were famous for their enmity to the crocodile, which they endeavoured to destroy by all the means in their power. They even waged war with the worshippers of that animal, especially with the people of Ombos. To this circumstance Juvenal alludes in one of his satires. He says,

"Ombus and Tentyr, neighbouring towns, of late
Broke into outrage of deep fester'd hate.
A grudge in both, time out of mind, begun
And mutually bequeathed from sire to son:
Religious spite and pious spleen bred first
This quarrel, which so long the bigots nursed.
Each called the other's god a senseless stock,
His own, divine; though from the self-same block
One carver framed them, differing but in shape;

A serpent this resembling, that an ape."-Tule's Juvenal.

At Rome, the Tentyrites were employed to take the crocodiles with nets out of the ponds, where they were kept as a curiosity, and to show them to the people, which they did without receiving the least harm. Some have supposed that this people possessed a natural ascendency over the croco dile; but Seneca more justly ascribes their power over it to their temerity in facing and attacking this dangerous crea ture. Their power over the crocodile is attested by one of the marbles of the Townley Collection in the British Mu seum, which is usually explained to represent an Egyptian tumbler exercising his feats on the back of a tame crocodile.

APOLLINOPOLIS.

This city is thought to have been situated where the town of Edfou (on the left bank of the Nile, in 25° N. lat.) now stands. There are still the ruins of a magnificent temple. here, which may be compared with that at Denderah for preservation, and which is generally attributed to the age of the Ptolemies. The inhabitants of Apollinopolis, it is said, rivalled the Tentyrites in their enmity to, and abhorrence of the crocodile.

LATOPOLIS.

This city was called Latopolis from the fish latus, which was worshipped in that city. About three miles to the N.N.W. of the present town of Esne are to be seen the ruins of an ancient temple, which Pococke supposes to have been the

temple of Pallas, and the fish latus at Latopolis, where they were both worshipped. Within this temple, says this traveller, are three stories of hieroglyphics of men, about three feet high, and at one end the lowest figures are as large as life; one of them is adorned with the head of the ibis. The ceiling is curiously adorned with all sorts of animals, and painted in beautiful colors.

OMBOS.

This city, according to ancient geographers, stood to the south of Thebes. It is identified with Comombo, or "The Hill of Ombo," where the ruins of an ancient temple are still to be seen. The inhabitants of Ombos, as before hinted, were famous for the worship of the crocodile. Ælian says, they fed them in their ponds, where they became so tame as to obey them when called.

PHYLE.

This city stood about twelve miles south of Syene, in an island of the same name, not above a quarter of a mile long, and half a quarter broad. The island of Phyla was deemed sacred from an opinion, according to Diodorus, that Osiris was buried there; and the ruins of a magnificent temple are still found on the island. It appears from the notitia, that the Romans had a garrison at Phyla, which was the most southern city of all Egypt. Between this place and Syene is the lesser cataract, and the greater at a small distance from Pselca, a town in Ethiopia. Cicero says, that the people who lived near the lesser cataract were all deaf from the noise which the river made in falling from the high mountains. But this is an error; for the fall is in no part above seven or eight feet, and, therefore, could have little effect on the organs of hearing.

CANOPUS.

This city stood on the coast near the outlet of the western or Canopic branch of the Nile. It was forty miles from Alexandria by land, with which it was connected by a canal. In the time of Strabo, it contained a great temple of Serapis. It is said to have been built by the Spartans, on their return from the Trojan war, and to have taken its name from Canopus, the pilot of Menelaus, who died, and was buried in

this place. The city was noted for the lewd and dissolute diversions which the Alexandrians indulged themselves in here, whence Seneca writes in one of his epistles thus: "No one, thinking of a retreat, would choose Canopus, though a man may be good and honest even at Canopus."

These are all the cities of which we can give any detailed information. Others are mentioned by ancient writers, but for the most part they are known only by name. And of those we have described, the reader will have observed that little remains to testify their pre-existence. They have mouldered into dust, and the plough has gone over their site, or other cities or towns and villages have been erected on their ruins; thus bearing mournful evidence to the truth of the words of the Grecian sage, that

"Nothing is lasting on the world's great stage."

