have been required to restore those arts, and to polish the manners of those persons who, ou their first settling in a new country, found sufficient employment in cultivating the land for: their subsistence, and in erecting habitations for the convenience of their families, without designing any farther improvements. They were also frequently obliged to wander from one place to another in quest of a more convenient residence,and therefore it is sufficiently obvious that a considerable time must have elapsed previous to the erection of towns and cities, and the subsequent settlement of provinces and kingdoms.

Commerce, though rendered extremely difficult by the confusion of tongues, was nevertheless carried on with vigour after the dispersion; as the necessities of men were greatly increased by their separation; and those who settled in new countries, finding the want of many conveniences they had left behind them, and at the same time discovering many valuable productions in their own settlement, were induced to visit the parts in which they had formerly resided, for the purpose of exchanging their newly discovered commodities for such articles as they stood in’ need of: and by this means the first foundation' seems to have been laid for foreign trade, which soon diffused itself in such a manner as to supersede the greatest obstacles, and finally to suggest the idea of navigation, which has rendered the faithless and tempestuous ocean subservient to the interests and accommodation of distant nations.

It may perhaps be expected that we shall now enter into the controverted subjects of what language was generally spoken before the building O 2

of Babel; in what manner the memorable confusion of tongues was effected; and how many different languages were then formed: but as we are much more solicitous to enrich our volumes with authentic and agreeable narration, than to swell them with dry and useless controversies, we shall merely observe, that in all probability the Hebrew tongue was that which God first gave to his creatures, or at least we may venture to affirm, that if the Hebrew cannot substantiate its claim, the primitive language was entirely lost at Babel: with respect to the manner in which the memorable confusion was effected, there is no doubt but it was the immediate act of God, who is solemnly described by Moses as coming down to view the builders, and to accomplish his great design; and as to the number of languages then formed, we confess ourselves unable to resolve the question, and deem it of too little importance to occupy either our time or attention. All we know from good authority is, that the Hebrew, Syriac, and Egyptian languages were formed as early as the time of Jacob: and it seems probable that the languages of the chief families were fun, damentally different from each other, though the dialects within each branch had a mutual affinity. A variation which seems well adapted to bring about the designs of the Almighty, relative to the division of mankind into societies, commonwealths, and kingdoms.

CHAP.

CHAP. III.

The History of Egypt, to the Time of Alexander the Great.

EGYPT is situated between the forty-eighth and fifty-third degrees of longitude, and the twenty-fourth and thirty-third degrees of north latitude: its length, from north to south, is near six hundred miles; and the breadth of its coast on the Mediterranean, from east to west, is about three hundred miles; but it grows much narrower above the division of the Nile, so that in some places the mountainous chains which rise on each side of that river leave a plain between them of so small an extent as may be crossed with facility in less than one day. The boundaries of the country are, the kingdom of Sennar and the cataracts of the Nile on the south; the Mediterranean sea on the north; the Red sea and the isthmus of Suez on the west; and a region of Lybia, called Marmarica, on the west.

To give a clear idea of ancient Egypt it will be necessary to divide it into three principal parts, distinguished by the appellations of the Upper Egypt, or Thebais; the Middle Egypt, or Heptanomis; and the Lower Egypt, which includes the Delta.

Thebais, so named by the Greeks after its principal city Thebes, is the most southern part of Egypt, next to Ethiopia, and is almost equal in extent to all the rest, including the tracts of

country on each side the Nile down to the Heptanomis.

Among the numerous famous cities that formerly embellished this part of Egypt, we must enumerate, on the western side of the river, Lycopolis, or the city of the Wolves; Hypsele, now called Aboutig; Aphroditopolis, or the city of Venus; Ptolemais; Abydus, celebrated for the magnificent palace of Memnon; Little Diospolis, or the city of Jupiter; Tentyra; Latopolis; Great Apollinopolis and Elephantine; and on the opposite side stood Antaopolis, Passalus, Panopolis, Chenoboscia, Cane or Neapolis, Apollinopolis of the village of Apollo, and the celebrated Thebes, which might indisputably vie with the most illustrious cities in the universe, whether considered with respect to its extent, wealth, or population. Previous to its destruction by Cambyses, its extent is said to have been no less than fifty-two miles and a half: so great was its wealth, that, after it had been plundered by the Persians, three hundred talents of gold, and two thousand three hundred of silver, were found among the remains of the pillage; and its population has been described with peculiar animation by Homer, who informs us, that from each of its hundred gates issued two hundred warriors with their horses and chariots.

Some authors have, indeed, supposed that by the gates here spoken of are to be understood either the temples of the city, or the palaces of certain powerful princes, but as this supposition is avowedly founded upon the assertions of modern travellers respecting the ruins of Thebes, we beg leave to remind our readers that Mr. Browne found sufficient vestiges in 1792, to establish a contrary belief.

From

"From * the roof of the great temple at Aksor," says he, be seen an insulated mass, may toward the south, which has apparently been a gate; and some other imperfect remains may be discovered with a telescope, in the directions west and north, under the same circumstances; so that from the situation of these ruins, precisely opposed to each other at the three cardinal points, it seems extremely probable that they were three of the gates belonging to the ancient city."

Among the august remains of this justly cele brated city have been discovered some temples and palaces, which have triumphed over the cor roding influence of time, and still exhibit to the amazed spectator a profusion of majestic columns, exquisite statues, and brilliant paintings. Indeed we cannot give a livelier idea either of these objects themselves, or the strong effects of their appearance upon a contemplative mind, than by repeating the following words of M. Sonnini, who visited the spot in the summer of 1778: "It would be impossible," says this traveller, "to describe the sensations I experienced at the sight of objects so truly grand and majestic. It was not simply admiration, but an exstacy which suspended the use of my faculties; I remained time motionless with rapture, and was more than once inclined to prostrate myself in veneration before monuments the erection of which seemed to surpass the genius and the powers of man." He then proceeds to describe the enchanting scene in the following manner: "Colossal and other gigantic statues, obelisks, avenues formed by rows of sphinxes which are still visible, though shame

long

* Vide Mavor's Voyages and Travels, vol. xxiii. p. 57.

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