"The girdles of these people are usually of worsted, very artfully woven into a variety of figures, such as the rich girdles of the virtuous virgins may be supposed to have been. (Prov. xxxi. 24.) They are made to fold several times about the body; one end of which being doubled back, and sewn along the edges, serves them for a purse, agreeable to the acceptation of the wvn in the Scriptures. The Turks make a farther use of these girdles, by fixing therein their knives and poniards: whilst the Hojias, i. e. the writers and secretaries, suspend in the same their inkhorns; a custom as old as the prophet Ezekiel, who mentions (ix. 2.) a person clothed in white linen, with an inkhorn upon his loins. "It is customary for the Turks and Moors to wear shirts of linen, or cotton, or gauze, underneath the tunics. But the Arabs wear nothing but woollen. There is a ceremony, indeed, in some Douwars, which obliges the bridegroom and the bride to wear each of them a shirt at the celebration of their nuptials; but then, out of a strange kind of superstition, they are not afterwards to wash them or put them off, whilst one piece hangs to another. The sleeves of these shirts are wide and open, without folds at the neck or wrist, as ours have; those particularly of the women, are oftentimes of the richest gauze, adorned with different-coloured ribands, interchangeably sewed to each other. "Neither are the Bedoweens accustomed to wear drawers; a habit, notwithstanding, which the citizens of both sexes constantly appear in, especially when they go abroad, or receive visits. III. "The virgins are distinguished from the matrons, in having their drawers made of needle-work, striped silk and linen; just as Tamar's garment is described. (2 Sam. xiii. 18.) But when the women are at home and in private, then their hykes are laid aside, and sometimes their tunics; and instead of drawers, they bind only a towel about their loins. A Barbary matron, in her undress, appears exactly in the same manner that Silanus does in the Admiranda. "When these ladies appear in public, they always fold themselves up so closely in their hykes, that even without their veils, we could discover very little of their faces. But in the summer months, when they retire to their country seats, they walk abroad with less caution; though even then, upon the approach of a stranger, they always drop their veils, as Rebekah did upon the sight of Isaac. (Gen. xxiv. 65.) They all affect to have their hair, the instrument of their pride (Isa. xxii. 12.) hang down to the ground, which, after they have collected it into one lock, they bind and plait with ribands; a piece of finery disapproved of by the apostle. (1 Peter iii. 3.) Where nature has been less liberal in this ornament, there the defect is supplied by art, and foreign hair is procured to be interwoven with the natural. Absalom's hair which was sold for 200 shekels (2 Sam. xiv. 26.) might have been applied to this use. After the hair is thus plaited, they proceed to dress their heads, by tying, above the lock I have described, a triangular piece of linen, adorned with various figures in needle-work. This, among persons of better fashion, is covered with a sarmah, as they call it (of the like. sound with, Isaiah iii. 18.), which is made in the same triangular shape, of flexible gold or silver, artfully cut through and engraven in imitation of lace, and might therefore answer to the moon-like ornament mentioned above. A handkerchief of crape, gauze, silk, or painted linen, bound close over the sarmah, and falling afterwards carelessly upon the favourite lock, completes the headdress of the Moorish ladies. "But none of these ladies think themselves completely dressed till they have tinged their eye-lids with al-ka-hol,' i. e. the powder of lead-ore. Now, as this is performed by first dipping into this powder a small wooden bodkin of the thickness of a quill, and then drawing it afterwards through the eyelids, over the ball of the eye, we have a lively image of what the prophet Jeremiah (iv. 30.) may be supposed to mean by renting the eyes (not as we render it, with painting, but) with lead-ore. The sooty colour which in this manner is communicated to the eyes, is thought to add a wonderful gracefulness to persons of all complexions. The practice of it, no doubt, is of great antiquity for, besides the instances already taken notice of, we find that when Jezebel is said to have painted her face, (2 Kings ix. 30.) the original words are own, i. e. she adjusted, or set off, her eyes with the powder of lead-ore. So likewise Ezek. xxiii. 