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of the Western Ogres, Gnomes, and Fairies. The Phoenix, the 

 Griffin, the Chimera, the Dragon, and other mythical creatures were 

 originally used, no doubt, as symbols, but afterwards adopted by the 

 ignorant and credulous as real creatures, and transplanted by 

 Eastern travellers and crusaders into European heraldry and 

 tradition. There can be no doubt of the worship of the heavenly 

 bodies by all Eastern nations, and the influence upon them all, of 

 Egyptain and Assyrian mythology, maybe distinctly traced by their 

 symbolio%decoration. The sun being in its conception merely a 

 symbol, the noblest and grandest of the works of God, the medium 

 of heat and life, was afterwards regarded as the creator itself, 

 and worshipped as the Osiris of Egypt, and the Baal or Bel of 

 Chaldea. The Persian worship of fire was of similar origin ; and a 

 host of symbols, such as the mystic Fir Cone, the Sphinx, the 

 Winged Bull, and the Winged Lion, were used to perpetuate and 

 extend the imposture. Time will not permit me to linger over 

 Assyrian Art, as its leading features are closely allied, and in some 

 respects identical with, the Egyptian, of which it is, in its later 

 periods, a development; but those who wish to investigate the 

 subject further, will be well repaid by the perusal of the works of 

 Layard, G. Smith, Niebuhr, and other eminent writers. 



Our knowledge of Egyptian Art is much more complete than 

 that of Assyrian, but to comprehend the barest outlines of it, we must 

 know something of the people themselves, their climate, and the 

 conditions under which they live. The original occupation of 

 Egypt is a matter of, at the best, vague tradition; but it is stated that 

 Middle and Lower Egypt were first occupied after the flood by Ham 

 and his descendants, who being driven from their homes, and 

 subjected to heavy losses by the inundations of the Nile, before 

 they understood the natural laws by which those inundations were 

 governed, many of them retired to Upper Egypt^ where they built 

 the city of Thebes, and founded the first great Egyptian empire. 

 I say the first, because that empire was divided into two distinct 

 periods, and existed under widely different circumstances. The 

 first period probably dates from about 1400 B.C. to 525 B.C.; 

 and it was during this period that the pyramids were built, which. 



