[Page 38].—Ceremonies of Prayer.] See Calmet’s Dict. Art. Phylactery. Surenh. Mishna i. 9. The use of them was at least as old as the time of our Saviour; but in describing the particular mode of making and wearing them, our author has followed Leo of Modena’s account of the modern Jews. Kri Schma, or Kiriath Shema, is derived from the word שמע (“Hear, O Israel,”) with which the passage in Deuteronomy begins. See Vitringa, Synagoga i. 279; Cérémonies des Juifs traduites de l'ltalien de Leo de Modene, par Simonville, p. 30.; Prid. Connect. P. i. B. i. 6. vol. ii. 545. Some have supposed that when Christ asked the lawyer (Luke x. 26.) “What is written in the law? how readest thou?” he pointed to the phylactery on which Deut. vi. 4. seq. was written. See Kuinöel ad locum.
[Page 40].—Taking food early in the morning.] “Woe unto thee, O land, when thy princes eat in the morning.” (Eccles. x. 16.) The Talmud prescribes eleven o’clock in the forenoon, as the time when it is proper to take the first meal. See Calmet’s Dict. Art. Eating. On the sabbath, and all festival days, it was usual to fast till noon. See Hammond on Acts ii. 15.
[Page 41].—And thinks of the way to Jerusalem.] There is no mention of Jerusalem in the text of this passage. (Ps. lxxxiv. 5.) Our author follows Dathe, who renders
O beatum hominem! qui spem suam in te collocat;
Qui perpetuo de viis ad ædem tuam cogitat.
[Page 42].—Egypt abounds with horses.] The horse appears to have been used by the Egyptians long before it was common among the Jews, or even the Arabians, though Arabia has been supposed to be the native country of this animal. Horses formed no part of the riches of the patriarchs: it is only in connection with Egypt that we find them mentioned in early Scripture history. See Mich. Mos. Law § 166, and Appendix. It was forbidden the Israelites to breed many horses, (Deut. xvii. 16.) a mountainous country being indeed ill adapted for this purpose. Solomon, when he married the daughter of Pharaoh, in violation of this law, procured horses from Egypt, (1 Kings x. 28, 29. 2 Chron. i. 16, 17.) and even carried on a traffic in them. And when Zedekiah (Ezek. xvii. 15.) is about to rebel, he sends to Egypt for cavalry. It is true that the Egyptian horses do not appear to have been highly valued for their qualities by the Greeks and Romans; and that Egypt is never mentioned by those who have treated of the places in which this animal is found in the greatest perfection. See Bochart Hierozoicön, ii. 9. Yet, even in later times, when the great increase of canals had both lessened the necessity for the employment of horses, and had made the use of them difficult, (Herod. ii.) we find from Appian that the Ptolemies kept on foot 40,000 cavalry, Rom. Hist. Præf. 10.
[Page 43].—Sabbath-day’s journey.] In the remainder of his work the author generally uses the sabbath-day’s journey as equivalent to somewhere about three quarters of an English mile.
[Page 43].—Branches of the Nile.] Alexandria lying beyond the Canopic, the westernmost mouth of the Nile, all the seven branches of the river would, of course, be crossed by our travellers, in order to reach Pelusium, which was situated beyond the easternmost. The greater Delta is the whole country lying between these two branches; the lesser, that which is included between the Bubastic (or Pelusiac) and the Busiritic (or Phatnitic) channel, itself a branch of the Bubastic. Champollion, ii. 13. The distance from Alexandria to Pelusium, according to the Itinerary of Antoninus, was two hundred and thirteen miles. Naucratis stood on the eastern bank of the Canopic branch: it was for a long time the only place to which the jealousy of the Pharaohs allowed foreign merchants to resort; and under Amasis the Greeks were permitted to establish themselves there. (Herod. ii. 178.) Sais, one of the most celebrated cities of the Delta, stood about two leagues eastward from the Canopic branch: the goddess Naet, (or Neitha) who was worshipped there, was identified by the Greeks with their own Athene. See Jablonski Panth. Æg. lib. i. c. 3. Busiris was near the centre of the Delta, and on the western bank of the Phatnitic branch, distant twenty leagues from the apex of the Delta, and an equal number from the sea. Tanis, the Zoan of Scripture, was situated on the eastern bank of a subordinate branch of the Pelusiac, which from it took the name of Tanitic. Josephus describes it as having dwindled into an insignificant place, but the remains of several obelisks attest its ancient magnificence. Champollion, ii. 101.
[Page 45].—Little wine was produced in Egypt.] Herodotus, iii. 16. says that wine was brought from Greece and Phœnicia into Egypt. Phœnicia was celebrated for its wines:
Vina mihi non sunt Gazetica, Chia, Falerna,