We read of tents very early in the Scriptures. Jabal, it is said, "was the father of such as dwell in tents," Gen. iv. 20. Most likely this passage refers to him as the inventor of them. The Patriarchs, we are often informed, "dwelt in tabernacles," or tents, Heb. xi. 9. Each one appears to have had a separate tent. Sarah's tent, we are told, was assigned to Rebekah, Gen. xxiv. 67. Jacob, Rachel, and Leah had their particular tents, Gen. xxxi. 33. They were frequently pitched beneath the shade of a tree; this was the case with that of Abraham on the plains of Mamre, Gen. xviii. 4. The prophetess

Deborah dwelt under a palm tree,-no doubt, in a tent,-in Mount Ephraim, Judges, iv. 5.

Tents were rendered firm, as with us, by cords and stakes, and could be easily enlarged by lengthening the one and strengthening the other; to which there is an allusion in Isaiah, liv. 2. Travellers in the east generally fix their tents near some spring, or fountain, or river, 1 Sam. xxix. 1; xxx. 21.

The whole nation of the Israelites lived forty years in tents, in the wilderness. That they might recollect the circumstance, and God's goodness in that memorable journey, God commanded them annually to forsake their usual dwellings, and to live for a season in tents, Levit. xxiii. 39-43. Something like this command is still observed by the Jews in their Feast of Tabernacles.

Tents are made of various materials. Many

M

consist of only a coarse cloth of goats' hair, suspended on a few sticks, not better or so good as many which are common among us.

You mean the tents of the gipsies, father?

Yes, Harry; according to the accounts of travellers, many tents in the east are not superior, and many even worse than these. But not a few, on the contrary, are very superb. Travellers speak of some which have been three or even four years in making. That of Nadir Shah was covered over with scarlet broadcloth, lined with satin of a violet colour, and adorned with figures of animals and flowers, which were all formed of pearls and precious

stones.

To show the entire ruin which should fall on Babylon, the prophet said, "Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherd dwell there;" that is, it shall be utterly

forsaken: and the prediction has been minutely fulfilled.

I wonder, father, that preachers do not more often notice the customs of the east, as they throw so much light on Scripture.

It is surprising.

CLIMATE.

NOTICE Gen. xxxi. 40. "In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night." This is the complaint of Jacob. With us, the days and nights bear a considerable resemblance to each other; but there is a much greater difference at some seasons in the east. "In the lower Asia, in particular," says Sir J. Chardin, "the day is always hot; and as soon as the sun is fifteen degrees above the horizon, no cold is felt in the depth of winter itself. On the contrary,

in the height of summer the nights are as cold as at Paris in the month of March. It is for this reason that in Persia and Turkey they always make use of furred habits in the country, such only being sufficient to resist the cold of the nights."

FIRE.

READ Leviticus, vi. 13. "The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out."

I recollect, father, the Romans had a fire that was never to go out. I read of it, the other day, in Goldsmith's Roman History. It was kept up by the Vestal Virgins.

Yes: and there are other examples of sacred perpetual fires. Sir W. Jones tells us, in the Asiatic Researches, that the priests among the fire-worshippers of Persia, when they enter on