36  :  "  He  smote  also  all  the  firstborn  in  their  land,  the  chief
of  all  their  strength."

(91.)  These  are  plain  descriptions,  not  of  heads  of  house
holds  and  fathers  of  families  themselves,  as  the  proper  subjects
of  this  visitation,  among  the  Egyptians,  but  of  a  certain  class
of  the  component  parts  of  every  such  household  or  every  such
family  among  them,  at  the  time ;  the  children  as  such,  in
contradistinction  to  the  parents; — and  among  the  children,
the  firstborn  as  such  in  contradistinction  to  the  rest.  And
such  having  been  the  proper  subjects  of  this  visitation  among
the  Egyptians,  such  must  have  been  the  proper  subjects  of

F


66  Historical  Character  of  the  Pentateuch.     [QUEST,  ix.
