ke
immovable, all sunk into a dark, fixed, and settled discontent with
life.

* * * * *

THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

[This is the seventeenth volume of the _Library of Entertaining
Knowledge_; and, like the majority of its predecessors, it aims
at rendering popular, and of obvious interest, subjects which had
hitherto been abstruse and uninviting. It is the first of a series
of volumes to be published on the Antiquities of the British
Museum, so as in some measure to set them free from their national
imprisonment; for such we must term any assemblage of works of art
(the property of the country), which are not unconditionally open
to public inspection.

The portion before us is the first of two volumes devoted to
the Egyptian Antiquities in the Museum. It has been diligently
compiled; and rendered more interesting than would be a bare
account of what the Museum contains, by correct notices generally
"of the history of art among the Egyptians." The best authorities
have been consulted and acknowledged, as Hamilton, Heeren, Gau,
and Belzoni, and the more recent labours of Mr. James Burton.
The whole is attractively arranged in chapters; on the Physical
Character of Egypt; Political Sketch of Ancient Egypt, and the
monuments of the respective divisions of the country. We subjoin
an extract, containing a graphic outline of _Thebes_:]

We pass by Kenneh, on the east bank, from which travellers may go to
Cosseir to embark on the Red Sea; we hasten by the remains of Kouft,
the ancient Coptos, and the solitary propylon of Kous, standing alone
without its temple,--to the plain of Thebes, to the most wonderful
assemblage of ruins on the face of the earth.

All travellers agree that it is impossible to describe the effect
produced by the colossal remains of this ancient capital; nor does it
lie within our plan to attempt this description at present any farther
than is necessary to make our readers acquainted with the general
character and localities of the existing temples of Egypt.

No knowledge of antiquity, no long-cherished associations, no
searching after something to admire, is necessary here. The wonders of
Thebes rise before the astonished spectator like the creations of some
superior power. "It appeared to me," says Belzoni, "like entering
a city of giants, who, after a long conflict, were all destroyed,
l