SCULPTURE. 



prefent enquiry, Grecian fculpture, makes it impoflible to 

 do more than refer to examples for Hmdoo fculpture, as 

 they are fo elegantly difplayed by Mr. Daniel among thofe 

 ftupciidous buildings of the Ealt, which, in his exaft repre- 

 fentations, have not only honoured our own country, but 

 have gratified every lover of art throughout Europe. 



Of Egyptian Art. — Egypt, the land of fcience, was vifited 

 by the moft diftinguifhed of the Greeks in arts and letters, 

 among whom we find more efpecially the names of Orpheus, 

 Daedalus, Linus, Homer, Thales, Pythagoras, Plato, and 

 others of diitinguiflied wifdom ; all went to Egypt, as to 

 the wifeft nation of antiquity, for inftruftion. The earlieft 

 hiftorian, Herodotus, went alfo, and has given an account 

 of this extraordinary country. He fays, that in the time 

 of their king Amafis, Egypt contained 20,000 populous 

 cities. The remains, at this prefent time, as defcribed by 

 the lateft travellers, are more Ilupendous than thofe of any 

 other country, as five vaft palaces and thirty-four temples, 

 with their attendant fculptures and paintings : though de- 

 yaltated by the tempell of war deluge after deluge, ftill the 

 coloflal power of Egypt has a remnant left to teltify what 

 it once was. 



Herodotus fays, on the authority of the Egyptian priefts 

 in his own time, from Egyptian records, that Meneti was 

 the firft king of Egypt, after whom reigned three hundred 

 and thirty kings : among thefe was a woman, named Nito- 

 cris. Ot the actions of thefe kings, he was told, no record 

 remained, except of Nitocns, and of Moeris, the laft of thefe 

 kings. He fays, I ihall, therefore, pafs them by; to relate 

 the memorable aftions of a fucceeding king, whofe name 

 was Sefoftris. That he conquered all nations, and caufed 

 his image to be carved on ftones in the countries that he 

 fubdued, which he defcribes thus. His figure is five palms 

 in height, holding a bow in one hand, and an arrow in the 

 other, and armed after the Egyptian and Ethiopian manner. 

 On a line, drawn from one fhoulder to the other, thefe 

 words are engraved in the facred letters of Egypt : " I ob- 

 tained this region by the ftrength of thefe arms." 



After Sefoilris reigned fix kings. Statues made in the 

 time of the laft of thefe were in ruins in the time of Hero- 

 dotus, which was about the year of the world 3500. When 

 Herodotus faw them, the hands had dropt oft through age, 

 and were lying 011 the floor of the temple. Afterwards 

 reigned in fucceflion four kings, who were fucceeded by 

 twelve kings, all reigning at one time over Egypt, who 

 built the magnificent labyrinth which Herodotus defcribes. 

 Thefe were fucceeded by four more kings in fucceflion ; but 

 no work of importance is afcribed to any of them. They 

 were fucceeded by a king named Amafis. 



The works of Amafis, as defcribed by Herodotus, arc 

 exaftly like thofe whofe ruins remain to this day. Hero- 

 dotus fays, that Amafis was a great lover of the Grecians, 

 and permitted them to cltablifh thcmfelves in Egypt, and 

 ereft temples and altars to the gods. He alfo took a 

 Grecian wife, and fent confecrated donations to Greece, 

 particularly a gilded llatuc of Minerva to the city of Cyrene, 

 a colony of the Greeks, with his own refemblance taken 

 from the life. To Lindus he gave two ilatues of ftone, 

 reprefenting the (amc goddefs, together with a hnen pec- 

 toral of admirable workmanlhip. He fent two ftatues of 

 himfelf, carved in wood, to the city of Samos ; where, our 

 author fays, this day they are feen Handing in the great 

 temple of Juno, behind the gates. 



