whiteness, so in hastiness of appearance, as the Almond tree buds sooner by two or three months than most other trees, so do these hasty buds of age appear; these steal upon men suddenly before they are aware. Some peoples’ hair turns grey at thirty or forty years of age, while other symptoms of the decay of life do not appear on them till sixty or seventy years of age. Both these attract attention. An Almond tree in full blossom, and an almond head, especially if found in the ways of God, these are alike in their indications, they foretel what is approaching—a change; fruit will come after; so grey hairs prognosticate that death is at hand; these are Church-yard flowers, which serve, like passing bells, to give those notice that bear them, that their end is near. Two things more the Wise Man observes; _The Grasshopper shall be a burden_, _and desire shall fail_. The learned say the word _Grasshopper_, likewise signifies the Locust, and will apply to both in the original language; and they likewise suppose that Solomon here alludes to some parts of the body, which being shrivelled and deformed, appear like the Locust and Grasshopper. These Species are both of them hard, crusty, cragged, crumpling creatures, differing from all others, principally in the protuberance of the limbs, having their legs strangely crooked, and their joints very closely inverted, and at a great distance from the trunk of their body. This description may refer to some of the bones in the neck, the back, the loins, the heels, and the ancles. Now when a man by reason of age, begins to stoop, and bend forwards, and withal those fleshy parts that cover these processes, begin to shrink and decay, he resembles these creatures. This may also include the change upon the cartilages of the body, the Ligaments, the Membranes, the Fibres, the Veins, the Nerves, the Arteries, the Tendons, and the like, which all grow harder and drier in old age, and become a burden; the skin, likewise, as man declines, becomes crusty, dry, callous, and consequently falls into many wrinkles. This may also include that fretfulness to which aged people are subject; every thing is a burden, though light, weak or trifling as a Grasshopper. Good Mr. Henry, observes, Perhaps this Grasshopper or Locust was some light food, such as John did eat; but even this was a burden to an aged man’s stomach; then, of course, through these things Solomon well adds, _Desire shall fail_: Sensual and natural desire for food, pleasure, or any sensual delight whatever. This word _Desire_, the celebrated Dr. Smith says, should be translated _Capers_, the fruit, or rather the flowers of the Caper Shrub, or Bush; and alludes to something calculated to give appetite; and that as the Grasshopper did represent the Bones, or hard parts of the Body, so these the soft, spongy, and dilated; and what Solomon by this expression means, is the alteration of all the moist and