In considering what lyrical production I should substitute for the Female Smuggler-for it was with me a clear case of "No Song, no Supper," the sound of a shrill voice, chanting carols, struck upon my ear. I followed the sound, and arrived at the corner of a lane whence the sacred melody was pouring forth-I approached, and found the musician a youth of some eleven years of age, rolling his eyes on diverging axes, and straining his throat as if his heart would break-as well it might, for the poor youth was singing to empty benches, he cried out like Wisdom in the streets, but no man paid the slightest attention to him! Now, I sing a remarkable second-remarkable, inasmuch as it is not the result of a knowledge of music, scientifically or practically-but an instinctive blending of a second in strict harmony with any tuneable voice-I cannot help it, and I cannot go wrong-hum an opera air, I will chime in a second to the fraction of a semitone-sing a second, I will come in mathematically with a bass-descend into bass, I harmonize with a tolerable falsetto. I never could account for this; but, if I ever have the honour of an introduction to Mr Hogarth, who has made himself master of the subject, I intend to ask him all about it. I chimed in, however, with the youth, and very soon attracted a not inconsiderable auditory, who, I could easily perceive, were true judges of correct taste and harmonious execution. A few coppers fell into the hands of the straining youth, who took occasion to observe, at the close of one of our carols, that, if I continued to assist him, he had no objection to let me go "snacks." To this I very readily assented, and the straining youth and myself having expended a halfpenny each in small beer to keep us in voice, carolled through the town of Swillingham with such great and unprecedented success, that, when we found ourselves unable to get out another note, we were in the joint possession of the gross sum of fifteen-pence halfpenny, with which we proposed immediately to adjourn to our hotel. The reader is not to suppose that we entered beneath one of those houses of extortion, which suspend a lie over their doors in the shape of some green dragon, blue lion, golden griffin, or such like fabulous monster, never to be seen, except at Greenwich fair, in "rerum natura,"-we entered a house in the lane where I first discovered the straining youth, and which displayed, in a window of two feet square, an assortment of red herrings, pipes, ballads, penny rolls, rush-lights, bacon, matches, and ge neral merchandise. We entered, as I have said; when the straining youth demanded, authoritatively, to know what he could have for supper; to which the matron of the mansion replied by another interrogatory, "what he had got to pay it with." The reply to this business-like request, was a display of the fifteenpence halfpenny upon the table, which completely satisfied the lady of the house, who set about preparing our supper con amore, while the youth and myself amused our innocent minds by arranging in the Macedonian phalanx the fifteenpence halfpenny, until the banquet was announced as quite ready. We began, I recollect, with a salt herring-removed by a quarter of a pound of streaky bacon seven pounds of potatoes, a penny roll each, and a quart of small beer. The bill, which I also well remember, was as follows:-Fish, a penny bacon, twopence-vegetables, twopence halfpenny-bread, twopencebeer, one-penny,-the sum total of the joint repast, eightpence halfpenny, fire, cooking, and candles included. This I submit to the consideration of gentlemen frequenting the Clarendon; and I ought to add, that our lodging was twopence each, waiters, chambermaids, and boots inclusive. My belly was full, and my spirits, as is always the case, buoyant in proportion-I drank to the health of the factory boy-for such was the profession of the straining youth with many expressions of the pleasure I felt in making his acquaintancewhich the factory boy-with a pull at the small beer, returned by wishing me a merry Christmas and plenty of 'em; to which I replied across the table in a "neat and appropriate speech." We then proposed "the King, and the rest of the royal family," which was responded to with enthusiasm whereupon the matron said we were good boys, and might have another mug of beer, if we chose to pay for it, which hospitable offer the factory boy, with a wink at me, declined. As the factory boy was the only gentleman of a literary turn of mind I had encountered since my arrival in England, I thought I might as well, for I was always insufferably vain, have his opinion of certain poetical trifles, in the composition of which I had amused myself while in the newspaper line, but which my late lamented