twenty years before, the Rev. Dr. E. D. Clarke, while exploring the ruins of Cana in Galilee, saw several large massy stone water-pots, answering the description given of the ancient vessels of the country (John ii. 6.); not preserved nor exhibited as relics, but lying about, disregarded by the present inhabitants as antiquities with whose original use they were acquainted. From their appearance, and the number of them, it was quite evident that the practice of keeping water in large stone pots, each holding from eighteen to twentyseven gallons, was once common in the country. In the later times of the Jewish polity, BASKETS formed a necessary article of furniture to the Jews; who, when travelling either among the Gentiles or the Samaritans, were accustomed to carry their provisions with them in xowo, baskets, in order to avoid defilement by eating with strangers.2 Large sacks are still, as they anciently were (John ix. 11. Gen. xliv. 1-3.), employed for carrying provisions and baggage of every descrip

tion.3

Bowls, cups, and drinking vessels of gold and silver, it appears from 1 Kings x. 21. were used in the courts of princes; but the modern Arabs, as the Jewish people anciently did, keep their water, milk, wine, and other liquors, in BOTTLES made of skins, which are chiefly of a red colour (Exod. xxv. 5.); and their mouths are closed by slips of wood, that they may contain milk or other liquids. These bottles, when old, are frequently rent, but are capable of being repaired, by being bound up or pieced in various ways. Of this description were the wine bottles of the Gibeonites, old and rent, and bound up. (Josh. ix. 4.) As new wine was liable to ferment, and, consequently, would burst the old skins, all prudent persons would put it into new skins. To this usage our Lord alludes in Matt. ix. 17. Mark ii. 22. and Luke v. 37, 38. Bottles of skin, it is well known, are still in use in Spain, where they are called Borrachas.5 As the Arabs make fires in their tents, which have no chimneys, they must be greatly incommoded by the smoke, which blackens all their utensils and taints their skins. David, when driven from the court of Saul, compares himself to a bottle in the smoke. (Psal. cxix. 83.) He must have felt acutely, when he was driven from the vessels of gold and silver in the palace of Saul, to live like an Arab, and drink out of a smoky leathern bottle. His language is, as if he had said," My present appearance is as different from what it was when I dwelt at court, as the furniture of a palace differs from that of a poor Arab's tent." Apartments were lighted by means of LAMPS, which were fed with olive oil, and were commonly placed upon elevated stands. (Matt. v. 15.) The lamps of Gideon's soldiers (Judg. vii. 16.), and those of the wise and foolish virgins (Matt. xxv. 1-10.), were of a different sort. They were a kind of torches or flambeaux made of iron or earthenware, wrapped about with old linen, moistened from time to time with oil.

V. In progress of time, as men increased upon the earth, and found themselves less safe in their detached tents, they began to live in society, and fortified their simple dwellings by surrounding them with a ditch, and a rude breastwork, or wall, whence they could hurl stones against their enemies. Hence arose villages, towns, and CITIES, of which Cain is said to have been the first builder. In the time of Moses, the cities of the Canaanites were both numerous and strongly fortified. (Num. xiii. 28.) In the time of David, when the number of the Israelites was greatly increased, their cities must have proportionably increased; and the vast population which (we have already seen) Palestine maintained in the time of the Romans is a proof both of the size and number of their cities. The principal strength of the cities in Palestine consisted in their situation: they were for the most part erected on mountains or other eminences which were difficult of access; and the weakest places were strengthened by fortifications and walls of extraordinary thickness. four cubits in breadth, in order that the rays of the sun may be kept off; but it is evident that they must have formerly been wider, from the fact that carriages were driven through them, which are now very seldom, if ever, to be seen in the East. The houses, however, rarely stand together, and most of them have spacious gardens annexed to them. It is not to be supposed that the almost incredible tract of land, which Nineveh and Babylon are said to have covered, could have been filled with houses closely standing together: an cient writers, indeed, testify that almost a third part of Baby lon was occupied by fields and gardens.

The streets in the Asiatic cities do not exceed from two to

In the early ages of the world the MARKETS were held at or near the Gates of the Cities (which, we have already seen, were the seats of justice), generally within the walls, though sometimes without them. Here commodities were exposed to sale, either in the open air or in tents (2 Kings vii. 18. 2 Chron. xviii. 9. Job xxix. 7.): but in the time of Christ, as we learn from Josephus, the markets were enclosed in the same manner as the modern eastern bazars, which are shut at night, and where the traders' shops are disposed in rows or streets; and (in large towns) the dealers in particular commodities are confined to particular streets.

