more than two thousand baths. But this notion seems merely fanciful, for when a complete ablution was requisite the priest could stand under the running streams, or bathe in the hollow base which received the discharged water and which must likewise have had an outlet. It is not clear whence these streams were discharged, but it may have been from the mouths of the oxen, or, as some conceive, from embossed heads, in the sides of the vessel.

The term "sea" is a mere Hebraism, as they were accustomed to give that appellation to all considerable bodies of water.

MOMENT, y raga, (Psalm 30. 5,) an instant of time, a moment; a quick agitation, a sudden move

ment.

In the above passage the Psalmist says of the Lord, "His anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Roberts remarks upon this: "The Tamul method of expressing a moment is to move the hand once round the head, and give a snap of the finger. Thus they say of anything which endures but a short time, 'It is only as the snap of the fingers. The people of the East have nearly all their festivities in the night; they say it is the sorrowful time, and therefore adopt this plan to make it pass more pleasantly away. To those who are in difficulties or sorrow; to widows, orphans, or strangers, ‘night is the time to weep; hence, in passing through the village may be heard people crying aloud to their departed friends, or bitterly lamenting their own condition. They have, however, some very pleasing and philosophical sayings on the uncertainty of the sorrows and joys of life. In the book, Scanda Purana, it is written, 'The wise, when pleasure comes, do not greatly rejoice; and in sorrow they yield not to distress; for they judge that pleasure and pain are incident to life. The indigent become wealthy, and the wealthy indigent; and inferiors are exalted. Can wealth or poverty, pleasure or pain, be regarded as permanent to the soul? The phases of the moon remain not in one state; they diminish and increase; so your afflictions will one day terminate.""

MONEY, keseph. (Gen. 23. 9,13.) The primary signification of the Hebrew word is silver, but it is likewise used in the sense of money, as with the Greek apyupcov, Latin argentum, and the French argent. The various coins mentioned in the Scriptures will be found described under their respective heads, and the present article will therefore be restricted to some notices of money in general.

The Scriptures often speak of certain sums of money, of purchases made with money, of current money, of money of a certain weight; but we do not observe coined or stamped money till a late period; which makes it probable that the ancient Hebrews took gold and silver only by weight; that they considered the purity of the metal and not the stamp. See Genesis 23. 15,16; 43. 21; Exodus 30. 24; 38. 29; 2Samuel 14. 26; Isaiah 46. 6; Jeremiah 32. 10; Amos 8. 5. In these passages three things only are mentioned: (1.) The metal, that is, gold or silver, and never copper, that not being used as money. (2.) The weight, a talent, a shekel, a gerah, or obolus, the weight of the sanctuary, and the king's weight. (3.) The alloy (standard) of pure or fine gold and silver, and of good quality, as received by the merchant. The impression of the coinage is not referred to; but it is said they weighed the silver or other commodities, by the shekel and by the talent. The shekel and the talent therefore were not fixed and

determined pieces of money, but weights applied to things used in commerce. Hence those deceitful balances of the merchants, who would increase the shekel, that is, would augment the weight by which they weighed the gold and silver they were to receive, that they might have a greater quantity than was their due; hence the weight of the sanctuary, the standard of which was preserved in the Temple, to prevent fraud; and hence those prohibitions in the law: "Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small." (Deut. 25. 13.) Hence those scales that the Hebrews wore at their girdles, (Hosea 12. 7,) and the Canaanites carried in their hands, to weigh the gold and silver which they received in payment.

The money collected in the Temple in the time of Joash for its repair was told up in bags; thus we read: "And it was so, when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king's scribe and the highpriest came up, and they put up in bags, and told the money that was found in the house of the Lord." (2Kings 12. 10.)

It was usual in the East for money to be put into bags, which, being ascertained as to the exact sum deposited in each, were sealed, and probably labelled, and traced in the Scriptures, at least so far as that money thus passed currently. Instances of this kind may be rior to inferior officers for distribution. Major Rennell, was thus conveyed, and also thus delivered, from supein giving an abstract of the History of Tobil, says, "We find him again at Nineveh, from whence he dispatches his son Tobias to Rages by way of Ecbatana, for the money. At the latter place he marries his kinswoman Sara, and sends a messenger on to Rages. The mode of keeping and delivering the money was exactly as at present in the East. Gabriel, who kept the money in trust, brought forth bags, which were sealed up, and gave them to him,' and received in return the handwriting or acknowledgment which Tobias had taken care to require of his father before he left Nineveh. The money, we learn, was left in trust, or as a deposit, and not on usury, and, as it may be concluded, with Tobit's seal on the bags. In the East, in the present times, a bag of money passes (for some time at least) currently, from hand to hand under the authority of a banker's seal, without any examination of its contents." In like manner we may understand the passage in Job, “My transgression is sealed up in a bag." (ch. 14. 17.) Sir John Chardin says, "The money that is collected together in the treasures of Eastern princes is told up in certain equal sums, put into bags and sealed.”

