THE history of Egypt presents nothing more wonderful than the magnitude and durability of the public works which were accomplished by her ancient inhabitants. When we view the intricacies of the Labyrinth, or endeavor to realize the vast conception of the Pyramids, we are at a loss to imagine what principles could have made her architects so prodigal of labor and expense. They appear to have planned their structures for the admiration of the most distant posterity, and with the view of rendering the fame of their mechanical labors coeval with the existence of the globe. It is sup posed by some that religion must have been their ruling spirit. And it has been suspected that that tenet in their belief, which assured them of the return of the soul at some future period to reanimate the body it once inhabited, induced them to take such extraordinary precautions to preserve the remains of their princes and great men in an entire and uncorrupted state. Indeed, there can be little doubt that Egypt is indebted to the mythological tenets of her ancient sages, for those magnificent architectural wonders, which still distinguish her from the rest of the earth. And it is very remarkable of this people, that all their great efforts were made at a time, when in regard to religious faith, they were in the

grossest ignorance and darkness, and that when light sprang up around them, their power seemed to decayyielding to the domination of barbarian tribes, who were indebted to them for all their knowledge. Persia added nothing to the mechanical arts or architectural improvement of Egypt; the Greeks presumed not to rival their masters in the construction of temples, pyramids, and labyrinths; and the propagation of the Christian religion put an end to the lofty imaginations which the subjects of the Pharaohs were wont to realise in their national structures. This last contributed most of all to the extinction of that spirit which had impelled the Egyptians to undertake and carry into effect designs so vast and imperishable as those which still excite the astonishment of the traveller. The days of their mythology were those of their proudest glories. The belief in the divine origin of their kings, and also the dogma that the soul, was to return to its ancient tenement in the flesh, encouraged them to erect monuments which might reject the pressure of ten thousand years, and carry the fame of their authors to the very threshold of eternity. But when the exercise of their primitive superstition was no longer allowed, the temples were gradually abandoned, and the spirit of the people yielded to a more prevailing power. Besides those immense works which display the gigantic glans and mechanical resources of the ancient Egyptians, the ruins of Tentyra and Thebes furnish specimens of the finer arts of architecture, statuary and painting, which still delight the eye of the traveller of taste.

As the frontispiece of the present number, we have selected a view of the ruins of the ancient Tentyra, with its magnificent temple and gateway. Speaking of these wonderful exhibitions of mechanical skill, Champollion says, "All that I had ever seen, all that I had ever admired, appeared miserable in comparison with the gigantic conceptions by which I was surrounded. I shall take care not to attempt to describe any thing; for either my description would not express a thousandth part of what ought to be said, or, if I drew even a faint sketch, I should be taken for an enthusiast or perhaps for a madman." Denon, the friend and companion of Bonaparte, is still more enthusiastic; in his splendid work on Egypt

he thus gives utterance to his feelings: "I wish I could here transfuse into the soul of my reader, the sensations which I experienced. I was too much lost in astonishment to be capable of cool judgment; all that I had hitherto seen served here but to fix my admiration. I felt that I was in the sanctuary of the arts and sciences. How many periods presented themselves to my imagination at the sight of such an edifice! How many ages of creative ingenuity were requisite to bring a nation to such a degree of perfection and sublimity in the arts; and how many more of oblivion to cause these mighty productions to be forgotten, and to bring back the human race to the state of nature in which I found them on this very spot! Never was there a place which concentred in a narrower compass the well marked memorials of a progressive lapse of ages. What unceasing power, what riches, what abundance, what superfluity of means must a government possess, which could erect such an edifice, and find within itself artists capable of conceiving and executing the design of decorating and enriching it with every thing that speaks to the eye and the understanding! Never did the labor of man show me the human race in such a splendid point of view; in the ruins of Tentyra, the Egyptians appeared to me giants. I wished to take every thing on paper, but I could hardly venture to begin the work; I felt that not being able to raise my powers to the height which was before my admiring eyes, I could only show the imperfection of the imitative art. I was confused by the multiplicity of objects, astonished by their novelty, and tormented by the fear of never again visiting them. On casting my eyes on the ceilings, I had perceived Zodiacs, planetary systems and celestial hemispheres, represented in a tasteful arrangement; I saw that the Supreme Being, the first cause, was every where depicted by the emblems of his attributes; and I had but a few hours to examine, to reflect on and to copy what it had been the labor of ages to conceive, to put together and to decorate; with my pencil in my hand I passed from object to object, distracted from one by the inviting appearance of the next, constantly attracted to new subjects and again torn from them. I wanted eyes, hands and intelligence vast enough to see, copy and reduce to order, the multitude of strik