circumstances in which he is seen, has been supposed to be the Vizier, or chief adviser of the king, or what we should call his prime minister. The magnificence of his dress, second only to that of the sovereign himself, his carefully and elaborately arranged hair and beard, and the peculiar form of his diadem, indicate the high dignity of this functionary; yet he meekly stood, in presence of his master, with folded hands," in that attitude of calm, passive reverence, which to this day declares in eastern courts how truly the highest personages of the empire are the slaves of the autocrat. M. Botta considers this dignitary to have been the Chief Magus; undoubtedly such a personage held a place of high consideration in the Chaldean court, for, as we before observed, we find him mentioned under this title (Rab-Mag, i.e., the Great Magus) among the chief princes of the King of Babylon, who were present at the burning of

* Valmeeki, surprised by an unexpected visit from Brahma, rose bowed, and stood with joined hands. (Ramayana i. § 2, see also § 15). Hence it appears that the same custom prevailed in Hindoostan, several centuries B. C.

This has often been illustrated; we take an example from Mr. Fraser's "History of Persia." "The Shah is, in fact, the government, the nation. All are his servants, his slaves; to be raised into affluence and favour at his pleasure, to be degraded and destroyed at his caprice without remonstrance or appeal. "There,' said Futeh Ali, one day to the British Envoy, in conversing on the difference between a king in England and in Persia,There stand Solyman Khan Kujur, and several more of the first chiefs of the empire; I can cut off all their heads if I please. Can I not?' said he, addressing them. Assuredly, Kibleh Allum! (Point of the World's adoration!) if it is your pleasure.'-Now, that is real power,' said his majesty, turning to the Envoy."

The pusillanimity of Harpagus, under the diabolical tyranny of Astyages, (Herod. i. 119) will recur to the reader.

Jerusalem (Jer. xxxix. 3, 13). The absence, however, of all religious or sacerdotal emblems, to distinguish this functionary, we think precludes the notion of his having held a religious office; while the precedence he appears to have always taken in the royal presence, and the habit, intimated by the sculptures, of frequent and familiar converse with the monarch, appear to point at the office we have indicated above. We should rather incline to identify the vulture-headed priest with the RabMag.*

Below the vizier and the cup-bearer in rank, but following close behind them, came another eunuch dressed in a long plain robe, slightly bordered and fringed, (compared with those of the officers of whom we have spoken,) wearing around his head a fillet of different form, inferior in splendour to that of the vizier, yet ornamented in front with a large button, which was probably a gem. He wore no arms; and in all probability held the responsible station of chief of the household, analogous to the modern Kislar Aga, in the Ottoman court, who superintends the harém-lik, or seraglio of the royal palace. He received his

"The Soothsayer [Magus] was a public officer, a member, if not the president, of the privy council, in the Medo-Persian Court, demanded alike for show, in order to influence the people, and for use, in order to guide the state. Hence the person of the monarch was surrounded by priests, who, in different ranks, and with different offices, conspired to sustain the throne, uphold the established religion, and conciliate or enforce the obedience of the subject. The fitness of the Magi for, and their usefulness to, an Oriental court were not a little enhanced by the pomp of their dress, the splendour of their ceremonial, and the number and gradation of the sacred associates." Dr. Beard in Cycl. Bibl.

Lit. ii. 287.

returning lord, also, with folded hands, the palms crossed the one upon the other, in front of the breast.

After this officer came the minstrels, whose duty it was to welcome their master's return with the psaltery and harp, and probably to sing to the music of their instruments the praises of his valour, his majesty, or his clemency, in measures of their own composing. Two of these only are represented in the bas-relief, but possibly, as Mr. Bonomi has suggested, these may conventionally represent a whole band. They were dressed in long robes, wore their hair and beards copious and elaborately dressed, and carried ten-stringed harps suspended in front of their breasts by a belt around the neck. These harps were of singular structure; apparently a narrow concave sounding-board formed the base, from the front of which rose at right angles a pillar terminating in an open human hand.* The strings passed from the pillar to the sounding-board across the angle, and were tightened by pegs inserted at regular distances along the former; they were thus graduated in length. Yet as no support appears to have existed between the top of the pillar and the other end of the board, it is difficult to imagine how the instrument could be put into tune, for the tightening of the strings must soon have strained the pillar out of its socket, or broken it. It is remarkable that the

* An open human hand is still not infrequently used as an ornament in the East. At the ceremonies for the commemoration of the death of Hossein, M. Morier mentions, among the gorgeously adorned paraphernalia, two poles hung with beautiful shawls, and each terminating in an expanded hand-the hand of Mohammed-studded with jewellery.-Second Journey, p. 181.

same apparent defect existed in the harps of Ancient Egypt.* Threads, perhaps of silk, hung down from the pegs to a considerable distance, and these terminated evenly in a bunch of tassels. These harps were carried under the left arm, the fingers of which hand were used to stop or twang the chords, which were struck with a plectrum carried in the right hand.

The custom of maintaining musicians in the king's court is repeatedly alluded to in Scripture. The employment of David to " play with his hand" in the palace of Saul, was indeed a requirement of that monarch's personal malady rather than of royal pomp. But in the retinue of the gorgeous Solomon we find them taking their place as regular retainers.

I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. Eccles. ii. 8.

That music ordinarily formed a part of the routine of the Persian court,† is implied in what we are told

"All the Egyptian harps," observes Sir Gardner Wilkinson," have a peculiarity, for which it is not easy to account, the absence of a pole, and consequently of a support to the bar or upper limb, in which the pegs were fixed; and it is difficult to conceive how, without it, the chords could have been properly tightened, or the bar sufficiently strong to resist the effects of their tension, particularly in those of a triangular form.”— "Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians," ii. 283.

Lyres are at this day used in India, which are of this construction, but in these the pillar leans away from the perpendicular in a direction opposite to the strain of the chords. If the whole harp was of metal, as those of Solomon's temple were, and cast in one piece, it probably would resist the tension sufficiently to be tuned.

"The king [of Persia] finally retires, for the night, into the interior