went to Ethiopia and founded the state. This would indicate that the Egyptian monarchy was established after the Ethiopian, and the latter after the Babylonian. The monarchy of Egypt is supposed to have been founded by Menes, according to Usher's chronology, 2222 B. C., only about twelve years after the dispersion of mankind. Others have placed that event a few years later, and others many centuries later still. Hieroglyphics found upon ancient monuments have been deciphered and explained by Champollion, Young, Spolin, Akerblad, Zoega, Seyffarth, Kosegarten and others, still it is extremely doubtful whether it can be exactly ascertained when Menes commenced his reign. The statements of historians and chronologists are so various and contradictory that we are forced back to the inspired volume as the only reliable source of information in respect to the earliest history of that country. The Hebrew term (mitsráyim) translated Egypt, is the name of a grandson of Noah, and refers us directly back to a period soon after the deluge (Gen. x. 1--6). We are informed in the twelfth chapter of Genesis, that Abraham, in consequence of a famine which was prevailing in the land of Canaan, went down into Egypt. This, according to our usual computation, was 1920 years B. C., or 314 after the dispersion. There the patriarch found a sovereign, a court, and princes. About 1720 B. C. Joseph was carried into Egypt, as described in Gen. xxxix.

Some suppose that the Egyptians were a colony from India, as the pyramids are very similar in their construction to the pagodas of that country, and contain sacred relics, and not the bones of kings, indicating that they may have been originally intended for Buddhist temples.

It has been said that India could not have received her religion from the Egyptians, Persians, Greeks or Romans, as that would have been in utter violation of her most sacred tenets. It is possible that Egypt, in very early times, received some knowledge of the arts and sciences and of religious customs from India; but there are so few well authenticated facts upon the subject it is difficult to decide.

The ancient Jews undoubtedly adopted many customs of the people among whom they dwelt. When in Egypt, they worshipped Egyptian deities, when in the wilderness, they did homage to the gods of the Canaanites, Egyptians, Ammonites and Moabites, and when in Judæa to those of the Phoenicians, Syrians and others. Jacob induced his family to adore the God of the He brews, but soon after his death, they forgot the instructions of a kind father and bowed down to Egyptian deities.

After the return of the Jews from captivity, however, they seem to have adhered more generally to the worship of Jehovah, as we do not find that they were rebuked for idolatry. With the exception of a few under Antiochus Epiphanes (Mac. i. 12, etc.) they preserved the worship of God in its purity. To imitate their heathen neighbors in religious matters was regarded as idolatry, and the severest denunciations were uttered. against it.

It was different, however, in respect to music, which was innocent in itself and might be useful as well as pleasant for recreation, and very beneficial in religious worship. The Hebrews undoubtedly retained much of the knowledge of music and many of the forms

of musical instruments with which they became ac quainted while in Egypt. If they copied other things from the natives, it is reasonable to suppose that so attractive an art as music would be imitated.

Shall we then present a brief view of the art in ancient Egypt? There are strong reasons to believe that the Egyptians cultivated music nearly from the time of their existence as a nation, though within certain limits, as not all were permitted to practise it. So in the East at the present day, there are particular classes who may be musicians, such as the Almeh, Gasie, Tschingane, etc. Niebuhr informs us that "it is deemed improper for a respectable Turk or Arab to understand music. The people of rank, therefore, among the Orientals, being themselves, by no means, great connoisseurs of the art of music, and those who apply themselves to it being not so well paid as they are with us, it is not at all strange that this art has not advanced to such a degree in this part of the world as it has in Europe." It is probable that the Egyptians were acquainted with a rude kind of music, even in their nomadic state. The assertion of Diodorus Siculus, that they prohibited the cultivation of the art, is contradicted by Plato, who resided in Egypt, attending to literary pursuits, for thirteen years. Strabo informs us that the Egyptians taught their children letters, songs, and a certain species of music, which was established by government. Instruments of music must have been known by that people in very early times, as they are found sculptured on the ruins of their most ancient monuments. Distinguished travelers have visited the country at different periods, and abundantly proved the fact that the early inhabitants were acquainted with the three

grand classes, viz: percussion, stringed, and wind instruments. It is possible, and perhaps probable, that the same kinds of instruments which were used before the deluge, were employed after that event, and perhaps in ancient Egypt. Indeed, Noah may have preserved some of them, and it is possible that antediluvian instruments or parts of them may have been found after that event. However this may have been, Noah, as we have before intimated (vid. pp. 43, 44, 52, supra), doubtless was acquainted with the antediluvian music, and transmitted that knowledge of the art to his posterity. It is evident that there were instruments after the deluge having the same names as those which were employed by Jubal.

Music is mentioned in the sacred Scriptures as existing about 600 years after the flood, or a little more than 1700 years B. C. About 1500 B. C. the lyrical effusions of Moses appear. From Gen. xxxi. 27, we perceive that both vocal and instrumental music was practised, and probably common at the time to which reference is made in that passage. The event there described occurred in Haran, where Laban resided, a little more than 600 years after the deluge. That town was on the way from Chaldæa to Canaan (Gen. xi. 31), and not a great distance from Egypt. But long before that time, as we have already intimated, music was cultivated on the Nile.

We find instruments of music sculptured on the most ancient monuments. Champollion informs us that the sculptures on the monument El Asaffif are ascertained to be more than 3500 years old, having been wrought about 1615 B. C., or, according to Usher, about 577 years after the monarchy of Egypt was established. The first coasting trade in Egypt is supposed to have commenced with

Phoenician smugglers, and with Inachus, who led an Egyptian colony to Greece in Phoenician vessels about 1836 B. C. The Scripture account of foreign states, names Shishak as the Pharaoh of Egypt and ally of Jeroboam about 975 B. C. (vid. 1 Kings xi. 40; xiv. 25; II Chron. xii. 2, 5, 7, 9). I'sammeticus established a monarchy which continued from 636 to 525 B. C. The nation was then highly civilized, and music and the various arts and sciences were in a flourishing state. Egypt next became subject to Cambyses, and was incorporated into the Persian empire. Alexander conquered the country B. C. 332. After the division of the Macedonian empire, the reign of the Ptolemies began.

From very early times, improvements were doubtless made in music and the fine arts. The numerous sculptures and inscriptions on Egyptian monuments are full of interest, and richly repay the labor of investigation. Dr. Shaw traveled in several parts of Barbary and the Levant, and collected materials upon the subject for publication, between 1720 and 1733. He presents important information in reference to the music of those countries which he visited. In respect to ancient Egypt, he testifies, as many had done before him, that representations of musical instruments, and especially the sistrum, may be found sculptured on various ruins upon the Nile (vid. Vol. I., p. 202 sq.; Vol. II., p. 350 sq., ed. 1757). Dr. Alexander Russell, in his Natural History of Aleppo, published in 1754 and 1794, has given important information in respect to the present state of music and musical instruments in a part of the East; but he says very little about ancient music, and especially that of ancient Egypt (Vol. I., pp. 142, 145, 147, 150-156, with plate iv. and