TRE SPIDER. 318

instinct with which these apparently insignificant creatures
are endowed, amply justifying the notice of the sacred
writers.

In the book of Job an allusion is made to the fragility of
the spider’s dwelling: ‘‘So are the paths of all that forget
God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish: whose hope
shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider’s wed.
He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he
shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.” The literal
translation of the word rendered wed is house, and this
would give much greater force to the expression, “ He shall
lean upon his Zouse, but it shall not stand.” The fragile
nature of the spider’s web is too well known to require any
illustration beyond those which have already been given,
and the simile shows that the nature of these wonderful
constructions had not escaped the observation of the sacred
historians, nor, indeed, the general habits of the little archi-
tect, for in Proverbs xxx. it is ranked as one of the “four
things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceed-
ing wise.”

“The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’
palaces.” There is here an allusion to two of the character-
istics of the spider, the use of its “hands” in forming and