In Job 42. 11, we read, "Then came there unto him all his brethren and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house; and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him; every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold." Roberts informs us, "The custom alluded to of relations and friends giving relief to a person in distress, is practised in the East at this day. When a man has suffered a great loss by an accident, by want of skill, or by the roguery of another, he goes to his brothers and sisters, and all his acquaintances, and describes his misfortunes. He then mentions a day when he will give a feast, and invites them all to partake of it. At the time appointed, they come arrayed in their best robes, each having money, ear-rings, fingerrings, or other gifts suited to the person in distress. The individual himself meets them at the gate, gives them a hearty welcome, the music strikes up, and the guests are ushered into the apartments prepared for the feast. When they have finished their repast, and are

about to retire, they each approach the object of their commiseration, and present their donations, and best wishes for future prosperity. A rich merchant in North Ceylon, named Siva Sangu Chetty, was suddenly reduced to poverty; but by this plan he was restored to his former prosperity. Two money-brokers, also, who were sent to these parts by their employer, (who lived on the opposite continent,) lost one thousand rix-dollars belonging to their master; they therefore called those of their caste, profession, and country, to partake of a feast, at which time the whole of their loss was made up. When a young man puts on the ear-rings or turban for the first time, a feast of the same description, and for the same purpose, is given, to enable him to meet the expense of the rings, and to assist him in his future pursuits in life. When a young woman also becomes marriageable, the female relations and acquaintances are called to perform the same service, in order to enable her to purchase jewels, or to furnish a marriage-portion. In having recourse to this custom, there is nothing that is considered mean; for parents who are respectable and wealthy often do the same thing."

Solomon says, "The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep." (Eccl. 5. 12.) Roberts here remarks, "In many parts of the East there are not any banks or public offices in which the affluent can deposit their money, consequently the property has to be kept in the house, or concealed in some secret place. Under these circumstances, it is no wonder that a man having great wealth should live in constant dread of having it stolen. There are those who have large sums of money concealed in their houses, or gardens, or fields, and the fact being known, they are closely watched whenever they pay special attention to any particular object or place. The late king of Kandy, after he was taken prisoner, and on his Voyage to Madras, was much concerned about some of his concealed treasures, and yet he would not tell where they were. So great is the anxiety of some, arising from the jewels and gold they keep in their frail houses, that they literally watch a great part of the night, and sleep in the day, that their golden deity may not be taken from them. I knew a man who had nearly all his wealth in gold pagodas, which he kept in a large chest in his bed-room; neither in body nor in mind did he ever wander far from the precious treasure; his abundance hindered him from sleeping, and, for a time, it seemed as if it would hinder him from dying; for when the fatal moment came, he several times, when apparently gone, again opened his eyes, and again gave another look at the chest; and one of the last offices of his hands was to make an attempt to feel for the key under his pillow!" See COINS; and APPENDIX.

MONEY-CHANGERS. The money-changers, called KOMMUßioTwv, (Matt. 21. 12,) TρаTTEITα, (Matt. 25. 27,) and KeρμаTIOтal, in John 2. 14, driven by Our Lord from the Temple, were those who made a profit by exchanging money. They supplied the Jews who came from distant parts of Judæa and other parts of the Roman empire, with money to purchase the necessary sacrifices, and it is probable they exchanged foreign coins for such as were current at Jerusalem. The Talmud and Maimonides inform us that the half-shekel paid yearly to the Temple by all the Jews (Exod. 30. 15,) was collected there with great exactness in the month Adar, and that on changing the shekels and other money into half-shekels for that purpose, the money-changers exacted a small stated fee, or

payment, called Kolbon. It was the tables on which they trafficked for this unholy gain which Our Lord overturned. This profanation had probably grown up with the influence of Roman manners, which allowed the argentarii to establish their usurious mensas (tables), by the statues of the gods, even at the feet of Janus, in the most holy places, or in the temples.

