ceive us, the person in distress might immediately take his leap on throwing out his own, and in some measure break the effects of his fail by holding his breath at the same instant.

But perhaps a few hints, calculated to prevent the necessity of such risks, may be still more acceptable:-Among those fires which are fatal to our lives, none are inore to be dreaded than those which happen or originate in our chambers. Here it is that in a few minutes we are enveloped in flames, every thing about us is combustible, and tends to hasten the horrid catastrophe. But whether the accident originates from the carelessness of a servant, a child, or a parent, a little forethought, or the following simple precaution, might have prevented it: for it is only by securing the candle in a lanthorn that I can at any time trust my elder girl to put the younger children to bed, without the dread of having the bedclothes or curtains set on fire, a circumstance so very frequent and fatal, but which could not happen, did we but accustom ourselves to take a light into a bed-room only when inclosed in a lamp or lanthorn. And if the light were to remain in the chimney corner all night, our security and advantage would still be increased, and the air of the chamber would not be injured, which might be the case if the lamp had been suspended in the middle of the room.

There are some people who say they cannot sleep in a dark room, and others find themselves restless because there is a light: but both may become agreeable by habit. Those who are accustomed to the latter would certainly have the adVantage in case of an accident. If a fire broke out in any part of the house, their clothes, their children, and their valuables, are immediately in view, and consequently their embarrassment would be consi lerably lessened.

Among other important aids to hunanity, we may reckon Dr. Cogan's late improved drag, for the speedily raising human bodies from under water; and Mr. Daniel's life-preserver, which prevents the ship-wrecked mariner from sinking. The liumane Society have like wise done much to preserve us from death; and when the nation shall be led sufficiently to appreciate its character, and the importance of this excellent institution, we may expect a proportionate share of benefit by the extension and improvement of such plans.

Man thousands of those papers which

acquaint us with the mode of recovering persons apparently dead, have been distributed in different parts, and many thousands more are still wanted for the same purpose: and I have often thought that considerable benefit might be derived from painted inscriptions or instructions of this kind being placed near turnpike gates, bathing-places, and near the bridges of London, Blackfriars, and Westminster. I believe that, to the honour of humanity, it may be said, that few persons who attempt to rescue their fellow-creatures from perilous situations, feel any other impulse at the moment than that of commiseration, or genuine benevolence: and yet no one will deny that the rewards held out and distributed by the Humane Society have been very salutary and proper? Why, then, should not the same honours and rewards be in reserve for those who rescue others from a death which we all contemplate with so much horror? Surely the firy element is not less cruel in his dominion over us, than that of water. The melancholy re lations which we every day hear, or read of, ought to have roused us to the consideration of this subject.

The conflagration at Westminster, which was so fatal to the house and inmates of my friend Mr. J. Storr, as well as one, of much later occurrence, in Upper Norton-street, have the most serious part of their calamity to attribute to the diffi culty of procuring fire-ladders; and, to prevent in future the loss of lives by this kind of neglect, I would recommend the expediency of creasing the number of ladrs, and particularly the number of keys which secure them in the places where they are kept. And as fires gene rally happen in the night, when the most assistance is wanted, and least is to be had, to help those who have not the opportunity of self-preservation, every means should be devised, and every watchman and turnpikeman should be in possession of a key to the nighest fire ladder. The parish watchhouse, to which people generally run for aid, is very often situated too far from the spot which is the scene of distress, and it too often happens that, in the confusion either the watchhouse, the key, or the ladder, is not to be found in time.

Light-made fire-ladders, which can be speedily procured, must, in many cases, be the easiest mode of escape; as those apertures for our windows, which builders seem, for the sake of uniformity, to place exactly over each other in the different

stories,

stories, are extremely unfavourable to persons on the higher floors; for, if the fire broke out under them, that which prevented their descent by the staircase, would, in all probability, prevent their escape by a rope from their window, as, in either case, they must pass through the flames. Many persons who have been found burnt to death, have shown themselves, at different intervals, at their window; but not finding assistance at hand, and not being able to bear the heat and smoke which ascended from the windows under them, have been compelled to retire, and fall victims to the devouring flames. May 25, 1807.

J. M. FLINDALL.

For the Monthly Magazine.
ENQUIRER. No. XXII.

WHO WAS SESOSTRIS?
HE earliest and most conspicuous

parts of a woman to indicate their cowar dice."

