The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-05-21

Y -
Johnson's extempre eflusion,-
put M hat upon my head
And marched into the Strand
And thee met another man.
With us hat in his hand
1t was not by any means equal to the songs with
which Mungo Pak was entertained by the wo-
men of Africa. The extempore illusions of the
Arab boatmen on he Nile at this day have quite
as much Imagination. Herodotus indeed, tells
us distinctly that the song of Linus, whom the
Egyptians called Maneros, which is also sung
in Phencia, in Cyprus, and elsewhere, is the
first and only songof the Egyptians" Their life
was any thing butpoetical. Herodotus tells us
again that at the repasts of the rich they brought
forward in small wooden box the figure Of
dead man perfectly inflated, foot and a half or
three feet long. TWAS carried round the table
and shown TO eachguest, with the words,
Drink md be merry,
For WHEN you are dead,
You will be as l.
These words put thus into a parallelism, may
perhaps serve as aspecmen of the highest kind
of Egyptian poetry. They are neither more nor
less than the proverb in which Paul describes
the manners ofthe Pagans:
Let US eat and drink,
For tomorrow we die.
The Egyptians seem to have had but little Of
the poetical, either in their constitution or tenn
permanent. 1t was not the GASES of their luxuri-
ant valley, with Their orange-groves, and palm
groves, and acacias, that ever colored or shaped
the creations Of their intellect; il was rather the
mud-begotten monsters of the Nile, and the bis
lering sands and suffocating hot breath of the
desert. man shut up from infancy within the
walls OF dungeon would beapt to have gloomy
imagination, though you should festoon those
walls with grape-vnes and roses, and cover his
daily table with delcacies. And just so, those
dreary, white burning boundaries that shut in
the sweet water and luxuriant vegetation of the
sacred river, Ito them the river of life, though
not clear as chrysal,) seem to have filled their
minds with analogous imagery, reigning, by
frightful, dream-like despotism. over their ideas
of future state, as well as their habits in the
present | doubt not the fxedness of caste
among them was partly owing to the strange and
sombre mmutability of their climate and physi-
cal abode and their eternity was very like what
a boundess African desert might be, if peopled
with the wandering ghosts ofmonks, crocodiles
and demons.
/ do not say that their NEUROLOGICAL system
was destitute of meaning or interest The re-
searches of Rosullini and others have revealed
quite new world to our study in this respect,
and have shown new reasons for that veneration
with which all ancient sages regarded the Egyp |
tians travelling into that country the fountain
aud oracle Of wisdom and knowledge. Perhaps
a greater sprinkling Of the truths Of the souls
immortality and of future retrbuton, was con-
tanned in their NEUROLOGICAL system than in that
of any other pagan nation of antiquity, but not
probably in its Interpretation by the multitude.
"A Pythagoras, travelling as stranger into their
country, would gain conceptions from the hgura-
tive teaching Of the hieroglyphlcs anil the priests,
10 the knowledge of which not one in five hun
dred of the native inhabitants might ever have
been admitted. But of this, more on another
occasion. At present we will finish our inter-
rupted details Of the tombs.
Some of the tombs in Egypt were excavated
between IL and 1900 years before Christ, but
none of those in Thehes have quite so high an
antiquity as this The tomb sometimes called
Bruce's, and also the Harper's, from painting
in one of the chambers, is in many respects OF
equal interest with that discovered by Belzoni.
Il bears the name Of Rameses I'd as its occupant,
the supposed Sesosiris Of the Greeks, the COM
mencement Of whose reign is placed about 1855
years before Christ. To this monarch belonged
the magnificent palace and temple in Thebes,
called the Memnonium, containing that prodi-
gious colossal statue of the king, an approxima-
ton to the weight of which has been statedat
900 tons.
This tomb is deeper than that Of Belzon, be-
ing 405 feet, though not on so rapid descent
The long descending hall of entrance is lined
by series Of small chambers each side, in
which the painted sculptures and figures are
more interesting than those in Belzoni's tomb,
simply because they are less grotesque, and
more familiar and intelligent. The first cham
Der has been described by those who saw IT
in its perfect state, containing the repre-
sentation Of an Egyptian Kitchen with its vari-
Gus operations going forward, but we could make
nothing out distinctly, il is so much defaced. In
another chamber there are pictures Of boats with
chequered sails and ornaments; in another the
various processes Of agriculture, as ploughing,
sowing reaping, are indicated; and as each Of
these chambers or recesses was found to contain
mummy pit, il is thought that the kings house
hold officers may have been buried there, and
that the paintings the walls refer to their sta
tons as chief cooks, armor-bearers, stewards of
the household gardeners, ministries, and others.
In one Of the chambers the walls are covered
with representations Of the ancient Egyptian
weapons as in an armory. There are bundles
Of falchions, daggers, spears, knives, darts, quiz
vers, bows, helmets. Mr.. Wilkinson thinks that
the blue color Of some Of these weapons indi-