In the middle of the room stood the table, which in the east is always low, because the guests either lie around it on sofas, or sit on carpets. On this occasion, however, there was neither sofa nor carpet near the table, which stood apart, as if the preparations were but half finished. It was about the middle of the second hour of evening (half past seven) when the company, consisting of nineteen persons, assembled around the table. Every one, though splendidly clad, appeared prepared for a journey. With sandals on their feet, which at other times were not worn in a room, but given to the slaves to be placed at the door, with their garments girt, and a staff in their hands, they surrounded the table. A large vessel filled with wine immediately from the cask, stood upon it, and the meal began by the master of the house blessing it. He laid hold of it with both hands, lifted it up with the right, and said, “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, thou king of the world, who hast given us the fruit of the vine;” and the whole assembly said, “Amen.” Next he blessed the day, and thanked God for having given them the Passover: and then, drinking first himself from the cup, sent it round to the rest. When this was over, he began again; “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, thou king of the world, who hast sanctified us by thy precepts, and commanded us to wash our hands.” He and the whole company then washed their hands in a silver basin, with water poured from an ewer of the same metal. This was the emblem of purification, and implied, that every one should come with a pure heart, as well as clean hands, to partake of the paschal meal. The unleavened bread, (flat cakes with many small holes in them,) the bitter herbs, a vessel with vinegar, the paschal lamb, were placed upon the table, and last of all the _charoseth_, a thick pottage of apples, nuts, figs, almonds, and honey, boiled in wine and vinegar, and not unfrequently made in the form of a brick or tile, to remind the Israelites of their Egyptian slavery, and strewed with cinnamon, in imitation of the straw which was mixed with the clay. The master of the house then spoke again; “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, who hast given us of the fruits of the earth.” He dipped some of the herbs in vinegar, and the whole company did the same. At this moment, the mistress touched her little grandson, a child of ten years old. Children were always present at this festival, and one design of its establishment was, that the son should learn from the lips of his father the event to which it referred, and the remembrance of it might thus be propagated to the most distant posterity.[114] The child understood the hint, and asked his grandfather, why on this night alone the guests stood around the table, instead of sitting or lying. With dignity and solemnity, the grandfather, turning to the child, related to him how their forefathers had been oppressed in Egypt, and how the Lord had