of the good or ill success of the enterprises in which we are about to
engage.

What the divination by the cup was which Joseph practised, or
pretended to practise, we do not perhaps exactly understand. We all of
us know somewhat of the predictions, to this day resorted to by
maid-servants and others, from the appearance of the sediment to be
found at the bottom of a tea-cup. Predictions of a similar sort are
formed from the unpremeditated way in which we get out of bed in a
morning, or put on our garments, from the persons or things we shall
encounter when we first leave our chamber or go forth in the air, or
any of the indifferent accidents of life.


AUGURY.

Augury has its foundation in observing the flight of birds, the sounds
they utter, their motions whether sluggish or animated, and the
avidity or otherwise with which they appear to take their food. The
college of augurs was one of the most solemn institutions of ancient
Rome.


CHIROMANCY.

Chiromancy, or the art of predicting the various fortunes of the
individual, from an inspection of the minuter variations of the lines
to be found in the palm of the human hand, has been used perhaps at
one time or other in all the nations of the world.