their proportions, are almost all injured, and most of them destroyed. There are no symptoms of fanatical violence having been exercised on what remains. Their ruined and defaced condition must be entirely attributed to their great antiquity. The sculpture is in a very peculiar style, which can scarcely be called good; the large figures, in particular, display a certain rotundity of form which I never observed in any Egyptian sculpture. The smaller figures have also this peculiarity; but from their dimensions, it is not quite so perceptible, at least, not so striking. The hieroglyphics are very much defaced; indeed, those I have copied are almost all that remain. The Ethiopians did not group their hieroglyphics so well as the Egyptians; their striking deficiency in this respect, proves either a great corruption from the Egyptian style, or most probably a great improvement made by the latter on the Ethiopian invention. This is the more extraordinary, as Diodorus informs us that the knowledge of hieroglyphics was, in Egypt, confined to the priests; but that in Ethiopia, they were understood by all.

To any one who, like me, has made a long study of Egyptian monuments, the style of the sculpture, even in the absence of any known name, is generally sufficient to determine its epoch. This fact, of which those travellers who have spent any length of time in Egypt will be fully aware, may give additional weight to my opinion of this sculpture. It is all executed in basso-relievo, with the exception of the hieroglyphics, which are in intaglio.'

Mr. Hoskins proceeds to characterize this sculpture as inferior to the 'best' that ornaments the temples and monuments of Thebes, and as bearing no resemblance to any of the various styles that are to be traced through the successive ages of Egyptian art. Neither is it to be taken as exhibiting signs of the decadence or corruption of an earlier and better school. It bears the stamp of originality; it may have communicated, but it is not derived its decorations are peculiar to the country', as are its representations of rites and manners. 'I should say, there'fore,' concludes Mr. Hoskins, that the Ethiopian style is antecedent to the others; that it is the earliest, though not the C best."

Now we must frankly confess our inability to deal with this sort of discussion. It makes no approach to reasoning, but claims to pass current, on the ground of an assumption which we feel no inclination to concede. We put no faith in the critical tact for which Mr. H. would take credit. In the course of a rather extensive experience in matters of art, we have had occasion, in not a few cases, to see similar pretensions brought to the test and found wanting. The faculty in which, in his own case, Mr. Hoskins is disposed to place such unhesitating confidence, requires so much study in its acquisition, and so much caution in its application; it is so liable to be thrown out by accidental circumstances, and to be influenced by preconceived hypothesis; that we reject it altogether as an element of controversy, though

we have made proof of its value as an auxiliary in dubious and inferential investigations, where no motive existed for the exaggeration of collateral evidence into a decisive criterion. Before we pass from this part of our subject, it may be expedient to state that the porticoes to which we have made reference, are of considerable projection, with a perpendicular façade; that nearly every pyramid has one of these appendages; and that the largest of the pyramids does not measure more than sixty-three feet square at the base. As one specimen of the contradictions into which the love of theory has led Mr. Hoskins, it may be observed, that he ascribes the ruined and defaced condition' of these monuments entirely to their great antiquity;' yet, his own plates clearly show that the stone-work has been forcibly displaced; and his own statements admit, that attempts have been 'made to open many of the pyramids.' He denies that the dilapidations exhibit any symptoms of fanatical violence: that they show symptoms of violence is very plain, and it signifies nothing to the fact, whether it were prompted by curiosity, avarice, or bigotry.

6

March 7, was the date of Mr. H.'s arrival at Shendy, the capital of the province, but still exhibiting the effects of the terrible vengeance inflicted for the murder of Ismael Pasha; an event, however, which seems to have been entirely owing to his own imprudence. Soon after leaving this town, considerable alarm was excited in the camp, by reports and by actual traces of lions, which had made their lair amid the extensive ruins of Wady Owataib. These remains are altogether of inferior character, and Mr. Hoskins appears to have decisively refuted the suggestions of Caillaud and Heeren: the first having made a plausible guess that, in their entire state, they might have been a college of priests'; and the German Professor venturing on the more magnificent supposition, that here stood the 'celebrated Ammonium.' Elaborate and instructive illustrations of these ruins are given among Mr. H.'s plates. Circumstances, of which not the least troublesome was the restiveness of Signor Bandoni, now compelled Mr. H. to turn homeward, when within a comparatively short distance of the junction of the two rivers, the White' and the Blue,' which in their union form the Nile. We shall take this opportunity of extracting his observations on the practicability of exploring the branch which was left unvisited by Bruce, and of which our knowledge is still so limited.