The half-shekel tax was a tax or tribute to be paid every year by every adult Jew at the Temple. It was introduced after the captivity in consequence of a wrong understanding of certain expressions in the Pentateuch, and was a different thing both from the revenue which accrued to the kings, tetrarchs, and ethnarchs, and from the general tax that was assessed for the Roman Cæsars. It was required that this tax should be paid in Jewish coin, a circumstance to which an allusion is made in Matthew 22. 17-19, and likewise in Mark 12. 14,15. It was in consequence of this state of things, as the Talmudists assert, that money-changers, koλNUBIOTAL, seated themselves in the Temple, on the fifteenth of the month Adar, for the purpose of exchanging for those who might wish it, Roman and Greek coins, for Jewish half-shekels. half-shekels. The object of the Temple money-changers was their own personal gain, but the acquisition of property in this way was contrary to the spirit of the law. (Deut. 23. 19,20;) and it was for this reason that Our Saviour drove them from the Temple. (Matt. 21. 12; Mark 11. 15; John 2. 15.)

Buckingham, in his Travels among the Arab Tribes, affords an illustrative sketch:-describing a mosque, he says, "At the time of our passing through it was full of people, though these were not worshippers, nor was it either of the usual hours of public prayers. Some of the parties were assembled to smoke, others to play at chess, and some apparently to drive bargains of trade, but certainly none to pray. It was, indeed, a living picture of what we might believe the Temple at Jerusalem to have been when those who sold oxen, and sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting there were driven out by Jesus with a scourge of cords, and their tables overturned. It was, in short, a place of public resort and thoroughfare, a house of merchandise, as the temple of the Jews had become in the days of the Messiah.”

the

There are still in the East persons who pursue avocation of money-changers similar to those found sitting in the Temple by Our Lord. Mr. Callaway, in his Oriental Observations, remarks: "In Ceylon, Moormen, whose business it is to give cash for notes, may seen sitting in public places with heaps of coin before them. On observing a person with a note, or in want of their services, they earnestly solicit his attention.”

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were not, as some suppose, suggested by those changes, since four weeks make only twenty-eight days, while the lunar period is twenty-nine and a-half; nor is it allow able to suppose, that the changes of the moon first suggested the method of computation by years. Years were regulated at first by the return of summer or autumn; but when, in the progress of time, it was discovered that the ripe fruits, by which the year had been previously limited, statedly returned after about twelve lunar months, or three hundred and fifty-four days, the year was regulated by these months, and restricted to that number of days. It was afterwards seen that, in the course of seventeen years, on the return of the same month, all the appearances of nature were reversed. Hence, as is evident from the history of the Deluge, an attempt was made to regulate the months by the motion of the sun, and to assign to each of them thirty days; but it was nevertheless observed, after ten or twenty years, that there was still a defect of five days.

Moses did not make any new arrangement in regard to the lunar months of the Hebrews, nor the year, which was solar; but in order to secure a proper reduction of the lunar to the solar year, he obliged the priests to present at the altar, on the second day of the Passover, or the sixteenth day after the first new moon in April, a ripe sheaf: for if they saw, on the last month of the year, that the grain would not be ripe, as expected, they were compelled to make an intercalation, and this happened every third year. After their departure from Egypt, there existed among the Hebrews two modes of reckoning the months of the year, the one civil, the other sacred. The Rabbins say that March and September, instead of April and October, were the initial months of these two years. That they were so at a late period, is admitted, but the change was probably owing to the example of the Romans, who began their year with the month of March, and the Jews, perhaps overruled by their authority, adopted the same practice. That this is the most probable statement, is evident also from the fact that the position of the Rabbins is opposed not only by Josephus, but by the usage of the Syriac and Arabic languages; from the fact, also, that the prescribed observance of the three great festival days will not agree with the months of March and September, as has been shown by Michaëlis.

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coming of the Messiah. In the compass of the cycle there are twelve common years consisting of twelve months, and seven intercalary years consisting of thirteen months.

Originally, the Jews had no particular names for their months, but called them the first, second, &c. Thus we read that the Deluge began in the second month, and came to its height in the seventh month, at the end of one hundred and fifty days, (Gen. 7. 11-24; 8. 4;) and decreased until the tenth month, when the tops of the mountains were seen. (Gen. 8. 5.)

