DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 123 
probably occupy a much greater space than the 
city of Alexandria at any particular period of its 
most flourishing state, are of very remote antiquity, 
and greatly anterior to Alexander, as the hierogly- 
phics, with which they are covered, demonstrate. 
The magnificence of Alexandria under the Gre- 
cian dynasty, was worthy of the fame of the hero 
from whom it derived its name. Built in the 
form of a long square, or, as it is termed by Stra- 
bo, a mantle or toga, it occupied a space of four 
leagues in circuit. As the long sides of the square 
were protected from the sea and the lake Mareo- 
tis, it presented such a narrow front on the sides 
accessible by land, that it formed a position of 
great strength. The buildings were grand and 
stately, their arrangement was strictly regular, and 
the great streets, which intersected each other at 
the central square of the city, were the most mag- 
nificent in the world. Under the Arabian dynas- 
ty, its splendour gradually declined with its com- 
merce, to which the genius of fanaticism is always 
hostile. Though its population rapidly diminish- 
ed, though its ancient walls were demolished, and 
contracted to half their original dimensions, it still 
preserved a part of its superb edifices and monu- 
ments ; its streets were still arranged in the form 
of a chequer, and its former opulence was evinced 
by the slowness of its decay. At the period of 
the late French invasion, the walls of Alexandria 
