slaves, who are allowed to sit there upon the floor, and to converse together. When the meal is over, a girl sweeps the carpet, and the guests are then marshalled, with the utmost attention to the laws of precedence, in regular order upon the divan; the master and mistress of the house being seated at the upper end of the couch, and the rest of the party forming two lines, one on either side, each person being stationed according to his rank." CLARKE'S Travels, vol. iv. pp. 120. 122.

“Towards evening the eldest son of the consul (at Jean d'Acre, the ancient Ptolemais,) conducted me to the wedding-feast of a considerable Greek, whose father is a priest, and his brother secretary to the governor of Galilæa. All the guests who were invited assembled, without distinction, in a saloon, where they were inspected by the master of the ceremonies, and some had to move higher and others lower; thus it happened when we came, that two, who had already seated themselves at the top, were obliged to move down lower. This explained to me the discourse of Jesus, Luke, xiv. 8." STEPHEN SCHULZ, vol. v. p. 237.

JOHN, ii. 1. There was a marriage in Cana.] The following circumstances, as connected with marriage, are too remarkable to be passed over unnoticed: -" Upon ordinary occasions it was usual to throw amongst the populace, as the procession moved along, money, sweetmeats, flowers, and other articles; which the people caught in cloths made for such occasions, stretched in a particular manner upon frames. With regard to the money, however, there appears often to have been a mixture of economy, or rather of deception; which probably arose from the necessity of complying with a custom that might be ill suited to the fortunes of some, and to the avarice of others; for we find that it was not uncommon to collect bad money, called kelb, at a low price, to throw away at nuptial processions.

The bride on the day of marriage was conducted with great ceremony by her friends to her husband's house; and immediately on her arrival she made him a variety

of presents: especially of household furniture, with a spear and a tent. There seems to be a curious similitude in some of these ceremonies to customs which prevailed among the old Germans, before they left their forests, as well as among the Gothic nations, after they were established in their conquests. Tacitus observes that the German bridegrooms and brides made each other reciprocal presents, and particularly of alms and cattle. The gifts made to an eastern bride appear likewise to have been upon the same principle with the morgengabe, or morning gift, which it was common for the European husband in the early and middle ages to present to his wife on the morning after marriage." RICHARDSON'S Dissert. on the East, p. 343. HUGHES's Travels in Sicily, vol. ii. p. 30.

"On the morning of the celebration of a marriage, the bride presents her intended husband with a coat of mail, helmet, and all other articles necessary to a full equipment for war. Her father on the same day gives her a small portion of her dowry; while he at the same time receives from his son-in-law an exchange of genealogies: a punctilio, on which they all pique themselves with as great a nicety as on any point of personal honour every man being more or less esteemed according to the purity and illustrious names of his descent. When the first child of the marriage is born, the father of the bride pays up the residue of her fortune to the husband, presenting her at the same auspicious moment with the distinguishing badges of a married woman, never put on with this tribe until offspring is the fruit of union which honourable marks are a long white veil over a sort of red coif, all the rest of the dress being white also." Sir R. K. PORTER'S Travels in Persia, vol. i. p. 143.

:

1 Cor. ix. 5. Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles?] "We went to view the nocturnal procession which always accompanies the bridegroom, in escorting his betrothed spouse from the paternal roof to that of her future husband. This

consisted of nearly one hundred of the first persons in Joannina, with a great crowd of torch-bearers, and a band of music. After having received the lady, they returned, but were joined by an equal number of ladies, who paid this compliment to the bride: these were also attended by their maid servants, many of whom carried infants in their arms, dressed in prodigious finery. The. little bride, who appeared extremely young, walked with slow, and apparently reluctant step, according to custom, supported by a matron on each side, and another behind." This ceremony may throw some light upon the expression of St. Paul, yvvaika πɛpiaɣɛiv, 1 Cor. ix. 5, misunderstood by some commentators. HUGHES'S Travels in

Sicily, &c. vol. ii. p. 20.

