The Vine.

The vine is a tree familiarly known even in these northern and ungenial climes. Of this valuable plant, the species are numerous, and strongly marked.

In the vales near Jordan, in the neighbourhood of Jericho, not far from the Dead sea, is found, growing in great abundance, the vine of Sodom, a plant, from the fields around that devoted city, which produces grapes as bitter as gall, and wine as deadly as the poison of a serpent." This deleterious fruit is mentioned by Moses in terms which fully justify the assertion : "For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter, their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps." It is probably the wild vine, a species of gourd, which produces the coloquintida, a fruit so excessively bitter that it cannot be eaten; and when given in medicine, proves a purgative so powerful, as to be frequently followed by excoriation of the vessels and hemorrhage. It seems therefore to have been early, and not without reason, considered as poisonous. It was of this wild vine the sons of the prophets ate; and its instantaneous effect, together with their knowledge of its violent action, easily accounts for their alarm: " And it came to pass as they were eating (of the pottage which had been mixed with the gourd), that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot, and they could not eat." Another species of wild vine, but of a milder character, which grows in Palestine, near the high ways and hedges, is the Labrusca. Its fruit is a very small grape, which becomes black when ripe; but often it does not ripen at all. These are the wild grapes to which the prophet compares the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah : " And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes." w They are also the sour grapes to which another inspired prophet alludes, when he predicts the destroying judgments that were coming upon his rebellious people: "In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. - - - Every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge."x

• One species of vine is not less distinguished by the luxuriance of its growth, than by the richness and delicacy of its fruit. This is the Sorek of the Hebrews, which the prophet Isaiah has chosen to represent the founders of his nation-men renowned for almost every virtue which can adorn the human character: "My well beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill, and he planted it with Sorek, or the choicest vine." It is to this valuable species that Moses refers, in his prophetic benediction addressed to Judah ; and the manner in which he speaks of it is remarkable: "Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine." In some parts of Persia, it was formerly the custom to turn their cattle into the vineyards after the vintage, to browse on the vines, some of which are so large, that a man can hardly compass their trunks in his arms. These facts clearly shew, that agreeably to the prediction of Moses, the ass might be securely bound to the vine, and without damaging the tree by browsing on its leaves and branches. The same custom appears, from the narratives of several travellers, to have generally prevailed in the Lesser Asia. Chandler ob served, that in the vineyards around Smyrna, the leaves of the vines were decayed or stripped by the camels, or herds of goats, which are permitted to browse upon them after the vintage. When he left Smyrna on the thirtieth of September, the vineyards were already bare; but when he arrived at Phygela, on the fifth or sixth of October, he found its territory still green with vines; which is a proof, that the vineyards at Smyrna must have been stripped by the cattle, which delight to feed upon the foliage.a

This custom furnishes a satisfactory reason for a regulation in the laws of Moses, the meaning of which has been very imperfectly understood, which forbids a man to introduce his beast into the vineyard of his neighbour. It was destructive to the vineyard before the fruit was gathered; and after the vintage, it was still a serious injury, because it deprived the owner of the fodder, which was most grateful to his flocks and herds, and perhaps absolutely requisite for their subsistence during the winter. These things considered, we discern in this enactment, the justice, wisdom, and kindness of the great Legislator: and the same traits of excellence might no doubt be discovered in the most obscure and minute regulation, could we detect the reason on which it is founded.

But, if the vine leaves were generally eaten by cattle after the vintage was over, how, says Mr. Harmer, "could the prophet, Isa. xxxiv. 4, represent the dropping of the stars from heaven, in a general wreck of nature, by the falling of the leaf from the vine? If they were devoured by the cattle, they could not fall." The answer is easy: the prophet refers to the character of the vine leaf, not to any local custom; nor is it reasonable to suppose, that the leaves of every vineyard were so regularly and completely consumed, that the people had never seen them showering from the branches by the force of the wind, or the nipping colds in the close of the year. The beauty and fertility of the Sorek, or choice vine, add great force and elegance to the comparison in the gospel of John: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman:" I am the root, fountain, and head of influence, whence my people derive life, grace, and every spiritual blessing; and my Father orders all things concerning those who believe in me, by uniting them to me as branches are engrafted into the vine; by visiting and defending, supporting and purifying them continually, to make them fruitful in every good work to do his will.

The land of Egypt never produced a sufficient quantity of wine to supply the wants of its inhabitants: but still it contained many vines, although it could not boast of extensive and loaden vineyards. The vines of Egypt are conjoined by the Psalmist, with the sycamores, in his triumphal song on the plagues which desolated that country, and procured the liberation of his ancestors: "He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost." This was to the people of Egypt a very serious loss; for the grape has been in all ages a principal part of the viands, with which they treated their friends. Norden was entertained with coffee and grapes by the aga of Essauen:d and when Maillet resided in that country, the natives used the young leaves of their vines even more than the fruit. A principal article of their diet consists in • Ps. lxxviii, 47. d Part ii, p. 112. • Lett. ix, p. 14.

minced meat, which they wrap up in small parcels in vine leaves, and laying thus one leaf upon another, they season it according to the custom of their country, and make of it one of the most delicate dishes presented on their tables. The remainder of the vintage they convert into wine, of so delicious a taste and flavour, that it was carried to Rome in the days of her pride and luxury, and esteemed by epicures the third in the number of their most esteemed wines. The use of wine being prohibited by the Mohammedan law, very little is manufactured at present; but it seems, in ancient times, to have been produced in much greater abundance. In the reign of the Pharaohs, it was certainly made in considerable quantities for the use of the court, who probably could procure no such wine from other countries, nor were they acquainted with such liquors as the great now drink in Egypt; and consequently the loss of their vines, as the sacred writer insinuates, must have been considerable.f

The grapes of Egypt are said to be much smaller than those which grow in the land of Canaan. Dandini, though an Italian, seems to have been surprised at the extraordinary size of the grapes produced in the vineyards of Lebanon. They are as large as prunes, and, as may be inferred from the richness and flavour of the wines for which the mountains of Lebanon have been renowned from time immemorial, of the most delicious taste. To the size and flavour of these grapes, brought by the spies to the camp in the wilderness, the Italian traveller, little versed, it should seem, in the history of the Old Testament, imputes the ardour with which the people of Israel prosecuted the