A pilgrimage to the temples and tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and ...

318 CLEOPATRA.
of that delicate charm which I expected to
find in them, and the expression (if expression
there can be found in Egyptian sculpture) is
stern and unintellectual. If this portrait is a
resemblance, it is, therefore, to be presumed
that the secret of Cleopatra's seductive charm
lay not so much in her beauty as in her grace
and powers of fascination, and that she was
one of those syrens whose spells take effect
upon the hearts of mankind through the insi-
dious channel of the ear, as well as through
the more vulgar medium of the eye. The por-
trait of Cleopatra at Philse is even coarser and
less attractive than the one at Denderah ; and
there is a heaviness and animal expression in
the lower part of the face which is scarcely
redeemed by the beauty of the upper features.
Altogether, the countenance of the Cleopatra
of Philse reminded me of the portraits of Ma-
dame George Sand; the expression of which
does not harmonize with the idea one is apt
to form of the fair original from the genius,
the passion, and the poetry that breathe in
every line of her writings.
An Arab town, now deserted and in ruins,
has been built upon the roof of the temple of
Denderah, and all around its outer wall to a