The specimens drawn in this Plate were brought by Mr. Bankes from the Egyptian tombs at Thebes, about twenty-five years since, and were placed in the hands of the author.

They are drawn the exact sizes and colours of the originals; and their great variety of subjects portrays the chemical and inventive powers of the ancients. The colours are rich of their kinds, and show considerable knowledge of vitreous colouring; they are, no doubt, the produce of the earliest of the Egyptian manufactories. It is said the great Hermes taught the Glassmakers of Egypt this ingenious art.

Fig. 1. Is a fragment of Glass, which, when discovered, appeared to be one piece only; but proved, upon closer inspection, to be in two pieces, adhering to each other by a bituminous cement. The variegated portion consists of well-contrasted, brilliantly-coloured devices of blue, green, red, and yellow; and this being attached to an adhering piece o more subdued colours, forms a lateral continuous border, giving to the whole a finished margin: it was probably used for ornamenting an ancient bath. The pattern and colours are the same on both sides; the front only was flattened and polished, the reverse was irregular in surface, and was, therefore, better calculated to adhere to the cement, which not only fastened the two pieces together, but fixed them to the walls which they decorated. In this fragment, very