The gods had also changed their rank; Phtah and Serapis now held the chief place.  Strange change had also taken place in the names of men and cities.  In the place of Petisis, Petamun, Psammo, and Serapion, we find men named Eudoxus, Hermophantus, and Poly crates; while of the cities, Oshmoonayn is called Hermopolis; Esne, Latopolis; Chemmis, Panopolis; and Thebes, Diospolis; and Ptolemais, Phylace, Parembole, and others had sprung into being.  Many new characters crept into the hieroglyphics, as the camelopard, the mummy lying on a couch, the ships with sails, and the chariot with horses; there were more words spelled with letters, the groups were more crowded, and the titles of the kings within the ovals became much longer.

With the papyrus, which was becoming common about the time of the Persian invasion, we find the running hand, the enchorial or common writing, as it was called, coming into use, in which there were few symbols, and most of the words were spelt with letters.  Each letter was of the easy sloping form, which came from its being made with a reed or pen, instead of the stiff form of the hieroglyphics, which were mostly cut in stone.  But there is a want of neatness, which has thrown a difficulty over them, and has made these writings less easy to read than the hieroglyphics.

When the country fell into the hands of Augustus, the Kopts were in a much lower state than when conquered by Alexander.  Of the old moral worth and purity of manners very little remained.  All respect for women was lost; and, when men degrade those who should be their helps towards excellence, they degrade themselves also.  Not a small part of the nation was sunk in vice.  They had been slaves for three hundred years, sometimes trusted and well-treated, but more often trampled on and ground down with taxes and cruelty.  They had never held up their heads as freemen, or felt themselves lords of their own soil; they had fallen off in numbers, in wealth, and in knowledge; nothing was left to them but their religion, their temples, their hieroglyphics, and the painful remembrance of their faded glories.

END OF VOL.  X.