His works in Egypt Herodotus thus defcribes. " He 

 caufed a colofl'us, lying with a face upwards, 74 fi-ct in 

 length, to be placed before the temple of Vulcan at Mem- 

 phis ; and on the fame bafis eredted two ilatttes, of 20 feet 



each, wrought out of the fame ttone, and ftanding on each 

 fide of the great colofTus. Like this, another is fee» in Sai», 

 lying in the fame pofture, cut in ftone, of equal dimenfions. 

 He likewife built the great temple of Ifis, in the city of 

 Memphis, which well defervcs to be admired. 



" He built the admirable portico, which ftands before the 

 temple of Minerva in Sais ; far furpafling all others in cir- 

 cumference and elevation, as well as in the dimenGoHs of the 

 ftones ; and adorned the building with coloftal ftatues, and 

 the monftrous figures of androfphynxes. One part of the 

 ftones employed in this work were cut in the quarries of 

 Memphis ; but thofe of the greateft magnitude were con- 

 veyed by water from the city of Elephantis, diftant from 

 Sais as far as a veffel can make in twenty days. But that 

 which I beheld with the greateit admiration was a houfe he 

 brought from Elephantis, made of one ftone. Two thou- 

 fand men, all pilots, were employed during three whole 

 years in the tranfportation of this houfe, which is in front 

 twenty-one cubits, in depth fourteen, and eight in height. 

 This is the dimenfion of the outfide." 



Such works are afcribed to Amafis, who was conquered 

 by Cambyfes, the fon of Cyrus the Pcrfian, about the year 

 of the world 3400, a hundred years before Herodotus ; fo 

 that 500 years will remain to be occupied in Egyptian hif- 

 tory, from Sefoftris to Amafis ; and within this time, thofe 

 Egyptian buildings and works of fculpture, which the 

 priefts reprefented to Herodotus as fo very ancient, might 

 eafily have been produced. 



Thus a divifion is made between the fabulous and the hif. 

 toric ages, both in Egypt and Greece ; and a decided era 

 produced, which will not infringe on the truth of facred 

 fcripture, nor on the credibility of authentic Gentile hiftory ; 

 and by a comparifon of the remaining monuments, it may 

 give fome date to the early works of Egypt and Greece. 



The moderns have been no lefs zealous to examine the re- 

 maining ruins of Egypt, than the ancients were to con- 

 template its ancient glories. 



Of thefe wrecks, thefe ruins of ancient knowledge, the 

 late publications of Egyptian antiquities give majeitic and 

 awful ideas. Some of the drawings made by the French 

 Inftitute in Egypt have been publifhed, and they difplay 

 what Egypt once was. 



The ruins of Egypt are contained in a compafs of about 

 550 miles along the banks of the Nile, among pyramid*, 

 and pillars, and porticoes, and fubterranean palaces hewn 

 out for the dead. 



The firft objcAs of Egyptian fculpture that feize hold 

 on the imagination are the coloftal ftatues : among thefe are 

 the fphynx, and the ftatues called Memnon or Ofymandue. 

 The fphynx is fituated fo near tiic pyramids of Giza, as to 

 make it apparent that thofe malfes of folid bulk were ac- 

 companied by other maftes of ornamental fculpture ; and 

 being diverted of their gigantic accompaniments of intel- 

 lectual labour, the pyramids are left alone, inexplicable 

 monuments of loft wifdom as well as departed power. 



The fphynx is thus defcribed by Ripaud : tlie length of 

 the rock, to which the form of this chimerical animal has 

 been given, is about 95 feet ; its height from the knees to 

 the top of the head is 38 feet. The ancients very generally 

 believed that there was a palTage in tlie body of the fphynx, 

 which led by iiihlcrraneous channels to the interior of the 

 pyramid. It is ftill conjeAurcd that, beneath thefe enofe 

 m'ous mades, caverns have been dug, winch fome fuppor- 

 to have been employed in the myfteries of initiation. On 

 the head of the fphynx there is a hole five feet in depth ; and 

 it may even extend further. There are alio appearances of 

 another opening of the fame kind on the back of the figure. 

 I J The 



