Of the Ancients. 2903 



Mr. Osburn supposes, and perhaps with justice, that these were im- 

 printed upon the scarlet, in much the same manner as spots of a simi- 

 lar character are produced upon the calico prints of the present day ; 

 and with reference to them he says, " the broidered work mentioned 

 in these two passages of Ezekiel may be the printed cloth we have 

 just described;" (p. 117). But I think your readers will almost unani- 

 mously be of opinion that Mr. Osburn is unfortunate in his supposi- 

 tion ; and that the prophet is evidently referring to those dresses, 

 which, besides being of the finest wool and the most splendid colours, 

 had their beauty and value still further enhanced by a variety of 

 figures sewed upon them in threads of silver and gold. Hence, 

 as every one knows, the phrase to embroider is in Latin acn pingere, 

 literally to paint with a needle; and Virgil, describing the dress of a 

 warrior arrayed more splendidly than usual, says of him, pictus acu 

 chlamydem, painted with a needle as to his chlamys ; or, as we 

 should say in English, having on an embroidered military cloak; 

 (JEnead. lib. 9, v. 582). 



But, although the painting in question would certainly appear to 

 throw no light whatever on the enquiry as to what was the particular 

 tint of the royal purple of Tyre, it is nevertheless, beyond all doubt, 

 an object of very great interest ; and it may, perhaps, go far in sup- 

 plying us with satisfactory grounds for more conclusions than one. 

 For instance, we should not for a moment be inclined in the present 

 day to regard the scarlet tint, which it exhibits, as at all remarkable 

 for clearness and brilliancy. On the contrary, it has no little of a 

 muddy complexion, and of a tendency towards a dusty red ; and from 

 this we should be inclined to infer that, when the writers of antiquity 

 speak of the intensity and lustre of the dyes which were in their day 

 the most famous, they ought to be understood in a relative, rather 

 than in an absolute sense ; that these dyes appeared so exquisite to 

 them only in the absence of others still more exquisite ; and that the 

 dyes of the times in which we ourselves live, are not only obtained 

 from sources different from theirs, but that they are communicated by 

 a more scientific and skilful process ; and are, consequently, superior 

 both in permanency and in beauty.* With respect, moreover, to the 



* There is in Duff House, the principal seat of the Earl of Fife, a large piece of 

 Gohelin tapestry, which I have often looked at with admiration. The colours con- 

 tained in it are of the most intense and brilliant description, The various shades of 

 red, such as crimson and scarlet, are especially vivid and glowing ; and, in compari- 

 son, the scarlet of the Egyptian painting, of which we have been speaking, must be 

 regarded as dull and insipid. 