Herodotus proceeds to say that Sesostris passed from Syria into Europe, subduing Scythians and Thracians (Euterpe, 103); and that he left a colony on the ri ver Phasis, as he returned. "The Egyp tians maintain (adds Herodotus, 104) that the Colchians descend from these troops of Sesostris; and this I can believe, as they have black complexions and woolly hair, and practice circumcision, a rite peculiar to the Colchians, Egyptians, and the thiopians. The Phoenicians and Syrians of Palæstine confess to have received this practice from the Egyptians.” The Colchians (he says further, 105) ma nufacture such linen as the Egyptians.

"Of the pillars which in the conquered districts Sesostris, the king of Egypt, erected, not many appear to remain. In the Syrian Palestine I myself (affirms

which occurs in the second book of Herodotus, an historian who flourished about four hundred and fifty years before Christ. A second account occurs in the first book of Diodorus Siculus, who flourished about four hundred years later than Herodotus, under the emperor Augustus. Except in these two accounts, no details of the life and deeds of Sesostris have been given by the classical historians; although incidental mention of him, as the first great conqueror, is frequent. So that an examination of these two accounts will suffice to bring forwards what is supposed to be known concerning him.

I. Herodotus states (Euterpe, 101) that, after Maris, who built a new porch to the temple of Vulcan, and who also built vast pyramids in Ægypt, flourished Sesos

tris.

"This Sesostris (continues Herodotus, II. 102), as the priests tell us, was the first, who, in long boats, sallied from the Arabic Gulf to overturn the settlers on the Red Sea. Proceeding further, he came to a frith unnavigable from its shallows. Thence returning to Egypt, according to the records of the priests, and raising a numerous army, he overspread the continent and overturned all the impeding nations. As many of them as he found brave, and desirous of liberty, among those he set up pillars, indicating by let ters his name and country, and how he had subverted them by power. But, where he took their towns combatless and welcomely, on the pillars he inscribed the same things as where he had found the people manly, but added the private

tant, inscribed both with letters and with the private parts of a woman." He adds that in Ionia, near Ephesus, was thought to exist a statue of Sesostris, but that others called it a statue of Memnon.

"This Egyptian Sesostris being re turned (continues our historian, II. 107) and bringing with him many men of the subverted nations, he was invited, the priests say, at the Pelusian Daphne, by a brother whom he had put over Egypt, he and his family to a feast. The house was surrounded with combustibles, and set on fire: which when Sesostris discovered, he deliberated with his wife on the means of escape; and with her consent used two of their children as stepping-stones athwart the burning pyre. These two children being sacrificed, the rest were saved with their father."

"Sesostris being returned into Egypt (Euterpe, 108) took vengeance on his bro ther. Ofthe many captives brought home he made this use: they had to drag stones of immense length for the temple of Valcan, and were compelled to dig at those ditches with which Ægypt is intersect ed."

"Thus was Egypt regularly divided (Euterpe, 109), and a square plot of ground was assigned by this king to each Egyp tian, and a quit-rent was insposed to be paid yearly: and if any suffered by the falling short of the inundation of the Nile, he might certify it to the king, and the king sent commissioners to measure the dry land, and to abate the tax upon it; hence arose geometry."

"Only this king of Egypt (Euterpe,

110) could master Ethiopia. He left a monument before the temple of Vulcan, two stone statues of thirty cubits, representing himself and wife, and four stone statues of twenty cubits representing his children.

"Sesostris was succeeded (Euterpe, 111) by a son, Pheron, who lost his sight."

Here is all, concerning Sesostris, that Herodotus has related. This historian, if credulous, is always a faithful reporter. His opportunities of information were comprehensive, having travelled into Egypt and Syria, and consulted on the spot the archives of several temples. The great revolution of a Babylonian conquest of Palestine having intervened between the times of Sesostris, and Herodotus, much definite evidence must have been abolished, and reduced to vague tradition. His testimony however may be accepted as in the main satisfactory: only it remains improbable that the son of a judge, or petty king, of Ægypt, should have extended his conquests so far northwards, as to make war with the Thracians, and to leave a colony at Colchis on the Euxine.

II. Diodorus Siculus states (I. 84) that Sesostris was also called Sesosis: that he was educated with those of his own age to military exercises, and was sent by his father with an army into Arabia; that he was distinguished for an hereditary piety to Vulcan; and that he divided his country into nomes, or tribes, or provinces, and appointed prefects over each. He next made an expedition into Libya; and then into Ethiopia, where he imposed a tribute of ivory and gold. At length, influenced by his daughter Athyrte, he undertook the conquest of Asia and of the world. Diodorus makes thesc conquests extend to the Ganges and the Tanais: from Babylon his Sesostris brings captives who found the Babylon of the Egyptians, who build temples without number, who dig canals and reservoirs, and who fortify Egypt by a great wall against the Syrians and Arabs. Sesostris also constructs an ark, or floating temple, two hundred and eighty cubits long, gilt without and silvered within. He erects two obelisks inscribed with the list of his provinces and his taxes. He employs noble captives to carry his palanquin. Being at his brother's house, an attempt was made to destroy it by fire; Sesostris commemorated his escape by erecting statues before the temple of Vulcan at Memphis. Au the thirty-third year of his reign he became blind: after MONTHLY MAG., No. 158.

which he killed himself. He was succeeded by a son, who assumed the same name, and lost his sight like his father.

