a famous king of Egypt, was, according to some authors, the first monarch who collected a great number of books for the purpose of forming a library. To this curious collection he gave the title of Pharmacy of the Soul. Of all the monuments of the kings of Thebes, that of Osymandes is one of the most magnificent. "He appears (says an elegant author) to have been a prince of great elegance and taste in his day. Diodorus Siculus describes many sumptuous edifices erected by him; among those edifices his palace or mausoleum, whichsoever it was, has been eminently distinguished for the paintings and sculptures with which it was adorned. When we look to the subjects of those works, we shall have reason to think that no man in any age could discover a fairer and more enlightened judgment than he did in the employment of the genius around him, which was not tamely devoted to dull or contracted objects, nor lavished on scenes of savage life, nor wholly engrossed in allusions to himself, but sensibly enlarged to a variety of contemplation which might become a great sovereign; and in each of those parts the subject was characteristically great.

"In one place was represented, in a multitude of sculptures, his expedition against the Bactrians, a. r. p. 45; people of Asia, whom he had invaded with 400,000 foot, and 20,000 horse, and whom he conquered. In another part was displayed the variety of fruits and productions, with which Pan, the great source of all things, had enriched the fertile land over which Osymandes reigned. A third group of figures represented the monarch himself, as the high-priest of the country, offering to the gods the gold and silver which he drew every year from the mines of Egypt. In another part of the edifice was exhibited, in an infinite number of figures, an assembly of judges, in the midst of a great audience attentive to their decisions; the president, or chief of those judges, surrounded by many books, wore on his breast a picture of truth with her eyes shut—those emphatic emblems, beyond which no age could go for the impression of that wisdom and impartiality which ought to prevail in administrative justice."

In short, we cannot without astonishment read the account which Diodorus Siculus gives of the almost incredible magnificence of this prince, and of the immense sums which he spent upon those grand works. Amongst a variety of other surprising curiosities, was to be seen a statue in the attitude of sitting, which was the largest in all Egypt, the length of one of the feet being seven cubits. Not only the art of the sculptor, but also the beauty of the stone which was perfect in its kind, contributed to render this a masterpiece of sculpture. It bore the following inscription:

"I am OSYMANDES, king of kings; whosoever will dispute with me this title, let him surpass me in any of my works."

Indeed (to use the words of the same elegant author quoted above) "the palace or mausoleum of this accomplished prince must give us a striking assurance of the progress which had been made in the arts at that time; whether he lived, as some have thought,† the immediate successor of the first Bubastis, which was somewhat later than the period of Semiramis; or, as others have conceived,‡ subsequent to Sesostris, which would be 400 years later. Diodorus Siculus, who describes this edifice, says nothing of the age in which Osymandes lived; every opinion therefore on that point must be conjecture. We shall only remark, that there is nothing in the works of art in that edifice which should appear too much for the earliest age in which that monarch has been placed, when we look back to what was done of those works in a period full as early by Semiramis in Assyria."