CHAP. XVI.]

prevent putrefaction. Galen recommends the sprinkling of a little salt upon the infant, to render its skin more dense and solid.

8. I spread my skirt over thee.'-This is described as an act of espousal, Ruth iii. 9, 'Spread, therefore, thy skirt over thine handmaid.' There is something analogous to this in the ceremonies of marriage or espousal in most eastern nations. Even among the Jews themselves, at the present day, the bridegroom throws over the bride the end or skirt of his thalith, to signify that he takes her under his protection. Mr. Roberts describes the same interesting custom as existing among the Hindoos. The bride is seated on a throne surrounded by matrons, having on her veil, her gayest robes, and most valuable jewels. After the thali has been tied round her neck, the bridegroom approaches her with a silken skirt (purchased by himself), and folds it round her several times over the rest of her clothes. A common way of saying he has married her, is, 'He has given her the koori,' he has

the mother-in-law, should the daughter not treat her respectfully, says, 'My son gave this woman the koori, skirt, and has made her respectable, but she neglects me.' In Western Africa a more ample dress, consisting of a kind of skirt, from the waist to below the knees, distinguishes the married woman from the girl; and it is very common to say, when speaking of their husband, 'He gave them a cloth,' to denote that he took them when girls.

EMBROIDERING FRAME.-Modern Oriental.

10. Broidered work.'-As we have on several occasions mentioned ancient and modern Oriental embroidery and embroidered dresses, we are now happy in affording the subject some pictorial illustration by adding three engravings. One, from the ancient Egyptian paintings, shews a lady attired in one of those rich embroidered dresses to which the Scripture itself has repeated allusion, and which have been duly noticed by ourselves. The other engravings shew the manner in which kerchiefs and other small pieces are embroidered by the modern Egyptians, where the finer specimens of this kind of work, In the example intended for sale, are produced by men. above the material is extended over a horizontal frame, at one side of which the embroideress sits and worksvery similarly to the mode in which the same kind of work is executed by our own women at Nottingham and elsewhere.

'Shod thee with badgers' skin.'-See the note on Exod. xxv. 5. Most of the details enumerated in this description of a rich female dress, have already been considered under different texts of Scripture. See, in particular, Isa. iii.

'Silk.'-This is the only chapter in which the word (meshi) occurs, which the generality of the Jewish interpreters, and most modern translators, understand to denote silk. But to this it has been objected, that silk was not likely to have been known to the Jews, since the Romans were not acquainted with it till the time of Augustus; and since, if it was known to them, it will be necessary to suppose an intercourse with China, which has always been regarded as the native country of silk, and from which only it is probable that raw silk could be obtained. The obscurity of the ancient intimations involves the subject in great uncertainty. For as those from whom the western nations obtained their silk made a great mystery of its origin and mauufacture, the ancient writers give such intimations and explanations-made up of conjecture founded on some obscure hints which had, in the course of time, been collected-that it might be at times

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doubtful whether they at all spoke of silk and the silkworm, were it not that the later ancient writers, who lived when the article had become well known, continue to speak as obscurely as their predecessors about its origin.

