THE 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
No. 101.] 
JUNE 1, 1803. 
—_—_—— 
{ No. 5, of Vou. 15. 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
DESIDES the Egyptian monuments, 
mentioned in your Magazine for Fe- 
bruary, the Mufeum boats many others, 
and fome of equal curiofity, with the 
fragments lately imported. In the Great 
Hall, to which the Ram’s Head is now re- 
moved, I remember to have feen two 
beautiful remains in bafaltes, brought from 
the fame country, by the celebrated Edward 
Wortley Montague. One, on the right 
hand as you enter, is ornamented at the 
top with the feet of birds, the upper parts 
of which have been broken away, but are, 
no doubt, to be attributed to the Ibis. In 
the center of the monument, which ftill 
retains its ancient polifh, is the figure of 
a man kneeling, holding in his right-hand 
fomething perhaps meant for the embalm- 
ed body of the bird already mentioned. 
Above, a fort of cornice is adorned with 
hieroglyphics, among which are feveral of 
the home-bred animals of Egypt, and more 
than once.the figure of a hand and arm is 
repeated. Moses, who was {killed in all 
the learning of the Egyptians, perhaps had 
this very hieroglyphic in his view, when 
he fo frequently defcribed the Lord as aét- 
ing with a mighty hand, and an out- 
ftretched arm. The other monument, on 
the left of the great entrance, is nearly co- 
vered with hieroglyphics: in the center is 
a feeming reprefentation of the worfhip of 
Oliris, who is fitting on an elevation, with 
the double head of a bull, and before him 
a kneeling figure, as on the oppofite mo- 
nument, making an offering of the Ibis 
{wathed. Among the ornaments above is 
the acute angled triangle, with two equal 
fides, denoting the nature and element of 
fire. The black marble or bafaltes itfeif, 
we are told, of which the monuments are 
made, typified, by its colour, the invifibi- 
lity of the Deity’s effence. Nor among 
the rareft fpecimens of Egyptian art fhould 
the large and beautiful mummies, placed 
in the fecond of the fuite of rooms, be for- 
gotten. The firft, in the left corner as 
you enter, was found in 17212, by fome 
Arabs, in one of the ancient crypts or ca- 
tacombs of the dead, in the field of Sak- 
kara, about three leagues from Cairo; 
Mosraty Mac.No, tor. 
and brought to England the next year, by 
Captain William Lethieullier. The place 
where it was found has been fince made 
memorable by a battle, fought when Bo- 
naparte returned from Syria. ‘The cada- 
ver or mumuny itfelf differs in nothing ve- 
ry materially from thofe which are feenin - 
other cabinets. The coffin is made of the 
true fycamore, and all its joinings are by 
pins of wood. Its length is fix feet three 
inches, and its breadth, atthe fhoulders of 
the figure, one foot eleven. From thered- 
nefs of the face, it is fuppofed to have been 
the mummy of an Idumean, a people who 
inhabited the banks of the Red Sea. Ow 
the top of the coffin, the whole of which 
exhibits the form of an embalmed man, is 
a {mall figure of Ifis, which, from its po- 
fition in the cafe cannot be feen. On 
the breaft is another figure of Ifis, with 
her wings expanded ; immediately below 
which is a fymbolical picture, fuppofed to 
reprefent death and judgment. To re- 
prefent death, the painter has exhibited a 
cadaver ftretched upon a bier, in the fhape 
ef a lion; on the outer fide a figure of 
Ibis, who holds in his left hand a golden 
cup, and with his right, feems pointing 
toward the left fide of the cadaver, The 
Ibis therefore is fuppofed to reprefent the 
embalmer. In the middle of the coffin is 
reprefented judgment after death. Ofiris 
is in the character of Pluto, with a fceptre, 
and a fort of flail; before him is the lo-- 
tus expanded from its ftork, and over if,, 
before Ofiris, four embalmed human crea~ 
tures; beyond them ftands the facred 
{cribe, with the head of the Ibis, who is 
fuppofed, by the volume in one hand, and 
the svosvog in the other, to be enumerating 
the actions of the deceafed, whom a good 
- demon feems leading in behind, and whofe 
actions, in the third compartment, are fup- 
pofed to be weighing. 
The other mummy, at the oppofite cor- 
ner of the room, is perhaps the fineit, 
and except in very few particulars, is ex- 
aétly like that engraved in Perry’s Hiftory 
of the Levant, brought from the cata- 
combs near Sakkara, in 1741. The 
mummy itfelfis covered over with a plaif- 
tered linén, on whichare reprefentations of 
many of the gods of Egypt. Clofe be- 
3F low 
