WILKINSON'S M A NNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE

ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

THE extensive power, and the great mei early advance of the Egy peens ii) all the arts iif civilized life, is a theme of the oldest

writings both sacred aml profane; while the remains of their monumeuts attest the fet with a fulness and exactness which mere description could never convey. But the origin of their empire,

and t he growth of their arts, are nointri from a Ii 4.11 the historical in-

vestigator retires ball1,11 and bewildered. Within three hundred years after the Deluge. the pyramids of Meinplas were erected. About six hundred years after that event, when the more imme- About six hundred years after that event, when the more imme- diate and favoured deseeudants of the patriarch Noah were wandering shepherd-, and Joseph was euld into Egypt, we learn from the pages of the inspired hietorian, that the Egyptians had a regular and organized government, with established classes of society, and those subdivisions of ranks and of labour which mark a high degree huh of public order and social refinement. The tombs of' Beni Hassan, executed about that same period, and " hewn and painted with subjeets descrihing the arts and man- ners era highly-civilized people," (Vol iii. page 261.) confirm the indications of the sacred narrative, with a speedivality which no general description can reach, because a writer must always speak from his own experience; and arts that would be wonderful to an Arab shepherd would be commonplace to an Englishman of the nineteenth century. Yet all this, however surprising, does not exhaust the historic puzzle. There are indications which lead some of the learned to conjecture, that the civilization of Egypt, however early, was not indigenous, and that as the modern world is most probably indebted to China for the germs of printing, gunpowder, the mariner's compass, and several other arts, so the civilization of Egypt was cradled in the East.

The second-hand statements of the ancient classical writers, and the fregments of MANETHO, throw no light upon these ques- tions ; and tie ir lists of ancient Egyptian monarchs, so far as they can be followed, would assign an antiquity to the kingdom quite at variance with all received chronology, as they start from a point upwards of a thousand years earlier than the Mosaic tura of the Creation. From the eighteenth dynasty of Me- NEMO, the modern interpretation of the hieroglyphics throws some light upon the subject ; and tables have been drawn up of the succession of the Egyptian kings,* with the names from the monuments and from aecient authors in juxtaposition; the gaps lessening, the numbers iuereasing, and the events of their reigns rising into more certainty, as the stream of time is descended. Still the history of Egypt before the dawn of letters is altogether a blank, or dashed by the Miles and confused by the vague generalities uf tradition.

It is different, however, with their usages, manners, and arts ; which can now be known more completely than those of any other anciee it people, from the descriptions of II tetouore s and DIODOEHS, and above all, from their surviving pictorial or seulptered repre- sentations, lately brought to light. This knowledge M r.W I Lit easoN has undertaken to impart in the book before us; and he has accom- plished it with no mean success. His Manners and Customs of the Anrient Egyptians is a very. learned a.el elaborate production; the result of time, travel, and study, as well as of unwearied industry, sharpened by zeal and guided by knowledge. It is true, per- haps, that the writer pays more reeard to his facts than to his manner of stating tie:tie—which is simple and unadorned; a style, however, that has its advantages, e here pr ,f of a positive and individual kind is more or less involved in every statement, and where any absence of graphic powers in the writer's pen, is more 'Unlit supplied by many hundred illustrations from his pencil. Except that the religion and agriculture of the ancient Egyp- tians are omitted for want of room, the division of the subject is romplete and exhaustive ; embracing both the history of the kingdom and the social state of the people. The general arrange- ment and particular subjects are stated so fully and so succinctly by the author, that we cannot do better than quote his words. The first two chapters are devoted to the early time of Egypt, and to an historical disquisition on its later period; and Mr. WILKIN- SON then COntintleS- " In the third chapter, after some remarks on the nature of the country, its population, and so lie of its productions, I show that the people were divided into fur great classes, with numerous subdivisions, at:eroding to the peculiar Mr. WILK usoy, mod.fying his former opinion, hits commenced his table with the year '2:;'20 before CI,r_ ; st ciii eli ttenehes to ,1 (gum: 11;1141 the Deluge,

udess he deviates from the generally theeived chit ecology. 'occupations of each ; ie which a strong resemblance may he traced to the castes 'of India.

" The king. his ditties, the respect paid him by his eubjecte. their regard for his memory ; the priest*, and their peculiar habit.; the i,uilituii y elase; the army. the weapons they taxed in battle, and their mode of warfare are then notieed ; and the enemiee with whom they fought, their prisoners and alrves, .conclude this chapter, and the first volume.

