age, or the Egyptian people were a noble race; for there is, in the faith that looks to the far future for the reward of its efforts, an elevating principle that must have operated most powerfully on the heart and mind of an Egyptian. "The history of Egypt presents nothing more wonderful than the magnitude and durability of the public works which were accomplished by her ancient inhabitants. Prodigal of labor and expense, her architects 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 powers coeval with the existence of the globe itself. It has been suspected, indeed, that the omnipotent spirit of religion mingled with the aspirations of a more earthly ambition in suggesting the intricacies of the Labyrinth, and in realizing the vast conception of the Pyramids. The preservation of the body in an entire and uncorrupted state during three thousand years, is understood to have been connected with the mythological tenet that the spirit by which it was originally occupied would return to animate its members, and to render them once more the instruments of a moral probation amid the ordinary pursuits of the human race. The mortal remains even of the greatest prince could hardly have been regarded as deserving of the minute care and the sumptuous apparatus which were employed to save them from dissolution, had not the national faith pointed to a renewal of existence in the lapse of ages, when the bodily organs would again become necessary to the exercise of those faculties from which the dignity and enjoyment of man or derived. There can be no doubt, therefore, that Egypt was indebted to the religious speculations of her ancient sages for those sublime works of nature which still dirtinguish her above all the other nations of the primitive world. We shall say nothing of the pyramids, though there is, in this volume, sufficient information to excite and gratify the most curious, respecting the appearance and design of those wonders of the world. But the following description of one of their burial-places discovered not long since is too interesting to be omitted. To give an idea of the magnificence lavished by the Egyptians on their burial-places, it will be enough to describe the immense vaults discovered by Belzoni, who, in excavating for curiosities, possessed a tact or instinct similar to that which leads the mineral engineer to the richest veins of the precious metals. He fixed upon a spot at the bottom of a precipice, over which, when there happens to be rain in the desert, a torrent rushes with great fury; and after no small degree of labour he reached the entrance of a large and very splendid tomb. This hall, which is extremely beautiful, is twenty-seven feet long and twenty-five broad; the roof being supported by pillars fully four feet square. At the end of it is a large door which opens into another chamber twenty-eight feet by twenty-five, having the walls covered with figures, which, though only drawn in outline, are so perfect that one would think they had been done only the day before. Returning into the entrancehall, he observed a large staircase descending into a passage. It is thirteen feet long, seven and a half in width, and has eighteen steps, leading at the bottom to a beautiful corridor of large dimensions. He remarked that the paintings became more perfect the farther he advanced into the interior, retaining their gloss or a kind of varnish laid over the colours, which had a beautiful effect, being usually executed on a white ground. At the end of this splendid passage he descended by ten steps into another equally superb ; from which he entered into an apartment twenty-four feet by thirteen, and so elegantly adorned with sculptures and paintings that he called it the Room of Beauty. When standing in the centre of this chamber, the traveller is surrounded by an assembly of Egyptian gods and goddesses—the leading personages of the Pantheon,-whose presence was thought to honour, or perhaps to protect, the remains of the mighty dead. While reading deseriptions of ancient works of art, we are very apt to think the people, after all, were only barbarians, and though they did rear mighty and durable structures, yet that they were destitute of almost all those domestic inventions and conveniences we esteem so indispensable to comfort and elegance. The following ingenious sentiments, which every candid reader must feel are true, will set the matter in a different light. The fascination attending this review of the monuments of ancient art has, perhaps carried us somewhat farther than is quite consistent with our plan which compels us to abstain from minute details, however interesting and agreeable. There is no other nation in the world, if we except those on tho eastern borders of Asia,-whose real history has not yet been made known to the European reader,-which could present such a retrospect at the same early period, or gratify the traveller with the display of so much magnificence and beauty. Nor must our opinion of Egyptian science, art, and general civilization be limited to the rigid inferences which alone an examination of their actual remains might appear to justify. On the contrary, we are entitled to assume the most liberal rule of reasoning in regard to the acquirements of a people