that officer from whom he receives the ensign, that is sent him on the part of the Sultan, with a horse, a fur of marte zebeline, and twenty thousand aspers*. In another place he tells us the new Bashaw of Ægypt, foon after his arrival, had three exceeding fine horses sent him as a present from some one of the Beys; and the next day a string of twenty-four was presented to him on the part of all the Beys that were present3.

As affes were used in the more remote ages of antiquity, and were esteemed no dishonourable beafts for the saddle, Sir J. Chardin, in his MS, supposes that when Samuel disclaimed 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 ass for his riding. In the same light he confiders the similar declaration of Mofes, Numb. xvi. 15. His account is, Affes being then esteemed very honourable creatures for riding on, as they are at this very time in Perfia, being rode with Saddles, though not like those for borses, yet fuch as are commodious, the Lawyers make great use of them. Confult Numb. xvi. 15, for Moses is there to be understood as saying, that no beast for the Saddle, fuch as were wont to be presented to Grandees and Emperors, had been accepted by

2

* P. 50.

3 P. 208.

* See Numb. 22, 21,

bim. 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 '.

OBSERVATION XII.

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

This is intimated in the first quotation under the last Observation, but is directly affirmed by Sir J. Chardin, in one of the notes of his MS. It is the custom of the East, he says, when one invites a Superior, to make bim a present after the repast, as it were in acknowledgment of his trouble; frequently it is done before it-it being no augmentation of honour to come to the house of one that is an inferior. But they make no presents to equals, or those that are below themselves.

Sir John applies this custom 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

thinks this would have been understood by
the king, as treating the prophet as a fupe-
rior:
Jcy donc le roy vouloit traiter le

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prophete comme son superieur."

I am much obliged to this writer, for the very clear account he has given of this eastern custom; but I am somewhat apprehensive it is improperly applied to this passage of Scripture. I cannot easily suppose it was Jeroboam's intention to acknowledge the prophet his fuperior. I should imagine nothing more was intended, by what he proposed 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 designed to acknowledge the Jewish prophet to be his fuperior.

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

OBSERVATION XIII.

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

VIII.

ing the making this single observation more, that the sending presents to princes to induce them to help the distressed, has been practised 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

66

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

66

league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father: behold, 1 have " fent unto thee a present of filver and gold; come and break thy league with Baasha king of Ifrael, that he may depart from me*.

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

* 1 Kings 15. 18, 19. * Tome 1. p. 730.

but

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

But to proceed. Presents were frequently sent to the great, before those that fent them made their appearance: I have therefore confidered them first; the forms of Eastern falutation follow.

OBSERVATION XIV.

The Eastern saluations differ confiderably, according to the difference of rank of the persons they falute.

The common faluation, Sandys says', is laying the right-hand on the bofom, and a little declining their bodies; but when they salute 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, kissed his robe at their entrance, and that they took their leave of him with the same ceremonies; and Dr. Pococke, that when he attended the English Conful on a visit of ceremony which he made the Pasha of Tripoli, upon his return from meeting the Mecca caravan,

* Vide Gesta Dei, &c. p. 736. p. 258.

Vol. 2. p. 237.

P. 50.

2 Vol 1.

IX.

the