small debts, and the habit of attending | to the wants and feelings of others, will surround us with well-wishers, and give a welcome to our approach wherever we go. You must have noticed how the butcher and baker and small tradespeople of a neighbourhood touch their hats to one who promptly and cheerfully pays his accounts, as humble friends who would willingly do him a service, if it lay in their power.

Should there be among my readers those who are, in disposition, as ready to pay their accounts as the dial is to point out the hour of the day, and who are grieved because they cannot do what their hearts yearn to perform, let not my remarks either wound or discourage them. Do your best, my friends; practise civility, and pay as fast as you can. I have not been speaking to you, but to those who, having the means at hand, have, through thoughtlessness, been inattentive to the injunction. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee," Prov. iii. 28.

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And if there be others of my readers who are as regular as clockwork in the payment of their tradesmen's bills, the stronghold of whose character is the principle and practice of prompt payment, let them not be highminded on this account. To pay promptly is an excellent plan; but a man may do this, and yet have infirmities of practice, from which the backward payer may be free. Continue, I would say, your plan, which is a good one; but mar it not by boasting and pride. If not to man, we are all debtors to God, and therefore we all ought to be lowly. Had we all the courage to wait for such things as we wanted till we could pay for them, or to put by small sums regularly to meet the bills of those we have on credit, the com-fort of such an arrangement to many would be incalculable. The broad cloth coat and silken gown which are paid for are worn with double pleasure; and merry Christmas" itself would be all the merrier had it no bills to present to us for payment.

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Debtors and creditors will do well to consider that each has a duty to perform. The debtor should be civil, and not wilfully or thoughtlessly backward in his payments; the creditor should be respectful and forbearing, and not unreasonably clamorous for his demand.

There is often, among more wealthy

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tradesmen, a consideration exercised towards such as are indebted to them, whom they know to be honest, amounts to liberality, if not to generosity; and such liberality is highly creditable to them, and ought neither to be undervalued nor abused.

I have heard of servants in high life entering into an agreement with tradesmen, whereby the latter were allowed to charge their commodities more than the proper price, on condition of paying over to the former a certain proportion of the amount. To such dishonest servants I would recommend the reading of the following anecdote:

"A nobleman resident at a castle in Italy was about to celebrate his marriage feast. All the elements were propitious except the ocean, which had been so boisterous as to deny the very necessary appendage of fish. On the very morning of the feast, however, a poor fisherman made his appearance with a turbot so large that it seemed to have been created for the occasion. Joy pervaded the castle, and the fisherman was ushered with his prize into the saloon where the nobleman, in the presence of his visitors, requested him to put what price he thought proper on the fish, and it should be instantly paid him. One hundred lashes,' said the fisherman, 'on my bare back is the price of my fish, and I will not bate one strand of whip-cord on the bargain.' The nobleman and his guests were not a little astonished; but our chapman was resolute, and remonstrance was in vain. At length, the nobleman exclaimed, 'Well, well, the fellow is a humourist, and the fish we must have; but lay on lightly, and let the price be paid in our presence.' After fifty lashes had been administered, 'Hold, hold,' exclaimed the fisherman,' I have a partner in this business, and it is fitting that he should receive his share.' 'What, are there two such madcaps in the world?' exclaimed the nobleman; 'name him, and he shall be sent for instantly.' 'You need not go far for him,' said the fisherman, 'you will find him at your gate in the shape of your own porter, who would not let me in until promised that he should have the half of whatever I received for my turbot.' Oh, oh!' said the nobleman, 'bring him up instantly, he shall receive his stipulated moiety with the strictest justice.' This ceremony being finished, he discharged the porter, and amply rewarded the fisherman."

6

THE TEMPLE OF DENDERAH.

DENDERAH, or, as it is sometimes called, Dendarah, is a ruined town of Upper Egypt, celebrated for its temple, the best preserved of all the remains of antiquity with which that country abounds. It is situated about thirty-one miles north of Thebes, standing in a well-cultivated plain, which expanding on both sides the Nile, is bordered in every direction by mountains, giving the appearance to the whole of a circular basin. The town is more than a mile in length, about half a mile in breadth, and nearly two and a half in circumference. It has been partly built of burnt, and partly of merely dried brick, on mounds formed of the rubbish of previous habitations; and the remains of a number of small huts crown the summit of the temple itself.

