in Egypt. Having in the Encyclopedia given Mr. Bruce's account of this ancient city, which represents it as having been a paltry place, to contrary to the description of Homer, justice to the father of poetry requires that we here notice what has been said of it by a subsequent traveller, who remained three days among its ruins. According to Mr. Browne, "the vast and magnificent forms of the ruins that remain of ancient Thebes, the capital of Egypt, the city of Jove, the city with 100 gates, must inspire every intelligent spectator with awe and admiration. Diffused on both sides of the Nile, their extent confirms the classical observations, and Homer's animated description rushes into the memory:

'Egyptian Thebes, in whose palaces vast wealth is stored; from each of whose hundred gates issue two hundred warriors, with their horses and chariots.'

These venerable ruins, probably the most ancient in the world, extend for about three leagues in length along the Nile. East and west they reach to the mountains, a breadth of about two leagues and a half. The river is here about three hundred yards broad. The circumference of the ancient city must therefore have been about twenty-seven miles.

"In sailing up the Nile, the first village you come to within the precincts is Kourna, on the west, where there are few houses, the people living mostly in the caverns. Next is Abu-hadji, a village, and Karnac, a small district, both on the east. Far the largest portion of the city stood on the eastern side of the river. On Thebes, the south-west Medinet-Abu marks the extremity of the ruins; for Arment, which is about two leagues to the south, cannot be considered as a part.

"In describing the ruins, we shall begin with the most considerable, which are on the east of the Nile. The chief is the Great Temple, an oblong square building of vast extent, with a double colonnade, one at each extremity. The masonry columns and walls are covered with hieroglyphics; a labour truly stupendous. 1. The Great Temple stands in the district called Karnac. 2. Next in importance is the temple at Abu-hadji. 3. Numerous ruins, avenues marked with remains of sphinxes, &c. On the west side of the Nile appear, 1. Two colossal figures, apparently of a man and woman, formed of a calcareous stone like the rest of the ruins. 2. Remains of a large temple, with caverns excavated in the rock. 3. The magnificent edifice styled the palace of Minion. Some of the columns are about forty feet high, and about nine and a half in diameter. The columns and walls are covered with hieroglyphics. This stands at Karnac. 4. Behind the palace is the passage styled Biblo-el-Molok, leading up the mountain. At the extremity of this passage, in the sides of the rock, are the celebrated caverns known as the sepulchres of the ancient kings."

Though Mr. Browne agrees with Pococke and Bruce, that the passage in Homer refers not to the gates of the city, he is yet of opinion, contrary to them, that Thebes had been a walled town. He says, indeed, that some faint remains of its surrounding wall are visible at this day; and he thinks that he discovered the ruins of three of its gates, though he does not affirm this with absolute confidence.