eautiful, and solemn magnificence of the old Egyptians?

Crossing the river to Western Thebes, we arrive at the two seated
colossi, one of which I have already noticed as the musical Memnon.
These doubtless once guarded the entrance of some temple more ancient
than any remaining, for they were raised by Amunoph the Second, a
predecessor, by some generations, of the great Rameses. They were,
doubtless, once seated on each side of a propylon, as at Luxor, and
in all probability were flanked by obelisks. Whether the temple were
destroyed for materials, for more recent structures, or whether it has
sunk under the accumulations of the slimy soil, may be decided by the
future excavator.

We arrive at the Memnonion. This temple was raised by Rameses the Great.
In the colossal Caryatides we recognise the same genius that excavated
the rocks of Ipsambul, and supported a cavern temple upon the heads of
giants. From the Memnonion came the statue that is now in the British
Museum. But this figure, though a fine specimen of Egyptian sculpture,
sinks, so far as magnitude is concerned, into insignificance when
compared with the statue of Rameses himself, which, broken off at the
waist, now lies prostrate in the precincts of the sanctuary. This is
probably the most huge colossus that the Egyptians ever constructed. The
fragment is of red granite, and of admirable workmanship. Unfortunately
the face is entirely obliterated. The statue lies upon its back, and
in its fall has destroyed all the temple within reach. It measures more
than sixty feet round the shoulders, the breadth of the instep is nearly
seven feet, and the hieroglyphical figures engraven on the arm are large
enough for a man to walk in.

Perhaps the most interesting group of ruins at Thebes is the quarter
of Medcenet Habu. Most of the buildings are of the time of Rameses the
Third.

The sculptured walls of the great temples, covered with battles,
chariots, captives, and slaves, have been worthily described by the
vivid pen of Mr. Hamilton. They celebrate the victorious campaigns of
the monarch. Here also the Third Rameses raised his palace. And it is
curious, among other domestic subjects, that we find represented on the
walls, in a very admirable style, Rameses playing chess with his Queen.
Chess is, probably, a most ancient Oriental game. Rameses the Third
lived before the Trojan war, to which the Greeks, as usual, ascribe the
invention of chess.

The sepulchres of