This celebrated structure stands on the very verge of the Libyan desert, the enAPRIL, 1846.

croachments of which have buried a large portion of the buildings under heaps of sand, but enough remains plainly to indicate its magnitude and magnificence, impressing the spectator with a deep sense of the wealth, power, and civilization of the illustrious race who so long stood at the head of the world.

The foundation of the temple is upon a terrace nearly fifteen feet above the level of the neighbouring country, the whole being enclosed within a square wall of sun-dried bricks, each side a thousand feet in length, and in some parts fifteen feet thick, and thirty-five feet high. Passing a small square stone edifice with four columns, on the edge of the black field of ruins, the precincts of the temple are entered, this building forming a sort of porter's lodge, for the protection of the place in past times. An elegant gateway, or propylon, of well

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hewn sandstone, completely covered with neatly and delicately cut sculptures and hieroglyphics, now appears, and proceeding through the dromos, which is an avenue lined on each side by sphynxes, the visitor approaches the temple.

In some other temples the dromos, enclosed by a high wall on each side, joins the propylon to the temple, and lined with rows of columns covered in above, forms a delightful piazza, sheltered from the oppressive heat of the sun. It was usual for the people to celebrate here their heathen ceremonies, part of which consisted in bull-fighting, as Strabo informs us. The area, however, seems not to have been inclosed in this instance, and the propylon is disjointed from the temple, as if, in the strife of ages, an arm had been lopped from one of the combatants, and was lying where it fell. "Some of the female figures," says a visitor to the spot, are so extremely well executed, that they do all but speak, and have a mildness of feature and expression that never was surpassed."

Passing about a hundred paces over the ruined brick huts, the celebrated temple of Denderah appears. It is of the shape of the letter T, and is at once simple, large, and firm in its construction. The façade is rich and imposing, and the pronaos, or portico, is adorned with a beautiful cornice, supported by six square columns, with capitals formed of colossal representations of the head of Isis. Twenty-four cylindrical pillars, ranged four deep, support the roof, the capitals being quadrangular, and exhibiting on each face the representation of a temple, with a divinity under the portico of the sanctuary. Their height is fortysix feet, and the shafts are sculptured with hieroglyphics and figures in bassorelievo, as are the front and ceiling, the sides of which have been supposed to represent a zodiac.

The interior of the wall is ornamented with representations of Isis and other mythological figures, so that in whatever direction the eye of the spectator turns, these superstitions meet his view. The middle compartment of the ceiling, which appears covered with interesting devices, contains the representation of two of the most beautiful and interesting objects of Egypt, but connected with the superstitious views of their religion: the winged globe, and the sacred vulture, the guardian genius of the kings and heroes of Egypt. The other six compart

ments are equally filled with objects of their idolatrous devotion, so that the whole ceiling may be regarded as a pantheon, in which all their deities are portrayed, and stands as an emblem of the gross ignorance and superstition that prevailed.

Access is gained to the roof by means of a staircase, with steps so low that the priests might convey backwards and forwards their weighty paraphernalia of sacrifice. A great deal of discussion has taken place among antiquarians with respect to the age of the zodiac. Dr. Richardson supposes that, without the most unwarrantable supplements and the greatest distortion of interpretation, it cannot be considered a zodiac at all; "for, first, the number of signs is incomplete. The advocates for the zodiacal interpretation acknowledge this: there is no crab." He concludes by stating that "the whole is a mythological exhibition of the most interesting objects in the Egyptian theology, without having any reference whatever to astronomy." representation of this pretended or real zodiac has been published at Paris, which has been pronounced as at once to be "extremely elegant and extremely incorrect." The reality, whatever it is, is now in the French capital, the pacha having consented to forego it, and it was, therefore, skilfully cut out, and conveyed to its present situation, in the year 1822, by M. Lelorain. It was subsequently purchased by the French government for fifteen thousand francs, and placed in the Museum.

