Judg. xiv. 12, 13, where Samson proposes as a wager thirty shirts and not sheets, as in the text of our version; and in Prov. xxxi. 24, where the diligent housewife is said to make "fine linen," or as it would be more correctly rendered, "fine linen shirts."

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A second coat or tunic was also worn by the luxurious: it had a special name, meil, and differed from the ordinary one in being longer and without sleeves. It is noticed in 1 Sam. xviii. 4:-"Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David." In 1 Sam. xxiv. 4:- "Then David arose and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe;" and in Job i. 20:"Then Job arose and rent his mantle." It formed a special article of the priest's attire, and hence it was the proper title of the "little coat" which Hannah made for Samuel (1 Sam. ii. 19), and it was worn by David on solemn religious occasions (1 Chron. xv. 27).

The varieties of outer garments were still greater, some being distinguished by colour, others by material. We must particularly notice the "hairy garment of the prophets, which in early times consisted of the shaggy skin of some animal, most commonly a sheep, but afterwards of a coarse material of camel's or goat's hair. Elijah was particularly distinguished by this robe he wore it on his journey to Horeb, and when he heard the still small voice he "wrapped his face in his mantle" (1 Kings xix. 13): when he ascended to heaven the same hairy mantle was cast down on his successor Elisha, and invested him with prophetic power (2 Kings ii. 13, 14): and it appears to have been in reference to this mantle that he is described in 2 Kings i. 8, as a "hairy man," and was at once recognized by Ahaziah from this circumstance. John the Baptist was similarly distinguished by his "raiment of camel's hair" (Matt. iii. 4). We learn from Zechariah xiii. 4, that the garb was assumed by the false prophets of his day, who are described as wearing "a rough gar

ment to deceive." Occasionally robes of great value were either made of the skins or trimmed with the furs of animals such was the "robe of the king of Nineveh (Jonah iii. 6), and such also was the "goodly Babylonish garment," which Achan purloined from the spoils of Ai (Josh. vii. 21). Sheepskin garments are still much worn in the East :-"The inhabitants (of Assalt), including men, women, and children, were clothed in sheepskin jackets, with the skin, looking like red leather, turned outside, and the wool within."

"The dress of the men resembles that of Syrian Arabs on the coast, with the exception only of their wearing over their ordinary dress a short sheepskin jacket, the woolly part on the inside, and the skin of a reddish colour, and tanned, as well as it can be while the wool is on, outside."-BUCKINGHAM'S Arab Tribes, pp. 22, 49.

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Coming upon the dead carcass of a camel, which two men were flaying for the sake of its flesh and skin, our guide remarked that besides these the hair also is valuable, being used in making rough cloaks for the Bedouins. No doubt these are the same as the hairy garment worn by Elijah, and the raiment of camel's hair worn by John the Baptist."-Narrative of a Mission of Inquiry to the Jews, p. 76.

The ordinary robes of the Jews were of a light hue : the more costly were either dyed with the valuable purple dye of the Phoenicians, or were raised to a brilliant white by various processes of the fuller's art. The latter are noticed in Eccles. ix. 8:- "Let thy garments be always white" in token of joy. The former are more frequently noticed (Prov. xxxi. 22; Luke xvi. 19), particularly as worn by foreign nations (Judg. viii. 26; Esth. viii. 15; Jer. x. 9).

Lastly, in the New Testament we have one or two robes introduced by the Romans, such as the "scarlet robe" with which our Lord was invested (Matt. xxvii. 28), and which belonged to one of the officers of the

EMBROIDERED GIRDLES.

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Roman army and the travelling "cloke of St. Paul (2 Tim. iv. 13), which resembled in form the modern poncho.

The girdle was frequently embroidered with gold and silver thread: thus Daniel describes a certain man as "clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz" (Dan. x. 5); similarly, in the Apocalypse, the Son of man is described as "clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle " (Rev. i. 13); and again the angels, as clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles" (Rev. xv. 6). The peculiar girdle of the priests, named in the Hebrew abnet, was highly decorated with embroidery (Ex. xxviii. 39).

"The

The modern girdles are thus described: girdle is a long, large piece, often as large, and even much larger, than a sheet, but of fine texture-usually of the shawl kind. They wrap this round them four or five times, forming a band from four inches to a foot wide, as the taste of each may be then give such a fastening to the end as each may choose."-PAXTON'S Letters, p. 14.

"These girdles

are usually of worsted, very

artfully woven into a variety of figures.

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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. The Turks make a further use of these girdles, by fixing therein their knives and poniards; whilst the writers and secretaries suspend in the same their inkhorns."-SHAW'S Travels, i. 409, 410.

The head-dresses worn on state occasions were also very grand, though we know little of their shape or size: they probably resembled the modern turban, and were decorated with jewels placed in front. They are described in our version by the term "diadem," as in Is. lxii. 3: Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in

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the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God;" "My judgment was as a robe and a diadem" (Job xxix. 14). The jewel is described as an "ornament," as in Is. lxi. 10:"He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments." The Assyrians were remarkable for the magnificence of their turbans, and are described in Ezekiel xxiii. 15, as "exceeding in dyed attire."

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The modern Arabs pay great attention to the headdress. " "Nothing," says Niebuhr, can be more inconvenient or expensive than the head-dress worn by Arabians of fashion. They wear fifteen caps, one over another, some of which are indeed of linen, but the rest of thick cloth or cotton. That which covers all the rest is usually richly embroidered with gold, and has always some sentence of the Koran embroidered upon it. Over all these caps they wrap a large piece of muslin, ornamented at the ends, which flow loose upon the shoulders, with silk or golden fringes. As it must be very disagreeable, in a hot country, to have the

head always loaded in this manner, the Arabians, when in their own houses, or with intimate friends, lay aside this useless weight, all but one or two of the caps. But before persons whom they are obliged to treat with ceremony or respect, they dare not appear without their turbans. Those who desire to pass for men of learning discover their pretensions by the bulk of their turbans. Arabians of rank wear one piece of dress which is not in use among the other inhabitants of the East. This

is a piece of fine linen upon the shoulder, which seems to have been originally intended to shelter the wearer from the sun and rain, but is now merely ornamental.” -Travels, ii. 233.

The costume of the females differed but little, as we have already observed, from that of the males: the chief distinction between the sexes was marked by the ornaments and accessories. As a matter of propriety, it was ordered that "the woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment" (Deut. xxii. 5)—a regulation which would have been hardly requisite if the two costumes had not generally resembled each other. The under garment of a woman passed by the same name as that of a man: "I have put off my coat (Cant. v. 3), but it was made of finer stuff, and longer, as we read of Tamar, whose garments resembled that of Joseph, not as being "of divers colours" but as reaching down to the ankles and wrists (2 Sam. xiii. 19).

The more refined and wealthy wore shirts of "fine linen" (Is. iii. 23), and a second kind of "coat," or tunic, with sleeves, corresponding to the meil of the males, and described in our version as a "mantle" (Is. iii. 22). Their girdles were of fine linen (Prov. xxxi. 24), and there was one kind worn only by a bride, to which Jeremiah alludes:- "Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire?" (Jer. ii. 32): the same article is intended by the term translated "headbands," in Is. iii. 20.