INTRODUCTION". 7

engraving in intaglio on all kinds of metals, and finally on
precious stones. The holy writings particularly notice the art-
Witness the seal-ring, which Pharaoh took from his finger to
place on that of Joseph. —The stones in the breast-plate of
the high priest were engraven with the names of the tribes; the
words are remarkable, " With the work of an engraver in stones,
like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave them; and set
them in owches of gold, and put them on the shoulders of the
ephod." Even the names of the artists are honourably recorded;
and no common mind is supposed to be capable of excelling in
such delicate performances, for " it was put in the heart of Beza-
leel, that he might teach them that were filled with wisdom to work
all manner of work of the engraver.

But though the Egyptians brought to some perfection the me-
chanical, they made but little progress in the poetical, part. Their
invention was barren, and of the beautiful they had no concep-
tion. Their figures are generally executed with care, but the de-
sign is hard and stiff. We find on these Egyptian stones the di-
vinities of the country, and all those symbolical and hieroglyphi-
cal figures which still serve to excite, not to appease, the curiosity
of the learned.

But what can we hope from a people, whose artists were com-
pelled by their priests to conform to certain unvarying attitudes i
no artist was permitted to alter the practice, or change the prin-
ciple of his unfortunate predecessor.

Stiffness and immobility formed the characteristic of the Egyp-
tian artists; their taste was for the colossal, and the solid; and
here it was sublime. But it is reasonable to conjecture, that the