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fifteenth centuries, I can so far sympathize with their notions as to perceive that the aim of that school was faith, and faith alone. In this sense, too, Egyptian art possesses a beauty which is wanting in the lovely creations of Greece, namely, the beauty derived from a pervading religious tone. The Egyptians believed in their mystical Theogeny, while the Greek artists were half sceptics in the Polytheism which they illustrated.

Leaving the beautiful tombs of the kings and their desolate valley of rocks, we ascended a steep mountain-path, and so crossed the range which separates them from the fertile plain of Thebes. The steep and narrow path-way ascending the side of a precipice would have been dangerous with any horses less surefooted than the Arabs, and it was not unpleasant to find oneself on the summit of the hills, the more so as that position afforded the finest view I had seen in Egypt. In looking down upon the vast plain of Thebes, I endeavoured to picture to myself the Hundred-Gated City, extending in colossal splendour over the broad flat lands, where the corn waives, and which the Nile has lately irrigated. Far away to the east is a range of fantasticallyshaped sand-hills, the boundary of the Eastern Desert. On either side of the Nile are great landmarks indicating some of the features of the departed city. On the eastern side of the river are the two clumps of Luxor and Karnak, (the former to the south of the latter) lying at about a mile and a half apart. On the western side, beneath my feet, was the great Temple-Palace of Medinet-Haboo, to my right (i. e. south); a little to the north of that Temple, the Twin Colossi of the plain; north again of these the ruined Ramesium; and, still farther to the left, enshrouded in

a grove of Palm and dwarf Cypress, the Temple and Palace of old Koorneh, Dayr-el-Medinëh, and other smaller ruins are also visible but those I have mentioned are the great land-marks of Thebes. There was a grand thoroughfare, "The Royal Street," reaching from the Twin Colossi to El Uxur and traversing the broad Nile by a bridge of boats. Another great street ran north and south, connecting Luxor with El Karnak. The avenue of Sphinxes still marks its exact course. A third street with a bridge of boats to span the river, conducted from the mighty piles of El Karnak to the mountains of the King's Tombs. Then east and west, north and south, must have been streets, and bazaars, and gardens, and all the appurtenances of a great city, where a million of men were daily toiling or luxuriating, buying and selling, living and dying, trading and worshipping; there were princes and merchants, nobles and slaves, priests in their processionals, and ladies in their chariots and barges. Three thousand years ago, there were scenes of opulence and want, (like those of this vast metropolis) where now the silent Temple and the timeenduring Tomb have alone remained to tell the tale; and as I gazed down from that rock upon the plain, I could not help thinking of London with the Thames meandering between its densely peopled shores, and how it will be with her (should the world endure so long) three thousand years to come! We descended the hill to the TemplePalace of Medinet-Haboo, in size, second only to Karnak, and, in beauty, perhaps inferior to none of the temples of Thebes. The battlepictures around the great court are full of truth and beauty. They record the triumphs, sacrifices, and peaceful return from victory of Ra

the women's apartments), as seems
to be indicated by the sculptures on
the walls. One of these chambers
is an upstairs-room about 16 or 18
square, lighted by large win-
dows of almost Elizabethan struc-
ture, the walls being about the
thickness of those of English man-
sions of the days of Queen Bess or
Henry VIII.
From these upper
windows there is now a prospect
towards the eastern mountains and
the Nile, which in the days of its
lovely tenants, must have been
intercepted by the buildings of the
Great City. From Medinet-Haboo
we rode to the Pair,-the Twin
Colossi of the plain-seated in calm
grandeur, as for long ages they
have sat. The vocal Memnon is
now silent,-silent as the glories of
Thebes, but there he sits on with
his companion, while empires crum-
ble to the dust, and while the world
grows old and forgetful of the
capital of its earliest dawn. The

meses III., who lived about 1235,
B. C., and whose feats and fortunes
are here recorded with Homeric
vigour. On the outside walls of
the temple are represented the vic-feet
tories of the same king, among
which is a sea-fight, (or, perhaps, a
Nile-fight), giving an exact notion
of their mode of warfare. The
great court is surrounded by colo-
nades, of which the cornices and
capitals still exhibit traces of the
rich colouring with which they
were decorated. It must have been
truly gorgeous in the days of its
splendour. I saw nothing at Kar-
nak more beautiful than the Great
Court of Medinet-Haboo. This
court was (in the fourth or fifth
century) converted into a Christian
Church,—an unpardonable offence
in the eyes of certain modern tra-
vellers and antiquaries,-and its
heathen sculptures and paintings
plastered over in order to fit it for
the worship of the true God. In
many cases the mud plastering has
tended to preserve the sculpture and
the colours; but, was it for the mis-
sionaries of truth to endanger the
early faith of their converts, by pre-
serving the emblems of those delu-
sions to which, being exposed, they
might again succumb? Surely, if it
could ever be that Christianity should
fall before the new faith of a Mar-
tineau or a Leipsius, those prophets of
Pantheism would clear the deserted
Churches of their rood-screens and
altars and Christian symbols, lest
their weak and wavering followers
should be tempted to stray back to
their baptismal creed! Might they
not be less severe on the poor Chris-
tians who followed a somewhat
similar course?

