door, they had occasionally a sort of balcony, or at least a row of bars*, with a column in the centre.

The walls and ceilings were richly paintedt, and frequently with admirable taste; but of their effect we can only judge from those of the tombs, where they are preserved far more perfectly than in the houses, few of which retain any vestiges of the stucco, or of the coloured devices that once adorned them. The ceilings were laid out in compartments, each having a pattern with an appropriate border; in many instances reminding us so strongly of Greek taste, that we should feel surprised to find them on monuments of the early periods of the 18th and preceding dynasties, if there was not authority for believing that the Greeks borrowed numerous devices from Egypt; and we may ascribe to the same origin the scarab, the harpy, and several of the ornamental emblems on Greek and Etruscan vases. The favourite forms were the lotus, the square, the diamond, the circle, and above all, the succession of scrolls, and square within square, usually called the Tuscan border, both which are of ordinary occur. rence, on Greek and Etruscan, as well as Egyptian vases; and those given in the accompanying platet, from a tomb at E' Sioot, painted upon a black or dark bronze ground, though of an age prior to the year 1600 before our era, are perhaps the most elegant, and, which is very remarkable,

As in wood-cut, No. 110.

+ Conf. Jer. xxii. 14. "I will build a large house cedar, and painted with vermilion."

ceiled with

bear the nearest resemblance to a Greek style. Similar designs were adopted by the Romans, some of which, having been found in the baths of Titus, gave Raphael the idea of his celebrated and novel arabesques; and the paintings of Pompeii make us acquainted with a still greater variety.

That the Greeks and Romans far surpassed the Egyptians in taste, and in the numerous combinations they used to adorn their rooms, is evident; a natural result of the encouragement given to invention, which Egypt, fettered by regulations and prejudices, preventing the developement of taste, and cramping the genius of her artists, never enjoyed; but however the laqueata tecta of the Romans surpassed in richness and beauty of effect the ceilings of an Egyptian house, divided as they were into numerous compartments, presenting cornices, mouldings, and embossed fretwork, painted, gilt, and even inlaid with ivory*, still in the general mode of decoration, they, like the stuccoed walls, bore a striking analogy to those in the mansions of Thebes, and other cities on the Nile.

SHOPS.

The form and character of the shops depended on the will, or peculiar trade, of the person to whom they belonged; and many, no doubt, sat and sold

* Plin. xxxiii. 3., and xxxv. 40. Virg. Æn. i. 726. The ceilings of Turkish palaces, executed by Greek artists, are frequently very handsome, and display great elegance and taste. Their painted walls, adorned with columns and various designs, are an imitation of the ancient style: but very inferior.

in the streets, as at the present day. Poulterers suspended geese and other birds from a pole, in front of the shop, which at the same time supported an awning to shade them from the sun;

wm

No. 115.

A poulterer's shop.

Thebes.

and many of the shops rather resembled our stalls, being open in front with the goods exposed on shelves, or hanging from the inner wall, as is still the custom in the bazars of eastern towns. But these belong more properly to a description of the trades.

VILLAS.

Besides the town houses, the Egyptians had extensive villas, which, with a very commodious mansion, contained spacious gardens, watered by canals communicating with the Nile. They had also tanks of water in different parts of the garden, which served for ornament, as well as for irrigation, when the Nile was low; and on these, the master