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A short time, however, had elapsed, when the upper balloon was seen to be rapidly expanding, while the aëronauts (M M. de Rozier and Romain) made every exertion to facilitate the escape of the gas. Soon afterwards the whole apparatus appeared to be on fire, and the remains of the machine descended from a height of three quarters of a mile with the mangled bodies of the voyagers.

In July, 1785, Major Money ascended in a balloon of his own construction, which unfortunately burst, and he was precipitated into the German Ocean. For five hours he remained in a situation of imminent suffering and peril, clinging to the wreck of the balloon, by the aid of which he contrived to keep himself floating. He was picked up by the Argus sloop of war, off the coast of Yarmouth.

parachute, which, being caught by a whirlwind, soon disappeared. Some time afterward, he fell in with the parachute, when the dog testified his satisfaction by barking: Blanchard descended in safety, and the parachute reached the earth shortly afterwards.

In October, 1797, M. Garnerin ascended from Paris, for the purpose of descending in a parachute. When at the height of 2000 feet, he disengaged it from the balloon: at first, the motion was slow and steady, it afterwards assumed an oscillatory motion, but he reached the earth without injury.

In 1802, he visited England, and ascended from Ranelagh Gardens, London, accompanied by a naval officer: such was the rapidity of their voyage, that in less than an hour they reached Colchester, having suffered greatly from the boisterous state of the atmosphere. In July and September of the same year, Garnerin repeated his experiments, and on the latter occasion descended in a parachute*; the result of this voyage was similar to the one mentioned above.

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PERILOUS SITUATION OF MAJOR MONEY.

The excursion of M. Testu, from Paris, in June 1786, is without a parallel, having lasted twelve hours. His balloon was furnished with wings and other apparatus for steering; when he had reached an elevation of three thousand feet, the distension of his balloon gave him serious apprehensions of a rupture; he therefore descended in a corn-field in the plain of Montmorenci. An immense crowd ran eagerly to the spot; and the proprietor of the field, exasperated at the injury his crop had sustained, seized M. Testu, and demanded indemnification; the aeronaut made no resistance, but persuaded the peasant, that having lost his wings, he could not possibly escape. The ropes were seized by a number of persons, who attempted to drag the balloon towards the village; but as, during the procession, it had acquired considerable buoyancy, Testu cut the cords, and left the disappointed peasants overwhelmed with astonishment. The temperature was at the freezing point, and particles of ice floated around him. As night approached, the blast of a horn attracted his attention, and seeing a party of huntsmen, he suffered some gas to escape, and descended. He now resigned his wings as a useless incumbrance, and reascended through a mass of electric matter. Shrouded in darkness, he was wafted about for three hours in the gloomy region of the gathering storm. The surrounding terrors, the lightning's flash and the roaring of thunders, accompanied by copious drifts of sleet and snow, did not damp his courage: a flag ornamented with gold frequently emitted sparks of fire, and was ultimately torn in pieces by the lightning. At length the elemental conflict ceased, and the stars began to appear; between two and three, the ruddy streaks of light in the cast announced the approach of day; and after beholding the rising of the sun, he descended uninjured, about 70 miles from Paris.

In August, 1787, M. Blanchard, during a voyage from Strasburg, tried an experiment with a Parachute, to which was appended a dog in a basket: at an altitude of six thousand feet, he let go the

DIFFERENT POSITIONS OF THE PARACHUTE.

In October, 1803, Count Zambeccari, Dr. Grassetti and Signor Andreoli, ascended from Bologna: the

cold was so intense that the Count and the Doctor

fell into a profound sleep; but Signor Andreoli, who had resisted this lethargic propensity, was able to the sea. They immediately discharged ballast, &c., rouse his companions previous to their descent into and again arose : they were afterwards driven towards the coast of Istria, and nearly across the Adriatic, remaining upon its surface for nearly five hours; at length, they were taken on board a vessel which lay at the distance of twenty miles from the coast.

those of Mr. Sadler, from Bristol, in 1810, and Dublin, Among the most perilous ascents on record, are

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DESCENT OF MR. SADLER IN THE IRISH CHANNEL.

similar to a large umbrella, and with a small deep basket attached to The Parachute is an apparatus with an expanding top, somewhat it, in which the aeronaut sits. It was-suspended to the balloon by ropes, so contrived as to be loosened at the pleasure of the voyager, while sailing in the air. When this was done, the balloon rapidly ascended, and the parachute, on the contrary, dropped downwards, with a frightful rapidity, until the top was forced open by the power of the air. In this form the parachute was blown about in various directions, as shown in the cut, and a zigzag and perilous descent was effected.