Among the vast ruins of MedinetHaboo there remains a portion of the Palace, from which we may form some notion of what Theban habitations may have been. This portion is called the Hareem, (or

Royal Street," mentioned in some Theban papyri, is supposed to have run from the Colossi to Luxor, the river being crossed either by a ferry or boat-bridge. The Colossi, (exclusive of their pedestals), are about 47 feet high, and 18 feet 3 across the shoulders. Including the pedestals the height of either Colossus is about 53 feet, or when they were unburied (as at present) 60 feet.

From the Colossi we rode to the Ramesium. This temple is far more dilapidated than MedinetHaboo Within its precincts lie the stupendous fragments of the Royal Statue in Syenite.

"To smell to a turf of fresh earth is wholesome to the body; no less are thoughts of mortality cordial to the soul. "Earth thou art, to earth thou shalt return.' ”. Fuller.

MESSAGES FOR THE CHILDREN.

RAMBLES ON THE SEA-SHORE.
No. 4.

What hid'st thou in thy treasure caves
and cells

Thou ever sounding and mysterious main !

Pale glistening pearls and rainbow coloured shells,

Bright things which gleam unrecked of and in vain!

"To day," said Miss Sidney, as she accompanied her young pupils to their favourite resort, the seaside, "I will give you the promised information about Algo or sea-weeds. They are usually classed, by botanists, in three great divisions, each of which contains several families, which are again divided into genera, and these in their turn, are composed of one, or many species. You must for the present content yourselves with knowing these three great divisions by their colours alone. The green, the olive, and the red.

"The green sea-weeds, called Chlorosperme, abound near high water mark, in shallow pools within the limit of the tide. The olive, or Melanospermeœ, cover all exposed rocks, beginning to grow at the margin of high water, but seldom taking root on any rocks which are always under water. The red seaweeds, or Rhodosperme, on the contrary, gradually increase in numbers and in purity of colour as they recede from high water mark, or grow in places where they enjoy a perfect shade, or nearly total absence of light, and are never exposed to the air, or subjected to a violent change of temperature."

"I should like," said Rose, "to see a specimen of each of these three great divisions."

"In this rock-pool," said Miss Sidney, "is one of the most beautiful of the green kind, called Bry

opsis plumosa. When in the water, it appears like a multitude of soft green feathers, or like very minute asparagus plants. It loses its beauty when taken out of the water, but we may have the pleasure of again admiring it at home, for it is one of the plants which may be most easily grown in bottles of sea-water. Whilst it continues to vegetate it will keep the water sweet and pure, and no care is needed except to close the mouth of the bottle.

"This olive coloured sea-weed, is Fucus nodosus, it has, you see, long, leathery, thong-like stems, distended here and there into knoblike air vessels. In winter and spring the plant is covered with bright yellow berries. It is from a species of this Fucus, that kelp is made. On the coasts of the ocean where the great Fuci grow, they cover the bottom of the sea with an impenetrable vegetation, which serves to support millions of animals. When sailing over such regions in the straits of Magellan, a friend of mine told me that he greatly enjoyed the splendid sight which these submarine forests and meadows presented; for, glittering amongst the verdure might be seen, tall, branching corallines, scarlet sea-anemonies, gold coloured sponges, purple and crimson corals, and shells of every hue. When the sea is agitated by storms, these marine plants are torn up, and float on the surface of the water, until they are thrown on shore; the sailor frequently meets with vast quantities drifting about the sea, and as they are seldom carried far from the coast, in earlier times their appearance was always welcomed as a

sure indication to the mariner, of his approach to land.

"This specimen of the Oar-weed, with its stout, woody stem, and its broad, ribbon-like, glossy olive leaves, is the largest of all seaplants. None of those of our climate attain a length of more than twelve to fourteen feet, and are pigmies compared to some of the gigantic Oar-weed of the Southern Pacific and Atlantic oceans. These have great trunks, twenty feet long and upwards, supporting huge bunches of leaves, twenty to thirty feet in diameter. One species is said to have stems reaching to the enormous length of 1500 feet buoyed up by air vessels from a great depth, and extending afterwards for a considerable distance along the surface of the sea. Another species from the North-west coast of America, has, Mr. Harvey tells us, stems resembling whip cord, 300 feet in length, which support a great air vessel at their extremities six or seven feet long, crowned with a bunch of leaves, each thirty to forty feet in length. On the air vessels of this gigantic sea-weed, the Sea-otter finds a favourite resting-place, when fishing; and the long tough stems furnish the rude fisherman of the coast with excellent fishing lines."

