Theological Essays and Other Papers v2

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As to shape, the Hebrew mirrors were always either circular or oval,
and cast indifferently flat or concave. They were framed in superb
settings, often of pearls and jewels; and, when tarnished, were cleaned
with a sponge of hyssop, the universal cleansing material in Palestine.

SCENE THE THIRD.

HEAD-DRESSES.

The head-dresses of the Hebrew ladies may be brought under three
principal classes:--

The first was a NET-WORK CAP, made of fine wool or cotton, and worked
with purple or crimson flowers. Sometimes the meshes of the net were
of gold thread. The rim or border of the cap, generally of variegated
coloring, was often studded with jewellery or pearls; and at the back
was ornamented with a bow, having a few ends or tassels flying loose.

Secondly, a TURBAN, managed in the following way: first of all, one
or more caps in the form of a half oval, such are still to be seen
upon the monuments of Egyptian and Persepolitan art, was fastened round
the head by a ribbon or fillet tied behind. This cap was of linen,
sometimes, perhaps, of cotton, and in the inferior ranks of leather,
or, according to the prevailing fashion, of some kind of metal; and,
in any case, it had ornaments worked into its substance. Round this
white or glittering ground were carried, in snaky windings, ribbons
of the finest tiffany, or of lawn resembling our cambric; and to conceal
the joinings, a silky substance was carried in folds, which pursued
the opposite direction, and crossed the tiffany at right angles. For
the purpose of calling out and relieving the dazzling whiteness of the
ground, colors of the most brilliant class were chosen for the ribbons;
and these ribbons were either embroidered with flowers, in gold thread,
or had ornaments of that description interwoven with their texture.

Thirdly, the HELMET, adorned pretty nearly as the turban; and, in
imitation of the helmets worn by Chaldean generals, having long tails,
or tassels, depending from the hinder part, and flowing loosely between
the shoulders. According to the Oriental taste for perfumes, all the
ribbons or fillets used in these helmets and turbans were previously
steeped in perfumes. Finally, in connection with the turban, and often
with the veil, was a beautiful ornament for the forehead and the face,
which the ladies of this day would do well to recall. Round the brow
ran a brandeau or tiara of gold or silver, three fingers' breadth, and
usually set with jewels or pearls; from this, at each of the temples,
depended a chain of pearls or of coral, which, following the margin
of the cheeks, either hung loose or united below the chin.

SCENE THE FOURTH.

I. The reader has been already made acquainted with the _chemise_, or
innermost under-dress. The Hebrew ladies, however, usually wore two
under-dresses, the upper of which it now remains to describe. In
substance it was generally of a fine transparent texture, like the
muslins (if we may so call them) of Cos; in the later ages it was no
doubt of silk.

The chemise sate up close to the throat; and we have already mentioned
the elaborate work which adorned it about the opening. But the opening
of the robe which we are now describing, was of much larger
compass--being cut down to the bosom; and the embroidery, &c. which
enriched it, was still more magnificent. The _chemise_ reached down
only to the calf of the leg, and the sleeve of it to the elbow; but
the upper chemise or tunic, if we may so call it, descended in ample
draperies to the feet--scarcely allowing the point of the foot to
discover itself; and the sleeves enveloped the hands to their middle.
Great pomp was lavished on the folds of the sleeves; but still greater
on the hem of the robe, and the fringe attached to it. The hem was
formed by a broad border of purple, shaded and relieved according to
patterns; and sometimes embroidered in gold thread with the most elegant
objects from the animal or vegetable kingdoms. To that part which fell
immediately behind the heels, there were attached thin plates of gold;
or, by way of variety, it was studded with golden stars and
filigree-work; sometimes with jewels and pearls interchangeably.

II. On this upper tunic, to confine the exorbitance of its draperies,
and to prevent their interfering with the free motions of the limbs,
a superb GIRDLE was bound about the hips. Here, if anywhere, the Hebrew
ladies endeavored to pour out the whole pomp of their splendor--both
as to materials and workmanship. Belts from three to four inches broad,
of the most delicate cottony substance, were chosen as the ground of
this important part of female attire. The finest flowers of Palestine
were here exhibited in rich relief, and in their native colors, either
woven in the loom, or by the needle of the embroiderer. The belts being
thirty or forty feet long, and carried round and round the person, it
was in the power of the wearer to exhibit an infinite variety of forms,
by allowing any fold or number of folds at pleasure to rise up more
or less to view, just as fans or the colored edges of books with us
are made to exhibit landscapes, &c. capable of great varieties of
expansion as they are more or less unfolded. The fastening was by a
knot below the bosom; and the two ends descended below the fringe;
which, if not the only fashion in use, was, however, the prevailing
one--as we learn both from the sculptures at Persepolis, and from the
costume of the High Priest.