6

'As to the Bahr el Abiad, or White River, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to penetrate to any distance on its banks; and it is now more than ever impracticable to attempt the discovery of its source. The Governor at Kordofan has his gazwah, or hunt for slaves, on the banks of that river; there is, therefore, scarcely a

family in that part that has not lost some relation,-fathers their sons, husbands their wives, brothers their sisters, children their parents,and all would rejoice to avenge their loss on the first white man who should imprudently venture into their territory. The source of the Nile, could only, I conceive, be discovered by an armed force; and even that method would present great difficulties. It would require a large army to subdue the great extent of country through which the Bahr el Abiad probably passes. Not only the chiefs, but the whole population, instead of any of them joining the standard of the invader, or furnishing him with provisions, would resolutely oppose him. Each man would fight with desperation for the preservation of his property, family, and liberty. The Shillooks, Numrum, and other brave and warlike tribes on the White River, are not ignorant of the wretched lot of their brethren in Cairo. Many a fugitive slave has carried the intelligence to his tribe of the misery and hardships they endured after they were taken prisoners. The traveller being French or English, would be of no avail. They distinguish but two races, Pagan and Mahometan, and two colours, black and white, their friends and enemies.'

On his return, Mr. Hoskins preferred crossing the Bahiouda Desert to following the circuitous course of the Nile; and we find him, after an eight days' pilgrimage among sand and rocks, examining the ruined temples of Gibel el Birkel. These are well described, with such a liberal appropriation of views, plans, and details, as might almost render description superfluous. Here, too, is a Necropolis, with pyramids and their porches. Old and New Dongolah, the first nearly deserted, the latter flourishing, were then successively visited by the travellers, and many interesting particulars connected with native manners and local circumstances are given, but in too desultory a manner for convenient citation. In the island of Argo, Mr. H. found two curious, though rather rudely executed, colossal statues, with other sculptural remains. At Haffeer, April 20, the party was thrown into consternation by intelligence that their road homewards was interrupted by a formidable insurrection. A few weeks, however, and a little exertion, sufficed to disperse the insurgents; and early in June Mr. Hoskins was quietly sketching, on his homeward route, the ruins of Solib, of which the most interesting part is a temple, of the 'purest Egyptian architecture,' dating from the time of the warlike and victorious Amunoph III. Our indefatigable Traveller, as yet but half escaped from marauding Arabs, has given his readers ample proof of his diligence here, in a valuable series of well executed lithographs from his own and his artist's sketches and measurements. It is curious to mark the difference of human motives. Actuated by the love of science and the spirit of enterprize, Mr. Hoskins was exploring the relics of high antiquity for illustrations of ancient times and usages, while his native attendants could conceive of no cause adequate

to the effect, but the expectation of discovering among this wreck of old magnificence, the treasures of forgotten kings.

It were endless to enumerate the ridiculous stories which the Arabs relate of these fancied discoveries. I will, however, mention one or two as characteristic. On our return from the colossal statues in the island of Argo, to the house of Melek Tumbol, one of his cashkeepers asked me if we had found any gold; and he stated, as a fact, to a crowd of Arabs in the room (swearing by his beard and the pro phet), that at a ruin called Dendera, in Egypt, he accompanied two Englishmen, who obtained an immense treasure. The devil refused it, until they should give him a water-melon to allay his thirst. The Englishmen then sent him all the way to Kennah for the melon, and that as soon as the devil smelt the fine odour of the fruit, gold came down like rain. This the man declared he had seen with his own eyes, and all the Arabs implicitly believed him. At Gibel el Birkel, the natives conceived that my examinations were made only to find gold; and they supposed me less fortunate, or less clever, than the last European, a noble lord, who visited those ruins, who was stated to have found such a quantity, in the form of a granite lion, that he was obliged to have a boat from Dongolah to carry it down to Egypt.'

