posed 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.)1

CHAP. II.

ON THE DRESS OF THE JEWS.2

I. IN the early ages, the dress of mankind was very simple. Skins of animals furnished the first materials (Gen. iii. 21.; Heb. xi. 37.)", which, as men increased in numbers and civilisation, were exchanged for more costly articles, made of wool and flax, of which they manufactured woollen and linen garments (Lev. xiii. 47.; Prov. xxxi. 13.); afterwards fine linen, and silk, dyed with purple, scarlet, and crimson, became the usual apparel of the more opulent. (2 Sam. i. 24.; Prov. xxxi. 22.; Luke xvi. 19.) In the more early ages, garments of various colours were in great esteem: such was Joseph's robe, of which his envious brethren stripped him, when they resolved to sell him. (Gen. xxxvii. 23.) Robes of various colours were likewise appropriated to the virgin daughters of kings (2 Sam. xiii. 18.), who also wore richly embroidered vests. (Psal. xlv. 13, 14.) It appears that the Jewish garments were worn pretty long; for it is 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 of camels' hair (Matt. iii. 4.),—not of the fine hair of that animal which is wrought

1 Bruning, Antiq. Hebr. pp. 279-281. Calmet, Dissertations, tom. i. pp. 313-315. Jahn et Ackermann, Archæol. Bibl. § 41. Pareau, Ant. Hebr. pp. 367-371.

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

385.

3 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.

A pleasing illustration of Joseph's "coat of many colours" is furnished in the figures engraven on the tomb of Pihrai, at Beni Hassan, in Middle Egypt, and especially by the apparel of the king of the Jebusites. Osburn's Ancient Egypt, pp. 37-43. 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. Buckingham's Travels among the Arab Tribes, p. 31. Emerson's Letters from the Ægean, vol. ii. p. 31.

Jahn et Ackermann, §§ 118, 119.

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.'

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.

2

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 loins, 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. 24.) 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 sewn along the edges, serves them for a purse, agreeably to the acceptation of Corn 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: while 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

On this subject see Captain Light's Travels in Egypt, &c. p. 135. and Mr. Morier's Second Journey in Persia, p. 44. Chardin assures us, that the modern Dervises 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.

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 (Tà iuária, the upper garments) of the Israelites (Exod. xii. 34.), in which they folded up their kneadingtroughs; as the Moors, Arabs, and Kabyles do, to this day, things of the like burden and 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 sevenfold, giving good measure into the bosom (Psal. cxxix. 7.; Luke vi. 38.), and shaking the lap." (Neh. v. 13.) It was these iuária, 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 Numb. xv. 37-40., the Israelites were enjoined to put fringes on the borders of their upper garments, that they might remember all 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

1 In India, "when people take a journey, they always have their loins well girded, as they believe that they can walk much faster, and to a greater distance... When men are about to enter into an arduous undertaking, bystanders say, Tie your loins well up.'" (Luke xii. 35.; Eph. vi. 4.; 1 Pet. i. 13.) Roberts's Oriental Illustrations, p. 72. 2 Shaw's Travels, vol. i. pp. 404-406.

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 door-posts. These phylacteries were regarded as amulets, or at least, as efficacious in keeping off evil spirits, whence their Greek name Φυλακτήρια, from φυλάττω, 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 κрáσтedov, 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.

1

The Xλaμús, chlamys, or scarlet robe with which our Saviour was arrayed in mock majesty (Matt. xxvii. 28. 31.), was a scarlet robe worn sometimes by kings, also by military officers, and by the Roman soldiers. The Eron 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 Σινδών was a linen upper garment, worn by the Orientals in summer and by night, instead of the usual 'Iμáriov. (Mark xiv. 51, 52.) It was also used as an envelope for dead bodies. (Matt. xxvii. 59.; Mark xv. 46.; Luke xxiii. 53.) The Daiλóvns2, 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 Zovdápiov, or handkerchief, corresponded to the Kayidpóriov of the Greeks, and the sudarium of the Romans, from whom it passed to the Chaldeans and Syrians with greater latitude of signification, and was used to denote any linen cloth. (John xi. 44., xx. 7.; Acts xix. 12.) The Eipixíveiov (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 Пspicua of the Greeks. Whenever the men journeyed, a staff was a necessary accompaniment. (Gen. xxxii. 10., xxxviii. 18.; Matt. x. 10.; Mark vi. 8.)

4

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

Calmet's Dictionary, voce Phylacteries. Robinson's Greek Lexicon, voce vλakтhpia, Respecting the phylacteries of the modern Jews, much curious information has been collected by Mr. Allen in his "Modern Judaism," pp. 304-318., and also by the Rev. M. Margoliouth in his "Fundamental Principles of Modern Judaism examined," pp. 1-45. In the Bibliotheca Sussexiana there is a description of three Jewish phylacteries, which were preserved among the MSS. in the library of his late Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex. Bibl. Sussex, vol. i. part i. pp. xxxvi.—xxxix.

2 Robinson's Lexicon, vocibus.

* Adam's Roman Antiquities, p. 386.

Valpy's Gr. Test. on Luke xix. 20. and Acts xix. 12.

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.

Long hair was in great esteem among the Jews. The hair of Absalom's head was of such prodigious length, that in his flight, when defeated in battle, as he was riding with great speed under the trees, it caught hold of one of the boughs; in consequence of which he was lifted off his saddle, and his mule running from beneath him, left him suspended in the air, unable to extricate himself. (2 Sam. xviii. 9.) The plucking off the hair was a great disgrace among the Jews; and, therefore, Nehemiah punished in this manner those Jews who had been guilty of irregular marriages, in order to put them to the greater shame. (Neh. xiii. 25.) Baldness was also considered as a disgrace. (2 Sam. xiv. 26.; 2 Kings ii. 23.; Isa. iii. 24.) On festive occasions, the more opulent perfumed their hair with fragrant unguents. (Psal. xxiii. 5.; Eccl. ix. 8.; Matt. vi. 17., xxvi. 7.) Among the ancient Egyptians it was customary for a servant to attend every guest as he seated himself, and to anoint his head. And it should seem, from Cant. v. 11., that black hair was considered to be the most beautiful.

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 1 Wilkinson's Manners, &c. of the Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 213. 2 Rae Wilson's Travels in the Holy Land, &c. vol. i. p. 147. 3d edit.