£GYI>TIAN darkness. 
491 
gave him that fatal stab, which deprived France of one of the most 
generous and humane sovereigns she ever had. 
When Charles I. of England opened the civil war by erecting his 
standard on Nottingham castle, it was soon blown down by a high 
wind, and the w^eather continued so boisterous, that the standard 
could not be refixed for several days. Some years after, while the 
same unfortunate prince was taking his trial before what w'as called 
the high court of justice, the silver head fell off* from his cane, nor 
did the head of its owner remain many days longer upon his shoul- 
ders. 
Egyptian Darkness. 
One of the most terrible sorts of darkness was that which, at the com- 
mand of Moses, came upon Egypt, as a plague to the inhabitants of it. 
The Septuagint, our translation of the bible, and indeed most others, 
in explaining Moses’ account of this darkness, render it “ a darkness 
which may be felt;” and the Vulgate has it “a palpable darkness,” 
consisting of black vapours and exhaltations so condensed that they 
might be perceived by the organs of seeing or feeling : but some com- 
mentators think that this is carrying the sense too far, since in such 
a medium as this, mankind could not live an hour, much less for the 
space of three days, as the Egyptians are said to have done, during 
the time this darkness lasted ; and therefore they imagine that in- 
stead of a darkness that might be felt, the Hebrew phrase may signify 
a darkness wherein men went groping and feeling about for every 
thing they wanted. Le Clerc is of this opinion, and thinks that 
Philo, in his life of Moses, understood the passage in its right sense. 
“ For in this darkness,” says he, “ whoever were in bed durst not 
get up ; and such as their natural occasions compelled to get up, 
went about by the w^alls, or any thing they could lay hold on, as if 
they had been blind.” What it was that occasioned this darkness, 
whether it was in the air or in the eyes, — whether it was a suspension 
of light from the sun in that country, or a black thick vapour which 
totally intercepted it, —it w ould be in vain to conjecture. 
History of the Trade to Guinea. 
The most ancient account we have of this country, particularly 
that part situated on and between the Senegal and Gambia, is from 
the writings of two ancient authors, one an Arabian, and the other a 
Moor. The first wrote in Arabic about the twelfth century. His 
w^orks, printed in that language at Rome, w^ere afterward s.^^translated 
into Latin, and printed at Paris, under the patronage ofSle famous 
Thuanus, chancellor of France, with the title of Geograpliia-l^bi- 
ensis, containing an account of all the nations lying on the 
and Gambia. The other was written by John Leo, a Moor, borj^^p 
Grenada in Spain, before the Moors were totally expelled from 
kingdom. He resided in Africa, but being on a voyage from Tripoli 
to Tunis, was taken by some Italian corsairs, who, finding him pos- 
sessed of several Arabian books, besides his ow n mss. concluded him 
