THE LATE CAMPAIGN IN EGYPT. 43 



uudation arc so great as to occasion, at one period 

 of the year, a huniidity little interior to that which 

 would proceed from actual immersion ; and which 

 in their consequences -would equally aftcct that 

 brillianc}- of colouring which has stamped a cha- 

 racteristic pre-eminence on these chej d'ceuvres. 



TO ROBERT HOME, Esq. 



Secretary to ike Asiatic Society. 

 SIR, 



1"^HE ingenious and learned author of the inquiry 

 into the life and writings of Homer speaks of 

 abstracted mythology, as the result of great search 

 and science: being a comparison of the harmony 

 and discord, the resemblance and dissimilitude, of 

 the powers and parts of the universe, it often con- 

 sists of their finest proportions and hidden apti- 

 jtudes, set together and personated by a bemg act- 

 ing like a mortal. 



It is from this and similar observations of this in- 

 structrive writer, and from the history of *tlie Hea- 

 'veiis by the Abbe Plug he, that I have been led to 

 investigate the mythology of India ; and to apply 

 their mode of reasoning to a system which has ge- 

 nerally been considered as a heap of wild and ex- 

 travagant fable. 



In fact we must view the images of Lidia in the 

 light of hieroglyphics, and endeavour to develope 

 the allusion : this is the object of the accompany- 

 ing attempts; but I only offer my conjectures; I 

 insist upon no hypothesis. 



Jf these essays should be deemed acceptable by 



