present day; and it is singular that they had devised no substitute for mere manual labour, if we except the hydraulic screw, which is said to have been a late introduction, and, according to Diodorus *, invented and first employed in Egypt by Archimedes. Indeed, if the foot machine mentioned by Philo was really a wheel turned by the foot, it cannot have been a very great relief to the labourer, and we must attach considerable blame to the priests for their indifference to the comforts of the people, when we contemplate the grandeur of their public buildings, and consider the great mechanical skill necessary for their erection.

The Egyptians were not singular in this neglect of useful improvements, or in their disregard for the waste of time and labour resulting from the use of such imperfect means: the same may be observed among the Greeks and Romans; and those enlightened people, who bestowed the greatest attention upon ornamental objects, and who had arrived at a high degree of excellence in the manufacture of jewellery, and several articles of household furniture, were contented to remain on the level of barbarous communities in the imperfect style of many ordinary implements. To workmen who devised some novelty for adding to the splendour of a house, or the decoration of the person, great inducements were held out, by the certainty of immediate patronage; and their ingenuity, confident of reward, was naturally directed to such inventions. These

suited the caprices of a luxurious and wealthy people, but they felt no disposition to repay the laudable endeavours of an artist who suggested a method for diminishing the toil of the lower classes; and time and labour were deemed of far less value than in modern days. All that was intended for external show, or was exposed to view*, was exquisitely finished; but the keys and locks of that door, whose panels, handles, and other external parts, evinced no ordinary skill, were rude and imperfect: the latter, if they simply answered the purpose, satisfied; the former failed to please, unless they promised to flatter the pride of their possessor, by commanding admiration. The same remark applies to the coarse and primitive construction of the Roman mills; and these may justly be compared to the rude hydraulic mechanism of the ancient Egyptians. Nor are these cases without a parallel at the present day; and every one, who visits the continent of Europe, must be struck with a similar disregard to many improvements, which, though long since known, and evidently tending to comfort, and a decrease of labour, still continue to be looked upon with indifference, while inventions contributing to display and luxury are adopted on their first appearance.

Water-skins were also used for irrigation by the Egyptians, as well as for sprinkling the ground before the rooms or seats of the grandeest, and they

* This does not apply to Greek temples, where the parts concealed from the spectator were wrought with the same care as the most exposed features.

+ A common custom in the East.

aaa Water-skins suspended close to the tank b.

c Beds of a garden, laid out as at the present day in Egypt, very like our salt pans. Thebes.

No. 126.

Part of the garden was laid out in walks shaded with trees, usually planted in rows, and surrounded, at the base of the stem, with a circular ridge of earth, which, being lower at the centre than at the circumference, retained the water, and directed it more immediately towards the roots.

It is difficult

to say if they were trimmed into any particular shape, or if their formal appearance in the sculpture is merely owing to a conventional mode of representing them; but, since the pomegranate, and some other fruit trees, are drawn with spreading

sycamores, and others, which presented large masses of foliage, were really trained in that formal manner; though from the hieroglyphic signifying "tree" having the same shape, it may only be a general character for all trees.

No. 128. Pomegranate,

Thebes.

No. 129. Figurative hieroglyphic signifying "tree."

Among the Romans, this mode of cutting trees was confined to certain kinds, as the myrtle, laurel, box, and others; and the office of trimming them into different shapes was delegated to slaves, instructed in the art, or opus topiarium*, from which they received the name of topiarii.

The palms in the Egyptian sculptures are well designed, and the dôms † may be easily recognised; but most of the other trees and plants would perplex the most expert botanist, and few, except the lotus, can be determined with certainty.

ORCHARD AND VINEYARD.

The large gardens were usually divided into different parts; the principal sections being appro

*Vide Flin. Nat. Hist. xv. 30., on the laurel.
The Cucifera Thebaica, or Theban palm.

priated to the date and sycamore trees, and to the vineyard. The former might be looked upon as the orchard, but similar enclosures being also allotted to other trees, they equally lay claim to this name; we cannot therefore apply a fixed appellation to any part but the vineyard itself.

Gardens are frequently represented in the tombs of Thebes and other parts of Egypt, many of which are remarkable for their extent. The one, here introduced, is shown to have been surrounded by

an

No. 150. A large garden, with the vineyard and other separate enclosures, tanks of water, and a small house. From the Work of Prof. Rosellini.