In the mean

ments, which we shall look for with impatience.
time, we beg leave, in conclusion, to present to our readers an
extract on that subject from the work before us.

The monuments raised by the piety and power of the Pharaohs, or the kings of the Egyptian race, are the following, known for the most part under the modern names of the towns or villages near which they are situated: The ruins of San (the ancient Tanis), the obelisk of Heliopolis, the palace of Abydos or El Arabah, a small temple at Dendera, Karnac, Looksor, Medamoud, Kourna, the Memnonium, the palace called the Tomb of Osymandias, the superb excavations of Beban el Melouk, the greater part of the hypogea which pierce in every direction the Lybian mountain in the latitude of Thebes, the temples of Elephantina, and a very small portion of the edifices of Philoe in Egypt. earliest style and of the same date as those just mentioned, are In Nubia, the monuments of the the temples of Ghirshé, Wady Esseboual, one of the edifices of Kalabshe, the two magnificent excavations and the colossi of Ibsamboul, the temples of Amada, of Derry, of Moharraka; lastly, that of Soleb, towards the frontiers of Ethiopia.

The only well-known monuments of the Greek and Roman epoch, are, in Egypt, the temple of Bahbeit, the Kasr-Keroun, the portico of Kau-el-Keber, the great temple and typhonium of Dendera, the portico of Esneh, the temple to the north of Esneh, the temple and typhonium of Edfou, the temples of Ombos, as well as the larger edifices of Philoe; lastly, in Nubia, the temples of Kalabshe, Dendour, and Dakke.

I am unable to fix the eras of some other known edifices of Egypt and Nubia, not having yet obtained drawings of the royal legends which those buildings bear; such as the temples of Hermontis, El Kab, Taoud, Syene, Aschmounain, Fazoun, and the Oases.'

pp. 387, 8.

The classification of these monuments is an important step towards the elucidation of Egyptian history, and will assist more particularly in determining the much controverted question, whether Egypt derived its worship and literature from the African Ethiopia, or whether they were of Asiatic origin, and, ascending the Nile, extended into Nubia. M. Champollion is decidedly in favour of their African origin.

The monuments of Nubia are,' he says, in fact, covered with hieroglyphics perfectly similar, both in their form and arrangement, to those inscribed on the edifices of Thebes. We find there, the same elements, the same formulæ, the same words, the same language; and the names of the kings by whom the most ancient were erected, are those of the princes who constructed the most ancient parts of the palace of Karnac at Thebes. The ruins of the beautiful edifice of Soleb, situated on the Nile, nearly two hundred leagues further south than Philoe, the extreme frontier of Egypt, are the most remote known to exist, which bear the royal legend of an Egyp VOL. XXII. N.S. 2 E

tian king. Thus, as early as the commencement of the eighteenth dynasty of the Pharoahs, that is to say, nearly 3400 years before the present era, Nubia was inhabited by a people speaking the same language, employing the same writing, holding the same faith, and subjected to the same kings, as the Egyptians.

But, from Soleb to about the fifteenth degree of North latitude, proceeding southward and ascending the Nile, in ancient Ethiopia, and over an area of more than two hundred leagues, are scattered a multitude of other great monuments, which belong to nearly the same general system of architecture as the temples of Nubia and Egypt. They are equally adorned with hieroglyphic inscriptions, and contain representations of gods, which bear in the sacred writing the same names and the same legends as the divinities sculptured on the temples of Egypt and Nubia. The same analogy exists in the titles and the forms of the royal legends; but the proper names of the kings inscribed on the edifices of Ethiopia, in phonetic hieroglyphics, that have come to my knowledge, have absolutely nothing in common with the proper names of the Egyptian kings mentioned in the long chronological series of Manetho. Nor do any of them occur either on the monuments of Nubia or on those of Egypt. From this fact, established by an examination of the numerous drawings of Ethiopian monuments brought home by our enterprising traveller M. Callaud, it follows that there was a time in which the civilised part of Ethiopia, the peninsula of Meroe, and the banks of the Nile between Meroe and Dongola, were inhabited by a people possessing a language, a written character, a religion, and arts similar to those of Egypt, who were independent of the Egyptian kings of Thebes and of Memphis.' pp. 391-3.

This is a highly interesting fact; and the testimony of the classical authors is in favour of the opinion, that the superstitions and literature of Egypt migrated from Ethiopia northward. There is nothing, however, in this opinion, which militates against the primary Asiatic origin of the great African family. It is altogether a gratuitous supposition, that Lower Egypt, great part of which is probably made land, originally a vast marsh uninhabitable, was first peopled. It is more natural to suppose, that the first settlers proceeded from the Arabian peninsula, where its southern extremity approaches nearest the eastern coast. The origin of the Pyramids is a distinct question. The absence of inscriptions renders it difficult to fix with precision either their date or the country of the architects; but this very circumstance, as Dr. Richardson has remarked, strengthens the opinion that they are the monuments of an exotic faith and a foreign conquest. Hieroglyphics were an unknown language to the Asiatic invaders. They were doubtless the invention of the Egyptian Hermes whoever he was, and their high antiquity is unquestionable. The knowledge of hieroglyphics, the only species of writing

