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 func-` tion and name. They called it the star-dog, the door-keeper, the star which one or shuts, closing one year as it were, and opening another When they had a mind to express the renewal of the year, they rep. resented 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 The attriput on the shoulders of a human body, the head of a dog. butes 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 porrige-pot, wings on his feet, in his right hand, or under his arm a large 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 characterize 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.

ligible. 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.

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 in 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.†

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 mea. sures, so commonly found in the Egyptian monuments. One is the name given them; the other is the attributes annexed. canob or canopus given to these vessels, is grounded on the use made of them. Canob signifies the fatham of the dragon, the measure of the overflowing. From-Cane, a perch, a fatham, a rod or cane to measure; and from-ob, the dragon.

The name

The canopi are very commonly terminated by one or two crosses. The top of the vase is also oftentimes surmounted with several bird's heads, to signify and characterize the several winds which they know, and which either assisted or retarded the increase or the lowering of the waters, sometimes they put upon the canopus the head of a dog, to signify the state of the river or the time of the rising of the dog star, At another time they put thereon the head of a maid, to mark out the state of the Nile under the sign of the virgin, and at the approach of the draining or retiring of the water.

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 maters, that it was imagined that Jupiter had their pierced him with a thunderbolt, which filled all the great morass with sulpher.

It appears that the ancient Egyptians, after they had ascertained the great benefit of the inundation when they were properly prepared for it, changed the name of their Evil Genius, the Water Monster from ob* to Python ; which had reference to the deadly effects of the miasmata arising from the stagnant waters left upon the low lands after the retiring of the inundation. "Ovid makes the serpent Python spring from the steams of the mud which the deluge had left upon the earth; and in this, he is plainly making an allusion to Typhon, whose name is the same by a simple transposition. In making Python spring from the slime of the deluge, does not the Poet point out thereby the noxious steams which rise in Egypt after the waters of the Nile have subsided. In fine, when he says that Apollo slew him with his arrows, does he not conceal under this emblem, the victory of Orus over Typhon, or at least the triumph of the sun beams over the vapors of the Nile ?" (Mayo's Myth. vol. ii. p. 47.) Python, says Bailey, is derived from pytho, Gr. to putrify. The serpent Python's being slain by Apollo, is thus interpreted by Python is understood the ruins of waters; but Appollo (that is the sun) dispersing the vapors by his arrows (that is his beams) slew this serpent.

Typhus, a species of continued fever, has the same origin. "It may be occasioned (says Hooper, in his Medical Dict.) by the effluvia arising from either animal or vegitable substances in a decayed or putrid state and hence it is, that in low and marshy countries it is apt to be prevalent, when intense and sultry heat quickly succeeds any great inundation.”

The convenience of that language, which rendered itself intelligible to the eyes, and in some sense made animals and even stones themselves to speak, by degrees became more common. It was extended to every thing. The symbolical writing soon served as the rule of morals, as well as the regulation of husbandry. It was made use of to perpetrate among the people, the knowledge of the most important truths, and to inculcate their principal duties.†

The character of the Egyptian writing designed to signify God, was not a simple flame or blaze, as was the general usage of the East but a circle, or rather a sun. They added to the circle or solar globe several marks, or attributes which served to characterize so many dif ferent perfections. For instance, in order to indicate that the Supreme Being is the author and preserver of life, they annexed to the circle sometimes two points of flame, but more commonly one or two serpents. This animal was always, among the Egyptians, as in other countries, the symbol of life and health. Not because the serpent makes itself look young again, by every year casting its old skin,

*The descendants of Africa, in the West Indies, still retain the name of cb, or obi, by whose aid they pretend to magical powers.-- Edit.

The custom of conveying moral instruction by symbolical figures has descended to the masons, that is, a show of it is kept up by them, but without being seriously regarded. The practice is now a mere dead letter; showing, however, the force of habit in continuing a custom no longer needed. Too much light is now abroad in the world, to require the square and compasses, to direct men in their duties. The continnance of these old practices notwithstanding, is of use in pointing out the origin of the institution that observes them.-Edit.

but because among most of the eastern nations, as the Phenicians, Hebrews, Arabians, and others, with the language of whom that of Egypt had an affinity, the word heve or heva equally signifies the life, and a serpent. The name of him who is, the great name of God Jov or Jehova thence draws its etymology. Heve or the name of the common mother of mankind comes likewise from the same word.

