or

mirrors; the walls, to above four feet from the floor, being composed of a fine yellowish green marble In the middle was a square basin. fountain, wherein clear water constantly circulated by means of subterraneous tubes: near this the king sat, after our European fashion, on an arm chair, of very antique appearance, its legs being so high that his feet scarcely reached to the carpet. After our audience, his majesty presented to the ambassador a star composed of diamonds and emeralds, surrounding the arms of Persia (a lion with the sun rising over his back) enamelled in gold. This festival of the Nawruz lasted several days, during which there were frequent discharges of artillery and musketry, and displays of fireworks, particularly on the twenty seventh, when the king invited Sir Gore Ouseley, and his party, to a grand exhibition at the àreg. The king sat in a small chamber over the gateway of the maidán. Here he reviewed a long line of mules (one hundred, as it was said) each carrying on its back a beautiful Indian shawl, and a bag containing one thousand tumans in gold coin. These were the presents, or rather the annual tribute or revenue of Ispahan, sent by the Amin ad douleh: several processions of men, bearing valuable gifts of different kinds, had already passed before my arrival, the offerings of those princes and noblemen, who governed in various provinces and great cities of the empire. To the presents succeeded rope-dancing, and wrestling of Pahlawáns. The attack of a young lion on a small bull, apparently too feeble to resist even a large dog, closed the idé, or festival."-Sir William Ouseley's Travels in the East, vol. iii. p. 337; Morier's Jour ney through Persia, vol. i. p. 208; Hyde. Hist. Relig. Vet. Pers. cap. 19, p. 237; Anquetil du Perron, Usages Civiles et Relig. Zendavesta, tom. ii. p. 574.

Gen. xxxi. 35. And she said to her father, Let it not displease my CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 266.

lord that I cannot rise up before thee.

Children in the Eastern countries cultivate and express for their parents the most profound respect. "During this feast I remarked that the Amin-ad-douleh's son, Abdallah Khan, a man seemingly about thirty years old, the possessor of considerable wealth, and governor of Ispahan, but seldom appeared among the guests; and only seated himself, as one of the humblest, when invited by the words, or encouraged by the looks, of his father. This reserve, however, was not caused by any ill will or deficiency of kindness, subsisting on either side; but arose from the filial respect which, in every stage and condition of life, the Persians are thus taught to express. This respect is not the right of parental authority alone; it is generally extended to seniority among brothers."-Ouseley, vol. iii. p. 52.

Exodus xxxviii. 8. Looking glasses. "The artists who make those boxes and pen cases, very ingeniously mount small looking glasses in frames of pasteboard; a traveller finds these extremely convenient, as they lie flat and occupy but little space among his clothes. Some are opened like a book, and fastened by means of a hook and catch. Of others, the mirror is occasionally covered by a piece which fits exactly in the pasteboard frame, and is easily separated from it by a person's nail. These looking glasses are of various sizes and forms, square, oval, or octagonal, from five to twelve or thirteen inches long, and proportionably broad. The frames and covers are often neatly painted, and sometimes ornamented with Khátembandi, a kind of mosaic work."-Ibid. p. 64.

Deut. xx. 5. What man is there that hath built a new house." The manzil mubárek, or tokens of felicitation, are usually sent to those who occupy a new place of residence. On such an occasion, Lady Ouseley received little presents of sweet meats, flowers, fruit, and loaves of sugar."-Ibid. p. 141. M