in 1812; on both occasions the balloon descended in the sea on the latter, the wind forced it for some time along the surface of the waves with great velocity; a flock of sea-fowl crowded around, and boldly devoured what remained of the provisions. The car now sank, and Mr. S. supported himself by the network; in this dangerous situation he was dragged through the water until a vessel approached; and, there being no alternative, the balloon was pierced with the bowsprit, and the sinking and nearly exhausted adventurer taken on board.

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end the spelling. To prove the power of his prodigious memory, a gentleman lent him a manuscript; and he returned to him some time afterwards, pretending it had been lost, requesting Magliabechí to recollect as much of it as possible, on which, it is said, that he wrote the whole of it without missing a word. Many other examples of a similar nature might be easily quoted, but to enumerate more appears unnecessary. For the improvement of the memory, a habit of strict attention is of essential importance in whatever object of pursuit we may be engaged, as well as a systematic method of procedure in study or business. Moderate and repeated exercise is also peculiarly adapted to invigorate and strengthen the memory; and indeed it is almost incredible to what extent daily use will promote this attainment. Some public orators, for example, will distinctly charge the mind with a regular discourse Such is an account of several of the most remark-within a very limited time, who at the first experiable ascents; some of our modern aëronauts have enced the greatest difficulty in attempting to do so. In ascended more than a hundred times. general, public speakers, especially those at the bar, With the exception of some trifling additions to afford striking instances of the improvement of this our stock of meteorological knowledge, the advantages noble faculty, in recollecting and refuting the arguarising from aerial navigation are far less consider-ments of their opponents, and prove to what wonderful able than were at first expected; but, though its perfection the memory may arrive by active and utility has hitherto been circumscribed, some future continued practice.- -Encyclo. Edinens. discovery may yet render it a valuable acquisition to science.

At the coronation of George IV., in 1820, Mr. Green ascended from St. James's Park in a balloon inflated with carburetted hydrogen, or coal-gas; the success of this experiment so much increased the facilities, and diminished the expense, that balloonascents have become of so common occurrence as to excite but little attention.

INSTANCES OF MEMORY.

THERE is still living, at Stirling, a blind old beggar known to all the country round by the name of Blind Alick, who possesses a memory of almost incredible strength. It was observed with astonish

AN INFANT'S PERIL. AN event, which occurred near Briançon, will give some notion of the perils of mountain-life and field-sports in these regions (the French and Italian Alps).

A peasant, with his wife and three children, had taken up his summer quarters in a châlet*, and was ment, that when he was a man, and obliged, by the depasturing his flocks on one of the rich Alps† which death of his parents, to gain a livelihood by begging about eight years of age, the second was five years overhang the Durance. The oldest boy was an idiot, through the streets of his native town of Stirling, he knew the whole of the Bible, both Old and old, and dumb, and the youngest an infant. It so New Testaments, by heart! from which you may happened, that the infant was left one morning in repeat any passage, and he will tell you the chap-bled to some distance from the châlet before they the charge of his brothers, and the three had ramter and verse; or you may tell him the chapter and verse, and he will repeat to you the passage, word for word. Not long since a gentleman, to puzzle him, read, with a slight verbal alteration, a verse of the Bible. Alick hesitated a moment, and then told where it was to be found, but said it had not been correctly delivered; he then gave it as it stood in the book, correcting the slight error that had been purposely introduced. The gentleman then asked him for the ninetieth verse of the seventh chapter of Numbers. Alick was again puzzled for a moment, but then said hastily, "You are fooling me, sirs! there is no such verse-that chapter has only eighty-nine verses." Several other experiments of the sort were tried upon him with the same success. He has often been questioned the day after any particular sermon or speech; and his examiners have invariably found, that, had their patience allowed, Blind Alick would have given them the sermon or the speech over again.-St. James's Chronicle.

