south, and a few weeks after their rising, they see in the morning one of the most brilliant, if not the largest star of the whole heavens, ascending the horizon. In appeared a little before the rising of the sun, which had rendered it almost invisible for a month or two before. The Egyptians then pitched upon the rising of this magnificent star as the infallible sign of the sun's passing under the stars of Leo, and the begining of the inundation. That star became the public mark, on which every one was to keep a watchful eye, not to miss the instant of retiring to the higher grounds. As it was seen but a very little time above the horizon, towards the dawning of the aurora, which becoming every instant clearer, soon made it disappear, it seemed to show itself to the Egyptians, merely to warn them of the overflowing, which soon followed.

They then gave this star two names having a very natural relation to the helps they borrowed therefrom. It warned them of the danger ; whereupon they called it Thaaut or Thayaut, the dog; they called it also the barker, the monitor, in Egyptian, Anubis; in Phenician, Hannobech; which, by-the-by, shows the analogy there was between these two languages, notwithstanding the diversity of many words, though chiefly in the pronounciation, which made them appear quite different. The connection of this star and the rising of the river, caused the people to call it commonly the Nile-star, or barely the Nile. In Egyptian and in Hebrew, Sihor; in Greek, Seirios; in Latin, Sirius. The Egyptians gave it besides, but in latter times, the name of Sothis or Thotes, which is the same with his other name, Thot, the dog, with a different pronunciation.

The inhabitants, retiring into their towns on the warning of the northern wind and the dog-star, remained idle for two months or more, till the waters were perfectly drained. Therefore the prudence of the Egyptians, before the overflowing, chiefly consisted in observing the termination of the vernal winds, the return of the northerly which be gan with the summer, and at last the rising of the dog-star, which circumstance was to them the most remarkable point of the heavens.

During their inaction, after the rising of the river beyond its banks. their attention was directed to the observance of the return of the southerly winds, more moderate than those of the spring, and which facilitated the flowing of the river towards the Mediterranean, by the conformity of their blowing with its direction, which is from south to north; also to measuring the depth of the river, in order to regulate their husbandry according to the quantity of mud, which was always proportioned to the degree of the increase.

I will here remark, that the Anubis or Dog-Star, so useful to the ancient Egyptians, is the Blazing-Star of masonry; and, although the

* See Plutarch de Isid. and, Osiris.; also M. De Mallet's description of Egypt.

craft are ignorant of its origin as a masonic symbol, they are actually taught the moral drawn from its original emblematical use.

"The blazing-star represents that prudence which ought to appear conspicuous in the conduct of every mason; but is more especially commemorative of the star which appeared in the east, to guide the wise men of Bethlehem, to proclaim the birth and the presence of the Son of God." (Allyn, p. 47.)

What connection can possibly exist between a star and prudence, except allegorically in reference to the caution that was indicated to the Egyptians by the first appearance of this star, which warned them of approaching danger?

Mr. Converse, in his explanation of the intention of this emblem in his Symbolical Chart observes, " Approaching evil is frequently averted by a friendly admonition." Pluche, in a part of his work not quoted above, says, "The names given to this public sign were Anubis the barker, the giver of advices, or Thaut the dog." The meaning then that has been handed down to masons of their blazing-star, completely identifies it with the Anubis the dog-star.

The advice given to the ancient Egyptians by this star was undoubtedly very important to them, but it cannot be of the least advantage to the masons of Europe or America.

As to the allusion to the star that guided the wise men to Bethlehem, every intelligent and candid mason, will acknowledge its absurdity; because he must know, that the principles and dogmas of freemasonry, contained in the ancient mysteries from which it is derived, existed long before the birth of Jesus Christ.

Webb, in his "Monitor," says, "The Mosaic pavement is emblematic of human life, chequered with good and evil; the beautiful border which surrounds it, those blessings and comforts which surround us, and which we hope to obtain by a faithful reliance on divine providence, which is heroglyphically represented by the blazing-star in the centre."

