238 MEMOIRS of the 
it is truly ckfcribed in thelb words 5 it fpoiktpj, and flycth 
aivayy they camp in hedges in the day, and ivhen the fun 
arifeth they flee aivay^ and their place is not kno-'Ji'n ivhere 
they are ; that is, they then retire again to the hedges and 
trees, where they lie quiet, and concealed till the fun fets 
again. Bpk^^ ^^ better trandated locufl or beetle, Zei;. 11.22. 
where Alc/es permits the Jfraelites to eat the locuft after his 
kind, and the baldlocuft after his kind, and the beetle after 
his kind, and the grafhopper after his kind. Dr. Molyncux 
owns, thiAt for a long time it Teemed unaccountable to him, 
that beetles, and thofe other nafty, dry, and unpromifing 
vermin, ihould be thought as clean and proper food for man 3 
but as it is certain, that 'Pakftine, Arabia^ Egypt^ and the 
other neighbouring countries were all extremely infefted with 
thefe pernicious vermin, and therefore Mofes foreleeing the 
great dearth and fcarcity that they might one day bring on his 
people, gives them here a permiffive precept, or a hint what 
they (liould do, when the corn, grafs, olive-trees, fruit trees, 
vines, and other provifions were deftroyed by the locuft and 
^fnyjiy or beetles (warming in the land^ that then for want of 
other provifions, and rather than ftarve, they, might eat, and 
live upon the filthy dcftroyers themfelves, and yet be clean: 
And thus we fee the native Irifi were pradical commentators 
on this part of the Levitical law, and bymatter of fa6l explain- 
ed the true fenie and meaning of this, otherwife dark and 
obtrufe text: It is alfo more than probable, that this fame 
de{lru61ive beetle, was that very kind of Scarab^eus^ the idola- 
trous Egyptians of old had infuch high veneration, as to pay 
divine wur/hip to it and frequently engrave its image on their 
ylguglios And ObelifcSy as we fee at this day^ for nothing can 
be fuppoled more natural, than ta imagine that a nation 
addicted to polytheifm, as the Egyptians were, in a country 
frequently infelled with fwarms of devouring infefls, fliould 
from a ftrong icnfe and fear of future evil, the common prin- 
ciple of fuperftirion and idolatry, give divine honours to the 
vifiblc authors of thefe their fuffcrings, in hopes to render 
them more propitious for the future- thus it is allowed on all 
bands, that the farne people adored, as gods, the ravenous 
crocodiles of the Nik j and thus the Romans, tho* more polite, 
and civilized in their idolatry, worfhiped fever, Febrem ad 
f?iiiJi/i noccsidam veuerabantur, eamque ijariis templis esftruttis 
cokbanty lays l^'akrius Aksimus, L. 2. c 5. 
^tbe 
