514 A DESCRIPTION OF 
Egyptians of those times could not allow them to unite the 
two figures in the same order as they stand in the solar 
belt ; they, therefore, combined them, and composed the 
figure of the Sphinx, which is partly a young woman and 
partly a lion. This, indeed, was an enigma for the 
Greeks and Phoenicians, who travelled as far as Egypt; 
they saw the monster, but could not understand the real 
meaning. They returned to their respective countries, 
and, fraught with more fancy than reality, invented the 
fable of the Sphinx offering riddles at the gates of Thebes, 
and destroying those who could not unravel them ; since 
they were very likely told by the supercilious sages of that 
nation, that those who could not guess the meaning of the 
Sphinx were to forfeit their life in atonement for their ig- 
norance. Long afterward, the real sense of the symbol 
was forgotten, and Egypt, in her superstition, began to 
worship the emblem, of which several remains are still 
found in that once flourishing country. 
The Sphinx has been introduced in heraldry to adorn 
the gorgets of those general officers who distinguished 
themselves against the French on the banks of the Nile ; 
it has been admitted also to adorn our apartments in va- 
rious ways ; and two very beautiful specimens of them are 
seen on the front wall of Syon House, at Brentford, 
the seat of his Grace the Duke of Northumberland ; they 
are of exquisite workmanship. 
This chimerical figure is generally represented as if sit- 
ting and at rest; an attitude which, being the most grace- 
ful for a such a compound, has been adopted by Egyptian 
sculptors, and imitated by the Greeks and Romans. 
The caterpillars of the Hawk-moths, are all called 
Sphinxes, from the habit they have of holding up their 
heads ; somewhat in the same manner as the Sphinx is 
represented to do. 
