in Israel preferred these medicated wines to all others: "Who hath woe ?" said the wise man, "who hath con tentions? who hath sorrow? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seck mixed wine."b Nor were the manners of that people more correct in the days of Isaiah; for he was directed to pronounce a " woe unto them that rose up early in the morning, that they might follow strong drink; that continued until night, till wine inflamed them." This ancient custom, furnished the holy Psalmist with a highly poetical and sublime image of divine wrath: "For in the hand of the Lord --- a cup; and the wine is red; it is full of mixture." The prophet Isaiah uses the same figure in one of his exhortations: "Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which has drunk at the hand of the Lord, the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out." The worship pers of the beast and his image, are threatened with the same fearful punishment: "The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation." The Jews sometimes acidulated their wine with the juice of the pomegranate; a custom to which the spouse thus alludes: "I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate ;" or of wine mixed with the juice of that fruit. Prepared in this way, it proves a cooling

b Prov. xxiii, 29, 30.

f

Isa. v, 11. When the Persians commit a debauch, they rise early, and esteem the morning the best time for beginning to drink wine, as they could carry on their excess till night. Morier's Trav. vol. i, p. 180.

a Psa. lxxv, 8. e Isa. li, 17. f Rev. xiv, 10. * Song. viii, 2.

and refreshing draught in the heat of summer, and by consequence, highly acceptable to an oriental.

The natives of the east keep their wine in earthen jars, from which they have no method of drawing it off pure; and for this reason, it is commonly in a thick and turbid state, by the lees with which it is mixed. To remedy this inconvenience, they filtrate or strain it through a cloth; and to this practice the prophet Isaiah plainly alludes: "And on this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people, a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow; of wines on the lees well refined." The same allusion occurs in our Lord's declaration to the Pharisees: "Ye strain at (out) a gnat, and swallow a camel." Maimonides, in his treatise of forbidden meats, affords a remarkable illustration of our Saviour's proverbial expression: "He who strains wine, or vinegar, or strong drink, and eats the gnats, or flies, or worms, which he hath strained off, is whipped." In these hot countries, gnats were apt to fall into wine if it were not carefully covered; and passing the liquor through a strainer, that no gnat or part of one might remain, grew into a proverb for exactness about little matters.

The abbe Mariti informs us, that it is a common practice in Cyprus, to change the vessels in which their wine is kept. This is done to improve it; and he says, nothing tends more to bring it to perfection, than to draw it off into another vessel, provided this is not done until a year after it is put into the casks. Chardin observes, "they frequently pour wine from vessel to vessel in the

h D'Arvieux Voy. dans la Palest. p. 197, 198; and Thevenot's Trav part ii, p. 126. i Matt. xxiii, 24.

i Burder's Orient. Customs, vol. i, p. 282.

east; for when they begin one, they are obliged immediately to empty it into smaller vessels, or into bottles, or it would grow sour." The prophet Jeremiah alludes to this custom in the case of Moab, who had become exceedingly corrupt, during a long course of prosperity: "Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity; therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed." The term which in our translation is rendered lees, properly means preservers, because they preserve the strength and flavour of the wine. All recent wines, after their fermentation has ceased, must be kept on their lees for a certain time, to increase their strength and flavour. When the first fermentation is deficient, they retain a richer and sweeter taste, than is natural to them in a true vinous state; and unless further fermentation is promoted, by continuing them longer on their own lees, they never attain a proper degree of maturity, but run into repeated and ineffectual fermentations, and soon degenerate into a liquor of an acetous kind. Moab, in like manner, had been as a nation fully matured, had risen to a high degree of prosperity, and had not suffered the severe trials and calamitous revolutions, which the people of Israel had experienced; he had not been emptied from vessel to vessel, had not gone into captivity, nor seen his dominions rent into rival kingdoms, but preserved their integrity, their population, and their resources undiminished, or in the figurative language of the prophet," his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed."1 The custom of cooling wines with snow, was usual among * Harmer's Observ. vol. ii, p. 155. 1 Jer. xlviii, 11.

the eastern nations; and was derived from the Asiatics and

m

Greeks to the Romans. The snow of Lebanon was celebrated, in the time of d'Vitriaco for its refrigerating power in tempering their wine: "All summer, and especially in the sultry dog-days, and the month of August, snow of an extreme cold nature, is carried from mount Libanus, two or three days journey, that being mixed with wine, it may make it cold as ice. The snow is kept from melting by the heat of the sun, or the warmth of the air, by being covered up with straw.""

To this custom, the wise man seems to allude in that proverb: "As the cold of snow in the time of harvest; so is a faithful servant to them that send him, for he refreshes the soul of his masters." The royal preacher could not speak of a fall of snow in the time of harvest, as pleasant and refreshing; it must, on the contrary, have been very incommoding, as we actually find it in this country; he must therefore be understood to mean liquids cooled by snow. The sense then will be: As the mixing of snow with wine, in the sultry time of harvest, is pleasing and refreshing; so, a successful messenger revives the spirit of his master who sent him, and who was greatly depressed from an apprehension of his failure.

The hospitality of the present day, in the east exactly resembles that of the remotest antiquity. The parable of the "great supper," is in those countries literally realised.P And such was the hospitality of ancient Greece and Rome. When a person provided an entertainment for his friends or neighbours, he sent round a number of servants to in

m Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. i, p. 134. n Harmer's Obs. vol. ii, p. 156, 157.

• Prov. xxv, 13.

P Luke xiv, 16. Forbes's Orient. Mem. vol. iii, p.187.

vite the guests; these were called vocatores by the Romans, and xantwgss by the Greeks. The day when the entertainment is to be given is fixed some considerable time before; and in the evening of the day appointed, a messenger comes to bid the quests to the feast. The custom is thus introduced in Luke: "A certain man made a great supper, and bade many; and sent his servant at supper time, to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready." They were not now asked for the first time; but had already accepted the invitation, when the day was appointed, and were therefore already pledged to attend at the hour when they might be summoned. They were not taken unprepared, and could not in consistency and decency plead any prior engagement. They could not now refuse, without violating their word and insulting the master of the feast, and therefore, justly subjected themselves to punishment. The terms of the parable exactly accord with established custom, and contain nothing of the harshness to which infidels object.

The Jews did not always follow the same method; sometimes they sent a number of servants different ways among the friends they meant to invite; and at other times, a single male domestic. But in Egypt, according to Hasselquist, a different custom from either of these, was commonly followed. A number of women went about, inviting people to a banquet. Those whom he saw thus employed, were about ten or twelve in number, covered with black veils, according to the custom of that country. They were preceded by four eunuchs; after them and on the side, were Moors with their usual walking staves. As they walked, they all joined in making a noise, which

* Luke xiv, 16, 17. Morier's Trav. vol. i, p. 142.