LEVI BEN-GERSON
389
LEVIRATE
peared in the Lower Nile, for Seneca and others alhide to a great battle fought by them and a school of dolpliins in the Hcracleotic branch of the Delta. During the decline of the state even the hippopotamus reappeared about Pelusinm, and was shot at in the 17th centur}^ (Hadzivil). In the time of the Crusades crocodiles were found in the Crocodilon river of earl}' writers, and in the Crocodilorum lacus, still called Moiat el-Temsah, wliich appear to be the Kerseos river and marsh, three miles south of Cajsarea, though the nature of the local- ity is most appropriate at Nahr-el Arsuf or el-Haddar" (Kitto). (For a full account of the treatment of the crocodile and its worship in Egypt, see Wilkinson's .4 w. Ejupt. i, 243 sq.)- See Kaiiah.
Most of the popular accounts of the crocodile have been taken from the American aUif/afor, a smaller ani- mal, but very similar in its habits to the true crocodile. See generally Herod, ii, (58 sq. ; Diod. Sic. i, 35 ; ^lian, Ilisi. Amm.Y,2o\ xvii, G; xii, 15; Ammianus Marcell. xxii, 15; Hasselquist, Trm\ p. 344 sq. , Pococke, East, i, 301 sq. ; Oken, Naturffesc/iickte, III, ii, 329 sq. ; Cuvier, Anim. K'uujd. li, 21 ; Thom, in the JIalle Enq/kloj}. xxi, 45G sq. , Bochart, Hieroz. iii, 737 sq.; Oedmann, iii, 1 sq. ; vi, 53 sq. ; A nnales du Museum dldstoire natur. vol. ix, X ; Jlinutoli, Trav. p. 246 ; Koseiimiiller, A Iterthumsk. IV, ii, 244 sq.; Denon, Truv. p. 291; Norden, Reise, p. 302. Comp. Crocodile.
Levi ben-Gerson. See Ralbag,
Levi, David, a noted English Jewish writer, was born at London in 1740. He was a hatter by profession, but ardently devoted himself to the study of Jewish lit- erature, and gained great reputation by several learned ]iublications, of which the principal is his Linfjiia Sacra, a dictionary and grammar of the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Tahnudic dialects (London, 1785-89, 3 vols. 8vo). He wrote also Dissertations on the Proiihedes of the Old Testament (1793, 2 vols. 8vo) -.—Defence of the Old Tes- tament, in Letters, in answer to Thomas Paine's Affe of Reason (1797, 8vo). Levi died in 1799. See Lj'son's Environs, sup. vol. European Magazine (1799) ; London Gent. Mag. (1801) ; Allibone, Diet, of Brit, ami Amer. A uthors, vol. ii, s. v.
Levings, Noah, D.D., an eminent Methodist Epis- copal minister, was born in Cheshire County, N. H., Sept. 29, 179G, and early removed to Troy, N. Y. ; was converted about 1812 ; entered the New York Conference in 1818; was stationed at New York in 1827-8; at Brooklyn in 1829-30 ; at New Haven in 1831-2 ; at Al- bany in 1833 j on Troy District in 1838 ; in 1843 at Ves- try Street, New York ; in 1844 was finally elected finan- cial secretary of the American Bible Society. He died at Cincinnati Jan. 9, 1849. In early life his advantages for education were limited, but the vigor of his mind and untiring effort bore him above all obstacles, and he became one of the most popular and useful ministers of his time. During his eighteen pastoral appointments. Dr. Levings is said to have " preached nearly 4000 ser- mons, delivered 65 addresses and orations, and to have travelled over no less than 36,500 miles. He also de- livered 275 addresses for the American Bible Societj-." He was an earnest and accomplished minister ; many souls were converted under his labors ; and as a platform speaker he had few equals amongst the ministry of his age.— Con/: Min. iv, 327 ; Meih. Qu. Rev. 1849, p. 515.
Levirate (from the law-Latin term lerir, a hus- band's Ijrother), the name applied to an ancient usage of the Hebrews (Gen. xxxviii, 8 sq.), reordained by Mo- ses (Deut, XXV, 5-10; comp. Josephus, Ant. iv, 8, 23; Matt, xxii, 24 sq.), that when an Israelite died without leaving male issue, his brother (CS'^, yaham', which was the specific term applied to this relation), resident with him, was compelled to marry the widow, and continue his deceased brother's family through the first-bom son issuing from such union as the heir of the former hus- band (comp. Jul. Afric. in Eusebius, Hist. Ev. i, 7). If he was unwilling to do so, he could only be released