that officer from whom he receives the ensign, that is sent him on the part of the Sultan, with a horfe, a fur of marte zebeline, and twenty thousand afpers. In another place he tells us the new Bafhaw of Ægypt, foon after his arrival, had three exceeding fine horfes fent him as a prefent from fome one of the Beys; and the next day a string of twenty-four was prefented to him on the part of all the Beys that were present 3.

As affes were used in the more remote ages of antiquity, and were esteemed no dishonourable beafts for the faddle, Sir J. Chardin, in his MS, fuppofes that when Samuel difclaimed having taken the afs of any one, when he denied his having defrauded any, oppreffed any, or taken any bribe, 1 Sam. xii. 3, he is to be understood of not having taken any afs for his riding. In the fame light he confiders the fimilar declaration of Mofes, Numb. xvi. 15. His account is, Affes being then efteemed very honourable creatures for riding on, as they are at this very time in Perfia, being rode with faddles, though not like thofe for borfes, yet fuch as are commodious, the Lawyers make great use of them. Confult Numb. xvi. 15, for Mofes is there to be understood as faying, that no beast for the faddle, fuch as were wont to be prefented to Grandees and Emperors, had been accepted by

3 P. 208.

2 P. 50. 30. Judges 5, 10. 2 Sam. 16. 2.

+ See Numb. 22, 21,

him. The words of Samuel are to be confidered after the fame manner.

And this, I make no doubt, is one thought involved in this exculpation of themselves, though perhaps it doth not contain the whole of what they meant 3.

OBSERVATION XII.

People that go into the prefence of the Great carry with them fome gift to make way for them, or fend it before them; on the contrary, when a fuperior visits an inferior, it is expected that the inferior should make the vifiter a prefent at his departure.

This is intimated in the firft quotation under the last Obfervation, but is directly affirmed by Sir J. Chardin, in one of the notes of his MS. It is the custom of the East, he fays, when one invites a Superior, to make him a prefent after the repaft, as it were in acknowledgment of his trouble; frequently it is done before it it being no augmentation of bonour to come to the house of one that is an inferior. But they make no prefents to equals, or thofe that are below themselves.

Sir John applies this cuftom in the East, to Jeroboam's propofing to the Prophet, that prophefied against the altar at Bethel, to give him a reward if he would go with him, and refresh himself, 1 Kings xiii. 7. And he

More feems to be meant I Sam. 8. 16. fub like occafions, I fuppofe, he means.

• Upon

thinks this would have been understood by the king, as treating the prophet as a fuperior: Jcy donc le roy vouloit traiter le "prophete comme fon fuperieur."

"

I am much obliged to this writer, for the very clear account he has given of this eastern cuftom; but I am somewhat apprehenfive it is improperly applied to this paffage of Scripture. I cannot eafily fuppofe it was Jeroboam's intention to acknowledge the prophet his fuperior. I should imagine nothing more was intended, by what he propofed to do, than what was done to Jeremiah by Nebuzar-adan the captain of Nebuchadnezzar's guard, when he gave that prophet victuals and a reward, and let him go, Jer. xl. 5: and, I apprehend, no one imagines that commander defigned to acknowledge the Jewish prophet to be his fuperior.

If it is applicable to any facred ftory, it seems to me to be that of Efau's coming to vifit his brother, on which occafion Jacob prefented him with a confiderable number of cattle, telling him he faw his face, as though he had feen the face of God, Gen. xxxiii. 8, 10. There may be other paffages which this cuftom may more exactly illuftrate; but if there be, I do not now recollect them.]

OBSERVATION XIII.

I will not push my remarks on the prefents of the East any farther here, except

VIII.

ing the making this single observation more, that the fending prefents to princes to induce them to help the diftreffed, has been practifed in these countries in late times, as well as in the days of Afa, of whom we read, that he took all the filver and the gold "that were left in the treasures of the house "of the Lord, and the treasures of the

king's house, and delivered them into the "hand of his fervants: and king Afa fent "them to Ben-hadad the fon of Tabrimon, "the son of Hezion king of Syria, that "dwelt at Damafcus, faying, There is a

66

league between me and thee, and between 66 my father and thy father: bebold, I have fent unto thee a prefent of filver and gold; "come and break thy league with Baafha king of Ifrael, that he may depart from “me'.

46

To us it appears ftrange, that a prefent fhould be thought capable of inducing one prince to break with another, and engage himself in war; but as it was anciently thought fufficient, fo we find in the Gefta Dei per Francos, that an Eastern nobleman, that had the cuftody of a castle called Hafarth, quarrelling with his mafter the prince of Aleppo, and finding himself obliged to feek for foreign aid, fent prefents to Godfrey of Bouillon, to induce him to affift him. What they were we are not told;

1 Kings 15. 18, 19.

2 Tome I. p. 730.

but

but gold and filver, the things Afa fent Benhadad, were frequently fent in those times to the Croifade princes', and might probably be fent on this occafion to Godfrey.

But to proceed. Prefents were frequently fent to the great, before thofe that fent them made their appearance: I have therefore confidered them firft; the forms of Eaftern falutation follow.

OBSERVATION XIV.

The Eastern faluations differ confiderably, according to the difference of rank of the perfons they falute.

The common faluation, Sandys fays', is laying the right-hand on the bofom, and a little declining their bodies; but when they falute a person of great rank, they bow almost to the ground, and kiss the hem of his garment. Egmont and Heyman, agreeably to this, tell us, that two Greek noblemen that introduced them to the exiled Chan of Tartary, who refided at Scio, kiffed his robe at their entrance, and that they took their leave of him with the fame ceremonies; and Dr. Pococke', that when he attended the English Conful on a vifit of ceremony which he made the Pasha of Tripoli, upon his return, from meeting the Mecca caravan,

3 Vide Gesta Dei, &c. p. 736. ·P. 258. Vol. 2. p. 237.

. P. 50.

2 Vol 1.

the

IX.