Pharaoh." The figures at a are engaged in kneading the dough with their naked feet, which seems to be contained in a large but shallow bowl; being of thin consistence, it is carried in jars, b, b, to the pastrycooks; one of whom, c, at his table moulds the dough into fanciful forms, as that of a couching animal, and perhaps different kinds of fruit. Others, d, d, are making, or perhaps baking in a shallow baking-pan over a fire, rolls of a kind of piping resembling the macaroni of the Italians. Behind the last of these is a tall and narrow oven, which a man appears to be wiping out; or perhaps he is laying the fire. Over him (that is, in the distance,) one is occupied in stirring some confection in a pot over a fire, to which an assistant is bringing fuel. In the second line, the men e, e, are making flat cakes, which are sprinkled with aromatic seeds, (as is still the custom in Egypt,) and these are carried by the man ƒ, in the last line, to the oven g, which is now being heated. ing dough with their hands; the baskets j and k are probably kneading-troughs in which the dough was deposited to become leavened. The other figures are too imperfect to be intelligible. Figs. h and i are knead There are in this picture, beside its curiosity, one or two interesting illustrations. We rarely find an instance of an Egyptian carrying things on his head; in this scene, however, the baker carries a board or tray, covered with cakes, in that unusual manner; a valuable comment on the dream of the imprisoned officer of Pharaoh. When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and behold, I had three white baskets on my head; and in the upermost basket there was of all manner of bake-meats for Pharaoh. Gen. xl. 16, 17. The kneading-troughs appear to be baskets made of the papyrus rush, as was the ark or cradle in which the infant Moses was exposed. And this will, perhaps, explain a circumstance which has seemed somewhat obscure. When the Israelites marched out of Egypt, it is said that "their kneading-troughs were bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders,"* a mode of conveyance which would have been particularly unsuitable, if they had been made of materials so inflexible as ours. A rush-basket, however, of considerable capacity could be rolled up with as much ease as a cloth, and from its lightness would be of little burden. It is worthy of remark, that in the only cases where the word is differently translated, it is associated with the word "basket ;"-"Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store [kneading-troughs, marg.];" and again, "Cursed shall be, &c.”† In these and other representations of household occupations, one is struck with the prodigality with which human labour was employed; a fact quite in accordance with a state in which domestic slavery existed, which we know was the case. Among the presents made to Abram on his visit to Egypt, were "men-servants and maid-servants;" and "the bondwoman," Hagar, who was an Egyptian, was probably one of these. Joseph, when sold by his brethren, + Deut. xxviii. 5, 17. Gen. xii. 16. * Exod. xii. 34. seems to have been bought by the Midianite merchants as a regular article of merchandise, and to have been sold by them as such; and he became a household slave.* And the proposition of the brethren of Joseph, when accused of theft, "With whomsoever of thy servants it [the cup] is found, both let him die, and we also will be my lord's bondmen;"† argues that the institution of domestic slavery was neither uncommon nor revolting. The monuments shew that discipline was strictly maintained, that punishment was prompt, and to our ideas severe. Where the injured party was judge and executioner in his own cause, individual tyranny would of course arise. "We see these unfortunate beings [the slaves] trembling and cringing before their superiors, beaten with rods by the overseers, and sometimes threatened with a formidable whip wielded by the lady of the mansion herself." Sarai dealt so hardly with Hagar, that her patience was exhausted, and "she fled from her face."§ And by the law of Moses, the possibility of domestic chastisement producing death is supposed. "And if a man smite his servant or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand, he shall be surely punished. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished; for he is his money."|| The punishment of domestic offences is here recognised as the same appointed elsewhere for public misdemeanours, stripes with a rod. "It shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause Taylor, 7, * Gen. xxxvii. 27, xxxix. 2, § Gen. xvi. 6. † Gen. xliv. 9. Exod. xxi. 20. him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number."* The paintings depict scenes exactly correspondent to these descriptions. Men and boys are stripped, PUNISHMENT BY STRIPES. and being laid flat on the ground on their faces, receive the appointed stripes from the rod of the officer, while their feet and hands are held by his subordinates. Women are not prostrated, but are flogged across the shoulders, as they sit on their heels. It is curious that through all the changes of Egyptian society, and through all the successions of their foreign tyrannies, the stick has preserved its place as the great minister of public and private justice. So persuasive are its powers, so beneficial its results, that the Moslem inhabitants of modern Egypt have embodied their veneration for it in a proverb. "The stick came down from heaven, a blessing from God."† Egypt appears at all times to have been an unhealthy country. In the Mosaic law, "the diseases of Egypt" are spoken of as proverbial. * Deut. xxv. 2. + Wilk. ii. 40. |