On arriving in Egypt he proceeded to Cairo, where he remained during seven months; after which, finding that there existed too many obstacles to a proper examination of the interior parts of the country, and that too little assistance in learning Arabic was to be obtained, he determined on travelling into Syria. M. Durozoir, the author of the Life of Volney, in the “Biographie Universelle,” to which I am greatly indebted, falls into a most unaccountable error in narrating this part of our traveller’s career. According to him, Volney had no sooner arrived in Egypt than he shut himself up in a Coptic convent, where he remained _eight months_, for the purpose of acquiring the Arabic; after which he traversed the country with more advantages than any other traveller had hitherto enjoyed. Volney himself asserts, on the contrary, that he resided but _seven months_ in the country; that he was prevented by obstacles which appeared to him insurmountable from traversing more than a very small portion of Egypt; that he did not acquire a competent knowledge of Arabic until he arrived in Syria, where (and not in Egypt) he shut himself up during eight months in an Arabian convent, in order to render himself master of the language. M. Durozoir must have forgotten Pococke, and Shaw, and Hasselquist, and Niebuhr and Bruce, every one of whom were superior in external _advantages_ to Volney, and probably understood the language of the country better than he did previous to his residence in Syria. It is surprising, therefore, to find a writer of respectable name speaking of the advantages which Volney possessed over all preceding travellers in Egypt, arising from his long residence and knowledge, while most of his predecessors saw ten times more of the country, enjoyed greater privileges, and possessed a more intimate knowledge of Arabic. The real advantage which Volney actually did possess over the majority of Egyptian travellers consisted in his superior genius, which enabled him to turn his short experience to good account, and to comprehend the meanings of things which thousands had seen without comprehending at all. The mode in which Volney has given the results of his travels to the public precludes the possibility of our following his track. He sedulously avoids, as Daru has justly remarked, placing himself upon the stage, and neither tells you by what route he travelled through the country, nor what were the impressions which the sight of certain objects produced upon his mind. The fact must be admitted, whether it make for or against the author; but when the count proceeds to inform us, in his inflated rhetorical style, that the traveller is suddenly transformed into a native of the country, who, after mature observation, describes its physical, political, and moral condition, we smile at his boyish enthusiasm.