grammar, are also to be enumerated in the list of his labors. At the age of forty-two he died, leaving behind him the merited reputation of having been discoverer, master, and guide in the intricate mysteries of hieroglyphic interpretation.

It would be unjust to one who has himself acquired no small reputation in the field of Egyptian research, to withhold the generous tribute which Sir Gardner Wilkinson has rendered to the merits of Champollion.

"To have had frequent occasion to introduce the name of Champollion, to whom we are so deeply indebted, without paying a just tribute to his talents, is to me a reproach which I cannot suffer to remain unremoved. I do not wish to enter into the question respecting the discovery of the proper mode of reading the hieroglyphics: suffice it to say, that Dr. Young gave the first idea and proof of their alphabetic force, which was even for some time after doubted by Champollion. And that the merit of originality in this point is due to our distinguished countryman, I can bear a satisfactory testimony, having, with my much-regretted friend, Sir William Gell, as early as the summer of 1821, so far profited by Dr. Young's opinions on the subject, as to be enabled to suggest the supposed value of two or three other characters, beside those he had already ascertained; our taking this view of the question being solely in consequence of his discovery that they were the representatives of letters. But it remained for the genius of a Champollion to kindle the spark thus obtained into a flame, and to display by its light, the path which led to a clear insight into the subject, to perfect the discovery, and to lay down certain rules, applicable in individual as well as in general cases; and in justice to him be it confessed, that, if our knowledge of hieroglyphics were confined to the limited

extent to which it was carried by Dr. Young, we should have no regular system to guide us in the interpretation of them, and should know little more than the alphabetic value of a few letters, without the means of affixing a positive construction to a single sentence on any Egyptian monument.

"Had Champollion been disposed to give more credit to the value and originality of Dr. Young's researches, and to admit that the real discovery of the key to the hieroglyphics, which in his dexterous hand proved so useful in unlocking those hidden treasures, was the result of his labors, he would unquestionably have increased his own reputation, without making any sacrifice. In this, as in the case of Mr. Burton's trilinguar (or rather trigrammatic) stone, and in a few other points, he may have shown a want of ingenuousness: all have their faults and vanities; but this is not a reason that the memory of one so respectable as Champollion should be aspersed, or due praise refused him; and we cannot forgive the ungenerous conduct of those who, from private pique, summon up and misapply talents to pervert truth; denying the merit of labors, which every one, acquainted with the subject, knows to have been crowned with unexampled and wonderful success. This is not an era when we could believe men capable of lending themselves to the unworthy office of maligning one no longer living to defend himself, and one who, present or absent, merits and possesses the respect and admiration of every unprejudiced person. Yet have some been found, in more than one country, prompted to this malicious act by personal enmity, envy of his superior talents and success, or by that affectation of skepticism, which, while it endeavors to conceal ignorance, often hopes to acquire credit for discernment and superior knowledge.

"When the subject of hieroglyphics becomes better understood, and the world is capable of judging how much we owe to him, the wonderful ingenuity of Champollion will be appreciated; and the greatest praise we can bestow on him is confidently to pronounce, that time will do justice to his merits, and experience prove the truth of what inexperience now calls in question."

If we do not dwell upon the works of Rosellini, Salvolini, Lepsius, Bunsen, Wilkinson, Birch, and others, worthy colaborers or successors in the field which Champollion had opened, it is not from non-appreciation of their merits, but from want of the necessary space in which to do them justice. Suffice it, however, to say, that no point is, at this day, better established, from the labors of the learned, than that the inscriptions found on the decaying monuments and frail papyri of ancient Egypt, are, in many instances, perfectly intelligible; and it is perhaps not too much to hope, that the day will come when men may read, in their own tongues, the translation of all.

The statement of an amusing and interesting result that followed upon Champollion's discovery of the reading of the hieroglyphics, will not inappropriately close our narrative of his important and extraordinary labors. Among the monuments which had, in an especial manner, attracted the notice of the French savans who had accompanied Napoleon to Egypt, none had excited more learned controversy than two zodiacs, the one sculptured upon the ceiling of the temple of Dendera, and the other upon that of the temple at Esneh, in upper Egypt. For these monuments there was claimed an extraordinary antiquity, and it was confidently asserted that they completely exploded all Scriptural chronology.

M.

Jomard made them at least 3000 years old when the Christian era commenced; while M. Dupuis would not abate a second of 4000 years; and M. Gori was very sure they could not be younger than 17,000 years! "Like birds of the night," (says Osborn,) "hovering over, or perching upon, the uncouth remains of ancient superstition, they filled the air with their dismal forebodings of the downfall of Christianity, or with shrieks of laughter still more revolting, when they thought that their object was accomplished. All these, however, were soon to be put to flight by that of which they professed themselves to be all the while most devoted worshippers-the light of truth.”

When Champollion, in the course of his researches into royal rings, came to read that upon the zodiac of Dendera, he found the title of Augustus Cæsar; while on that at Esneh, he read the name of Antoninus. That temple, therefore, which M. Dupuis had declared to be 4000 years older than the Christian era, proved to have been built about the time of its commencement; and the edifice at Esneh, which had been profoundly demonstrated to be 17,000 years old when the Saviour came, was shown to belong to a period 140 years after his advent. And thus were exposed the pretence of learning and the insolence of arrogance, on the part of a class of men who sought, by bold perversion and confident dogmatism, to distort all that Egypt might reveal, into testimony against the Bible.

4

CHAPTER III.

Examples of Egyptian writing.-Hieroglyphic.-Hieratic.-Demotic.

HAVING, in the previous pages, endeavored to give to the gene ral reader a brief outline, presenting an intelligible view of the chief features in the history of hieroglyphic interpretation; it only remains to complete this division of our task by an effort to illustrate, by examples, the subject of Egyptian writing. That some of the ancients were not entirely ignorant of the phonetic character of Egyptian writing is certain. We have no evidence, however, that any of them knew how to interpret it. Thus Pliny says, "for those sculptures and likenesses which we see, are Egyptian letters."* Porphyry, also, in the "Life of Pythagoras," states that the Egyptians had three different kinds - of letters, epistolographical, hieroglyphical, and symbolical. But the most particular account is to be found in Clement of Alexandria. The passage is not without obscurity in some particulars, in others it is direct and plain. We give what seems to be the substance of his meaning, according to the interpretation of Bunsen, who has examined it with great critical care. The English version, as well as the original Greek, may be found in his first volume of "Egypt's place in the World's History." According to Clement, the Egyptians taught, first

* Etenim sculpturæ illæ effigiesque, quas videmus, Egyptiæ sunt litera.