NIGHT-WATCH.
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NIGHT-WATCH.
Night-watch is an extremely ancient regulation in allcivilized and well-governed communities. It often occursin the sacred volume, and in the book of Psalms there is anextremely pertinent observation tending to illustrate itsantiquity: “ Except the Lord keep, the city, the watch-man waketh but in vain.” Psalm cxxvii. 1. The obser-tion in the latter part of the sentence evidently points to anight-watch ; not but that we are at perfect liberty to pre-sume, what was the fact, that watchmen or centinels hadbeen established, since the first of time, in the day ; which,in those early periods, must have been particularly neces-sary, from the wild and predatory habits of many orientalnations, certain parts of whom lived by rapine. To bringone instance alone in support of this our proposition, wequote the 15th verse of the 2d chapter of Job, where weobserve the first of the misfortunes of that celebrated suf-ferer arose from a robbery and murder by the Sabeans; theystole the cattle, and slew the servants of the magnanimouspatient. Likewise, Dr. Potter, in the 2d volume of hisArchceologia Graca, lib. i. cap. 4, assigns as 1 a reason forthe ancient Grecians always going armed, because, thinkingit unsafe to adventure themselves abroad without sufficientdefence against aggressors. Plutarch also informs us,that when Theseus proposed his journey from Trcezen toAthens, his relations would have persuaded him to go bysea, for he says, it was at that time very dangerous totravel by land to Athens, no place of the country being freefrom thieves and murderers; for that age produced a set ofmen, for strength of arm, swiftness of foot, and vigour ofbody, excelling the ordinary race of men, and in labour andexercise indefatigable ; yet making use of these gifts ofnature to nothing good or profitable to mankind; but re-joicing and taking pride in insolence, and pleasing them-selves in the commission of barbarous and unheard-ofcruelties, in seizing by force whatever fell into their hands,and practising upon strangers all manner of outrages ; whoimagined that civility and justice, and equity and huma-nity, (which they thought were commended by many, eitherfrom want of courage to commit injuries, or from the fear ofreceiving them,) nothing at all to concern those who weremost daring and strong.
Having now established this ancient disposition in the