may perhaps, conclude, that they do not move in the very highest circles, their air and manner have more of dignity than of vulgarity. The absence of knives and forks rendered the employment of the fingers unavoidable; thus we see one tearing a wing from a goose, while another grasps a joint of meat by the projecting bone, and gnaws the flesh with his teeth; two in the lower series who are eating fish, separate the muscle with the thumb and fore-finger of the right hand; the first in the upper, and the last in the lower row are taking figs from dishes; and one is about to drink from a jar. The little baskets beneath two of the tables, are understood to contain grapes.

The animal food which was eaten in Egypt was - principally beef and goose, but to the former was added the flesh of the ibex or wild-goat, and several species of antelope, which were kept in preserves for domestic use, and with the latter were frequently served up herons, ducks, quails, and other birds. Fish also, of many kinds, as we have already mentioned, formed a large part of the food of the people. The heat of the climate then, as now in the East, required that an animal should be slaughtered on the day on which it was to be eaten. Thus we find that Abraham, when "entertaining angels unawares," "ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf, tender and good; . . . and hasted to dress it."* And Joseph on the arrival of his brethren, "said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men home, and slay, and

*Gen. xviii. 7.

make ready; for these men shall dine with me at noon." It is remarkable that the expression rendered "slay," or literally as in the margin, "kill a killing," is exactly the same as is still used by the Arabs on the same occasion.

Such oxen seem to have been chiefly selected for the table as were pied or patched with black or red upon a white ground; the beast was secured by

tying the four legs together, and having been thrown upon its side, its throat was cut from ear to ear.

Smaller animals were thrown without the precaution of tying the legs together.

In the accompanying scene, the upper compartment represents the cutting up of an ox; two men carry off two of the severed legs, and others are engaged in detaching a third. The remaining figure is particularly interesting, because it unequivocally represents the use of a steel for sharpening cutlery, the implement being suspended to the apron, and stuck in the girdle when not in use.

The blood was caught in a bowl, and used in cookery; thus early had men learned to disregard the solemn and express prohibition* of the Noachic covenant, in which flesh was first granted as the food of man. And hence it was needful to reiterate with so awful a sanction the prohibition in the law of Moses.

And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood. And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh; for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off. Lev. xvii. 10-14.

Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water. Deut. xii. 16.

* Gen. ix. 4,

N

Only be sure that thou eat not the blood; for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh. Deut. xii. 23.

Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water. Deut. xv. 23.

The lower compartment of the preceding engraving is a butcher's or cook's shop: various joints and portions are hung up, among which we readily identify legs, ribs, a windpipe, and a heart. One is boiling a piece of the ribs in a caldron, and another brings to the cook a similar portion.

"The very peculiar mode of cutting up the meat," observes Sir J. G. Wilkinson, "frequently prevents

LEG OF BEEF.

our ascertaining the exact part they intend to represent in the sculptures; the chief joints, however, appear to be the head, shoulder, and leg, with

the ribs, tail, or rump, the heart, and kidneys; and they occur in the same manner on the altars of the temple, and the tables of a private house. One is remarkable not only from being totally unlike any of our European joints, but from its exact resemblance to that seen at table in modern Egypt; it is part of the leg, consisting of the flesh covering the tibia, whose two extremities project slightly beyond it; and the accompanying drawing from the sculptures, and a sketch of the same joint taken by me at a modern table in Upper Egypt, shew how the mode of cutting it has been preserved by traditional custom to the present day.”*

* Wilk. ii. 377.

Various processes of cookery are depicted with much minuteness of detail; the meat was either roasted or boiled. In the former case it was spitted, and turned by hand over a fire of charcoal in a grate or pan, the cook maintaining the ardour of the fire by a fan which he used with his left hand. The boiling was performed in caldrons, or pots of smaller size, placed on tripods over a fire of faggots, the joints being turned or taken out by means of huge flesh-hooks of two or more prongs. Thus in the time of Eli, "the priest's custom with the people was, that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a flesh-hook of three teeth in his hand; and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that

ROASTING AND BOILING.

the flesh-hook brought up the priest took for himself." And these doubtless are "the flesh-pots," by which the children of Israel sat in the land of Egypt, when they "did eat bread to the full." +

But vegetables formed also an important and extensive part of diet, especially among the subordinate classes of society. The regrets of "the mixed multitude" who "fell a lusting," were largely for