Amongst the infatuated votaries of the powers of darkness, the most acceptable offering was _the blood of their children_. If the parents were not at hand to make an immediate offer, _the magistrates did not fail to select those who were most fair and promising_, that the demon might not be defrauded of his dues. On one occasion, _two hundred of the prime nobility were sacrificed together_.--BRYANT’S _Observations_, p. 279, etc. PAGE 213. _... bracelet_ The bracelet, in the East, was an emblem of royalty.--D’HERBELOT, p. 541. For want of a more proper term to denominate the ornament _serkhooj_, the word _aigret_ is here used. PAGE 214. _... mutes_ It has been usual, in Eastern courts, from time immemorial, to retain a number of mutes. These are not only employed to amuse the monarch, but also to instruct his pages in an art to us little known, of communicating everything by signs, lest the sounds of their voices should disturb the sovereign.--HABESCI’S _State of the Ottoman Empire_, p. 164. The mutes are also the secret instruments of his private vengeance, in carrying the fatal string. PAGE 215. _Prayer announced at break of day_ The stated seasons of public prayer, in the twenty-four hours, were five: daybreak, noon, midtime between noon and sunset, immediately as the sun leaves the horizon, and an hour and a half after it is down. PAGE 216. _Skulls and skeletons_ Both were usually added to the ingredients already mentioned. These magic rites sufficiently resemble the witch scenes of Middleton, Shakespeare, etc., to show their Oriental origin. Nor is it to be wondered if, amongst the many systems adopted from the East, this should have been in the number. It may be seen, from the Arabian Tales, that magic was an art publicly taught; and Father Angelo relates of a rich enchanter, whom he knew at Bassora, that his pupils were so numerous as to occupy an entire quarter of the city. PAGE 219. _Flagons of wine and vases of sherbet reposing on snow_ Sir John Chardin speaks of a wine much admired in the East, and particularly in Persia, called _roubnar_; which is made from the juice of the pomegranate, and sent abroad in large quantities. The Oriental sherbets, styled by St. Jerome, _sorbitiunculæ delicatæ_, consisted of various syrups (such as lemon, liquorice, capillaire, etc.) mixed with water. To these, Hasselquist adds several others, and observes, that the sweet-scented violet is a flower greatly esteemed, not only for its smell and colour, but, especially, for its use in _sherbet_; which, when the Easterns intend to entertain their guests in an elegant manner, is made of a solution of violet-sugar. Snow, in the _rinfrescos_ of a hot climate, is almost a constant ingredient. Thus, in the _Arabian Nights_, Bedreddin Hassan, having filled a large porcelain bowl with sherbet of roses, put snow into it. PAGE 219. _... a parchment_