Great as the cost was of these girdles, it would have been far greater
had the knot been exchanged for a clasp; and in fact at a later period
when this fashion did really take place, there was no limit to the
profusion with which pearls of the largest size and jewellery were
accumulated upon this conspicuous centre of the dress. Latterly the
girdles were fitted up with beautiful chains, by means of which they
could be contracted or enlarged, and with gold buckles, and large
bosses and clasps that gradually became the basis for a ruinous display
of expenditure.

In conclusion, I must remark, that in Palestine, as elsewhere, the
girdle was sometimes used as a purse: whether it were that the girdle
itself was made hollow (as is expressly affirmed of the High Priest's
girdle), or that, without being hollow, its numerous foldings afforded
a secure depository for articles of small size. Even in our day, it
is the custom to conceal the dagger, the handkerchief for wiping the
face, and other bagatelles of personal convenience, in the folds of
the girdle. However, the richer and more distinguished classes in
Palestine appear to have had a peculiar and separate article of that
kind. And this was,

III. A PURSE made either of metal (usually gold or silver), or of the
softest leather, &c. which was attached by a lace to the girdle, or
kept amongst its folds, and which, even in the eyes of Isaiah, was
important enough to merit a distinct mention. It was of a conical
shape; and at the broader end was usually enriched with ornaments of
the most elaborate and exquisite workmanship. No long time after the
Christian era, the cost of these purses had risen to such a height,
that Tertullian complains, with great displeasure, of the ladies of
his time, that in the mere purse, apart from its contents, they carried
about with them the price of a considerable estate.

The girdle, however, still continued to be the appropriate depository
for the napkin (to use the old English word), or suclatory--_i. e._
handkerchief for clearing the forehead of perspiration. As to
pocket-handkerchiefs, in our northern use of them, it has been
satisfactorily shown by Bottiger, in a German Journal, that the Greek
and Roman ladies knew nothing of that modern appendage to the pocket,
[Footnote 8] however indispensable it may appear to us; and the same
argument apply with equal force to the climate of Palestine.

IV. The glittering RINGS, with which (according to Isaiah, iii. 21),
the Hebrew ladies adorned their hands, seem to me originally to have
been derived from the seal-rings, which, whether suspended from the
neck, or worn upon the finger, have in all ages been the most favorite
ornament of Asiatics. These splendid baubles were naturally in the
highest degree attractive to women, both from the beauty of the stones,
which were usually selected for this purpose, and from the richness
of the setting--to say nothing of the exquisite art which the ancient
lapidaries displayed in cutting them. The stones chiefly valued by the
ladies of Palestine, were rubies--emeralds--and chrysolithes; and
these, set in gold, sparkled on the middle, or little finger of the
right hand; and in the luxurious times upon _all_ the fingers--even
the thumb; nay, in some cases, upon the great toe.

SCENE THE FIFTH.

UPPER GARMENT.

The upper or outer garments, which, for both sexes under all varieties
and modifications, the Hebrews expressed by the comprehensive
denomination of SIMLAH, have hi every age, and through all parts of
the hot climates, in Asia and Africa alike, been of such voluminous
compass--as not only to envelop the whole person, but to be fitted for
a wide range of miscellaneous purposes. Sometimes (as in the triumphal
entry of Christ into Jerusalem) they were used as carpets; sometimes
as coverings for the backs of camels, horses, or asses, to render the
rider's seat less incommodious; sometimes as a bed coverlid, or
counterpane; at other times as sacks for carrying articles of value;
or finally as curtains, hangings of parlors, occasionally tapestry,
or even as sails for boats.

From these illustrations of the uses to which it was applicable, we
may collect the form of this robe: that it was nothing more than a
shawl of large dimensions, or long square of cloth, just as it came
from the weaver's loom, which was immediately thrown round the person,
without receiving any artificial adjustment to the human shape.

So much for the _form_: with regard to the _material_, there was less
uniformity; originally it was of goats' or camels' hair; but, as
civilization and the luxury of cities increased, these coarse substances
were rejected for the finest wool, and Indian cotton. Indeed, through
all antiquity, we find, that pure unsullied white was the festal color,
and more especially in Palestine, where the indigenous soaps, and other
cleaning materials, gave them peculiar advantages for adopting a dress
of that delicate and perishable lustre.

