DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70267#0045
OF THE SPHYNX.
31
blance of all extremes ; and teaches us that it is easier for
the miser, as well as for the spendthrift,—for William Fuller
as well as Charles Surface—to be generous than to be just.
OF THE SPHYNX.
Having chosen this hieroglyphical figure as an embellish-
ment to our cover, and though the Sphynx has been a com-
mon ornament in all Egyptian architecture, it may be here
proper to notice, that the whole and individual figure which
we have chosen to represent, is accurately taken from the
celebrated monument of Egyptian antiquity which is still to
be seen about sixty yards to the right of the great pyramid,
from the eastern point, and opposite Cairo. This enor-
mous figure, carved out of one stone, was considerably di-
minished in its bulk by the accumulation of sand, till the
industry of the French had lately uncovered more of this
figure than had been seen for centuries past. The most of
its features have been mutilated by different barbarians from
time to time; its face, perfectly Nubian, still preserves a
considerable degree of feminine beauty; it has no breasts,
neither are the feet visible; and as the rock seems to have
been cut for the particular purpose of exhibiting the back
of a lion, this representation is said to intimate that when
the sun passes from Leo into Virgo, the increase of the
Nile is sure to follow. The height of the Sphynx is 26 feet,
the circumference of the head 12, while the length of the
back is supposed to be nearly 60 feet. But relative to the
supposition of a subterraneous passage from thence to the
pyramids, it is proved totally unfounded. A very elegant
print has lately been published of the Sphynx in this metro-
polis.
.Extraor-
31
blance of all extremes ; and teaches us that it is easier for
the miser, as well as for the spendthrift,—for William Fuller
as well as Charles Surface—to be generous than to be just.
OF THE SPHYNX.
Having chosen this hieroglyphical figure as an embellish-
ment to our cover, and though the Sphynx has been a com-
mon ornament in all Egyptian architecture, it may be here
proper to notice, that the whole and individual figure which
we have chosen to represent, is accurately taken from the
celebrated monument of Egyptian antiquity which is still to
be seen about sixty yards to the right of the great pyramid,
from the eastern point, and opposite Cairo. This enor-
mous figure, carved out of one stone, was considerably di-
minished in its bulk by the accumulation of sand, till the
industry of the French had lately uncovered more of this
figure than had been seen for centuries past. The most of
its features have been mutilated by different barbarians from
time to time; its face, perfectly Nubian, still preserves a
considerable degree of feminine beauty; it has no breasts,
neither are the feet visible; and as the rock seems to have
been cut for the particular purpose of exhibiting the back
of a lion, this representation is said to intimate that when
the sun passes from Leo into Virgo, the increase of the
Nile is sure to follow. The height of the Sphynx is 26 feet,
the circumference of the head 12, while the length of the
back is supposed to be nearly 60 feet. But relative to the
supposition of a subterraneous passage from thence to the
pyramids, it is proved totally unfounded. A very elegant
print has lately been published of the Sphynx in this metro-
polis.
.Extraor-