Poole, Reginald S.: The cities of Egypt (London, 1882)

MEMPHIS.

17

the Egyptian land of the shades, the abode of the sun
after his setting. The city of the living has perished, the
city of the dead remains, remains with the royal
sepulchres, and around them the humbler tombs of
subjects, sculptured and inscribed with the lively records
of what was done in the remote past by those whose
mummies have crumbled to dust in the lapse of ages.
Memphis the lost is here recovered. We may walk
through the silent streets of the City of the Dead, as did
the hero of an old Egyptian romance, and read the
writings that are engraven on the outer walls of the
tombs, and we shall not listen to the words of any one
who, like the magician who accosted him, shall tell us
our interest is profitless. For we have discovered the
true magic in the recovery of the records of the past, in
giving speech to the long-silent utterances of the hopes
and fears, the joys and sorrows of the fathers of man-
kind, who return from the underworld and admit us to
their company, as, having interpreted the title without,
we can enter each sepulchral chapel and understand
when and why and for whom its pictured reliefs were
made in olden time.

The foundation of Memphis is the first event in
c