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D Y I 
provements, and to the native qualities of the ingredients 
to be ufed, become as much a fnbjeft of our enquiry, as 
the practical modes of operation. 
The origin of the art of dying appears to be much 
anterior to every ancient writer with whom we are ac¬ 
quainted ; consequently whatever is offered upon that 
fubjedft mud proceed from conjedture. The colours 
accidentally produced by the juices of fruits and flowers, 
or by the (fains of blood, might have fuggefted the firft 
idea of this art; after which a Spirit of emulation would 
naturally excite to further trials, Such as imitating the 
blue enamel of the fky, the rich and glowing tints on 
the plumage of birds, the beautiful colours of the infedt 
tribes, and of many Species of Serpents, fillies, (hells, &c. 
But it would Soon be obferved that this beauty was of 
fliort duration, and that it was neceflary to renew the 
tints by a frefli application of the colouring Subffances, 
until Some experiments which mankind might eafily 
make while they lived under the freedom of the early 
ages, or perhaps fome fortunate accident, may at length 
have taught them how the colours could be fixed, by 
the agency of falts, and other Similar Subffances. 
As mankind began to multiply, new wants would be 
created, employments would be increafed, and thofe 
devoted to the Service of religion would require to be 
diftinguiflied from the other dalles of Society. Hence 
arofe particular ranks and conditions, to which certain 
marks were to be afligned according to their funftions ; 
and for this purpofe no better or more certain means 
could be found than diverfity of drefs. In the earlieft 
ages, therefore, particular colours were allotted to the 
leaders of armies, judges, and priefts ; and for feffivals, 
funerals, and religious ceremonies. Thus, in procefs of 
time, dying would not be confidered as an art merely 
calculated to gratify vanity, but as an invention of the 
utmoff utility to fociety. 
The firft dye concerning which we have any authentic 
information, is the much-celebrated Tyrian purple. 
Almoft all the ancient authors who fpeak of this inven¬ 
tion, afcribe it to the hunger of a fhepherd’s dog, blended 
with the force of love. The dog happening to take in 
his mouth a fhell-fifh, which he found on the fea fide, 
his mouth became coloured with the purple juice it 
emitted. The fhepherd’s Sweetheart noticing the colour, 
was So (truck with it, that (lie importuned her lover to 
procure her a drefs dyed of that fame colour. The 
fhepherd foon found out the fubftance which had pro¬ 
duced fo beautiful a tint, and by thefe means difcovgred 
the art of dying purple. Some, however, afcribe this 
invention to a Tyrian named Hercules, who prefented 
the refult of his firft experiment to the king of Phoenicia, 
who was fo captivated with it, that he made purple one 
of his principal ornaments. The laft opinion appears to 
be the more probable, as the former fable may have 
originated from a play on words; for, according to Bo- 
chart, as dog and colour are exprelfed in the Syrian 
language by the fame word, the Greek writers, who 
borrowed this ftory from the Syrians, and the Romans 
who copied from the Greeks, might eafily have been led 
into an error. That a Tyrian was the inventor, is 
unanimoufly afferted by all writers ; but they diff er in 
regard to the time. Some place the invention under 
PiVcenix, the tenth king of Tyre, or about 1500 years 
before the birth of Chrifl ; others, in the time when 
Minos reigned in Crete, or about the year 1439 before 
the Chriftian .xra. The fubftance employed for making 
this expenfive colour, was the liquor of fhell-fifh, called 
by the Hebrews argaman, by the Greeks •zroptpupa, and by 
the Romans purpura , murex , and ojlrum, described in the 
article Conchologv, with figures of the (hells, vol. v. 
p. 28. 
The Tyrians gave the firft ground of their purple dye 
by the unprepared liquor of the purpura , and then im- 
roved or heightened it by a liquor, made much ftronger. 
a this manner they prepared their double dyed purple. 