then known, formed, there can be little question, part of that "wisdom of the Egyptians" into whicn Moses was initiated; and if we exclude the idea of Divine Revelation in accounting for the origin of Alphabetic writing, we may suppose that the Jewish legislator so far improved upon the Egyptian art, as to form from idiographic signs the first Hebrew alphabet. Jacob Bryant's opinion, that there was no (alphabetic) writing antecedent to the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, would, on either hypothesis, seem to be by no means unreasonable. Here,' he says, the Divine art was promulgated, of which other nations partook; the Tyrians and Sidonians first, as they were the nearest to the fountain head.'+ What he remarks of the Chaldeans and Babylonians, may, with great propriety, be applied to the Egyptians. They are greatly celebrated for their wisdom and learning; and they were undoubtedly a most wonderful people, and had certainly all the learning that could arise from hieroglyphical representations. They had, I make no doubt, the knowledge of lines, by which geometrical problems must be illustrated; and they had the use of figures for numeration; but they were with⚫ out letters for ages....... For if they had been so fortunate as to have had for so long a time these elements, they were too ingenious a people not to have used them to better purpose.

... They were ingenious and wise above the rest of the sons of men, but had no pretensions to literature properly so called. For I cannot help forming a judgement of the learning of a people, from the materials with which it is expedited and carried on. And I should think that literature 'must have been scanty, or none at all, where the means ' above mentioned' (stones, slabs, bricks, and tiles) were ' applied to. For it is impossible for people to receive any great benefit from letters, where they are obliged to go to a shard or an oyster-shell for information, and where know'ledge is consigned to a pantile.'

Art. IV. A concise Exposition of the Apocalypse, so far as the Prophecies are fulfilled; several of which are interpreted in a different Way from that adopted by other Commentators. By J. R. Parks, M. D. 8vo. pp. 94. Price 5s. London. 1823.

THE Author of this book has shewn his judgement to advantage at least in two respects; he has restricted his in

Acts vii. 22.

† Analysis of Antient Mythology. vol. iv.p. 158. ‡ Ibid. pp. 160, 1.

terpretation of the Apocalypse to the prophecies which have been fulfilled; and remembering the maxim of former days, when book-making and publishing were not quite so common as they are at present. that a great book is a great evil, he has condensed his observations into comparatively little space. The peculiarity alluded to in the title, consists in regarding the Apocalypse as altogether a spiritual, and not a political prophecy; as relating exclusively to the progress of true religion, and not to the history of the Roman empire. This principle, the Author has adopted from the very admirable work of Archdeacon Woodhouse, to which he acknowledges his obligations, and which he has taken as his guide. Occasionally, however, he diverges from the path of his leader; as in the interpretation of the fifth trumpet, which the Archdeacon explains of the Gnostic heresy, but which the present Writer considers as applying to the Mahommedan apostacy. In assigning the limits of his expository labours to the prophecies which have been fulfilled,' Dr. Park has fixed on the pouring out of the Sixth Vial; the accomplishment of which, he thinks, is obviously taking place in the impending fate of the Ottoman empire. As the section in which this portion of the book of the Revelation is explained, is short, we shall transcribe it as a specimen of this concise Exposition,

CHAPTER XVI.

THE SIXTH VIAL.

1800-1850.

The History extending to the East as well as the West, now intimates the downfal of the Ottoman Empire; the great barrier that prevents the dissemination of Christianity among the Eastern nations.

The nature of these three spirits may be inferred from their origin. From the dragon proceeds irreligion; from the beast, worldly ambition; from the false prophet, false religion, Mahommedism.

These will be leagued together for the support of their worldly interests, and in opposition to those of true religion; but will receive a signal overthrow.

15. Behold, I come as a thief, blessed is he who watcheth, and preserveth his garments, that he may not walk naked, and they see his shame.

16. And they gathered them together unto the place which is called in Hebrew Armageddon.

And this defeat, though foretold and looked for, will yet be more sudden than is expected.

Whether the final conflict be spiritual, or political, or both, the event alone can determine.

The drying up of the Euphrates, (in evident allusion to the dominion established by the Euphratean horsemen under the Sixth Trumpet,) is a metaphor that appears singularly appropriate to the gradual manner in which the Ottoman empire is now dwindling away. And as the Eastern and Western Apostacy arose at the same time, so it here appears that they are destined to fall together. There can scarcely be a doubt, that the third party to the league announced in verse 13, applies to the imposture of Mahomet, and to the Turks.'

Perhaps some profound investigator of the preceding passage, who may be more highly gifted than his brethren with clear and penetrating sight, may discover the Triumvirs of the Holy Alliance in the symbolic frogs or three unclean spirits. They are certainly leagued together for the support of their worldly interests; they are besides working wonders; and they also go forth upon the kings of the earth. And who can doubt that a signal overthrow awaits the members of a league which was formed for the oppression of mankind, and the destruction of every right and privilege which lift men above the degradations and miseries of slavery? And who will scruple to repeat his prayer, that He who sits in the heavens, and laughs at the deeply laid counsels of these rulers of the world, and holds in contempt and scorn their unhallowed projects, may soon confound their devices, and, in the utter confusion and ruin of all the measures which they oppose to freedom and religion, may open the way for the advancement of truth, and righteousness, and peace?

This concise Exposition deserves to be recommended as a useful outline of the Apocalyptic predictions and their fulfilment.