The question may be narrowed a little by the observation-that it is not necessary to suppose that the Hebrews of Palestine had any knowledge of silk as a material of dress. If silk be intended in the present instance, it proves nothing on this point; for Ezekiel had spent many years in captivity to the Babylonians, and the question evidently is only, whether silk was known to that people. Indeed, that the question should be strictly limited to this, seems evident from the fact, that the word does not occur in any portion of Scripture written in Palestine. In estimating this probability, we are to recollect that Ezekiel himself, in the ensuing chapter (v. 4), calls Babylonia 'a land of traffic,' and Babylon a city of merchants.' This passage forms the text of Heeren's inquiry into the commerce of the Babylonians, to which it makes a most interesting commentary. Babylon was in fact a great commercial city, forming the entrepôt for the commerce of the countries to the east and west, being, from the advantages of its intermediate situation, upon a great navigable river opening to the gulf of Persia, an immense caravanserai, in which character it has in later days been, on a more humble scale, represented by Baghdad. Babylon was itself a place of great demand and consumption for all the luxuries of far countries; and hence such luxuries were sought by its merchants, or brought to them by the great mercantile people of the time; and that these luxuries included goods obtained on the shores of India, has already been intimated in the note on 2 Chron. xx. 36, to which we beg to refer the reader. It is quite true that silk does not occur in the list of the articles which was the object of the Indian trade; but that this list is very incom plete and unsatisfactory has been intimated in the note to which we refer. The country of silk, however, is not India, but China; the Indians themselves having been, down to a very modern date, supplied from that country. It is not, however, necessary to extend the voyages of the Babylonians, Phoenicians, or Arabians to China, in order to bring them into a condition to obtain silk. It is sufficient to suppose that they got it from the Indians, who, not only from a very obvious probability, but from historical intimations, would appear to have traded with China, and to have partially arrayed themselves with its silks. As worn by them, it could not fail to attract the attention of the traders from Western Asia, who would desire to obtain it, and did obtain it at an enhanced price, from the Indians, and sold it at a price still more enhanced at Babylon. Indeed, the scarcity of silk even in Roman times, and the prodigious price which it brought (weight for weight with gold), seems to demonstrate that it had passed through several hands, in its progress westward, and that the merchants did not immediately derive it from the country in which it was produced.

These conjectures would be of little positive worth were they supported by probabilities only. But, in fact, Assyria' (understood of Babylonia in the large sense) was the source from which the Romans continued to derive their silk even in the time of Pliny; and this is always mentioned, previously, as the country from which silk was brought; although the nations of Eastern Europe were not ultimately unaware that it came from a more remote country, which they called Serica, concerning which they had many absurd ideas, but by which China appears to have been vaguely understood. From this it will appear that the question as to the existence of silk in Babylonia is merely one of date, and although it may not be possible to find any positive statement to indicate its presence there at the time when Ezekiel wrote, there is every probability in favour of this conclusion; as, when we first find it in those intermediate conntries, there is not the least intimation that it had there only newly become known; and we can come near enough to shew, that, if it had not been newly introduced, it must have been known there in the time of Ezekiel.

It is a remarkable fact, that the first persons who brought wrought silk into Europe were the Greeks of Alexander's army, which conquered the Persian empire, in which Babylon was then included. In other words, about 250 years after Ezekiel, silk is known to have been used in the dress of the Persians. Jahn even conjectures that the famous robe, which the Persians adopted from the Medes as a dress of honour, was of silk; and if so, as the luxury of the Medes was contemporary with that of the Babylonians, we should find silk on the frontiers of Babylonia even about the time of Ezekiel. Now, what was known to the Persians, and possibly to the Medes, was not likely to be unknown to the still more luxurious Babylonians, who moreover had access to the shores of the country where silk might be found; and should it be alleged that the Persians had greater facilities of obtaining silk by the land route from the frontiers of China, the effect will be the same, for we may be sure that the results of Persian, as well as of Arabian and Phoenician, commerce, found their way to the great mart of Babylon. As the Medes and Babylonians (or at least the latter) were luxurious and wealthy, and fond of rich dresses, it may well be supposed that they absorbed all the limited supply which reached them; and as the nations more west were less rich and of plainer manners, the merchants had no motive to carry the commodity to a more western market. This will shew that silk may long have been in use in Babylonia before it was known in Europe and on the western shores of Asia. It is a remarkable circumstance that silk first came to the west manufactured in cloth half silk; and it is said the plan was devised of unravelling the stuff, which was rewoven into cloth of entire silk. The only proper silk manufactures that we can find to have existed in the west, were those of the Phoenicians at Tyre and Berytus; which seems to shew that the Phoenicians not only possessed the trade in silk but the process of manufacture, which they carefully kept secret.

As the dress described in this chapter is intended to be of the richest materials, it might well be supposed that the prophet would mention silk, if silk were known to him. Silk continued to bear an astonishing high price down to a comparatively late period. Thus we find that silk was forbidden to be worn by men, under Tiberius. When they did wear it, silk formed only a part of the fabric, robes entirely of it being left to the women. It is num bered among the most extravagant luxuries or effeminacies of Heliogabalus, that he was the first man who wore a robe of entire silk; and the anecdotes are well known of the emperor M. Antoninus, who caused a silk robe which had become his property to be sold: and of the emperor Aurelian, who refused, on the ground of its extravagant cost, a silk dress which his consort earnestly requested from him. Such anecdotes have an emphasis here, where, by a figurative reference to the most rich and costly articles of dress then known, God describes the precious and glorious things with which he had invested the people he redeemed from the bondage and misery of Egypt.