friend Crick considered, one and all, as very low, and every way inferior to the Kilriddery Hunt, as, in truth, was the case. The factory boy, I thought, might be of a different opinion; and, whether he was or not, I proposed to my. self the gratification of spouting my own doggrel, which is luxury enough to a manufacturer of epics any day. Accordingly, having intimated to the factory boy that I intended to astonish his weak mind,-an intimation which he replied to by a copious libation of small beer, as if to gather strength to undergo the operation, I took out of my bosom a little manuscript book, which, for greater safety, I had tied round my neck with a string; and, after the usual number of preliminary hems, proceeded to astonish the factory boy as follows: THE RAINBOW. I. "In jocund boyhood's gay career, To gain the space Where heaven's gay arch found resting. place. "Love! Glory! Fame! Ambition !—all To die away- I, after a decent pause, to the atten"What do you think of that?" said tive factory boy. "I was thinking," answered the juvenile manufacturer, with an air of grave deliberation "I was thinking," replied him of the factory, "that we might sing it to-morrow-if it would pay." "PAY!-if it would PAY!" From the heights of Parnassus I came tumbling with the emphasis of a squashed apple-dumpling. I could have eaten the factory boy without salt; but, having already supped, I contented myself with putting The Rainbow into my breeches' pocket, and draining to the dregs, out of pure malice, what little there remained of the small beer. EGYPT-THE TROJAN WAR-HOMER. I. IN our last Egyptian article, of which Mr Cory's Ancient Fragments formed the text (see No. 273, July 1838), we discussed the origin and progress of phonetic discovery until it became a profitable appendage to history, by means of those chronological tablets which it has rescued from the night of ages; and which have supplied us with a contemporary outline of the most remarkable, and heretofore the most questioned portion of the heathen annals of antiquity, and placed at our disposal records of the mythic ages of Greek and Roman writers. We pointed out to our readers the classification which must be observed with reference to the Egyptian records, to investigate them with effect -namely, that portion, belonging to the declining period of the monarchy, which is obnoxious to the test of contemporary history, although less fully elucidated by recent discovery than the great age of art and empire-and that portion referring to the latter, which, from the absence of connected contemporary criteria, had hitherto bid defiance to theory, but which involves the foundation of all the great existing monuments, and the lists of their constructors, now so effectually vindicated. In our examination of the chronology of the twenty-first and following dynasties, the claims of the principal annalist Manetho were shown to be indisputable; the restoration of the chronological outline of his text from among the conflicting versions which appear in Mr Cory's collection, practicable; and the scientific principles of his history to be the same with those more recently adopted by the Græco-Egyptian astronomers, and which are on all hands agreed to be incontrovertible. The more full elucidation of these principles we reserved for our investigation of the early dynasties which are in a great degree beyond the pale of contemporary history, but of many of which we now possess the original counterparts-anticipating that we should, by this course, be equally conducted to a true outline of the antecedent text; and hence, to criteria for testing the system of the historian, and the various theories which have been founded on it in ancient and modern times. We now, therefore, return to that more interesting part of the history to which the recovered monumental records, and the great remains of art belong. This has been preserved in various forms, more or less original, by Herodotus, the author of the Old Egyptian Chronicle, Manetho, Eratosthenes, Diodorus Siculus, and Josephus (whose respective outlines will be found in Ancient Fragments"); and has re-appeared in connexion with the chronological theories of the fathers of the church-more particularly in the writings of Eusebius and Syncellus-followed by many learned moderns, as Scaliger, Ussher, Marsham, Perizonius, Newton, and Pritchard-up to the period of the present hieroglyphic discoveries. With Dr Pritchard's learned analysis of Egyptian mythology and chronology, which appeared in the year 1819, the old school of this branch of criticism may be said to have closed: while in the same year the new was originated by the hieroglyphic dissertations and chronological tables published by Dr