1 Sam. xiii. 10. And Saul went out to meet him.-It is scarcely necessary to remark, that it was usual to receive great persons and guests with particular attention. "Next morning we set out on horseback at ten o'clock, in full procession, to return the Amin-ad-douleh's visit, and having crossed the river Zendehrúd, on the bridge of Kájá, we rode through several long, handsome, and well peopled streets, but had opportunities of remarking, that at least as many more were in ruins and uninhabited. The great man received us at his door with much courtesy in honour of the ambassador, he had assembled all the chief personages of Ispahan, and at noon the floor of a spacious chamber was covered with ten very large trays, each containing twenty-five China bowls, and dishes of various sizes. These were filled with the most savoury meat, conserves, sweet cakes, delicious fruit, both dried and fresh, sherbet of orange and pomegranate, and willow water, or ab-í-bídmíshk, cooled with ice. After this repast, we were treated with coffee and caleans or pipes. Rose water was poured into our hands, and we returned at two o'clock to the gardens of Saadetábád."—Ibid.p.22. 1 Sam. xx. 24. When the new moon was come, the king sat himself down to meat.-" No Persian would willingly commence a journey, or any other business until the new moon had been perceived. Early on the nineteenth it was publicly and joyfully proclaimed that this event had occurred: the day was therefore considered as an important eíd, or festival, and devoted, by the true believers, to gluttony, the delights of tobacco, and sensual gratifications of every kind. Presents were reciprocally given by relations, friends, and equals; and offered by servants to their masters with the usual compliment and wish, May this holiday be auspicious to you! On these occasions the gifts are not always of much intrinsic value: but a fruit, a flower, or a bit

of sweet-meat, serves as a token of esteem or of respect."-Ibid. p. 74. 2 Sam. xi. 8. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.-Any present immediately communicated by a royal personage has ever been considered particularly valuable.

"Arrangements were now made for our introduction to the monarch immediately on his return, which he had fixed, as the vazirs declared, for the thirteenth day of this month. Meanwhile he sent to the ambassador a very flattering khúshámedy, or welcome, with some of the royal shikár, or game; three antelopes, and fifty kábks, or partridges, killed by his own hand: a circumstance which considerably enhanced the value of this present, and entitled the bearer to a recompence, not less than the wages of half a year."--Ibid. p. 116.

Job xxx. 1. But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.-This sarcastic, reproachful mode of speaking prevails still in the East. The following is a remarkable example of it :-" Fateh Ali Shah contented himself one day, after a quarrel among his ministers, with telling them publicly, that he should bestow their titles on some of his dogs, calling one the Sedr aazem, another the Amin ad douleh, and a third the Itimad ad douleh." Ibid. p. 368.

Psalm xxii. Title. Aijeleth Shahar.-The titles of books and poems in the East are usually allusive or descriptive, not so much of the subject on which they are written, as to some particular event or natural object. So it appears in the following extract.

Among several manuscripts which I purchased, soon after our arrival at Ispahan, was a poetical work composed during the full splendor of this palace; the original perfection of its water-works, and beauty of its shady avenues,

and of the luxuriant flowers that embellished their variegated borders. It is entitled the Gulzar-e-Saadet, or Rose-bed of Prosperity, a poem in praise of the gardens and edifices at Saadetábád, composed about an hundred and ten years ago."-Ibid. p. 61.

"At Ispahan, the covers of books are ornamented in a stile peculiarly rich; and they often exhibit miniatures painted with considerable neatness, and admirably varnished. I purchased many loose covers of different sizes, containing representations of the finest Persian flowers delineated from nature, in exquisite colours, and with minute accuracy."—Ibid. p. 62.

Matt. xxii. 4. I have prepared my dinner. From the following detail of a grand Persian dinner, it will appear that much previous preparation was necessary, and was usually bestowed upon such a feast.

