2-^6 TRAVELS IN TPPEa 



Egyplian archileclure, and to describe them justly 

 a man must possess the genius of those who con- 

 ceived and executed them, or the eloquent pen of 

 a Bossuet *. 



The 



* Having retired in the evening to one of the cottages of 

 Luxor, niy imagination still filled with the wonders I had seen, 

 I again read with enthusiasm the passage from Bossuet, in which 

 he draws, after the narrative of Thevenot, an hasty sketch of the 

 ruins of Thebes. It is impossible to speak in a more elevated 

 style, of works which command admiration and respect. I 

 think it will gratify the reader to be presented with this passage, 

 which will help to gii'e him an idea of places worthy of the 

 pencil of the French orator. 



" The works of the Egyptians were made to resist the effects 

 " of time: their statues were colossal; their pillars were im- 

 " mense. Egypt aimed at vast objects, and sought to strike 

 " the eye at a distance, but always gratifying it by justness of 

 *' proportion. Temples and palaces, to this day almost entire, 

 " where these pillars and statues are innumerable, have been 

 *• discovered in the SaYd, which you know well is the name of 

 " Theba'is. One palace above all is admired, whose remains 

 " seem to have subsisted only in order to efface the glory of all 

 *' the greatest productions of human power and skill. Four 

 " alleys extending firther than the eye can follow them, and 

 " terminating at each end in sphinxes of a composition as rare 

 " as their size is remarkable, serve as avenues to four porticoes 

 " whose height astonishes the beholder. What magnificence 

 " and what extent! Indeed of all those who have described the 

 " prodigious edifice no one has had time to make the tour of it, 

 " nor are they even certain of having seen the half of it; but 

 " all that they did see there was surprising. 



" A hall which apparently stood in the middle of this superb 



" palace, 