" The fourth chapter treate of the husbandisten, with other members of the second caste ; the laws and government of Egypt in rally time, and under the Romans. In the next, the house% vines, garden., vineyards, and the pre- cess of making wine and beer are deecrilted. The sixth coutains an account of the furniture ef their rooms, the entertainment of guests, their musicel instru- ments, and dances ; anti, in the last chapter of the setmed volume, their vases, the preparation and serving of dinner, theit games, exercises, and amuse- ments, in the house and out of doors, are described.

" The eighth chapter contains the chase of wild animals, fowling, and fiehinF.

"'I he ninth treate of the arts of the Egyptians ; the early use of glass, and those manufactures in which the seulptures and ancient miters show them to have excelled ; the mode of engraving and sculpturing luau d et.uCuea ; their fine linen aud other stuffs ; the papyrus, mid manufacture of paper ; potteries ; boats and ships employed in war, and on the Nile ; and the w.e uf tin and other metals.

" In chapter the tenth, the style of art at squirms epochs, the early use of the arch, the mechanical skill of the Egyptians, motile inventions of an early period, their theme's, the study of medicine, and numerous custotue are iutto- duced ; and the Appendix, containing an account of the principal objects of antiquity deserving a visit in the Valley of the Nile, tettninates the third volume.'

To accompany our author through this long journey, would not be possible ; neither can we well exhibit any particular section of his work in detail, partly from a necessary minuteness in the sub- ject, unadapted to a newspaper, and partly from a want of the cuts which illustrate the descriptions of the text. Strongly recommend- ing the work to all who have the means to purchase it, we will endeavour briefly and cursorily to indicate some of the substantial points of resemblance between ourselves and a people who ap- proached, if they did not reach, their Augustan age shortly after The time when Moses commemorated the miraculous destruction of Pharaoh's host, in the jubilant lyric, "I will sing unto the Lord, for lie hath triumphed gloriously ; the horse and his rider bath he thrown into the sea."

The remote antiquity, the long duration, and the great pros- perity, wealth, and refinement Of this peop!e, impressed the ancients from Moses downwards with a lofty notion of the o wis- dom of the Egy ptians ; " not only in the abstruser parts of learn- ing, but in policy, the arts of government, and the laws and customs which regulate life. Nor did sonic independent or cynical observers scruple to prefer the inure orderly and less popular go- vernment of that country to the licentious freedom of their own republics of Greece and Rome. In leoking at this point, it must therefore be delightful to English vanity to learn that •Egy pt was a " constitutional monarchy "—a throne surrounded by aristocra- tical institutions; and the coincidences of then and now are re- markably singular. As with us, the sovereign was the head of the church, and the fountain of honour ; he was the commander of the armies, and possessed the right of making peace and war ; with him was the prerogative of pardon; and he could do no wrong. "It is worthy of remark," says Mr. WILKINSON, " that this ancient people had already adopted the principle that the king should be exonerated from blame, while every curse and evil was tin certain religious addresses) denounced against his ministers, and those advisers who had given him evil counsel." From their title "living for ever," Mr. WILKINSON also infers that they bad probably adopted our maxim that the king never dies : but when the king de facto did depart this life, there was a public mourn- ing of' seventy-two days. Except when public convulsions occurred, and a monarch of great vigour and capacity was also on the throne, who seized the occa- sion to rule despotically, these lofty sounds were in Egypt, as in England since the " Glorious Revolution," nothing better than empty forms. The monarch was fettered by laws, enforced by the power of an hereditary aristocracy of priests, strong in prescription, prejudice, immense wealth, and extensive rato.fica- tions through all the various levels of society, whilst it had at its back, when they could be inlisted in favour of the constitution, a numerous and powerful military caste. The Egyptians had forestalled the quondam Whig doctrine that " the king was an officer of the state; that the situation he held had not been made for his sole benefit, but for that of the nation, which lie was bound to serve as well us to govern; and the king was thought

rather to belong to the nation than the nation to the king." Their civil list would have made our kings and queens wince: "their daily food was regulated by prescribed rules, anti the

quantity of wine was limited with scrupulous exactitude." His public occupations were not left to his pleasure, but prescribed by

regulations : and there was a rule not greatly dissimilar to one of our obsolete regulations, by which the Chamberlain was com- manded to remove all lewd and disreputable persons from the pre- cincts of the court.

