Theological Essays and Other Papers — Volume 2 — John Shaqi
Theological Essays and Other Papers — Volume 2De Quincey, Thomas
History
Theological Essays and Other Papers — Volume 2
De Quincey, Thomas
English essays -- 19th century
V. To what I said, in the first scene of my exhibition, about the
Hebrew ear-ornaments, I may add,
1. That sometimes, as Best remarked of the Hindoo dancing-girls, their
ears were swollen from the innumerable perforations drilled into them
to support their loads of trinketry.
2. That in the large pendants of coral which the Hebrew ladies were
accustomed to attach to their ears, either in preference to jewels,
or in alternation with jewels, they particularly delighted in that
configuration which imitated a cluster of grapes.
3. That, in ear-rings made of gold, they preferred the form of drops,
or of globes and bulbs.
4. That of all varieties, however, of this appendage, pearls maintained
the preference amongst the ladies of Palestine, and were either strung
upon a thread, or attached by little hooks--singly or in groups,
according to their size. This taste was very early established amongst
the Jews, and chiefly, perhaps, through their intercourse with the
Midianites, amongst whom we find the great Emirs wearing pearl ornaments
of this class.
_Mutatis mutandis_, these four remarks apply to the case of the nose
ornaments.
SCENE THE SECOND.
I. THE HAIR.--This section I omit altogether; though with more room
at my disposal, it would be well worth translating as a curiosity. It
is the essay of a finished and perfect knave, who not merely being
rather bare of facts, but having literally not one solitary fact of
any kind or degree, sits down to write a treatise on the mode of
dressing hair amongst Hebrew ladies. Samson's hair, and the dressing
it got from the Philistines, is the nearest approach that he ever makes
to his subject; and being conscious that this case of Samson and the
Philistines is the one sole allusion to the subject of Hebrew hair
that he is possessed of, he brings it round upon the reader as often
perhaps as it will bear--viz. not oftener than once every sixth page.
The rest is one continued shuffle to avoid coming upon the ground; and
upon the whole, though too barefaced, yet really not without ingenuity.
Take, by way of specimen, his very satisfactory dissertation on the
particular sort of combs which the Hebrew ladies were pleased to
patronize.
'COMBS.--Whether the ladies of Palestine had upon their toilette a
peculiar comb for parting the hair, another for turning it up, &c.;
as likewise whether their combs were, as in ancient Rome, made of
box-wood, or of ivory, or other costly and appropriate material, all
these are questions upon which I--am not able, upon my honor, to
communicate the least information. But, from the general silence of
antiquity, prophets and all, [Footnote 7] upon the subject of Hebrew
combs, my own private opinion is, that the ladies used their fingers
for this purpose; in which case, there needs no more to be said on the
subject of Hebrew combs.'
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