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renewed exactly where it had left off. Thus these venerable dames 

 relieved each other day and night, until by a charm more effica- 

 cious than the juice of poppies, they wrought a cure. 



At these Cambay suppers I observed many striking resem- 

 blances to the manners and customs recorded by Homer and other 

 ancient writers. The feasts of the Grecian bard are often counter- 

 parts of modern orientalism, and the entertainment and presents 

 given by the governor of Egypt to the strangers from Canaan, is an 

 exact picture of what constantly occurs in an Asiatic durbar; quo- 

 tations would be endless ; but there are many passages in scripture 

 which might be illustrated by an attentive observer of modern 

 manners, particularly in that beautiful and pathetic narrative of 

 our blessed Redeemer, when a guest at the house of a rich Phari- 

 see. There the penitent Mary comes with an alabaster box of pre- 

 cious ointment, to anoint the feet of her Saviour, and to wipe them 

 with the hairs of her head. The proud host was astonished at this 

 attention being permitted from a sinner; and although he did not 

 express his sentiments upon the occasion, he internally passed sen- 

 tence upon the humble female, little imagining that his thoughts 

 were well known to a guest, who, though veiled in mortality, was 

 the great Searcher of his heart, and knew all its motions. In for- 

 merly perusing this affecting relation 1 have been surprised at the 

 admission of such a woman into the mansion of the Pharisee; but 

 when I noticed the open halls and gardens in which the oriental 

 feasts are given, the variety of strangers admitted, and the familia- 

 rities which I have seen them take, and have myself experienced, I 

 cease to wonder, and am convinced that by a minute attention to 

 scenes daily transacting before us, not only the present seeming 