" When a sovereign, having been brought tip in the military class, was igno- rant of the secret. ot his religion, the first step, as I have already observed, on his accession to the throne, was to make him acquainted with those Mysteries,

and to enrol him in the college of the priests. He was instructed in all that related to the gods, the service of the temple, the laws of the country, and the duties of a monarch ; and, in order to prevent any intercourse with improper persons, who might instil into his mind ideas unworthy of a prince or at vari- ance with morality, it was carefully provided that no slave or hired servant should hold any office about his person, but that the children of the first homilies of the priestly order' who had arrived at man's estate, and were re- markable for having received the best education and inotited by it, should alone be permitted to attend him. And this precautionary measure WM dictated by the persuasion that no monarch gives way to the impulse of evil ess.• unit'ss he find those about him ready to serve as instruments to his

to enenurage his exceeses." '

Whilst the people were amused with these " n 'n

cepraAiiii

the exclusive caste of " priests andegentletnen"—a eombinatio

proounced th by BURRS to be essential to e " Corinthi tinklingeaynmebapalas; or pnlished society"—took exceeding good care of theraselv Their first object was to extend their order, like our Tories, it eut and down and in and out," so as to have a broad social ,faiarsiisfi„,,,atat: a secure hold upon society by dovetailing their party into it.

to the priesthood, but many were employed together in performing

" It was not one man or one woman, as Diorlorus observe% who was appointed other ceremonies ; and each college of priests was distinguished according is the deity to whose service it belonged, or according to the peculiar office held by its tnenthets.

alreadv enumerated ; there were alstohemhainngye,naiiondornupurlieersotus

as well the scribes and priests of

" The principal classes into which the sacerdotal order was divided have beeg soorthvaerrioduisvisloeintsitl'of

the cite."

And having thus secured their power, they proceeded to en. ploy it for their own advantage, very much like what has been done at home; except that the Egyptian ignorance of the uses of colonization, commercial monopolies, and the funding system, drove them upon a more direct, and to the nation perhaps a cheaper system, though seeming to modern eyes too naked for a constitutional government.

0 The same office usually descended from father to son, but the grade en emnetimes changed ; and it is probable, that even when a husband was dental to the service of one deity, a wife might perform the duties of priesten to

another. They enjoyed important privilege's, which extended to their ithols family. They were exempt from taxes ; they consumed no part of their On income in any of their neeeasary expenses ; and they had one of the three por. thins into which the land of Egypt was divided, flee from all duties. They were provided for from the public stores, out of which they received a stated allowance of corn and all the other necessaries of life ; and we find that when Pharaoh, by the advice of Joseph, took all the land of the Egyptians is lieu of corn, the priests were not obliged to make the same sacrifice of their landed property, nor was the tax of the fifth part of the produce entailed upon it, on that of the other people."

Which would be the cheaper? to free the landed gentry from taxes, or to maintain the Corn-laws?

In some laws they have forestalled us; in others, we, in common with many nations, still halt behind them. They were averse to the punishment of death, and one of their monarchs is said never to have inflicted it : when carried into execution, hanging was a customary mode of punishment. In cases of debt, the person was free, the claims of the creditor being limited to the debtor's property ; a law, as D1ODORUS observes, " much more consistent with justice and common sense, than that which allowed the creditor to seize the ploughman while it forbade him to take the ploughs and other implements of husbandry "—a species cf Euro- pean ancestral wisdom flourishing amongst us in full vigour. The following singular custom, though eschewed by regular statesmen of modern times, was jumped to by the untaught sagacity of JONA. THAN WtLD, fill he was stopped by the law, to the great grief of the public.

"The Egyptians had a singular custom respecting theft and burglary. Then who Mowed the profession of thief, gave in their names to the chiefof the robbers; and agreed that he should be informed of every thing they might thenceforward steal, the moment it was in their possession. In consequence of this, the owner of the lost goods always applied by letter to the chief for their recovery; and hsving stated their quality and quantity, the day and hour wheu they were stolen, anti other requisite particulars, the goods were identified ; and, on pays mem of one quarter of their value, they were restored to the applicant, in the same state as when taken from his house.

"For, being hilly persuaded of the impracticebility of putting an entire check to robbely, either by the dread of punishment, or by any method that could be adopted by the moat vigilant police, they considered it more for the advantage of the continuality, that a certain sacrifice should be made in order to secure the restitution of the remainder, than that the law, by taking on itself to protest the citizen and discover the offender, should be the indirect cause of greater loss: and that the Egyptians, like the Indians, and I may say the modern inlm bitants of the Nile, were very expert in the art of thieving, we have abundant testimony from aucient authors.'

