their style of building, evince a degree of architectural knowledge, perhaps inferior to none possessed at a subsequent epoch. But it was not generally called forth in early times; they were then contented with monuments of an inferior scale, and their ordinary buildings were not of the same gigantic dimensions. A grand work was then seldom undertaken without an adequate motive, and the knowledge they possessed was reserved for particular and extraordinary occasions: but when riches and the love of show increased, they extended the size of their temples, and constant practice having made the means familiar to them, artisans and engineers vied with each other in hewing and transporting colossal statues, monoliths, and other ponderous monuments, which served for ornament, and the display of their mechanical knowledge.

It was not in this branch of science alone that the Egyptians excelled: the wonderful skill they evinced in sculpturing or engraving hard stones is still more surprising; and we wonder at the means employed for cutting hieroglyphics, frequently to the depth of more than two inches, on basalt, on syenite, and other stones of the hardest quality. Nor were they deficient in taste, a taste, too, not acquired by imitating approved models, but claiming for itself the praise of originality, and universally allowed to have been the parent of much that was afterwards perfected, with such wonderful success, by the most highly-gifted of nations, the ancient Greeks: and no one can look

upon the elegant forms of many of the Egyptian vases, the ornamental designs of their architecture, or the furniture of their rooms, without conceding to them due praise on this point, and admitting, that however whimsical some of the figures may be in sacred subjects, they often showed considerable taste, where the regulations of the priesthood and religious scruples ceased to interfere.

In their temples they were obliged to conform to rules established in the early infancy of art, which custom and prejudice had rendered sacred : the ancient style was always looked upon with the highest veneration, and it is probable that from the same feeling of respect, the formulas and diction of their books of law or religion continued the same as in early times; a custom prevalent among many people, whatever improvements language undergoes; for neither would the Turkish Moslem dare to translate the Arabic Qorán, nor the Cairene to alter it to his own dialect and we might ourselves object to a Bible written in the style of Robertson or Hume.

Plato and Synesius both mention the stern regulations which forbade their artists to introduce innovations in religious subjects; and the more effectually to prevent this," the profession of artist was not allowed to be exercised by common or illiterate persons, lest they should attempt any thing contrary to the laws established, regarding the figures of the deities."

In their household furniture, and the ornamental objects used in their dwelling-houses, they were

not restricted by any etablished rules; here, as I have observed, much taste was displayed, and their vases frequently bear so strong a resemblance to those of Greece, that we might feel disposed to consider them borrowed from Greek models, did not their known antiquity forbid such a conclusion; and many have mistaken the ornamental devices, attached to them, and to other fancy works of Egyptian art, for the productions of Greek sculptors. Now, that we are acquainted with the dates of the Egyptian monuments, the square border and scrolls, so common on Athenian, Sicilian, Etruscan, and Græco-Italian vases, are shown to be, from the most remote time, among the ordinary devices on cups, and the ceilings of tombs, at Thebes and other places; and the graceful curve of the Egyptian cornice, which, not confined to architecture, is repeated on vases, and numerous articles of furniture, was evidently adopted, for the same ornamental purpose, by the Greeks.

GLASS, PORCELAIN, AND FALSE STONES.

One of the most remarkable inventions of a remote era, and one with which the Egyptians appear to have been acquainted, at least as early as the reign of the first Osirtasen, upwards of 3500 years ago, is that of glass-blowing. The The process is represented in the paintings of Beni Hassan, executed

* Vide vases, woodcut, No. 244., and doorways, woodcuts, Nos. 101, 102. and 104.

during the reign of that monarch, and his immediate successors; and the same is again repeated, in other parts of Egypt, in tombs of various epochs.

The form of the bottle and the use of the blowpipe are unequivocally indicated in those subjects; and the green hue of the fused material, taken from the fire at the point of the pipe, cannot fail to show the intention of the artist. But if the sceptic should feel disposed to withhold his belief on the authority of a painted representation, and deny that the use of glass could be proved on such evidence, it

pottery were common at the same period, that the vitrified substance with which they are covered is of the same quality as glass, and that therefore the mode of fusing, and the proper proportions of the ingredients for making glass, were already known to them; and we can positively state, that 200 years after, or about 1500 B.C., they made ornaments of glass; a bead, bearing a king's name who lived at that period, having been found at Thebes, by my friend Captain Henvey, R. N., the specific gravity of which, 25° 23′, is precisely the same as of crown glass, now manufactured in England.

Figs. 1.2. Glass bottles represented in the sculptures of Thebes.

3. Captain Henvey's glass bead. About the real size.

4. The hieroglyphics on the bead, containing the name of a monarch who lived 1500. B.C.

Many glass bottles and objects of various forms have been met with in the tombs of Upper and Lower