BY H. L. DAVIS. 3t 



fall into the hands of their conqueror, burned themselves, with! 

 their city and its rare art treasures." 



Eeturning to the Plaque, to the right of the city is an Olive 

 tree and a distant view perhaps intended for Bethlehem of 

 Judcea, David's birthplace. 



In the supposed view of Tyre or Sidon, the roofs of several 

 buildings appear to be surmounted by a dome or cupola, but 

 close examination shows the roofs to be flat with a lantern or 

 look-out rising from the centre of what appears to be a covered 

 verandah, and terminating in a spire. 



The Plaque is surrounded by a narrow border finely wrought 

 but partially obliterated. 



One feature worthy of note as a probable indication of the 

 great antiquity of the Plac^ue is the artist's delineation of Jesse 

 with his left arm in a sling. No modern artist would have 

 ventured on such departure from the Bible narrative. The 

 Phoenecians may possibly have possessed some record of the life 

 of David, that would have shown Jesse to have been thus crippled, 

 perhaps through injury sustained during David's encounter with 

 the Lion and Bear of which the ocr^)tures give but very meagre 

 information (1 Saml. chap, xvii, v 34 to 87). 



The anointing of David at Bethlehem of Judcea took place 

 about 2,900 years ago. Tyre and Sidon continued flourishing 

 cities a thousand years later, therefore, if the Plaque be of 

 Phoenecian manufacture, it should be between two and three 

 thousand years old. 



Phoenecia was celebrated for its hammered work in metal, 

 as early as the period of Hiram, king of Tyre. The view of a 

 city so prominently represented in the background of the Plaque, 

 would hardly have been shown without some distinct reason for 

 its appearance, and since neither Tyre, Sidon, or other port or 

 city of Phoenecia had any connection with the incident repre- 

 sented, whichever of these the city be, the only reasonable 

 inference for the artist's delineation of it, appears to be, that th&; 

 Plaque was made there. 



Israelites, even to this day, have a custom of hanging on 

 the Eastern wall of the room in which their daily prayers are re- 



