OF PART THE SECOND. XV 
tory of Egypt.'' The author has, however, since 
bestowed all the attention he could command, 
upon that learned Work ; and the perusal of it 
has made known to him the source of Lurcher a 
opinion concerning 3. Pseudo- Heliopolis m Arabia, 
together with his reasons for placing the re- 
nowned city of that name in the Delta, although 
the French writer did not acknowledge whence 
they were derived. Now the whole of Larchers 
pretended discovery, and of Bri/ant's most ela- 
borate dissertation, may be reduced to a single 
query; namely. Whether we be at liberty to 
alter the received text of an antient author, in 
such a manner, as to transpose the names of 
two iVome-s"? If we be not allowed this free- 
dom, the opinions thereby deduced have no 
weight. After all the labour bestowed upon 
the subject, the truth must rest upon the exa- 
mination of a few brief extracts from Herodotus, 
Strabo, Ptolemy, and the Itinerary of Antoninus, 
as compared with the modern geography and 
existing antiquities of Egypt, with which Bryant 
was but little acquainted. It will always be 
urged, to use his own words ^ that ''Strabo was 
(2) Heliopolites and iMtopnlites. 
{3) Observations upon Antient History, p. 120. Lond. I767. So 
also, p. 123 (Note). " Stralos authority must he valid : he was an 
eye-witness of what he speaks of; and seen\s to have been very 
inquisitive and exact." Strabo docs, however, sometimes describe 
i.oiiutries 
