‘$2 
For the Monthly. Magazine. 
Researcues in Ecyrt. 
MORE wonderful country than 
‘A Egypt never courted the attention 
of the traveller. Every step taken 
among its pyramidal mounds, its ela- 
borately-sculptured courts, its magni- 
ficent peristyles, and gigantic colon- 
nades——every glimpse of the series of 
mighty ruins which bestride the valley 
of the Nile, from Merée to the Delta, 
increase our admiration of the extra- 
ordinary people who raised them. It 
is as if we were looking on the de- 
serted cities of the primitive giants— 
giants the builders certainly were, in 
mind, in energy and ambition. On all 
sides, we see the pictured memorials of 
extraordinary national vicissitudes, the 
history of which, if the hieroglyphical 
veil that covers them were lifted, 
would only be second, in importance 
and interest, to the Hebrew Scriptures. 
The eye, on all sides, falls on the evi- 
dences of inordinate wealth and pros- 
perity, succeeded (according to the pro- 
phetic curse) by poverty, degradation and 
desolation. The iron “ arm of Pharaoh* 
(a , hieroglyphic we constantly _ meet 
with) has been broken ;” and the hand 
of the Lord has been shaken over 
Egypt. Amun No (Amenophis or Mem- 
non) has been rent asunder. The waters 
have failed from the sea; and the river 
(connecting the Nile with the Red Sea) 
has been dried up. ‘The heart of Egypt 
(the national emblem) has failed in the 
midst of it; jire has been set in Zoan 
(Tanis), the seat of the solar fire wor- 
ship; the day (the solar orb) has been 
eclipsed at Tehapnehes (Heliopolis); a 
cloud has covered it; and. the yokes (of 
Apis) have been broken. The multitude 
has been cut off from No (Diospolis); 
and judgments (it was there the forty 
judges of Egypt assembled) have. been 
executed there. Pathros (the Thebaid) 
has been made desolate, and Noph 
(Memphis) has had distresses (not the 
paraded distresses of her periodical la- 
mentations for the dead) daily. 
. The late discoveries of the Phonetic 
System seem to connect the present day 
with the infancy of the world.. The 
vast interval appears annihilated, .as if 
by magic, and we standin the presence 
of Egypt’s “wise and ancient kings.” 
We behold the sculptures superintended 
* Prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and 
Ezekiel, concerning- Egypt, passim, - - 
Egyptian Researches. 
[ Aug. }, 
by the heroic’ progeny of the wortd’s 
youth—the kings and demi-gods, as 
they were not outrageously called, who 
immediately succeeded Mizraim ; who 
were contemporary with Moses and 
the Patriarchs ; and who long preceded 
Homer, and those whom the classics 
have accustomed us to regard as the 
most ancient of historical personages. 
Those sculptures are, at this time, as 
fresh and angular as when the graving 
tool of the sculptor quitted his accom- 
plished task 3000 years ago.. We'sur- 
vey portraits, equally imperishable, of 
the same hero-kings; we are familia- 
rized with their names; we witness 
their exploits; we behold their crests, 
devices and arms; we see the armorial 
bearings depicted on the shields and 
banners and chariots of that audacious 
Pharaoh (Thothmosis), who dared to 
set his decisions against those of the 
Almighty ; we see the impresses of that 
standard, whose pompous blazonry, in- 
vested with the fiery. pillar’s ominous 
radiance, shot terror from amidst the 
refluent surges of the Red Sea, on the 
backward-looking gaze of flying Israel, 
till they beheld the daring king, and the 
glittering pageant of his “ Memphian, 
chivalry” swallowed up, for ever; and; 
saw, 
“From the safe shore, their floating car- 
cases, iw ¢ 
And broken chariot-wheels.”” : 
In an Essay published by Mr. Salt, 
preceded by a dedication, and accom- 
panied by some notes from the pen of 
Mr.Bankes, jun. ; the former has avow- 
ed himself a convert to the Phonetic 
System, after confessing that he had, at 
first, a very decided prejudice against 
it.. We have reviewed the subject in 
the article designated Egyptian Re-- 
searches, and expressed our opinion’ in 
detail. That the theory is true; as ap- 
plied to proper names, cannot be’ dis- 
puted. How far the practice is to be 
relied on, and wherein it is conjectural, 
we have endeavoured to show. Mr. 
Salt now comes forward to corrobo- 
rate the theory from repeated ocular 
examination. ‘The result, however, is 
that which we have predicted. To a 
great number of proper names, more 
especially of the Ptolemies and Roman 
Emperors, the Phonetic alphabet satis- 
factorily applies ; but with respect to 
another large portion, generally be sii 
ing, of the early Pharaohs, it is perfectly 
abortive. The talisman no longer-exe- 
cutes the interpreting will of the ‘pro< 
fessor; 
. , 