It is from this word that the Latins made their avum, the life and the are, which is a wish of good health.

St. Clement of Alexandria, observes, that the word heva, which is known to signify the life, likewise signifies a serpent. And it is barely on a double meaning of the word hevi or heva, that the metamorphosis of Cadmas and Hermione into serpents is grounded, (Ovid, Metam.) They were of the country of the Hevians.

Macrobius has informed us that the serpent was an emblem of health, salutis draco, speaking of Esculapius. When Moses lifted up a brazen serpent in the wilderness, the afflicted Hebrews understood, that it was a sign of preservation.*

To express the wonderful fecundity of providence, they added to the symbolical circle the figures of the most fruitful plants, and most commonly two or three large leaves of the banana-tree.

The solar year.-Osiris.

The year relates to three principal objects. To the course of the sun; the order of the feasts of each season, and to the works in common to be done. Let us begin with the symbols of the sun.

That luminary, as it was the grandest object in nature, had also its peculiar character or mark in the symbolical writing. It was called Osiris. This word, according to the most judicious and most learned among the ancients, signified the inspector, the coachman, or the leader, the king, the guide, the moderator of the stars, the soul of the world, the governor of nature. From the energy of the terms of which it was composed, it signified in general the governor of the earth, which amounts to the same sense. And it is because they gave that name and function to the sun, that it was expressed in their writing

In one of the modern degrees of masonry, entitled The Brazen Serpent, the Jewel is a serpent entwined upon a cross pole, in form of a T, about which are the Hebrew characterswhich signify one who shall live. The covered word is John Ralp, the founder of this degree. The sacred word is Moses. This degree has reference to the deliverance of the Israelites, from captivity. (Benard,)-Edit.

Plutarch de Isid, and Isirid, and Macrob, Dux and princeps, moderator luminum, rcliquorum, mens mundi, and emperatio.

sometimes by the figure of a man bearing a scepter, sometimes by that of a coachman carrying a whip, or plainly by an eye.*

They were often contented with setting down the marks of his dignity, such as a scepter surmounted with an eye, or a scepter with a serpent twined round it, the symbol of life which the sun maintains, or barely the whip and the scepter united; sometimes the royal cap of Osiris on a throne, with or without a scepter.

The Egyptians every where saw, and especially in the place of their religious assemblies, a circle or the figure of the sun, Near the sun, over the head of the symbolical figures, were seen sometimes one or two serpents, the symbol of life, sometimes certain foliages, the symbols of the bounties of nature; sometimes scarabeus's wings the emblem of the variations of the air. All these things being connected with the object of their adorations, they entertained a sort of veneration for the serpent, which they besides saw honorably placed in the small chest that was the memorial of the state of the first men, and the other ceremonies whose meaning began to be lost.

Having already contracted a habit of confounding the Most High with the sun, they by little and little mistook the symbol itself of the sun, the Osiris, the mederator of the year, for a man. Osiris, from the letter or symbolical personage he was before, becoming in the minds of the people a real person, a man who had formerly lived among them, they made his history to relate to the attributes which attended the figure. So soon as Egypt was possessed with the ridiculous notion, that the statues of Osiris, Isis, and Horus, which served to regulate society, by their respective significations, were monuments of their founders; that Osiris had lived in Egppt, and had been intered there, they framed stories agreeable to this belief. For want of a tomb containing in reality the body of Hammond or Osiris, they were contented with a cenotaph, an empty tomb. A vast concourse of people gathered near these pretended tombs, and with pomp celebrated an annual feast there. Plutarch often mentions the feasts of Osiris's tomb, and informs us, that when the Egyptians were reproached with placing in heaven gods whose tombs they showed, their reply was, that the bodies of these gods had been embalmed and interred in Egypt; but that their souls resided among the stars.

"Eye and sun are expressed by the same word in most of the ancient languages of Asia." (Ruins p. 159.)

This is one of the emblems of masonry, called the all seeing eye, and said to repre sent the true God; whereas it is nothing more than a symbol of the sun made use of by the ancient Egyptians, and from them descended to the masons.-Edit.

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