Afterwards, however, the months acquired distinct names; thus Moses named the first month of the

year

8 Abib, (Exodus 12. 2; 13. 4,) signifying green, from the green ears of corn at that season; for it began about the vernal equinox. The second month was named

Ziv, signifying, in Chaldee, glory or splendour, in which the foundation of Solomon's Temple was laid. (1 Kings 6. 1.) The seventh month was styled Ethanim, which is interpreted "harvests," by the Syriac version. (1 Kings 8. 2.) The eighth month Bul, from the fall of the leaf. (1 Kings 6. 38.) But concerning the origin of these appellations, there is a diversity of opinion. During the captivity, the Hebrews adopted the names they had found among the Chaldæans and Persians. Thus, the first month was also called Nisan, D signifying flight; because in that month the Israelites were thrust out of Egypt, (Exod. 12. 39;) the third month, Sivan, signifying a bramble, (Esther 3. 7; Nehem 2.'1;) and the sixth month, Elul, signifying mourning, probably because it was the time of preparation for the great day of atonement, on the tenth day of the seventh month, (Nehem. 6. 15;) the ninth month was called

Kisleu, signifying chilled; when the cold weather sets in, and fires are lighted, (Jerem. 36. 22; Zech. 7. 1;) the tenth month was called a Tebeth, signifying miry, (Esther 2. 16;) the eleventh, aw Shebet, signifying a staff or sceptre, (Zech. 1.7;) and the twelfth, 178 Adar, signifying a magnificent mantle, probably from the profusion of flowers and plants with which the earth at that season begins to be clothed in warm climates. (Ezra 6. 15; Esther 3. 7.) It is said to be a Syriac term. (2Macc. 16. 36.)

The civil year commenced with the month Tishri, beginning on the 15th of our September, because it was an old tradition that the world was created at that time. From this year the Jews computed their jubilees, dated all contracts, and noted the birth of children, and the reign of kings. It is said also that this time was appointed for making war; because the great heats being passed, they were likely to suffer less from going into the field. In 2Samuel 11. 1 we read that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, to destroy the Ammonites, at the return of the year, (marginal rendering,) at the time when kings go forth to battle, that is, in the month of September. The annexed table exhibits the months of the Jewish civil and ecclesiastical years, with the corresponding months of our

1 Tishri 2 Marchesvan 3 Kisleu

4 Tebeth

5 Shebet

6 Adar

7 Nisan or Abib

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March and April

8 Yiar or Ziv

9 Sivan

10 Tammuz
11 Ab
12 Elul

The ecclesiastical or sacred year began in March, or on the first day of the month Nisan, because at that time they departed out of Egypt. From that month the Hebrews computed their feasts, and the prophets also occasionally dated their oracles and visions. Thus Zechariah (7.1) says, that "the word of the Lord came unto him in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;" which answers to our November, whence it is evident that in his computation he adopted the ecclesiastical year. The month Nisan is noted in the Old Testament for the overflowing of Jordan, (Josh. 3. 15; 1Chron. 12. 15;) the river being swollen by the melted snows that poured in torrents from Mount Lebanon.

A modern Jewish writer says, "The Jewish year is lunisolar, for although the months are lunar, our calculations being founded on the lunar cycle, every nineteenth year we come to the same date in the solar year. The cycle contains 235 lunations, which we divide into twelve years of twelve months, and seven (termed embolismic) of thirteen months.

"The celebrated mathematician, Meton, of Athens, who flourished 432 B.C., made the same division of time, but by making every third year embolismic, the 18th and 19th, were both of thirteenth months: by our arrangement the solar and lunar years are better equalized: 19 years, according to Rab Ada, each

of 365 5h 55m 253-6939d 16h 33m 31s 235 lun. months 29d 12h 44m 318-6939d 16h 33m 33 "The year is of three kinds, perfect, common, and imperfect.

"The perfect has 355 days, and is when the months of Hesvan and Kisleu have each 30 days; the common, 354 days, when Hesvan has 29 and Kisleu 30; the imperfect, 353 days, when both have only 29 days.

"The embolismic year is formed by the introduction of an intercalary month immediately after Adar, which

is called Veadar or the second Adar.

