5 And he put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, to bear the ark. 6 ¶ And he made the bmercyseat of pure gold: two cubits and a half was the length thereof, and one cubit and a half the breadth thereof. 7 And he made two cherubims of gold, beaten out of one piece made he them, on the two ends of the mercy-seat; 8 One cherub on the end on this side, and another cherub on the other end on that side: out of the mercy-seat made he the cherubims on the two ends thereof. 11 And he overlaid it with pure gold, and made thereunto a crown of gold round about. 12 Also he made thereunto a border of an hand-breadth round about; and made a crown of gold for the border thereof round about. 13 And he cast for it four rings of gold, and put the rings upon the four corners that were in the four feet thereof. 14 Over against the border were the rings, the places for the staves to bear the table. 15 And he made the staves of shittim-wood, and overlaid them with gold, to bear the table. bowls, and his covers to cover withal, of pure gold. 9 And the cherubims spread out 16 And he made the vessels their wings on high, and covered which were upon the table, his with their wings over the mercy-d dishes, and his spoons, and his seat, with their faces one to another; even to the mercy-seat-ward were the faces of the cherubims. 10 ¶ And he made c the table of shittim wood: two cubits was the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof: b ch. 25. 17. c ch. 25. 23. gold.' In some following observations the professor omits to avail himself of the important corroboration of his own view (that the word translated 'to overlay' means only to render bright'), which is afforded by the fact, that when overlaying is undoubtedly intended, as in overlaying the altar of burnt-offering with plates of copper, quite another word is used, no nehosheth, than that which refers to the covering of the wood-work with gold. Upon the whole, Tychsen concludes, from a comparison of the different passages, that gilding is sometimes intended rather than overlaying with plates of metal. He considers that the drying of the wood, and the softness of gold, which, in regard to staves, floors, &c., would soon be rubbed off, occasions some difficulty in VOL. II. 24 17 And he made the e candlestick of pure gold; of beaten work made he the candlestick; his shaft, and his branch, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers were of the same: d ch. 25. 29. e ch. 25. 31. the notion that plates of metal were employed; but even admitting that such plates could be made sufficiently fast to smooth surfaces of wood, he doubts whether any plates, however thin, could be so applied as to fit and exhibit accurately carved wooden figures and flower-work, as in 1 Kings, 6. 35. And, with regard to the parts of the tabernacle, had they been covered with plates of gold, would they not have been too heavy for transportation, particularly as several of them were to be carried on the shoulders of men? He also states his impression, that the twenty-nine talents and odd shekels ot gold, could scarcely have been sufficient to cover with plates of gold all the arti. cles above enumerated after so many vessels and other things had been made 18 And six branches going out of the sides thereof; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side thereof: 19 Three bowls made after the fashion of almonds in one branch, a knop and a flower; and three bowls made like almonds in another branch, a knop and a flower: so throughout the six branches going out of the candlestick. 20 And in the candlestick were four bowls made like almonds, his knops and his flowers: 21 And a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches going out of it. 22 Their knops and their branches were of the same: all of it was one beaten work of pure gold. 23 And he made his seven lamps, and his snuffers, and his snuffdishes of pure gold. with pure gold. Upon the whole, Professor Tychsen thinks that the Hebrews understood both the arts of gilding and of overlaying with plates of metal, and that we must be left to infer from analogy and probability which process of the two was employed in particular cases. Some of these arguments seem to us to deserve great attention, and we have little hesitation in allowing their application to the temple of Solomon in the instances to which Professor Tychsen adverts; and, although with some what more hesitation, we may allow that collateral considerations give some probability to their application even to a structure so much more ancient and so different as the tabernacle. One of these considerations is, that gilding did not in ancient times imply as much inferiority to overlaying with plates as at 24 Of a talent of pure gold made he it, and all the vessels thereof. 25fAnd he made the incensealtar of shittim-wood: the length of it was a cubit, and the breadth of it a cubit; it was four-square; and two cubits was the height of it; the horns thereof were of the same. 26 And he overlaid it with pure gold, both the top of it, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns of it also he made unto it a crown of gold round about. 