So Mr. Irwin, in the account of his adventures up the Red-Sea, and through Ægypt, tells us, that among other loffes he fuftained, the new hakem that should have particularly befriended him, befides other articles, oppreffively obtained from him two filk tambour waistcoats, for the purpofe, we imagine, of covering his pipes, and the fcabbards of his fwords. They must have feen fomething of this fort, or they would not have entertained an apprehenfion of his putting them to that use. So have I feen, in our country, the sheath of a knife and fork, very curiously covered with rich embroidery of filk of various colours, and gold or filver thread; with ftrings and taffels of the fame materials, for the purpose, I apprehend, of hanging it by the fide. OBSERVATION XCVIII. The history of the late Ali Bey affords a lively comment on the facred hiftory of Jofeph, not only as to the circumstances of his being ftolen away from his native country; his being fold for a flave; his rifing in the ftrange land to which he was carried; his being the governor of all Ægypt; but as to the fending for his father, the honours with which he treated him, and the Ægyptians alfo out of confideration for Jofeph. • P. 240. The The particulars I first mentioned have been common to many, and fhall be, therefore, but just mentioned; but it may be pleafing to describe the last a little more at large. At feventeen' Jofeph was stolen away from his native country, being feized upon and fold, by his own brethren, to ftrangers who carried him into Egypt: Ali Bey, who was born in the Leffer Afia, on the coast of the Black-Sea, in the year 1728, was stolen away, as it should seem, by fome of his own countrymen, while he was amufing himself with bunting in one of the woods there, at the thirteen, and was carried into Ægypt3. age of Jacob, who in ancient times loft his young fon, was a perfon of confideration, in the time and place in which he lived, being the grandíon of one who was confidered as a mighty prince among them, and Jacob lived in much the fame ftyle in that fame country, though his being of a different religion from the rulers of the country muft, without doubt, have diminished his character among them: Ali Bey was the fon of a Greek priest, a perfon then of fome distinction, but labouring under the disadvantage of being of a different religion from that which prevailed there, and had the countenance of the civil magiftrate, for that was the Mohammedan. But • Gen. 37. 2. 2 Ch. 40. 15. 3 Hift. of the Revolt of Ali Bey, p. 70. confiderable as the Jewish patriarch and the Greek priest were, they both had the misfortune to lofe a fon, ftolen from them, and each fold for a flave. Both were fold into the fame country-into Ægypt: both came into the hands of great people of that country: and both, by degrees, rofe to fuch an height as to govern that mighty ftate-Jofeph as viceroy of Pharaoh king of Egypt'; Ali Bey as Sheik Bellet of Ægypt, the first of the Beys of that country, and indeed head of the Egyptian republic, as it is called by that author, acknowledging no other fuperior there than the Pafha, the reprefentative of the Turkish emperor, and which Pafha is rather the Sheik Bellet's fuperior in honour and outward form, than in real power. But what I would chiefly remark, is the refemblance that may be obferved as to the honours with which they treated their fathers, when in this high ftate and condition. Here it will be fufficient to recite the account this writer gives of Ali Bey; the conformity will at once appear, and in a very strong light to thofe that are well acquainted with the book of Genefis. Ali, it feems, ordered a perfon he had occafion to fend to Conftantinople, to tranfact Pharaoh faid to Jofeph, "Thou fhalt be over my "houfe, and according to thy word fhall all my people be "ruled only in the throne will I be greater than thou. "And Pharaoh faid unto Jofeph, See, I have fet thee over "all the land of Egypt." Gen. 41. 40, 41. fome fome business for him in that city, to find out his father when there, and bring him back with him into Egypt. His agent was fuccessful, and brought him over; and when Daout, (or David,) which was the name of that Greek priest who was Ali's father, approached Cairo, the capital of Ægypt, where the Sheik Bellet refided, Ali went out of the city, with a numerous retinue, to meet his father, and as foon as he faw him, he fell on his knees, and kiffed his father's hand. Proceeding afterwards to his palace, Daout's feet having been washed by the domestics," he was led into the harem', and Ali Bey prefented to him the princess Mary, and her child 3. The author goes on, "The ceremony being "over, Ali Bey left them, and went to the "divan, where he received congratulations "from the other Beys, and the Janizar Aga. "The Pafha himself sent his Kiahaya' with "his congratulations, and requested to fee "Daout, who was foon after introduced to the Pafha, and received with great respect, as "the father of the Sheik Bellet." I fhould think every one must be ftruck with the refemblance, and the modern account may serve, it may be, to fill up fome vacuities in the Jewish hiftory: May we not believe Or women's apartment. 3 P. 85, of the Hiftory of Ali. 2 Ali's principal wife. 4 The affembly of Beys, &c, who govern Egypt, of whom the Sheik Bellet is the chief. s Lieutenant. that that Jacob's feet were magnificently washed when brought off his journey? That Afenath, Jofeph's confort, and her two fons, Manaffeh and Ephraim, were prefented to him? That he received the congratulatory compliments of the principal Ægyptians on the occafion, notwithstanding the difference of religion between them and Jacob, the Mohammedans of Ægypt being as conceited of the fuperiority of their religion to that of the Greek church, as the worshippers of the ancient Egyptian idols could be of the preference due to their religion, when compared with the fimple unadorned religion of Jacob, whofe family were, we know, an abomination to the Egyptians? It is certain that Jacob was prefented to Pharaoh, as Daout was to the Pafha, and received with as much refpect, at leaft, fince Jacob bleffed the Egyptian prince 2. Nor, probably, was Jofeph, the ancient Sheik Bellet of Egypt, unattended when he went to meet his father, though the facred hiftorian fimply says, “that Jofeph made ready his chariot, and went to meet Ifrael his father, to Goshen, and As Ali went prefented himself to him "." out to meet his father with a great 46 up pous and pomattendance, we may believe Jofeph paid Jacob this honour in his life-time, as we are exprefsly told he did at his death: "And Jofeph went up to bury his father; and "with him went up all the fervants of Pha Gen. 46. 34. 2 Ch. 47. 7-10. 3 Ch. 46. 29. raoh, |