With the ruins of Solib, the more important novelties of the volume cease; though much that is valuable and interesting will be found in Mr. H.'s dissertations on his favourite theory, and in the beautiful coloured drawings which illustrate both ancient manners, and the existing monuments of antique art. Of that theory we have already given our opinion, and we shall not renew the subject here. One of the miscellaneous notes we shall, however, extract, as an emphatic exemplification of the mischievous working of a superstition which offers so high a premium to hypocrisy and craft.

Our pilot afforded us a curious exhibition, although not, I believe, uncommon; but to us it was new. He pretended, or believed, that his saint, to whom he had been addressing his evening devotions, had entered his body, and he immediately fell into the most violent paroxysms, throwing his arms about, rolling his head, and twisting his body in a very outrageous manner: sometimes he held up his hands, and shook, as in the most dreadful convulsions, groaning most piteously, and gabbling forth all sorts of gibberish. The sailors made a circle round him, and continued making low obeisances, calling on Mahomet to assist him, for nearly two hours; they believe that unless they did this, the saint would never have left him, and he would probably have died. This man, in his madness, seemed to have a great jealousy for his honour; one of the mariners was sleeping on board the boat, while the others were on the banks praying for them; on a sudden he darted into the boat, and, had he not been detained, would have roughly used the drowsy mariner. After all the Mahometans near had joined the circle to pray for his recovery, he returned by degrees to his senses: when the fit was over, he lay for some time ap

parently quite exhausted. The man is remarkable at other times for the mildness of his manner, and is one of the finest looking Nubians I have seen, being above six feet high, with uncommonly handsome feaThe people consider those who are thus possessed as peculiAfter death, they are generally considered as saints, and have tombs erected to them by the government.'

tures.

arly favoured..

Among the distinctions which Mr. Hoskins assigns to his great originators of all the great discoveries in art, he claims for them the invention of the arch; and he has given various specimens of that great architectural feature, for which he claims Ethiopian parentage, and the very highest antiquity. We cannot now enter upon the inquiry; it must suffice here to say, that we place no reliance on his dates, and that his examples contain, in our view, palpable evidences of much more recent construction. It is, on the face of the matter, absurd to believe that so cardinal a discovery should be put to so little use as to afford no more than some half-dozen or half-score existing specimens; and that the long succession of Egyptian architecture would not supply decisive evidence of its extensive employment, had it been really known in the palmy days of Merve or Mizraim.

Art. V. 1. A Memorial to his Majesty's Government on the danger of intermeddling with Church Rates. By the Rev. Thomas Silver, D.C.L., Vicar of Charlbury, formerly Anglo-Saxon Professor, and Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford. "To the Church-rate ought all the folc to contribute according to Law." Leges Canuti, A.D. 1016. Oxford: Parker, 1835.—pp. 71.

2. The Law, Practice, and Principles of Church Rates; (including Dr. Lushington's Opinion ;) being a Report of the Proceedings of a numerous Vestry Meeting in Louth, Oct. 2d, 1834, when a Church rate was refused. Published under the Superintendence of the Committee for Opposing the Rate. 8vo., pp. 132. Price 1s. 6d. Louth.

IN these two pamphlets, our readers will find pretty nearly all

that can be said upon the subject of the theory, the jus divinum, the law, civil and ecclesiastical, the practice, and the principle of the Church-rate. We should regret not having before drawn the attention of our readers to the second of the two, had we not now the opportunity of bringing the whole subject before them, with all the aid that Anglo-Saxon lore can supply, and of shewing upon what grounds the Church as by law established, rests its claim to this the oldest as well as the most 'universal payment in the empire!-the Donum Deo which 'binds all the social powers together."

Oxford brings forth strange things, but this memorial--be it for ever known as the Silver Memorial-is, we must think, the