Σὸν δέμας ἔκπαγλον τεῦξαν θεοὶ αἰὲν ἔοντες,
Φεισάμενοι χώρης πύριδα μαζομένης·
Εἰς μέσον εὐθύναντες ἀρουραίοιο τραπέζης,
Νήσου πετραίης ψάμμον ἀπωσάμενοι·
Γείτονα πυραμίδων τοίην θέσαν εἰσοράασθαι,
Οὐ τὴν Οἰδιπόδαο βροτοκτόνον, ὡς ἐπὶ Θήβαις,
Τῇ δὲ θεᾷ Λητοῖ πρόσπολον ἁγνοτάτην,
[Εὐ μάλα] τηροῦσαν πεποθημένον ἐσθλὸν ἄνακτα,
Γαίης Αἰγυπτίοιο σεβάσμιον ἡγήτηρα,

Οὐράνιον μέγαν αὐτομέδοντα, [θεοῖσιν ὅμαιμον,]
Εἴκελον Ηφαίστῳ, μεγαλήτορα, [θυμολέοντα]
[Αλκιμον ἐν πολέμῳ, καὶ ἐράσμιον ἐν πολιήταις]
Γαῖαν ἐθυρῶσθαι [πάσαις θαλίαισι κέλοντα].

ΑΡΡΙΑΝΟΣ.

Tuum corpus stupendum struxerunt dii sempiterni,
Parcentes terræ triticum pinsenti.
In medium erigentes arvensis tabulæ,

Insulæ petrosæ arenam detrudentes.
Vicinam pyramidibus talem te posuerunt visu:
Non Edipodis homicidam, sicut ad Thebas;
Sed deæ Latonæ famulam purissimam,
[Sedulo] observantem desideratum bonum regem,
Terræ Ægyptiæ venerandum ductorem,
Coelestem magnum imperatorem [diis affinem]
Similem Vulcano, magnanimum [fortissimum]
[Validum in bello, et amabilem inter cives]
Terram lætari [omnigenis epulis jubentem].
ARRIANUS.

Thy form stupendous here the gods have placed,
Sparing each spot of harvest-bearing land;
And with this mighty work of art have graced
A rocky isle, encumber'd once with sand;
And near the pyramids have bid thee stand:
Not that fierce Sphinx that Thebes erewhile laid waste,
But great Latona's servant mild and bland;
Watching that prince beloved who fills the throne
Of Egypt's plains, and calls the Nile his own.
That heavenly monarch [who his foes defies],
Like Vulcan powerful [and like Pallas wise].

ARRIAN.

The

The signature gives it a more than common interest, which will not be weakened, if it should be decided that it is to be ascribed to the celebrated historian whom Gibbon has dignified with the epithet of the elegant and philosophical Arrian.'

On the digits of the southern paw were only discovered a few of the usual dedicatory phrases in homage of Harpocrates, Mars, and Hermes. One inscription gives, as Mr. Salt reads it, to the Eunperor Claudius the extraordinary appellation of ' αγαθος δαίμων, an instance of flattery which can only be outdone by that of another inscription, lately discovered in Upper Egypt, where Caracalla is styled 'piissimus,' on the very same stone from which the name of his murdered brother Geta had, probably, been erased by his own orders. On another small edifice in front of the Sphinx was an inscription with the name of Septimius Severus, in which the name of Geta was erased, as in the former, and as it also is in the triumphal arch erected by the same emperor at Rome. The former inscription however is not to Claudius, but to his successor NEPWN, as may be distinctly traced in the first line through the imperfect eraMr. Combe observes, that on some of the coins of this emperor, which were struck at Alexandria, he is flattered with the title of

sure.

NEOC. ΑΓΑΘΟΣ. ΔΑΙΜΩΝ.

The inscription, as far as can be made out from the stone now in the British Museum, is as under :

ΑΓΑΘΗ ΤΥΧΗΙ.

ΕΠΕΙ ΝΕΡΩΝ ΚΛΑΥΔΙΟΣ KAICAP CEBALTOL

ΓΕΡΜΑΝΙΚΟΣ ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΩΡ Ο ΑΓΑΘΟΣ ΔΑΙΜΩΝ ΤΗΣ ΟΙΚΟΥΜΕΝΗΣ ΕΥΝΑ ΠΑΕΙΝΟΙΣ ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΗΣ ΕΝ ΑΓΑΘΟΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΑΙΓΥΠΤΟΝ ΤΗΝ ΕΝΑΡTECTATΗΝ ΠΡΟΝΟΙ 5. ΑΝΠΟΙΗΣAMENOΣ Ε... ΕΝ ΗΜΕΙΝ ΤΙΒΕΡΙΟΝ ΚΛΑΥΔ. ΟΝ ΒΑΛΒΙΛΛΟΝ ΗΓΕΜΟΝΑ ΔΙΑ ΔΕ ΤΑΣ ΤΟΥΤΟΥΧ..... PITAL ΚΑΙ ΕΥΕΡΓΕΣΙΑΣ ΠΛΗΜΥΡΟΥΣ ΑΠΑΣΙΝ ΑΓΑΘΟΙΣΗ ΑΙΓΥΠΤΟΣ ΤΑΣ ΤΟΥ ΝΕΙΛΟΥ ΔΩΡΕΑΣ ΕΠΑΥΞΟΜΕ NAL ΚΑΤΕΤΟΣ ΘΕΩΡΟΥΣΑ ΝΥΝ ΜΑΛΛΟΝ ΑΠΕΛΛΥ 10. ΣΕ ΤΗΣ ΔΙΚΑΙΑΣ ΑΝΑΒΑΣΕΩΣ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ ΕΔΟΞΕ ΤΟΙΣ ΑΠΟ ΚΩΜΗΣ ΒΟΥΓΕΙΡΕΩΣ ΤΟΥ ΛΗΤΟ ...... ΤΟΥ ΠΑΡΟΙΚΟΥΣΙ ΤΑΙΣ ΠΥΡΑΜΙΣΙ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΙΣ ΕΝΑΥΤ ..... ΚΑΤΑΓΕΙΝΟΜΕΝΟΙΣ ΤΟΠΟΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΕΥΕΙ ΚΑΙ Κω ΜΟΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΕΥΕΙ ΨΗ....ΑΣΘΑΙ ΚΑΙ ... ΓΑ ΘΕΙΝΑΙ ...