12. A jewel on thy forehead.'-This doubtless means a nose-jewel, as we have explained on former occasions. See the marginal reading.

13. Thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil.'-This probably means that the honey and oil were mixed with the fine flour to make cakes. Such are still made in the East, and are much liked. It may be, however, that cakes of fine flour were dipped in the honey or oil, this being also an Oriental custom of eating.

26. The Egyptians... great of flesh.'-This certainly cannot mean that the Egyptians were a corpulent, fullfleshed people, as some commentators imagine. Their climate is not favourable to corpulency; and among the thousands of figures of ancient Egyptians which occur in the remaining paintings and sculptures, a corpulent person is almost never seen. They appear to have been a light and active race of people. The word (W‡ bashar) ' flesh' is here, and in one or two other places, used, by an euphemism, to intimate what could not be plainly expressed, in describing the sensual character of the Egyptians.

Verse 2. A riddle.'-We should now call it a parable or allegory, in which the king of Babylon is represented under the image of a great eagle, with great wings, etc., and the land of Judæa under the emblem of a vine.

3. A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, with divers colours.'-The noblest of the eagles known in Palestine is the imperial eagle (Aquila heliacus), which is nearly allied to the golden eagle and is the species most common in Syria. It is distinguished from the others by a spot of white feathers in each shoulder. Antelopes, hares, and large birds are said to be its chief prey; and, like the golden eagle, it builds its nest upon the tops of the highest trees or steepest cliffs of the mountains. The Scripture contains many striking allusions to the eagle and its habits, which evince that it was well known in Palestine and Edom. Travellers notice the presence of eagles in these countries, but neglect to

It is interesting to find the eagle thus early made the symbol of imperial power, when we recollect how extensively it has since been employed for the same purpose. The strength and activity of this noble bird, its magnificent appearance, its exalted flight, and its far reaching and undazzled eye, have caused it to be regarded as the king of birds, and the fit emblem of royal power, in different nations and ages. We have noticed on a former occasion that an eagle with expanded wings formed the imperial standard of the Persians under Cyrus, very long before it became such among the Romans. In the present instance, while both the kings of Babylon and Egypt are described by this symbol, they are so discriminated as to shew that the power of Babylon was at that time greater and more entensive than that of Egypt. The Egyptian is only a great eagle, with great wings, and many feathers;'

record the species. It is well to assume that most of the Scriptural intimations apply to the imperial eagle, except in those passages where some precise intimation enables us to apply the reference to another species: and here we think that the epithet divers colours,' fixes the allusion to the imperial rather than to the golden eagle; for although the colours of the latter are not uniform, the white scapulars of the imperial eagle constitute a more marked diversity of colour than the other exhibits.

7. Another great eagle.'-This was Pharaoh king of Egypt, with whom Zedekiah entered into an alliance; in consequence an Egyptian army came to his assistance, and raised the siege of Jerusalem. This beautiful parable, of the two eagles and the vine, is explained in the latter part of the chapter; and with this explanation, and a knowledge of the history of the last days of the Hebrew kingdom, no reader can fail to be struck by observing that, while every circumstance in the literal narrative is strictly appropriate to the subject of the parable, none of its details are irrelevant to the ulterior object, but are all made to adumbrate with inimitable effect the series of historical circumstances of which the parable is a shaded narrative.

GOLDEN EAGLE.

whereas the Babylonian is a great eagle, with great wings, long-winged, full of feathers, which had divers colours.' We may add that two species or varieties of eagles are manifestly chosen as the types of these two powers; and as we have little doubt that the two are the imperial and golden eagles, it would appear from the omission of the divers colours' which are pointedly given to the other eagle, that this one is the golden cagle. The general habits of this bird, as the text intimates, are the same as those of the other, its prey is of the same kind, and its nest of similar construction and situation.

4. A land of traffick..... a city of merchants.'-The land of the Babylonians and the city of Babylon are of course intended. See the note on ch. xvi. 10.