Young. Champollion, Felix, Rosellini, Seyffarth, Wilkinson, Sharpe, Cory, and others, have followed; and all have endeavoured to combine the new discoveries with the old systems. None of these are right, nor could it be expected, while so much difference of opinion prevails regarding even the sacred chronology of the ages in question; but it is singular that, while the present continental critics advocate a long system of time, in correspondence with the Samaritan_and Greek versions of Scripture, the English, with scarcely an exception, consider the era of the deluge given by Moses in the Hebrew Numbers, B.c. 2348, as exceeding the limit to which the chronology of the Egyptian dynasties extends-an opinion which we also decidedly adhere to, viewing all the lengthened periods as reducible without force to the limits of Ussher's Biblical chronology. Under such circumstances, we be lieve we can do no better service to the cause of enquiry, than to collect and examine the results of ancient and modern opinion regarding the early dynasties. This we propose to do in the order of the respective ages of the writers omitting, or passing briefly over, those moderns who preceded the hieroglyphic era, and noticing several points of importance to history, which have been heretofore overlooked. We hope by this process to arrive at the true sense of the original authorities, which will, as already intimated, help us to test the results of modern opinion; and we propose to conclude by a tabular view of the several systems, with our own inferences from the whole. Indeed, our proposed course is the more necessary, because it will appear that several of the ancient systems, as those of Herodotus, Manetho, and Diodorus, have never hitherto been clearly submitted to modern readers; while some of the leading theories of the present time, as those of Rosellini and Wilkinson, have not hitherto been criticised by our tenacious reviewers, who content themselves with echoing the dogmas of the hierologists. But, there is one writer not hitherto admitted into the canon of historians, who preceded all these whom we have enumerated, and whose notices, connected with Egypt, are probably synchronous with the close of the continued hieroglyphic records, and of the nineteenth Dynasty of Diospolitans, when the great cycle of Egyptian art terminates. We mean the poet Homer (the probable contemporary of his own Polybus or Thuoris), whose knowledge of history, geography, art, mythology, and every subject he has handled, astonishes us, only because clothed in the poetical garb of the age in which he flourished; and whose Egyptian notices and allusions we hope to see incorporated in their due place, in the third edition of Mr Cory's excellent compilation. Justice to history, to Homer, and to polite literature, demands this; and, in the mean time, we shall introduce this venerable chronicler, like one of his own episodes, between the first and second portions of our enquiry, so as not to offend the prejudices of unprepared readers, by disturbing the chain of recognised wri. VOL. XLV. NO. CCLXXXI. ters on history. We hope to demonstrate that the scientific principles of the systems of Manetho and the Græco-Egyptian astronomers were not unknown to Homer, and that by developing his chronological calendar, we shall the better prepare our readers for the chronological calendar of Herodotus which is to follow. In fine, our hope is to restore Homer to his place, as the true father of profane history, and thereby render, we trust, an acceptable and interesting service to the cause of both Greek and Egyptian history and literature, and add one more link to the chain which binds them together. Having thus far introduced the subject, we shall, without further preface, proceed with our Homeric episode. II. Nothing can be more delightful to the cultivated mind than the juxtaposition in which the sisters, Art and Poetry, appear in the earliest known ages of both. That the military sculptures of the Pharaohs are represented to the life in the Homeric battle-scenes, and that the descriptions of the poet are equally represented to the life in the efforts of Egyptian art, are observations which have occurred to every traveller and admirer of ancient genius. While Homer's knowledge of Greece and its dependencies is that of a native, his knowledge of Egypt is that of a traveller, with little more of exaggeration and embellishment than are to be found in travellers, from Herodotus or Marco Polo; and the ancients have, with almost one consent, assigned Egypt either as the country of his birth, or that from whence he derived the varied materials embodied in works which every succeeding age has been content to imitate. The uncertainty regarding the country and