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write his name upon the letters they send to a distance, as a kind of talisman to secure them a safe conveyance. Religious Ceremonies, vol. VII. p. 74, n. Sale's Koran, ch. xviii. and notes.
Page 69.—painting the eyes of the Circassians.
It was an ancient custom in the East, which still continues, to tinge the eyes of women, particularly those of a fair complexion, with an impalpable powder, prepared chiefly from crude antimony, and called surmeh. Ebni'l Motezz, in a passage translated by Sir W. Jones, hath not only ascertained its purple colour, but also likened the violet to it.
Viola collegit folia sua, similia
Collyrionigro, quod bibit lachrymas die discessus,
Velut si esset super vasa in quibus fulgent
Primæ ignis flammulæ in sulphuris extremis partibus.
This pigment, when applied to the inner surface of the lids, communicates to the eye (especially if seen by the light of lamps) so tender and fascinating a languor, as no language is competent to express. Hence the epithet
