about to descend into the sepulchral caves, "Pekuah,"
said the princess, "we are now again invading the habitations of the
dead: I know that you will stay behind; let me find you safe when I
return." "No, I will not be left," answered Pekuah; "I will go down
between you and the prince."

They then all descended, and roved, with wonder, through the labyrinth
of subterraneous passages, where the bodies were laid in rows on either
side.

CHAP. XLVIII.

IMLAC DISCOURSES ON THE NATURE OF THE SOUL.

"What reason," said the prince, "can be given, why the Egyptians should
thus expensively preserve those carcasses which some nations consume
with fire, others lay to mingle with the earth, and all agree to remove
from their sight, as soon as decent rites can be performed?"

"The original of ancient customs," said Imlac "is commonly unknown; for
the practice often continues when the cause has ceased; and, concerning
superstitious ceremonies, it is vain to conjecture; for what reason did
not dictate, reason cannot explain. I have long believed that the
practice of embalming arose only from tenderness to the remains of
relations or friends; and to this opinion I am more inclined, because it
seems impossible that this care should have been general: had all the
dead been embalmed, their repositories must, in time, have been more
spacious than the dwellings of the living. I suppose only the rich or
honourable were secured from corruption, and the rest left to the course
of nature.

"But it is commonly supposed, that the Egyptians believed the soul to
live as long as the body continued undissolved, and, therefore, tried
this method of eluding death."

"Could the wise Egyptians," said Nekayah, "think so grossly of the soul?
If the soul could once survive its separation, what could it afterwards
receive or suffer from the body?"

"The Egyptians would, doubtless, think erroneously," said the
astronomer, "in the darkness of heathenism, and the first dawn of
philosophy. The nature of the soul is still disputed, amidst all our
opportunities of clearer knowledge; some yet say, that it may be
material, who, nevertheless, believe it to be immortal."

"Some," answered Imlac, "have, indeed, said, that the soul is material,
but I can scarcely believe that any man has thought it, who knew how to
think; for all the conclusions of reason enforce the immateriality of
mind, and all the notices of sense and investigations of science concur
to