was a calf, new cakes baked on the hearth, together with butter (ghee) and milk. (Gen. xviii. 6, 7.) We may form a correct idea of their ordinary food by the articles which were presented to David on va rious occasions by Abigail (1 Sam. xxv. 18.), by Ziba (2 Sam. xvi. 1.), and by Barzillai. (2 Sam. xvii. 28, 29.) Their ordinary beverage was water, which was drawn from the public wells and fountains, (John iv. 6, 7.) and which was to be refused to no one. (John vi. 9. Matt. xxv. 35.) Wine of different sorts, which was preserved in skins, was also drunk by the Jews, after their settlement in the iand of Canaan. Red wine seems to have been the most esteemed. (Prov. xxiii. 31. Rev. xiv. 20. xix. 3. 18.) The women did not appear at table in entertainments with the men. This would have been then, as it is at this day throughout the East, an indecency. Thus Vashti the Queen made a feast for the women in the royal house, which belonged to Ahasuerus, (Esther i. 9.) while the Persian monarch was feasting his nobles.

The Hebrews antiently sat at table as we do now; afterwards, they imitated the Persians and Chaldæans, who reclined on table-beds or couches while eating; some traces of these couches are nevertheless observed in Amos (vi. 4. 7.), Ezekiel (xxiii. 47.), and Tobit (ii. 4.); but this use was not general. We see expressions in the sacred authors of those times, which prove that they also sat at table. At Ahasuerus's banquet (Esth. i. 6.) the company lay on beds, and also at that which Esther gave the king and Haman. (Esth. vii. 8.) Our Saviour in like manner reclined at table, when Mary Magdalen anointed his feet with perfume (Matt. xxvi. 7.), and when John, at the last supper, rested his head on his bosom. (John xiii. 25.)

When persons journied, they provided themselves with every necessary: women and rich men frequently travelled on asses or camels, which carried not only their merchandise, but also their household goods and chattels. The Jews often travelled in caravans or companies (as the inhabitants of the East do to this day), especially when they went up to Jerusalem at the three great annual festivals. The company, among which Joseph and Mary supposed Jesus to have been on their return from the passover, when he was twelve years old (Luke ii. 42-44.), was one of these ca

ravans.

In the East, antiently, as well as in modern times, there were no inns, in which the traveller could meet with refreshment. Hence hospitality was deemed a sacred duty incumbent upon every one. The sacred writings exhibit several instances of hospitality exercised by the patriarchs. (Gen. xviii. 2, 3, &c. xix. 1-3.) St. Paul and St. Peter frequently enforce the sacred duty of hospitality.

CHAPTER VII.

ON THE OCCUPATIONS, ARTS, AND SCIENCES OF THE HEBREWS.

SECTION I. Agriculture and Horticulture of the Jews.

AGRICULTURE, including sheep husbandry, was the principal occupation of the patriarchs and their families and in succeeding ages the greatest men, as Moses, David, and others, did not disdain to follow husbandry, however mean that occupation may be accounted in modern times. All the Mosaic statutes,

indeed, were admirably calculated to encourage agriculture, as the chief basis of national prosperity, and also to preserve the Israelites detached from the surrounding idolatrous nations.

Although the Scriptures do not furnish us with any details respecting the state of agriculture in Judæa, yet we may collect from various passages many interesting hints that will enable us to form a tolerably correct idea of the high state of its cultivation. With the use of manures, the Jews were unquestionably acquainted. Salt, either by itself, or mixed in the dunghill in order to promote putrefaction, is specially mentioned as one article of manure (Matt. v. 13. Luke xiv. 34, 35.): and as the river Jordan annually overflowed its banks, the mud deposited when its waters subsided must have served as a valuable irrigation and top-dressing, particularly to the pasture lands. It is probable that, after the waters had thus subsided, seed was sown on the wet soft ground; in allusion to which, Solomon says, Cast thy bread (corn or seed) upon the waters: for thou shalt find it again, with increase, after many days. (Eccles, xi. 1.) And Isaiah, promising a time of peace and plenty, says - Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, and send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass. (Isa. xxxii. 20.)

