N THEBES

THE characteristic of Egyptian architecture is Imagination; of Grecian
architecture, Grace. When the Ptolemies assumed the sceptre of the
Pharaohs, they blended the delicate taste of Ionia with the rich
invention of the Nile; and they produced the most splendid creations
of architectural power that can now be witnessed. Such is the refined
Philoe--such the magnificent Dendera--such the sumptuous Edfou!

All the architectural remains of the most famous nations and the
greatest empires,--the amphitheatres, and arches, and columns of
the Romans; the fanes of the Greeks; the temples of the Syrians and
Sicilians; the Colosseum, the Parthenon, the courts of Baalbec, the
pillars of Palmyra and Girgenti,--sink into insignificance when compared
with the structures that line the banks of an African river. The mind
makes a leap amid their vastness, their variety, and their number. New
combinations rise upon our limited invention and contract the
taste,--the pyramid, the propylon, the colossus, the catacomb, the
obelisk, the sphinx.

Take the map; trace the windings of the mysterious stream, whose source
baffles even this age of enterprise, and which remains unknown even when
the Niger is discovered. It flows through a wilderness. On one side are
the interminable wastes of Libya; on the other, a rocky desert, leading
to the ocean: yet its banks are fertile as a garden; and within 150
miles of the sea it divides into two branches, which wind through an
immense plain, once the granary of the world.

A Nubian passed me in a state of nudity, armed with a poisoned spear,
and guarded by the skin of a hippopotamus, formed into a shield. In this
country, the animal called man is fine, although his wants are
few,--some rice, a calabash of palm wine, and the fish he himself spears.
Are his ancestors the creators of the adjoining temple, covered with
beautiful sculptures, and supported by colossal figures fifty feet in
height? It is well to ponder, by the roar of the cataracts of the Nile,
over the perfectibility of man.

A light has at length broken into the darkness of Egyptian ages; and
although we cannot discover the source of the Nile, we can at least
decipher its hieroglyphics. Those who are ignorant of the study are
incredulous as to its fruits; they disbelieve in the sun, because they
are dazzled by its beams. A popular miscellany is not the place to enter
into a history, or a vindication, of the phonetic system. I am d