alone that built and rigged the ship; from all which we see the spirit of these antient times." It was esteemed an honour for each person to understand the making of every thing necessary for life, without any dependence upon others; and it is that which Homer most commonly calls wisdom and knowledge. Now, I must say, the authority of Homer appears to me very great in this case. As he lived about the time of the prophet Elijah, and in Asia Minor, all the accounts that he gives of the Greek and Trojan customs have a wonderful resemblance with what the Scripture informs us of concerning the manners of the Hebrews and other eastern people: only the Greeks, not being so antient, were not so polite.

But, however it might be in former times, we are sure that David left a great number of artificers in his kingdom of all sorts: masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, and indeed all such as work in stone, wood, and metals." And that we may not think they were strangers, it is said that Solomon chose out of Israel thirty thousand workmen, and that he had seventy thousand that bare burthens, and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains. It is true, he borrowed workmen of the

D

Odyss. lib. ver. 243-257.

Marm. Arundel. And this is a further proof that the poems of Homer were composed from incidents in real life; and about that period to which they are generally assigned; and that they are not poetic figments, like most of the Epic poems which were formed after their model.

P 1 Chron. xxii. 15, 16.

1 Kings v. 13, 15.

king of Tyre;' and owned that his subjects did not understand cutting wood so well as the Sidonians ; and that he sent for Hiram, an excellent founder, to make the sacred vessels.

But luxury increasing after the division of the two kingdoms, there is reason to believe they had always plenty of workmen. In the genealogy of the tribe of Judah, we may observe, there is a place called the Valley of Craftsmen,' because, says the Scripture, they dwelt there. There is likewise mention made in the same place of people that wrought in fine linen; and of potters, who worked for the king, and dwelt in his gardens. All this shews the respect that was paid to famous mechanics, and the care that was taken to preserve their memory. The prophet Isaiah, amongst his menaces against Jerusalem, foretels that GOD will take away from her the cunning artificers:' and when it was taken, it is often said that they carried away the very workmen." But we have a proof from Ezekiel, that they never had any considerable manufactures, when the prophet, describing the abundance of their merchandize which came to Tyre, mentions nothing brought from the

* 1 Kings v. 1—12. vii. 13, &c.

חרש

* 1 Chron. iv. 14. The valley of Craftsmenn kɔɔ gia charashim, translated vallis artificum by the Vulgate. charash, signifies to work in iron, wood, stone, pottery, &c. and JOAB, the person mentioned in the text, is styled by Rabbi Jo. seph's Targum the chief, or superintendant, of the craftsmen er artificers.

land of Judah and Israel but wheat, oil, resin, and balm; all of them commodities that the earth itself produced.

These were the employments of the Israelites, and their manner of subsisting. Let us now come to something more particular; and describe their apparel, their houses, furniture, food, and whole manner of living, as exactly as we can. They rose early, as the Scripture observes in a great number of places, that is, as often as it mentions any action, though never so inconsiderable. Hence it comes that, in their style, to rise early signifies, in general, to do a thing sedulously, and with a good will: thus it is frequently said that God rose up early to send the prophets to His people, and exhort them to repentance. It is a consequence of country labour. The Greeks and Romans followed the same custom: they rose very early, and worked till night; they bathed, supped, and went to bed in good time.

* Ezek. xxvii. 17.

2 Chron. xxxvii. 15. Jerem. vii. 13. xi. 7. xxxv. 14.

CHAP. VI.

Their Wearing Apparel.

AS to the clothes of the Israelites, we cannot know exactly the shape of them. They had no pictures or statues, and there is no coming at a right notion of these things without seeing them. But one may give a guess at them, from the statues which remain of the Greeks and other nations: for, as to modern pictures, most of them serve only to give us false ideas. I do not speak only of those Gothic paintings in which every person, let him have lived where and when he would, is dressed

a

* There is every reason to believe that the dress of the Jews was similar to that of the antient Egyptians: and, as many statues and monuments of Egyptian antiquity still remain, we may see by them what the antient Jewish habits were. A tunic was the principal part of their dress: this was made nearly in the form of our present shirt. A round hole was cut at top, merely to permit the head to pass through. Sometimes it had long sleeves, which reached down to the wrists; at other times short sleeves, which reached to the elbow; and some had very short sleeves, which reached only to the middle of the upper arm; and some had no sleeves at all. The tunic was nearly the same with the Roman stola; and was in general girded round the waist, or under the breasts, with the zona, or girdle. Besides the tunic, they wore the pallium, which covered the shoulders and back, and was the same with the chlamys of the Greeks. Indeed all these antient nations seem to have had nearly the same dress.

like those the painter was accustomed to see; that is, as the French or Germans were some hundred years ago I mean the works of the greatest painters, except Raphael, Poussin, and some few others that have thoroughly studied the manner or costume of each age, as they call it. All the rest have had no more sense then to paint the people of the east such as they saw at Venice, or other parts of Italy: and for the stories of the New Testament, they painted the Jews like those of their own country. However, as most Scripture painting is copied from these originals, we have taken the impression of it from our infancy; and are used to form to ourselves an idea of the patriarchs with turbans, and beards down to their waist; and of the Pharisees in the Gospel with hoods and pouches. There is no great evil in being deceived in all this: but, if possible, it is better not to be deceived.

The antients commonly wore long garments, as most nations in the world still do; and as we ourselves did in Europe not above two hundred years ago. One may much sooner cover the whole body all at once, than each part of it singly; and long garments have more dignity and gracefulness. In hot countries they always wore a wide dress; and never concerned themselves about covering the arms or legs, or wore any thing upon the feet but soles fastened in different ways. Thus their dress took but little making it was only a large piece of cloth shaped into a garment; there was nothing to cut, and not much to sew. They had likewise the art of weaving gowns with sleeves all of one