incommode them in their intended good office: or having tied, according to the Persian version, the four corners of the bed, or bedstead, with cords, where the sick of the palsy lay, they let it down before Jesus.

"For that there was not the least force or violence offered to the roof, and consequently that εξορύξαντες, no less than απέστέγασαν, will admit of some other interpretation than what has been given them in our version, appears from the parallel place in Luke, where dα TWV xεgaμwv xadnxav aurov, per tegulas demiserunt illum, which we translate, they let him down through the tiling, as if that had been actually broken up already, should be rendered, they let him down over, along the side, or by the way of the roof. For as xegauo, or tegula, which originally denoted a roof of tiles, like those of the northern nations, were afterwards applied to the tectum or dwua in general, of what nature or structure soever they were; so the meaning of letting down a person into the house per tegulas, or dia suv xɛgauw, can depend only on the use of the preposition a. Now both in Acts ix. 25., xaxav δια του τείχους, and 2 Cor. xi. 33. εχαλασθην δια του τείχους, where the like phraseology is observed as in St. Luke, dia is rendered in both places by, that is, along the side, or by the way of the wall. By interpreting therefore δια in this sense, δια των κεραμων καθηκαν αυτόν, will be rendered as above, they let him down over, or by the way of the wall, just as we may suppose Mark Antony to have been, agreeably to a noted passage in Tully. An action of the same nature seems to be implied in what is related of Jupiter, where it is said, se in hominem convertisse, atque per alienas tegulas venisse clanculum per impluvium. And of the snake, which we learn2 per impluvium decidisse de tegulis. What Dr. Lightfoot also observes out of the Talmud upon Mark ii. 4. will, by an alteration only of the preposition which answers to dia, farther vouch for this interpretation. For as it is there cited, when Rabbi Honna was dead, and his bier could not be carried out through the door, which was too strait and narrow, therefore they thought good to let it down (not through the way of the roof, as the Doctor renders it, but as in dia xegapov, or Sia Terous) by the way, or over the roof, viz. by taking it upon the terrace, and letting it down by the wall, that way into the street. We have a passage in Aulus Gellius exactly of the same purport; where it is said, that if any person in chains should make his escape into the house of the Flamen Dialis, he should be forthwith loosed; and that his fetters should be drawn up through the impluvium upon the roof or terrace, and from thence be let down into the highway, or

the street.

"When the use then of these phrases, and the fashion of these houses, are rightly considered, there will be no reason to suppose that any breach was actually made in the tegulæ, or usgao; since all that was to be done in the case of a paralytic was to carry him

1 Ter. Eunuch. iii. 5. 37.

3 Noctes Attica, lib. x. c. 15.

2 Ter. Phorm. iv. 4. 47

to the top of the house, either by forcing their way through the crowd up the staircase, or else by conveying him over some of the neighbouring terraces, and there, after they had drawn away the dryn, or veil, to let him down along the side of the roof through the opening or impluvium into the midst of the court before Jesus."51

The following diagram will perhaps give the reader a tolerably accurate idea of the arrangement of an eastern house.

Now, let it be supposed, that Jesus was sitting at D in the porch, at the entrance into the main building, and speaking to the people, when the four men carrying the paralytic came to the front gate or porch, B. Finding the court so crowded that they could not carry him in and lay him before Jesus, they carried him up the stairs at the porch to the top of the gallery, C, C, C, and along the gallery round to the place where Jesus was sitting, and forcing a passage by removing the balustrade, they lowered down the paralytic, with the couch on which he lay, into the court before Jesus. Thus we are enabled to understand the manner in which the paralytic was brought in and laid before the compassionate Redeemer.

During the Rev. Mr. Jowett's residence at Haivali, in May 1818, he relates that the house, in which he abode, gave him a correct idea of the scene of Eutychus's falling from the upper loft, while Paul was preaching at Troas. (Acts xx. 6-12.) "According to our idea of houses," he remarks, "the scene of Eutychus's falling from the upper loft, is very far from intelligible; and, besides this, the circumstance of preaching generally leaves on the mind of cursory readers the notion of a church. To describe this house, which is not many miles distant from the Troad, and perhaps, from the unchanging character of oriental customs, nearly resembles the houses then built, will fully illustrate the narrative.

"On entering my host's door, we find the first floor entirely used as a store it is filled with large barrels of oil, the produce of 1 Shaw's Travels, p. 273. et. seq. 4to.; or vol. i. p. 227. et seq. 8vo. edit.

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the rich country for many miles round: this space, so far from being habitable, is sometimes so dirty with the dripping of the oil, that it is difficult to pick out a clean footing from the door to the first step of the staircase. On ascending, we find the first floor, consisting of an humble suite of rooms, not very high: these are occupied by the family, for their daily use. It is on the next story that all their expense is lavished: here, my courteous host has appointed my lodging: beautiful curtains, and mats, and cushions to the divan, display the respect with which they mean to receive their guest: here, likewise, their splendour, being at the top of the house, is enjoyed by the poor Greeks, with more retirement and less chance of molestation from the intrusion of Turks: here, when the Professors of the College waited upon me to pay their respects, they were received in ceremony and sat at the window. The room is both higher and also larger than those below: it has two projecting windows; and the whole floor is so much extended in front beyond the lower part of the building, that the projecting windows considerably overhang the street. In such an upper room-secluded, spacious, and commodious-St. Paul was invited to preach his parting discourse. The divan, or raised seat, with mats or cushions, encircles the interior of each projecting window and I have remarked, that when company is numerous, they sometimes place large cushions behind the company seated on the divan; so that a second tier of company, with their feet upon the seat of the divan, are sitting behind, higher than the front row. Eutychus, thus sitting, would be on a level with the open window; and, being overcome with sleep, he would easily fall out, from the third loft of the house, into the street, and be almost certain, from such a height, to lose his life. Thither St. Paul went down; and comforted the alarmed company, by bringing up Eutychus alive. It is noted, that there were many lights in the Upper Chamber. The very great plenty of oil in this neighbourhood would enable them to afford many lamps: the heat of these and so much company would cause the drowsiness of Eutychus at that late hour, and be the occasion likewise of the windows being open."

