-is so gracefully disposed in this portrait, and so unlike the usual stiff Egyptian head-dress, that we suspect that some of the medals of Alexander, also his avowed emulator, and (professedly the beloved son of Ammon), with the same Ammonian horn, may have been borrowed from it.

We have left ourselves but little space for our concluding hint and recommendation. But we are not sorry for it; partly because we may be induced at some future time to resume the subject with a stricter regard to its details; partly because our remaining limit compels us to a brevity always advantageous to this inquiry. We have shown that there is good reason to infer that we have already discovered sculptured fragments of the Hermaic tablets, from which Manetho professes to have derived his history. The discovery of the remaining portion of the sculptured narrative is one of the chief desiderata of Egyptian inquiry; and there appears to us to be good hope that the discovery may be made, by continuing the unwearied researches of scientific travellers at the clearly indicated spot"the winding subterranes of the Thebaid, near the statue of "Memnon." If Manetho be correct in his description of these Hermaic books, the discovery would supply us with all that is now requisite, or desirable to be known, both as to matters of date and matters of fact; not only as respects the origin, of society, but as respects the origin, progress, vicissitudes, and, inferentially, perhaps the destinies of the entire human The discovery would, in itself, constitute an era -it would create a new book of Genesis, in which the profane history might be compared with the sacred. Moreover, the discovery would fill up all the paradoxical or doubtful voids of cotemporary profane history, down to that period (770 B.C.) when doubt no longer exists, and where the full light of corroborative evidence and authenticated chronology is poured upon every province To effect this object, what are our materials, and how are they to be perfected or improved? We possess an instrument which, if not complete, is capable of being made so. We possess, beyond all question, one of the two keys to the dark chamber of hieroglyphical knowledge, of which Clemens Alexandrinus records the ancient existence. We possess a knowledge of the Phonetic alphabet, which, though slightly im

race.

perfect in some details, is fully adequate, under all circumstances, to the interpretation of proper names. On the demotic character, for the reason stated before, we need not burden our reader with any complicated remarks. The Phonetic and symbolic character united constituted the hieroglyphical language of the monumental inscriptions. We have already materials for the construction of a symbolical dictionary. We have ascertained sufficiently, by the process of corellative testimony, and by the unfailing aid of the deciphering art, the meaning of a large number of symbols. We have ascertained those meanings to such an extent, that inscriptions on the obelisks can be read; and with so much the more certainty, as that one obeliscar inscription thus read, concurs in meaning with that assigned to it by an ancient author (Hermapion), who professes to its interpretation. All that is necessary, therefore, is to adhere to this logical process of interpretation; to admit nothing but what is experimentally or corroboratively proved; to eschew all visionary speculations like the universal alphabetic system, which led Champollion into his last inextricable maze of contradiction and hopeless doubt; and to go on slowly, cautiously, and steadily, with the task of completing the symbolic dictionary to which we have referred-by adding to the number of the symbols whose meaning has been ascertained or proved. The first conquest having been achieved, labour now is more necessary than ingenuity. The door of mystery is open; the key to the "treasures of secret places," is in our hands. Nothing more is required than to press forward, without turning to the right or to the left, without being diverted from our path to the Adytum, by forms of delusive attraction on the one hand, or by the shadows of chimerical alarm on the other-in the spirit of the poet's description of our common earthly pilgrimage,

To hold straight on with constant eye and hand,

Still fixed upon the everlasting goal.

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ARTICLE VIII.

Scenes and Characteristics of Hindostan, &c., &c. By Miss EMMA ROBERTS. 3 Vols. London.

To all who hold the due and suitable administration of an empire, containing nearly an hundred millions of inhabitants, to be a sacred duty, every effort which is made to bring the dominant people better acquainted with their fellow subjects must appear highly praise-worthy and commendable. We insist that not only is it highly important in a prudential and self-interested point of view, but most essential to the ends of common justice and humanity, that the people of these realms should know well, and, so far as may be practicable, be taught to sympathise with, all their brethren of India.

