four and five thousand years ago; and some place him much earlier. Here was a magnificent temple to Phtha, which it took several generations of kings to complete. Many titles of this once famous city are found among the hieroglyphics; such as, "The Abode of Good," "Land of the Pyramid," "The Habitation of Pthah." Here Abraham was a guest, and Sarai, his beautiful wife, was lodged in the palace of the king. Here Joseph rode through the streets in the royal chariot, clothed "with fine linen, and a chain of gold about his neck." The fine linen and the wrought gold show that even then Memphis was old in civilization. Here Moses was educated in the household of Pharaoh, and became "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." There are now scarcely any remains of this mighty city; but Abdallatif, a traveller from Bagdad, thus describes it, as he saw it about seven hundred years ago: "The ruins occupy a space which is half a day's journey every way. As for the idols that are found among them, whether one considers their number, or their prodigious magnitude, it is a thing beyond all description, and of which no idea can be conveyed. But there is a thing yet more worthy of admiration; and that is the precision of their forms, the justness of their proportions, and their resemblance to nature." Speaking of the famous pyramids near the city, he says: "The stones are covered with writing, the import of which is at this day unknown. More than ten thousand pages of paper would be filled, if only the inscriptions seen on these two pyramids were copied."

It is now known that these huge monuments have stood more than four thousand years. It is proved to a certainty, from the hieroglyphics, that they were built, at the least calculation, three hundred years before Abraham was born, and seven or eight hundred years before the time of Moses. In 1837 the name of the king who built the Great Pyramid was found written on the rough stones. He lived near the time of Menes, and is the Cheops to whom Herodotus attributes the construction of this vast pile. In his time, the

outside was covered with writing, which Abdallatif says he saw as late as the twelfth century after our era. Unfortunately, before the attention of European scholars was drawn toward Memphis, the marble casing of the pyramids was destroyed, and the writing lost. But we cannot lose possession of the fact that in those very remote times Egyp tians must have had wonderful machinery, graving tools, an alphabet, and a knowledge of writing. Among the multitude of tombs in this vicinity are some coeval with the pyramids. A hieroglyphic record in one of them declares that it was built for "Eimei, great priest of the habitation of king Shoophoo" (called Cheops by the Greeks). Inkstands and reed-pens are common among the emblems here. A papyrus is now in Europe, of the date of Shoophoo; which proves alphabetic signs, and written documents, and that kind of paper to have been in use when the Great Pyramid was built; nearly a thousand years before Moses was born.

Herodotus declares the pyramids were built for sepulchres; and the learned now agree in opinion that for a long series of years every Egyptian monarch caused one of these royal tombs to be built for himself. The sarcophagi found in them proves that they were used for burialplaces; but the immense size of some of them, the various chambers, the shafts or wells, and the deep subterranean passages, have led to various conjectures concerning the possibility of their being likewise used for other purposes. Some have supposed that great religious Mysteries were celebrated there. Mr. Wilford, during his residence in Hindostan, described the Great Pyramid to several learned Bramins. He says: "They at once declared it to have been a temple. One of them asked if it had not a communication under ground with the river Nile. When I mentioned that such a passage was said to have existed, and that a well was at this day to be seen, they unanimously agreed that it was a place appropriated to the worship of Padma Devi, and that on certain festivals her priests used to fill the trough with sacred water and lotus-blossoms."

It has already been stated that it was a custom in Egypt for families, accompanied by priests, to visit the tombs of relatives at stated seasons, and offer oblations and prayers for the departed. Perhaps something of this kind might have been done on a scale of exceeding grandeur in the pyramids, for the royal ones whose bodies rested there.

On the island of Elephantina, in the Nile, there is a great accumulation of columns, obelisks, portals, and two small temples, covered within and without with hieroglyphics, executed in a style of great excellence. Denon supposes these to belong to the earliest ages of Egypt of which any trace remains. At Edfu, on the Nile, are also remarkable structures of great antiquity; but the temples in these and in other places are now discovered to be partly built of the ruins of other temples more ancient still.