40. is to be understood. Karan-happuc, i. e. the horn of pouk or lead-ore, the name of Job's youngest daughter, was relative to this custom or practice."2 IV. The preceding learned and curious observations happily illustrate several parts of sacred writ. A passage in the Acts of the Apostles clearly fixes the difference between the 'Ipariov or Upper Garment, and the Xirwv or Tunic. During St. Peter's abode at Joppe, one Dorcas, a pious, amiable, and beneficent Christian woman fell sick and died. The believers at Joppe having received information that Peter was at Lydda, despatched two messengers to him, entreating he would come to them without delay. Peter's arrival they took him into an upper room where the corpse lay, round which a number of indigent widows stood bathed in tears, deploring the irreparable loss they had sustained, and showing Peter a variety of (xwvas xos iuaria) under and upper gar On 1 This word is rendered by Golius and others, Stibium, Antimonii species, and sometimes colirium: the Hebrew no cahol has the same interpretation; and the verb on joined with py (Ezek. xxiii. 40.) is rendered, Thou paintest thine eyes. D is taken in the like signification, being rendered antimonium, stibium quo ad tingenda nigrore cilia, seu ad venustandos oculos, peculiariter utebantur; color subniger er pulveribus stibii confectus. Schindl. Lex. St. Jerome likewise upon these words N D (Isa. liv. 11.) which we render (I will lay) thy stones with fair colours, takes notice, quod omnes præter LXX. similiter transtulerunt, viz. (sternam) in stibio, lapides tuos, in similitudinem comptæ mulieris, quæ oculos pingit stibio, ut pulchritudinem significet civitatis. D therefore, and and alka-hol, denoting the same mineral substance or collyrium, it may be presumed that what is called to this day ka-hol, which is a rich lead ore pounded to an impalpable powder, was the mineral which they always made use of for painting the eyes. 2 Dr. Shaw's Travels in Barbary, vol. i. pp. 403–414. 1 ments, which Dorcas had made to clothe poor necessitous objects. It was these iparia or upper garments, consisting of a loose square piece of cloth wrapped round the body, which that vast multitude, which escorted Jesus in that triumphant procession into the capital, spread in the public road by way of carpet. Plutarch informs us, that the same affectionate respect and reverence was paid to Cato. "When Cato's expedition was ended, he was escorted not only with the customary praises and acclamations, but with tears and the tenderest endearments, the populace SPREADING THEIR GARMENTS UNDER HIS FEET wherever he walked, and with affectionate fervour kissing his hands,-testimonies of public respect which the Romans at that time showed to very few of their commanders."A person divested of his upper garment, in the eastern language is styled naked, notwithstanding his being clothed in a tunic or under garment. Thus David is represented to dance naked before the ark in the sight of all Israel-not that we can suppose the monarch to be stripped naked and to be guilty of such public indecency and folly-the term only denotes that he had laid aside his upper garment. In like manner it is said of Simon Peter, that when he heard it was the Lord, he immediately girt his fisher's coat about him, for he was naked. (John xxi. 7.) But this mode of speaking is not peculiar to the Easterns: it is of very frequent occurrence in the Greek and Roman classics.