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Leaving the pronaos, the temple is entered, which is much choked up with stones and sand. The first apartment has on each side three columns, ornamented with sculpture and hieroglyphics, and surmounted with the head of Isis quadrifrons. "The walls behind the columns," says Mr. Richardson, are equally enriched; so that not a spot that the eye can rest on, but addresses to the mind a tale of interest and wonder. Though no man can read or unfold its present meaning, yet each forms to himself the conjecture of the story, and is pleased with the constant exercise of his mind. Passing on, we entered another apartment which has no columns, but the walls are decorated in the same manner; after which we moved into a third, which was equally so, and from which passages go off to small handsome side chambers, equally ornamented with

figures, and stars, and hieroglyphics, and a sort of chain work along the ceiling, which is blue. The passage to the right leads to an easy and handsome stair, by which to ascend to the top of the building. We continued our way, however, straight forward, and entered another chamber, in the centre of which stands the sanctuary, or holiest apartment; all of them rich in sculpture and hieroglyphics. Never did I see a greater field for thought and reflection, and never did I regret more the want of time than in visiting the temple of Denderah.

"Having finished our examination of the chambers below, we crawled through a passage that was much obstructed with sand and rubbish, and arrived at the stair formerly mentioned. The steps are thin and broad, and the ascent is remarkably easy, and nearly of the same angle of inclination as the passages in the great pyramid. On each side, the staircase is adorned with large sculptured figures of Osiris, Isis, priests, and sacred boats, arranged in procession, hieroglyphics, and other ornaments. No part is without its decorations. Everything seems to speak and move around you, and is so different from what a person meets with in any part of Europe, that the mind is astonished, and feels as if absolutely introduced to beings of olden time, to converse with them, and to witness the ceremonies by which they delighted to honour their god. Wherever you look, there is food for the mind and the eye. Even the sill of the narrow window is covered with a succession of many lines formed into a number of small cones united into a large one, each lower line of cones entering within the one above it by its apex, and extending beyond it at its base, thus forming a large cone, the apex of which is in the small chink by which the light is admitted. This is the manner in which the light is generally represented as streaming from a luminous globe. Nothing can possibly exceed the artist's execution of the design. On arriving at the top of the stair which led out to the top of the temple, we found it covered with a number of ruined huts, as if it had been, not long ago, the site of a considerable village." These ruins lead to an upper chamber of the temple, upon the ceiling of which a number of mythological representations are portrayed, resembling those in the pronaos below; and though fewer in number and differently arranged, they are also called a

zodiac, and, from its form, the circular zodiac. "The ceiling is encompassed with three broad circular lines, and it is only the central space that is occupied with this mythological table. It is represented as supported by the heads and outspread hands of four females, one from each corner of the room. The intermediate spaces, or those which are opposite to the two sides and two ends of the room, are occupied with two human figures with hawks' heads; they are turned face to face, and half kneeling, and, with their arms and hands spread out above their heads, support the tablet; so that there are twelve persons supporting this mythological table. The whole of the apartments must have been lighted artificially, which, putting aside the swarms of bats with which they are now infested, is undoubtedly the reason why the interior of the temple is so dark and fuliginous compared with the unsullied freshness that prevails on the walls."

Having descended over the walls, which is easily done from the immense accumulation of rubbish around their base, the exterior structure may be seen. The sculpture is equally elegant and interesting with that inside, the whole being well planned and elegantly executed. Isis is attired in the most gorgeous robes, curiously but richly carved. She is sometimes represented with the head of a lion, holding the sceptre of Osiris, and on other occasions as affectionately nursing Horus, who is receiving adoration and offerings.

