cient mode of conveying knowledge that has defcended to thefe ages.

This vaunted perfonage, Thoth, is then demonftrated never to have exifted; but that the Egyptian priefts published their works under that general title, when honoured by the unanimous fuffrages of the colleges. The interpretation of the word renders this undoubted. Jablonski (p) has proved that Thoth fignified column. The Greeks tranflating the word by that of Σrn^n have preferved its fignification. Since the learned of Egypt were accustomed to write their books, without adding their name, it was natural they should take that of the monuments which were to tranfmit them to pofterity. It even should seem this honour was granted only to those who made important discoveries, fince, to obtain it, the approbation of all the academicians of the nation was requifite. Thus when the Latins, and others, who have no profound knowledge in Egyptian hiftory, fpeak of the columns of Thoth, they commit the fame pleonafm as thofe geo

(p) Jablonski Tom. III. Thoth, Theuth, or Thoith, come from the Egyptian Theuothi, column.

graphers

graphers who call Etna Mount Gibel (7) Obferve, I entreat you, Sir, that Sanchoniathon, Manetho, Galen, and the writers. who were inftructed in the mysteries of Egypt, and went to the fource of knowledge, do not commit this fault, and only fay they engraved on columns, or Erna, remarkable events, and the marvellous works of art. Thus when, according to Elian (r), the priefts affirmed Sefoftris had been instructed in the sciences by Thoth, or Mercury, it fignified that when initiated they taught him to read the history of human learning, inscribed on columns, in hieroglyphics. They first bore the fimple title of Thoth, but the cuftom of confulting them, the facred places in which they were preserved, and the knowledge they contained, rendered them refpectable. They were confecrated by religion, and placed under the immediate protection of Phtha, or the creative fpirit.

These principles established, we may explain, with probability, the three Thoths, or Mercuries, enumerated by the Egyptians,

(9) Gibel, in Arabic, fignifies mountain.

(r) Lib. 12.

Gg3

the

the one before, and the two others, after, the deluge. The first indicated the infancy of human knowledge; either because some monuments had escaped the deftruction of men, or that those they foon after raised contained knowledge appertaining to times anterior to that dreadful æra. The fecond Thoth denotes the efforts of the Egyptians in the discovery of physical and aftronomical truths, the tranflation of the hieroglyphics into facerdotal characters, and the establishment of laws and religion. The third was the flourishing state of science, the progrefs of the arts, and the perfection to which they were carried; as the obelifks, temples, and pyramids atteft, the grandeur and magnificence of which no nation has equalled. These æras the Egyptian priefts clearly defcribed by the epithet Trifmegiftus, thrice. great, which they gave to their allegoric Thoth.

Thus, Sir, you have feen the books of Thoth, or Hermes, were a collection of the productions of the literati of Egypt, and formed their Cyclopedia. These perished in the conflagration of the Ptolemæan library, and the originals, which remain engraved,

in a thousand places, in Egyptian marble, are unintelligible. Of all the treasures of antient learning we poffefs only a few pearls: As to the Hermetic books, fo vaunted by those who lofe their time and fubftance in search of the philofopher's stone, they are imaginary works, falfely attributed to Hermes, or the Egyptian Thoth.

I have the honour to be, &c,

LETTER

XXXVIII.

OF THE VOCAL STATUE.

The ftatue of Memnon anciently famous for the found it gave, at fun-rifing: called by the priefs fon of the day. Homer celebrates the fon of Aurora, the conqueror of Antilochus, which his commentators, and fucceeding poets, erroneously apply to the Egyptian Memnon. The ftatue of Thebes was named Amenophis. Memnon, who was at the fiege of Troy much later, was fent from Sufa, by Teutam, Emperor of Allyria. The vocal fatue broken by Cambyfes, and the trunk, after long ceafing to found, began again, under the Ptolemies; pronounced the feven vowels, before its fall. The reafon given why the priests called this flatue the image of the fun, and the coufin of Ofris, and the derivation of its name, Amenophis.

To M. L. M.

Grand Cairo.

ftatue of

I BRIEFLY mentioned the Memnon, Sir, when deferibing the ruins of Thebes; but, the great names engraved on the pedestal pleading in favour of the wonders