The Sun.
London, England, 1832-11-02 00:00:00

BLACKW 0 OD' S MAGAZINE.

A very good average number, with less o
monotony than usual. " The Traditions of the
Rabbins"—a tempting subject, and replete with
interesting matter, is well executed. The details,
in particular, respecting the Rabbinical Legends
Solomon, will be read with considerable
pleasure, The following is curious
In those romances there is the foundation of many an
Arab Tale. They 'nave all the wildness, abruptness, and
high-coloured images of the Thousand and One Nights,
hut minded with more trivialities. They are, however,
highly curious, if they can be conceived to embody those
strange traditions which seem to have made up a large
portion of the ancient Asiatic memorials, hut which have
long since passed away. In this point of view, the Rah-
bins have been the preservers of a portion of the history
o.
4 the human mind, that portion which lies between oli-
Olaf :evelation and autheatic narrative, the mystic pe rind,
tho dark dge of Orientalism—but, dark as it was, an age
which may have been as essential to the vigour of the
Jumian uodgrstanding in the subsequent periods, as sleep is
to the frame, winter to the future redundancy of the soil.
"'The fable of the ,11,oves of the Argels, that ancient per-
persion of the passage nf Genesis which &scribes the
laptiotacy of the eons of Seth, and their intercourse with
the resestted family of Cain, forms a considerable share of
1.11,e Rabbi:44a] narratives. But their lire of variety is not
'satisfied with pne instance of this offence, nor one class of
its perpetrators. The giant Oo is one of the offspring of
the angelic intercourae ; but the, criminal is not the good
angel, but tba bad.' We aiia' thus told that Og was born
before the deluge, the son of the eel! angel Schampiel, and
that his mother was no less a personage than the wife of
the Patriarch Shem himielf.' Sicbon, the brother giant,
Kinfe of the Animonitea, was said to be born in the At k.
" The Giant Og is a prodigious favourite with the Bab-
bins, and figures alternately as the Hercu'es and the Orii.n
of the Talmud.. In thejalkut Schirizoni, M ses is repre-
sented as having toll the-Angel of Death, that he had
peen engaged in a war against Sichon and Og, two heroes
,af Heathens, virLit; were'of so vast a stature, that they
'could cot be drowned in the Deluge,- its waters reaching
nUThigher th:in their ankles.',. Of Sichon, it is told, as an
~..dence of the singular triumph of Israel, that he was
ha,raiiar than a wall, and taller than any tower ; and that
,n o .creap_ir,, born of earth could withstand his strength.'
Out his ,ciaief power was connected with the protection
of .the Prince of Demons. The first act of successful
Warfare teas therefore to chain np the Demon Prince,
and then Israel was (et loose upon him, and tridmphed
accordingly, to the infinite discomfiture of the Ammo-
nites. But the Rabhins sometimes grow sceptical as
to the height of Og above the Deluge, and attempt
to provide for him in a more comfortable mode than
by thus wading or swimming for his life. • The Sevachim
declares that Og, after a bold attempt to check the descent
of the waters of the coming Deluge, by putting his hand
apinst the windows of the firmament, and his foot against
4,e fountains of the great deep—an attempt which was
and4enly frustrated by waking the waters boiling-hot, until
the giant wp scalded to the bone, and obliged to give way
-he mounted upon the Ark, and thus rode out the
storm, He must, however, have been an inconvenient
passenger if he retained his appetite, for the Treatise of
the Sopherim states, as his bill of fare every day, 1,000
oxen, and I,ooo' head of game; and for his drink 1,000
nieasures of wine."
" Tom Cringle's Log" is capital, as regards
variety and graphic spirit. The series of these
'singular papers, when completed, will tell well,

.6t. • •
we suspect, in a volume,lilie the clev Diarie s
of a Physician. " James's History of Charle-
magne" is an elaborate notice of one of the best
of our modern historical sketches. Lines on the
"Cholera Mount at Sheffield" are good, but
scarcely worthy of the talents of James Mont-
gomery. But Homer sometimes nods. " He-
siod" is an acute, eloquent piece of criticism,
worthy of the splendid notices of Homer and
his translators, Pope, Cowper, and Sotheby, that
preceded it. " The Working of the Bill" is, as
Usual, full of high Tory truculence. " The
Noctes " form an agreeable medley of gossip and
banter.