"The temple of Denderah," says the intelligent visitor, Mr. Richardson, "is by far the finest in Egypt; the devices have more soul in them; and the execution is of the choicest description." There is a variety of opinion, however, on this question, which is worthy of notice. Another English traveller says that they are particularly interesting for their "extreme elegance as far as Egyptian sculpture is susceptible of that character. According to Champollion, they are détestables. Wathen observes that they are "rich, varied, elaborate-every minute ornament finished with the utmost nicety-but tame, lifeless, and insipid. They have none of the freedom of the rougher works of the old Pharaohs. The Ptolemaic sculptors were the better workmen, but worst artists." The walls and ceiling are profusely ornamented with representations of Isis and Osiris, the

deity with the human body and hawk's head, receiving homage and offerings from their respective votaries. The same long figure that forms the ceiling of the pronaos is here represented as breathing her sacred inspiration over the head of Osiris; a practice, of which there is a relic in Egypt at this very day. The dervish, having called upon the name of God in deep and hollow tones before making a fresh inspiration, breathes upon the face of the person upon whom he would confer his blessing; believing that the breath which comes from the lungs immediately after pronouncing the name of God, is fraught with the most gracious and salutary efficacy.

About a hundred yards in advance of the chief structure, and at right angles to it, is a smaller temple, which would have formed part of the side of the dromos, if such an enclosure had been in contemplation. It is called by Strabo the Typhonium; and surrounded by columns on three sides with foliate capitals, which are surmounted by square blocks, sculptured on each face with a hideous figure of Typhon, the evil genius. He is a horrible-looking dwarf, of a broad, squat make, with a wrinkled face, distorted by a horrid grin, looking like a man in the mask of a demon. Before him stands his very appropriate-looking wife, a monstrous misshaped figure, and between them the child Horus, seated on a full-blown lotus, with his fingers on his mouth, emblematic of silence. On the walls of an inner apartment he is seated on a couch, supported by four lions, and twelve cynocephali, or erect quadrupeds. He is nursed by Isis leo, and Isis vacca, and on each side are numerous representations of women with children in their arms and on their knees, and Isis with Horus. The sculptures of Denderah attracted the attention of the Sepoys of the Anglo-Indian army when serving against the French, who had invaded the country towards the commencement of the present century. They declared they beheld portraitures of their native gods, and at once offered their adorations. Though a superstitious people, and acting as if they were on this occasion, yet their conduct in the midst of the pride and pageantry of the campaign might well afford a reproof to many a so-called Christian.

F.

GERMAN INFIDELITY EXPOSED.

WE have heard much of late of the socalled "rationalism" of Germany. One of its schools of philosophy, that of Hegel, exhibits God as divested of all personal qualities; it confounds, in fact, the Creator with his works, and is essentially a system of pantheism.

At this fountain of error David Frederick Strauss, a man of considerable sagacity and various attainments, drank deeply, and secretly prepared with great labour his "Life of Jesus," which was published in 1835.

One object he contemplated was to show that though such a person once lived, and imagined himself to be the Messiah, yet he was in reality an ordinary and deluded man, and that all the miracles recorded of him are mere exaggerations of simple facts. In subsequent editions of his work, he slightly modified some of his opinions; but these concessions were afterwards revoked, and the fourth edition remains substantially the same as the first.

Some remarkable circumstances have arisen in connexion with this sceptical work, which was intended to astonish the world. Strauss considered that it proceeded on principles which would clearly distinguish between fable and fact, and prided himself on the test, which he imagined was complete. We shall see, however, that his complacency must have been of short duration.

A manuscript was forwarded to him by Dr. Meinhold, a clergyman in Usedom, in Prussian Pomerania, suggesting that it might possibly illustrate by analogy some narratives in the New Testament. It bore the title of the "Amber Witch," portrayed the troubles of pastor Schweidler, of Usedom; described his child as accused of witchcraft, put to the torture, and sentenced to death, and as at length saved by a Divine and gracious interposition. The title is derived from the subject of the trial having employed herself in digging for amber by night in the Streckelburg, meaning to sell it and to make a present of the works of St. Augustine to her father.

After the manuscript had been sent to Strauss, it was presented to the king of Prussia, who ordered it to be printed, and it was published in 1843. The royal patronage it thus obtained, together with its attractive character, secured for it an immediate and large circulation. A translation of the work appeared in this country, where it was extensively read, and