Might bear the tidings from the East to West,

From Tyre to Thule ?* South from Crete, behold

The land of ancient Egypt, scarce discern'd

Above the sea-line, the mysterious land

Of ISIS, and ANUBIS, and the SPHYNX;

Of MEMNON, resonant at early dawn ;†

Of those vast monuments-their tale unknown

* See, in the 13th chapter of Acts, the account of Paul's first miracle on his mission to the Gentiles, in the presence of John, in this island, so near the coast of Asia, that the tidings must have been almost immediately conveyed by ships to Asia, Africa, and the farthest parts of Europe. No notice is taken of this striking and obvious circumstance by professed commen

tators.

The names of the illustrious visitors who heard the sound, twelve centuries past, may be seen in Pocock.

The Pyramids. The first time the author met the celebrated Dr. Clarke, before the publication of his Travels, the very first word he said to him was-" Of what colour are the

Pyramids ?" To his surprise, the answer was-" as white as "snow"- blanched by innumerable years. But I have used the word "pale," as more in consonance with the picture at the time.

Which, tow'ring, pale and solemn, o'er the waste,

Stand, mocking the uplifted mace of Time,

Who, as he smites in vain, mutters, and hies
To other spoil! Yet there the timbrell'd hymn
Rings to Osiris; there, great Isis reigns,

Veil'd, and no mortal hath remov'd her veil;
There, Thoth,* first teacher of the mysteries
Of sacred wisdom, hid in signs obscure,

Is still invok'd to lead the ghosts, that pass

Through the dim portal, to Hell's silent king.

JOHN.

Hast thou forgotten, that in this dark land

The Passover-meet emblem of the Lamb

Of God-was first ordain'd? That here his pow'r In wonder and in judgment was display'd?

The Hermes of the Greeks, the Mercury of the Romans, the Teut of the Celts, and the great teacher of the one unknown God, before Egypt sank into the grossest superstition.—See Mr. Bowles's Hermes Britannicus.

"Fire ran along the ground," with hail*

Mingled-and darkness, such as might be felt

Darkness, not earthly, was on all the land.

Arrested, and suspended, at God's word,

On either side the billows of the deep

Hung over those who pass'd beneath their shade, While Pharaoh's charioteers, and horsemen, sank

In the Red Sea: "not one of them is left."

STRANGER.

And Miriam took a timbrel in her hand,

And all the women went out after her,

With timbrels, and with dances, and they sang: And Miriam answer'd them, "SING TO THE LORD,

* Perhaps the idea may be fanciful, but, to my ear, nothing more clearly reflects the image than the very words of the

sentence

"Ran ǎlong upon the ground."

Handel, in his sublime Oratorio-" ISRAEL IN EGYPT," seems to have felt this.

"FOR HE HATH TRIUMPH'D-TRIUMPH'D GLO

"RIOUSLY!

"THE RIDER AND HIS HORSE HATH HE CAST DOWN

"INTO THE SEA-THE RIDER AND HIS HORSE!

"And the dark sea was silent over them."

But Israel's children safely held their way,

And the Lord went before them in a cloud,
Like to a pillar, and a fire, by night,

Till Moses, bearing with him Joseph's bones,
Beheld, from Pisgah's top, far off, in clouds,
The LAND of PROMISE: saw that blessed land,

And died in peace.

JOHN.

Oh! may the pilgrimage

Of the tir'd Christian, in the wilderness

Of life, so lead him to his Home of rest!

STRANGER.

Look northward-for the sheet let down from

Heav'n

Had "its four corners knit:" and are not these

The North, the South, the East, the West-in

bonds

Of brotherhood, and faith, and charity?
Mountains and forests, by the Caspian-plains
Of Scythia-and ye, dwellers on the shores

Of the Black Sea, where the vast Ister hurls
Sounding, its mass into the inner deep-

Shout, for the banners of the cross of Christ,
Far as your dark recesses, have been borne,
By Andrew and by Thomas,* messengers
Of the slain Lamb-e'en to the utmost bounds

Of wild and wintry Caucasus. Aloft,

In silence, high above the rack of earth,

That solitary mountain stands, nor hears

The thunder bursting at its base.

* Thomas, as by traditions we receive, chose Parthia; Andrew Scythia.-Eusebius.