-That garment of our Saviour, which is described to be woven without seam from the top to the bottom, is very improperly in our translation called a coat it was his tunic or under garment (xwa), and pro 1 Acts ix. 39. 2 Ο δε πλείστος οχλος ΕΣΤΡΩΣΑΝ έαυτων τα ματια εν τη όδω. Μatt. xxi. 8. 3 Επει δε τέλος είχεν ἡ στρατεία τω Κατωνι, προεπεμφθη, ουκ ευχαίς, ὁ κοινὸν ἐστιν, ουδε επαίνοις, αλλα δακρυσι και περιβόλαις, απληστοις, ὑποτεθέντων τα ιμάτια τους ποσιν η βαδίζοι, Kai Karapıλouvrov ras Xtipas. Plutarch in Catone Jun. p. 402. Edit. Gr. 8vo. So also Clytemnestra orders her servant to spread garments in the road, in order to grace and honour the return of Agamemnon. Δμωαι, τι μελλεθ ̓ αἷς επέσταλται τέλος Πεδον κελεύθου στρωννύναι πετασμασιν ; Ες δωμ'. Eschyli Agamemnon, ver. 917. See also ver. 930. See also Stanley on ver. 918. in Editione Pauw. 1745. 4 2 Sam. vi. 20. For it is expressly said, a few verses before that, when he thus danced before the Lord he was girded with a linen ephod, ibid. ver. 14. 5 The word yupros in Greek, and nudus in Latin, is frequently employed not to denote a person absolutely naked, but only stripped of his upper garment, or slightly clothed. Nudus ara sere nudus. Virgil. Georg. I. ver. 299. Πολύς δ' όχλος ΓΥΜΝΗ ἁμαρτει Θρηκίαν έχων ΣΤΟΛΗΝ. Euripidis Rhesus, ver. 313. Δελφύνην τοξοισι πελωρεον εξενάριξεν Κούρος των ετι γυμνος. Andron. Rhodius, lib. 2. ver. 709. Hoelzlin. L. Bat. 1641. Αμυδις δ' ελε παμφανωσαν Χαλκείην πηληκα θεων εμπλειον ὁδόντων, Και ξίφος αμφ' ώμοις και γυμνους τους Αργείους απέκτεινεν. ύμιν έστηκα, ύμεις δ' ενοπλοι, ρ. 35. γυμνος δεμας. lib. iii. ver. 1280. Ευμαρως απλούς Polyæni Stratag. p. 21. Οὕτως εγώ, έχε, γυμνός Τα σώματα αυτων δραν μεν ουδεν πλεον, άτε τας αυτάς bably was the elaborate work and affectionate gift of one of those pious and beneficent women who attended his ministry; as it is well known the fair sex made all the apparel of those times, and we find ladies of the first rank and distinction thus usefully employed. When Jesus was seized, we read that a young man, excited by the tumult and disturbance that was made in the dead of night, hastily threw about him a linen garment, issued from the house to learn the occasion of this confusion, and followed the crowd for some time. But the officers, who apprehended Jesus, thinking him one of his companions, immediately seized him : upon which he left his garment in their hands, fled away naked, and thus narrowly made his escape from them.2 By the Mosaic constitution in Numb. xv. 37-40. the Israelites were enjoined to put a tassel to each of the four corners of the large piece of cloth, which they used as an upper garment, that they might remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them. A similar exhortation is recorded in Deut. vi. 8. compared with Exod. xiii. 16. But, in succeeding ages, these injunctions were abused to superstitious purposes; and the phylacteries, or strips of parchment with portions of the law inscribed upon them, (which they wore either bound round their wrists and their foreheads, or attached to the borders of their garments,) were converted to superstitious uses, and regarded as a kind of amulets, or charms, for preserving the person, and warding off evils. The practice of inscribing passages of the law upon the door-posts of their houses, is said to be still continued by the Mohammedans in Judæa and Syria.3 V. All the Grecian and Roman women, without distinction, wore their hair long. On this they lavished all their art, disposing it in various forms, and embellishing it with divers ornaments. In the antient medals, statues, and basso-relievos, we behold those plaited tresses which the apostles Peter and Paul condemn, and see those expensive and fantastic decorations which the ladies of those times bestowed upon their head-dress. This pride of braided and plated tresses, this ostentation of jewels, this vain display of ἡμῖν χειρας έχοντα, πασχειν δε πολυ πλέω, ότε και μεγαλα και γυμνα οντα, δυνήσεται. Dion Cassius, lib. xxxviii. p. 185. Reimar. Cicero says that Anthony came naked into the Forum. Γυμνος, ω πατερες, γυμνος και μεμυρισμένος εις την αγοραν εισήλθε. Dion Cassius, lib. xlv. p. 439. Hamburg. 