The GATES of the Cities, and the vacant places next adjacent to them, must have been of considerable size; for we read that Ahab king of Israel assembled four hundred false prophets before himself and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, in the Gate of Samaria. (1 Kings xxii. 10.) And besides these prophets, we may readily conclude that each of these monarchs had numerous attendants in waiting. Over or by the side of many gates there were towers, in which watchmen were stationed to observe what was going on at a distance. (2 Sam. xviii. 24. 33.)8

2

1 Travels, vol. ii. p. 445. Rae Wilson's Travels, vol. i. pp. 175, 176. Ibid. vol. i. p. 176. various remarks illustrative of the nature of drinking vessels anciently Harmer's Observations, vol. 1. p. 217. See also vol. ii. pp. 135-138. for Calmet's Dictionary, voce

in use among the Jews.

Jahn et Ackermann, Archæol. Bibl. '§ 40. Lamps.

the

See p. 54. supra. 313-315. Jahn et Ackermann, Archæol. Bibl. § 41. Pareau, Ant. Hebr. pp. 367-371.

Bruning, Antiq. Hebr. pp. 279–281. Calmet, Dissertations, tom. i. pp.

The principal authorities for this chapter are Calmet's Dissertation sur les Habits des Hebreux, Dissert. tom. i. pp. 337-371.; and Pareau, Antiquitas Hebraica, pp. 371-385.

10 Mr. Rae Wilson met with some Arabs, residing near the (so called) village of Jeremiah, who were clothed in sheep and goat skins, open at the neck. Travels in the Holy Land, &c. vol. I. p. 189 3d edition.

Robes of various colours were likewise appropriated to the virgin daughters of kings (2 Sam. xiii. 18.), who also wore that the Jewish garments were worn pretty long; for it is richly embroidered vests. (Psal. xlv. 13, 14.)12 It appears mentioned as an aggravation of the affront done to David's ambassadors by the king of Ammon, that he cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks. (2 Sam. x. 4.)

The dress of the Jews, in the ordinary ranks of life, was simple and nearly uniform. John the Baptist had his raiment

11 A coat of many colours is as much esteemed in some parts of Palestine at this day as it was in the time of Jacob, and of Sisera. Bucking ham's Travels among the Arab Tribes, p. 31. Emerson's Letters from the Eg ean, vol. ii. p. 31.

12 Jahn et Ackermann, §§ 113, 119.

of camels' hair (Matt. iii. 4.),—not of the fine hair of that animal which is wrought into camlets (in imitation of which, though made of wool, is the English camlet), but of the long and shaggy hair of camels, which in the East is manufactured into a coarse stuff like that anciently worn by monks and anchorets.1

It is evident, from the prohibition against changing the dresses of the two sexes, that in the time of Moses there was a difference between the garments worn respectively by men and women; but in what that difference consisted it is now impossible to determine. The fashion, too, of their apparel does not appear to have continued always the same; for, before the first subversion of the Jewish monarchy by Nebuchadnezzar, there were some who delighted to wear strange (that is, foreign) apparel. In every age, however, there were certain garments (as there still are in the East) which were common to both sexes, though their shape was somewhat different.

II. The simplest and most ancient was the TUNIC, or inner garment, which was worn next the body. At first, it seems to have been a large linen cloth, which hung down to the knees, but which was afterwards better adapted to the form of the body, and was sometimes furnished with sleeves. The tunics of the women were larger than those worn by men. Ordinarily they were composed of two breadths of cloth sewed together; hence those which were woven whole, or without seam on the sides or shoulders, were greatly esteemed. Such was the tunic or coat of Jesus Christ mentioned in John xix. 23. A similar tunic was worn by the high-priest. This garment was fastened round the foins, whenever activity was required, by a girdle. (2 Kings iv. 29. John xxi. 7. Acts xii. 8.) The prophets and poorer class of people wore leathern girdles (2 Kings i. 8. Matt. iii. 4.), as is still the case in the East; but the girdles of the opulent, especially those worn by women of quality, were composed of more precious materials, and were more skilfully wrought. (Ezek. xvi. 10. Isa. iii. 21.) The girdles of the inhabitants of the East, Dr. Shaw informs us, are usually of worsted, very artfully woven into a variety of figures, such as the rich girdles of the virtuous virgins may be supposed to have been. (Prov. xxxi. 24.) They are made to fold several times about the body; one end of which being doubled back, and sown along the edges, serves them for a purse, agreeably to the acceptation of wvn in the Scriptures (Matt. x. 9. Mark viii. 6. where it is rendered a purse). The Turks make a further use of these girdles, by fixing therein their knives and poniards: whilst the Hojias, i. e. the writers and secretaries, suspend in the same their inkhorns; a custom as old as the prophet Ezekiel, who mentions (ix. 2.) a person clothed in white linen, with an inkhorn upon his loins.3