With the advance of luxury, however, came a love of variety; and this,
added to the desire for more stimulating impressions than could be
derived from blank unadorned white, gradually introduced all sorts of
innovations, both in form and color; though, with respect to the first,
amidst all the changes through which it travelled, the old original
outline still manifestly predominated. An account of the leading
varieties, we find in the celebrated third chapter of Isaiah.

The most opulent women of Palestine, beyond all other colors for the
upper robe, preferred purple--or, if not purple throughout the entire
robe, at any rate purple flowers upon a white ground. The winter
clothing of the very richest families in Palestine, was manufactured
in their own houses; and for winter clothing, more especially, the
Hebrew taste, no less than the Grecian and the Roman, preferred the
warm and sunny scarlet, the puce color, the violet, and the regal
purple. [Footnote 9]

Very probable it is, that the Hebrew ladies, like those of Greece,
were no strangers to the half-mantle--fastened by a clasp in front of
each shoulder, and suffered to flow in free draperies down the back;
this was an occasional and supernumerary garment flung over the regular
upper robe--properly so called.

There was also a longer mantle, reaching to the ankles, usually of a
violet color, which--having no sleeves--was meant to expose to view
the beauty not only of the upper robe, but even of the outer tunic
formerly described. By the way, it should be mentioned, that, in order
to steep them in fine odor, all parts of the wardrobe were stretched
on a reticulated or grated vessel--called by the Thalmud (vi. 77)
_Kanklin_--from which the steams of rich perfumes were made to ascend.

In what way the upper robe was worn and fastened, may be collected
perhaps with sufficient probability from the modern Oriental practice,
as described by travellers; but, as we have no _direct_ authority on
the subject, I shall not detain the reader with any conjectural
speculations.

SCENE THE SIXTH.

DRESS OF CEREMONY.

One magnificent dress remains yet to be mentioned, viz. the dress of
honor, or festival dress--which answers in every respect to the modern
CAFTAN. This was used on all occasions of ceremony, as splendid
weddings, presentations at the courts of kings, sumptuous
entertainments, &c.; and all persons who stood in close connection
with the throne, as favorites, crown-officers, distinguished military
commanders, &c., received such a dress as a gift from the royal
treasury, in order to prepare them at all times for the royal presence.
According to the universal custom of Asia, the trains were proportioned
in length to the rank of the wearer; whence it is that the robes of
the high-priest were adorned with a train of superb dimensions; and
even Jehovah is represented, (Isaiah, vi. 1,) as filling the heavenly
palace with the length of his train, [Footnote 10] Another distinction
of this festival robe, was the ordinary fulness and length of the
sleeves; these descended to the knee, and often ran to the ankle or
to the ground. In the sleeves, and in the trains, but especially in
the latter, lay the chief pride of a Hebrew _belle_, when dressed for
any great solemnity or occasion of public display.

NOTES.

NOTE 1. It is one great advantage to the illustrator of ancient costume,
that when almost everything in this sort of usages was fixed and
determined either by religion and state policy, (as with the Jews,)
or by state policy alone, (as with the Romans,) or by superstition and
by settled climate, (as with both,) and when there was no stimulation
to vanity in the love of change from an inventive condition of art and
manufacturing skill, and where the system and interests of the
government relied for no part of its power on such a condition,--dress
was stationary for ages, both as to materials and fashion; Rebecca,
the Bedouin, was drest pretty nearly as Mariamne in the age of the
Caesars. And thus the labors of a learned investigator for one age are
valid for those which follow and precede.

NOTE 2. _Chiton (*)_ in Greek, and by inversion of the syllables,
_Tunica_ in Latin.

NOTE 3. Cheaper materials were used by the poorer Hebrews, especially
of the Bedouin tribes--burnt almonds, lamp-black, soot, the ashes of
particular woods, the gall-apple boiled and pulverized, or any dark
powder made into an unguent by suitable liquors. The modern Grecian
women, in some districts, as Sonnini tells us, use the spine of the
sea-polypus, calcined and finely pulverized, for this purpose. Boxes
of horn were used for keeping the pigment by the poorer Hebrews,--of
onyx or alabaster by the richer.

NOTE 4.

Cleopatra had a couple of that value; and Julius Caesar had one, which
he gave to Servilia, the beautiful mother of Brutus.

NOTE 5.

Washing the feet was a ceremony of ancient times, adopted not merely
with a view, 1st, to personal comfort, in hotter climates; or, 2d, to
decorum of appearance, where people walked about barefooted; but also,
3d, to the reclining posture in use at meals, which necessarily brought
the feet into immediate contact with the cushions, squabs, &c. of
couches.

NOTE 6.

