earthy plants) or else about Emerita in Portugal, and that, of all other, is of most account. But to knit up in one word these noble colours, note this-that when this grain is but of one year's age it maketh but a weak tincture, but after four years, the strength thereof is gone. So that, neither young nor old is of any very great virtue. Thus, I have sufficiently and at large treated of those means which men and women both so highly esteem, and think to make most, for their state and honorable port, and setting out of themselves in the best manner.". Pliny, 9th Book.

Aristotle likewise informs us, that the smaller species of shells were broken up, as it would be too difficult to separate the animals from them. Those in the breccia found at Tyre are all of a small species.

From the account of Pliny, it appears that four colours were produced, but all coming under the denomination of “the Tyrian," which is the expression made use of by the older writers, particularly the Hebrew and Syriac; for Bochart and others consider the a and inverted in the name as ARGAMEN, purple, and with that change the word would simply mean Syrian Colour.

The first was a sullen and melancholy colour, inclining to a blue or watchet, and resembling the angry and raging sea in a tempest, and was procured from what he termed the cornet seabuccinum; the second was obtained from the Pelagian, or deep sea purples, and was in all probability a plain red, or, as it is termed, too deep and brown a colour; the third was formed by mixing these two together, and gave the rich amethyst, so highly esteemed above all others; and the fourth seems to have been a bright crimson or scarlet, and appears to be that mentioned by Homer as the colour of the blood when cold, and held between the examiner and the light. Besides, there was another, which the author states was obtained at a great price by again dipping the amethyst in the purple dye, and so getting a tint, called from being so dipped, Tyriamethystus. Some difference in colour may have arisen from the various species of mollusca used, and the different coasts from which the shells were obtained, as besides the Asiatic and African shores of the Mediterranean mentioned by Pliny, Chios and the islands in the vicinity were famous for their purple; and it was true that Alex

ander, when revelling in Persia, sent for materials to clothe himself and his attendants in purple robes. They are likewise found at Sigetum, and on the coast of Caria.

The isles of Elisha, mentioned by Ezekiel in his glowing description of the manufactures of Tyre, appear to be Elis in the Peloponnesus, which, as well as Lesbos and Tenedos, produce shells affording a purple dye-Athenæus tells us of the largest being found about the promontory of Lectus; and it is probable that the best purples were those obtained from the deep sea. Different varieties of murices and buccina are found in the Gulf of Tarentum, conglomerated into a breccia, somewhat similar to that which I brought from Tyre.

The first written account of these Tyrian colours that we read of, is that contained in the 25th chapter of Exodus, where they are mentioned among the offerings that the children of Israel were commanded to offer as decorations of the tabernacle, when they wandered in the wilderness. The manufacture of these they in all probability learned from the Egyptians, and they may have been some of the wares of which that nation were despoiled on the departure of the Hebrews. "And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair; and rams' skins dyed red, and badger's skins, and shittim wood." (Exod. xxv. 3, 4, 5.) And the same articles are frequently enumerated in the subsequent descriptions of the decorations and ornaments of the priests and the sanctuary. Dr. Adam Clarke's observations on the original words used to express these colours, are well worthy of remark.

BLUE, non, techeleth, generally supposed to mean an azure or sky colour, rendered by the Septuagint, vakvov, and by the Vulgate, hyacinthum, a sky-blue or deep violet.

66

Purple, 178, argamen, a very precious colour, extracted from the purpura, or murex, a species of shell-fish, from which, it is supposed, the famous Tyrian purple came,-so costly, and so much celebrated in antiquity."

'Scarlet, nybin, tolaath, signifies a worm of which this colouring matter was made; and, joined with ', shani, which signifies to repeat or double, implies that to strike this colour, the wool or cloth was twice dipped; hence the Vulgate renders

the original coccum bis tinctum. Scarlet twice dyed;' and to this Horace refers, Odar. lib. ii. od. 16, v. 35 :—

It is the same colour which the Arabs call al kermez, whence the French cramoisi, and the English crimson."

Fine linen, or fine-twined linen, follows next among the articles enumerated, and here it is curious that this article is always mentioned in connection with the scarlet colour, as if that texture (which some suppose to be silk) was dyed scarlet. The very obvious and striking similarity of these colours, as shown from their derivations, and in particular that of the twice-dyed scarlet, to the account of the Roman naturalist, is so plain and distinct that it requires little comment.

But there are other substances mentioned in this description that claim our attention :

"GOAT'S-HAIR, DY, izzim, goats, but used here elliptically, for goat's-hair. In different parts of Asia Minor, Syria, Cilicia, and Phrygia, the goats have long, fine, and beautiful hair,—in some cases almost as fine as silk, which they shear at proper times, and manufacture into garments. From Virgil, Geor. iii. v. 305, we learn that goat's-hair, manufactured into cloth, was nearly of equal value with that formed from wool.