III. Over the tunic was worn a larger vest, or UPPER GARMENT. It was a piece of cloth nearly square, like the hykes or blankets woven by the Barbary women, about six yards long, and five or six feet broad. The two corners, which were thrown over the shoulders, were called the skirts, literally, the wings of the garment. (1 Sam. xv. 11. xxiv. 4, 5. 11. Hag. ii. 12. Zech. viii. 23.) This garment serves the Kabyles or Arabs for a complete dress in the day; and as they sleep in their raiment (as the Israelites did of old, Deut. xxiv. 13.) it likewise serves them for their bed and covering in the night. "It is a loose, but troublesome kind of garment, being frequently disconcerted and falling to the ground, so that the person who wears it is every moment obliged to tuck it up, and fold it anew around his body. This shows the great use of a girdle whenever they are engaged in any active employment, and the force of the Scripture injunction alluding to it, of having our loins girded, in order to set about it. The method of wearing these garments, with the use to which they are at other times put, in serving for coverlids to their beds, leads us to infer that the finer sort of them (such as are worn by the ladies and by persons of distinction) are the peplus of the ancients. Ruth's veil, which held six measures of barley (Ruth iii. 15.), might be of the like fashion, and have served extraordinarily for the same use; as were also the clothes (ra ipari, the upper garments) of the Israelites (Exod. xii. 34.), in which they folded up their kneading-troughs: as the Moors, Arabs, and Kabyles do, to this day, things of the like burden and

On this subject see Capt. Light's Travels in Egypt, &c. p. 135. and Mr. Morier's Second Journey in Persia, p. 44. Chardin assures us, that the modern Bervises wear garments of coarse camels' hair and also great leathern girdles. Harmer's Obs. vol. ii. p. 487.

2 Josephus, Ant. Jud. lib. iii. c. 7. § 4. Shaw's Travels, vol. i. pp. 409, 410. 8vo. edit.

incumbrance in their hykes. Instead of the fibula that was used by the Romans, the Arabs join together with thread or a wooden bodkin the two upper corners of this garment; and after having placed them first over one of their shoulders, they then fold the rest of it about their bodies. The outer fold serves them frequently instead of an apron, wherein they carry herbs, leaves, corn, &c., and may illustrate several allusions made thereto in Scripture; as gathering the lap full of wild gourds (2 Kings iv. 39.), rendering seven-fold, giving good measure into the bosom (Psalm cxxix. 7. Luke vi. 38.), and shaking the lap." (Neh. v. 13.) It was these ipari, or upper garments, which the Jewish populace strewed in the road during Christ's triumphant progress to Jerusalem. (Matt. xxi. 8.) A person divested of this garment, conformably to the Hebrew idiom, is said to be naked. (2 Sam. vi. 20. John xxi. 7.) By the Mosaic constitution, in Num. xv. 37-40., the Israelites were enjoined to put fringes on the borders of their upper garments that they might remember alt the commandments of the Lord to do them. A similar exhortation is recorded in Deut. vi. 8. compared with Exod. xiii. 16. But, in succeeding ages, these injunctions were abused to superstitious purposes; and among the charges alleged against the Pharisees by Jesus Christ, is that of enlarging their PHYLACTERIES, and the fringes of their garments (Matt. xxiii. 5.), as indicating their pretensions to a more studious and perfect observance of the law. These phylacteries consisted of four strips or scrolls of parchment, or the dressed skin of some clean animal, inscribed with four paragraphs of the law, taken from Exod. xiii. 1-10. and xiii. 11-16. Deut. vi. 4-9. and xi. 13-21. all inclusive,; which the Pharisees, interpreting literally (as do the modern rabbins) Deut. vi. 8. and other similar passages, tied to the fronts of their caps and on their arms, and also inscribed on their doorposts. These phylacteries were regarded as amulets, or, at least, as efficacious in keeping off evil spirits, whence their Greek name harp, from quarrw, to guard or preserve. The practice of inscribing passages of the Koran upon the door-posts of their houses is said to be still continued by the Mohammedans in Judæa and Syria. The apodov, hem, or border of Christ's garment, out of which a healing power issued to the diseased who touched it (Matt. ix. 20. xiv. 36. Mark vi. 56. Luke viii. 44.), was the fringe which he wore, in obedience to the law.