TITUS, ii. 5. Keepers at home.] Jealousy is so common and powerful among the people of the East, that their wives are very much confined to their houses. RusSELL informs us, (Hist. of Aleppo, p. 113.) that "the Turks of Aleppo being very jealous, keep their women as much at home as they can, so that it is but seldom that they are allowed to visit each other. Necessity, however, obliges the husbands to suffer them to go often to the bagnio, and Mondays and Thursdays are a sort of licensed days for them to visit the tombs of their deceased relations, which furnishes them with an opportunity of walking abroad in the gardens or fields: they have so contrived that almost every Thursday in the spring bears the name of some particular sheik (or saint) whose tomb they must visit on that day. Their cemetries and gardens are out of their cities in common. By this means the greatest part of the Turkish women of the city get abroad to breathe the fresh air at such seasons, unless confined (as is not uncommon) to their houses, by order of the bashaw, and so deprived even of that little freedom which custom had procured them from their husbands." The prohibitions of the bashaws are designed, or pretended to be designed at least, to prevent the breach of chastity, for which these liberties of going abroad might be supposed to afford an opportunity.

For the same reason it may be apprehended that St. Paul joins the being chaste and keepers at home together.

REV. xxi. 2. Prepared as a bride.] In the East brides frequently change their dress, and are presented each time they do so to the bridegroom. D'ARVIEUX gives this account of the Arabs (Voy. dans la Pal. p. 225.):-"When the evening is come, the women present the bride to her future husband. The women who conduct her make him a compliment, who answers not a word, sitting perfectly still, with a grave and serious air. This ceremony is three times repeated the same evening; and whenever they change the bride's dress, they present her to the bridegroom, who receives her always with the same gravity. It is a sort of magnificence in the East, frequently to dress and undress the bride, and to cause her to wear in that same day all the clothes made up for her nuptials. The bridegroom's dress is also frequently changed for the same reason.' An attention to this circumstance throws an energy into the words of St. John when he speaks of the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride for her husband. Harmer, vol. ii. p. 122.

CHAP. III.

CHILDREN.

GEN. XV. 3. One born in my house, is mine heir.] "It is still the custom in India, especially among the Mahomedans, that in default of children, and sometimes where there are lineal descendants, the master of a family adopts a slave, frequently a Haffshee Abyssinian, of the darkest hue, for his heir; he educates him agreeably to his wishes, and marries him to one of his daughters. As the reward of superior merit, or to suit the caprice of an arbitrary despot, this honour is also con

ferred on a slave recently purchased, or already grown up in the family; and to him he bequeaths his wealth, in preference to his nephews, or any collateral branches. This is a custom of great antiquity in the East, and prevalent among the most refined and civilised nations. In the earliest period of the patriarchal history, we find Abraham complaining for want of children, and declaring that either Eliezer of Damascus, or probably one born from him in his house, was his heir, to the exclusion of Lot, his favourite nephew, and all the other collateral branches of his family." FORBES'S Oriental Memoirs, vol. iv. p. 201. HALHED's Gentoo Laws, p. 81. "Among the American Indians, if any neighbours are bereaved by death, or by an enemy, of their children, those who are possessed of the greatest number of slaves supply the deficiency and these are adopted by them, and treated in every respect as if they really were the children of the person to whom they are presented." CARVER's Travels in North America, p. 158.-Among the Mamelukes, the freed-man is called the child of the house. "Ibrahim, one of the kiayas or colonels of the Janisaries, had so multiplied his free-men, that of the twenty-four beys, which should be their number, no less than eight were of his household. At his death, which happened in 1757, his house,'that is, his enfranchised slaves, divided among themselves, but united against all others, continued to give the law."-VOLNEY's Travels, vol. i. p. 112.

GEN. xxi. 8. And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.] It was the usage of various nations, from time immemorial, solemnly to initiate their children, and especially if it was the first-born, and a son, by certain festival rites, soon after they could walk about, and had the use of their tongues, till which time it was not usual to take them from their mothers' breasts. "The Mexicans made vows for their children, as well as for themselves, and frequently dedicated them to the service of their gods, in some temple or monastery." CULLEN'S Mexico, vol.i.p.259.-MORIER (Second Journey through

E