"Our slippers having been left outside the door of a large and handsome room illuminated by means of lamps and candlesticks placed on the floor, the usual salutations and welcomes, and all the regular series of inquiries concerning health, and thanks for the honour conferred in visiting, began immediately on the ambassador's entrance, were continued while Mirzà Shefia conducted him to a corner, and did not end for some minutes after we were all seated on nummeds spread over the splendid carpet, close to the walls. The guests were then furnished with caleans, mostly their own, and by their own servants; for on these occasions the pish khydmet, or valet de chambre, generally accompanies his master, to prepare and present the implements of smoking, and to hold the slippers for him when taking leave. Coffee, without milk or sugar, was next introduced by the servants of our host; one bringing on a tray several fine china cups, without handles, each in a fillagree receptacle, silver, or silver gilt, of the same form: another man, from

a large coffee-pot, filled three or four cups; of these Mirzà Shefia took one and handed it to the ambassador, who sat on his right. The servants, having distributed coffee to every person, collected the empty cups and retired: caleans were again presented; and to them succeeded tea in procelain cups, larger than those which had contained the coffee, but without saucers. After this appeared, what in Europe would have constituted a dessert, but was here the forerunner of dinner; apples, pears, melons, the grains of pomegranates in bowls, ices and sweetmeats, placed before us in capacious trays. These having been removed, after, ten or twelve minutes, preparations were made for the display of a more substantial meal; while, from sitting cross-legged on the floor so long, my situation had already become irksome.

"The servants now held before us silver basins, having covers grated or pierced with open work in several places, and ewers, or aftabah, resembling large coffee - pots with spouts, from which they poured on our hands lukewarm water: this, contaminated by each person's washing, fell through the grated covers and disappeared: the basins were then transferred to other guests for the purpose of similar ablutions. Next were spread on the carpet before us, and close to our knees, long narrow sufreh, or strips of flowered linen or chintz, hhashyeh, or borders of which contained, in small compartments, some Persian verses, inculcating hospitality towards strangers, and gratitude to God for the blessings of abundance. On these strips the bread was placed: it consisted of circular cakes, large as our common dinner plates, flat and not much thicker than a crown piece. A multitude of servants then entered, bringing various trays which they laid down near the cakes of bread; each tray containing at first only five or six bowls and dishes of lamb, fowl, fish, and vegetables, besides two

or three ample basins of fine porcelain ware, filled with different sherbets; in each a long handled wooden spoon, or ladle, floating on the surface. These trays were so placed that one accommodated two guests and between the trays were supernumerary dishes, or lofty pyramids of rice in its various forms, as chillaw, boiled simply; or as pillaw, mixed with meat and fruit, highly seasoned with spices, and enriched with unctuous sauces, at once sweet and acid.

"Having laid before us the trays already described as amply furnished, the servants were, nevertheless, employed for a considerable time in loading them with additional bowls and dishes of viands prepared according to various modes of culinary art these were placed over or between the first, and others over them; so that at last, the pile accumulated on each tray amounted to fifteen or sixteen; and, with the intermediate pillaws and sherbets, there must, I think, have been, before the conclusion of our feast, above three hundred china bowls and dishes at one moment on the floor. The variety of viands can scarcely be supposed equal to this multiplicity of dishes. I could easily perceive that the two or three trays nearest on both sides, agreed almost wholly in their contents with that more immediately before me. The meat was chiefly saturated with oil, or fat liquefied; of which, in some instances, the unctuosity was corrected by an admixture of vegetable acids.

"But of whatever kind the meat or the cookery, many little circumstances of negative and positive inconvenience concur to render even the most splendid feasts of this country tedious, and in some respects disgusting to an European. The want of chairs obliged us to sit on the floor, in awkward attitudes, that cramped and benumbed the legs. Being without knives or forks, we necessarily grasped with our fingers not only solid pieces of

flesh, but even moist and clammy substances. The want of cups or goblets, or drinking glasses, rendered it expedient to use the wooden kàshùks or spoons that floated, as before mentioned, on the sherbet. To these spoons no reasonable objection could be made, had the number been sufficient: but one generally served for two guests, and sometimes for three; each, after a draught, replacing it in the bowl. For plates, the only substitutes were those flat round cakes of bread already described; of these it did not appear that much was ever eaten; but such bones and fragments were collected on them, as would, in France or England, have been removed, during the meal, by a servant. On those cakes of bread too, I noticed many of the Persians wiping, from time to time, the greasy fingers of their right hands: the left not being employed on these occasions. They, when preparing to eat, stooped forwards, kneeling, until their heads were nearly over some dishes, which the long beards of several almost touched. I have often been surprized at the ingenuity which they evinced in scooping from a gelatinous mass, with the first finger only, or the first and second united, exactly such a quantity as they required for a mouthful: studiously contriving that their clothes should not be defiled by any particle.