27 And he made two rings of gold for it under the crown thereof, by the two corners of it, upon the two sides thereof, to be places for the staves to bear it withal. 28 And he made the staves of shittim-wood and overlaid them with gold. 29 And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary. fch. 30. 1. g ch. 30. 23, 34. present; for the ancient gold-beaters had not the art of reducing the gold-leaf to any thing like the tenuity which may now be produced, and hence the ancient gilding was thick, durable, and rich. Another is, that the art of gilding was of very high antiquity in Egypt, although it is of course impossible to say that the art existed there previous to the exodus of the Israelites. Herodotus mentions Egyptian statues ornamented with gilding; and he also mentions that he saw in the palace at Sais a cow of richly gilded wood, which had been made, in times long anterior to his own, by Mycerinus (the son of Cheops, the pyramid-builder) to enciose the mummy of his daughter. Even at this day we find traces of gilding on mummies and mummy-cases, and in some in. stances the mummies appear to have CHAPTER XXXVIII. ' AND a he made the altar of burnt-offering of shittim-wood: five cubits was the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof; it was four-square; and three cubits the height thereof. 2 And he made the horns thereof on the four corners of it; the horns thereof were of the same: and he overlaid it with brass. 3 And he made all the vessels of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the basons, and the fleshhooks, and the fire-pans: all the vessels thereof made he of brass. 4 And he made for the altar a brazen grate of net-work under the a ch. 27. 1. been gilt all over. (See Egyptian Antiquities,' vol. ii. p. 144.) Goguet thinks, indeed, that gilding was not known to the Greeks in the time of Homer. We do not feel that this position is fairly established by the instance he adduces; and if it were so, it is not only easy to conceive, but is certainly true, that the Egyptians had at that time long been acquainted with many arts which were not yet known to the Greeks. Goguet's instance is, that when the heifer which Nestor was about to offer to Minerva had, according to custom, its horns ornamented with gold, the process followed by the operator, who came with anvil, hammer, and pincers, is evidently not that of gilding, but of overlaying with plates of metal. (See 'Origine des Lois,' t. 2. p. 209.)' Pictorial Bible. CHAPTER XXXVIII. 8. He made the laver of brass-of the looking-glasses of the women assembling, &c. 'As the laver was of brass or copper, it is evident that the 'looking-glasses,' with which it was made, were of the same metal. The word 'mirror' should have been used in the compass thereof beneath unto the midst of it. 5 And he cast four rings for the four ends of the grate of brass, to be places for the staves. 6 And he made the staves of shittim-wood, and overlaid them with brass. 7 And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar, to bear it withal; he made the altar hollow with boards. 8 ¶ And he made b the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the looking-glasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. b ch. 30. 18. place of 'looking-glass,' in the various passages where it occurs, and which are all incompatible with the idea of glass. Thus Job (chap. 37. 18), 'Hast thou with him spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking-glass?' and an apocryphal writer (Ecclus. 12. 11.) says, 'Thou shalt be unto him as if thou hadst wiped a looking-glass, and thou shalt know that his rust hath not been altogether wiped away.' In all these passages a metallic mirror is obviously intended. The word maroth, considered to denote mir. rors in the present text, does not, how. ever, any where else occur in that sense, and Dr. Boothroyd, taking it in its most usual sense, considers the text to mean that the laver was made under the inspection of the women, not with their mirrors. This explanation seems to us to involve greater difficulties than those which it is designed to obviate. The common translation is perfectly consistent with the context, and with the early history of mirrors; besides which, all the ancient versions, as well as the Jewish writers, understand mirrors to be intended. We may understand either that the stock of copper in the camp was so comparatively small, as to have | distinct images, when polished, than been exhausted in the other works for any others. Of all the metals known the tabernacle, or else that the mirrors to the ancients, steel was the best calof the women were particularly required culated for the purpose; but Beckmann for the laver as being of a superior sort says that he can discover no indications of metal. As the women who assem- that steel mirrors were in use among bled at the tabernacle are especially them; and he thinks that its liability mentioned, it is not improbable that to contract rust and to become tarnishthey followed the example of the Egyp-ed, prevented this otherwise desirable tian women who took their mirrors