ntils; and the courses of brick were in
waving or concave lines, as in the walls of an enclosure at Dayr el
Medeeneh in Thebes. The windows of the first-floor had a sort of
mullion dividing them into two lights each, with a transom above; and
the upper windows were filled with trellis-work, or cross bars of
wood, as in many Turkish harems. A model of a house of this kind is
also in the British Museum. But the generality of Egyptian houses were
far less regular in their plan and elevation; and the usual disregard
for symmetry is generally observable in the houses even of towns.

The doors, both of the entrances and of the inner apartments, were
frequently stained to imitate foreign and rare woods. They were either
of one or two valves, turning on pins of metal, and were secured
within by a bar or bolts. Some of these bronze pins have been
discovered in the tombs of Thebes. They were fastened to the wood with
nails of the same metal, whose round heads served also as an ornament,
and the upper one had a projection at the back, in order to prevent
the door striking against the wall. We also find in the stone lintels
and floor, behind the thresholds of the tombs and temples, the holes
in which they turned, as well as those of the bolts and bars, and the
recess for receiving the opened valves. The folding doors had bolts in
the centre, sometimes above as well as below; a bar was placed across
from one wall to the other; and in many instances wooden locks
secured them by passing over the centre, at the junction of the two
folds. For greater security they were occasionally sealed with a mass
of clay, as is proved by some tombs found closed at Thebes, by the
sculptures, and in the account given by Herodotus of Rhampsinitus'
treasury.

Keys were made of bronze or iron, and consisted of a long straight
shank, about five inches in length, with three or more projecting
teeth; others had a nearer resemblance to the wards of modern keys,
with a short shank about an inch long; and some resembled a common
ring with the wards at its back. These are probably of Roman date. The
earliest mention of a key is in Judges (iii. 23-25), when Ehud having
gone "through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlor upon him and
locked them," Eglon's "servants took a key and opened them."

The doorways, like those in the temples, were often surmounted by the
Egyptian cornice; others were variously decorated, and some,
represented in the tombs, were