"It is a fascinating subject, the study of this venerable civilisation, extending back to the childhood of the human race, preserved for ever for our instruction in its own unchanging monuments like a fly in a block of amber.

Everything connected with Egypt is full of an impressive solemnity.

A feeling of permanence, of stability, defying time and change, pervades it.

The place, the people, and the monuments alike breathe of eternity." I was mightily surprised at this rhetorical outburst on the part of this dry and taciturn lawyer.

But I liked him the better for the touch of enthusiasm that made him human, and determined to keep him astride of his hobby.
"Yet," said I, "the people must have changed in the course of centuries." "Yes, that is so.