1825.] 
the picture: so that, I think, any one 
seeing it, would be convinced that it is an 
indisputable allusion to the flood, distinct- 
ly depicted, and the salvation of the ark. 
Wealso find a very singular compart- 
ment on this Soros, on its inner side ; 
a long frieze or design, on the right 
hand of the above, where sixteen men 
are represented as being submerged in 
water—four, at one end, dancing, hand 
in hand; four, at the opposite end, erect ; 
and eight sprawling sideways, as men 
drowning. This, it may be conjectured, 
is to commemorate the event of Nito- 
eris drowning his Egyptian guests in 
a subterranean chamber; but I think 
it is more probable that it is an allusion 
to the destruction of the antedeluvians 
in the midst of their revelry. 
_. To enter further into the extraordi- 
nary figures on this Soros, so worthy of 
examination, I shall decline for the pre- 
sent, being only desirous to call public 
attention ta a monument of inestimable 
value in every sense, which, I trust, 
will never be allowed to go out of the 
kingdom; and which I still hope will, 
to the amiable and afflicted widow of 
its discoverer, be ultimately the source 
of honour and emolument.— Yours, &c. 
Bristol, Jan. 1825. G. CumMBrerLAnp. 
—<=z—— 
‘ For the Monthly Magazine. 
Mr. Soane’s Exuisition of the Ata- 
BASTER SARCOPHAGUS.* 
T is a common opinion, that this 
magnificent vestige of antiquity is 
* The following brief notice of this private 
exhibition (to the splendid liberality of 
which we should have paid more particular 
attention, if previous engagements had not 
prevented) was by some mistake or over- 
sight omitted in our last M.M. 
On Saturday evening, 25th March, Mr. 
Soane’s private exhibition of Belzoni’s Sar- 
cophagus was numerously attended (as it 
had been on the preceding Wednesday) by 
a party of the most distinguished fashion- 
ables. Among the earlier arrivals, we ob- 
seryed His Royal Highness the Duke of 
Sussex. A suite of rooms, pleasingly illu- 
minated, was thrown open; and the com- 
pany continued till a late hour, occupied in 
the examination of the paintings, statues, 
pieces of antiquity, and ingenious models 
that were crowded around. Among other 
valuable paintings, Hogarth’s ‘‘ Rake’s 
_Progress,’’ attracted considerable attention. 
In a lower room was the grand object of 
attraction, the Sarcophagus, found by Bel- 
zoni in the pyramid (and which has been 
80 often described), was raised at such a 
distance from the ground, that all its parts 
could be viewed with ease; and a strong 
light was so placed behind the upper end 
as to shew its transparency, and thé graven 
Mr. Soane’s Private Exhibition. 
317 
the coffin of some buried king, I ven- 
ture to differ from that opinion, and to 
infer that it was an ark or tabernacle, 
used (like the coffin of Hiram, in the 
mysteries of Freemasonry) in the fune- 
ral rites of the hero to whom the hero- 
um, called Psammis’s Tomb, was de- 
voted. That it was not intended for 
the body of a King, is clear,—for a 
figure of Iris adorns the bottom of it; 
and “kings,” as Dr. Young has argued, 
* were identified with Osiris.” In fact, 
the Sarcophagus is in the shape of a 
Cymba, Cubile, or Arkite Vessel, and it 
is covered with representations of the 
upper and lower mysteries. 
There is no occasion to inform the 
scholar, that mystic chests, or cista, were 
used in all of these: the Mosaic Taber- 
nacle is supposed to have been of this 
description, There was one at Eleusis, 
in which a great variety of agricultural 
symbols were kept and explained. In 
these mystic chests, the books of the 
law, and the effigies of Osiris, Bacchus 
and Adonis, as they were called in dif- 
ferent countries were deposited by the 
priests for a particular time. Portions 
of an embalmed ox were also, beyond a 
doubt, so deposited ; and such portions 
were found in an adjacent room. The 
chest, therefore, though not a real sar- 
cophagus, may have been employed as 
the mimic coffin of Apis Inferus, in 
which his effigy was deposited, as Plu- 
tarch tells us, for three days, after 
which he was said to be revived. It 
is, indeed, probable, that the whole ex- 
cavation in which the Sarcophagus 
was found, was one of the “ sEcRET 
CAVERNS IN WHICH THE BULL APIs WAS 
EMBALMED,” described by Pausanias — 
“which No STRANGER EVER APPROACH- 
ED, AND WHICH THE PRIESTS THEMSELVES 
NEVER ENTERED BUT ON THAT OCCA- 
SION.” InDAGATOR. 
figures upon it, to advantage. But we have 
not room now, nor had we leisure then, 
surrounded as we were by the gay pageant 
of fashion, to give so delightful an exhibi- 
tion the attention it merits. Our feelings, 
as we moyed with the living stream of the 
young, the great, and the proud, amidst 
the fragments of antiquity, are more 
easily to be imagined than described. At 
one time particularly, when looking froma 
kind of gallery, over the Sarcophagus, a 
group of four beautiful girls were leaning 
on it, making their lively remarks, and 
laughing aloud—as thinking themselves un- 
observed. The monument of three thou- 
sand years, and the thoughtless beings of 
to-day were there;—a few years hence, 
the one will remain, the others will be as 
though they had never been. 
For 