N G. 
purpura dihabha , which was fo called either becaufe it was 
immerfed in two different liquors, or becaufe it was firft 
dyed in the wool, and then in the yarn. The Greeks, 
according to the account of Democritus, poured the 
liquor as it came from the fire into a veffel, immerfed 
the wool in it, and fuffered it to remain in that (late a 
day and a night. Between this method and that of the 
Romans there feems to be no efl'ential difference. The 
latter, according to Pliny, fuffered the wool to remain in 
the liquor five hours, after which they dried it ; they 
then immerfed it in the liquor again, and continued in 
this manner till it had imbibed all the dye. By thefe 
means the wool acquired a colour like that of the ante, 
thyff, and thence it was denominated color ametkyjlinus . 
The colour called conchylium, or hyacinthine, was dyed 
almoft in the fame manner, only that half as much of the 
liquor of the purpura was ufed as in the former cafe : 
and that it was mixed with one half urine and water. 
This colour, therefore, was brighter and cheaper than 
the other. Befides thefe, the ancients were acquainted 
with the method of dying with kermes, (qraines d'ccar- 
iatc,) a fcarlet colour, called in the Bible tholaat fchani 
(1eolorem coccineum), which they held in high eftimation. 
Whether the fcarlet of the ancients was the fame as 
ours, cannot be determined, but we are told by Pliny, 
that it was a very agreeable rofe colour. All thefe dyes 
are frequently confounded by ancient authors, who often 
give the name of purple to red colours ; and from this 
circumftance, and from that of various other colours 
being produced by the mixture of the before-mentioned 
four kinds of dye, the uncertainty which prevails on 
this fubjeft feems to have arifen, 
Befides Tyre there were other places celebrated either 
on account of their purple fhell-fifh, or their method of 
preparing the dye. The following are often mentioned 
in the works of the antients : the Gxtulian purple , for 
which the fhell-fifh found on the Gaetulian coaft were 
employed. A great deal of cloth, See. was dyed in par¬ 
ticular in the ifland of Madura and Porto Sancto, which 
on that account were by the antients called the Purple 
Illands, ( Inf da Purpurina.) Alfo the Lacedemonian 
purple, and the Tarentine. At firft thefe kinds of purple 
were exceedingly rare at Rome, but under Augufius 
they became the fafhionable colours ; though a pound 
of Tyrian purple wool could not be procured for lefs 
than a thoufand denarii, fomewhat more than thirty-two 
pounds fterling. The almoft incredible prices at which 
this purple was fold among the ancients, is to be under- 
ftood, in general, as applicable to this kind, as the others 
were much cheaper. The hyacinth colour, ( color con¬ 
chy lius, ) is called in the Bible thechclet, from which the 
Latin word conchylium is faid to be derived. As this 
colour did not require fo much purple liquor, it was not 
fo dear as the former colours ; and in the time of Julius 
Csefar, a pound of it coft only one hundred denarii, five 
pounds fterling. It, however, was not dark rsd, but 
had a blueifh caft. Pliny mentions three (hades of it, 
one of which he compares to the night-violet, viola 
Jerotina. The Color Tyriamethyjlus , was a mixture of the 
Tyrian purple with the amethyft colour, as the name 
indicates. Thp Color hyjgi'nus, was compofed of the 
fcarlet and Tyrian purple colours. As no fpecimens 
have been prel'erved of thefe colours, we muff be con¬ 
tented with the deferiptions given by Pliny and others ; 
for it would now be fruitlefs to attempt to obtain a more 
accurate knowledge of them. Of their durability, 
Plutarch gives a remarkable inftance in his life of 
Alexander. This prince, it is faid, found in the treafury 
of the Perfian monarch a large quantity of purple, °i8o 
years old, which ftill retained all its beauty; and the 
caufe, according to Plutarch, was, that it had been pre¬ 
pared with honey. 
As the ancients had no colour equal to the purple in 
beauty, durability, and coftlinefs, it is not f’urprifing 
that they ennobled it by the particular purpofes to which 
it 