The tops of the houses in Judæa being flat, and covered with a plaster of terrace, afford a scanty soil to grass: but it is small, and weak, and being exposed to the scorching rays of the sun, it soon withers. (Psal. cxxix. 6.) In erecting their houses, whatever may be the material employed, they furnish the interior of the more common and useful apartments with sets of large nails with square heads (like dice), and bent at the head so as to make them crampirons. To this custom there is an allusion in Ezra ix. 8. and Isa. xxii. 23. On these nails were hung their kitchen utensils or other articles. The floors of the houses of the opulent were frequently marble of various colours, or painted tiles or plaster, in all proba bility similar to those which are yet visible in that superb specimen

1 Jowett's Christian Researches in the Mediterranean, pp. 66, 67.

of Moslem architecture the Moorish palace of Alhamra at Granada, and which have been so exquisitely drawn and engraved in Mr. Murphy's "Arabian Antiquities of Spain." Their ceilings were of wood, and pannelled; and the sides of the walls were wainscotted, and sometimes covered with costly hangings. (Jer. xxii. 14. Hagg. i. 4.) In Barbary, the hills and vallies in the vicinity of Algiers are beautified with numerous country-seats and gardens, whither the opulent resort during the intense heats of summer. In all probability, the summer-houses of the Jews, mentioned by the prophets Jeremiah (xxxvii. 22.) and Amos (iii. 15.), were of this description; though these have been supposed to mean different apartments of the same house, the one exposed to a northern and the other to a southern aspect.

It was common, when any person had finished a house, and entered into it, to celebrate the event with great rejoicing, and to perform some religious ceremonies, to obtain the divine blessing and protection. The dedication of a newly-built house was a ground of exemption from military service. The xxxth Psalm, as appears from the title, was composed on occasion of the dedication of the house of David; and this devout practice obtained also among the antient Romans.

III. The furniture of the oriental dwellings, at least in the earliest ages, was very simple: that of the poorer classes consisted of but few articles, and those such as are absolutely necessary. Instead of chairs, they sat on mats or skins; and the same articles, on which they laid a mattress, served them instead of bedsteads, while their upper garment served them for a covering. (Exod. xxii. 25, 26. Deut. xxiv. 12.) This circumstance accounts for our Lord's commanding the paralytic to take up his bed and go unto his house. (Matt. ix. 6.) The more opulent had (as those in the East still have) fine carpets, couches, or divans, and sofas, on which they sat,1 lay, and slept. (2. Kings iv. 10. 2 Sam. xvii. 28.) In later times their couches were splendid, and the frames inlaid with ivory (Amos vi. 14.), and the coverlids rich and perfumed. (Prov. vii. 16, 17.) On these sofas, in the latter ages of the Jewish state, (for before the time of Moses, it appears to have been the custom to sit at table, Gen. xliii. 33.) they universally reclined, when taking their meals (Amos vi. 4. Luke vii. 36--38.): resting on their side with their heads towards the table, so that their feet were accessible to one who came behind the couch, as in the annexed diagram :

1 A passage in Jeremiah xiii. 22. may in some degree be explained by the oriental mode of sitting-For the greatness of thine iniquity, are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare. "I have often been struck," says Mr. Jowett, "with the manner in which a great man sits for example, when I visited the Bashaw, I never saw his feet they were entirely drawn up under him, and covered by his dress. This was dignified. To see his feet, his skirts must have been discovered: still more so, in order to see the heels, which often serve as the actual seat of an oriental."-Jowett's Christian Researches, p. 169.

In which A denotes the table, and c, c, c, the couches on which the guests reclined. B is the lower end, open for servants to enter and supply the guests. The knowledge of this custom enables us to understand the manner in which John leaned on the bosom of his master, (John xiii. 23.) and Mary anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped

them with her hair.

Antiently, splendid hangings were used in the palaces of the eastern monarchs, and ample draperies were suspended over the openings in the sides of the apartments, for the twofold purpose of affording air, and of shielding them from the sun. Of this description were the costly hangings of the Persian sovereigns mentioned in Esther i. 6. ; which passage is confirmed by the account given by Quintus Curtius of their superb palace at Persepolis.

Other articles of necessary furniture were, at least in the more antient periods, both few and simple. The principal were a hand-mill, with which they ground their corn, a kneading-trough, and an oven. The hand-mill resembles the querns, which, in early times, were in general use in this country, and which still continue to be used in some of the more remote northern islands of Scotland. So essential were these domestic utensils, that the Israelites were forbidden to take them in pledge. (Deut. xxiv. 6.) The kneading-troughs (at least those which the Israelites carried with them out of Egypt, Exod. xii. 34.) were not the cumbersome articles now in use among us, but comparatively small wooden bowls, like those of the modern Arabs, who, after kneading their flour in them, make use of them as dishes out of which they eat their victuals. The oven was sometimes only an earthen pot in which fire was put to heat it, and on the outside of which the batter or dough was spread, and almost instantly baked. Besides these two articles, they must have had different kinds of earthen-ware vessels, especially pots, to hold water for their various ablutions. While exploring the ruins of Cana in Galilee, Dr. Clarke saw several large massy stone water-pots, answering the description given of the antient vessels of the country (John ii. 6.); not pres