1750. 1 Andromache, Helen, Electra, Livia, the wife of Augustus, &c. 2 Mark xiv. 51. Non de Apostolorum grege-sed ex villâ aliqua horto proximâ, strepitu militum excitatus, et subito accurrens, ut conspiceret quid ageretur. Grotius ad Marc xi. 51. 3 See Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible, vol. ii. voce Phylacteries. Stra 4 Κομην μεν επι σω κρατι ταναον εκτενω. Euripidis Bacchæ, ver. 829. Βαθειαν κατακεχυμενοι των κόμην γυναικών δίκην. They wear their hair long and flowing like women. Strabo, lib. iii. p. 154. Paris. 1620. Anλws d'epi ras kopas piλorexvia συνέστηκε περί τε θρέψιν, και κουραν τριχος αμφω δε, και κόραις και κόροις εστιν οικεία. bo, p. 467. Casaubon. Ο γαρ Θεος την μεν γυναικα λειαν ηθελεσεν είναι, αυτοφυή τη κόμη porn wσTED INNOV in xairn yaupopevny Clem. Alex. Pædag. lib. iii. p. 224. Paris, 1529. 5 Pet. iii. 3. Εμπλοκής τριχων-Μελλε δε μακρους Maodai mokaμous. She was going to plait her long tresses. Andron. Rhodius. lib. iii. v. 46. edit. 1641. finery, the apostles interdict, as proofs of a light and little mind, and inconsistent with the modesty and decorum of Christian women. St. Paul, in his first Epistle to Timothy, in the passage where he condemns it, shows us in what the pride of female dress then consisted. I will, says he, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with BROIDERED HAIR, or GOLD, or PEARLS, or COSTLY ARRAY: but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. St. Peter in like manner ordains, that the adorning of the fair sex should not be so much that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or putting on of apparel: but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. On the contrary, the men in those times universally wore their hair short, as appears from all the books, medals, and statues, that have been transmitted to us. This circumstance, which formed a principal distinction in dress between the sexes, happily illustrates the following passage in St. Paul (1 Cor. xi. 14, 15.), Doth not even nature itself teach you, that if a MAN have LONG HAIR, it is a SHAME to him. But if a WOMAN have LONG HAIR, it is a GLORY to her for her hair is given her for a covering. The Jewish and Grecian ladies, moreover, never appeared in public without a veil.2 Hence St. Paul severely censures the Corinthian women for appearing in the church without a veil, and praying to God uncovered, by which they threw off the decency and modesty of the sex, and exposed themselves and their religion to the satire and calumny of the heathens. The whole passage beautifully and clearly exhibits to the reader's ideas the distinguishing customs which then prevailed in the different dress and appearance of the sexes. (Compare 1 Cor. xi. 3-16.)3 Long hair was in great esteem among the Jews. The hair of Absalom's head was of such prodigious length, that in his flight, when defeated in battle, as he was riding with great speed under the trees, it caught hold of one of the boughs; in consequence of which he was lifted off his saddle, and his mule running from beneath him, left him suspended in the air, unable to extricate himself. (2 Sam. xviii. 9.) The plucking off the hair was a great disgrace among the Jews; and, therefore, Nehemiah punished in this manner those Jews who had been guilty of irregular marriages, in order to put them to the greater shame. (Neh. xiii. 25.) The Jews wore their beards very long, as we may see from the example of the ambassadors, whom David sent to the king of the Ammonites, and whom that ill-advised king caused to be shaved by way of affront. (2 Sam. x. 4.) And as the shaving of them was ac 1 Αρσέσιν ουκ επέοικε κομη.—Phocylides, ver. 290. 2 Κεκαλύφθώ τα παντα πλην ει μη οικοι τυχοιε. Cl. Alexand. Pedag. lib. iii. p. 256 Paris. Again, the same father giving directions concerning the fair sex, says, Ouder γαρ μέρος ότι ουν απογυμνούσθαι γυναικος, ευπρεπές. p. 204. edit. 1629. 3 Dr. Harwood's Introduction, vol. ii. pp. 98–103. |