15. ΣΤΗΛΗΝ ΛΙΘΙΝΗΝ ΠΑ.....

...ΑΡΜΑΧΕΙ

6

Of all the monuments of antiquity, the Sphinx is perhaps that which has most generally excited the admiration of the lovers of art, notwithstanding its mutilated condition. The contemplative turn of the eye,' (it is an artist who speaks,) the mild expression of the. mouth, and the beautiful disposition of the drapery at the angle of the forehead, sufficiently attest the admirable skill of the artist in its execution. Yet there is no attention paid to those proportions we are accustomed to admire, nor does the pleasing impression. which it produces result from any known rule adopted in its execution; it may rather be attributed to the unstudied simplicity in the conception of the breadth, yet high finish, of the several parts, and the stupendous magnitude of the whole.' Denon's description of this mysterious colossus is equally strong. L'expression de la tête est douce, grâcieuse et tranquille, le caractère en est Africain; mais la bouche, dont les lèvres sont épaisses, a une mollesse dans le mouvement et une finesse d'exécution vraiment admirables; c'est de la chair et de la vie.'

Such are the sentiments which a repeated view of this colossal piece of sculpture is capable of inspiring into the minds of artists. I confess,' says Mr. Salt,' that I felt, like many other travellers, that the praises lavished by Norden, Denon, and others, were greatly exaggerated; but the more I studied it at different hours of the day, and under different effects of light and shade, the more I became satisfied that they had barely done justice to its real merits. It must be allowed, however, that the drawings, by both the gentlemen abovementioned, but faintly accord with their encomiums, being two very wretched performances-but after having repeatedly attempted a likeness of it myself with little success, I am compelled to admit that the difficulties which attend the undertaking are sufficient to baffle any one not professionally dedicated to the arts.'

Mr. Salt had the great advantage of contemplating at his leisure. this grand object of art, when laid open in front to its very base; with the fragments of its enormous beard resting beneath its chin; its huge paws stretched out fifty feet in advance from the body, which is in a cumbent posture; with all the appendages of a temple, granite tablet, and altar, spread out on a regular platform immediately in its front: and he admits that these interesting objects, which had for ages been buried deep in the sand, undoubtedly tended to exalt the main figure in his estimation.

We cannot dismiss the subject of this wonderful piece of sculpture hewn out of the living rock, without noticing an assertion of Dr. Clarke, which is calculated to convey very false impressions as to the real nature of one of the most extraordinary works of ancient art now in existence. Speaking of the Sphinx, he says, 'The French

have uncovered all the pedestal of this statue, and all the cumbent or leonine parts of the figure; these were before entirely concealed by sand. Instead, however, of answering the expectations raised concerning the work upon which it was supposed to rest, the pedestal proves to be a wretched substructure of brick-work, and small pieces of stone, put together like the most insignificant piece of modern masonry, and wholly out of character, both with respect to the prodigious labour bestowed upon the statue itself, and the gigantic appearance of the surrounding objects.' Now all this must either be the workings of the Doctor's imagination, like the 'splashing of the great stone' in the dry Well of the pyramid; or, he must have listened to some such idle story from the Arabs as that which they told to Mr. Caviglia,-that the French had discovered a door in the breast of the Sphinx, which opened into its body, and passed through it into the second pyramid. The French never uncovered more than the back of the Sphinx; they never saw the pedestal they never pretended that they saw it-there is, in fact, no pedestal, no brick-work in any way connected with the statue of the Sphinx. M. Denon saw nothing but the head and neck; and M. Gobert, who was constantly stationed at the pyramids, says in his memoir,' I succeeded in uncovering its back sufficient to determine its measurement;' and he affirms it to be cut out of a salient angle of the mountain, and to be, what it really is, one single piece of rock. It is true that the paws, which are thrown out fifty feet in advance, are constructed of masonry,' but neither insignificant,' nor in the least resembling modern;' this however could not have been known either to the French or to Dr. Clarke.

We have now taken a rapid view of the labours and discoveries of Mr. Caviglia. This enterprizing man, after the most persevering exertions for ten months, in consequence of exposing himself too much to the sun, was unfortunately seized with an attack of ophthalmia, which compelled him to suspend his labours; and shortly after he returned to his ship at Alexandria. The expense incurred by all these operations amounted to about 18,000 piastres, a share of which was contributed by Mr. Salt and two or three other gentlemen, who liberally engaged that the disposal of whatever might be discovered should be left wholly to Mr. Caviglia; and he, on his part, generously requested that every thing might be sent to the British Museum, as a testimony of his attachment to that country, under the protection of whose flag he had for many years navigated the ocean. Mr. Salt very justly observes, that the unexampled circumstance that these operations were carried on by a single individual, attended occasionally only by one soldier, without the slightest molestation being offered, or unpleasant circumstance occurring, notwithstanding that numerous parties of idle soldiers went