The

All sublunary enjoyments imitate the changeableness, as well as feel the influence of the planets they are under. Time, like a river, carries them all away with a rapid course. They swim above the stream for a little while, but they are quickly swallowed up by the waves, and seen no more. very cities men build for their habitations, and the monuments they raise to perpetuate their names, consume and moulder away, and proclaim their own mortality, as well as testify that of others. But there are enjoyments indestructible in their nature, and endless in their duration ! There is a city whose foundations can never be shaken, and which God hath prepared for them that love him! Like the stars and orbs above, which shine with undiminished lustre, and move with the same unwearied motion, with which they did from the first date of their creation, these enjoyments are ever full, fresh, and entire; and they will abide when sun, and moon, and nature itself, shall be employed by Providence no more. The righteous shall appear in the eternal city, when the earth and all that is therein shall have been consumed, and enjoy one perpetual and everlasting day-a day commensurate to the unlimited eternity of God himself.

"There is a place beyond that flaming hill,

From whence their stars their thin appearance shed;

A place beyond all place, where never ill

Nor impure thought was ever harboured:

But saintly heroes are for ever said

To keep an everlasting sabbath's rest;

Still wishing that of which they're still possessed,

Enjoying but one joy-but one of all joys best."-Giles Fletcher,

CHAPTER III.

HISTORY OF THE POLITY OF EGYPT.

THE Egyptians attained a high degree of refinement and luxury at a time when the whole western world was involved in barbarism, when the history of Europe, including Greece, was not yet unfolded, and ages before Carthage, Athens, and Rome were founded. They were indeed, the first people who rightly understood the rules of government, who perceived that the just design of politics is, to make life easy and a people happy. This high state of civilization was attained under a system of institutions and policy bearing some resemblance to those of the Hindoos. It was a monarchy based upon a potent hierarchy. To enable the reader to understand this, the different orders of which the state was composed shall be described.

THE KINGLY POWER.

The kings of Egypt were anciently indiscriminately called Pharaoh. This was not a proper name: Josephus says, the word signified king in the Egyptian language; and it appears to have been used as a prefix to the proper name, in the same manner that Ptolemy was, after the subjugation of Egypt by the Greeks. When used independently of the proper name, it distinguished the king of Egypt from other monarchs.

The kingdom of Egypt was hereditary, but according to Diodorus, the Egyptian princes (unlike other monarchies, in which the prince acknowledges no other rule of his actions than his own arbitrary will and pleasure) were under greater restraint from the law than their subjects. These laws were contained in the sacred books, and were digested by one of their earliest monarchs, so that every thing was settled by,

and they lived according to ancient custom; treading the same path as their ancestors.

The king appears to have been the chief both of religion and state. He held the right of regulating the sacrifices, and of offering them to the gods upon grand occasions. The title and office of "President of the Assemblies" belonged exclusively to him, and he superintended the feasts and festivals celebrated in honour of their false gods. He could claim peace and war; he commanded the armies, and rewarded those who deserved his approbation; and every privilege seems to have been granted him which did not interfere with the welfare of his subjects.

pro

The sovereign power in Egypt was hereditary. In the event of an heir failing, however, the claims for succession were determined by nearness of relationship. Queens were not forbidden to undertake the management of affairs, and on the demise of their husbands, they were allowed to assume the office of regent. Such, at least, are mentioned by historians, and introduced into the annals of Manetho; but their names do not appear in the lists of sovereigns sculptured in the temples of Thebes and Abydos. In some instances, the kingdom was usurped by a powerful chief, as in the case of Amasis, or by some Ethiopian prince, who, either claiming a right to the crown, or taking advantage of internal disturbances, obtained possession of it by force of arms. Synesius intimates, that the Egyptian monarchy was elective; but there is no instance on record that would lead to such a conclusion, except in the case of the twelve kings who reigned. in union, and that is an exception to the general practice. Diodorus says, indeed, that, in ancient times, kings, instead of succeeding by right of inheritance, were selected for their merits; but whether this really was the case at the commencement of the Egyptian monarchy, it is difficult to determine. The same author, in fact, states in another place, that the first kings were succeeded by their offspring, and we have hieroglyphical evidence that such was the case during the eigh teenth and succeeding dynasties. This is further confirmed by Herodotus, and the formula in the Rosetta stone: "The kingdom being established unto him, and unto his children for ever.

But although the monarchy of Egypt was hereditary, the kings did not presume in consequence of this right, to infringe the rules enacted for their public and private conduct. The laws of Egypt, which formed part of the sacred books, were