This account of Diodorus is partly transcribed from Herodotus, and partly derived, it should seem, from Ctesias, who is quoted (1. 36), and to whom the marvellous particulars apparently belong. There was a Ctesias of Cnidus captived by the Persians, who became physician to Artaxerxes Memnon: and, about the time of Alexander's expedition into Asia, a work was circulated under the name of this Ctesias, which treated of Persian and Indian geography and history. The work ascribed to Ctesias has not descended to us entire; but from the copious extracts preserved by Photius, it may be pronounced an European forgery: so widely does it differ from what a resident at the Babylonian court must have had to communicate. Diodorus himself lived too late to be an authority: his want of criticism saps the trust-worthiness even of the testimony which he only repeats.

After condensing and combining these two statements, and dismissing what is marvellous, inconsistent or otherwise improbable, it may be presumed that Sesostris, or Sesosis, originated near Memphis, probably on the eastern bank of the Nile, which was called the land of Goshen, as his brother resided there: that he passed the Red Sea, explored its further coast, returned among his own people, and at the head of an army of rebel slaves (γλιχομενος περί της ελευθερίης) conquered Palestine, and divided his jurisdiction into nomes, or tribes: that he set up pillars in memory of his success, which remained when Herodotus wrote: that' he was distinguished for piety to Vulcan, and for a long reign.

It is remarkable that all these particulars should be true of the Jewish chieftain' Joshua. In concert with Caleb (Num bers, xiv. 6) he went to explore those countries beyond the Red Sea, to the conquest of which he guided his followers; when, as the poet expresses it (Exodus," xiv. 12) "the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry land; and the waters were a bulwark to them on the right and on the left." He divided his conquests with geographical superstition (Joshua, xviii. 10) into nomes, or tribes. Pillars, those probably which Herodotus saw, were erected (Joshua, vi. 20) by Joshua in Gilgal. The symbols described by Herodotus are the more likely to have been traced on the columns of Joshua; as a marked attention was 4 C

showar

shown to the harlot Rahab (Joshua vi. 25) for her services to the conqueror of Canaan. By Vulcan, Herodotus often means Jehovah; he calls Sethos, or Hezekiah, a priest of Vulcan. Vulcan was the god of fire; and Herodotus, in common with other heathens, supposed that the shekinah, or holy fire, which, in the temples of Jehovah, was kept burning at the altar, and into which incense was thrown, was the proper and real object

of adoration in a sect which tolerated no

images: he mistook a rite of worship, an emblem perhaps,for the Being worshipped. At one hundred and ten years of age Joshua (xxiv. 29) is stated to have died; previous to which it is not unlikely that he may have incurred the calamity of blindness: but this circumstance, although stated by Diodorus, is not vouched either by the Jewish Scriptures, or by Herodotus. These coincidences of adventure are too peculiar, and of too extraordinary a kind, to have befallen several individuals; it is most rational therefore to suppose that the history of Joshua is the basis of all that has been related concerning Sesostris. The reputation of his victories might easily travel to Greece in such a form, as to give rise to the extant exaggerated misrepresentations,

By admitting the identity of Joshua and Sesostris a copious stock of illustra

tion is acquirred for the early books of Scripture; an obscure period of human events becomes distinctly luminous; an inconsistent portion of the Egyptian aunals acquires certainty, simplicity and chronological precision; the student has fewer facts to remember; the sceptic fewer about which to doubt.

The testimony of Herodotus relative to the personal resemblance between the Colchians and the Egyptians implies that the troops of Sesostris had black complexions and woolly hair: it must therefore be inferred that the followers of Moses, the conquerors of Canaan, the depositaries of the decalogue, the proge nitors of the Jewish kings and prophets, were negroes.

