from proper motives, is performed in the appointed manner, and directed to the proper end, and particularly if it be connected with the name of his own Son. But to give a cup of water to a disciple in the name of Christ, and because he belongs to him, must signify, that it is given in honour of Christ; and this is the particular reason of the reward which the remunerative justice of God bestows. An article in the Asiatic Miscellany, quoted by Dr. Clarke in his edition of Harmer, will set this in a very clear light. In India, the Hindoos go sometimes a great way to fetch water, and then boil it, that it may not be hurtful to travellers who are hot; and after this, stand from morning till night in some great road, where there is neither pit nor rivulet, and offer it in honour of their gods, to be drunk by the passengers. Such necessary works of charity in these hot countries, seem to have been practiced among the more pious and humane Jews; and our Lord assures them, that if they do this in his name, they shall not lose their reward. This one circumstance, Dr. Clarke justly remarks, of the Hindoos offering the water to the fatigued passengers, in honour of their gods, is a better illustration of our Lord's words, than all the collections of Mr. Harmer on the subject.

It is still the proper business of the females to supply the family with water. From this drudgery, however, the married women are exempted, unless when single women are awanting. The proper time for drawing water in

See this curious statement confirmed in Forbes's Orient. Mem. vol. ii, p. 216.-Mr. Morier found at a fortified pass in Persia, an old Dervish living in a small cell close to the ruined gate, and refreshing the passing stranger with a cup of pure water. Trav. vol. i, p. 107.-A cup of water is given to the stranger by the benevolent, by a person appointed for that purpose at a temporary receptacle. Forbes's Orient. Mem. vol. ii, p. 215.

those burning climates, is in the morning or when the sun is going down; then they go forth to perform that humble office adorned with their trinkets, some of which are often of great value. Agreeably to this custom Rebecca went in stead of her mother to fetch water from the well, and the servant of Abraham expected to meet an unmarried female there who might prove a suitable match for ⚫ his master's son. In the East Indies, the women also draw water at the public wells, as Rebecca did, on that occasion, for travellers, their servants and their cattle; and women of no mean rank literally illustrate the conduct of an unfortunate princess in the Jewish history, by performing the services of a menial. The young women of Guzerat daily draw water from the wells and carry the jars upon the head; but those of high rank carry them upon the shoulder. In the same way Rebecca carried her pitcher; and probably for the same reason, because she was the daughter of an eastern prince.*

But the liquid on which men of all countries, and in all ages, have set the highest value, is wine. Different sorts of wines are produced in Syria and Palestine, some of which are very indifferent, and others, as the wine manufactured from the grapes of Eshcol, of a very superior taste and flavour. The unrivalled excellence of the wine produced in the vineyards of Lebanon, has been described in another part of this work. Sweet wines are much esteemed in the east, because they are grateful to

92 Sam. xiii, 8. Shaw's Trav. vol. i, p. 433. Forbes's Orient. Mem. vol. iii, p. 327. Harmer's Observ. vol. ii, p. 125, 126.

* Gen. xxiv, 45. Forbes's Orient. Mem. vol. ii, p. 80.

Vol. i, p. 137.-Even at Nazareth Mr. Buckingham was treated with a wine of Lebanon not inferior to the best wines of France. Trav. vol. i, p. 150.

the taste, very exhilarating, and will keep, some of them a long time. They were, therefore, preferred by those addicted to drinking, and commonly selected for the table of kings. The prophet Joel accordingly describes a state of great prosperity, by the mountains dropping down sweet wine. Their inebriating quality is alluded to by the prophet Isaiah in that awful threatening: "I will feed them that oppress thee, with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine." The privation of this enjoyment, is placed by the prophet Micah among the judgments which God threatened to bring upon his ancient people for their iniquity : "Thou shalt tread the vintage of sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine.” The prophet Joel uses the same word, when he threatens to cut off the new, or rather the sweet wine, from the mouth of the drunkards in Israel: " Awake ye drunkards, and weep and howl all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new (or as it should be rendered, sweet) wine, because it is cut off from your mouth." The original term (bpy) asis, sometimes denotes must, or the newly expressed juice of the grape, before it has undergone the vinous fermentation; but in these passages, it must denote wine, and not must; for the latter does not inebriate, but produces a very different effect. In former times, this generous and grateful liquor was appropriated to the use of kings and princes, and persons of the first distinction. The Septuagint render the phrase in the first chapter of the book of Esther, which is in our translation, "royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king," much and sweet wine, such as the king himself drank. If this idea be well founded, it suggests • Micah vi, 15. t Joel i, 5.

t

a reason for the conduct of the soldiers who guarded the cross of our suffering Redeemer; it was, perhaps, in ridicule of his claim to royal authority, that they offered him vinegar, or wine in a state of strong acidity, instead of the grateful and generous sweet wines which were presented on the table of kings and princes. Luke testifies, in express terms, that this was done in mockery; his words are," And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar." Medicated wine was given to Jewish criminals before their execution, to stupify them, and diminish the sense of pain; but vinegar was offered to Jesus, in order to quicken his painful feelings, and at the same time, in derision of his kingly power.

Red wines were most esteemed in the east. So much was the red colour admired, that when it was too white they gave it a deeper tinge by mixing it with saffron or Brazil wood. By extracting the colouring matter of such ingredients, the wine may be said to make itself redder; a circumstance which in Mr. Harmer's opinion, Solomon means to express in that proverb, "Look not on the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright."" The verb is in the Hebrew Middle Voice, or Hithpahel conjugation, which denotes an action that turns upon the agent itself, and in this instance imparts great energy to the warning."

Artificial liquors, or mixed wines, were very common in ancient Italy, and the Levant. The Romans lined their vessels with odorous gums, to give their wines a warm bitter flavour;" and it is said, that several nations of modern times, communicate to their wines a favourite ▾ Harmer's Observ. vol. ii, p. 142. w Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xxiii, cap. 24.

"Prov. xxiii, 31.

VOL. III.

G

relish by similar means.* In Greece this is accomplished by infusing the cones of the pine in the wine vats. Hasselquist says they use the sweet scented violet in their sherbet, which they make of violet sugar dissolved in water; the grandees sometimes add ambergrease, as the highest luxury and indulgence of their appetite. The prophet Isaiah mentions a mixture of wine and water; but it is evident from the context, that he means to express by that phrase, the degenerate state of his nation; and consequently, we cannot infer from it, the use of diluted wine in those countries. It is observed by Thevenot, that the people of the Levant never mingle water with their wine at meals, but drink by itself, what water they think proper, for abating the strength of the wine. While the Greeks and Romans by mixed wine, always understood wine diluted and lowered with water; the Hebrews, on the contrary, meant by it wine made stronger, and more inebriating, by the addition of powerful ingredients, as honey, spices, defrutum, or wine inspissated, by boiling it down to two thirds or one half of the quantity, myrrh, opiates, and other strong drugs. The Greeks were no strangers to perfumed and medicated wines; for in Homer, the far-famed Helen mixed a number of stupifying ingredients in the bowl, to exhilarate the spirits of her guests that were oppressed with grief; the composition of which, the poet says, she learnt in Egypt. Of the same kind was the spiced wine mentioned in the Song of Solomon; and to this day, such wines are eagerly sought by the people of Syria and Palestine. The drunkards

* Chateaubriand's Trav. vol. i, p. 194.

2 Trav. part ii, p. 96.

time with three parts of water.

y Trav. p. 254.

a The Greeks mixed their wine in Hesiod's Opera et Dies. 1. 596.