Studies of the Times of Abraham. By the Rev. U.
G. Tomkins. (S. Bagster and Sons.)—This is a book of very considerable value. First, we have thirteen pages of illnstrntions drawn, from Assyrian, Egyptian, and Babylonian sources, Some of these arc very interest- ing. We may instance the very notable head of Kophren, the King of the Second Pyramid, and the Ilykseis heads, the "Sphinx of San" being the most remarkable among them. The first chapter of the text deals with " The Fatherland and Childhood of Abraham." In this the author fills in, at once ingeniously and cautiously, the outlines of what we know from the facts which Oriental scholars have
discovered. " arson " is the subject of the second chapter, and "The Land of Canaan" that of the third. In this last, the great migration of the patriarch is graphically told. The magnitude of his tribe is pointed out ; there must have been a considerable population, to furnish three hundred and eighteen fighting-men. Then the route is discussed, the writer taking a view differing in some respects from that adopted by his predecessors. In describing the journey into Egypt, Mr. Tomkins would seem to be drawing somewhat on his imagination. Was there really a wall, like our British Valium Antonini, to guard the eastern frontier of the Delta P In this part of the book we may notice the ingenious attempt to solve that difficult problem of Egypt- ology, the history of the Hyks6s. Tho tenth chapter discusses the Elamite invasion of Kedorda'omer and his subject kings. To this the writer attaches much importance. For a time, Abraham seems to have rolled back the tido of Eastern invasion. We must express our sense of the candour, fairness, and abionce of exaggeration which Mr. Tomkins has brought to his subject.
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