ORNAMENTS.

"The prophet Isaiah gives a curious account, in his third chapter, of the dress of the Jewish women; I wish you would tell me all about it, as some part of what he says appears very strange."

"I cannot promise, Harry, to tell you all about it; but perhaps if we talk over the subject, and refer to those who have travelled in the East, we shall understand the account better. What do you refer to particularly ?"

"Why, he says, they made 'a tinkling with their feet how was that?"

'

"That is clear ;-they used to wear ornaments of gold, or silver, or other metals, on their ankles. Rauwolf tells us that the Arab women, whom he saw in going down the Euphrates, wore rings about their legs and hands; and sometimes a good many together, which, in their stepping, slipped up and down, and so made a great noise.'-'In Persia and Arabia,' says Sir John Chardin, they wear rings about their ankles, which are full of little bells. Children and young girls take

What prophet gives an account of the dress of the Jewish women? What made a tinkling of the feet in the women of the East? What does Rauwolf tell us? What does Sir John Chardin say?

a particular pleasure in giving them motion; with this view they walk quickly.'

"It seems too, father, that the Eastern women wore large rings in their ears, as well as around their ankles."

They did, and do to this day. Travellers tell us there is a variety of ornaments for the ear. 'Some of the Eastern ear-rings are so small, and go so close to the ear, as leave no vacuity between them; others are so large as to admit the fore-finger between ; these are adorned with a ruby between two pearls strung on the ring.' 'I have seen some of the larger ear-rings,' says Sir J. Chardin, with figures upon them, and strange characters which, I believe, may be talismans or charms. The Indians say that they are preservatives against enchantments. Perhaps the ear-rings of Jacob's family, which he buried with the strange gods, were of this kind.'" Gen. xxxv. 4.

"Another traveller assures us that the rings in the

Gen. xxxv. 4. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their ear-rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

Describe some of the Eastern ear-rings. What do the Indians say of them? Repeat a verse from Genesis. What does a traveller tell us ?

ears of the chief's wife of a valley near Mount Sinai, were of silver, and of so great a circumference, that a person might have put his hand through them.

"Forbes, in his Oriental Memoirs, gives a very curious description of the dress of a Hindoo lady. 'Their dress,' he says, 'is peculiarly becoming, consisting of a long piece of silk or cotton tied round the waist, and hanging in a graceful manner to the feet; it is afterwards brought over the body in negligent folds; under this, they cover the bosom with a short waistcoat of satin. Their long black hair is adorned with jewels and wreaths of flowers; their ears are bored in many places, and loaded with pearls; a variety of gold chains, strings of pearl, and precious stones fall from the neck over the bosom, and the arms are covered with bracelets from the wrist to the elbow; they have also gold and silver chains round the ankles, and abundance of rings on their fingers and toes; among the former is frequently a small mirror. I think the richer the dress, the less becoming it appears; so that a Hindoo woman of distinction always seems to be overloaded with finery.""

"There are very strange things, father, among these ornaments, which you have not noticed; they are

Give Forbes's description of the dress of a Hindoo lady.

nose-jewels. Did ever any body wear jewels in the nose ?"

"Certainly; it was a very ancient custom, and it is in fashion in some parts even to the present day, among women in all classes of society. A traveller describing his wife, says, that 'she adorns herself with all kinds of rubies, emeralds, and pearls, as the manner is in the East, with the exception of certain ugly rings of very large size, set with jewels, which, in truth, very absurdly, it is the custom to wear fastened to one of their nostrils like buffaloes; though it is an ancient custom in the East, which, as we find in the Scriptures, prevailed among the Hebrew ladies even in the time of Solomon. These nose-rings, in complaisance to me, she has left off; but I have not yet been able to prevail with her cousin and sister to do the same; so fond are they of an old custom, be it ever so absurd, who have been long habituated to it.' Bishop Lowth observes, from Chardin, 'that it is the custom in almost all the East, for the women to wear rings in their noses, in the left nostril, which is bored low down in the middle. These rings are of gold, and have commonly two pearls with one ruby be

Were nose-jewels formerly worn? Is it the fashion at present in the East? How does a traveller describe his wife? What does Bishop Lowth observe?

tween them, placed in the ring. 'I never saw,' says this traveller, 'a girl or a young woman in Arabia, or

in all Persia, who did not wear a ring after this manner in her nostril.'"

"I should not like a lady, if she were ever so fine, who had a ring in her nose."

"Perhaps not, Harry; but it must appear pleasing in the eyes of the people of the East, or they would not wear them. Nose-jewels, strange as they seem to us, are of very great antiquity. Moses informs us that Isaac's servant put on Rebekah, after she had conversed with him at the well, a golden ear-ring of

Do all the women of Arabia and Persia wear nose-rings? What did Isaac's servant put on Rebekah?