"The year then consists of 385, 384, or 383 days, according to the above rule. The reason of the introduction at that period is, that Passover may be kept in its proper season, which is the full moon of the vernal equinox, or after the sun has entered Aries; it is indif

ferent at what period of it the full moon happens, but it must be kept while the sun is in that sign. That a time was fixed for its observance is shown in Numbers

9. 2: 'Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at its appointed season.' That our months have always been lunar, is shown by 1 Kings 6. 38: 'And the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month;' and by a reference to the Hebrew text it will be seen that the two words translated 'month' are different, the first being derived from the word yariach, moon, and the latter from W hhodesh, innovation. "Our months are the following:—

"In embolismic years Adar has 30, and the intercalary month of Veadar, 29. As a lunation from one conjunction to another, termed a synodical month, consists of 29d 12h 44m 31s being 29 days and about three-quarters of an hour, it could not be better arranged than by making one month of 29, and the following of 30 days. When a month has 30 days, the last day of that month and the following day are both kept as new moon, on the principle that a holyday cannot be kept part of a day; the 30th day being half in the preceding month and half in the new moon, the whole day is made a holyday, and the following as a matter of course, from its being the first whole day of the new

moon.

"That this rule was followed in ancient times is to be seen in 1Samuel, ch. 20, from which it appears that David was accustomed to eat with Saul on the new moon: And David said unto Jonathan, Behold tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat.' (ver. 5.) And it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month, than, his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to that David's place was empty, and Saul said unto Jonameat, neither yesterday nor to-day?" (ver. 27.)

"It will have been seen that by this arrangement nearly nine hours in years of twelve months; to make there is yet a deficiency every month of 44m 3s, making up this deficiency, one day is added to Hesvan every of thirty days. When Hesvan has thirty days, Kisleu second or third year, by which that month then consists invariably has the same.

times made thirty, which is done to prevent Passover "Without Hesvan having thirty days, Kisleu is somehappening on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, for as arranged that none may fall on days on which they could that festival regulates all the other holydays, it is not be properly observed."

the ancient Egyptians, that "it is highly probable, in Sir John Gardner Wilkinson observes, in reference to their infancy as a nation, they divided their year into twelve lunar months; the twenty-eight years of Osiris's ber of days the moon takes to perform her course round reign being derived, as Plutarch observes, from the numglyphic signifying 'month' was represented by the the earth; and it is worthy of remark that the hierocrescent of the moon, as is abundantly proved from the sculptures and the authority of Horapollo. From this we also derive another very important conclusion; that than is generally supposed, since they existed previous the use of hieroglyphics was of a far more remote date to the adoption of solar months. The substitution of solar for lunar months was the earliest change in the Egyptian year. It was then made to consist of twelve months, of thirty days each, making a total of three hundred and sixty days; but as it was soon discovered that the seasons were disturbed, and no longer corre

sponded to the same months, five additional days were to remedy the previous defect in the calendar, and to introduced at the end of the last month, Mesoré, in order insure the returns of the seasons to fixed periods.

"The twelve months were Thoth, Paopi, Athor, Chocak, Epep, Mesoré: and the year being divided into three Tobi, Mechir, Phamenoth, Pharmathi, Pachous, Paoni, seasons, each period comprised four of these months. That containing the first four was styled the season of the water-plants, the next of the ploughing, and the last season was that of the waters. The 1st of Thoth, in the time of Julius Cæsar, fell on the 29th of August; and Mesoré, the last month, began on the 25th of July. "A people who gave any attention to subjects so important to their agricultural pursuits could not long

remain ignorant of the deficiency which even the intercalation of the five days left in the adjustment of the calendar; and though it required a period of fourteen hundred and sixty years for the seasons to recede through all the twelve months, and to prove, by the deficiency of a whole year, the imperfection of this system, yet it would be obvious to them, in the lapse of a very few years, that a perceptible alteration had taken place in the relative position of the seasons; and the most careless observation would show that in one hundred and twenty years, having lost a whole month, or thirty days, the rise of the Nile, the time of sowing and reaping, and all the periodical occupations of the peasant, no longer coincided with the same month. They therefore added a quarter day to remedy this defect, by making every fourth year to consist of three hundred and sixtysix days; which, though still subject to a slight error, was a sufficiently accurate approximation; and, indeed, some modern astronomers are of opinion, that instead of exceeding the solar year, the length of the sidereal, computed from one heliacal rising of the Dog Star to another, accorded exactly in that latitude (in consequence of a certain concurrence in the positions of the heavenly bodies,) with the calculation of the Egyptians. "This sidereal or Sothic year,' says Censorinus, the Greeks term κʊvikov, the Latins canicularem, because its commencement is taken from the rising of the Dog Star on the first day of the month, called by the Egyptians Thoth;' which, while it accords with the observations of Porphyry, that the first day of the month is fixed in Egypt by the rising of Sothis,' fully confutes the opinion of those who suppose that the name Thoth was applied to the first day alone, and not to the month. That the five days, called of the Epact, were added at a most remote period, may readily be credited; and so convinced were the Egyptians of this, that they referred it to the fabulous times of their history, wrapping it up in the guise of allegory; and it is highly probable that the intercalation of the quarter day, or one day in four years, was also of very early date." See YEAR.

