AND LOWER EGYPT. II 



-say nothing of the extravagance of the comparison, 

 it may be observed, that it was hardly worth the 

 while to march so far as to the plains of Memphis 

 to bang with rapture over a nest of ants, so common 

 in other countries, Europe not excepted ; and that 

 a traveller exposeshimself toridicule, when, attach- 

 ed solely to a favourite object, he follows too close- 

 ly the letter of the proverb, ne sutor ultra crepidam. 



It is farther to be remarked, that few French 

 travellers have penetrated into Upper Egypt. No 

 one of them who in modern times have acquired 

 celebrity, prosecuted his researches beyond the 

 plain of Saccara, that is, beyond the vicinity of 

 Cairo. Savary himself, who has published two vo- 

 lumes on the subject of Upper Egypt, never tra- 

 velled a single foot in it ; and the tone of assurance 

 with which he speaks of the country, and the de- 

 tail of his journey through it, as if he had really 

 performed it, are a stain on the reputation of that 

 elegant writer. I knew Savary well. 1 have seen 

 him at Alexandria, in the island of Candia, and 

 afterwards in France. The merited success of the 

 first volume of his Letters on Egypt, and he in- 

 tended to go no farther, as it contained the only 

 parts of that country which he had visited, actually 

 intoxicated him. lie took it into his head to add 

 to it the history of a journey never undertaken, 

 and found himself reduced to the necessity of ex- 

 tracting 



