place; and we may consequently infer that the Memphitical system was derived from Asia by travellers designated under those names-both are retraced in the mythology of India. Having briefly examined the subjects above enumerated, and drawn a cursory parallel between the Jewish, the Oriental, and classical writings, our accomplished author in conclusion (of this first volume) says

Notwithstanding the antiquity of the Egyptian hierarchy, we have shown that the Israelitish institutions are not to be referred to their school, but rather to the patriarchal remains, re-modelled and enlarged at the delivery of the law on Mount Sinai. It has also been proved, that whatever the law of God might have possessed at the time of its promulgation in common with the idolaters, these particulars did not originate with the latter, but belonged to the religion of the patriarchs; and, after the general defection in the plains of Shinar, were made articles of faith by the builders, as they fixed themselves in their respective settlements; from whence arose the strong resemblance that subsisted between the different schools of the Polytheistical system, and the coincidences which we have remarked between them and the Mosaic law. But of the Israelites alone can it be said-" Did ever people hear the voice of God, speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?”— (Deut. iv. 33.)

Thickly scattered through the pages of this work are quotations of sentences, or single terms, in the Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Coptic, Sanscrit, Arabic, and Persian characters; but, as a fair specimen of our author's style, we shall extract the following passage:

Some of the most inquisitive investigators of antiquity among the Greeks were able to ascertain, that the majority of the legends of their mythology possessed an occult signification; that the satyrs and other strangely-formed companions of Bacchus, were simply priests of the religion introduced by him; and, in several instances, correctly interpreted the foreign terms retained from the language of the country whence he came, which were used as mystic or cabbalistical phrases of invocation, among the aspirants and higher orders of this religious establishment. From an examination of which we deduce a striking proof that a general sacred tongue, having simply a dialectical difference in the several regions where it florished, at one time, like the present venerable Sanscrit, concealed from profane research the more secret and elevated doctrines of religion; and from every opportunity afforded to us, in the present day, of analysing its remains, we may, with little fear of contradiction, pronounce it to have been radically the same as the older branch of the Sanscrit, still discernible in the Vedas. The Greeks admit that they borrowed their religion from Asiatic "Barbarians." Homer poetically styles the sacred and vulgar language in his day," the language of Gods and men:"—and the whole system of hieroglyphics in Egypt, at Persepolis, and Babylon, evinces the ingenuity with which the sacred order enveloped

their anoppnra in an obscurity impenetrable by the vulgar. To which argument might be added, that as the vernacular tongues of these countries may reasonably be supposed to have been influenced by roots and terms of the sacred language, so in Sanscrit, a large proportion of d'hutus, both in signification and sound resembling surviving Chaldee roots, as well as the greater part of the old Pehlevi, and some few Coptic vocables, are still discerned, by which the hypothesis, that some dialect of it once formed the sacred tongue in Babylon, Egypt, and Persia (as now is the case in India), is, as much as possible, corroborated; consequently, if, as Sir W. Jones and Captain Wilford have demonstrated, suchi was the origin of the Greek and Roman Theology, it is natural that we should revert to it for an explanation of the obsolete and venerated forms used in the mysteries. In Herodotus, Strabo, and Diodorus Siculus, we perceive strong intimations of the prevalence of this sacred tongue; and to Porphyry's inquiry why "barbarous" names were used in the symbolic worship of the Gods, Iamblichus (lib. vii. 4.) replies, "Eσti de Toutou μvoTIKÒS ὁ λόγος· διότι γὰρ τῶν ἱερῶν ἐθνῶν, ὥσπερ Αἰγυπτίων τε καὶ ̓Ασσυρίων, οἱ Θεοὶ τὴν ὅλην διάλεκτον ἱεροπρεπῆ κατέδειξαν· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὰς κοινολογίας οἰόμεθα δεῖν τῇ συγγενεῖ πρὸς τοὺς Θεοὺς λέξει προσφέρειν, καὶ διότι πρῶτος καὶ παλαιός ἐστιν ὁ τοιοὗτος τρόπος τῆς φωνῆς; which appears to be a direct allusion to the title of the Sanscrit alphabet-Devanagari, i. e. “ invented in the city of the Gods." (P. 203.)

This work is handsomely printed; we have noticed, however, that in two or three places the marks which refer to notes appear as if misplaced through inadvertency; thus in p. 11. though a Greek passage from Saint Epiphanius illustrates the subject in question, yet the asterisk referring to it immediately follows the title of an Eastern manuscript, and leads us to suspect that a quotation in Arabic or Persian has by some accident been omitted; also in p. 241, the mark of reference to Sir W. Ouseley's Travels is misplaced in the sentence where it now stands, since that gentleman has not mentioned the exposure of Moses; but it properly belongs to the next passage, in which Sir William's information is quoted concerning the exposure of a Persian prince. The notice of these circumstances (and they, it must be owned, are scarcely of sufficient importance to demand observation) must here close our inadequate account of Mr. Wait's very valuable work; with a continuation of which we earnestly hope to be soon gratified and instructed by the learned author.

ON THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT.

PART II. [Continued from No. LV. p. 53.]

IT must, I think, be confessed, that there is much in these conjoint reasons to shake the credibility of that opinion which regards the pyramids as tombs. Let us examine whether the external and internal arrangement agree more happily with that which I venture to suggest.

It is certain that there were rocks in various parts of the world, hewn into winding passages and chambers for the celebration of dark rites and mysterious trials, contected apparently with the primitive religion of mankind. They existed in Persia, in India, in Syria, in Ethiopia, in Greece, in Italy, and perhaps in Ireland.' A similar excavation, it appears, and to an immense extent, was employed at Eleusis, not as a temple, but rather an appendage to it. Of the same description were the caverns of Delphi and Trophonius. Both these last, which resemble each other, were affirmed to be built by the same architect; and still exist, perhaps nearly in the same external state as when seen by Pausanias: for the oven-formed entrance mentioned by him still exists in that of Trophonius.-(See Clarke's Travels.) The passages, however, are now blocked up by the fall of rubbish, or at least have not been permeated by modern travellers to any extent.

