In considering the state of painting in Egypt, it is not an easy matter to draw the line of distinction between that art and writing, as practised by them, which in its origin. seems to have been more allied to the former art than to the latter ; for the Egyptian letters are nothing else but disguised symbolical painting. Nor does it appear to have been so peculiarly the invention of the Egyptians as they generally get credit for. The endeavours made by any people in a low state of civilization, to embody their ideas in writing, are most likely to result in some sort of em blematical representation ; accordingly this contrivance has, under certain modifications, been resorted to in the early periods of all nations, to record the simple annals of their country. There is no reason to suppose so general a coincidence to be the result of fortuitous invention, or the imitation of one people by another ;. it is the natural consequence of a wish to perpetuate facts, adapted to the imperfect and awkward means which most readily suggest themselves in an uninformed state of society ; and we find, accordingly, the early inhabitants of all quarters of the globe attempting to communicate with posterity by means of some rude scheme of painting.
When the Spainards landed on the coast of South Ame rica, the natives dispatched messengers to their king, Montezuma, bearing a web of cloth, upon which they had painted a representation of the extraordinary and alarming event that had taken place ; as the readiest means with which their ideas furnished them to convey information of facts, the novelty of which, perhaps, incapacitated their language from transmitting verbally It appears to have been the usual means resorted to by the Mexicans for the conveyance of information to a distance, either of time or place ; as they adopted a similar style of hieroglyphics for recording their laws and history. Robertson, in his history of America, and Humboldt, in his later works, have both given curious specimens Mexican mode of paint ing. V% hen Cortez took the temple of Mexico by assault, he found several webs of cloth, upon which all the cir cumstances of the assault were represented with truth ; the attack of the steps, and general contest on the terrace of the temple, the subsequent defeat of the Mexicans, the conflagrations and ruin of the towers, executed with great correctness, except that the painters sought to console their countrymen by representing a number of Spaniards lying slaughtered among the ruins, which, although rather beyond the fact, was perhaps an excusable exaggeration. These paintings, though abundantly intelligible as written descriptions, are clumsy enough in the execution ; they are generally represented on wood, or as ornaments to furniture. Their mode of proceeding is to lay on, in the first place, a pretty thick coat of the colour they mean to be the ground of their work, and after being sufficiently polished, while still fresh, they trace the subject intended with a sort of etching needle, the opposite end of which is flattened like a spatula. With this instrument they proceed to scrape off the whole colour contained within the outline : on the part thus cleaned they then lay on the colours which the subject to be represented requires, not according to their proper arrangement, but successively spreading the predominating colour first over all, of which as much is then scraped off as is intended to be of a differ ent colour ; this colour is afterwards applied, and so pro gressively until the piece is completed. A strong varnish
is then spread over the whole.
But to return to the Egyptians, to whom the history of painted writing more particularly belongs. No nation ever made so extensive a use of this medium of record : By it their laws, their mythological system, the remarkable events of their history, their private annals, and the entire scope of their knowledge in philosophy and the sciences, was conveyed ; and although it has proved capable of wonderful preservation, it has shown itself greatly defi cient in its chief end and object as a record to future ages, and a means of transmitting knowledge to posterity. There never was exhibited to the pride of man, a more humbling lesson of the inefficacy of his most laborious en deavours to resist the fleeting and unsubstantial nature of every thing connected with our present existence. For it was the very improvement of hieroglyphical representa tion which operated its defeat ; the supposed perfections only served to expose the inefficacy of human foresight ; so long as it retained the laborious characteristic of an absolute picture, however rude, it was still to a certain ex tent intelligible. But as the refinements of the art ad vanced, and the same object came to be received as ex pressive of different ideas ;—as the operation in drawing was gradually simplified, to render it more easy ;—and as familiarity with the style made a mere indication be at length thought sufficient, or a symbol generally received and understood at the time as the visible mark, in short, the written word for a certain meaning ; it happened that, as that mark of meaning did not constititute a language, but only a conventional sign, like the gestures of a deaf and dumb person, it became for posterity an enigma, which v. e may guess at, but can never lully ascertain. And thus became buried in hopeless darkness the labo rious chronicles of their monumental pillars, the engraved pictures which cover the bodies of some of their statues, the writings of the subterraneous vaults and galleries call ed Syringes ; in short, all the chaos of symbolical writing preserved with so much care, and to so little purpose. There is little doubt that the system, as originally prac tised, was generally understood by all, and established as a matter of regular instruction to their youth ; but as the extension of knowledge came to render a more correct system of writing necessary, which should admit the ex pression of abstract ideas, and those parts of language, as adverbs, Lc. which it would be somewhat difficult to portray in a picture ; hieroglyphics, as subservient to the common intercourse of society, must have fallen out of use. It was, however, eagerly retained by the crafty priesthood as a means peculiarly adapted to veil the dogmas and records of their mythology in such desirable mystery, and as affording them an opportunity of render ing themselves sole possessors of all the original secrets of their faith and observances. By this means they hoped to work at pleasure on the minds of the uninitiated, and mould them to their purposes through the influence of superstitious dread, and a blind veneration of that service, which the priests were thus enabled to hide from the scrutiny of reason.