probably used for holding trinkets, or occasionally as repositories for the small pots of ointment, or scented oils, and bottles containing the collyrium, applied to the eyes, which I shall have occasion to notice with the toilet of the ladies. Some were divided into separate compartments, covered by a common lid, either sliding in a groove, or turning on a pin at one end; and No. 269. Fig. 1. A box, with devices carved in relief, divided into cells. 2. The lid, which slides into a groove. Mr. Salt's Collection. many of still larger dimensions sufficed to contain a mirror, combs, and perhaps even some articles of dress. These boxes were frequently of costly materials, veneered with rare woods, or made of ebony, inlaid with ivory, painted with various devices, or stained to imitate materials of a valuable nature; and the mode of fastening some of them, and the curious substitute for a hinge, show the lid was entirely removed, and that the box remained open, while used. The principle of this will be better understood by reference to the wood-cut, where fig. 1. represents a side section of the box, and fig. 2. the inside of the lid. At the upper part of the back c, fig. 3. a small hole E is cut, which, when the box is closed, receives the nut D, projecting from the cross-bar B, on the inside of the lid; and the two knobs F and G, one on the lid, the other on the front of the box itself, served not only for ornament but for fastening it, a band being wound round them, and secured with a seal. These knobs, which were of ebony, or other hard wood, were frequently turned with great care, and inlaid with ivory and silver, an instance of which is given in fig. 5. Some boxes were made with a pointed summit, divided into two parts, one of which alone opened, turning on small pivots at the base, and the two ends of the box resembled in form the gable ends, as the top, the shelving roof, of a house. The sides were, as usual, secured by glue and nails, generally of wood, and dovetailed, a method of joining adopted in Egypt at the most remote period; but the description of these belongs more properly to cabinet work, as those employed for holding the combs, and similar objects, to the toilet. Some vases have been found in boxes, made of wicker-work, closed with stoppers of wood, reed, or other materials, supposed to belong either to a lady's toilet, or to a medical man; one of which, now preserved in the Berlin Museum, has been already noticed, and introduced in a wood-cut* of the preceding volume. The vases are six in number, varying slightly in form and size: five of alabaster, and the remaining one of serpentine, each standing in its own cell or compartment. Bottles of terra cotta are also met with, in very great abundance, of the most varied forms and No. 271. Terra cotta bottle, perhaps used by painters for holding water, and carried on the Mr. Salt's Collection. thumb. dimensions, made for every kind of purpose of which they were susceptible; and I have met with one which appears to have belonged to a painter, and to have been intended for holding water to moisten the colours; the form and position of the handle, suggesting that it was held on the thumb of the left hand, while the person wrote or painted with his right. Besides vases and bottles of stone, and of the materials above mentioned, the Egyptians sometimes had them of leather, or prepared skin; and though it does not appear to what purpose they were generally applied, we may conclude, from the fact of their being imported into Egypt from foreign countries, that they were required for a particular use, or preferred on account of some peculiar quality in the leather itself. The Egyptians, we are informed by Herodotus, like the Greeks and Romans, occasionally employed skins for holding wine, as well as water, especially when removing it from one place to another; and the fact, that the robber of Rhampsinitus's treasury adopted the same method of carrying his wine in skins, at a time when any unusual custom would necessarily have been avoided, shows it to have been one of common occurrence. It is, however, doubtful, if leather bottles were applied to the same purpose; and as we do not find them introduced at parties, it may be inferred, that they were neither intended for drawing wine from the amphora, nor for handing it to table. * Bottles and narrow-mouthed vases, placed in the sitting room, and holding water, were frequently * Herod. ii. 121. closed with some light substance *, through which the warm air could pass, as it rose, during the cooling process, being submitted to a current of air, to increase the evaporation : leaves were often employed for this purpose, as at the present day, those of a fragrant kind being probably selected; and the same prejudice against leaving a vase uncovered may have existed among the ancient as among the modern inhabitants of Egypt. While the guests were entertained with music and the dance, dinner was prepared; but as it consisted of a considerable number of dishes, and the meat was killed for the occasion, as at the present day in Eastern and tropical climates, some time elapsed before it was put upon table. During this interval, conversation was not neglected; and the chitchat of the day, public affairs, and questions of business or amusement, occupied the attention of the men. Sometimes an accident occurring at the house afforded an additional subject for remark; and, as at the feast of the rich Nasidienus, the fall of a dusty curtain, or some ill-secured piece of furniture, induced many to offer condolences to the host, while others indulged in the criticisms of a sarcastic Balatro.t A circumstance of this kind is represented in a |