Rawnsley gives, among other renderings, metrical versions of the following specimens of early Egyptian poetry: “A Festal Dirge of King Antef,” 2533-2466 B.C.; “The Song of the Harper,” about 1700; “Hymn to Pharaoh,” about 1400; “Dirge of Meneptah,” about 1333; “Hymn to Amen Ra,” about 1300; “Hymn to the Nile,” about 1300; “Lamentations of Isis and Nepathys,” about 320; “The Poem of Penta-ur on the Exploits of Rameses II.,” written in 1326 B.C. The last-mentioned is interesting as being almost the sole example of an Egyptian epic. It is not clear whether Penta-ur won his position as court poet-laureate by the production of this poem, or whether, being already laureate, the epic was written as one of his official compositions. Under the instructions of the king, however, whose exploits it commemorated, the poem was made a national epic, and copies of it appear to have been officially distributed throughout the kingdom. The reign of Rameses, which covered the years 1350-1300 B.C., marked, according to Rawlinson and Karpeles, the culmination of a period which was important not only for success in war, but for literary production. Under Rameses, literary activity, no longer confined to the temple, was in part at least transferred to the court. He collected about him scholars and philosophers, and gave great rewards for successful literary efforts. The approval given by royalty to Penta-ur’s poem doubtless secured for the author much better results than would have come to him through the royalty enjoyed under the modern literary system. The king took pride in the great library which had been brought together under his instructions. Over the entrance to the great hall of the library was engraved the inscription, “A place of healing for the soul.” By some historians, Rameses II., this king of a long reign and of great exploits, the patron of literature, whose massive and well-preserved figure has only recently been disentombed, has been identified with the Pharaoh of the Exodus. I believe, however, that the better authorities have decided that the Exodus took place under the Pharaoh who was the son of the great Rameses. Rawlinson speaks of the Egyptians as possessing at a very early date an “extensive literature, comprising books on religion, morals, law, rhetoric, arithmetic, mensuration, geometry, medicine, books of travel, and above all, novels!” He says further, however, that, as far as can be judged from the specimens which have been preserved, “the merit of the works is slight. The novels are vapid, the medical treatises interlarded with charms and exorcisms, the travels devoid of interest, the general style of all the books forced and stilted.”