The method of managing the ground, and preparing it for the seed, was much the same with the practice of the present times; for Jeremiah speaks of ploughing up the fallow ground (Jer. iv. 3.), and Isaiah of harrowing, or breaking up the clods (Isa. xxviii. 24.); but Moses, for wise reasons doubtless, gave a positive injunction, that they should not sow their fields with mingled seed.

The kinds of grain sowed by the Jews were fitches, cummin, wheat, barley, and rice (Isa. xxviii. 25.): there

were three months between their sowing and their first reaping, and four months to their full harvest: their barley-harvest was at the passover, and their wheatharvest at the Pentecost. The reapers made use of sickles, and according to the present custom they filled their hands with the corn, and those that bound up the sheaves their bosom: there was a person set over the reapers (Ruth ii. 5.) to see that they did their work, that they had provision proper for them, and to pay them their wages. Women were employed in reaping as well as the men. The poor were allowed the liberty of gleaning, though the land-owners were not bound to admit them immediately into the field as soon as the reapers had cut down the corn and bound it up in sheaves, but after it was carried off: they might also choose those among the poor, whom they thought most worthy, or most necessitous. The conclusion of the harvest, or carrying home the last load, was with the Jews a season of joyous festivity, and was celebrated with a harvest-feast. (Psal. cxxvi. Isa. ix. 3. xvi. 9, 10.) The corn, being cut, and carried in waggons or carts, (Numb. vii. 3-8. Isa. v. 8. xxviii. 27, 28. Amos ii. 13.) was either laid up in stacks (Exod. xxii. 6.) or barns (Matt. vi. 26. xiii. 30. Luke xiii. 18. 24.); and, when threshed out, was stored in granaries or garners. (Psal. xliv. 13. Matt. iii. 12.) David had storehouses in the fields, in the cities, and in the villages, and in the castles. (1 Chron. xxvii. 25.)

After the grain was carried into the barn, the next process was to thresh or beat the corn out of the ear; this was performed in various ways. Sometimes it was done by horses (Isa. xxviii. 28.), and by oxen, that trod out the corn with their hoofs shod with brass. (Mic. iv. 12, 13.) This mode of threshing is expressly referred to by Hosea (x. 11.), and in the

prohibition of Moses against muzzling the ox that treadeth out the corn (Deut. xxv. 4.), and it obtains in India t this day. Other modes of threshing are mentioned in Isa. xxviii. 28. Judg. vi. 11. and 1 Chron. xxi. 20. When the corn was thus threshed, it was dried either in the sun, or by a fire, or in a furnace. This is called parched corn (Levit. xxiii. 14. 1 Sam. xvii. 17. and xxv. 18.), and was sometimes used in this manner for food without any farther preparation; but generally, the parching or drying it was in order to make it more fit for grinding. This process was performed either in mortars or mills, both of which are mentioned in Numb. xi. 8. but mills were chiefly employed for this purpose; and they were deemed of such use and necessity, that the Israelites were strictly forbidden to take the nether or upper mill-stone in pledge; the reason of which is added, because this was taking a man's life in pledge (Deut. xxiv. 6.), intimating that while the mill ceases to grind, people are in danger of being starved.

The grinding at mills was accounted an inferior sort of work, and therefore prisoners and captives were generally put to it. To this work Samson was set, while he was in the prison-house. (Judg. xvi. 21.) There hand-mills were usually kept, by which prisoners earned their living. The expression in Isa. xlvii. 2. -Take the millstones and grind meal-is part of the description of a slave; but for the most part the womenservants were employed in this drudgery, as is evident from Matt. xxiv. 1. This was in use not only among the Jews but also among the Egyptians and Chaldæans, as appears from Exod. xi. 5. and Lam. v. 13. The various processes of agriculture have furnished the sacred writers with numerous beautiful allusions. Palestine abounded with generous wine; and in some districts the grapes were of superior quality. The