The Jews Passover Stretched Canvas Print
Tissot, James
Buy at AllPosters.com
Balaam
(1) In the Old Testament ( Numb. xxii-xxiii), a prophet whom Balak, king of Moab, had persuaded to prophesy against the Israelites. On the way to utter the curse, the ass upon which Balaam was riding stopped short in a narrow pass and could not be forced to go on. "And Jehovah opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee that thou hast smitten me these three times . . . Then Jehovah opened the eyes of Balaam and he saw the angel of Jehovah standing in the way." Balaam and his ass were favorite characters in the early mystery plays on Biblical themes.
(2) Matter kept in type for filling up odd spaces in periodicals. Lockhart, in his Life of Scott (ch. lxx) tells us:
Balaam is the cant name for asinine paragraphs about monstrous productions of nature and the like. kept standing in type to be used whenever the real news of the day leaves an awkward space that must be filled up somehow.
Hence Balaam basket or box; the printer's slang term for the receptacle for such matter, and also for the place where stereotyped "fillups" are kept.
No comments:
Post a Comment