private circles, refrains from defamation, as possessing more gentlemanly qualifications, than such as study the practice of bowing and scraping, and take | praise to themselves for entertaining their companions by publishing the imperfections, and calumniating the fame, of others. to disgrace him in his trade or profession. And words not actionable in themselves, may become so, if they occasion temporal damage to the party against whom they are spoken. (Burn.) An action on the case lies against any person for falsely and maliciously speaking of another, words which direetly charge him with any crime, for the commission of which the offender is punishable by law, (Finch,) as treason, (Hardr. 203,) murder, (1 Rol. Abr. 72. pl. 4,) larceny, ( Aleyn, 31,) perjury, (1 Rol. Abr. 39. pl. 25,) and keeping a bad house, (Ibid.) In order to sustain this action, it is essentially necessary that the words should conOn introducing the law relative to tain an express imputation of some defamation, I would observe, that there crime liable to punishment, some caare numerous instances in which scan-pital offence, or other infamous crime dal and abuse may pass with impunity; or misdemeanour. An imputation of and to those who are guilty of using the mere defect or want of moral virsuch opprobrium, under an impudent tue, or moral duties, or obligations, is assumption that the laws do not affect not sufficient. (3 Wils. 177. 6 T. R. them, I would say, in the language of 694.) scripture, "Do unto others as ye would they should do unto you.” To speak falsely and maliciously, and publish, of another, words which tend to disinherit him, (1 Rol. Abr. 37, C. 27,) or to deprive him of his estate, (1 Lev. 134,) or which slander him in his office, (Salk. 694,) profes 578,) are actionable; and for slander of this kind, it is said, an action may be brought before the injury has been sustained. Defamation (defamatio) is, when a person speaks scandalous words of another, or of a magistrate, &c. whereby they are injured in their reputation; for which the party offend-sion, (Str. 1138,) or trade, (Cro. Jac. ing shall be punished, according to the nature and quality of his offence; sometimes by action on the case at common law, sometimes by statute, and sometimes by the ecclesiastical laws. (Terms de Ley.) In the ecclesiastical court, he that is defamed cannot sue for amends or damages, but only for correction of the sin, pro salute animæ. (2 Inst. 492.) When slander is confined to words spoken, the offender must be sued for damages in a civil action, or be cited into the spiritual courts; except the words are seditious, or spoken of a magistrate in the execution of his duty, or come within the statute 9 and 10, W. III. against Blasphemy and Profaneness, in which cases the persons uttering them may be indicted. Scandalous words are either actionable in themselves, or, not being actionable in themselves, become so from consequential damages. Words are actionable in themselves which impute to a person a crime for which he may be indicted, and suffer corporal punishment, or which impute to him corruption or inability in an office of trust and profit, or which tend Words spoken in derogation of a peer, a judge, or other great officer of the realm, which are called scandalum magnatum, are held to be still more heinous, (1 Vent. 60,) and though they be such as would not be actionable in the case of a common person, yet, when spoken in disgrace of such high and respectable characters, they amount to an atrocious injury, which is redressed by an action, on the case founded on the statutes Weston, 13 Ed. I. c. 34; 2 Ric. II. c. 5; 12 Ric. II.c. 11; as well on behalf of the crown to inflict the punishment of imprisonment on the slanderer, as on behalf of the party to recover damages for the injury sustained. But this action is now seldom resorted to. By the two statutes 3 Edw. I. 2 Rich. II. on which it is founded, the defendant may be imprisoned till he produces the first author of the scandal; hence, as professor Christian observed, probably is the origin of the vulgar notion, that a per |