Some of the prettiest Egyptian poetry is contained in a papyrus of the
XVIIIth Dynasty at the British Museum. The verses are written in
hieratic, and are extremely difficult to translate, but their beauty is
apparent to the translator even when he cannot fix the sense. A new
edition of these and other poems of a kindred nature is being prepared
by Professor W. Max Mueller of Philadelphia, who kindly permits us to
make some extracts from the advance sheets of his publication.
The songs are collected in small groups, generally entitled 'Songs of
Entertainment.' The lover and his mistress call each other "brother" and
"sister." In one song the girl addresses her lover in successive stanzas
under the names of different plants in a garden, and plays on these
names. Others are as follows:--