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With those, who maintain that the possession of this magnificent empire" the richest jewel in the English crown,' it has often been justly termed-is not merely a matter of indifference but a source of loss, it appears to us that it were waste of time and pains to argue. To the reflecting portion of this nation, who hold the extension of commerce and manufactures to be in some degree connected with its prosperity-who can appreciate the value of an export trade of seven or eight millions a year, the advantage of an extensive field of adventure for our youth, and the employment of many thousand tons of shipping and a multitude of sailors— to them we confidently appeal, and ask, whether the preservation of our Indian empire, and a zealous improvement of its resources, can be otherwise than important to the maintenance of our national greatness and prosperity?

It will be evident, we conceive, to every thinking man, who has paid the smallest attention to the subject, that India-whatever may have been the case in ancient times-from the first of our connection with it, has never been, and cannot by possibility for a long time be, in a situation to trade as an independent nation with England, upon terms that could be mutually beneficial-terms that could confer on each country the advantages they derive from the existing commerce. Were the wide realms of India in the hands of one

or more independent native sovereigns, ruling on principles of justice, and moderation, and liberality-were protection afforded equally to all ranks, and were person and property perfectly secure were the immense resources of the country thus developed-were the riches of its people in a fair way of being increased, and their industry stimulated by a free intercourse with the more civilised nations of the West-were these sovereigns and that population bound to Great Britain by the ties of gratitude for benefits conferred-then indeed might we congratulate ourselves upon the prospect of securing all the advantages of a vast commercial field for speculation and adventure, without the expense of maintaining a civil and military establishment in the country and a costly machine of government at home. But when can we hope for such a state of things? India has ever been the scene of intestine war, or the prey of foreign conquest. Until the progress of knowledge shall have worked a total change in the character of her people, and a systematic course of judicious measures, on the part of her present rulers, shall have prepared them for self-government, by gradually withdrawing the exclusive frame-work European functionaries which now sustains the body politic— until this process shall have been completed, every one must see that to withdraw from the position we now occupy, as rulers of India, would be to leave the ship in the midst of the storm without commander or crew-to deprive the people of every blessing they now enjoy-and to deliver them over to a state of anarchy and disorganization, far more disastrous than that from which they had been temporarily snatched by our interference.

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It is a solemn duty upon Great Britain to protect India, the child of her adoption, from such a fate, by preparing her for that future independence which will be her undoubted right, when the lapse of time shall have matured her strength, and fitted her for quitting the parental protection. That towards such maturity she is gradually progressing, no one, who regards the signs of the times, can doubt; and to seek to retard this progress were as vain as it would be criminal. such narrow and unworthy principles of legislation be far from the English people and government. Let us look forward to the period when the adult state, no longer re

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quiring our aid, nor brooking our control, shall claim its birthright; and let us endeavour, by a system of liberality and kindness now, to bind the young and vigorous nation by the ties of gratitude and good-will, where those of force would assuredly fail; and, instead of nursing up a formidable enemy, secure for ourselves, while there is yet time, a zealous future friend.

and India.

With this view, we would strenuously recommend the adoption of every means for promoting a frequent, rapid, unrestrained, and kindly intercourse, between this country The Red Sea steam navigation, the Egyptian rail-road, the Euphrates steam expedition, that by steam round the Cape of Good Hope, all are good, and we heartily wish them success.-They are all so many pledges of the growing interest which Great Britain takes in India. It is in this spirit that we greet with sincere good-will the work before us, in which Miss Roberts, in a very lively and amusing manner presents to the English reader a series of "Sketches and Characteristics of Hindostan," which we think cannot fail to do their part in promoting the good work.

But there is another point of view in which every attempt at portraying the manners and customs of a nation is eminently interesting. In the moral, as in the physical world, there is a principle of progressive mutation which is ever at work; and not only do nations, like the beings that compose them, rise, and wax, and wane, but the customs and manners of the people, like the organs of the human body, are undergoing a never ceasing, though gradual, course of renovation and decay.

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To the philosophical observer of mankind the progress of manners and customs is not less interesting than the history of nations; and we consider every effort to "catch the manners living as they rise," as eminently entitled to favour and encouragement. It is this which, independently of every other excellence, stamps such an imperishable value on many of the plays of Shakspeare and Johnson-on the novels of Scott, of Fielding, and of Smollett. Their works are as milestones on the great highway of life, marking the gradual progress of their species towards improvement, and enabling those who come after to look back to each particular era of the past, and to compare it with the present.