the quarto edition of le Bruyn; but then it ought to be remarked that le Bruyn's figures are of little more than half the fize of those of Chardin, and confequently the want of any fword in thofe leading figures may be owing merely to the diminutive fize, in which they must have appeared if properly engraven.

But be this as it may, it is natural to fuppose that the three things diftinctly mentioned in this paffage of Daniel mean, in general, habits or enfigns of dignity, with which they were thrown into the flames, as well as in their common clothes, that all might fee no national prejudice, no ftation of dignity, fhould exempt them from death, that should dare to refufe a compliance with the will of their prince in religious matters. But what the things particularly were is much more uncertain: if we are at all influenced by these wonderful remains of Eastern royal magnificence, it should seem that the fuppofing them to mean a fhort garment hung on the fhoulders, fomething like that part of the English royal drefs called the dalmatica, a large sword with a hammer-like hilt, and a cap of dignity, may be as probable an interpretation as has been put upon these words, and more fo than the explanation of our tranflation, which talks of coats, hofen or breeches, and.

hats.

Enfigns of dignity began to be worn in times of the most remote antiquity, of which we have any account. And as crowns and fceptres

Y 2

fceptres are very ancient, fo we find a key, worn on the shoulder, a mark of Jewish inferior dignity, in the time of their princes of the houfe of David'. The fplendor of Nebuchadnezzar's court leads us to fuppofe they were of feveral kinds there, and I would hope the illuftration I have given from this celebrated Perfian monument may appear not very improbable; at leaft not difagreeable to be propofed for examination.

OBSERVATION LXXXVII.

When the fon of Sirach oppofes him that wore Quoc to him that wore purple and a crown, it is visible that he means to contrast one that was miferably clothed to one that was richly attired; but is it as clear that he meant by that Greek word a porter, according to the marginal tranflation? or can the defcribing fuch a perfon as being one that wore a linen garment, according to the body of our English verfion, be confidered as an happy translation ?

The poor people of Egypt are described now as clothed very generally with a "linen fhirt or frock, which is always dyed blue." But though the dying it of that colour is very univerfal, yet it is fpoken of as done by

'If. 22. 22. The apparel of the fervants of Solomon, mentioned 1 Kings 10. 5, were, I prefume, robes of dignity. 2 Ecclefiafticus, 40. 4.

indigo,

indigo, a thing of value, and which is confidered as a beautiful dye, and is accordingly cultivated in Ægypt up to the cataracts ‘.

So another writer informs us, as to the drefs of the common people in Ægypt, that "the men wear next to their skin a fhirt of "coarfe callico, without a collar or wrift"band, which hangs down to their knees "above it they wear another larger, and longer, of a blue colour, and round their "waist a leathern girdle about a quarter of

;

a yard in breadth, buckled on the front "with brafs buckles-The women are dreff"ed nearly in the fame manner, but without girdles, wearing their outer fhirt loose, reaching down to their heels; the feams of "it are fewed with red filk, and both fides are

embroidered, &c." This embroidery, I think, plainly shows, that though it is the dress of the common people that is described, yet still not as deftitute of all finery, and the being dyed with indigo is of the fame nature with the embroidery: may not Quorov then mean coarse linen not fo much as dyed, according to the custom of Egypt with indigo, but worn as it comes from the bleaching-ground? perhaps not so much as bleached, but as it came from the loom? As the word fignifies crude linen, may it not be understood after this manner?

'De Tott's Memoirs, part 4, p. 68.
2 Hift. of the Revolt of Ali Bey, p. 17.

One would hardly think it neceffary to fuppofe it means tow, or flax unwoven and unfpun, though a quantity of that wrapped round the waift, might be fufficient to conceal the private parts, which feems to be as much as many of the Ægyptians feem to be concerned about, and even more. So Niebuhr faw fome wafher-women in that country, washing in the fea and in the river, who had no trowfers on, but fimply a cloth about their hatches'. De Fott adds, concerning the

tians, "Both the men and women fwim «ith. Their clothing is only a blue shirt, which but indifferently conceals the

acncy of the women; the men gird it read them, for convenience, while they "labour; the children always go naked, and "I have feen girls, eighteen years old, ftill "children, in that refpect.'

I fuppofe with Grotius, in his commentary on this book, that it is not neceffary to underftand the first member of this verfe exclufively of kings, fince their nobles alfo wore purple; but I am inclined to think the crowns this writer fpeaks of do not mean garlands of flowers, worn in times of feftivity, fince the pooreft might, if they pleafed, do the fame thing, and those that were inferior to kings had crowns (or coronets) of gold fent them, as well as purple in thofe times, and among the

Voy. en Arabie, & en d'autres Pays circonvoisins, tome 1, p. 168. Tome 4, P. 74.

reft,

reft, fome of the great men of the Jewish nation at that time, as appears by one of the books entitled Maccabees

But the most splendid dress is certainly oppofed in these words to the meanest, and it will be agreeable to recollect here, that the author was a Jew who wrote in Egypt, where linen dyed blue is univerfally, or almost univerfally, worn by the common people.

OBSERVATION LXXXVIII.

It feems that the poffeffion of black eunuchs is not very common in the Levant, and that they are hardly any where to be found except in the palaces of the fovereign, or of the branches of the royal family; if fo, it should seem that in fome points, in this in particular, the ancient Jewish kings carried their magnificence as high as the modern princes of Afia : for we find Ebed-melech, who appears to have been a black eunuch, ferved in the court of Zedekiah', the laft of the kings of Judah, preceding the captivity of that people in Babylon.

The fimilarity of taste in being attended by eunuchs, in fetting a peculiar eftimation on thofe of a black complexion, and the fuppofed magnificence of having fuch attendants, is rather remarkable.