138 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



DYEING. The origin of the art of dyeing is involved in that 

 ohscurity which pervades the history of all those arts connected with 

 the common wants and necessities of life. They have originated in 

 times beyond the reach of history or tradition, and are the offspring of 

 the natural faculties of man directed by the great primeval wants of 

 food, shelter, and raiment. The art of dyeing is, of course, posterior 

 to many of these, arid is founded less on the necessities than passions 

 of mankind. A love of distinction is common to man in every stage 

 of civilisation, but that passion for admiration which is displayed in 

 a love of finery and ornament, is peculiar to him in his most barba- 

 rous and uncultivated state. Hence savage nations delight in bril- 

 liant and gaudy colors, and many paint their skins, and adorn them- 

 selves with feathers, stones, and shells of various hues. History has 

 not furnished us even with her fables on the origin of dyeing ; but 

 from analogy, as well as observation of the practice of barbarous na- 

 tions at the present day, we may trace the rude beginnings from 

 whence the art has sprung. The rich and gaudy plumage of birds, 

 the finely-spotted skins of animals, colored stones, and such other sub- 

 stances as nature herself supplies, would afford the first materials for 

 savage finery and dress. The caps and mantles of the chiefs of the 

 South Sea Islands, such as were brought home by Captain Cook, are 

 composed almost wholly of feathers richly colored. 



Purple has been almost every where a mark of distinction at- 

 tached to high birth and dignity. It was an ornament of the first 

 officers of Rome, but luxury, which was carried to great excess in 

 that capital of the world, rendered the use of it common among the 

 opulent, till the emperors reserved to themselves the right of wearing 

 it. Soon afterwards it became the symbol of their inauguration. 

 They appointed officers to superintend the manufactories, principally 

 established in Phoenicia, where it was prepared solely for their use. 

 The punishment of death was decreed against all who should have 

 the audacity to wear it, though covered with another color. The 

 penalty so tyrannically denounced against this whimsical species of 

 treason, doubtless occasioned the loss of the art of dyeing purple ; 

 first in the West, but much later in the East, where it flourished 

 considerably till the eleventh century. 



The ancients had such a veneration for this color, that it was es- 

 pecially consecrated to the service of the Deity. Moses used stuffs of 

 purple for the works of the tabernacle, and the habits of the priest. 

 The Babylonians gave purple habits to their idols ; it was the same 

 with most of the other people of antiquity. The pagans were even 

 persuaded that the purple dye had a particular virtue, and was capa- 

 ble of appeasing the wrath of their gods. Among the presents which 

 the Israelites made to Gideon, the Scriptures make mention of purple 

 habits found among the spoils of the kings of Midian. Homer gives 

 us pi linly to understand, that it only belonged to the princes to wear 