with metal from being employed for the purthem when they went to the temples. pose. We rather differ from him in this Moses may have required them for the particular. The mention of rust in the laver, in order to put a stop to a practice above quotation from the Apocrypha of which he did not approve. seems to imply that the mirror there in view was of steel; and although it be true that the Greeks and Romans did not use such mirrors, it does not follow that they were not employed in the East, where, in most parts, the dryness of the atmosphere exposes polished steel to the least possible danger from rust. In fact steel mirrors, although in some degree superseded by lookingglasses, continue to be extensively used in the East. After steel, in eligibility for mirrors, comes silver; and we find that silver mirrors are those most generally mentioned among the Greeks and Romans. In the Roman code of laws,' says Beckmann, 'when silver plate is mentioned, under the heads of heirship and succession by propinquity, silver mirrors are rarely omitted; and Pliny, Seneca, and other writers, who inveigh against luxury, tell us, ridiculing the extravagance of that age, that every young woman in their time must have a silver mirror. These polished silver plates may however have been very slight, for all the ancient mirrors preserved in collections, which I have seen, are only covered with a thin coat of that expensive metal.' There was also in use for the same purpose a mixture of copper and tin, producing a white metal which would seem to have been better adapted for mirrors than silver, although, on some account or other, it was not so much esteemed for the purpose. One reason probably was, that 'Artificial mirrors seem to have been made as soon as men began to exercise their ingenuity on metals and stones. Every solid body capable of receiving a polish would be more or less suitable for this purpose; hence the earliest mirrors of which we possess any information were of metal. Stone mirrors are also noticed very early; but as such mirrors could not have been in any degree equal to those of polished metal, they are rarely mentioned by ancient authors, and then seem to be chiefly used for purposes of ornament, being polished slabs or panels fixed in the walls of wainscoted apartments. For this purpose the Romans preferred what Pliny calls the obsidian stone, which Beckmann identifies with the species of vitrified lava now called Icelandic agate. Plane, concave, and convex mirrors of a similar substance were in use among the Americans when the Spaniards came among them; and they had also others made with a mineral called the Inca's stone, which seems to have been a compact marcasite or pyrites, susceptible of a fine polish, and calculated to form mirrors apparently superior to any of stone which the ancient nations of Europe and Asia seem to have possessed. The Americans had also mirrors of silver, copper, and brass. When men began to work metals, it must soon have been discovered that the hardest white metals reflected more this metal was more liable to be tarnished than those of silver, requiring to be frequently brightened before being used. Hence it seems that a sponge with pounded pumice-stone was generally suspended near the ancient mirrors. Mirrors of copper, brass, and gold, do not appear to have been much in use after the superior fitness of silver was discovered; yet there is no question that copper and brass were soonest applied to this purpose, and doubtless continued to be used by those who could not afford silver or silvered mirrors. The use of metallic mirrors is now, in Europe, almost entirely confined to reflecting telescopes. The mode of compounding the metals of which these mirrors are made, and of polishing them of a proper form, is an art of great nicety. There is some difficulty in determining when glass mirrors were invented. Pliny alludes to attempts made at Sidon to form mirrors with glass, but in what manner does not appear; and if the attempts had produced any approximation to our mirrors, they would surely have superseded those of metal, which they were so far from doing that, whatever they were, they never came into use. With the exception of this notice in Pliny, there is no trace of glass mirrors till the the thirteenth century, after which they are spoken of in the clearest manner, and continued to be mentioned in every century, and at last mirrors of metal passed entirely out of notice. That the practical invention of glass mirrors cannot be much earlier than the date here assigned, seems to be evinced by the fact, mentioned by Beckmann, that glass mirrors continued to be very scarce in France in the fourteenth century. Those of metal were still in common use, and the mirror of even the queen, Anne of Bretagne, consort of Louis XII., was of this description.-On the history of mirrors, see further in Beckmann's Hist. of Inventions,' vol. iii. See also Goguet, 'Origine des Lois.' t. i. p. 371; Harmer vol. iv. p. 332-334; Burder's 'Oriental Customs,' vol. i. p. 37; vol. ii. p. 52, &c. Pict. Bib. ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MIRRORS. |