But the third thing is apparently the great difficulty-the offering fweet odours unto the Prophet. This is fuppofed to be a thing appropriated to God, or those that were imagined to be Gods. But why is this fuppofed? It is certain that odours were often made use of in the Eaft merely for civil purposes, and without any idolatrous intention whatsoever. They are fo ftill.

And because something may very probably be learnt from their present customs of this fort, explanatory of this command of Nebuchadnezzar, let us, a little more diftinctly than we have hitherto done, confider the various ways in which they make use of perfumes, and alfo the feveral views they have in making use of them.

3

When Maillet was received by fome of the chief officers of Egypt as conful of France, he was regaled with sweet odours in more ways than one, odoriferous waters being poured out on his hands, and perfumes put upon coals, and the smoke of them prefented to him. This is the account he gives of his reception at Alexandria. "After "the ufual compliments they brought me "black water, and afterwards white, (cof"fee that is, and fherbet,) to which fuc"ceeded sweetmeats. They after that pre"fented me a bafon over which I washed "my hands with odoriferous waters, which were poured upon me by an officer of the

66

Aga. Lastly they brought the perfume, " and covered me with a rich cloth, to "make me the better receive it."

This last circumftance is expreffed with so much brevity, that it is really obfcure. Dr. Pococke, who attended an English conful to Cairo, gives this account of a Turkish vifit, in the beginning of his first volume*, which may ferve to explain Maillet's. According to him then, the entertainment at thefe vifits confifts of a pipe, Sweetmeats, coffee, Sherbet; and at going away rofe-water, which they Sprinkle on the hands of the guest, with which he rubs his face, after which incenfe is brought, which he receives leaning forward, and holding out his garment on each fide to take the fmoke. The rich cloth then that Maillet speaks of,

;

P. 15. [ Haffelquist tells us that the red rofes of Egypt, which are common in the gardens, at Rofetta and Damiata, are of no very strong fcent, for which reason the water diftilled from them is of no great value at Cairo; but he gives a very different account of that drawn from the white, which are cultivated, he fays, in confiderable quantities in the province of Fajhum. The flowers are, it seems, of a pale colour, not quite white, but rather inclining to red they are double, being frequently of the fize of a man's fift; and emit the most fragrant odour of any he had seen. From this fort, he fays, an incredible quantity of water is diftilled every year at Fajhum, and fold in Ægypt, being exported even to other countries. An Apothecary at Cairo bought yearly 1500 lb. (about 180 gallons), which he caused to be brought to the city in copper veffels lined with wax, felling it to great profit in Cairo. The Eastern people use the water in a luxurious manner, fprinkling it on the head, face, hands, and clothes of the guests they mean to honour, afterwards perfuming them with frankincense, wood of aloes, &c. p. 248, &c.]

was,

was, it fhould feem, fome kind of veil ufed to prevent the too fpeedy diffipation of that delicious fmoke.

The Ægyptians may be thought to be a people more luxurious than their neighbours: perfumes however are used in other places of the Eaft, as we learn from Dr. Ruffell, whofe account, as being more particular still, fhall not be omitted. Coffee, he says, made very strong, and without either fugar or milk, is a refreshment in high esteem with every body; and a dish of it, preceded by a little wet fweetmeat, (commonly conferve of red rofes, accidulated with lemon-juice,) and a pipe of tobacco is the ufual entertainment at a vifit. If they have a mind to ufe lefs ceremony, the fweetmeat is omitted; and if they would fhew an extraordinary degree of respect, they add ferbet, (fome fyrup, chiefly that of lemon, mixed with water,) a fprinkling of rofe or other fweet-fcented water, and perfume with aloeswood, which is brought laft, and ferves as a fign that it is time for the ftranger to take his leave.

6

7

Even the Arabs prefent a pipe, coffee, fweetmeats, and perfumes, when they are vifited, according to the curious editor of the Ruins of Balbec, and d'Arvieux ; who speaks also of their pouring odoriferous waters on the face and hair, and who takes particular notice of the wrapping up the

• P. 81.

7 P. 4.

8

• Voy. dans la Pal. p. 251.

head

head among them in a veil, on the account of the perfume.

10

[They make use too of odoriferous oils. So Haffelquift tells us that the Eyptians put the flowers of the tuberofe into oil, and by this means give the oil a moft excellent smell, scarce inferior to oil of jefamine. In another page he mentions their laying flowers of jefamine, narciffus, &c, in oil", and fo making an odoriferious ointment, which those who love perfumes apply to the head, nofe, and beard. This indeed feems to be the most ancient way of ufing perfumes in a liquid form. We have no account in the fcriptures, at least any clear account, fo far as I recollect, of the ufing odoriferous waters, but fragrant ointments are frequently referred to. Accordingly it is fuppofed by the curious, that the distillation of these delicious waters is comparatively a modern invention; but the mixing oil and odoriferous substances together, we know, is as ancient as the days of Mofes; and we find by Haffelquist

9 P. 288. 10 P. 267. [" This oil, he tells us, is the oil of Behen, which emits no fcent or smell at all, and therefore he supposes it very proper for preparing odoriferous ointments and balsams, and that it is on this account much used by the inhabitants of the Eaft. All this is agreeable enough; but when he adds that this undoubtedly was that with which Aaron was anointed, he appears to be extremely mistaken; the fcriptures directing the facerdotal ointment to be made with oil of olives, Exod. 30. 24: but this is not the only place, where he fhews himfelf to be a much better naturalift than divine.]

continues

continues to be made ufe of ftill, notwithstanding the introduction of diftilled perfumes.

Sweet odours then are at this day used in the Levant, in different countries, and among very different forts of people, and that both in a liquid form, and in that of smoke, and this without the leaft idolatrous defign.

Befides what appears in these citations, we find, by another paffage of Dr. Pococke, that it is a mark of importance when perfons are treated with perfumes by the great: for defcribing an English Conful's waiting on the Pafha of Tripoli, on the Pafha's return from a journey to meet the Mecca caravan, he says that sweetmeats, coffee, and sherbet, were brought to all, but the Conful alone was perfumed and incenfed. Whereas when the fame company waited presently after on the Caia, or the chief minifter of the Pasha, they were treated after the fame manner, except that all were perfumed and incenfed. So then if the fweet odours that were prefented to Daniel, were ufed with the fame intention that these modern odoriferous liquids and fmoke are, it was difmiffing the Prophet with great refpect; and confidering the quality of the perfon that ordered it, was an high honour done him, but of the civil kind, and without any thing like idolatry; and perhaps was no more than what the new dignity, to which Nebuchadnezzar had raised him, made proper.

VOL. II.

G

But