Upon those points that relate to social customs, we are really overwhelmed by the quantity of illustrative materials, especially

such as touch upon "fashion," or the arts that throw a light upen the general condition of the people. Therefore, warning the reader beforehand of our superficiality, we will proceed to select some protniscuous instances, (1.) of several strange coincidences between the customs of this people, whose prime had passed be- fore the dawn of' classical history, and nations whose existence did

not commence till nearly fifteen hundred years after their decay; or (2.) of proofs that inventions, upon which we pique ourselves as marking a vast advance in the comfortable elegancies of life, had been forestalled, and sometimes surpassed, between three and four thousand years ago. In the first place, whilst the Greeks confined their females with an almost Oriental jealousy, and the Romans little more than tolerated their presence, and generally looked down upon them at an inferior race, the Egyptian women mixed freely in society,— , though in "parties," it is inferred, they kept on one side of the room and the men on the other, as is the present practice in America and some Continental countries; and by the constitution of Egypt a woman could succeed to the throne. The advance of order and civilization is very justly marked by the fact of citizens trusting to the power of the law, and going unarmed ; a practice which only obtained, and that at a late period, amongst the politer people of classical antiquity, and was not established in England till within the memory of some yet living ; whilst id Egypt, not only was the weariug of weapons abandoned by the

'citizen, but even the military caste was only armed when on duly. It is a narrower, but a curious fact, hat the archers of the Egyp-

• 0, like those of the English armies, are supposed to have been tee force that chiefly contributed to their victories ; and that, un- like most other nations, the English and (in war) the Egyptian bowmen drew the arrow to the ear, instead of the breast. Of their progress in mechanics it is needless to speak : the results of theic skill are such as even now to astonish men, not only accustomed to the efforts or our stupendous machinery, but able wealculate its capabilities. Their power over the hardest sub- stances is equally singular ; and the singularity is increased by the fact, that it is mooted whether some of their sculptures were not executed before they had a knowledge of iron. Glass, and glass blowing, the invention of which has been denied to the ancients altogether, is now considered to have been dis- covered in Egypt about the time of Joseph ; and branches of it were eventually carried to a pitch which leaves modern efforts far behind, whilst they were applied in a way which proves, as Mr. Witeiesorr truly observes, an extent of trade and a demand, amongst the people, for articles of appearance, quite equal to that of our day. That the Egyptians, at the early period of the 18th dynasty (1575 11.C.), were well acquainted not only with the manufacture of common glass for be:ola and bottles of ordinary quality, but with the art of staining it of divers colours, is sufficiently proved by the fragments found in the tombs of Thebes ; and so skilful were they in this complicated process, that they ianitated the most faoci- ful devices, and succeeded in counterfeiting the rich hues and brilliancy of pre. Mous stones. The green emerald, the purple amethyst, and other expensive gems were successfully imitated : a necklace of false stones could be purchased at a Theban jeweller's, to please the wearer or deceive a stranger by the ap- pearance of reality ; and the feelings of envy might be partially allayed and the love of show be gratified by these specious substitutes for real jewels. • • •

"Many, in the form of beads, have been met with in different parts of Egypt, puticularly at Thebes ; and so far did the Egyptians carry this spirit of mita- ties, that even small figures, scarabaei, and objects made of ordinary porcelain, were counterfeited, being composed of still cheaper materials. A figure, which was entirely of earthenware, with a glazed exterior, underwent a somewhat more complicated process than when cut out of atone, and simply covered with a vitrified coating; this last could therefore be sold at a low price. It offered all the brilliancy of the former, and its weight alone betrayed its inferiority; by which means, whatever was novel or pleasing from its external appearance was placed within reach of all classes, or at least the possessor had the satisfaction of appearing to partake in each fashionable novelty. "Such inventions and successful endeavours to imitate costly ornaments by humbler materiala, not only show the progress of art among the Egyptians, but strongly argue the great advancement they had made in the customs of civilized life; since it is certain, that until society has arrived at a high degree of luxury and refinement, artificial wants if this nature are not created, and the lower classes do not yet feel the desire 'if imitating their wealthier superiors in the adoption of objects dependent on taste or accidental caprice."

They not only forestalled the Europeans, but the Chinese ; or at least, they manufactured a species of porcelain; with Mr. WILKINSON'S account of which we must close our notices of their manufactures.

"The Egypti in porcelain should perhaps he denominated glass.poreelain. as

partaking of the quality of the two, and not being altogether unlike the po i see- Isic.glass invented by the celebrated Miluniur ; who discovered, during bi4

curious experiments on different qualities of porcelain, the method of eui.verting glass into a substance very similar to china-ware.

