articles so costly, is fully borne out by the facts we have learned from the monuments and from the tombs. That it was a large treasure which was thus obtained will be clear when we reflect that the whole, or nearly the whole of the gold and silver and precious stones, the fine linen, and the spices, which were used in the costly service of the tabernacle, must have been derived from this source; for we cannot suppose the Hebrew slaves to have possessed such property in their bondage, and they had not yet taken the spoils of successful war. It is, moreover, expressly recorded that the contributions of the congregation for the construction of the Tabernacle, were of the very ornaments which we have been describing. "And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought bracelets, and ear-rings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold. And the rulers brought onyx-stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod and for the breastplate.* gold and silver that were used in this work amounted, as we are informed, to above 3300 pounds Troy of the former, and above 11,000 pounds of the latter.+ The Let us return, however, to our assembled party, whom the beauty and profusion of their jewellery have caused us for a moment to forget. Music and dancing were indispensable accompaniments of a social entertainment. Not that, as with us, the guests themselves danced; this, to the oriental mind, has always appeared the height of folly * Exod. xxxv. 22, 27. + Exod. xxxviii. 24, 25. in those who possessed the means of employing others: professional dancing-girls, such as are still numerous in the East, displayed their grace or their agility, as we see in the opposite scene, to the sounds produced by a female orchestra. In the picture, on the following page, the original of which is in the British Museum, but one of the choir is really playing, and she performs on the double flute'; the others keep time to the notes by the clapping of their hands. The curious object in the right corner, which has been plausibly guessed to be a complex instrument of music, played with keys like our piano, is in reality, according to Sir G. Wilkinson, a number of bottles of water on stands, each stopped with an ear of corn, (perhaps an odorous flower with many stamens,) with garlands thrown around the whole. In this and other pictures, the dancers as well as the handmaidens that wait on the guests, appear to be, with the exception of a narrow girdle, and the necklace and bracelets, entirely naked. We cannot, however, for a moment suppose, that so polished a people would be guilty of a custom so hideously immoral and opposed to natural decency as to be waited on by females in a state of nudity. It was the custom with Egyptian artists to draw the human figure first, and to add the drapery afterwards; and as to express the extreme fineness of the texture of female dress, they often drew it in simple outline only, to intimate that it scarcely concealed the figure; we may reasonably suppose, that in these and similar cases, the slight and evanescent line which was added to mark the drapery, has become obliterated by the lapse of time. At dinner, small and low circular tables were used, standing on a single pillar, with a dilated base; sometimes one of these was apportioned to every guest, the viands being brought round by the servants successively, from a larger pillar-table, which had been brought in, ready set out, by two men. The accompanying engraving shews a table thus laid out, requiring, however, a little allowance for the lack of perspective. Round and oblong cakes of bread, flattened and pricked in patterns, a goose, a leg of a kid or antelope, baskets of figs and other fruit are crowned by a huge bunch of the indispensable lotus-lily. Under the table are bottles of wine placed on stands in a series, and crowned with a lotus-garland, upon which is thrown a long withe TABLE SET FOR DINNER. of what seems from the tendrils a vine, loaded |