foundations of the pillar having been dug away, two fragments of an obelisk of white marble were discovered to have been added to the original substructure. These, Dr. Clarke thinks, must have been intended merely to maintain the base in its adjusted position until the pedestal could be raised upon it, and that they were not meant to contribute to the support of the column. It is chiefly deserving of notice, however, that the block on which the pedestal rests is inscribed on the four sides with hieroglyphics, the figures or characters of which, being inverted, show that it has been turned upside down; thus affording a complete proof that the stone must have belonged to some more ancient work, which was probably in ruins before the pillar was erected in its present site.

In a remote, unfrequented part of the city stands the obe lisk well known by the name of Cleopatra's Needle, and which is described as a fine piece of granite covered with hieroglyphics. There were originally two of these, apparently brought from Heliopolis or Thebes to adorn the entrance to the palace of the Ptolemies. About twelve years ago, when Dr. Richardson visited Alexandria, the one stood erect, the other lay prostrate on the ground; but, in regard to the latter, he remarks that it was mounted on props, and seemed as if "prepared for a journey." It has been since removed, with the view of being conveyed to England, though it has not yet, so far as we have been able to learn, reached its destination. The dimensions are sixty-four feet in length, and eight feet square at the base.

Alexandria presents many other remains of sumptuous buildings, of which there is no tradition among the inhabitants on which any reliance can be placed. On each side of what appears to have been one of the principal streets are still to be seen rows of stately marble columns, all overturned and neglected. They are conjectured to be the relics of a magnificent colonnade which extended between the gates of the Sun and Moon, and was regarded as one of the most striking ornaments of the city; but in the hands of the Turks, as some author has observed, every thing goes to decay, and nothing is repaired. Wherever an excavation is made, an arch, a pillar, or a rich cornice indicates that a splendid structure had once occupied the ground, but can supply no information as to the object, the

date, the name, or the founder. For miles the suburbs are covered with the ruins of the ancient town. Heaps of brick and mortar, mixed with broken shafts and mutilated capitals, cover immense vaults, which, serving as reservoirs of water, are replenished on every overflow of the Nile. Perhaps much of this devastation, as well as of the ignorance which prevails respecting it, may be attributed to the effects of that fatal earthquake which swallowed up 50,000 of the inhabitants, and threw down the loftiest of their edifices. But on such subjects all inquiry is vain, for the traveller finds that the degraded beings who now occupy the wrecks of this superb metropolis are equally indifferent and ill-informed as to every event which preceded their own times.

The Catacombs of Alexandria present nothing very remarkable, being in a condition nearly as ruinous as the city whose dead they were intended to receive. The real entrance to these subterraneous abodes is unknown; the present passage opening from the seashore like the approach into a grotto. The most of the chambers are so entirely choked up with sand that it is extremely difficult to crawl into them even on the hands and knees. Their form, as well as the doors, pilasters, and sarcophagi, show them to be the work of Grecian artists; but, although in size they are fully equal to the Egyptian catacombs, yet in the article of decoration they are not once to be compared to them. All along the shore of the western harbour are numerous sepulchres of inconsiderable note, some of them under the rock; many are merely cut into it, and open to the air; and not a few are under the level of the sea. Several baths are likewise exhibited in this quarter, which as usual are assigned to Cleopatra; but such of them as are now to be seen are equally small and incommodious, and of a description far too inferior to countenance the supposition that they had ever been used by her whose beauty and accomplishments triumphed over the heroes of Rome.*

In ascending the Nile we shall take no notice of Cairo, because the works which it exhibits do not serve to illustrate the principles of the arts, or to display the remains of the grandeur for which the ancient Egyptians are cele

* Richardson's Travels, vol. i. p. 21.

brated. We should willingly detain the reader at Memphis, did any relics of its magnificence occupy the ground on which it once stood, to gratify the rational curiosity its name cannot fail to excite. But we shall only quote from an old writer a description of that capital as it appeared in the twelfth century. "Among the monuments of the power and genius of the ancients," says Edrisi, "are the remains still extant in old Misr or Memphis. That city, a little above Fostat, in the province of Djizeh, was inhabited by the Pharaohs, and is the ancient capital of the kingdom of Egypt. Such it continued to be till ruined by Bokhtnasr (Nebuchadnezzar); but many years afterward, when Alexander had built Iskanderiyeh (Alexandria), this latter place was made the metropolis of Egypt, and retained that pre-eminence till the Moslems conquered the country under Amru ebn el Aasi, who transferred the seat of government to Fostat. At last El Moezz came from the west and built El Cahirah (Cairo), which has ever since been the royal place of residence. But let us return to the description of Memf, also called old Misr. Notwithstanding the vast extent of this city, the remote period at which it was built, the change of the dynasties to which it has been subjected, the attempts made by various nations to destroy even the vestiges, and to obliterate every trace of it by removing the stones and materials of which it was formed, ruining its houses, and defacing its sculptures; notwithstanding all this, combined with what more than four thousand years must have done towards its destruction, there are yet found in it works so wonderful that they confound even a reflecting mind, and are such as the most eloquent would not be able to describe. The more you consider them the more does your astonishment increase; and the more you look at them the more pleasure you experience. Every idea which they suggest immediately gives birth to some other still more novel and unexpected; and as soon as you imagine that you have traced out their full scope, you discover that there is something still greater behind."

Among the works here alluded to, he specifies a monolithic temple, similar to the one mentioned by Herodotus, adorned with curious sculptures. He next expatiates upon the idols found among the ruins, not less remarkable for the beauty of their forms, the exactness of their proportions,

and perfect resemblance to nature, than for their truly as tonishing dimensions. We measured one of them, he says, which, without including the pedestal, was forty-five feet in height, fifteen feet from side to side, and from back to front in the same proportion. It was of one block of red granite, covered with a coating of red varnish, the antiquity of which seemed only to increase its lustre.*

The ruins of Memphis, in his time, extended to the distance of half a day's journey in every direction. But so rapidly has the work of destruction proceeded since the twelfth century, that few points have been more debated by modern travellers than the site of this celebrated metropolis. Dr. Pococke and Mr. Bruce, with every show of reason, fixed upon Metrahenny, an opinion which was opposed by Dr. Shaw, who argued in favour of Djizeh. But the investigations of the French appear to have decided the question. At Metrhainé, one league from Sakhara, we found, says General Dugna, so many blocks of granite covered with hieroglyphics and sculptures around and within an esplanade three leagues in circumference, enclosed by heaps of rubbish, that we were convinced that these must be the ruins of Memphis. The sight of some fragments of one of those colossuses, which Herodotus says were erected by Sesostris at the entrance of the temple of Vulcan, would, indeed, have been sufficient to dispel our doubts had any remained. The wrist of this colossus, which Citizen Coutelle caused to be removed, shows that it must have been forty-five feet high.†

The ruins of Beni Hassan, although comparatively a modern place, bear decided marks of antiquity; the_materials of the principal buildings having been conveyed from some more ancient town,-a practice which appears to have become frequent under the Ptolemies as well as in the earlier times of the Roman ascendency. The grottos, however, which were once the abodes of holy hermits, are the most striking remains of this village, and are remarkable for paintings, of which Mr. Hamilton has given an elaborate account. The ceilings of these chambers are

* Abdollatiph's Abridgment of Edrisi, translated by M. Silvestre de Sacy. Encyclopædia Metropolitana, article Egypt.

† Courrier de l'Egypte. A plan of the ruins is given by M. Jacotin in the Description de l'Egypte.