"I was going to ask you the use of the air vessels in this specimen of the Fucus," said Rose, "but now I see that such heavy plants could not float in the water without them."

"I can fortunately show you a very beautiful specimen of the red division of sea-weeds; the Delessiria Sanguinia, with its larger rosy leaves, veined with a darker colour; it is the delight of all young collectors of sea-weeds, and when laid on paper resembles more the delicate leaves of some oriental lily than a plant which has grown

among the rude rocks of the seashore.

The

"You must not, however, suppose that all the weeds in this division are of the same beautiful red colour, for this depends greatly on the amount of direct light which reaches the growing plant. same species which is of a full red colour when growing in the shade, becomes much paler in tint, till, as it grows under the influence of sun shine, and in shallow water, it ends in a clear yellow. This is very evident in the Chondrous Crispus, or Carrageen Moss, which your Mamma takes as a jelly. When this plant grows in shady places it is of a dark purple colour, but growing, as it frequently does, in shallow pools exposed to the full sunlight, it becomes pale green, and even yellowish white. A species of this sea-weed is largely consumed in China, both as an article of food, and as yielding a very strong glue; and it seems strange that in this country the use of so nourishing a plant as the Chondrous, should be almost neglected. It grows most abundantly on all rocky parts of the British shores; when properly dried will keep for any length of time, and a strong jelly may be extracted, when required, by simply boiling it in water.

"To the red division, belong the jointed corallines, which were once supposed to belong to the animal. kingdom, and the specimens brought from the tropics, are sometimes of enormous size. We have not many in this country, but the Corallina Officinalis, is so common on our coasts that it must be known to all, and you have seen it frequently employed in the manufacture of sea-weed pictures, for albums, or

screens.

THOUGHTS, HINTS, AND BOOKS FOR YOU

MEDITATIONS ON THE LORD'S PRAYER.

WEDNESDAY MORNING.

"Give us this day

O THOU, Who art not only God Who made us, but Man who sought us!" the eyes of all wait upon Thee, to receive meat in due season,"-BREAD for the body, that it may better serve Thee; BREAD for the soul, that it faint not and be weary Lord! pour down Thy Holy Spirit; and according to that blessed pattern, whereby we know how to apportion every desire at a throne of grace, let me so meditate on our daily petition, "GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD," as shall be acceptable in Thy sight! Whatever in ignorance I ask, and through weakness should abuse, do Thou deny. And whatever I dare not, and from blindness, do not ask, give, gracious Lord, of Thy free and undeserved grace, through the intercession and for the sake of Thy Son Jesus Christ! This be my temper-this be my mind, O Lord Jesus, "from whom the whole body, by joints and bands, hath nourishment ministered;" and truly, "my soul gaspeth unto Thee, as a thirsty land;". my flesh longeth after Thee, in a barren and dry land, where no water is!"

We would pray Thee, O God, ever to bring home to our consciences our sins and miseries;

that

from the depths of weakness, we may plead the depths of thy compassions; that where sin and frailty have so much abounded, there may the help of Thy grace much more abound. Yes, Lord, we would lay bare our shame, and show Thee every wound. Let mercy rejoice over judgment, and according to Thy holy compassion in the Son of Thy love, hear, forgive, hearken,

our daily bread:"

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and do; and with great might, quicken us to lay hold on Thy every word of covenant, promise, and blessing. Thou hast promised glory with Thyself in Heaven— supply our wants, to the glory of Thy Name, on earth! We desired the glory of Thy Kingdom, and to do Thy blessed will-for Thy great Name's sake, minister to us all things needful for our wants on earth. Lord God Almighty! Thou Who as man, "hadst compassion on the multitude, and wouldest not send them fasting away,"-feed us with such "convenient food," as shall support and lighten the weariness of the flesh, in the daily_and hourly trials of life. Thou Who art the living BREAD, heal our sinsick souls, and appease their hunger. "GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD. Feed us with fresh supplies of grace, out of Thy fulness; for we "take hold of Thy strength;" that Thou mayest "make peace" with us, and rekindle our dull affections, that they never more wax cold. Lord Jesus! " set us as a seal upon Thy heart," as a seal upon Thine arm;" and by the gift of that spiritual consciousness of Thy pastoral care and love, which "maketh rich, and hath no sorrow" added to it, do Thou "draw us, that we may run after Thee!" By that spiritual perception of union with Thee which is the source of every joy and holiness-yea, the "wine which maketh glad the heart of man"-the "BREAD which strengtheneth" to eternity, do Thou "constrain us that we may love Thee!" Father! we would seek of Thee grace to work the work of

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