Numerous individuals have been celebrated for

their amazing recollective powers of mind; Scaliger, it is said, could repeat a hundred verses or more, after having read them a single time; and Seneca says, he could repeat two thousand words on hearing them once, although they had no dependence or connexion with each other. Perthicus prepared his comment upon Claudian without referring to the text; and the learned Florentine, Magliabechi, is recorded to have possessed such powers of retention, as to be capable of recollecting not only the sense of what he read, but likewise at times the very words

He

were missed. When the mother went in search of
the little wanderers, she found the two elder, but
could discover no traces of the baby. The idiot boy
seemed to be in a transport of joy, while the dumb
child displayed every symptom of alarm and terror.
In vain did the terrified parent endeavour to collect
the one, and the fright of the other, explained
what had become of the lost infant. The antics of
nothing. The dumb boy was almost bereft of his
senses, whilst the idiot appeared to have acquired
an unusual degree of mirth and expression.
if he were imitating the action of one who had caught
danced about, laughed, and made gesticulations, as
up something of which he was fond, and hugged it
fort to the poor woman, for she imagined that some
to his heart. This, however, was some slight com-
acquaintance had fallen in with the children, and
had taken away the infant. But the day and night
wore away, and no tidings of the lost child. On
the morrow, when the parents were pursuing their
of which the idiot renewed his antics, and the dumb
search, an eagle flew over their heads, at the sight
boy clung to his father with the shrieks of anguish
their minds, that the miserable infant had been
and affright. The horrible truth then burst upon
carried off in the talons of a bird of prey, and that
the half-witted boy was delighted at the riddance of
an object of which he was jealous.

* A small cabin, or shed, for the summer.

Alp, in its original acceptation, does not signify mountainheight, but mountain-herbage, fed off by flocks and herds sent to depasture there

On the morning in which the accident happened, an Alpine hunter

Whose joy was in the wilderness—to breathe The difficult air of the iced mountain's top, had been watching near an eagle's nest, under the hope of shooting the bird, upon her return to the eyry. After waiting with all the anxious perseverance of a true sportsman, he beheld the monster slowly winging her way towards the rock behind which he was concealed. Imagine his horror, when, upon a nearer approach, he heard the cries and distinguished the figure of an infant, in her fatal grasp. In an instant, his resolution was formed-to fire at the bird at all hazards, the moment she should alight upon the nest, and rather to kill the child, than allow it to be torn to pieces by the horrid devourer. With a silent prayer, and a steady aim, the mountaineer poised his rifle. The ball went directly through the head or the heart of the eagle, and in a minute afterwards this gallant hunter of the Alps had the unutterable delight of snatching the child from the nest, and bearing it away in triumph. It was dreadfully wounded by the eagle's talons in one of its arms and sides, but not mortally; and within twenty-four hours after it was first missed, he had the satisfaction of returning it to its mother's arms. -GILLIES' Second Visit to the Vaudois.

ON THE SABBATH.

WITHOUT reference to the divine origin of the Sabbath, the appropriation of one day in the week for religious and moral instruction, for reflection on our duties, our errors, and the means of amendment; for reviewing our condition here, and weighing our hopes hereafter, seems the wisest institution, for the promotion of virtue and happiness.

It is thus alone that the hard-wrought labourer finds leisure to receive instruction, or to communicate to his children the fruit of his experience; while the eager man of business, as well as the abandoned libertine, meeting with these frequent intervals of religious worship, are led to think of their duties, as well as of their gains or their pleasures. From this spring of instruction and serious reflection, knowledge and good morals naturally flow; and the blessings of a wise and vigorous government become inviolable, because they become thoroughly understood.-Lives of eminent British Statesmen.

PRIDE urges men to inquire into the philosophy of Divine Truth. They are not contented, for example, with the account which the Bible gives of the origin of evil, and its actual influence on mankind; but they would supply what God has left untold. They would explain the fitness and propriety of things. A mathematician may summon his scholars round his chair, and from self-evident principles deduce and demonstrate his conclusions: he has axioms; but concerning evil, we have none. A Christian may say on this subject, as Sir Christopher Wren did concerning the roof of King's College Chapel-"Show me how to fix the first stone, and I will finish the building." Explain the origin of evil, and I will explain every other difficulty respecting evil. We are placed in a disposition and constitution of things under a righteous governor. If we will not rest satisfied with this, something is wrong in our state of mind. It is a solid satisfaction to every man who has been seduced into foolish inquiries, that it is utterly impossible to advance one inch by them. He must come back to rest in God's appointment. He must come back to sit patiently, meekly, and with docility, at the feet of a teacher.-CECIL.

