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— 169 —
" . . the Thre Kinges, with all their company, Their crownes glistning bright and oriently, With their presentes and giftes misticall. All this hehelde I in picture on the wall."
The offerings by our sovereigns of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, continued down to the present time, is referred to elsewhere in this work. Melchior was said to have presented a golden apple, formerly belonging to Alexander the Great,—made from the tribute of the world—and thirty pieces of gold.
The history of these pieces of gold is curious, showing how ingeniously these legends were dovetailed together. They were first coined by Terah, the father of Abraham, and taken by the latter, when he left the land of the Chal-dees. They were by him paid away to Ephron as part of the purchase money for the field and cave of Machpelah. The Ismaelites then, according to one account, paid them back as the price of Joseph to his brethren; and as, according to our version of the Scriptures, the price of Joseph was but twenty pieces, we may imagine the remainder were given for some other purpose; though Adam Davie, who wrote in 1312, referring to this event, says—" Ffor thritti pens thei sold that childe." The money was afterwards paid to Joseph by his brethren during the time of scarcity; and on the death of Jacob, his son paid them to the royal treasury of Sheba for spices to embalm him. The celebrated Queen of Sheba, on her visit to Solomon, presented them to him with many other gifts. In the time of his son Rehoboam, when the King of Egypt spoiled the temple, the King of Arabia, who accompanied him, received these pieces of money in his share of the plunder, and in his kingdom they remained until the time of |
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