which they are Decorated, and the Conjectures that may be drawn from them, refpecting the Divinities to whom they were confecrated. Tranflated from the French of Citizen Ripaud, Librarian to the Inftitute of Egypt. 8vo. or 4to. PP. 104. 35. 6d. Debrett. London. 1800.

HE following Memoirs," fays the Editor of this tract," are prefented to the Public as containing a very accurate account of the celebrated remains of ancient Egypt, of which we have heard fo much, and know fo little.

"Former travellers on the banks of the Nile, however inquifitive, learned, or fagacious, have found their pursuits impeded by a fucceffion of obstacles and dangers, which have neceffarily rendered their accounts imperfect; while the ingenious Frenchmen, from whofe origi nal memoirs the following pages are tranflated, poffeffed all the advantages which could be derived from fecurity, leifure, and general apparatus. Hence they have been enabled to give to their country and to Europe, the following correct, scientific, and fuperior de fcription of the Antiquities of Egypt."

It is unquestionably true, that the French, from their long and abfolute poffeffion of the country, have had better opportunities than any former traveller enjoyed, of acquiring a full and complete knowledge of the prefent ftate of Egypt. And if they will forbear to indulge their national vanity, to interfperfe their scientific defcriptions with the effufions of republican folly, and to disgust their readers with the impertinent obtrufion of fentiments, wholly unconnected with the subject, they, no doubt, have it in their power to communicate much curious and interesting information to the public. Some fuch information is certainly contained in the tract before us; but, as it is a mere abridgment, and is rather to be confidered as a profpectus to a larger work on the fame fubject, than as a complete work in itself, no blame is imputable to the author, for not having rendered his accounts more copious, and his defcriptions more minute.

It will be feen by the following brief comments, that M. Ripaud has found little caufe to be fatisfied with the labours of his predeceffors.

"The views given by Norden are equally inaccurate and infig. nificant. His defcriptions are obfcure, for he was not fufficiently. inftructed. Befides, he was of a timid character; and actually visited the island of Phylæ by the light of a lantern.

"Paul Lucas is a very inconfiderate, unreflecting traveller, and fubject to a ridiculous fpirit of exaggeration. He has defcribed as granite the free-ftone of which all the temples of Upper Egypt are conftructed.

"Sicard, more fagacious and correct, has contributed very much to illuftrate what was obfcure and uncertain in the ancient geography of this country. In this view he has proved a very able affiftant to our contryman d'Anville.

"That diftinguished scholar has been the continual object of our aftonishment. By the force alone of his critical fagacity, he has affigned, with a degree of accuracy, which is perfectly aftonishing, the pofition of ancient cities and villages, as well as the course of canals, in a country which he had never vifited.

"The Conful Maillet, Vanfleb, and the transcriber Savary, offer nothing that is true or useful in their works.

"The two most eminent travellers who have written on Egypt, are Granger and Pococke. The firft, who was a phyfician, and a Frenchman, vifited this country in the year 1730; and it is very much to be regretted that his work is fo fhort. This author is well informed, judicious, and of excellent authority.

"The fecond is the most learned of them all, and his descriptions approach the nearest to the truth. Nor was he deficient either in activity or refolution. Almost every thing that he himself wrote is good; but the drawings, which he caused others to execute, are very inaccurate."

We think that he has treated NORDEN with too much feverity, and indeed with injuftice, for his drawings appear to us not to merit the reproach of inaccuracy, and they certainly are very far from infignificant.

The author's obfervations on the Egyptian and Grecian architecture betray an accurate tafte, and a found judgment.

"Egypt is the cradle of architecture; the monuments which are ftill feen there, have attained the principal object which is proposed by this art. They produce aftonishment.

"That folidity, with which they are fometimes reproached, is connected with ftrength; and it is owing to fuch a circumftance, that, after a period of fix thousand years, we behoid thefe gigantic buildings.

"The elegance of proportion, the grace of detail, beauty, harmony, and general refult, are enchanting in the Greek orders. The boldness and lightness of the upper parts please in the Gothic edifices; maffivenefs and folidity are impofing in the monuments of the Egyptians.

"When they firft erected a column, they appear to have had no other object than to place the cup of the lotus upon its ftem. It was an homage offered to the plant which, from their first establishment, had furnished to the new colonists an wholesome and abundant fuf

tenance.

"No traveller, before us, had remarked the resemblance of the Egyptian columns with the different productions of nature; and, nevertheless, thofe who erected them employed their utmoft fkill to render the imitation perfect. On the base of the column they engraved, in a circular form, the leaves of the nymphea or water-lily;

and

and gave to the part of the fhaft nearest the capital, the form of á bundle of the ftems of the lotus.

"They afterwards extended this love of imitation to other productions of the vegetable kingdom, and they represented the bud of the fame plant, with the head of the date-tree; and, among the ornaments of ten different capitals, they have defigned the branches of the fan palm-tree, and the flowers of the nelumbo.

"It is very easy to observe certain points of conformity between the architecture of the Egyptians and that of the Greeks. The latter appear to have at firft adopted, without the leaft alteration, the columns raised on the banks of the Nile: but they foon brought them to their prefent perfection, by the power and influence of their admirable tafte and genius.

"The plan of their most elegant temples is alfo taken from the fmall peripteral temples of the Egyptians.

"Thus is the ingenious fable of Vitruvius deftroyed, who attributes the origin of architecture to an imitation of the wooden cabins which were inhabited by the most ancient people of Greece. Their defcendants, anxious to attribute to themselves every kind of discovery, were very cautious of difclofing their obligations to the Egyptians, in this art. Without mentioning any of the great number which they owed to that people, they have, in general terms, praised them for their wisdom, which has fince been confidered, not only with lefs veneration, but with fome degree of doubt as to its existence.