" The ground of Egyptian porcelain is generally of one homogeneous quality and hue, either blue or green, traversed in every airection by lines or devices of other colours—red, white, yellow, black, light, or (lark blue and green, or whatever the artist chose to introduce ; and these are not always confined to the surface, but frequently penetrate considerably into the ground, sometimes having passed half, at others entirely through the fused substance; in which respect they differ from the porcelain of China, where the flowers or patterns are applied to the surface, and perhaps justify the use of the term glass-porcelain, which 1 have adopted. In some instances, the yellows were put on after the other colours upon the surface of the vase, which was then again subjected to a proper degree of heat; and after this, the handles, the rim, and the base, wire added, and fixed by a repetition of the same process. It was not without con- liderable risk that these additions were mode, and many vases were broken

during the operation. • • • • • •

"That the Egyptians possessed considerable knowledge of chemistry and the ale of metallic oxides, is evident from the nature of the colours applied to their glass and porcelain ; and they were even acquainted with the influence of acids upon colour, being able, in the process of dyeing or staining cloth, to bring about certain changes in the hues, by the same process adopted in our own cotton.works, as I shall show in describing the manufactures of the Egyptians. "It is evident that the art of cutting glass was known to the Egyptians at the most remote periods, hieroglyphics and various devices being engraved upon saes and beads, made in the time of the 18th dynasty ; and some glass, pal ti- cularly that which bears figures or ornaments in relief, was cast in a mould."

One great proof of fashion is to apply art for the purpose of ke2ping up appearances. We have just seen to what an extent this was carried in trinkets and nicknacks; but it was equally prietised in things of more solidity. Precious woods were not in- digenous to Egypt, and were both scarce and dear ; but the Egyptians adopted the plan, brought to such perfection in Eng- land within these thirty years, of painting the common wood-work of doors, &c. so as to imitate the more costly and beautiful material. Artificial flowers, though a trivial, is a similar instance. The name of the inmate was inscribed on the street-door ; and separate en- trances were provided to some of the larger houses for different visi- tants,—adistinction between persons, peculiar, so far tie our know- ledge goes, to constitutional countries, where all are " equal in the eyeolthe law.- Opera-loungers may like to learn that the pirotietto h 3,500 years old; and that the figurantes, under the Pharaohs, were as scantily and as thinly clad as in moral England, allowing for the climate. The ladies may be told that the elegant manufacture dinning bugles into purses, bracelets, &c. which decorates their Eersons or amuses their leisure hours, was known to the alcient EgYptians, and was employed, amongst other purposes, in adorning nuunnies. Their children's balls were of varieties which may

be matched by ours both in the stuffing and the cover-

ing: they had painted dolls, with moveable limbs, and toys resembling animals, which opened and shut their mouths.

The toilet bottles and boxes or gallipots of an Egyptian belle, were in workmanship superior, and in form quite equal to those of the present day. Ornamental boxes were made of ivory, or costly woods, and inlaid; and their vases (of innumerable forms) were also inlaid, even at the period when Moses "spoiled the Egyptians." Their footstools, chairs, ottomans, couches, and tables, sometimes resembling and sometimes surpassing in form those of the present day, were very numerous ; and the seat was formed of interlaced substances, or covered with rich stuffs, or leather

cushions. Nay, the folding camp-stool, on which we felicitate ourselves, was probably invented before the time when Solomon declared that there was " nothing new under the sun ;" and even under the Pharaoh who "knew Joseph,- the skill of their cabinet- makers had done away with the necessity for strengthening the legs of their chairs with bars. The same sera witnessed the invention of the game of draughts; and we might now improve the forms of our draughtsmen by copying theirs. Of their bronze vases, one of elegant form was hi the possession of Mr. SALT, whose cover fitted with the nicety and elasticity of a. spring. We may inform Lord STANLEY and his former compas- nions, that the game of " thimblerig" flourished in Egypt ; amt. to close with a trivial but striking similarity, we may tell the housewife that her salad-oil-fiask—a glass bottle covered with. basket-work—had its prototype in old Egypt. The cred ulou s twaddle of Rot.t.i N —VOLTA IRE'S special ignorance of classical archaeology, and his ignorance, in common with his age, of all the additional evidences that have been brought to hear upon the subject by the labours of modern scholars facili- tated by the present settled condition of Egypt—moved the great French wit and his followers to ridicule the alleged advancement of the Egyptian and Assyrian nations. The facts collected by Mr. WILKINSON will powerfully tend to overcome this erroneous. notion, and to restore the Egyptians to the place which they held in the opinion of the ancients. The final triumph of the truth may not be pleasing ; for it is a disagreeable refiection to an age which boasts of itself in no measured strains, to find that it was. beaten in its own peculiar characteristics—great mechanical power and high social refinement—three thousand years ago. But there are always two sides to a medal: and as the Egyptians, either immediately or mediately, have hitherto never ceased to in- fluence the world, let us comfort our vanity with the notion, that such also is the destiny of the people who most nearly resemble them, and that what Egypt has been to the past, England will be to the fulttro.