Note xxxix. p. 386). In 1737 and 1738 Captain Norden and Dr. R. Pococke traveled in Egypt, and gave an interesting account of their discoveries; but said little concerning ancient music. Pococke brought a seal from that country upon which was engraved a kind of harp, but not of much authority. He also found a statue of Isis, upon which was sculptured a sistrum (Decr. of the East, Vol. I., p. 214, plate lxv). Sistra are described by Jablonski and Bernardo de Montfauçon, in their works on Egyptian antiquities. Dr. Pococke, on p. 186, describes the Nakous, a kind of castanet (plate lvii. fig. iv). Calmet informs us that Captain Norden found the guitar in use among the modern Egyptians. Pfeiffer investigated this subject in 1779; but there was then comparatively a small amount of information accessible to the scholar upon Egyptian antiquities, the only sources being occasional references to the subject contained in the sacred Scriptures, a little light from the Greeks, Romans, and Phoenicians, some sculptures from dilapidated ruins,* a small number of coins, and the Isiac Table. This last was discovered at Rome in 1525, but is now lost, though correct drawings of it are extant. It contained, among other sculptures, that of a harp and sistruin. Its origin is doubtful, some supposing it to be really Egyptian, while others believe it to have been made for the Egyptians at Rome.† Pfeiffer was only acquainted with these rather uncertain sources and what other information was

* Vid. Calmet, Vol. III., p. 259, No. 203, ed. Charlestown, 1813.

+ Rees' Cyclop. Art. Isiac; Burney's Hist. Music, Vol. I., p. 205, 520; Montfauçon Antiq. Com. Red., p. 174, and Jablonskii Opuscula, Tres. Dis., Tom. XI., pp. 227-273.

then known in respect to music in the East. He, indeed, presents many interesting considerations; but since his day many important discoveries in respect to Egyptian antiquities have been made. The tomb of Ismonides or Osymandyas, particularly described by Diodorus Siculus (Lib. i., c. 47), is supposed to have been built 2000 years B. C. Pococke informs us that the walls of its rooms were adorned with sculptures consisting, among other things, of instruments of music. If Diodorus' testimony is to be credited, the tomb must have been built about 200 years after the monarchy of Egypt was founded, and about 350 years after the deluge, indicating the very early cultivation of music in that land. From a broken pillar of great antiquity in the Campus Martius at Rome, Dr. Burney obtained the drawing of an instrument-a kind of Dichord Guitar, corresponding, as nearly as can be ascertained from an imperfect sculpture, to the following cut, Fig. iv.

The globe or rounding part of the instrument, at the lower end, approaches nearer to a parallelogram with rounded corners, than the drawing would indicate. The pillar or obelisk from which this representation was taken, with another pillar, was brought to Rome by the command of Augustus after he had reduced Egypt to a Roman province. It is supposed to have been erected at Heliopolis by Sesostris, perhaps in commemoration of the invention of the Egyptian guitar nearly 400 years before the Trojan war. It was placed in the Campus Martius at Rome, and when the city was sacked and burned by the Duke of Bourbon, general to the Emperor Charles V. in 1727, this ancient obelisk was thrown down and broken.

Subsequently, Niebuhr traveled in Egypt and present

ed a more full and accurate account of modern music, and especially of musical instruments in that country than any one preceding him. Abbé de St. Non of Paris, a short time before his death in 1791, published his views in which are sketched from the walls of the Royal sepulchres west of Thebes and from the temple of Tentyra or Denderah, seven figures of musical instruments with their performers. There is found the ancient form of the harp with four strings. The information which he furnished was of much more importance than any thing which had previously been published. It was left for the Savans of Napoleon to lay open the true state of the arts and sciences in ancient Egypt. In some cases, they as well as other writers, have added in their drawings, modern drapery; for instance the priest described by Bruce as playing upon the harp, is clad in a deep black robe striped with white, instead of a white one spotted with red according to the Egyptian costume. The man, who is represented as sitting in a chair at a short distance listening to the music, appears in blue pantaloons and waistcoat and a cap resembling the cap of liberty, which are not Egyptian. The Savans have been criticised by Dr. Russell and others on that account; but they have given a far more reliable and full view than any of their predecessors.

Description

The great work of the Savans, entitled " de l'Egypte "* is an important help upon this subject, as

*We would here present our acknowledgments to the librarians of Harvard University, and of the Astor Library in this city, in furnishing every requisite facility for the examination of this great work and others upon Egyptian antiquities. Several of our engravings of instruments were copied from the work of the Savans.

it treats extensively of modern as well as ancient Egyptian music. In respect to the latter, Villoteau, who had charge of the department relating to music, takes Jablonski chiefly, as his philological guide. He first made himself thoroughly acquainted with modern Egyptian music in all of its branches, then uniting his own observations with the learned investigations of Jablonski, he was enabled to present a very accurate and full view of the whole subject. In his plates we find elegant engravings of the three grand classes into which the musical instruments are usually divided, and under such circumstances as to fully authenticate their high antiquity. They were taken from ruins on the island of Phila, at Elethyia, now called El Kab; Tentyra or Denderah; in the tombs of the Pyramids of Memphis; and the copious ruins of sepulchres and temples in and around Thebes. The exact antiquity of these splendid ruins cannot be ascertained. Of the island of Philæ, Belzoni remarks, "the prospect of the island and its ruins is truly magnificent, particularly at some distance, though it is extremely barren."

*

**"The style of the hieroglyphics, proves that the edifice on it, which consists of two temples nearly united together, is of the last era of the Egyptian nation, in my opinion of the Ptolemies."

Elethyia (Einulas Podis, Latin, Lucina), is situated on the east side of the Nile between fifty and sixty miles north of Syene, and not as far south of Thebes. The ruins are quite extensive, lying in the modern village called El Kab, which is supposed to be near the place where the ancient city stood. These ruins have every appearance of being very ancient. Belzoni found the place surrounded by a high wall of unburned brick, also