delicate food, and among the gifts of prosperity. Thus Callimachus tells how Jupiter was kindly nursed with goats' milk and honey; and Homer sung the tender care of Venus, in rearing with honey, milk, and wine, the infant daughters of Pandareus :

Ορφαναι εν μεγάροισι κομισσε δε δι Αφροδίτη

Τύρω και μέλιτι γλυκερω και ηδει οινω.

e

The account which is given in the gospel, of the diet of John the Baptist, may be thought a strong objection to this view; he lived on locusts and wild honey; and his life is represented by our Lord as the very reverse of that enjoyed by courtiers and people of fashion, nay, as very different from his own; whence it may be inferred, that the food on which he subsisted was of the coarsest kind. But the inspired narrative only expresses the great simplicity in which he lived; and that he contented himself with what nature offered him in those lonely retreats.

Butter and honey are still reckoned among the greatest delicacies which the east affords: for when D'Arvieux travelled in Palestine, an Arabian prince, who lived in great splendour, and treated him with much kindness, entertained him with little loaves, honey, new churned milk and cream, or leban, more delicate than any he ever saw, together with coffee. And in another place he assures us, that one of the principal things with which the Arabs regale themselves at breakfast, is cream, or new butter mingled with honey.e

So grateful was this food to their taste, that it would seem they not unfrequently indulged to excess; it is difficult on any other supposition to account for Solomon's

e

Odyssey, lib. xx, 1. 68, 69. '

4. Hymn. in Jov. 48. f D'Arvieux Voy. dans la Palest. p. 24; and Russel's Hist. vol.i, p. 166.

remark: "It is not good to eat much honey."

He had before observed, in the same chapter, that an excess in eating honey occasioned sickness and vomiting; and here he returns to the subject, and intimates that such intem. perance might be followed by fatal effects.

It is no contemptible proof that the sacred writers were infallibly guided by the Spirit of him who made the heavens and the earth, and all that they contain, that no natural fact connected with their subject escapes their notice. They well knew, and often allude to the difference between the delicacy of honey in the comb, and after its separation from it. "More to be desired," said the Psalmist, " are the judgments of the Lord, than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, yea, than the honey-comb." Hence, in his estimation, honey in the comb, is as much to be preferred to honey after it has been expressed from it, as fine gold to that which is but par tially separated from the dross. The accuracy of the inspired writer, in this, as in many other particulars, may be brought to the test of experience: and whoever has eaten honey in the comb, before the cells have been opened, will then perceive a peculiar delicacy of flavour, which is sought for in vain, after it has been expressed or clarified.1

The shoulder of a lamb well roasted, and covered with butter and milk, is another delicacy, which the orientals greatly value. This explains the reason why Samuel ordered it to be set before his future sovereign, as well as what that was which was upon it, the butter and milk of

6 Prov. xxv, 27.

Harmer's Observ. vol. ii, p. 62.

i Harmer's Observ. vol. ii, p. 79.-It is still presented as a proof of regard and ardent hospitality among the modern Arabs. Buckingham's Trav, vol. ii, p. 136.

which the sacred historian takes so particular notice.--This was by no means a contemptible dish for a royal entertainment, as some have alleged; but on the contrary, one of the most delicious which could be set before the future anointed of Jehovah. It appears from the acounts of travellers, that lamb is, in those parts of the world, extremely delicate. One, says Chardin, must have eaten of it in several places of Persia, Media, and Mesopotamia, and of their kids, to form a conception of the moisture, taste, delicacy, and fat of this animal; and as the eastern people are no friends of game, nor of fish, nor fowls, their most delicate food is the lamb and the kid. It is therefore not without reason, the sacred writers often speak of the lamb and the kid, as the most agreeable food in those countries; and that the holy Psalmist celebrates the blessings of salvation, and particularly the spiritual comforts of the heaven-born soul, under the figure of "marrow and fatness."j

In the sacred Scriptures, bread and water are commonly mentioned as the chief supports of human life; and to provide a sufficient quantity of water, to prepare it for use, and to deal it out to the thirsty, are still among the principal cares of an oriental householder. To furnish travellers with water is, even in present times, reckoned of so great importance, that many of the eastern philanthropists have been at considerable expense to procure them that enjoyment. The nature of the climate, and the gene ral aspect of the oriental regions, require numerous fountains to excite and sustain the languid powers of vegetation; and the sun, burning with intense heat in a cloudless sky, demands for the fainting inhabitants the verdure,

¿ Psa. lxiii, 3. Jer. xxxi, 14.

-shade, and coolness, which vegetation produces. Hence fountains of living water are met with in the towns and villages, in the fields and gardens, and by the sides of the roads and of the beaten tracks on the mountains; and a cup of cold water from these wells, is no contemptible present.k

In Arabia, equal attention is paid by the wealthy and benevolent, to the refreshment of the traveller. On one of the mountains of Arabia, Niebuhr found three little reservoirs, which are always kept full of fine water for the use of passengers. These reservoirs, which are about two feet and a half square, and from five to seven feet high, are round, or pointed at the top, of mason's work, having only a small opening in one of the sides, by which they pour water into them. Sometimes he found, near these places of Arab refreshment, a piece of a ground shell, or a little scoop of wood for lifting the water.

The same attention to the comfort of travellers, is manifested in Egypt, where public buildings are set apart in some of their cities, the business of whose inhabitants is to supply the passenger with water free of expense. Some of these houses make a very handsome appearance; and the persons appointed to wait on the passengers, are required to have some vessels of copper, curiously tinned and filled with water, always ready on the window next the street.m Some of the Mohammedan villagers in Palestine, not far from Nazareth, brought Mr. Buckingham and his party bread and water, while on horseback, with

* Chandler's Travels, &c. p. 20.

1 Voy. tome i, p. 274.-Mr. Buckingham found a structure of the same kind on the Syrian shore between Tyre and Acrc. Trav. vol. i, p. 94. m Niebuhr's Voy. tome i, p. 97.

out even being solicited to do so, and when they halted to accept it, both compliments and blessings were mutually interchanged." Hence a cup of cold water is a present in the east of much value, though there are some other refreshments of a superior quality. When Sisera asked a little water to drink, Jael brought him milk, which she thought he would naturally prefer; and in the book of Proverbs, the mother of Lemuel instructed him to give strong drink to him that is ready to perish, and wine to those that were of heavy hearts. Still, however, the value of a cup of water, though to be numbered among the simplest presents the traveller can receive, is of great value in those countries. If this be duly considered, the declaration of our Lord, "Whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink, in my name," because ye belong to Christ, "Verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward," is of greater importance than we are apt at first sight to imagine. The general thought is plain to every reader, That no service performed to a disciple of Christ, out of love to his master, although comparatively small, shall remain unrewarded; but the inhabitants of more temperate climates are sometimes ready to think that the instance which our Lord mentions, is rather insignificant. It certainly would not appear so now to an inhabitant of the east, nor did it then, we have reason to believe, appear so to them who heard the Saviour's declaration.P But the words of Christ evidently contain more than this; they lead up our thoughts to the character of him for whose sake the cup of water is given. An act of benevolence, how small soever, is certainly pleasing in the sight of God, so far as it proceeds

n Trav. vol. ii, p. 385.

• Mark ix, 41. P See Harmer's Observ. vol. i, p. 398,