decked them with rich stuffs, and sprinkled them with odoriferous waters.* They placed the beds against the wall; for it is said, when Hezekiah was threatened that he should die soon, he turned his face to the wall to weep.†

The candlestick mentioned among Elisha's furniture was, probably, one of those great ones that were set upon the ground to hold one or more lamps.‡ Till then, and a long while after, even in the time of the Romans, they burnt nothing but oil to give light. Thence it is so common in Scripture to call every thing that enlightens the body or mind, whatever guides or refreshes, by the name of lamp. There is not much reason to think they had tapestry in their houses. They have occasion for little in hot countries, because bare walls are cooler. They make use only of carpets to sit and lie upon, and Ezekiel speaks of them among the merchandise which the Arabians brought to Tyre.§ They are also mentioned among the things provided for David's refreshment, which would incline one to think the Israelites used them in camp, for in houses they had chairs.

Their houses differed from ours in all that we see still in hot countries. Their roofs are flat, the windows closed with lattices or curtains, they have no chimneys, and lie for the most part on a ground floor.

We have a great many proofs in Scripture that roofs were flat in and about the land of Israel. Rahab hid the spies of Joshua upon the roof of the house.** When Samuel acquainted Saul that God had chosen him to be king, he made him lie all night upon the * Prov. vii, 16, 17. 2 Kings xx, 2.

I have now before me a cast from a lamp, brought by Mr. Jackson, (author of A Journey from India overland, &c. 8vo. Lond. 1799,) from the ruins of Herculaneum; it is circular, 22 inches in diameter, and contains places for twelve lights. The oil is put into a large cavity in the centre which is covered with a lid, and with this cavity all the wick places communicate. It is finely ornamented on the top, with the thyrses and masks alternately placed. As there are no ornaments on the under side, it is evidently one of that kind mentioned above, which stood upon a table, or was placed on the ground.

§ Ezek. xxvii, 24. || 2 Sam. xvii, 28, where they are termed beds or couches. **Josh. ii, 6.

roof of the house, which is still usual in hot coun tries.* David was walking upon the roof of his palace, when he saw Bathsheba bathing.† When Absalom had rebelled against his father, he caused a tent to be raised upon the roof of the same palace, where he lay with his father's concubines. This action was in a manner taking possession of the kingdom, and made public, to show that he was determined never to return to his duty. They ran to the tops of their houses upon great alarms, as is plain from two passages in Isaiah.§ All this shows the reason of the law, that ordered a battlement to be raised quite round the roof, lest any body should fall down and be killed, and explains the expression in the gospel, what you have heard in the ear, publish on the house-tops. Every house was a scaffold ready built for any one that had a mind to make himself heard at a distance.

The casements of windows are taken notice of in the Proverbs,** the Song of Solomon,†† and the story of the death of Ahaziah king of Israel.‡‡

When king Jehoiakim burnt the book which Jeremiah had written by the order of God, he was sitting in his winter house, with a fire on the hearth burning before him.§§ Whence one may judge they had no chimneys ;|||| which indeed are the invention * 1 Sam. ix, 25. †2 Sam. xi, 2. 2 Sam. xvi, 22. § Isaiah xv, 3, and xxi, 1. || Deut. xxii, 8. **Prov. vii, 6. tt Song of Sol. ii, 9. ‡‡ 2 Kings i, 2. §§ Jer. xxxvi, 22.

The fire which the king had before him, is supposed to have been in a moveable stove, whence the Vulgate translates it, arula coram eo, plena prunis; and therefore had no fixt chimney to it. And that the ancients had none, has been asserted by several of the learned, particularly by Manutius, in Cic. Fam. 1. vii, ep. x, and Lipsius, Ep. ad Belgas, iii, 75, and that the smoke went out at the windows, or at the tops of the houses. Cato, de Re Rust. c. xviii, says, focum purum circumversum, priusquam cubitum eat, habeat. The hearth could not

be swept round, if it was, as with us, built in a chimney. Columella, 1. xi, c. ult. speaks of the smoke adhering to the ceilings over the hearth: Fuligo, quæ supra focos tectis inhæret, colligi debet. Seneca, ep. 90, describes stove tubes, then lately invented, placed round the walls of the rooms, to throw an equal warmth into them. On the other hand, Dan. Barbarus, in his comment on Vitruvius, and Ferrarius, i, 9, maintain that they often had chimneys: but only in the

of cold countries. In hot climates they were satisfied with stoves for the kitchen. They made use of stone in building, especially at Jerusalem, where it was very common, and they knew how to cut it into very large pieces. There is mention made, in Solomon's buildings, of stones eight or ten cubits long, that is, twelve or fifteen feet; .* and those called costly stones are doubtless, different sorts of marble.† The beauty of their buildings consisted less in ornaments placed in certain parts, than in the whole model; in cutting and joining the stones, they took care to have all even and well dressed by the level and square. This is what Homer says of the building he commends, and this sort of beauty is still admired in the ancient Egyptian edifices. The Israelites made use of fragrant woods, as cedar and cypress, to wainscot the inside of the most pompous buildings, and out of these they made the ceiling and pillars. This was used in the temple, and Solomon's palaces:§ and David says, that he dwells in a house of cedar, to express the magnificence of his apartments.