THE religious pleasure of a well-disposed mind moves gently, and therefore constantly. It does not affect by rapture and ecstacy, but is like the pleasure of health, still and sober, yet greater and stronger than those which call up the senses with grosser impressions.-SOUTH.

THE MOLE. (Talpa europæus, LINN. THERE are many animals in which the Divine wisdom may be more agreeably illustrated; yet the uniformity of its attention to every article of the creation, even the most contemptible, by adapting the parts to its destined course of life, appears more evident in the mole than in any other animal.

A subterraneous abode being allotted to it, the seeming defects of several of its parts vanish; which instead of appearing maimed, or unfinished, exhibit a most striking proof of the fitness of their contrivance. The breadth, strength and shortness of the fore-feet, which are inclined sideways, answer the use as well as form of hands; to scoop out the earth, to form its habitation, or to pursue its prey. Had they been longer, the falling in of the earth would have prevented the quick repetition of its strokes in working, or have impeded its course: the oblique position of the fore-feet has also this advantage, that it flings all the loose soil behind the animal.

The form of the body is not less admirably contrived for its way of life: the fore-part of it is thick and very muscular, giving great strength to the action of the fore-feet: enabling it to dig its way with amazing force and rapidity, either to pursue its prey, or elude the search of the most active enemy. The form of its hind parts, which are small and taper, enables it to pass with great facility through the earth, that the fore-feet had flung behind; for had each part of the body been of equal thickness, its flight would have been impeded, and its security precarious.

The smallness of the eyes (which gave occasion to the ancients to deny it the sense of sight), is to this animal a peculiar happiness; a small degree of vision is sufficient for an animal ever destined to live underground: had these organs been larger they would have been perpetually liable to injuries by the earth falling into them; but Nature, to prevent that inconvenience, hath not only made them very small, but also covered them very closely with fur. Anatomists mention, besides these, a third very wonderful contrivance for their security; and inform us, that each eye is furnished with a certain muscle, by which the animal has power of withdrawing or exerting them, according to its exigences.

To make amends for the dimness of sight, the Mole is amply recompensed by the great perfection of two other senses, those of hearing and of smelling: the first gives it notice of the most distant approach of danger; the other, which is equally exquisite, directs it, in the midst of darkness, to its food; the nose, also, being very long and slender, is well formed for thrusting into small holes, in search of the worms and insects that inhabit them. These gifts may with reason be said to compensate the defect of sight, as they supply in this animal all its wants, and all the purposes of that sense, and it is therefore amply supplied with every necessary accommodation of life.

The Mole breeds in the spring, and brings forth four or five young at a time; it makes its nest of moss, and that under the largest hillock, a little below the surface of the ground. The Mole is observed to be most active, and to cast up most earth, immediately before rain, and in the winter before a thaw, because at those times the worms and insects begin to be in motion, and approach the surface. On the contrary, in very dry weather, this animal seldom or never forms any hillock, as it penetrates deep after its prey, which at such seasons retires far into the ground. The Mole shows great art in skinning a worm, which it always does before it eats it,

stripping the skin from end to end, and squeezing out all the contents of the body.

THE MOLE.

The under-ground passages formed by the burrows of the moles, are generally connected with a sort of chamber, in which the nest is made, and the young deposited. The moles often traverse these passages to and from their nests; and which probably act as traps, where worms, beetles, and grubs, that constitute the chief food of the moles, often are caught by them. In gardens and corn-fields, moles often do much damage, by loosening the earth at the roots of plants. In meadows, they also do some injury, but there they assist also in draining the land. quantity of grubs, beetles, and worms which they consume is very great, and very beneficial. They have been accused of eating the seed and roots of plants; but it is very uncertain whether they feed on either. It is also doubtful whether the sight of the mole is so imperfect as has been supposed; it may be suited to the obscurity of their under-ground dwellings and habits, though the light above-ground overpowers it. M. S. L. I.

THE MONKEYS AND THE CAMEL.

Two monkeys, passionate and vain,
Possess'd of far more tongue than brain,
Disputed long, in language high,
On matters of Zoology.

Said Jacko," Well, we live and learn;
And you will wonder in your turn;
I find there grows, (O wondrous lack!)
No huneh upon a Camel's back."
"Pooh! folly!" cried his brother ape,
"You quite forget the Camel's shape;
I never saw a Camel yet,
Without a hunch-my life I'll bet!
I rode one lately as my hack,
And FELT the hunch upon his back!"
"'Tis false, Sir Pug, and very hard
Thus to be doubted: here's my card
I'll say no more about the brute,
Let pistols settle the dispute."