The Xapus, chlamys, or scarlet robe with which our Saviour was arrayed in mock majesty (Matt. xxvii. 28. 31.), was a scarlet robe worn by the Roman soldiers. The Ern was a flowing robe reaching to the feet, and worn by persons of distinction. (Mark xii. 38. xvi. 5. Luke xv. 22. xx. 46. Rev. vi. 11. vii. 9. 13, 14.) The Ender was a linen upper garment, worn by the Orientals in summer and by night, instead of the usual ariv. (Mark xiv. 51, 52.) It was also used as an envelope for dead bodies. (Matt. xxvii. 59. Mark xv. 46. Luke xxiii. 53.) The ac, or cloak (2 Tim. iv. 13.), was the same as the penula of the Romans, viz. a travelling cloak with a hood to protect the wearer against the weather. The Zuacy, or handkerchief, corresponded to the Kapor of the Greeks, and the sudarium of the Romans, from whom it passed to the Chaldæans and Syrians with greater latitude of signification, and was used to denote any linen cloth. (John xi. 44. xx. 7. Acts xix. 12.) The ETv (semicinctium), or apron, passed also from the Romans: it was made of linen, surrounded half the body (Acts xix, 12.), and corresponded nearly to the Пapua of the Greeks, Whenever the men journeyed, a staff was a necessary accompaniment. (Gen. xxxii. 10. xxxviii. 18. Matt. x. 10. Mark vi. 8.)

IV. Originally, men had no other COVERING FOR THE HEAD than that which nature itself supplied, the hair. Calmet is of opinion, that the Hebrews never wore any dress or covering on their heads: David, when driven from Jerusalem (he urges), fled with his head covered with his upper garment; and Absalom would not have been suspended among the boughs of an oak by his hair, if he had worn a covering, (2 Sam. xvi. 30. xviii. 9.) But may not these have been

particular cases? David went up the Mount of Olives, as a mourner and a fugitive; and Absalom, fleeing in battle, might have lost his cap or bonnet. It is certain, that the (TSANIPH), or turban, was common both to men and women. (Job xxix. 14. Isa. iii. 23.)

The Jews wore their beards very long, as we may see from the example of the ambassadors, whom David sent to the king of the Ammonites, and whom that ill-advised king caused to be shaved by way of affront. (2 Sam. x. 4.) And as the shaving of them was accounted a great indignity, so the cutting off half their beards, which made them still more ridiculous, was a great addition to the affront, in a country where beards were held in such great veneration.

In the East, especially among the Arabs and Turks, the beard is even now reckoned the greatest ornament of a man, and is not trimmed or shaven, except in cases of extreme grief: the hand is almost constantly employed in smoothing the beard and keeping it in order, and it is often perfumed as if it were sacred. Thus, we read of the fragrant oil, which ran down from Aaron's beard to the skirts of his garment. (Psal. cxxxiii. 2. Exod. xxx. 30.) A shaven beard is reputed to be more unsightly than the loss of a nose; and a man who possesses a reverend beard is, in their opinion, incapable of acting dishonestly. If they wish to affirm any thing with peculiar solemnity, they swear by their beard; and when they express their good wishes for any one, they make use of the ensuing formula-God preserve thy blessed beard! From these instances, which serve to elucidate many other passages of the Bible besides that above quoted, we may readily understand the full extent of the disgrace wantonly inflicted by the Ammonitish king, in cutting off half the beards of David's ambassadors. Niebuhr relates, that if any one cut off his beard, after having recited a fatha, or prayer, which is considered in the nature of a vow never to cut it off, he is liable to be severely punished, and also to become the laughing-stock of those who profess his faith. The same traveller has also recorded an instance of a modern Arab prince having treated a Persian envoy in the same manner as Hanun treated David's ambassadors, which brought a powerful army upon him in the year 1765.2 The not trimming of the beard was one of the indications by which the Jews expressed their mourning. (2 Sam. xix. 24.).

"All the Grecian and Roman women, without distinction, wore their hair long. On this they lavished all their art, disposing it in various forms, and embellishing it with divers ornaments. In the ancient medals, statues, and basso-relievos, we behold those plaited tresses which the apostles Peter and Paul condemn, and see those expensive and fantastic decorations which the ladies of those times bestowed upon their head-dress. This pride of braided and plaited tresses, this ostentation of jewels, this vain display of finery, the apostles interdict, as proofs of a light and little mind, and inconsistent with the modesty and decorum of Christian women. St. Paul, in his first Epistle to Timothy, in the passage where he condemns it, shows us in what the pride of female dress then consisted. I will, says he, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with BROIDERED HAIR, or GOLD, or PEARLS, or COSTLY ARRAY: but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works, (1 Tim. ii. 9.) St. Peter in like manner ordains, that the adorning of the fair sex should not be so much that outward adorning of PLAITING the hair, and of wearing of GOLD, or PUTTING ON OF APPAREL: but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight Rae Wilson's Travels in the Holy Land, &c. vol. i. p. 147. 3d edition. Descript de l'Arabie, p. 61.