history of the poet has left room for many an hypothesis to account for his extraordinary degree of knowledge; and one writerHeliodorus-goes so far as to make him a son of the Egyptian god Hermes, by a priestess of Thebes. Be this as it may, it is by no means an untenable hypothesis that the voyages of "The man for wisdom's various arts renowned," are either wholly or in part, those of the poet himself, who, 2 A "Wandering from clime to clime, observant stray'd, The taking of Troy was, as we learn from Diodorus, the ragarnya, or re Their manners noted, and their states sur- gulating epoch of early Grecian hisveyed;" and, tory and chronology (like that of the Olympiads in subsequent times); and "When his muse had sung the destined that it was an astronomical one ap fall Of sacred Troy," and enriched the Iliad from his stores of accumulated knowledge, embodied these wanderings in the history of one of his principal heroes. It is at least certain that the age of the wanderings of Ulysses is that of the poet; and this will explain many seeming difficulties and anachronisms which occur in the Odyssey, but not in the Iliad. It will account for the events of different ages being mingled together. It will explain why the three hundred years are annihilated, which separated the Egyptian King Memnon, the contemporary of Priam, from Polybus and Proteus, the contemporaries of Homer; and the idea only requires to be carried out to explain the two ages to which the events of the Trojan war have been assigned, and to account for the congress of Æneas and the foundress of Carthage. The Egyptian origin of the Homeric calendar of divinities was asserted by Herodotus; and this is confirmed by the whole tenor of subsequent history and mythology; but it has not hitherto been suspected that the frame-work of the Iliad and Odyssey is itself derived from the Egyptian calendar, and that the Trojan era, and the Homeric, or second Trojan era, are discoverable with mathematical accuracy in the cycle of the erratic Egyptian year. pears from Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who, in the first book of his Chronicle, acquaints us that Troy "was taken on the approach of summer, seventeen days before the solstice, on the eighth day," before the end (i.e. on the 24th) of the (11th) Athenian month Thargelion,-twenty days remaining to complete the current year, which thus ended thirty-seven days after the capture of the city." This he had from the historians Ephorus, Callisthenes, and other very an cient authorities, who affirmed that the month Thargelion was for this reason, always accounted unfortunate among the barbarian or foreign nations. The most ancient Attic year consisted, like the Egyptian, from whence it was derived, of twelve months of thirty days each, which were kept to their places in the solar year, by modes of intercalation not now understood;† for, the explanation attributed to Solon (Herod. I. 32), and repeated by Geminus, Censorinus, and others; according to which a month of thirty days was added every alternate year to that of 360 days, will aid us but little. The most ancient writer who professes accurately to fix the year of the taking of Troy, is Timæus Siculus (B.c.265-1), who dated it 417 years before the Olympian era, B.C. 776. This ascends to the year B.c. The Parian Chronicle has the seventh day," which evidently means seven days before the expiration of the month, as determined by the express statement of Dionysius, which proves its own exactness. Since these pages were written, we have ascertained that the ancient Attic months were kept in their places by an intercalary solar cycle of nine years, which is alluded to by Homer, Odyss. xix. 178, and represents the difference of time between the calendars of the Iliad and Odyssey. By the returns of this cycle, which has been most erroneously confounded with the lunar octaeteris, or cycle of eight years, the recurrence of the ancient Grecian festivals and games-the Panathenæa, the Isthmia, the Pythia, the Olympica, &c. was regulated in the ages preceding the Olympian era, at which time the period of nine years was replaced by that of four. The events of history were also conventionally adjusted by the former; as, the nine years' interval of the tribute imposed on the Athenians by Minos; the nine years from the rape of Helen till the siege of Troy; the nine years of the siege; the nine years interposed between the taking of Troy and the return of Ulysses, &c. But we cannot do more than allude to a question so comprehensive, and so important to history, in the compass of a note, and shall probably recur to it on another occasion, more especially because it has been wholly overlooked by the Anakims of ancient and modera criticism. |