VII.

"mote their caufe, and to be favourable to "them."

I fee here, methinks, a picture of the corruption of the Jewish Judges that Amos complains of: filver made them pervert the judgment of the righteous; nay, fo mean a piece of finery as a pair of wooden fandals for their wives would make them condemn the innocent poor, who could not afford to make them a prefent of equal value.

Amos viii. 6. is, I fuppofe, to be underftood in the fame light: the rich defrauding the poor, knowing that if thofe poor complained, they could carry their point against them for a little filver, if not for a pair of cobcal.

"In

But mean as the present of a pair of cobcal may feem, prefents of ftill less value are frequently made in thefe countries. "familiar vifits, amongst inferior people, 66 you fhall feldom have them come without

bringing a flower, or an orange, or fome "other fuch token of their respect to the

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perfon vifited," fays Maundrell. Bishop Pococke confirms this, when speaking of his drawing near an encampment of the Arabs that attended him, in their way to Mount Sinai, he fays, "Here one of them, who "had a difference with one of the company, 1 See Obf. I.

as

"as he was in his own country, came and brought him a flower, as a prefent, which being accepted of, was a fign that all was "made up.

These trifling presents however are not confined to the meaneft of the people, for Egmont or Heyman tells us, that on their leaving Scala Nuova, fome Greeks brought them flowers and odoriferous herbs as tokens of their friendship. In what a strong point of light, as to their veneration for our Lord, doth this place the prefent the Eastern Magi made him: in the circumstances in which they found him, a flower, an orange, (or a citron,) or any fuch trifle, had been fufficient to introduce them to the young child; but mean as his appearance was, they treated him as a royal child, and even after they found the poverty of his parents, prefented him with prefents of the richest kind, gold, frankincenfe, and myrrh, fuch as the Queen of Sheba presented to Solomon in his glory. But here doubtless we are to rest, and content ourselves with this fimple explanation: to go on, and fuppofe the frankincense was defigned by them, or intended by providence itself, to intimate his deity; the myrrh his being a mortal; and the gold his being a king; is a refinement that is certainly unnatural, and abfolutely in the monkifh taste.

2 Vol. 1. p. 140.

3 Vol. 1. p. 125.

C 4

OBSER

OBSERVATION X.

[But though things of very little value are fometimes offered as prefents, those to whom prefents are made do not think themselves always obliged graciously to accept every thing that is brought, or even to diffemble their diflike; they frequently reject the present, and refufe the favour fought.

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The behaviour of an Aga in Egypt to Dr. Pococke, mentioned in the firft Obfervation of this chapter, demonftrates this; as does alfo this paffage of Capt. Norden, "The "Cacheff of Efna was encamped in this place. He made us come afhore. I waited immediately upon him, with some small prefents. He received me very civilly, and "ordered coffee to be ferved me. But he refufed abfolutely what I offered him as a prefent; and let me know by the interpreter, that, in the places from whence we were come, we had given things of greater value, and that we ought not to "Thew less refpect to him. Something of the like nature appears in many other paffages in travels.

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If a prefent was not fomewhat proportionate to the quality of the perfon applied to, the circumstances of him that offered it, and the value of the favour asked, it was rejected.

Vol. 2, p. 183.

Lambs

Lambs and sheep were often given as prefents. So the Cacheff I have been speaking of, made Norden and his company a prefent the next day of two very fat fheep, together with a great basket of bread. The reys, or boat-man, that had carried them up the Nile, we are told in like manner, came to fee them three days before, and made them a prefent of an excellent sheep, together with a basket of Eafter bread'.

Perhaps we may be ready to imagine, prefents of this kind were only made to travellers, that wanted provifions; but this would be a mistake. Sir John Chardin, in his MS, expressly tells us, it is the custom of the Eaft for poor people, and especially those that live in the country, to make prefents to their Lords of lamb's and sheep, as an offering, tribute, or fucceffion. Prefents to men, like offerings to God, expiate offences".

So D'Arvieux mentions lambs, among the things offered to him as prefents, when he officiated as Secretary to the Great Emir of the Arabs. (Voy. dans la Pal. p. 62.)

2 P. 184. 3 P. 182. + Coutume d'Orient que les pauvres gens, fur tout des Champs, donnent a leur Seigneurs des agneaux & moutons en presens, en signe d'offrande, tribut, fucceffion. Presents auxhommes, comme les offrandes a Dieu expient les Pechez.-By the term fucceffion I prefume is meant a prefent made to a great man to obtain his favour, in cafe of difpute, about fucceeding to an inheritance, or part of it.

The

The Jewish people were in a low state in the time of Malachi, and almost entirely engaged in country business.

How energetic, if we affemble these circumstances together, is the expoftulation of the Prophet! "If ye offer the blind for fa

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crifice, is it not evil? And if ye offer the "lame and the fick, is it not evil? Offer it "now unto thy Governor, will he be pleased "with thee, or accept thy perfon ?" Mal. i. 8.

When they made prefents of lambs or sheep, they brought those that vere very fat : would a Jewish Governor have accepted one that was blind, and confequently half-starved ? or pining with lameness or fickness ?

OBSERVATION XI.

The common prefent that is now made to the Great in thefe countries is an horse; there is reason to think an afs might formerly anfwer the fame purpose.

"If it is a vifit of ceremony from a Bafhaw," fays Dr. Ruffell, "or other per"fon in power, a fine horse, fometimes with "furniture, or fome fuch valuable present, is made to him at his departure.' 'Dr. Perry has given us many inftances of horses being presented among others, he tells us when a perfon has the dignity of a Bey conferred on him, the new-made Bey presents

1 P. 81.

that