For hairy goats of equal profit are

With woolly sheep, and ask an equal care.

'Tis true the fleece, when drunk with Tyrian juice,
Is dearly sold,' &c.-Dryden.

6

"RAM'S-SKINS DYED RED, D'INI Dbxny, oroth eglim meoddamim, literally the skins of red rams;' and these the learned commentator supposes to have been of a violet colour, and that such was the natural colour of the fleece; and, to this effect, he quotes the passage in Homer's Odyss. lib. ix. v. 425:—

APPENDIX.

And again, in Virgil, Eclog. iv. v. 43:

"With native purple or unborrowed gold,

Beneath his pompous fleece shall proudly sweat,

And under Tyrian robes the lamb shall bleat."-Dryden.

479

I cannot subscribe to this, as no such sheep are known to inhabit any of these countries. If they really were of a violet colour, it is not improbable that they may have been dipped in the Tyrian dye; but the sheep that now inhabit Syria and Asia Minor, that in any way differ from the common, are of a reddish fawn, or chocolate colour. This peculiar tint is sought for, among the Mooslims, even at the present day, and is sometimes produced artificially. Thus Captains Irby and Mangles arrived at an encampment of Jellaheen Arabs, near El Baid, beyond Hebron; among whom was a tailor, making sheep-skin coats, which were dyed red with ochre, or some such clay colouring

matter.

"BADGER'S-SKINS," bunny, oroth techashim.

Few

terms have afforded greater perplexity to critics and commentators than this. Bochart has exhausted the subject, and seems to have proved that no kind of animal is here intended, but a colour. None of the ancient versions acknowledge an animal of any kind, except the Chaldee, which seems to think the badger is intended, and from it we have borrowed our translation of the word. The Septuagint and Vulgate have skins dyed a violet colour; the Syriac, azure; the Arabic, black; the Coptic, violet; the Modern Persian, ram's-skins, &c. The colour contended for by Bochart is the hysginus, which is a very deep blue. So Pliny, Coccoque tinctum Tyrio tingere, ut fieret hysginum. "They dip crimson in purple to make the colour called hysginus.-Hist. Nat. Lib. IX. c. 65.

In the coverings of the Tabernacle, mentioned in the 26th chapter, the "fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet," are again brought before us, the latter as being the colours of which each of the four curtains were dyed, and were, in all probability, placed in the following numerical order :-The first, or outermost, was a stuff of Goat's-hair, and was, in all probability, blue. The second was of "Ram's-skins dyed red; this was a plain red. The third was of "Badger's-skins," and most likely

purple, violet, or Hysginus; and the fourth, of "fine twined linen," was scarlet, and seems to have been a diaper, or embroidery, termed in Scripture "cunning work." Besides these distinct textures of different hues, there may have been, in some cases, an intermixture of them, in the manner of embroidery, as in the instance of the veil, and the hanging for the door of the tent, "of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen, wrought with needle-work." (V. 36.)

In after times, Josephus informs us that this veil "was a Babylonish curtain, embroidered with blue, and fine linen, and scarlet, and purple, and of a contexture that was truly wonderful. Nor was this mixture of colours without its mystical interpretation, but was a kind of image of the universe; for, by the scarlet there seemed to be enigmatically signified fire, by the fine flax the earth, by the blue the air, and by the purple the sea : two of them having their colours the foundation of this resemblance; but the fine flax and the purple have their own origin for that foundation, the earth producing the one, the sea the other." Josephus' Wars of the Jews, b. v. ch. v. s. 4.

To the Rev. George Sidney Smith, Professor of Biblical Greek in our University, I am indebted for the following account of the names of some of the colours used by the Hebrews and other Oriental nations:

In Isaiah i. 18, we find the word poivikov of the Septuagint rendered scarlet; and KOKKIVOV crimson. The corresponding Hebrew words are D (Shaneem), and vin (Thola). There is no difficulty, of course, in recognising in Kokkos, or KokkƖvos, the dye called kermes. The worm which yields this dye, is, in Hebrew, Thola vermis. However, in 2 Chron. ii. 7, KOKKOS answers to

(Carmeel), which is the same as the Arabic, kermes, the Persian kerm, and Sanscrit krimi; and from the same root came crimson, carmine, carmoisi, &c. in modern tongues. But the Arabic letters Kaf and Fe (, ) differ only by one having a single dot over it, and the other, two dots; the one, in fact, being a digammated form of the other; so that the Arabic kermes easily passes into vermes, from which comes vermillion and its cognates. But KOKKOS also frequently answers to the Hebrew ' (Shanee), and tonn (Tholahath Shanee); the meaning, however, of Shanee is disputed. It properly means duo, two, and hence, is