fhould feem, a year and half'; but the time that this dung was purchased, at so dear a rate, we may believe was early in the spring, for then they begin to raise melons at Aleppo, and as they were then fo oppreffed with want, it is probable that it was not long after that they were delivered.

This explanation will appear lefs improbable, if we recollect the account I have given, in a preceding volume, of the fiege of Damiata, where fome of the more delicate Ægyptians pined to death, according to de Vitriaco, though they had a fufficiency of corn, for want of the food they were used to, pompions, &c. The Ifraelites might be willing then, had their stores been more abundant than they were found to have been, to add what they could to them, and efpecially of fuch grateful eatables, as melons, &c.

OBSERVATION LIV.

They that are acquainted with the Greek and Roman Claffics, and particularly with Horace, know how common it was with them to unite the fragrancy of flowers and fweetfcented leaves with the pleafures of wine; but they may not be fo fenfible, that it has been practifed by the Eaftern nations too: they

2 Kings 25. 1.

2 Obferv. vol. 2, ch. 9, obf. 12.

may

may, poffibly, have fuppofed that they made fuch a free use of artificial perfumes, as to cause these natural vegetable odours to be neglected.

But a paffage in the apocryphal author of the Wisdom of Solomon, who, whoever he was, was undoubtedly an Eastern writer, fhows the contrary:"Let us fill ourselves with costly "wine and ointments: and let no flower of "the spring pafs by us. Let us crown our

"felves with rofe-buds before they be wither"ed." Ch. ii. 7, 8.

Here, instead of citing any paffage from Western writers, I would fet down the following paffage from d'Herbelot. Keffai one day prefented himself at the door of the apartment of Al Mamon', to read one of "his lectures. The prince, who was at table "with his companions, wrote him a distich,

upon a leaf of myrtle, the fenfe of which "was: There is a time for ftudy; and a "time for diverfion. This is a time I have "destined for the enjoyment of friends, wine, "rofes and myrtle. Kefai having read this "diftich, answered it upon the back of the "fame myrtle-leaf, in four lines, the mean

ing of them as follows: If you had under"ftood the excellence of knowledge, you "would, without doubt, have preferred the pleasure that gives, to what you at pre

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The fon of the then reigning khalife, the celebrated Haroun al Rafchid.

"fent

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"fent enjoy in company; and if you knew "who it is that is at your door, you would immediately rise, and come and proftrate yourself on the ground, praifing and thanking God for the favour he had bestowed upon you. Al Mamon had no fooner read "these verses, than he quitted his company, "and came to his preceptor "."

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Here we fee the rofe and the myrtle made use of in a princely drinking bout.

In like manner one of the volumes of the Arabian Night-Entertainments mentions myrtles, fweet-bafil, lilies and jeffamine, and other pleasant flowers and plants, as purchased in the time of a grand entertainment, in the days of the fame khalife, Haroun al Rafchid, along with wine, meat, various kinds of fruits and confections 2.

This confirms the propriety of the apocryphal account in general, but unluckily gives no illustration to the fpring-flowers which he mentions, rofes not being properly described as early flowers, they with us in England belonging to the middle of the fummer, and lilies and jefamine being contemporary with the rose, or nearly fo. But it is to be remembered that rofes flower in April in Judæa, and confequently jeffamine, &c.

What is more, among the vegetable ornaments worn by the Aleppine ladies on their heads, we find much earlier flowers made use

of. Narciffuses, violets, and hyacinths, which Dr. Ruffell tells us bloffom in the Eaft very early in the fpring'; and are ufed by the women to decorate their head-drefs, along with many other flowers which he mentions, fome of them late blowers. And fuch very early flowers might be in use among the gay people of the Jewish nation in their drinking bouts, and this writer might defign to point out the continuation of these joyous affemblies, ufing the earliest flowers of the fpring, with the rofebuds of fummer, in their different feafons.

OBSERVATION LV.

The burning of perfumes is practifed now in the Eaft in times of feafting and joy, and there is reafon to believe the fame ufage obtained anciently in thofe countries.

Niebuhr, in the firft volume of his Travels, giving an account of the obfervation of a Mohammedan feftival called Arafa, or Kurban, and taking notice that it lafts two or three days, and that the peasants during that time bring nothing to the market, so that every one is obliged to get on the vigil of the feaft all the proper provifions for it, goes on to inform his readers, that they bought for their Mohammedan domeftics flour, fugar, and

• P. 13.

3 P. 307. Voy. en

2 P. 28. Arabie, & en d'autres pays circonvoifins.

honey

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honey for the making of cakes, as also a sheep; they were even provided with káad'. Then, after giving a farther account of the public manner of celebrating the festival, with a folemn proceffion, and military exercises, he adds, "After which every one returned home, "feafted, chewed káad, burnt fragrant fubftances in his house, ftretched himself at length on his fofa, lighted his kiddre, or long pipe, with the greatest fatisfaction 2. That the fame obtained anciently among thofe in affluent circumftances, at leaft in times when they particularly enjoyed themfelves, appears, I think, from the 16th of Ezekiel, ver. 13, 15, 18, 19. "Thus waft "thou decked with gold and filver, and thy "raiment was of fine linen, and filk, and "broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, ❝and honey, and oil and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst profper into "a kingdom. But thou didst truft in thine "own beauty, and playedft the harlot "and tookeft thy broidered garments, and "coveredst them, (thine idols :) and thou haft "fet mine oil, and mine incenfe before them.

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My meat alfo which I gave thee, fine flour, " and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee,

This is a vegetable production the Arabians are very fond of chewing. He defcribes it in p. 299, where he tells us they are young fhoots of a tree, which the Arabians chew, as the Indians do their betel. He found them placed in little bundles on the fopha of the Dola of Taäs, but he remarks that he could not relish this Arabian deliсасу. P. 3c8.

5

2

"thou