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THE BRIDE OF THE NILE.

THE moon, not yet a perfect orb, rode high in the azure heavens, throwing her beams over the large sheet of water which yearly for a hundred days overspreads the land of Egypt. The channel of the Nile was lost in a mimic sea, stretching on the east towards the Arabian hills far as the eye could reach; and on the west, restrained in its bed only by the woody mountains which separate the fertile plains of Egypt from the burning sands of desert Lybia. The wide expanse was studded with innumerable islands; for such appeared each mighty city towering majestically from the clear bosom of the waters, as though the glorious works of man could alone bid defiance to the insidious tide which had slowly and silently crept over the pastures of the fruitful land. These temporary islands were linked together by long causeways, breaking by their dark lines the surface of the dormant lake, and forming the only land communication between the several cities while the inundation lasted.

On the banks of the hidden Nile, stood Memphis the Superb, enthroned in all the vast magnificence of age; its splendid halls and ornamented fanes reflecting the rays of the summer moon on their polished columns. South of the city, and washed by the dark river, was the rampart of a hundred stadia, which Misraïm, son of Ham, had built to save his rising palaces from the encroaching waves: and far above it stood in pillared glory, the temple of Vulcan, erected by the same proud founder of the Egyptian monarchy, to emulate in beauty and immense proportions, that far-famed Babel Tower, in whose ruin his father was also involved. Terrace upon terrace rose the varied buildings and noble colonnades, till the whole structure seemed the work of magic, rather than the labour of an oppressed people toiling for a thousand years.

Here

Overlooking the loveliest gardens in the world, and extending the whole length of the city, appeared the palace of the Pharoahs, conspicuous by its isolated situation, and by the many lofty pillars of green porphyry, which, sculptured in imitation of the desert palm, supported the flat roof of the building. Mycerinus, the beloved and good, heard the complaints and soothed the miseries of his exhausted people, who, for a hundred years, had experienced every ill the tyranny of his predecessors could inflict. Cheops and Cephrenes, during their long and bloody reigns, had made their fainting subjects toil beneath the fierce glow

of an African sun and the scourges of relentless taskmasters, to raise those mighty pyramids, which now stood in the clear distance, scarcely throwing a shadow on the plain at their base. These wonders of every age were erected but for tombs by the cruel monarchs, who imagined fabrics so gigantic alone worthy of their remains. Vain labour! they were denied by their enraged subjects the burial-places they had so dearly purchased. Some spot unknown, unwept, contains their relics, and nothing remains to posterity but the monuments of their cruelty-the catalogue of their crimes.

Mycerinus was now erecting by their side a third pyramid, which though inferior in size, still occupied a million of the cunning artificers of the land. Unlike his hard hearted father and uncle, he employed them only in the cool night season, and had them treated with mildness and humanity. The glare of innumerable torches shone on the wonderful machines and engines, now unknown, by aid of which the ponderous stones were raised, and cast their red light on the rafts, which groaning beneath the weight of huge blocks of granite and porphyry, hewn in the quarries of Ethiopia, were slowly towed along the current of the stream. These blocks when landed on the plain were to be engraven with the mystic characters of the priests; and then, elevated by mighty efforts, they were to be curiously mounted one above the other in giant steps, inclosing a vast square at the base, but gradually lessening the space

as the building proceeded, till, like its fellows on the Memphian plain, a single stone was to form the summit; where, stretching far below, the wide extended land of Egypt might be viewed; its cities, temples, obelisks, and palm groves, scarcely distinguishable in the grey mists of distance. The faint din of this stupendous labour was heard in the very heart of Memphis, though that distant thunder roused not its inhabitants from their luxurious enjoyments. The indolent Egyptians floated along the stream in small boats, which shone like gaudy insects on the surface of the waters; every brilliant hue traced in the rainbow adorning their shallow sides. Some were moved along by the aid of light paddles, whilst others caught on their sails of purple and gold the pure breeze of the Etesian wind* as it swept across the lake, breaking the moonbeams into a thousand brilliant sparkles, yet scarcely rippling the tide sufficiently to rock these light papyrus vessels, which, dedicated to Isis, were sacred from the grasp of the fierce river-monsters. For when the Goddess sought the body of her lost Osiris on the waves, she framed her bark of the sacred Byblus-plant, from which circumstance the holy crocodile, remembering her despair, in reverence shuns these fragile boats.

There seemed this night a strange commotion among the usually drowsy people; the numerous vessels were propelled with greater swiftness; sometimes hundreds

North-west wind.

of them congregated together forming one dark mass, then darting off in different directions, they joined other parties, or were lost under the black arcades beneath the royal gardens. Consternation appeared to reign around, but chiefly within the stately palace of the king. The monarch had rent his clothes, and sprinkled ashes on his head, thus mourning his threatened doom; the courtiers had thrown themselves with their faces to the earth; the maids of Egypt chanted the dirge of Alancros, and nothing was heard throughout those splendid halls but lamentation and prayer.

For

Mycerinus, when he ascended the throne of his father, had piously sent to the city of Butus, south of the Sebennytic mouth of the Nile, to consult the oracle of Latona concerning the future events of his reign. a year and a day, the Goddess heeded neither the daily sacrifice smoking on her altars, nor the mighty incantations of her holy priests; till Mycerinus, impatient of the delay, sent other and more splendid gifts. With infinite labour he caused to be conveyed down the river, as a propitiatory offering to Latona, a wonderful chamber, formed of a single stone hollowed out, and containing a square of forty cubits on every side. To the priest of the temple of Apollo in the island of Chemmis, which floated on a broad deep lake near the city, he gave three golden suns enriched with costly gems, one for each of the altars of the god; and to the shrine of Diana, a crescent of the purest diamonds. These

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