CHAPTER VIII.

Their Diet.

As to what regards the table, the Israelites ate sitting, as the Greeks did in Homer's time and it is upper rooms, in canationibus, which is a reason why no remains of them are found, the highest stories first falling to ruin. Aristophanes, Vesp. i, 2, 8, introduces an old man, shut up by his son, endeavouring to escape up the chimney. Herodot. vii, p. 578, 579, mentions the sun shining upon the hearth down the chimney: and Appian B. C. civ, says, some of the proscribed hid themselves in jakes, some in wells, some in chimneys. The reader may see more in the abovecited authors. E. F.

*Josephus says, that the stones with which the temple was built, 66 were white and strong, fifty feet long, twenty-four broad, and sixteen in thickness," Antiq. b. xv, c. xi. Our Lord's disciples are represented as struck with wonder at seeing such immense masses wrought up in the walls of the temple. Mark xiii, 1.

† 1 Kings vii, 9, 10. ‡2 Sam. v, 11. § Song of Sol. iii, 6. || 2 Sam. vii, 2.

necessary to take notice of it, to distinguish one period from another. For afterward, that is to say, from the reign of the Persians, they ate lying upon beds,* as the Persians and other eastern people did; from whom the Greeks and Romans also took the custom. Regular people did not eat till after their work, and pretty late. Wherefore, eating and drinking early in the morning signify intemperance and debauchery in Scripture. Their food was plain. They commonly mention only eating bread and drinking water; which is the reason that the word bread is generally taken in Scripture for all sorts of victuals. They broke their bread without cutting it, because they made use of none but small, long taper rolls, as is still done in several countries. The first favour that Boaz showed Ruth, was to let her drink of the same water with his young men, and come and eat with them, and dip her morsel in the vinegar :§ and we see, by the compliments she made in return, that this was no small favour.

We may judge of their most common provisions by the refreshment David received at different times from Abigail, Ziba, and Barzillai, and by what was brought to him at Hebron. The sorts there mentioned are bread and wine, wheat and barley, flour of both, beans, lentiles, parched corn, raisins, dried figs, honey, butter, oil, sheep, oxen and fat calves. There is in this account a great deal of corn and pulse, which was also the most common food of the ancient Egyptians, and of the Romans in the best times, when they gave themselves most to husbandry. Hence came the illustrious names of Fabius, Piso, Cicero, and Lentulus. The advice of the wise man shows the * Esther i, 6, 7, 8. Isaiah v. 11.

**

Or rather thin crisp perforated cakes, called in Scripture nakudeem, such as the Jews frequently make to the present day, and which are still common in the east.

§ Ruth ii, 9, 14. || 1 Sam. xxv. 18. 2 Sam. xvi, 1, xvii, 28.

** Clem. Alex, 2 Pædag. I. in sine. See also Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xviii, c. 3, where he shows that the Pilumni were so called for having invented the pestle, the Pisones from pounding the corn: the Fabii, Cicerones and Lentuli from their delighting to sow and rear beans,

vetches and lentiles.

*

use the Israelites made of milk. Take care, says he, that thou have goat's milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for maintenance to thy maidens.*

Though it was lawful to eat fish, I do not find that it is mentioned till the later times. It is believed the ancients despised it, as too dainty and light food for robust men. Neither does Homer speak of it, or the Greeks, in what they write relating to the heroic times. We hear but little of sauces, or high-seasoned dishes among the Hebrews. Their feasts consisted of substantial wellfed meat; and they reckoned milk and honey their greatest dainties. Indeed, before sugar was brought from the Indies, there was nothing known more agreeable to the taste than honey. They preserved fruits in it, and mixed it in the nicest pastry. Instead of milk, they often mention butter, that is, cream, which is the finest part of it. The offerings prescribed by the law show, that ever since the time of Moses, they had divers sorts of pastry, some kneaded with oil others without it.

And here we must not omit the distinction of meats allowed or forbidden by the law. It was not peculiar to the Hebrews to abstain from certain animals out of a religious principle; the neighbouring people did the same. Neither the Syrians nor Egyptians ate any fish; and some have thought it was superstition that made the ancient Greeks not eat it. The Egyptians of Thebes would eat no mutton, because they worshipped Ammon under the shape of a ram :§ but they killed goats. In other places they abstained from goats' flesh, and sacrificed sheep. The Egyptian priests used no meat nor drink imported from foreign countries and as to the product of their own, besides fish, they abstained from beasts that have a round foot, or divided into several toes, or that have no horns; and birds that live upon flesh. Many would eat nothing that had life and in the *Prov. xxvii, 27. †Plato, Rep. iii. ‡ Lev. ii, 4, 5, &c. § Herod. ii. Porphyr. Abstin. iv.