IOO TRAVELS IN UPPER 



crumbled into dust with the city which they were 

 reared to decorate : the flames which ferocity and 

 ignorance directed have devoured the library of 

 the Ptolemies : the pharos is buried under the 

 waters of the sea, and the tower which, in mo- 

 dern times, serves as a lighthouse, docs not so much 

 as indicate the spot where it stood. Modern Alex- 

 andria occupies only a very small part of the 

 ground encompassed by the city which Alexander 

 raised ; it is merely a city, or rather a town, of 

 yesterday, containing nothing of the ancient city 

 but a few scattered fragments. The character of 

 the inhabitants, the state of science, of the arts, of 

 commerce itself, in short, every thing is narrowed ; 

 and if the mind were not supported by feeding on 

 the remains of a city once so superb, no one could 

 have the courage to speak a word of that which 

 now is. 



