of the Ancient Egyptians. 611 



nent of Europe, who are incapable of understanding how the English can row 

 for their amusement, the Egyptians were contented to sit or stand in the boat, 

 while their servants towed it round the lake ; and, protected from the sun by 

 a canopy, they felt additional pleasure in the contrast of their own ease with 

 the labour of their menials. 



" They also amused themselves by angling and spearing fish in the ponds 

 within their grounds; and on these occasions they were generally accompanied 

 by a friend, or one or more members of their family. 



The Mode of laying out the House and Grounds varied according to circum- 

 stances. " Part of the garden was laid out in walks shaded with trees, usu- 

 ally planted in rows, and surrounded at the base of the stem with a circular 

 ridge of earth, which, being lower at the centre than at the circumference, 

 retained the water, and directed it more immediately towards the roots. It is 

 difficult to say if they were trimmed into any particular shape, or if their formal 

 appearance in the sculpture is merely owing to a conventional mode of repre- 

 senting them ; but, since the pomegranate and some other fruit trees are drawn 

 with spreading and irregular branches, we might suppose that sycamores, and 

 others which presented large masses of foliage, were really trained in that 

 formal manner; though, from the hieroglyphic signifying 'tree' having the 

 same shape, it may only be a general character for all trees." (p. 142.) Some 

 villas were of considerable extent, and, besides the arable land belonging to 

 them, the gardens occupied a very large space, as did the offices and other 

 buildings attached to the house. 



" Some large mansions appear to have been ornamented with propylaea and 

 obelisks, like the temples themselves ; it is even possible that part of the 

 building may have been consecrated to religious purposes, as the chapels of 

 other countries, since we find a priest [in the paintings of some of the villas 

 on the tombs] engaged in presenting offerings at the door of the inner cham- 

 bers ; and, indeed, but from the presence of women, the form of the garden, 

 and the style of the porch, we should feel disposed to consider it a temple, 

 rather than a place of abode. 



" The entrances of large villas were generally through folding gates, standing 

 between lofty towers, as in the propylaea of temples, with 14,6 



a small door at each side ; and others had merely folding 

 gates, with imposts surmounted by a cornice [as in 

 fig. 146., copied from the engraving in Wilkinson's vol. ii. 

 p. 130.]. A wall of circuit extended round the pre- 

 mises ; but the courts of the house, the garden, the 

 offices, and all the other parts of the villa, had each their 

 separate enclosure. The walls were usually built of crude brick ; and in damp 

 places, or where within reach of the inundation, the lower part was strength- 

 ened by a basement of stone. They 



were sometimes ornamented with Y^ \lf 1*' 



panels and grooved lines, generally ( _L > ^\ 



ammmn 



stuccoed ; and the summit was 

 crowned either with Egyptian bat- 

 tlements, the usual cornice, a row of 

 spikes, in imitation of spear heads, or 

 with some fancy ornament [as in 

 fig. 147. from vol. ii. p. 130.]. 



" Those villas, or castles, belonging to the kings, which stood on the high 

 road, where they were accustomed to pass either in their hunting or military 

 expeditions, were small and simple, being only intended for their reception 

 during the short stay of a few days ; but those erected in an enemy's country 

 may rather be looked upon as forts than as simple mansions. Many, however, 

 in provinces at a distance from Egypt, were of very large dimensions, and had 

 probably all the conveniences of spacious villas ; like those erected in later 

 times by the Ptolemies on the confines of Abyssinia." {Ibid., vol.ii. p. 132.) 



" It is reasonable to suppose that the Egyptians spent much time in the 



