od between two
centuries and five. On the whole, criticism seems to incline towards the
shorter term, though why Manetho, or his epitomists, should have
enlarged it, remains an insoluble problem. There is but one dynasty of
"Shepherd Kings" that has any distinct historical substance, or to which
we can assign any names. This is a dynasty of six kings only, whose
united reigns are not likely to have exceeded two centuries. Nor does it
seem possible that, if the duration of the foreign oppression had been
much longer, Egypt could have returned, so nearly as she did, to the
same manners and customs, the same religious usages, the same rules of
art, the same system of government, even the very same proper names, at
the end of the period, as had been in use at its beginning. One cannot
but think that the _bouleversement_ which Egypt underwent has been
somewhat exaggerated by the native historian for the sake of rhetorical
effect, to enhance by contrast the splendour of the New Empire.

In another respect, too, if he has not misrepresented the rule of the
"Shepherd Kings," he has failed to do it justice. He has painted in
lurid colours the advent of the foreign race, the war of extermination
in which they engaged, the cruel usage to which they subjected the
conquered people; he has represented the invaders as rude, savage,
barbarous, bent on destruction, careless of art, the enemies of progress
and civilization. He has neglected to point out, that, as time went on,
there was a sensible change. The period of constant bitter hostilities
came to an end. Peace succeeded to war. In Lower Egypt the "Shepherds"
reigned over quiet and unresisting subjects; in Upper Egypt they bore
rule over submissive tributaries. Under these circumstances a
perceptible softening of their manners and general character took place.
As the Mongols and the Mandchus in China suffered themselves by degrees
to be conquered by the superior civilization of the people whom they had
overrun and subdued, so the Hyksos yielded little by little to the
influences which surrounded them, and insensibly assimilated themselves
to their Egyptian subjects. They adopted the Egyptian dress, titles,
official language, art, mode of writing, architecture. In Tanis,
especially, temples were built and sculptures set up under the later
"Shepherd Kings," differing little in their general character from those
of purely Egyptian periods. The foreign monarchs erected their effigies