The truth of the old proverb, that "there is nothing new under the sun," will be recognised on an examination of the interesting group which forms the subject of our engraving. Here are dolls of different shapes, some of them for good children, and some, perhaps, for bad; foot-balls, covered with leather, &c., the stitches in parts still firmly adhering; models of fishes and fruit; and round pellets, which the "small boys" of the present day would call "marbles." These toys have been played with by little Egyptians who have been dead and buried three or four thousand years. Many of the toys that hold places in the English and other markets are, so far as fashion is concerned, of considerable antiquity, having been made, without any alteration in pattern, by certain families for several generations. In the mountainous districts of the Savoy and Switzerland, large numbers, both of children and grown persons, are constantly employed in the manufacture of Noah's-arks, milkmaids &c. Some of the animals carved in wood, and sold here for small prices, show considerable skill in the imitation of the forms of nature, and could only be produced at their present cost, owing to the cheapness of living in those districts, and to the systematic division of labour. [Illustration: [++] Egyptian Toys.] Near the birthplace of Prince Albert is a very large manufactory of military toys, such as drums, trumpets, helmets, &c.; and in parts of Holland-- "----The children take pleasure in making What the children of England take pleasure in breaking." THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT. The Pyramids of Egypt, especially the two largest of the Pyramids of Jizeh, are the most stupendous masses of building, in stone, that human labour has ever been known to accomplish. The Egyptian Pyramids, of which, large and small, and in different states of preservation, the number is very considerable, are all situated on the west side of the Nile, and they extend, in an irregular line, and in groups, at some distance from each other, from the neighbourhood of Jizeh, in 30 deg. N. lat. as far south as 29 deg. N. lat., a length of between 60 and 70 miles. All the Pyramids have square bases, and their sides face the cardinal points. [Illustration: [++] Pyramids of Jizeh.] The Pyramids of Jizeh are nearly opposite to Cairo. They stand on a plateau or terrace of limestone, which is a projection from the Libyan mountain-chain. The surface of the terrace is barren and irregular, and is covered with sand and small fragments of rock; its height, measured from the base of the Great Pyramids, is 164 feet above the Nile in its low state, taken at an average of the years 1798 to 1801. The north-east angle of the Great Pyramid is 1700 yards from the canal which runs between the terrace and the Nile, and about five miles from the Nile itself.