And then, as all was fitly timed,
The paces measured, pistols primed,
The world had held two monkeys less,
All through this mutual redress.
Had not the seconds interfered,
And thus the point of quarrel clear'd:
"Error and truth to each belong,
You both are right, and both are wrong
The Camel's hunch, by Nature's laws,
When food has fail'd, and hunger gnaws,
Oft proves a gift benignly sent,
To aid the creature's nourishment,
And, guarding thus from famine's shock,
Contributes to the general stock.
The very hunch Sir Pug admired
In yonder Camel, has retired;

And when that hunch had ceased to be,
Then, Jacko, 'twas not seen by thee:
Put up your pistols, use your eyes,
And learn from Nature to be wise."
The positive and angry wight,
Is seldom altogether right,

M.

The

THE MONTH OF JULY. THIS month, in the Alban Calendar, was called Quintilis, it being, as the name denotes, the fifth in their year, which consisted of but ten months, of very unequal length, some having thirty-six, while to others were assigned no more than sixteen days. Romulus equalized the number of days, giving to the months, alternately, thirty-one and thirty; but he did not attempt to regulate the supplementary days used in the Alban Calendar, to complete the period of the Solar year. Numa formed them into two additional months of twenty-nine and twenty-eight days, which he placed before Martius, (March,) making his year to begin on the first of Januarius; and thus July became the seventh month of the year, though it retained its name of Quintilis until Mark Antony, in compliment to Julius Cæsar, and as a lasting memorial of the benefit he had conferred on the world at large, by rectifying the hitherto confused and irregular method of dividing the year, changed its name to Julius (July). The Saxons called this month Hew Monat, or Hey Monath, because in it they generally mowed and gathered in their hay; it was also called Maed Monath, because at this season the meads are covered with bloom. On the 23rd the sun enters Leo; therefore, in most allegorical representations, the principal figure is accompanied by a lion. The fact, that about this time, that bright star in the constellation of Canis Major, called Sirius, or the Dog Star, rises with the sun, has caused the period between the 3rd of July and 11th of August to bear the name of the Dog Days. The ancients supposed that the malignant influence of this star, when in conjunction with the sun, caused the sea to boil, wine to become sour, dogs to grow mad, and all other creatures to languish, while in men it produced fevers and otner malignant disorders; these exaggerated notions of its baneful effects are now dispelled, but still the period bears the name, and we anticipate with dread the heat of the Dog Days, though, in our variable climate at least, the weather during this period is frequently less sultry than at other times.

ANNIVERSARIES IN JULY.
MONDAY, 1st.

1696 The Battle of the Boyne, at which both James II. and William III. were present. James, being completely defeated, fled to Waterford, where he took ship for France, and abandoned for ever his pretensions to the crown of England. TUESDAY, 2nd.

1644 The Battle of Marston Moor, in which the Royalists were defeated by the Parliamentary army. WEDNESDAY, 3rd.

[graphic]

The Dog Days begin.

1819 A comet of great brilliancy appeared in the North. THURSDAY, 4th.

1533 John Fryth, a native of Sevenoaks, in Kent, and educated at Cambridge, having become a convert to the doctrines of Luther, was burnt at Smithfield.

1761 Died Samuel Richardson, author of Sir Charles Grandison, &c. He was the first who endeavoured to render works of fiction the medium for conveying moral instruction. 1776 The British Colonies, in North America, declared themselves independent.

1816 Died, in the seventy-ninth year of his age, Richard Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, the temperate, learned, and able defender of Christianity against the gross attacks of Paine, and the not less dangerous insinuations of Gibbon. FRIDAY, 5th.

1100 Jerusalem taken by the Crusaders. The idea of rescuing the Holy Sepulchre from the Infidels, a scheme at once so bold, and apparently so hopeless, was first suggested by a recluse, afterwards known as Peter the Hermit. Inflamed by his zeal, princes and warriors entered with enthusiasm into the project; all ranks and ages shared the phrensy of the moment; and, if we may believe contemporary authors, six millions of persons assumed the cross. It was impossible to stem such a torrent; all Syria and Palestine fell, and the triumphant banner of the Cross was planted on Mount Sion.

