TH1 



RISE AND PROGRESS 



ble muscles, hard *hut lip*, and atony eyes, like 

 UM statues of Egypt, but here the resemblance 

 OMMft. In the rudest sculptures of the former 

 the dawn of poetic beauty ia risible ; in the most 

 savage fonua there resides a certain majesty of 

 Miner, in which the works of the latter have no 

 hare. Had critics and historians asserted that 

 Greece imitated Egypt in employing art to tell 

 the story of her history and her religion, they 

 would have been nearer the truth perhaps. Let 

 M examine more closely into this matter. 



When Denon beheld at the head of his savans 

 the ruins of ancient Thebes he exclaimed, " This 

 celebrated city, the size of which Homer has 

 characterized by the single expression of the 

 hundred-gated, a boasting and partial phrase, 

 which has been repeated with much confidence 

 for many centuries ; this illustrious city, de- 

 scribed in a few pages dictated to Herodotus by 

 Egyptian priests, that have since been copied by 

 every historian, celebrated by the number of its 

 kings, whose wisdom had raised them to the rank 

 of goda, by laws which have been revered 

 without being promulgated, by science involved 

 in pompous and enigmatical inscriptions, the 

 tir.-t monuments of ancient learning that are 

 still spared by the hand of time ; this abandoned 

 sanctuary surrounded with barbarism, and again 

 restored to the desert, from which it had been 

 drawn forth ; enveloped in the veil of mystery 

 and the obscurity of ages, whereby even its own 

 colossal monuments are magnified to the imagi- 

 nation; still impressed the mind with such 

 gigantic phantoms, that the whole army suddenly, 

 and with one accord, stood in amazement at the 

 sight of its scattered ruins, and clapped their 

 hands with delight, as if the end and object of 

 their glorious toils, and the complete conquest 

 of Egypt, were accomplished and secured by 

 taking possession of the splendid remains of this 

 ancient metropolis." 



The account of Thebes by a later traveller, 

 Mrs Lushington, is more to the point: 

 " When I compare the descriptions of Denon 

 ind Hamilton, I find them essentially correct, 

 yet without giving me any idea of the glorious 

 reality. No words can impart a conception of 

 the profusion of pillars, standing, prostrate, in- 

 clining against each other, broken and whole, 

 tone* of a gigantic size propped up by pillars, 

 and pillars again resting upon stones, which ap- 

 pear ready to crush the gazer under their sudden 

 fall ; yet on a second view he is convinced that 

 nothing but an earthquake could move them : all 

 these pillars covered with sculpture, perhaps 

 thre thousand years old, though fresh as if 

 finished but yesterday; rot of grotesque and 



hideous objects, such as we are accustomed to 

 associate with ideas of Egyptian mythology, but 

 many of the figures of gods, warriors, and horses 

 much larger than life, yet exhibiting surpassing 

 grace and beauty." These colonnades, obelisks, 

 porticos, and statues are in hundreds and thou- 

 sands, filling the vast plains almost as far as the 

 eye can reach, and extending over five modern 

 villages. Should any city of modern times be 

 exposed without repair to the storms and the 

 whirlwinds of three thousand years, their noblest 

 buildings will be as dust, and the plough will pass 

 over them, nor be impeded in its progress. 



The sculptures to which our fair traveller 

 alludes are to be found in the temple of Luxor, 

 a portion of Thebes. It will be observed how 

 much in subject, though in nothing else, they are 

 akin to the marbles of the Athenian temples. On 

 the eastern wing of the north front of Luxor are 

 sculptured the exploits of one of the early con- 

 querors : the enemy are driven roughly back upon a 

 fortified town, from whence they had issued, and 

 the victors are pressing forward, with the design 

 of entering the place with the vanquished. The 

 commander is conspicuous in a war chariot 

 drawn by two horses ; a globe surmounts his 

 helmet, with a serpent on each side ; an arrow is 

 leaving his bow, and beside him is a lion rushing 

 forward. His horses are in full gallop ; under 

 their hoofs are scattered the dead and the dying. 

 The enemy are in disorder and flight ; men fall, 

 pierced with wounds, from their chariots ; the 

 main body are pushed over a precipice into a 

 rapid river ; the town is in dismay ; on the walls 

 aged matrons and men run to and fro, shrieking 

 and stretching out their hands, while some of the 

 more resolute citizens sally out, led by a young 

 warrior, whose robes and tiara mark him of note. 

 Various portions or episodes of the same battle 

 are represented on other parts of the building ; 

 everywhere the Egyptians are prevailing, and 

 the Indians or Persians are suffering ; the short, 

 close dresses of the former contrasting well with 

 the flowing robes of the latter. It is more than 

 likely that these sculptures were stained or 

 painted. That painting generally in ancient 

 times came to the aid of sculpture, is coo well 

 established to be questioned. 



It appears that the fine arts were chiefly dedi- 

 cated to history and religion in the land of 

 Egypt. What the houses were like in which the 

 people dwelt, how the walls were adoined, and 

 what their domestic gods resembled, we have n< 

 account. Priests sacrificing to the gods, solemn 

 processions, battles fought, cities assaulted or 

 stormed, kings and rulers, living or dead cut 

 out in stone, couching lions, and crocodiles, and 