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MONUMENTS, Onitsurim, (Isai. 65. 4;) Sept. èv onλaiois. In the denunciation of the idolatries and superstitions of Israel, those who "remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments," are included. Bishop Lowth reads the last word as caverns," instead of "monuments," and Gesenius has, "that pass the night in concealed places." It was anciently a practice in most nations for persons to resort to the sepulchres, for the purpose of magic or necromancy, and it still holds its ground in India. Roberts speaks of devotees, "who wander about in the dark in the place of burning the dead, or among the graves; there they affect to hold converse with evil and other spirits; and there they pretend to receive intimations respecting the destinies of others."

MONUMENTS OF EGYPT. This term is used to denote those wondrous piles reared by the ancient Egyptians for purposes of religion or of civil polity, which having survived the revolutions of thirty centuries, offer in their sculptures and paintings the lively image of the race to whom they owe their origin. Highly curious in themselves, these relics become of the first importance to the Biblical illustrator, for they belong to the country with which the Hebrews were, in all ages, closely connected, and from which unquestionably all their knowledge of the arts which distinguish the wanderers of the desert from the members of a highly civilized community were derived. These stores have accordingly been largely drawn upon in the present work for the illustra

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tion of Biblical history, whereby the two most ancient records in the world, one pictorial and the other written, are found mutually to illustrate and confirm each other under circumstances which render designed coincidence impossible. Thus we find the most minute circumstances recorded in the biographies of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, respecting their residence in Egypt, perfectly correspond with the sculptured and pictorial representations of Egyptian manners on the monuments; whence it follows that the narrative of the Pentateuch could have been written only by a person who had resided in Egypt during the reign of the Pharaohs, and was thoroughly conversant with its usages. This consideration is of itself sufficient to excite the attention of the Christian to all that relates to that country; nor can he hear without deep interest that a vast mass of facts has been providentially preserved to us concerning the manners, customs, and arts of common life of its ancient inhabitants.

The site of almost every city of note in Upper or Southern Egypt is marked by the ruins of a palacetemple, which served at once for the residence of the monarch, and the place where the solemn religious and civil assemblies of the chief estates in Egypt were held. These ruins are covered with reliefs, generally coloured, representing the idols to which they had been dedicated, and the kings by whom they had been founded; as well as the battles, sieges, and other events of the wars, in which the latter had been victorious. These pictures often cover a vast extent of wall, and are crowded with figures in action, executed with much spirit and fidelity; the costume and the peculiarities of feature and colour of the inhabitants of the different nations being strictly preserved. These reliefs are accompanied by explanatory inscriptions in the hieroglyphic or sacred characters of Egypt. The mode of reading these characters has been recently so far recovered as to enable us to ascertain that they embody exactly the information that was wanted to make the pictures they accompany available for the elucidation of the religion and history of Egypt. They give the names of the gods represented, the cercmonies to be observed in their worship, their genealogies and other mythological particulars. The pictures of the kings have likewise their names written over them; and this is also the case with the foreigners with whom they were at war, the towns and fortresses they were besieging, and the captives that were led bound in the triumphal processions. The dates of the erection of the temples, and of the occurrence of the wars, have also been preserved. They are computed by the years and months of the monarch's reign exactly in the same manner as in the Books of Kings in the Old Testament. Portions of these ruins, consisting of statues of gods, sphinxes, obelisks, and of fragments of columns, friezes, &c., have been removed from Egypt and transferred to the various museums in Europe. These have likewise hieroglyphic inscriptions, which, in some instances, are important as historical documents.

"The tombs," says a writer on the Antiquities of Egypt, in reference to Scriptural Illustration, "have furnished in abundance the monuments of her ancient greatness. In Upper Egypt, the dead were deposited in immense caverns hollowed out in the rocky mountains that form the western boundary of the valley of the Nile. In Lower Egypt, where the mountains disappear, deep pits were dug and lined with bricks, or hewn in the rock for this purpose. These sepulchral caverns

would seem to demonstrate the literal truth of the remark of Diodorus Siculus respecting this extraordinary people, that they spent more upon their tombs than upon their houses. Some of these are common cemeteries, of