man, or a family, or a nation, by becoming ignorant, will usually grow idle, then vicious, and then poor and degraded. Now let us attend a little to the works of the Egyptians, for they were remarkably ingenious.

H. Well then, mother, what did they do in these ancient times that was so very wonderful?

Mrs H. They exceeded all other nations in the arts of building and painting. There are many remains of their temples and palaces now standing, which are perfectly astonishing. How they could contrive to cut from the solid rock, and erect in their temples and in the streets of their cities, pillars one hundred and fifty or two hundred feet high; or how they could raise to the height of several hundred feet the immense blocks of granite of which their pyramids are built, it is impossible now to conceive.

H. But that appears to me an extravagant story, mother. What did they do it

for?

Mrs H. Some of the ancient kings employed hundreds of thousands of their subjects, or of their prisoners taken in war, in transporting the stone from the quarries in upper Egypt, cutting them into proper shape, and engraving the hieroglyphics upon them.

One of these piles is said to be

now

seven hundred feet square on the ground, and five hundred feet high, tapering as it rises until it is no larger on the top than a common parlor. There were steps running around the building on the outside, and thus the ascent to the top was long, but easy. Generally, they were intended for sepulchres for the kings who built them; but they were often so cruel to their subjects, that their friends did not dare to place their remains where they could be found, for fear they would be taken away and destroyed by the angry multitude. It is thought, too, that the ancients studied astronomy upon the tops of these high buildings.

J. Did they know anything of astronomy, mother?

Mrs H. Yes, they were considerably acquainted with that science, and also with geometry.

F. But their painting, mama-you spoke

of that.

Mrs H. Yes, there are ruins now, on the walls of which there are paintings three thousand years old, with the colors as bright as ever: more brilliant than any thing we can now find to paint with. You have read in the bible that in very early times the 'fine linen,' and embroidered work of Egypt,' and their scarlet and purple, were

6

in great estimation, particularly among the Israelites.

H. Well, what else did they build besides pyramids?

Mrs H. Their temples and palaces, although in ruins, are still the wonder of the world: Such immense walls, and gates, and rows of pillars, and sphinxes, as can hardly be conceived by those who have never seen them. They often cut statues of their gods or their kings, from one piece of rock, which were of immense size. A late traveller, one of the American Missionaries, mentions measuring a statue of Memnon, seated on a high pedestal. He says they stood on the pedestal and measured twelve feet on the leg, and still wanted considerable of reaching the knee.' The length of the little finger is more than four feet. Another statue of the same personage measures twelve feet through the body, and the arm is four feet in diameter, and the statue is more than sixty feet around the shoulders.

H. Now that is grand! I should like to see such a character, right well.

J. I should not; I should be afraid of it.

H. You are a chicken-hearted little girl, Jenny.

Mrs H. There was the Labyrinth too;

this consisted of twelve palaces, arranged around twelve halls, and containing fifteen hundred rooms: and there were the same number under ground: and they were all so connected by passages and winding stairs, &c. that it was dangerous to go into it without a guide, lest you should get lost and never find the way out.

The Temple of Jupiter, at a town now called Carnac, still exhibits most wonderful remains of its former grandeur. In one room are sixteen rows of pillars, nine in a row-and many more in other rooms, some of them are twenty feet in circumference, and sixty or seventy high. A column at one of the gates is forty feet square, and seventy high. And before some of the gates there are double rows of statues, and sphinxes of fifty and sixty in a row. These things are cut out of one piece; and often every statue has the image of some god before it, of the same piece with itself. Some of the stones which form the roof are twenty feet long, and are yet in their places. And all this stone was brought more than one hundred miles. And also the Obelisks; I must not forget to tell you about these. They were stones of various sizes, from 'ten to twenty or thirty feet square at the ground, and tapering to a point at the top, and were often one hundred and fifty or

two hundred feet high. Then all these buildings and statues and obelisks were covered with hieroglyphics; that is, figures or characters of all shapes and forms, looking as much like Chinese letters as like any thing; and also figures of animals: these were the public records of the actions of their kings or their gods. They were cut in the rock as the letters are cut in tomb-stones: in one temple however, or rather in a vast sepulchre consisting of several rooms under ground, and called the tombs of the kings, the stone is cut away and the letters left standing out, as though they were made by themselves and fastened on to the wall.

While Mrs Harrison was telling this long story, the children gazed at her with their eyes wide open and their breath drawn in, as though they feared the slightest movement would interrupt her, and spoil the story. But when she stopped, Jane exclaimed after drawing a long breath, ‘Oh mother, what strange people; while Henry broke forth, starting up and driving to the window and back again, Well now, I protest, I wish I lived there among these wonders; I mean to go there, at any rate.' Fanny, very characteristically asked—' Did they make nothing useful, mamma? 'Occasionally,' replied her mother. Although)