of Arabesque design, no radical change in Saracenic
Art occurred until French and English energy and enterprise forced
European fashions into Egypt: as a consequence, the original quaintness
and Orientalism natural to the country, are being gradually replaced by
buildings, decoration, and furniture of European fashion.

The carved pulpit, from a mosque in Cairo, which is in the South
Kensington Museum, was made for Sultan Kaitbeg, 1468-96. The side panels,
of geometrical pattern, though much injured by time and wear, shew signs
of ebony inlaid with ivory, and of painting and gilding; they are good
specimens of the kind of work. The two doors, also from Cairo, the oldest
parts of which are just two hundred years earlier than the pulpit, are
exactly of the same style, and, so far as appearances go, might be just as
well taken for two hundred years later, so conservative was the Saracenic
treatment of decorative woodwork for some four or five centuries.
Pentagonal and hexagonal mosaics of ivory, with little mouldings of ebony
dividing the different panels, the centres of eccentric shapes of ivory or
rosewood carved with minute scrolls, combine to give these elaborate doors
a very rich effect, and remind one of the work still to be seen at the
Alhambra.

The Science and Art Department has been fortunate in securing from the St.
Maurice and Dr. Meymar collections a great many specimens which are well
worth examination. The most remarkable is a complete room brought from a
house in Damascus, which is fitted up in the Oriental style, and gives one
a good idea of an Eastern interior. The walls are painted in colour and
gold; the spaces divided by flat pilasters, and there are recesses, or
cupboards, for the reception of pottery, quaintly formed vessels, and pots
of brass. Oriental carpets, octagonal tables, such as the one which
ornaments the initial letter of this chapter, hookas, incense burners, and
cushions furnish the apartment; while the lattice window is an excellent
representation of the "Mesherabijeh," or lattice work, with which we are
familiar, since so much has been imported by Egyptian travellers. In the
upper panels of the lattice there are inserted pieces of coloured glass,
and, looking outwards towards the light, the effect is very pretty. The
date of this room is 1756, which appears at the foot of an Arabic
inscription, of which a translation is appended to the exhibit. It
commences--"In the Name of God, the M