Chemistry had its first origin in Arabia; and it is not impossible
that the chemical nomenclature for gold and silver, viz. _sol_ and
_luna_, were derived from this early superstition of the Bedouin dress.

NOTE 7.

The Thalmud is the only Jewish authority which mentions such a utensil
of the toilette as a comb, (vi. 39,) but without any particular
description. Hartmann adds two remarks worth quoting. 1. That the
Hebrew style of the _coiffure_ may probably be collected from the
Syrian coins; and, 2. That black hair being admired in Palestine, and
the Jewish hair being naturally black, it is probable that the Jewish
ladies did not color their hair, as the Romans did.

NOTE 8.

Or rather it was required only in a catarrh, or other cases of checked
perspiration, which in those climates was not a case of common
occurrence.

NOTE 9. By which was probably meant a color nearer to crimson, than
to the blue class of purples.

NOTE 10. It has been doubted whether these trains were supported by
train-bearers; but one argument makes it probable that they were not,
viz. that they were particularly favorable to the peacock walk or
strut, which was an express object of imitation in the gait of the
Hebrew women.

FINAL NOTES.

I. The _Syndon_, mentioned by Isaiah, &c. was a delicate and transparent
substance, like our tiffany, and in point of money value was fully on
a level with the Caftan; but whether imported from Egypt, or imitated
in the looms of the Hebrews and Phoenicians, is doubtful. It was worn
next to the skin; and consequently, in the harems of the great, occupied
the place of the under tunic (or _chemise_) previously described; and,
as luxury advanced, there is reason to think that it was used as a
night _chemise_.

II. The _Caftan_ is the _Kalaat_ of the East, so often mentioned by
modern travellers; thus, for example, Thevenot (tom. iii. p. 352)
says--'Le Roi fait assez souvent des presens a ses Khans, &c. L'on
appelle ces presens _Kalaat_.' Chardin. (iii. 101,) 'On appelle _Calaat_
les habits que le Roi donne par honeur.' And lately in Lord Amherst's
progress through the northern provinces of our Indian empire, &c. we
read continually of the _Khelawt_, or robe of state, as a present made
by the native princes to distinguished officers.

The Caftan, or festival robe of the Hebrews, was, in my opinion, the
[Greek Text: Peaelos] of the Greeks, or _palla_ of the Romans. Among
the points of resemblance are these:--

1. The _palla_ was flung like a cloak or mantle, over the _stola_, or
uppermost robe, 'Ad talos stola demissa et _circundata_ palla.'

2. The _palla_ not only descended in flowing draperies to the feet,
(thus Tibullus, I. VII. C. 'Fusa sed ad teneros lutea palla pedes,')
but absolutely swept the ground; 'Verrit humum Tyrio saturata murice
palla.'

3. The _palla_ was of the same wide compass, and equally distinguished
for its splendor.

4. Like the Hebrew festival garment, the _palla_ was a _vestis
seposita_, and reserved for rare solemnities.

With respect to the [Greek Text: Peplos], Eustathius describes it as
[Greek Text: megan xai peoixallea xai poixilon peobolaion]; and it
would be easy in other respects to prove its identity with the _Palla_.

Salmasius, by the way, in commenting upon Tertullian, _de Pallio_, is
quite wrong, where he says--'Palla nunquam de virili pallio dicitur.'
Tibullus, tom. iii. iv. 35, sufficiently contradicts that opinion.

MILTON.

[1839.]

We have two ideas, which we are anxious to bring under public notice,
with regard to Milton. The reader whom Providence shall send us will
not measure the value of these ideas (we trust and hope) by their bulk.
The reader indeed--that great idea!--is very often a more important
person towards the fortune of an essay than the writer. Even 'the
prosperity of a jest,' as Shakespeare tells us, lies less in its own
merit than 'in the ear of him that hears it.' If _he_ should happen
to be unusually obtuse, the wittiest jest perishes--the most pointed
is found blunt. So, with regard to books, should the reader on whom
we build prove a sandy and treacherous foundation, the whole edifice,
'temple and tower,' must come to the ground. Should it happen, for
instance, that the reader, inflicted upon ourselves for our sins,
belongs to that class of people who listen to books in the ratio of
their much speaking--find no eloquence in 32mo., and little force of
argument except in such a folio as might knock him down upon occasion
of his proving restive against its logic--in that case he will despise
our present essay. _Will_ despise it? He _does_ despise it already:
for already he sees that it is short. His contempt is a high _a priori_
contempt: for he measures us by anticipation, and needs to wait for
no experience in order to vindicate his sentence against us.