V. Their legs were bare, and on the feet they wore SANDALS, or soles made of leather or of wood, and fastened around the feet in various ways, after the oriental fashion. (Gen. xiv. 23. Exod. xii. 11. Isa. v. 27. Mark vi. 9. John ì. 27. Acts xii. 8.) As luxury increased, magnificent sandals constituted, in the East, a part of the dress of both males and females, who could afford such a luxury. (Cant. vii. 1. Ezek. xvi. 10.) The sandals of Judith were so brilliant, that, notwithstanding the general splendour of her bracelets, rings, and necklaces, these principally succeeded in captivating the ferocious Holofernes. (Judith x. 4. xvi. 9.)5 On entering a sacred place it was usual to lay them aside (Exod. iii. 5. Josh. v. 15.), as is the practice among the Mohammedans in the East to this day. When any one entered a house, it was customary to take off the sandals, and wash the feet. (Gen. xviii. 4. xix. 2.) A similar custom obtains in India at the present time. Among persons of some rank it was the office of servants to take off the sandals of guests, and (after washing their feet) to return them to the owners on their departure. (Matt. iií. 11. Mark v. 7. Luke iii 16. John xiii. 4, 5. 14-16. 1 Tim. v. 10.) Persons, who were in deep affliction, went barefoot (2 Sam. xv. 30. xix. 24. Isa. xx. 2-4.); which, under other circumstances, was considered to be ignominious and servile. (Deut. xxv. 9, 10. Isa, xlvii. 2. Jer. ii. 25.)

VI. SEALS or SIGNETS, and RINGS, were commonly worn by both sexes.

Pliny states that the use of Seals or Signets was rare at the time of the Trojan war; but among the Hebrews they were of much greater antiquity, for we read that Judah left his signet as a pledge with Tamar. (Gen. xxxviii. 25.) The ancient Hebrews wore their seals or signets, either as rings on their fingers, or as bracelets on their arms, a custom which still obtains in the East. Thus the bride in the Canticles (viii. 6.) desires that the spouse would wear her as a seal on his arm. Occasionally, they were worn upon the bosom by means of an ornamental chain or ligature fastened round the neck. To this custom there is an allusion in Prov. vi. 21. The expression to set as a seal upon the heart, as a seal upon the arm (Cant. viii. 6.), is a scriptural expression denoting the cherishing of a true affection; with the exhibition of those constant attentions which bespeak a real attachment. Com

Mr. Emerson's account of the dress of the younger females in the house of the British consul in the Isle of Milo, in the Levant, strikingly illustrates the above-cited passages of St. Peter. He describes their hair as being PLAITED into long triple bands, and then twisted round the head, or left to flow gracefully behind them. They also wore four or five gowns interlaced with strings of zechins, mahmoudis, and other COLDEN COINS, and other GARMENTS, HEAPED ON with less taste than profusion, and all are secured at the waist by a velvet stomacher, richly embroidered, and glit term with gilded spangles. (Emerson's Letters from the Ægean, vol. ii.

p. 238.)

4 Harwood's Introd. to the New Test. vol. ii. pp. 101-103.

the island of Ceylon in particular, "the shoes of brides are made of velvet, Dr. Good's Sacred Idyls, pp. 147. 172. In the East generally, and in richly ornamented with gold and silver, not unlike a pair in the tower [of London] worn by queen Elizabeth." Callaway's Oriental Observ. p. 47. tions on this subject:-"I never understood the full meaning of our Lord's An intelligent oriental traveller has the following instructive observawords, as recorded in John xiii. 10., until I beheld the better sort of natives return home after performing their customary ablutions. The passage reads thus: 'He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.' Thus, as they return to their habitations barefoot, they necessarily contract in their progress some portion of dust on their feet; and this is universally the case, however nigh their dwellings may be to the river side. When therefore they return, the first thing they do is to mount a low stool, and pour a small vessel of water over their feet, to cleanse them from the soil they may have contracted in their journey homewards; if they are of the higher order of society, a servant performs it for them, and then they are clean every whit."" Statham's Indian Recollections, p. 81. London, 1832. 12mo.

Nat. Hist. lib. xxxiii. c. 1.