1 SAM. X. 5.

"...Thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them."

1 SAM. Xviii. 7.

"And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands." (Psalm lxviii. 25. JER. xxxi. 4.)

JOB Xvii. 6.

"He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret."

PSALM cl. 3-5.

"Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals : praise him upon the high-sounding cymbals." (1 Col. iii. 16.)

ISAIAH XXX. 29.

"Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept."

DAN. iii. 15.

"...The cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music...."

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MATT. xi. 17.

"... We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced ; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented."

1 COR. xiii. 1.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal."

REV. xiv. 2, 3.

"I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps and they sung as it were a new song before the throne."

REV. xviii. 22.

"And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee."

There are various kinds of musical instruments mentioned in the Scriptures. The Tabret, or Tabor, was a round hoop of wood or brass, covered with a piece of skin tightly drawn, and hung round with little bells. The Cymbal was merely two large broad plates of brass, struck against each other to make a ringing sound. The Sistrum, in our version of 2 Sam. vi. 5, misrendered cornets, was a rod of iron bent into an oblong shape, and furnished with moveable rings; it was shaken, or struck with another rod of iron. The Organ was a kind of flute, composed of from one to seven pipes, made of reeds, joined together.* The Dulcimer was a wind instrument made of reeds. The Horn or Crooked Trumpet was made of the horns of oxen and rams. The Straight Trumpet was in constant use. These instruments, viz. the organ, dulcimer, horn, and trumpet were wind instruments, as also the flute and hautboy, rendered pipes by our translators.

Of stringed instruments there were the harp and psaltery; the former being the most ancient of all instruments it had ten strings. The psaltery resembled a bottle or flagon; it had twelve strings, and was played by the fingers. See HORNE on the Scriptures, vol. iii. pp. 478-9.

Among eastern nations, the night was the usual time of their more solemn entertainments. Speaking of the Moors, and their accuracy in musical performances, notwithstanding their multiplicity of instruments, and that they learn all by ear, Dr. Shaw writes, "I have often observed twenty or thirty persons playing together,

It appears to have been like the Pan pipes used by boys in England.

passing quickly from one measure to another, during a whole night, without making the least blunder or hesitation."-SHAW's Barbary, vol. i. p. 369.

“We left the rich banks of the Nile, and entered again upon the pathless desert. Soon we came upon the sea-shore, and rode along the margin. We could not observe so much as one foot-print of man or beast upon the smooth sand; the waves washing the asses' feet, while the moon rose to light us on our way. At one point our drivers, being weary, proposed encamping for the night, but Ibraim advised us to advance a little further. Upon this the young Arabs proceeded without a murmur ; and, in order to cheer the way, commenced a native dance and song. One of them, advancing a little before the rest, began the song, dancing forward as he repeated the words; when the rest, following him in regular order, joined in the chorus, keeping time by a simultaneous clapping of hands. They sang several Arabian songs in this way, responding to one another, and dancing along the firm sand of the sea-shore, in the clear beautiful moonlight. The response, the dance, and the clapping of the hands, brought many parts of the Word of God to our minds. We remembered the song of Miriam at the Red Sea, when the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances,-' and Miriam answered them; that is, Miriam sang responsively to them and also the song of the women of Israel after David's victory over the giant, they answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.' The words of the Psalmist were likewise brought to mind, O clap your hands, all ye people, shout unto God with the voice of triumph:' and again, 'Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together,' -i. e. in full choir. The responsive form of Psalm cxxxvi., and others of a like kind, were fully illustrated by this interesting scene."-Narrative of a Mission of Enquiry to the Jews, p. 61.

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"At night, we heard Antonio and the other servants of our company, singing a song of vengeance on the robbers. It was in the style of those songs we had usually heard from Arabs-a single voice leading, and then a chorus responding, with clapping of hands. It was to this effect :

Single voice.
Chorus.

Single voice.
Chorus.

'The curse of Allah rest' 'Upon the Bedouins!' Clapping hands.

'The sword of Allah come' 'Upon the Bedouins!' Clapping hands.

"In style, this resembled Psalm cxxxvi.; though in sentiment it was the reverse of its strain of thankful love."-Narrative of a Mission of Enquiry to the Jews, pp. 313, 314.

"In their longer journeys the Eastern people take leave of their relations and friends with music. Laban, therefore, complains, Why didst thou prevent me from taking leave of my daughters, going such a journey, with all due solemnity, according to the custom of my country? These Eastern songs are frequently extemporaneous. Some travellers, in 1751, were attended by a guard of Arab horsemen ; and, when the business of the day was over, these latter sat down in a circle, and, while drinking coffee, one of the company amused the others with an extempore song or story. Such were the songs of the Israelitish women, when they answered each other on the tabret; and in consequence of this Eastern custom, St. Paul exhorts Christians that their songs should be spiritual, that with their voice they should praise the Lord, and admonish and comfort each other."-See HARMER'S Observations, vol. ii., pp. 194— 196.

St. Paul speaks of psalms, hymns, and songs, alluding to the three kinds of psalms in use among the Hebrews. (Col. iii. 16.)

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EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE AND PAINTING.

EZEKIEL Viii. 8-12.

"Then said he unto me, Son of Man, dig now in the wall and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about... Then said he unto me, Son of Man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery?"

The Israelites probably had copied from the Egyptians the works mentioned in these verses. In almost all the Egyptian tombs, the walls are covered with painting, -they are literally chambers of imagery. One of them is thus described :

"This room gives the best ideas that have yet been discovered of the original process of Egyptian sculpture. The wall was previously made as smooth as possible, and when there were flaws in the rocks, the vacuum was filled up with cement, which, when hard, was cut along with the rest of the rock. Where a figure was required to be formed, after the wall was prepared, the sculptor appears to have made his first sketches of what was intended to be cut out. When the sketches were

finished by the first artist, another more skilful corrected the errors, if any; and his lines were made in black, to be distinguished from those which were imperfect. When the figures were thus prepared, the sculptor proceeded to cut out the stone all round the figure, which remained (raised from the wall*) some to

豪 In basso-relievo.