1803,] 
except that the latter, which was long 
taken for the tomb of Cheops, was un- 
adorned with higroglyphics. However, 
that this cheft was fomehow concerned 
with the myftical worfhip of Ofliris, is 
more than probable: though it is not 
likely, as has been fuggefied, that it was 
one of the Adyta, or fecret chambers 
which had fo great a fhare in the Egyp-. 
tian myfteries. That it was not placed 
an end, feems probable from the horizon- 
tal dire€tion the hieroglyphics are drawn 
in. Its weight is nine tons, and among 
the fymbols it is covered with, the facred 
monkey is frequently repeated ; an ani- 
mal that is not once mentioned by Jablon- 
ky, though moft claffical readers will re- 
member the allufion to it at the opening 
of Juvenal’s 15th Satire. 
“© Ouis nefcit, Volufi Bithynice,qualia demens 
¢¢ /Egyptus portenta colat ? Crocodilon ado- 
rat 3 | 
«Pars hec : illa pavet faturam ferpenti- 
bus Ibin: 
“¢ Effigies facri nitet aurea CERCOPITHECT.” 
Clofe by the great chelt lies a mafive 
Hand, of red granite, clenched. It is 
thought to have belonged toa ftatue of 
Vulcan, and was, found by the French, 
among fome ruins in the neighbourhood 
of Memphis. From its form it appears 
to have refted on the knee; and the fta- 
tue it belonged to muft have been at leat. 
eighty feet in height. . Befide this is a 
Jmall fragment of alight red ftone, having: 
on it feveral diminutive figures, wirh 
three or four repetitions of the crux an- 
fata. Such arethe monuments fheltered 
by the firft covering; at the four corners 
of which are mutilated fizures of Ofiris, . 
of black granite, brought from Thebes,» 
At each end of the fecond fhed is: a 
fhaft of porphyry, the firft of whici is 
about three feet and a half diameter, arid 
about four yards in length. Immediate- 
ly fucceeding, we have two figures of Ofi- 
ris, feated, in black granite. He isrepre- 
fented with the head of a lion, roundwhich 
we fee the fun, accompanied by the ufual 
head-drefs. of the Egyptians; from the 
neck downward he is reprefented as a vir- 
gin, and holds in his left hand the crux 
anjata: and on toe feat are a few hiero- 
glyphics, Ofiris, we know, was varioufly 
delineated, according to the attributes or 
Operations of; the deity the Egyptian 
priefts defired tovexprefs.; And the figure 
we have here defcribed. was peculiarly 
fymbolical of the heat, vigour.and ifs. 
fluenceof the Suz, in the inundation of 
the Nile, when it pafled through the figns 
of Leo and Virgo. The crux anfata 2. 
». Montary Mac. No. 97. 
Egyptian Monuments in the Britifh Mufeum. 
17 
however, is not fo eafily explained. ‘The 
beft and moft acc ate writers on the fym- 
bolical learning of the Egyptians have. 
differed very widely, in defcribing 1t- 
Some have thought the crofs denoted the 
four elements of the world, and the circle, 
the influence the-fun had over them.— 
Others have thought the whole figure to 
be the name of the divine being who tra- 
velled through the world, Some, the fi- 
gure of the deity, not made in the like- 
nefs of any creature. Some the philac- 
tery of Ifis: and others that it was the 
ineffable Image of Eternity, One wri- 
ter has endeavoured, with a confiderable 
fhare of learning and ingenuity, to prove 
that it was the acus mautica, or mariner’s 
compafs, which he was willing to believe 
was known even to the Esyptians. All 
thee conjeétures only ferve to fhow that 
the myftery couched under the fymbolical 
learning of Egypt is inexplicable, Clole 
by the figures of Ofiris is a sumimy-cheft 
of bafaltes, with a narrow border of hie- 
roglyphics round the outeredge. This 
alio came from Upper Egypt, and its ufe 
is immediately pointed out by the fhape 
of the cavity, in which the figure ot the 
head and legs is clearly feen. Next, we 
have a fine farcophacus: its fize is {maller » 
than the one aiready mentioned, but its 
weight is twoton more. It is compofed 
not like the former of a breccia, but of 
black granite, and was brought from 
Cairo; and, like the larger one, is cover- 
ed wita the hieroglyphic writing. Clofe 
adjoining is the broken figure of a woman, 
feated on her hams, and probably repre- 
fenting Ifis; the pofition, as Porphyry 
aflerts, is a type of the Deity’s being re- 
tired within itielf. Nigh this matitated 
figure lies a cylindrical pillar, of red gra-" 
nite; and clofe to it part of alarge cafe of 
black granite, very neatly and plentitully 
adorned with hieroglyphics, and perhaps 
ufed for the prefervation of fome of the 
facred vefiments or utenfils. It is round- 
ed at the end, and, with one fide of the 
{mailer farcophagus, already mentioned, 
has been engraved by Niebuhr... This 
is followed by another ftatue of Ofiris ; 
befde which there is a {mall broken figure, 
kneeling, with hieroglyphics; it is of 
black granite, and, like the greater part 
of its neighbours, came from Upper 
Egypt. | A wien 
To this enumeration we muft add a 
fmall cheft of Oriental manulcriyts, ga- 
thered by the French Inftitute at Caira;, 
they are in number fixty-two, and-are. 
chiefly Coptic, Arabic and Turkith. 
There are alio two pieces of ancient 
5 bal «os Spf Sculpture 
