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and suffered themselves to be taken without making any resistance. After this, Psammenitus met him in battle, but was defeated, and fled to Memphis. Cambyses sent a herald to summon the city to surrender, but the inhabitants were so angry, that they tore him in pieces. Cambyses then took the city, and put to death a great many of the nobility; but he was inclined to treat Psammenitus kindly, and appointed him a pension as long as he lived. Psammenitus had no notion of living upon the bounty of the king of Persia: he determined to be king himself, and set himself at work to stir up new contentions. As soon as Cambyses found it out, he ordered him to be killed. He then marched to Sais, where Amasis was buried, and had his corpse brought before him, which he treated with the greatest contempt, and then had it burnt. This was a mode of disposing of the dead, very offensive to the Egyp tians.

H. Why, mother, I think Cambyses, is not much like his father.

Mrs H. No; he had a very bad temper, which continually grew worse and worse: and he was very different from Cyrus in almost every respect.

F. I thought the Persians were educated so well, they would never come to this

Mrs H. But the wife and children of Cyrus, lived with Cyaxares in Media, and were brought up in the luxury and indulgence of their court; and Cambyses, in particular, was never allowed to be opposed in anything. And you see here the effects of it. He would always have his own way, let the consequences be what they would: he loved war, and was extremely cruel.

J. Did he make war upon other people, then?

Mrs H. He resolved, that the next year he would subdue the Carthaginians, a people who descended from the Phoenicians, and lived to the west of Egypt, and about opposite to the Island of Sicily; and also the Ammonians, to the south-west, and the Ethiopians, to the south of Egypt. However, he was obliged to let the Carthaginians alone, because the Phoenicians would not furnish ships to go against their friends. H. That's good: I wish something could have sent Cambyses home, and kept him there.

J. I dont see as you like conquerors, any better than I do, Henry.

F. Perhaps Cyrus has spoilt all other men for him: but let us hear how Cambyses succeeded in his other schemes.

Mrs H. He sent ambassadors to Ethiopia, to pretend to make a treaty with the king; but really, to spy out the counry. The

king suspected them, and sent them back, with the present of a bow to Cambyses, which, he could draw with ease, but which neither Cambyses, or scarcely any of his army, could any more than lift; and advising him to be careful how he encountered men who used such arms as that, in their wars. This so enraged Cambyses, that he set out immediately to cross the desert between Egypt and Ethiopia, although he had made no preparation for so sudden an expedition. On the way, he despatched 50,000 of his army, to go and subdue the Ammonians; but these were all buried by the sand, which moves about in these deserts, like the waves of the sea in a storm. With the remainder he continued his march; but his provisions, or rather those of his army, were soon exhausted, and they fed, first upon roots, and herbs, and the leaves of trees; but as they advanced further into the desert, even these resources failed, and they were reduced to the necessity of feeding upon their beasts, and at last upon each other! And yet all this while the table of Cambyses was furnished in the most sumptuous manner. But at last, fearing he too should come to want, he turned about. On his way back, he stopped at the famous city of Thebes, which he plundered and burnt, merely because it contained the temple of

Jupiter; for the Persians were enemies to all temples, because they thought the Deity was not confined to any one place, and therefore would not have any one place dedicated to him. This was a correct principle, but a wrong inference. Cyrus would have let them have their own way of worship, while he enjoyed his. But moderation was no part of the character of Cambyses. Thebes, to this day, bears the marks of the conqueror's fury. The broken sphinxes, and overturned columns, and demolished walls, are there still; and compose the wonderful remains which are now shown to the astonished traveller, at the village of Carnac. Cambyses also took away the golden girdle, which, you recollect, encompassed the tomb of Osymandias. On his return to Memphis, he found the people expressing their joy by every possible demonstration; and supposing they were rejoicing at his misfortunes, he ordered some of the principal inhabitants to be brought before him, to inquire of them the truth. But when they assured him, that it was because they had found a sucscesor to their lately deceased god Apis, it appeared so ridiculous to him, that he had them instantly killed; and then sent for the priest. They told him the same story, and this excited his curiosity to see the new god, who, as he said, 'was so familiar as to come

among them.' He was admitted to its presence; but when he saw only a calf, he was so enraged that he drew his dagger and stabbed the poor animal, so that he died not long after. He then ordered the priests to be whipped for their stupidity, in worshipping a brute; and commanded all the people in the city, who should be found celebrating the feast of Apis, to be slain.

H. What did his people mind him for? I would not; and he might help himself, if he could. I should think some of them would just put him out of the way.

Mrs H. He had one trial of that kind. In a rage at Croesus one day, for trying to moderate his temper a little, he ordered him to be killed; but those who were commanded to do it, knew, that he would repent of it the next day, and they ventured to disobey him. He was very much rejoiced the next day when he found Croesus was alive, but instantly killed those who had saved his life, because they had disobeyed his orders.

F. What will he do next! I am afraid to hear any more.

Mrs H. He was so angry with his brother Tana-oxares, or Smerdis, because he could easily draw the bow which the king of Ethiopia sent him, and he was the only one in the army who could do it, that he sent him back to Persia. And then