fuppofing it fo purified, as to be in a manner uncorruptible, if unmingled with matters of an aromatic kind. Cauls, however, which Pope mentions, are very different things from fat purified with care, and are, I apprehend, liable to great putrefaction in a little time'. And now I am writing upon this subject, and having fhown, in a preceding volume", that the people of the Eaft express their refpect to bones long interred by mixing them with odoriferous matters, I fhould apprehend, that fince the Jews were wont to bury their dead with fpices, when untouched by fire; fo when they used fire to deftroy the flesh, which might fometimes happen, particularly in the cafe of Saul, and refpect was afterwards paid to fuch bones', I fhould think it natural to believe, they fomehow perfumed them. At leaft, that if the men of Jabesh Gilead did not pay that refpect to King Saul, David his fucceffor did, when he tranflated his bones from Gilead to the land of Benjamin, along with the bones of Jonathan, dear to David as Patroclus to Achilles. The dying of those whose bones were buried along with the bones of Saul and Jonathan was highly difgraceful, for "curfed was every one that was hanged on a tree;" but it was expiatory, and after 66 The precautions prefcribed by Diofcorides, lib. 2, cap. 88, &c, to prepare animal fat for keeping for medical purposes, fufficiently fhow this. 2 Vol. 2, ch. 6, obs. 60, ed. 2. 42 Sam. 21. 12, 13, 14. 31 Sam. 31. 12, 13. the the atonement was made, it might not be improper to pay fome honour to thefe victims: their being buried in the fepulchre of Kifh feems to have been intended as an honour, as well as the translation of the bones of Saul and Jonathan; if it was, it is by no means unnatural to fuppofe they were buried with perfumes, liquid or dry, fince as the custom of the Jews was fo to bury in the time of our Lord, fo facred hiftory informs us, it was practised by them as early as the days of King Afa, 2 Chron. xvi. 13, 14, in the fourth geration from David, nor can we well fuppofe that this was the first beginning of the practice, which obtained among the Jews, of applying perfumes to the dead. N° II. As it is more than poffible that fome readers may find it difficult to comprehend, how sleeping in the porch of a tent fhould be more fafe, for it's concealment from the eyes of vifitors, than fleeping in the tent itself; I have thought that the tranfcribing the Baron de Tott's account, of the tent of the cham of the Crim Tartars, whom he attended in one of his expeditions, might ferve for a good note on that paffage of the 24th Iliad, in which Achilles directs where King Priam fhould fleep, in order to be most secure from difcovery, after Achilles had agreed to accept a ransom for the body of Hector. b VOL. III. "With "With that, Achilles bad prepare the bed, "Then gave his hand at parting, to prevent "But in the porch the king and herald reft, The Baron's account of the tent of the prince of the Crim Tartars follows. "A light paling, which easily can be pack"ed and unpacked, forms a little circular "wall of four feet and an half high. It's two "extremities, kept near three quarters of a "yard diftant, make the entrance into the "tent. A fcore of fmall rods, which join "at the upper ends, and at the lower have 86 a leathern ring, by which they hook to the paling, form the dome, and sustain the "roof; which confifts of a cowl, or cover ing of felt, that defcends, and spreads over "the walls, which are lined alfo with the "fame stuff. A girdle includes the whole, "and fome earth, or fnow, thrown up round 5 • Priam. << the "the bottom of the tent, prevents the air "from penetrating, and makes it perfectly "folid, without maft or cordage. Others, "of a nicer conftruction, have the cones cir cularly open at the top, which apertures give paffage to the fmoke, permit fires to be lighted in the tents, and render them in"acceffible to the intemperance of the most " rigorous climate. "The tent of the cham was of this kind, "but fo large, that more than fixty people might commodioufly fit round a wood-fire. "It was lined with crimson ftuff, furnifhed "with fome cushions, and had a circular carpet. Twelve fmall tents, placed round "that of the prince, for the use of his ofcers and pages, were comprised within a circumference of felt five feet high '." The Tartar princely tent is defigned for a guard against very fevere cold, which was extremely fharp when de Tott attended the cham; the tent of Achilles was defigned for a much more temperate climate. This laft was also not intended to be frequently moved. Thefe two circumftances undoubtedly occafioned fome variations: the tent of Achilles appears to have been more folidly conftructed, without a covering of felt, but it's roof thatched, and probably no fire kindled within the royal apartment. But it fhould feem, in other respects, there was a great resemblance. The Mémoirs, part 2, p. 153, 154. b 2 οικός, Oxos, into which Priam ftraight went, answered the cham's apartment, which would hold fixty people. Both were furrounded with a paling of confiderable extent; that of the Greek much the most folid. Both had a number of small diftinct apartments for the use of the attendants: those that slept in them were faid by Homer to deep εν Προδρομω διμs, which Pope has rendered the porch. They were called Algoal, which expreffes their warmth, whether in contradiftinction from the fituation of those that flept in the open air, but within the inclofure, as many of them probably did, or from fome other caufe, we need not enquire. The fire for cooking, probably, in the open air, in the inclosure. Understood after this manner, the account in the original Greek is fufficiently plain. Nor is it only after this manner that the late cham of Tartary had his own private tent formed, with it's appurtenances; but Thevenot gives us a fimilar account, of the manner in which the bafhaw of Egypt was encamped, when he was leaving his government'; and, what is more, Egmont and Heyman faw the Grand Signior encamped, in much the fame manner in general, though with more magnificence, on the fhore of that very country where Achilles had his tent placed, and not very far diftant from the spot." Behind his tent was another, but very small, * Trav. in the Levant, part 1, p. 148. |