This name, in strict propriety, is as applicable to circlets worn on the upper part of the arm as to those worn on the wrist; but as it has been found convenient to distinguish the former as Armlets, the term bracelet must be restricted to the latter. These are, and always have been, much in use among Eastern females. Many of them are of the same shapes and patterns as the armlets, and are often of such considerable weight and bulk as to appear more like manacles than ornaments. Many are often worn one above another on the same arm, so as to occupy the greater part of the space between the wrist and the elbow. The materials vary according to the condition of the wearer. Among the higher classes they are of mother-of-pearl, of fine flexible gold, and of silver, the last being the most common. The poorer women use plated steel, horn, brass, copper, beads, and other materials of a cheap description. Some notion of the size and value of the bracelets used both now and in ancient times may be formed from the fact that those which were presented by Eleazer to Rebecca weighed ten shekels (Genesis 24:22). The bracelets are sometimes flat, but more frequently round or semicircular, except at the point where they open to admit the hand, where they are flattened. They are frequently hollow, giving the show of bulk (which is much desired) without the inconvenience. Bracelets of gold twisted rope-wise are those now most used in Western Asia: but we cannot determine to what extent this fashion may have existed in ancient times.
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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