No. 886.-ii. 10. The faces of them all gather blackness.] Mr. Harmer considers this blackness as the effect of hunger and thirst ; and CALMET (Dict. art. Obscure) refers it to a practice of bedaubing the face with soot. This proceeding, however, is not very consistent with the hurry of flight, or the terror of distress. A better elucidation of it may perhaps be obtained from the following extracts, than from the preceding opinions. “Kumeil, the son of Ziyad, was a man of fine wit. One day Hejage made him come before him, and reproached him because in such a garden, and before such and such persons, whom he named to him, he had made a great many imprecations against him, saying, the Lord blacken his face, that is, fill him with shame and confusion, and wished that his neck was cut off, and his blood shed.” OCKLEY's Hist. of the Saracens, vol. ii. p. 319. A more recent occurrence of this nature is recorded by Mr. Antes in his Observations on the Manners and Customs of the Egyptians, p. 125. After giving an account of the manner in which he had been used during his residence in Egypt by Osman Bey, he says, “I have sometimes been asked whether it were not possible to have such a villain chastised by the hand of justice? Whoever knows anything of the beys and mamelukes, will readily conclude, that it cannot be done, and that it would even be dangerous to attempt it. At that time Ibrahim and Murat Bey were the most powerful among the beys. Had I complained to them, and accompanied my complaint with a present of from twenty to fifty dollars (for a smaller sum would not have answered) they might perhaps have gone so far as to have banished Osman Bey from Cairo; but they would probably in a few months have recalled him, especially had they found it necessary to strengthen their party against others. Had this bey afterwards met me in the street, my head might not have been safe. Both Ibrahim and Murat Bey knew something of me ; but when they heard the whole affair, they only said of Osman Bey, God blacken his face.” White and black face are common and proverbial expressions of praise and reproach in the Turkish language. In the reign of Amurath the first, a selection was made from a great number of Christian captives, of the stoutest and most beautiful youths. The vizier received a fifth part of them. He educated them in religion and arms; and the new militia was consecrated and named by a celebrated Dervish. Standing in the front of their ranks, he stretched the sleeve of his gown over the head of the foremost soldier, and his blessing was delivered in these words. “Let them be called Janizaries (new soldiers). May their countenance be ever bright! their hand victorious! their sword keen! may their spear always hang over the heads of their enemies! and wheresoever they go, may they return with a white face!" GIBBON's Roman Empire, vol. ii. p. 379. This explanation of the phrase perfectly agrees with the sense of the passage referred to in this article: as also with Joel ii. 6. To gather blackness signifies in these extracts, as well as in the Soriptures, to suffer extreme confusion or terror. See MORIER's Journey through Persia, p. 31.