This symbol is peculiarly, if not exclusively, applicable to the Egyptians who inhabited the Delta, who by placing a reliance upon the warning providently given by this star, and in consequence retiring to the high ground with the produce of their agriculture, might enjoy the comforts

that surrounded them.

The same necessity which rendered the Egyptians astronomers, made them also painters and writers. The inspection of the heavens had taught them at last how to regulate their tillage, so strangely crossed by that disposition which was peculiar to Egypt. The custom of giving symbolical names to the objects that served them as rules, most naturally led them to delineate in a rude manner the figures of these symbols, in order to inform the nation of the works in common to be done, and of the annual events with regard to which it was dangerous to misreckon. This service was performed by a number of persons appointed for that purpose and maintained at the public expence, whose duty it was to study the revolutions and aspects of the heavenly bodies, and to communicate the necessary information to the people.

2

Such is the original of the sacerdotal order so ancient in Egypt; the chief functions of which always were the study of the heavens and the inspections of the motions of the air. Such is the origin of the famous tower where that company was lodged, and where the characters of the several works and the symbols of the public regulations were carefully delineated. Which symbols appeared in time very mysterious, when the meaning of them was forgotten. That tower, the structure of which has caused so much criticism, was at that time, without any affectation of mystery, called the Labyrinth, that is, the tower, the palace.

Now, if we would in a reasonable manner unriddle some of the most usual of the Egyptian symbols, we ought to consult the wants of the Egyptian colony. It is there we are naturally to look for the meaning of the figures which were exposed to the eyes of the whole nation assembled.

The hawk and the hoop were the names and the symbolical figures given the two winds, the return whereof the Egyptians were most concerned to observe. The hawk signified the Etesian northerly wind, which, in the beginning of the summer, drives the vapours towards the south, and which covering Ethiopia with thick clouds, there resolves them into rains, and makes the Nile swell all along its course. The hoop, on the contrary, signified the southerly wind which promoted the draining of the waters, and the return of which proclaimed the measuring of the lands and the time of sowing, I must here produce some analogy, and some peculiar resemblance, between a hawk and a northerly, and a hoop and a southerly wind.

Naturalists observe that the hawk delights in the north; but that at the return of mild weather, and when she casts her feathers, she makes southward with her wings spread, and looks towards the place whence a warm air comes, which may assist the falling of her own feathers, and restore her the beauties of youth. In times of the remotest antiquity, and even before Moses, the Arabians, who were the neighbours and allies of the Egyptians, had an idea of the hawk in all respects like that which naturalists give us. In the conversation which God had with Job, and in which he shows that it is not man but the Creator, "who, by a special providence, has varied all the parts of nature, and to good purpose has regulated the inclinations of aniinals: Does the hawk, says he to him, by thy wisdom shake her old feathers, to get rid of them, and stretch her wings towards the south? (Job, 39. 29.) This bird, then, on account of the direction of its flight at the return of the heats, was the most natural emblem of the annual wind, which blows from north to south about the summer solstice, and which on account of the effects of this direction was of so great importance to the Egyptians.

The hoop, on the contrary, makes her way from south to north. She lives upon the small worms, an infinite number of which are

hatched in the mud of the Nile. (Diod. Sic. Bibliothec. lib. 1.) She takes her flight from Ethiopia into Higher Egypt, and from thence towards Memphis, where the Nile divides. She always follows the course of the Nile, as it retires within its banks, quite down to the From this method of hers, she was perfectly fit to characterize the direction of the south wind.*

sea.

The warning given by the dog-star being their most important concern, the Egyptians from its rising anciently dated the beginning of their year, and the whole series of their feasts. Wherefore, instead of representing it under the form of a star, which might not distinguish it from another, they delineated it under the figure relative to its function and name. They called it the star-dog, the door-keeper, the star which opens or shuts, closing one year, as it were, and opening another. When they had a mind to express the renewal of the year, they represented it under the form of a 'door-keeper, easy to be distinguished by the attribute of a key; or else they gave it two heads back to back; the one of an old man, which marked the expiring year, and the other of a young one, which denoted the new.