who surpassed, to such an extent, all their contemporaries westward of the Arabian Desert; and to conclude that in other matters, the memorials of which could not be conveyed to posterity by the architect or the sculptor, the priests and sovereigns of the Nile had made a corresponding progress. For example, we are told, that in the time of Moses the land of Egypt was celebrated for fine linen,-a notice which, to a hasty reader, conveys only that simple fact, but which, to the philosopher who has reflected on the slow and gradual steps by which nations advance to maturity, suggests a state of improvement inseparable from an established government and the exercise of good laws. Our meaning will receive a suitable illustration from the following passage in the works of Dr. Adam Smith: "The woollen coat which covers the day-labourer, coarse and rough as it may appear, is the produce of the joint labour of a great number of workmen. The shepherd, the sorter of the wool, the wool-comber or carder, the dyer, the spinner, the weaver, the fuller, the dresser, with many others, must all join their different arts in order to complete even this homely production. What a variety of labour, too, is necessary in order to produce the tools of the meanest of those workmen! To say nothing of such complicated machines as the ship of the sailor, the mill of the fuller, or even the loom of the weaver, let us consider only what a variety of labour is requisite in order to form that very simple machine, the shears with which the shepherd clips the wool. The miner, the builder of the furnace for smelting the ore, the feller of the timber, the burner of the charcoal to be made use of in the smelting-house, the brickmaker, the bricklayer, the workmen who attend the furnace, the millwright, the forger, the smith, must all of them join their different arts in order to produce them. Were we to examine in the same manner all the different parts of his dress and household furniture, the coarse linen shirt which he wears next his skin, the shoes which cover his feet, the bed which he lies on, together with the tools of all the different workmen employed in producing these different conveniences, we should be sensible that, without the assistance and co-operation of many thousands, the very meanest person in a civilized country could not be provided, even according to what we very falsely imagine the easy and simple manner in which he is usually accommodated." Let the reader transfer this reasoning to the "fine linen" of Egypt, and he will immediately see the conclusions to which we have alluded. Many arts must have arrived at great perfection before the commodity mentioned by the Hebrew legislator could have become an object of merchandise or of foreign commerce. How much skill, too, in the art of tempering metals was necessary to prepare tools for the workmen who carved the hardest granite, and covered with sculptures the walls and ceilings of the most ancient temples! Even the improvements of modern Europe supply not means for equalling the ingenious labours of the Egyptian artists. What a series of efforts must have preceded the excellence which is preserved for our admiration in the temples of Karnac and Luxor, in the tombs of Gornoo, and even in the grottoes of Eleithias! How many generations must have contributed their share to this perfection! The contemplative mind seeks refuge in a remoter antiquity than is allowed by the annals of the neighbouring tribes of Syria and of Greece; some of whom, instead of imitating the arts which would at once have secured to them the comforts and dignity of social life, derived nothing from their intercourse with Egypt except the absurd ceremonies of a gross superstition, which degraded the understanding while it polluted the heart. POEMS. BY ALONZO LEWIS. Boston. John H. Eastburn. 1831. pp.208. The calm, benevolent, and devotional spirit, which pervades these poems of Mr. Lewis, will secure for them a welcome reception among a large class of readers. There is nothing to offend the taste of the most refined, and there is much to gratify the best feelings of our nature. The highest flights of genius are not attempted; there is no imitation of Byron's "Darkness," or Shelley's "Prometheus"-nothing startling, strange or thrilling--but there is much of that purity of thought and sweetness of expression which, like the smile of complacency from a good man, makes us better by beholding the reflection of goodness. The first and longest poem, "Pleasures of Benevolence," contains some beautiful lines; and the sentiment throughout is faultless. We quote as a specimen, a few passages. Pure as the dew, which falls from cloudless skies, To spread the bliss of universal love. To soothe the sorrows man is doomed to know, Man only changes. Man, the foe of man, Pledge we religion! That restores the bloom, Come, thou pure Light, which first in Eden glowed, Some of the minor poems possess much merit. There is an air of truth, a heartfelt sincerity, in the expressions of patriotism and philanthrophy, which embue these musings, that will gain for their author the credit of a good man, if he be not lauded as a great poet. Several articles, notices of books, &c. prepared for this No. were omitted for lack of room. |