There are other cups devoted to the planets; having on them emblematical figures of those, the evil influence of which they are potent to avert; it may be useful here to mention the forms under which they may be recognised.

The Moon is represented as a woman holding in her hands a crescent; in the East she is the emblem of beauty, clothed in a light robe, and invested with a voluptuous air; hence their poets, when desirous of expressing the most radiant perfection, employed the phrase "moon-faced".

Mars is depicted wearing a helmet, and holding in one hand a sword, in the other a head newly severed from the body. He is the god of battles and carnage.

Mercury is always seated, having in his hand a reed (calamus), and bearing a square shaped ink-horn at his girdle; on his knees is a sheet of paper, it being his province to record all events in heaven and earth. He has consequently both the garb and the attitude of a scribe.

Jupiter is shown gravely seated, and wearing a lawyer's cap; he was believed to perform the functions of a Cadi, and of a judge, and to keep watch over the observance of the laws which govern the universe.

Venus is the goddess of pleasure. She is presented in the dress of the women who, in Eastern countries, figure at festive parties, and holding in her hand a species of lute. She is always represented draped : the Orientals hold nudity in such abhorrence that they never entirely uncover, not even in bed or in the bath. This seeming modesty is, however, a mask only, and Mussulman morals are none the purer for that.

Saturn is a cunning old man, having in one hand a staff from which hangs a gourd, and in the other a purse; he is regarded as the patron of thieves and robbers.

The Sun is generally personified as a handsome youth, with radiated head. The Orientals have respected the brilliant part which he plays in the heavens. "Heaven," according to the expression of a Persian poet, "has conferred sovereignty upon the sun, and the stars compose his army".

We see, then, how large was the influence which old ideas exercised over the Oriental imagination, since, save in some few details necessitated by their peculiar manners, they have adopted almost all the symbols of the Greek mythology. Here, according to them, is the order which the planets observe in the celestial economy. The obscure Saturn, like a sentinel in the seventh heaven, is attentive to the wishes of the Creator. Glorious Jupiter, in the sixth heaven, seated upon his throne, watches like an able judge over the fulfilment of his will. Cruel Mars, his sword stained with purple, sits in the fifth, the prompt executioner of the terrible behests of his sovereign Lord. The Sun, with crown of fire, blazes in the fourth, resplendent with the light which he has received from the Almighty. The lovely Venus, like an enchanting musician, surrounded by the utmost splendour, is seated in the third. Mercury, the wise scribe, carefully committing to writing the laws of the Omnipotent, sits in the second. The silver Moon is enthroned in the first, a lasting emblem of the power of the Creator.

We shall not here detail the astrological considerations which cause the talismans containing these images to be so eagerly sought, and which we find on the magic mirrors likewise. Let us revert to the drinking vessels, and vases with various subjects. These latter generally represent the favourite amusements of the Orientals; the chase, the combats of wild animals, the fights of man with man, and armed tournaments. We meet also with concerts of musicians, although this class of recreation was forbidden by the Koran, and something else there is too, even more strictly proscribed, the dances performed by the "Almas," or professional dancing-girls, who sing, or recite the verses of their famous poets, or improvise, while expressing in eloquent pantomime, all the various passions of human life. At first, enveloped in long veils, they seem to obey the extravagant prohibitions of the Prophet, then little by little carried away by the spirit of the poetry, they throw aside their garments, until scarce concealed by the last thin robe of gauze, they abandon themselves to all the inspirations of a frenzied imagination, and provoke the wildest outbursts of indescribable enthusiasm; whereupon the spectators fling them money, jewels, or any valuables they may wear upon their persons, and thus justify the wise previsions of the law.

The inscriptions on these vases are of even greater value than the subjects, as they often enable us to find the dates of their manufacture. We have a number of chased objects of the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, made for khalifs, sultans, and emirs; the productions of the workshops of Aleppo, Damascus, Mossoul, or Egypt; of which the execution is so perfect and so elegant that we should have to go back beyond the eleventh century to find their first origin, one meets with the names of Nour-ed-din Mahmoud, of Salah-ed-din, of Masoud, of Zenghi, Sultans who lived towards the end of the twelfth century; in the next we have all the historical personages down to the Mameluke Sultan Chaban, an ephemeral prince who appeared in 1345. If it is curious to identify the individuals for whom these articles were designed, they are still more precious in that they enable us to collect and to rescue from oblivion the names of the artists by whom they were executed.

Curved wood. (Arabian.).