When the people were to be warned of the time of their retreat at the approach of the inundation, instead of the two heads they then put on the shoulders of a human body the head of a dog. The attributes or subordinate symbols, added thereto, were the explication of the warning it gave. It was in order to give the Egyptians to understand they were to take with them a store of provisions, and repair with all speed to the high ground, or their raised terraces, and there to remain quiet by the water side, that Anubis had on his arm a kettle or porridge pot, wings on his feet, in his right hand, or under his arm a large

A passage in Shakspeare's Hamlet seems evidently to allude to the hawk and hoop, or hoopoe, of Egypt, Hamlet says, "My uncle-father and auntmother are deceived." G. "In what, my lord?" Ham. "I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw." Thomas Capell, editor of the Oxford edition of Shakspeare, changes handsaw to hernshaw, which renders the passage intelligible. Hernshaw, or hern, is but another name for heron, of which there are various species; the tufted or crowned heron is also denominated hoopoe. This kind is very rare in Europe, but in Africa they associate in great numbers. They feed upon worms, and in Egypt follow, as above stated, the retreat of the Nile. See Rees's Cycl.

Hamlet, though feigning madness, yet claims sufficient sanity to distinguish a hawk from a hernshaw, when the wind is southerly-that is, in the time of the migration of the latter to the north, and when the former is not to be seen.

If it be said that Shakspeare was not probably acquainted with the customs of these migrating birds of Egypt, I answer, that several of the works of Plutarch, who gives a particular account of that country, were translated into English, by Thomas North, in about the middle of the sixteenth century, and no doubt were known to Shakspeare, whose Hamlet was first published in 1596.-EDIT.

feather, and behind him a tortoise or duck, both amphibious animals, which live on the earth and by the water side.

The Egyptians expressed the several increases of their swelling river, by a column marked, with one, two, or three lines in form of a cross, and surmounted with a circle, the symbol of God, to charecterize providence, which governs this important operation. More commonly, instead of a column, they made use of a pole terminated like a T, or crossed with one or more transverse pieces. To abridge these remarks, they were often contented with one small cross, which, put upon a vessel or elsewhere, might signify the increase of the water.

It is certain that the Mikias, or column marked as above stated, to signify the progress of the water, became in Egypt the ordinary sign of the deliverance from evil. They hung it on the neck of sick persons, and put it into the hand of all beneficial deities. Mr Gordon, secretary of the society for the encouragement of learning, has given us in the seventh plate of his collection, the amulets and preservatives which he has observed in the Egyptian monuments; many of which are perfectly like the measure of the Nile.

They painted the devastation made by the overflowing water under the figure of a dragon, of a crocodile, a hippopotamus, or a water monster, which they called Ob, that is, swelling, an overflowing; and which they afterwards called Python, the enemy.t

Another method of communicating to the people information respecting the inundation, seems to have been by publicly exposing three vessels or measures, being pitchers of unequal capacities, well known to the people without any proclamation or messengers, which served to show them the increase and diminution of the Nile. Two things persuade me that this is the meaning of these vessels or bulging measures, so commonly found in the Egyptian monuments. One is the name given them: the other is the attributes annexed. The name canob or canopus given to these vessels, is grounded on the use made of them. Canob signifies the fathom of the dragon, the measure of the overflowing. From cane, a perch, a fathom, a rod, or cane to measure; and from ob, the dragon.

The canopi are very commonly terminated by one or two crosses.

ob. Levit. 20, v. 27.

Mount Cassius, to the foot of which the inundation of the Nile extended, a little above the ancient city of Pelusium, or the modern Damietta, derives its name from a word which signifies the bound, or term, of this inundation : and the sandy coast near it was called Cassiobe, for the same reason. And it was because the lake Sirbon, or Sirbonis, which is near it, was still full of the remains of the inundation when Egypt was quite dry, that it was said Python had gone to die in this lake. It was moreover so full of bitumen and of oily or combustible matters, that it was imagined that Jupiter had there pierced him with a thunderbolt, which filled all the great morass with sulphur."