There is a chasm in the narrative of the book of Joshua, preceding the com mencement of the twenty-third chapter: which affords an ample pretext for sup posing him, during that interval, to have visited and displaced his brother, and to have made expeditions into Libya and Ethiopia: and to have aineliorated the agrarian legislation of Egypt, as is narrated by Herodotus. It justifies the predilection of Moses, and exalts the character of Joshua, to observe that the natural ascendancy of his courage and his intellect was recognized along the Nile, as along the Jordan.

claims on the score of birth, when a man has been ennobled both by nature and education.*

The subject of this biographical sketch was born in 1721. We are unacquainted with the precise spot in which he first drew his breath; but it was undoubtedly to the north of the Tweed. His parents, who moved in a humble sphere, migrated

It may not be unnecessary, however, to observe in this place, that, since writing the above, we have learned that the bishop's grandfather was a younger brother of Dou glas of Talliquilly, in the South of Scotland, and the immediate predecessor of Bishop Burnet, in the living of Salton, in Ext Lothian. But whoever is acquainted with Scotland, must know that nothing is mort customary than claims of this sort; and even the incidental circumstance of being of the same name as a man of rank, formerly canid along with it a certain ennobling quality, th tended not a little to flatter the vanity of the fortunate possessor,

from

from Pettenwien, in the county of Fife, in quest of independence; and, if we mistake not greatly, resided during many years in Cockspur-street, where they kept the British coffee-house. On their demise, or removal, this establishment was carried on under the superintendance of a daughter.

To a Scotchman, there is something ir resistibly inviting in the name of an institution, originally endowed in a foreign land by one of his own kings; and accordingly it was to Baliol College, Oxford, that Mr. Douglas repaired, after the usual prefatory studies, which are said to have originated at the grammarschool of Dunbar. There are in this College a certain number of exhibitions, to which the University of Glasgow may appoint; and we at one period were led to suppose, from a variety of circumstances, that one of these had been thus granted. We have been assured, how ever, from undoubted authority, that the nomination originated not in Scotland, but at Oxford, in consequence of a lapse, or neglect.

On a recurrence to a copy of the Register, we find that Mr. Douglas obtained the degree of M. A. October 14, 1745, when he was twenty-two years of age. It was not unti a distant period that he aspired to higher honours, which shall be noticed in due time.

Having been intended for the church, the student in divinity now applied himself with indefatigable attention to acquire a sufficient knowledge of theology; how far he succeeded on this occasion, those acquainted with his life and conversation can best tell. As no fairy prospects of preferment opened to his fascinated eyes, and no visionary canonical vistas seemed to be cut into crosiers, and other emblems of episcopacy, after the manner of that day, M. Douglas thought proper to search for a livelihood in año ther country, Accordingly, soon after he had taken orders, he was appointed one of the chaplains to the army, and

It appears, from a paper drawn up by the bishop's son, that Dr. Douglas, in 1736, was first entered a commo er of St Mary Hall, and remained there until 1738, when he removed to Baliol College, on being elect ed an exhibitioner, on Bishop Warner's foundation.

† He occupied this situation in the third regiment of foot-guards. Anterior to this, he had visited both France and Flanders, chiefly with a view of acquiring a facility in the French language,

was present in that capacity at the battle of Fontenoy, in 1745. A colonel, who was his namesake, and perhaps also a relation, asked him, on this occasion, if he, who was " also a Douglas," did not mean to make a charge with the re giment? But his ardour could not display itself on this occasion, even if his clerical functions would have permitted; for he was entrusted with all the most valuable property of the officers with whom he was acquainted, accompanied with injunc tions to dispose of it according to certain directions, in the event of their not surviving that day,

Among those gallant men who perished in this action, was a gentleman named Lort, a major in the Welsh Fusileers, whose son carried a pair of colours in the same regiment, which suffered more than any other at the beginning of the action. The father, anxious for the honour of his child, who had never been engaged before, narrowly watched his behaviour, and, observing him to bend his head a little at the first discharge, which proved a very dreadful-one, exclaimed, "Young man, if I survive this day, I will bring you to a court martial for that!" The youth behaved with distinguished gallantry throughout the remainder of the engage ment, but the father fell a few minutes afterwards. It is hoped the introduction of this anecdote will be pardoned even in the life of a bishop, in favour of the memory of a brave man,

Soon after this memorable event, Mr. Douglas returned from the Continent, and, after spending some little time at Baliol College, he was ordained a priest: for he had hitherto only been in deacon's orders. So little patronage did he enjoy at this period, that we find him for many years drudging as a humble curate, first at Tilchurst, near Reading in Berkshire, and afterwards at Dunstew, in the county of Oxford.

While performing his duties with exemplary patience and decorum in the latter of these parishes, a new career was opened to his ambition, by means of the Earl of Bath. This nobleman, better known as William Pulteney, and for a long period one of the first orators of the House of Commons, after the toils of a long opposition, had at length tasted of the sweets of power, and the lethean draught had the same effect on him as on many other pretenders to public virtue, both before and since: he had forgotten all his promises in favour of liberty, and the people! His only child, Lord Pulteney, was 4C 2

at