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three feet deep and broad, and a little above six feet long. Thus all this bustle, all this expense, and all the labors of so many thousand men, ended in procuring a prince, in this vast and almost boundless pile of buildings, a little vault six. feet in length. Besides, the kings, who built these pyramids, had it not in their power to be buried in them, and so did not enjoy the sepulchre they had built. The public hatred which they incurred, by reason of their unheard of cruelties to their subjects, in laying such heavy tasks upon them, occasioned their being interred in some obscure place, to prevent their bodies from being exposed to the fury and vengeance of the populace.

3. This last circumstance, of which historians have taken particular notice, teaches us what judgment we ought to pass on these edifices, so much boasted of by the ancients. It is but just to remark and esteem the noble genius which the Egyptians had for architecture; a genius that prompted them, from the earliest times, and before they could have any models to imitate, to aim in all things at the grand and magnificent; and to be intent on real beauties, without deviating in the least from a noble simplicity, in which the highest perfection of the art consists. But what idea ought we to form of those princes, who considered as something grand the raising, by a multitude of hands, and by the help of money, immense structures, with the sole view of rendering their names immortal; and who did not scruple to destroy thousands of their subjects to satisfy their vain glory! They differed very much from the Romans, who sought to immortalize themselves by works of a magnificent kind, but, at the same time, of public utility.

4. Pliny gives us, in a few words, a just idea of these pyramids, when he calls them a foolish and useless ostentation of the wealth of Egyptian kings; and adds, that, by a just punishment, their memory is buried in oblivion, historians not agreeing among themselves about the names of those who first raised those vain monuments. In a word, according to the judicious remark of Diodorus, the industry of the architects of those pyramids is no less valuable and praise

Were the pyramids used for the purposes for which they were built? Why were they not?-Is it known for a certainty who were the first projectors of the pyramids ?-How did the Romans differ from the Egyptians in works of magnificence and aggrandizement ?

worthy, than the design of the Egyptian kings contemptible and ridiculous.

5. But what we should most admire in these ancient monuments, is the true and standing evidence they give of the skill of the Egyptians in astronomy; that is a science which seems incapable of being brought to perfection, but by a long series of years, and a great number of observations. It has been found, that the four sides of the great pyramid named, were turned exactly to the four quarters of the world; and consequently showed the true meridian of that place. Now, as so exact a situation was in all probability purposely pitched upon by those who piled up this huge mass of stones, above three thousand years ago, it follows, that during so long a space of time, there has been no alteration in the heavens in that respect, or, which amounts to the same thing, in the poles of the earth or the meridians.

THE FALLING TOWER.

MARK ye the tower, whose lonely halls
Re-echo to yon falling stream?
Mark ye its bare and crumbling walls,
While slowly fades the sinking beam?

There, oft, when eve, in silent trance,

Hears the lorn red-breast's plaintive moan;
Time, casting round a cautious glance,
Heaves from its base some mould'ring stone.

There, though in time's departed day,
War wav'd his glittering banners high;
Though many a minstrel pour'd the lay,
And many a beauty tranc'd the eye.

Yet never midst the gorgeous scene,
Midst the proud feasts of splendid power,

Shone on the pile a beam serene,

So bright as gilds its falling hour.

What is most to be admired in the pyramids ?What astronomica! Fact do they furnish?

Oh! thus, when life's gay scenes shall fade,
And pleasure lose its wonted bloom,
When creeping age shall bare my head,
And point me to the silent tomb;

Then may religion's hallow'd flame
Shed on my mind its mildest ray,
And bid it seek, in purer frame,
One bright eternity of day.

THE RIVER NILE.

1. THE overflowing of the Nile procures every advantage, and supplies the want of rain, which never falls in Egypt. This river has its source in the mountains of Abyssinia, from whence it does not arrive in Egypt till it has been precipitated over seven cataracts, with a noise that is heard several leagues. It begins to swell in the month of May, and by a gradual increase, which is almost imperceptible at first, it arrives at a sufficient height to overflow the country, and remains in that state from the month of June till October.

2. The ancients, who were ignorant of the causes of the inundation, have assigned some fabulous reasons, which will always be the case when people substitute conjectures instead of facts. At present, we know, that it rains in Ethiopia five months in the year, from April to September, which is the secret of the overflowing of the Nile. And the precious mud which it brings along with it produces the amazing fertility of Egypt. Thus lands, which are naturally dry and sandy, become the best soil in the world.

3. The husbandman in this country never tires himself with holding the plough, or breaking the clods of the earth. As soon as the Nile retires he has nothing to do but to turn up the earth, and temper it with a little sand, in order to lessen its rankness; after which he sows it with great ease, and with little or no expense. Two months after, it is covered with all sorts of corn and pulse. The Egyptians generally

What supplies the want of rain in Egypt?-What occasions the inundations of the Nile?-At what time does it begin to rise, and what time does it continue to overflow the country?-Why do the. inundations of the Nile produce so great fertility in the soil of Egypt

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