At Dendera are the remains of large temples, comparatively modern. They were first discovered by Bonaparte's army, and are supposed to have been erected nearly two thousand years ago. They are distinguished for lavishness of ornament, extraordinary beauty of execution, and brilliancy of colouring. French writers say: "All that you see here, from the colossal statues of Isis to the smallest hieroglyphic, appears to have come from fairy-land." The soldiers declared with one voice that this sight alone was enough to indemnify them for all the fatigues of their campaign. On the ceiling of the principal temple was painted a zodiac, which attracted great attention among the astronomers of Europe. This and other Egyptian zodiacs gave rise to much controversy concerning the astronomical proof of antiquity they conveyed. In 1822 the police of Paris suppressed some Essays, which started theories at variance with the chronology of the Hebrew Scriptures. It is now generally decided by the learned that none of these zodiacs are much older than the Christian era.

Captain Burr, of the British army, who went to Egypt with East India troops, was struck with the resemblance in costume and the manners represented, between the sculptures at Dendera and those he had seen in Hindostan.

He

came to the conclusion that " a closer connection must have formerly existed among the nations of the East, when they were yet united by the same worship." The Hindoo soldiers who accompanied him were filled with awe and amazement. They believed themselves to be in the presence of their own ancient deities, and were indignant at the neglect into which their worship had fallen. They exclaimed: "Surely Hindoos must have lived in this country!" Some thought the wonderful edifice might have been built by Rakshasas, or Evil Spirits; that being the usual account given of Buddhist temples by the Bramins.

The ancient Egyptian temples were always of solid massive stone, without cement, and enclosed by thick walls. In time of war they were used as fortifications, and places of refuge for the inhabitants. Vestiges of tanks, or ponds, for ablution, are generally found near them, and many of them have deep sockets, apparently used for flags on festival occasions. The entrance was a porch in form of a truncated pyramid, very grand and massive. Through this they passed into an open court surrounded with columns, with partition walls about half of their height. This outer court was probably intended for the people, where they might see the ceremonies and processions from a certain distance. Next to this came a portico, supported by rows of immense pillars. Through this they passed into vast saloons, three or four in succession, supposed to be intended for the religious processions and ceremonies which are pictured on the walls. At the extremity was a niche of granite or porphyry. This was the sanctuary, approached by none but the priests. Sometimes it contained the statue of the deity to whom the temple was dedicated; sometimes an image of the Bull, Apis, or some other sacred animal; sometimes the Oracle Ship of Amun, in its shrine. In the great temples this Sacred Ship was often very magnificent. Sesostris presented one to the temple of Amun at Thebes, made of cedar, the inside lined with silver, and the outside covered with gold.

Sometimes the sanctuary contained a shrine or Ark, surmounted by a small image overshadowed with wings; sometimes the wings of Isis, sometimes of the Goddess of Truth, sometimes of the sacred bird Ibis. On each side of the saloons were corridors, which led into apartments where the priests lived. The walls, columns, and ceilings, were covered with sculpture. The capitals of the pillars were generally composed of native plants; Lotus leaves, and Palm branches, arranged in endless variety. The figures on the walls were usually in bold relief, representing deities and their worshippers engaged in some religious ceremony. Near them were long explanatory inscriptions in hieroglyphics. All these sculptures were painted yellow, red, blue, green, and white. The colour of each deity, and of every other object, was established by rules, which admitted of no deviation. Denon says: "An Egyptian temple is, as it were, an open book, where science unfolds, where morality teaches, where the useful arts are set forth. Everything seems to speak; all seems animated, and all in the same spirit. The doorposts, the most secret corners, give a lesson, or a rule; and the whole is in most wonderful harmony."

The Oracle Ship in its shrine, or the Ark overshadowed with wings, occur very frequently in all the sculptured representations of religious ceremonies. Sometimes the king is kneeling before it at his devotions; sometimes he is coming toward it with an offering of frankincense. More frequently the priests carry it resting on long poles, supported by their shoulders. They are followed by bands of men and women, dancing, singing, playing on musical instruments, and clapping their hands in cadence, as they approach the temple. Everywhere are emblems to remind the traveller of similar buildings on the banks of the Ganges. The beautiful water-lily called Lotus is represented in every stage of growth. Deities are seated on a Lotus, crowned with Lotus, and carry a Lotus stem for a sceptre. In both countries it was an emblem of the generative power, and of the creation of the world from water.