cannot explain to us the hieroglyphics, or antient language of the priests, infcribed upon the magnificent tomb of Alexander the Great, found at Rofetta, and now in the poffeffion of our victorious British Army. The art of embalming the dead, and. preferving them as mummies for fo many ages, and the mode by which the ponderous ftones that compofe the lofty pyramids were raised to fo great an elevation, are fecrets to them as well as to us. Time has thrown his thickeft fhades around many arts of their ingenious ancestors; we have not the power, and their defcendants have not even the inclination to penetrate them.” "What leffons of inftruction may we derive from a furvey of the antient monuments of this country," obferved the Arabian Chieftain!" They are calculated to humble the pride, which is too apt to accompany acquirements in knowledge, for they fhow how limited are the greatest attainments. Certain it is, that the antients were acquainted with many fubjects, of which the moderns are ignorant, and although you inform me that the Europeans boast of the fuperiority of this enlightened age over all the times paft, is it not a queftion, whether they have not rather exchanged one province of knowledge for another, than enlarged its general empire?” "So far fhalt thou go," faid Edward, "and no farther, and here fhall thy proud waves be stayed, is a law imposed by the great Creator upon the ocean, and the knowledge of mankind feems to be circumfcribed by fimilar limits." "I alfo have received a leffon of useful inftruction," said the Sheik, "to repress the fpirit of vain fpeculation and fruitless curiofity, from the antient infcription found in the temple of Ifis, at Sais, in Upper Egypt. Ifis, you may recollect, was worfhipped as the tutelary goddess of all this country, and was fuppofed to represent univerfal nature, whofe effects are evident, and whofe productions are effential to the well being of man; but whofe laws and modes of operation are infcrutable by the utmoft efforts of his understanding. In the dark receffes of her temple, the goddess fat clothed in drapery, which concealed her from head to foot, and there he uttered thefe mysterious words-I am whatever is, or has been, but no mortal has ever taken off my veil." CHAP. CHAP. XXVII. The noble youth who bends to Virtue's fway, A. IN IN a ftile of peculiar elegance the ladies converfed on the grandeur and extent of the furrounding profpects, and they talked of the blooming gardens of Rofetta, and the crowded streets of Grand Cairo. They were not unacquainted with the events of past ages, or the leffons of antient wisdom, for these topics they had ftudied in their native poets, who are at once the hiftorians and the moralifts of the Eaft. Zelia had read the works of the Perfian Hafez, the Odes of Sayib, and the Guliftan, or Garden of Rofes, by the celebrated Sadi. They all heard Edward talk of England with pleasure, and the fubject was the more impreffive from the recent renown acquired by British heroes at Aboukir, at Alexandria, and at Rhamanieh. He told them of the friends to whom he was connected by the ties of duty and gratitude--he mentioned Captain Wallis, to whofe kindness he was indebted for the enjoyment of their fociety; nor did he fail often to mention his father at his far diftant home, finking under the infirmities of age. "Young man," faid the Sheik, "your heart feems as warm as your head is found, and your mind is cultivated. I know not to what fafcinating power you are indebted, perhaps to that by which the Egyptians charm the ferpent; but I feel a ftrong affection for you, and know not with what fortitude I fhall bear the moment of feparation, when the time of your departure comes." As |