The Arles obelisk, from its position in the city of Arles, on the banks of the Rhone, has suggested the idea that it might have been sent from Egypt to Arles by Constantine, at the time when he was projecting a second Constantinople on that spot; but this illusion is dissipated by the discovery that it is composed of granite of a grey colour, which is found in the neighbouring quarries of Mont Esterel, near Frejus. It is uninscribed, and therefore unable to tell the story of its life; is nearly 57 feet in height, by 7 feet 6 inches in greatest breadth, and “is probably of Roman workmanship.” Mr. Cooper remarks, that it must have been left for seventeen centuries on the ground where it was discovered; and, although royal directions were given for its disinterment about the year 1389, it was not until 1676 that it was erected in commemoration of Louis XIV. It is surmounted with a globe representing the earth, and above it a sun: while “beneath the inscription in honour of Louis XIV., is another referring to the late emperor, Napoleon III.”[53] [53] Murray’s Hand-book for France, 1877. We have, therefore, brought under our notice a list of thirteen Egyptian Pharaohs (including one Queen), who have left behind them proofs of their taste in the construction of obelisks; namely:— I. USERTESEN I.; _three_, including the monolith at Biggig; one being lost, one broken, and one remaining entire at Heliopolis. II. THOTHMES I.; _two_, one broken, the other entire, and known as the small obelisk, at Karnak. III. HATASOU, Queen; _four_, one broken, two lost, and one, the great obelisk, standing at Karnak. IV. THOTHMES III.; _four_, all standing, the four Needles; one each in Constantinople, Rome, Alexandria, and London. V. AMENOPHIS II.; _one_, the Alnwick obelisk, at Syon House, Isleworth. VI. AMENOPHIS III.; _two_, both broken and lost in the ruins of his temple at Karnak. VII. SETI I., or OSIREI, the blind king; _two_, both in Rome, the Flaminian and that of Trinita de Monti. VIII. RAMESES II.; _fourteen_, one each at Luxor and Paris; two in Rome, in front of the Pantheon and in the garden of the Villa Mattei; and ten lost at San, amid the ruins of the “field of Zoan.” IX. MENEPHTAH; _one_, at Rome, the Vatican, before the church of St. Peter; uninscribed. X. PSAMMETICUS I.; _one_, the “gnomon” obelisk, on the Monte Citorio at Rome. XI. PSAMMETICUS II.; _one_, the elephant obelisk, in the Piazza della Minerva at Rome, mounted on an elephant. XII. NECTANEBO I., or AMYRTÆUS; _two_, of black basaltic stone, in the British Museum. XIII. NECTANEBO II.; _two_, at Rome, both uninscribed; one near the church of St. Maria Maggiore, the other in the Piazza of the Quirinal Palace.