"Towards the close of this feast, a lamb, roasted entire, was brought to Mirzà Shefia. On his recommendation of it to the ambassador, two or three servants immediately tore the limbs and joints asunder, using in this simple operation their hands alone: which being stained, according to custom, with the reddish brown tint of henna, excited some suspicion of dirtiness, not perhaps altogether false. With their hands alone, however impure they were, or seemed to be, those servants also restored to their places in the bowls and dishes, any meat, fish, or rice, that had fallen on the cloth: while

their skirts, as they passed to and fro in crowds along the floor, which scarcely afforded room for their feet between the trays and lamps, often slapped against the pillaws or into the bowls of sherbet. Such trifling accidents were probably inevitable; none more serious occurred: and our venerable host, although a man of impaired vision, had acquired the habit of observing instantaneously, and could indicate to his servants by a nod, any little want or embarrassment of a guest, even the most remote, without interrupting for one moment either his own or another person's discourse.

"The trays and their contents were at last removed, and next the sufrehs, with all the morsels of bread, meat, and rice, that had been scattered on them. Basins were then brought and ewers, containing lukewarm water, strongly impregnated with the perfume of roses: this was poured on our hands as at the former ablution. Caleáns, which had begun, now terminated the feast : and we, having smoked and chatted for a few minutes, took leave of the Persians, received our slippers from the servants who waited near the door, and returned on horseback, as we had gone, by the light of fánús or lanterns. entertainment was enlivened without the help of wine, by facetious anecdotes and sallies of wit."-Ibid. p. 141.

The

Acts xii. 21. Arrayed in royal apparel." On the same side, but in a recess formed by large windows, appeared three mastowfies, or secretaries: these were on our left hand as we stood behind the ambassador's chair: while on our right, near the door, were four of the principal fazirs, or ministers, with Abúl Hassan Khan, who had accompanied us to the palace. Beyond them, and extending towards the left side of the throne, was a row of five or six officers, among whom one held a most beautiful crown, or taje, apparently not inferior in the lustre of its jewels to that with which the

monarch's head was so magnificently decorated. Another of those. officers bore in his hands the scymetar of state; a third held the royal bow in its case; a fourth, the shield; and one a golden tray, or dish, filled with diamonds and different precious stones, of wonderful size and dazzling brilliancy. Of the king's dress I could perceive that the colour was scarlet: but to ascertain exactly the materials would have been difficult, from the profusion of large pearls that covered it in various places, and the multiplicity of jewels that sparkled all around : for the golden throne seemed studded at the sides with precious stones of every possible tint, and the back resembled a sun or glory, of which the radiation was imitated by diamonds, garnets, emeralds, and rubies. Of such also, was chiefly composed the monarch's ample and most splendid crown; and the two figures of birds that ornamented the throne, one perched on each side of its beautifully enamelled shoulders." Ibid. p. 131.

FAMILY SERMONS.-No. CLXXXII. 1 Cor. xiv. 1.-Follow after charity.

STRONGLY as the virtue of charity is enjoined upon us by our blessed Lord and his Apostles, and frequently as it is spoken of in Scripture as the brightest evidence of the Christian character, there is no virtue less generally understood or practised. In order, then, that we may obey the exhortation given by the Apostle in the text, and may follow after charity in such a manner as to ensure the attainment of our object, I shall endeavour to explain, from Scripture authority, the nature of this Christian virtue. But before I proceed I would earnestly wish you to be convinced of its great importance and excellency, and of the necessity of possessing it. To prove which necessity, I need only quote the emphatic words of