"As

ceived very particular attention, as far as it concerned their kings. It is thus described in FRANKLIN's History of Ancient and Modern Egypt, vol. i. p. 374. soon as a man was dead, he was brought to his trial. The publick accuser was heard. If he proved that the deceased had led a bad life, his memory was condemned, and he was deprived of the honours of sepulture. Thus, that sage people were affected with laws which extended even beyond the grave, and every one, struck with the disgrace inflicted on the dead person, was afraid to reflect dishonour on his own memory, and that of his family.

"But what was singular, the sovereign himself was not exempted from this public inquest upon his death. The public peace was interested in the lives of their sovereigns in their administration, and as death terminated all their actions, it was then deemed for the public welfare, that they should suffer an impartial scrutiny by a public trial, as well as the most common subject. Even some of them were not ranked among the honoured dead, and consequently were deprived of public burial. The Israelites would not suffer the bodies of some of their flagitious princes to be carried into the sepulchres appropriated to their virtuous sovereigns. The custom was singular: the effect must have been powerful and influential. The most haughty despot, who might trample on laws human and divine in his life, saw, by this solemn investigation of human conduct, that at death he also would be doomed to infamy and execration." What degree of conformity there was between the practice of the Israelites and the Egyptians, and with whom the custom first originated, may be difficult to ascertain and decide, but the conduct of the latter appears to be founded on the same principle as that of the former, and as it is more circumstantially detailed, affords us an agreeable explanation of a rite but slightly mentioned in the scriptures.

No. 138.-EZRA iv. 14.

Maintenance from the king's palace.

MARG. Salted with the salt of the palace. Some have supposed these words refer to their receiving of a stipend from the king in salt; others, that it expresses an acknowledgment that they were protected by the king as flesh is preserved by salt. It is sufficient, however, to put an end to all these conjectures, to recite the words of a modern Persian monarch, whose court Chardin attended some time. "Rising in wrath against an officer, who had attempted to deceive him, he drew his sabre, fell upon him, and hewed him in pieces at the feet of the grand vizier, who was standing (and whose favour the poor wretch courted by this deception) and looking fixedly upon him, and the other great lords that stood on each side of him, he said with a tone of indignation, I have then such ungrateful servants and traitors as these to eat my salt." (tom. iii. p. 149.) I am well informed, says Mr. Parkhurst (Heb. Lex. p. 448. 3d. edit.) that it is a common expression of the natives in the East Indies, "I eat such an one's salt," meaning, I am fed by him. Salt among the eastern natives formerly was, as it still is, a symbol of hospitality and friendship. The learned Jos. Mede observes, (Works, p. 370. fol.) that in his time, "when the emperor of Russia would shew extraordinary grace and favour to any, he sent him bread and sult from his table. And when he invited baron Sigismund, the emperor Ferdinand's embassador, he did it in this form, "Sigismund, shall eat our bread and salt with us." So Tamerlane in his institutes, mentioning one Share Behraum, who had quitted his service, joined the enemy, and fought against him, says "at length my salt, which he had eaten, overwhelmed him with remorse, he again threw himself on my mercy, and humbled himself before me."

you

HARMER, Vol. iv. p. 458.

No. 139.-NEHEMIAH vi. 5.

An open letter.

A LETTER has its Hebrew name from its being rolled or folded together. "The modern Arabs roll up their letters, and then flatten them to the breadth of an inch, and paste up the end of them instead of sealing them." (Niebuhr, p. 90.) The Persians make up their letters in "a roll about six inches long, and a bit of paper is fastened round it with gum, and sealed with an impression of ink, which resembles our printer's ink, but (is) not so thick." HANWAY'S Travels, vol. i. p. 317.) Letters were generally sent to persons of distinction in a bag or purse, and to equals they were also inclosed, but to inferiors, or those who were held in contempt, they were sent open, i. e. uninclosed. Lady M. W. Montague says (Letters, vol. i. p. 136.) the bassa of Belgrade's answer to the English embassador going to Constantinople was brought to him in a purse of scarlet satin. But in the case of Nehemiah an insult was designed to be offered to him by Sanballat, in refusing him the mark of respect usually paid to persons of his station, and treating him contemptuously, by sending the letter without the customary appendages when presented to persons of respectability. HARMER, vol. ii. p. 129.

No. 140.-vii. 64. Genealogy.] Among the Chinese a tablet of ancestry is in every house; and references in conversation are often made to their actions. (MACARTNEY'S Embassy, p. 295.) This practice seems to correspond with the genealogical tables of the Jews, which they were so careful in preserving.

No. 141.-xii. 25. Plucked off their hair.] To cut off the hair of guilty persons seems to be a punishment rather shameful than painful: yet it is thought that pain was added to the disgrace, and that they tore off the hair with violence, as if they were plucking a bird alive. This is the genuine signification of the Hebrew word used in this passage. Sometimes they put hot ashes on the skin, after they had torn off the hair, to make the pain the more exquisite. Thus they served adulterers at Athens; as is observed by the Scholiast on Aristophanes in Nubibus. This kind of punishment was com mon in Persia. King Artaxerxes, instead of plucking off the hair of such of his generals as had been guilty of a fault, obliged them to lay aside the tiara, says Plutarch. (Apophthegm.) The emperor Domitian caused the hair and beard of the philosopher Apollonius to be shaved. (Philostrat. lib. iii. cap. 24.)

CALMET'S Di&t. art. Punishment.

No. 142.-ESTHER i. ix.

Feast for the women.

CHARD IN says, "it is the custom of Persia, and of all the East, for the women to have their feasts at the same time (with), but apart from the men."

HARMER, vol. i. p. 354.

No. 143. v. 6. Banquet of wine.] Olearius (p. 709.) thus describes an entertainment at the Persian court. "The floor of the hall was covered with a cotton cloth, which was covered with all sorts of fruits and sweetmeats in basons of gold. With them was served up excellent Schiras wine. After an hour's time the sweetmeats were removed, to make way for the more substantial part of the entertainment, such as rice, boiled and roasted mutton, &c. After having been at table an hour and an half, warm water was brought, in an ewer of gold, for washing, and grace being said, they begun to retire with out speaking a word, according to the custom of the country." The time for drinking wine was at the be ginning, not at the close of the entertainment.

HARMER, vol. i. p. 389.

No. 144.-vi. 1. The book of records.] In these diaries (which we now call journals) wherein was set down what passed every day, the manner of the Persians was, to record the names of those who had done the king any signal service. Accordingly, Josephus informs us, "that, upon the secretary's reading of these journals, he took notice of such a person, who had great honours and possessions given him, as a reward for a glorious and remarkable action; and of such another, who made his fortune by the bounties of his prince for his fidelity: but that when he came to the particular

P