Yet, in one view, this brevity of an essayist does seem to warrant his
reader in some little indignation. We, the writer, expect to bring
over the reader to our opinion--else wherefore do we write? But, within
so small a compass of ground, is it reasonable to look for such a
result? 'Bear witness to the presumption of this essay,' we hear the
reader complaining: 'It measures about fourteen inches by
two--twenty-eight square inches at the most--and is it within human
belief that I, simply as I stand here, shall be converted in so narrow
an area? Here am I in a state of nature, as you may say. An acre of
sound argument might do something: but here is a man who flatters
himself--that, before I am advanced seven inches further in my studies,
he is to work a notable change in my creed. By Castor and Pollux! he
must think very superbly of himself, or very meanly of me.'

Too true, we reply, too true; but, perhaps, there are faults on both
sides. The writer is too peremptory and exacting; the reader is too
restive. The writer is too full of his office, which he fancies is
that of a teacher or a professor speaking _ex cathedra_: the rebellious
reader is oftentimes too determined that he will not learn. The one
conceits himself booted and spurred, and mounted on his reader's back,
with an express commission for riding him: the other is vicious, apt
to bolt out of the course at every opening, and resolute in this
point--that he will not be ridden.

There are some, meantime, who take a very different view of the
relations existing between those well-known parties to a book--writer
and reader. So far from regarding the writer as entitled to the homage
of his reader, as if he were some feudal superior, they hold him little
better than an actor bowing before the reader as his audience. The
feudal relation of fealty [_fidelitas_] may subsist between them, but
the places are inverted; the writer is the liegeman--the reader it is
who claims to be the sovereign. Our own opinion inclines this way. It
is clear that the writer exists for the sake of the reader, not the
reader for the sake of the writer. Besides, the writer bears all sorts
of characters, whilst the reader universally has credit for the best
possible. We have all heard of 'the courteous reader,' 'the candid
reader,' 'the enlightened reader.' But which of us ever heard of 'the
discourteous reader,' 'the mulish reader,' 'the barbarous reader?'
Doubtless there is no such person. The Goths and Vandals are all
confined to the writers. 'The reader'--that great character--is ever
wise, ever learned, ever courteous. Even in the worst of times, this
great man preserved his purity. Even in the tenth and eleventh
centuries, which we usually account the very noontide of darkness, he
shone like a mould candle amongst basest dips. And perhaps it is our
duty to presume all other virtues and graces as no less essential to
him than his glorious 'candor,' his 'courtesy,' (surpassing that of
Sir Gawain,) and his truly 'enlightened' understanding. Indeed, we
very much question whether a writer, who carries with him a just feeling
of his allegiance--a truly loyal writer--can lawfully suppose his
sovereign, the reader, peccable or capable of error; and whether there
is not even a shade of impiety in conceiving him liable to the
affections of sleep, or of yawning.

Having thus, upon our knees as it were, done feudal homage to our great
_suzerain_, the reader--having propitiated him with Persian adorations
and with Phrygian genuflexions, let us now crave leave to convert him
a little. Convert him!--that sounds '_un pen fort_,' does it not? No,
not at all. A cat may look at a king; and upon this or that
out-of-the-way point a writer may presume to be more knowing than his
reader--the serf may undertake to convert his lord. The reader is a
great being--a great noun-substantive; but still, like a mere
adjective, he is liable to the three degrees of comparison. He may
rise above himself--he may transcend the ordinary level of readers,
however exalted that level be. Being great, he may become greater.
Full of light, he may yet labor with a spot or two of darkness. And
such a spot we hold the prevalent opinion upon Milton in two particular
questions of taste--questions that are not insulated, but diffusive;
spreading themselves over the entire surface of the _Paradise Lost_,
and also of the _Paradise Regained_; insomuch that, if Milton is wrong
once, then he is wrong by many scores of times. Nay, which transcends
all counting of cases or numerical estimates of error, if, in the
separate instances, (be they few or be they many,) he is truly and
indeed wrong--then he has erred, not by the case but by the principle;
and that is a thousand times worse; for a separate case or instance
of error may escape any man--may have been overlooked amongst the press
of objects crowding on his eye; or, if _not_ overlooked, if passed
deliberately, may plead the ordinary privilege of human frailty. The
man erred; and his error terminates in itself. But an error of principle
does _not_ terminate in itself; it is a fountain; it is self-diffusive;
and it has a life of its own. The faults of a great man are in any
case contagious; they are dazzling and delusive by means of the great
man's general example. But his false principles have a worse contagion.
They operate not only through the general haze and halo which invests
a shining example; but even if transplanted where that example is
unknown, they propagate themselves by the vitality inherent in all
self-consistent principles, whether true or false.

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