The tafte of Egypt differed from that of Greece, as well as from our own, in bringing together thofe maffes,. which we have always been particularly careful to detach and infulate. At Luxor, in a fpace of thirty feet, two obelisks are feen of ninety-two feet in height; behind them are two coloffal ftatues of thirty-five feet, and fomewhat farther are two moles, whofe elevation is fifty-five feet. It is impoffible not to feel the impreffion of grandeur, that the accumulation of thefe maffes is calculated to produce."

We object, however, to the affertion that the production of astonishment is the principal object of architecture. It may form one of the objects, but it has frequently a better and a nobler object; the impreffion of religious awe, the inspiration of devout fentiments, and the preparation of the mind for the folemnities of public worship.

It is truly extraordinary that, notwithstanding all that has been faid, by ancient and modern writers, respecting the Egyptian plant, the lotus, (of which some account was given in the preceding article) it is by no means clear to which plant that appellation was affigned by the ancients. Some have fuppofed it to be the rice plant, others a particular kind of corn, known by the denomination of dourra, in fhort, the opinions refpecting it have varied fo much as fcarcely to leave any thing like certainty on the fubject. These may be seen

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in the quarto edition of the Abbe Le Mafcrier's defcription of Egypt compiled from the memoirs of M. de Maillet, who refided in the capacity of French Conful at Cairo, and of whom M. Ripaud fpeaks with fuch fovereign contempt. We question, whether M. Ripaud himself, however, is not deceived concerning the cups of the lotus, which he mentions as the ufual decorations of an Egyptian column; thefe decorations have always appeared to us rather to resemble imbricated boleti.

This tract, fuperficial as it is, will form an useful fupplement to Sonnini's Travels, and may, indeed, be read with advantage by all. who feel an intereft in the fubjects of which it treats.

ART. VIII. A Treatise on the Commerce and Police of the River Thames: Containing an biftorical View of the Trade of the Port of London; and fuggefting Means for preventing the Depredations thereon, by a Legislative Syftem of River Police. With an Account of the Functions of the various Magiftrates and Corporations exercising Jurifdiction on the River; and a general View of the penal remedial Statutes connected with the Subject. By P. Colquhoun, LL. D. 8vo. PP. 676. 10s. 6d. Mawman. London. 1800.

N the partial cenfures which we mingled with our commendations of Mr. Colquhoun's Treatife on the Police of the Metropolis, reviewed in our laft Number, we by no means intended to detract, in the fmallest degree, from the merit of the author, as an intelligent, active, vigilant Magiftrate; we were actuated exclufively by a fenfe of duty, fuperadded to a wish to remove fome falle impreffions unfavourable to the national character, which that work, we knew, had contributed to make on the minds of foreigners, who have been accustomed to quote it as a book of authority, and to confider all the statements and opinions which it contains as truths, not to be controverted, nor even queftioned.

*

In the work before us there is very little to cenfure and much to praife; the author has indulged himfelf leis in fpeculations, and confined himfelf more clofely to facts,, than he did in his former production. Some of his eftimates, indeed, are equally vague, but his remedies, in general, are more folid and practicable. While we condemn the following praise of

* It has been tranflated into French, and, we believe, into German alfo.

his own work, which too much resembles the puffs of a quack, and is certainly unworthy a respectable writer;" the subject is in many respects new; the details-intereftingin no common degree;-almost every rank of fociety will find beneficial information,"-while, we fay, we condemn fuch self-commendations, we cannot but approve the "General Review” of the matter, given in the preface, and we fhall accordingly extract it, as calculated to convey a better idea of the contents of the book, than could be conveyed by any quotations or remarks which we could make or fuggeft.

"From the numerous ramifications of a commercial intercourse of unexampled extent and magnitude, multitudes of individuals concerned in different kinds of property expofed to danger on the river Thames, become more or lefs interested. In fact, it may be said to affect a confiderable proportion of the men of property in the whole of the metropolis, and almoft every perfon engaged in commercial and nautical pursuits in every part of the British empire, fince all are exposed, more or lefs, to the injuries and inconveniences which the fuggeftions con tained in this work are meant to remove and to prevent.

"To judge accurately refpecting the numerous public wrongs, which are detailed in this volume, the reader is referred to the unexampled magnitude of the navigation and commerce of the port, as exemplified in the first chapter; and alfo to the account of the nature and extent of the depredations and injuries as recorded in the fecond, third, and fourth chapters. For the purpose of forming an opinion of the reme-dies which have been applied, and the fuccefs of an experiment attempted under many difadvantages, recourfe must be had to the details which are given in the fifth and fixth chapters. It will be seen in the feventh chapter, that it is not the port of London alone which has experienced the injuries arifing from depredations on commercial property, but that it prevails in a confiderable degree wherever trade is carried on. The legislative system, therefore, which has been proposed to prevent thefe depredations, and which is particularly explained in the eighth and ninth chapters, cannot fail to be interesting and useful to every commercial port in the British empire, inasmuch as the remedies which are fuggefted, are in many refpects applicable to every fituation, and to moft circumftances which are likely to occur.

"A fource of general information, (in many refpects new,) respecting the various authorities under whofe jurifdiction the Police of the River is conducted, will be found detailed in the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth chapters; while the penal laws which attach to maritime offences, and particularly to local injuries, as they relate to the Thames below and above London bridge, cannot fail to be useful and interesting; and to those who follow nautical purfuits, the abridged view of the Statutes applicable to thefe affairs, detailed in the fifteenth and fixteenth chapters, and the general laws and regulations of the port of London, which are comprized in the feventeenth chapter, (a compendium never before published,) can hardly fail

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