The cavern of Trophonius was unconnected with his temple, which was situated in an adjoining wood.3 It was a grotto, excavated by the chisel, 12 feet high by 6 broad. Obelisks were placed before the sloping entrance, which was descended 4 by means of a ladder. When at a certain depth, the initiate found a narrow aperture, through which with his feet foremost he introduced his body with difficulty, and immediately felt himself dragged down with the violence of a torrent to the bottom of the cavern.s Cakes made with honey, placed in his hands, prevented his dis

St. Patrick's caves.

* Pausanias, lib. ix. c. 37. p. 785. Both caverns bear marks of one hand.

3 Pausanias, lib. ix. c. 39. p. 788.

Timoleon descended into the cave of Delphi.-Plutarch's Life of

Timol.

' Scholiast on Aristophanes in Nubib. v. 508.

covering the machinery by which he was impelled. The nar row entrance, the rapid descent and small aperture, agree with the first passage of the great pyramid, and the mode of passing that aperture was not much unlike that used by modern travellers in the great pyramidal caverns. Add that there was a subterraneous entrance for the priests,' distinct from that used by the inquirant, a circumstance agreeing with the well entrance into the pyramid, protracted, perhaps, from the neighboring temple, and distinct from the usual inlet on the north face.

The machinery employed in the cave of Trophonius seems to indicate the use of the singular benches in the great gallery. I shall not here detail from Plutarch the nature of the mysteries acted in the inner chamber of that cave; they resembled those of Mithra and Eleusis, as far as description can be trusted. There were the same baying of dogs, and cries of children, and flashings of light, and glimpses of Elysium, as in the latter. It is sufficient for my present purpose, that similar dramatic mysteries, accompanied by excellent scenery and machinery, and probably aided by a starry orrery, were performed there; and the deduction is fair, that the Pyramids were devoted to a similar purpose. At Malabar there is a certain hill, held sacred by the fire worshippers, hewn into a cavern, in passing through which, the Gentoos imagine that they purify themselves. An entrance above leads into a slanting passage, 146 feet long, which terminates in an opening below. This passage is in some places too narrow for a person of moderate corpulence to pass. There are no caverns extant used for the Mithraic mysteries, unless those mentioned by Abulfazil+ are assignable to those rites. But from what we gather from Porphyry, their construction must have been very similar to the Egyptian excavations. Indeed, the inference, from the striking connexions between the two astronomico-theologies, may be fairly extended to this point. The initiation, it seems, was performed in a cave, converted by Zoroaster into a temple, and filled up in a mathematical manner.

'Pausanias, lib. ix. c. 39. p. 792.

2 See paper on the Origin of the Drama. Class. Journ. No. 42. 3 From Tup, fire.

4 Triangular excavated hills, called Atash Gah, or places of fire, are common in the east, and attributed to the Magi or Guebres. Abulfazil says, that there are many such rocky excavations to the north of India. Ayeen' Akberry.

5 De Antro Nymph. 254: see also Hyde, De Relig. Vet. Pers. p. 17. Anquetil, &c.

I

Porphyry adds, that the caves of Mithra represented the WORLD: so did the pyramids and if they comprised the symbols of the elements, so did the pyramids also; for their four triangular faces have preserved that meaning in chemical signs still in use. Thus, a cross meant the material universe, ; analysed, the elements: e. g. A fire; water; A air; V earth. So far the analogy holds good; but much stronger proof remains: the officiating priests wore the Egyptian masks of animals, and the initiates were compelled to pass seven times through fire, and seven times through water. I have before remarked, that the union of fire and water was symbolised by the pyramidal form: we may justly therefore infer that a baptism by those two elements (the Osiris and Isis of Egypt) was performed within. Apuleius indeed tells us, that seven ablutions were necessary in preparing for the Eleusinian rites. We gather from Origen, that the Mithraic candidate was obliged to pass through seven gates of trial before he arrived at the ineffable presence, after which he was declared a Lion of Mithra. On passing the upper gate of Capricorn, a baptism of fire awaited him; on reaching the lower gate of Cancer, his trial was, to pass through water. Where could this trial be managed with more accuracy, than in the north and south doors of that oblique passage in the great pyramid, which seems to represent the sun's oblique passage between those zodiacal gates? But I am hurried into argument prematurely, and resume my summary. Tertullian mentions an offering of bread by the candidates, a particular mark impressed upon them, and the symbol of the resurrection. Was not this last the Egyptian Tau, so explained by many commentators; which it appears was impressed on the foreheads3 of the Egyptian initiate (as extant paintings show), and which originated, perhaps, the mark mentioned in the Revelations? But why waste time in vain discussion? Osiris and Mithra, or Mizra, agree in symbol, office, even name; and Horus (light) was, like Mithra (light), an Androsphynx. All three, with the great Osiris, are identified in the same name of Sabazæus, a translation of Noah, rest. Enough has been stated to make out a strong case of connexion. I shall only add, that there is extant a representation of Egyptian initiation, in which, directed by the Ibis-headed hierophant Hermes, the initiates are advancing up fourteen steps, to a figure of the tongue4

'Tertullian adv. Marc. p. 55.—Julius Firmicus. 2 Ibid. de Presc. adv. Hæret. 3 Tertullian adv. Marc. p. 55. 4 See remarks on this hieroglyphic, Class. Journ. No. 42.