1635 The Battle of Sedgemoor, in which the Duke of Monmouth was defeated.

1718 Peter the Great, moved by suspicion and jealousy, condemned to death his only son: the unfortunate young man did not live for this cruel sentence to be executed, but is said to have died of horror on hearing it read.

SATURDAY, 6th.

1415 John Huss, a follower of the doctrines of Wickliffe, was condemned and burned for heresy at Constance, a city in the south of Germany.

1484 Coronation of Richard III. and his Queen, Anne.

1553 Expired at Greenwich, in his sixteenth year, Edward VI., the last male descendant of the line of Tudor. His early virtues, and firm adherence to the reformed religion, rendered his death an irreparable loss.

1815 The Allied Forces of England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, entered Paris after the Battle of Waterloo. SUNDAY, 7th.

FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

1307 Death of Edward I. Having conceived the vast project of uniting under one sovereign the whole Island of Britain, he pursued it to the last hour of his life.

1647 Thomas Aniello, better known by the name of Masanielle, raised a sudden revolt among the lazzaroni of Naples, and, for the moment, held the lives of the magistrates and inhabitants at his mercy; but, being accused of betraying the interests of the rabble, he was murdered, after having enjoyed his sudden elevation but eight days.

LONDON:

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JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND,

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UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.

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We now proceed to give some account of the Cavern Temples and Tombs of Egypt, according to the division of the subject proposed in a former number. THE long but narrow valley through which the river Nile flows, constitutes the countries of Egypt and Nubia; the former extending from the coast of the Mediterranean, through seven and a half degrees of latitude, or about 600 miles, to where the river, forcing its passage through the mountains, forms the cataracts of Syene, near the island of Philæ, in 24° N. This valley is on an average only nine miles in width as far as Cairo, but from thence, the mountains which bound it recede on either side, and the river divides into several channels, forming the Delta of the Nile. Lower Nubia is the continuation of this valley above, or South of Philæ, and extends for about two degrees of latitude: beyond this the valley widens, and the country is elevated, forming what is now termed Upper Nubia. The vast and barren sandy deserts which lie on both sides, beyond the mountain-chains, are the sources whence those torrents of sand are brought by the periodical winds, which have nearly buried so many of the stupendous monuments of the earliest inhabitants of this ancient country.

The magnificent edifices which adorn in almost uninter rupted successions, the banks, islands, and adjoining plains of the Nile, are formed of materials derived from these mountains, which consist of granite, sand-stone, and other rocks, best adapted for architectural purposes.

The excavations made by quarrying for this purpose were enlarged, and appropriated to the reception of the bodies of their dead. Whether this appropriation was suggested by their existence, or whether the custom of preserving the corpse caused the necessity for such receptacles, cannot be perhaps determined; but it is certain, that catacombs are found in th neighbourhood of all the ancient VOL. II.

cities on the Nile, some of which obviously have been originally formed by the removal of stone for building. Though a general similarity of style pervades the architecture of these structures, yet they are of very different dates, and are the works of very different people.

Neither the limits nor the object of these papers, will admit of our entering into any detailed account of the age or date of these wonders of Egypt, the subject being perhaps the most obscure and uncertain of any which has occupied the attention of historians; but it may be necessary to state to our readers, that in proportion as more knowledge of ancient Egyptian history is gained by investigation of the inscriptions and hieroglyphics*, found so universally on the ruins, the extravagantly high antiquity attributed to some of these edifices is proved to be unfounded.

As it is impossible to make mention of any Egyptian work of art, without constant allusion to the hieroglyphics so universally found on them, it will be as well to give our readers a very succinct account of this kind of language.

The term is derived from two Greek words, meaning sacred carving, because it was employed on religious edifices; but it is applied to the mode of recording ideas, by means of pictures or representations of objects, instead of by means of words, or the conventional representations of sounds, as is done by common written languages. The trouble of giving a real representation soon caused an abridgement into a symbol of the object, which, subsequently, was further modified till it bore but a very imperfect and obscure relation to the thing intended to be expressed.

The characters, therefore, used for this purpose by the Egyptians before their conversion to Christianity, were of three kinds: the first, or hieroglyphic, properly so called, was formed of real images of visible objects; the second, called hieratic, consisted of very coarse and obscure outlines of the whole, or of only parts, of the objects further reduction: consequently the two latter were gradual apintended to be expressed; and the third, called demotic, was a still proximations to common written characters, only that they still bore some resemblance to the object, instead of being merely forms ex

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