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pressions, p. 82, thus describes them. "Before the grand entrance of this vast edifice, two lofty obelisks stand proudly pointing to the sky, fair as the daring sculptor left them. The sacred figures and hieroglyphic characters are beautifully cut into the hard granite, and have the sharp finish of yesterday. The very stone looks not discolored. You see them as Cambyses saw them, when he stayed his chariot wheels to gaze up at them, and the Persian war-cry ceased before these acknowledged symbols of the sacred element of fire. Very noble are all these remains, and on the propylon is a war-scene much spoken of; but my eyes were continually attracted towards the aspiring obelisks, and again and again you turn to them with increasing wonder and silent admiration.”*

It were easy to multiply descriptions of the various monuments of Egyptian skill. But we must conclude here, simply observing with Champollion, that "no people, either ancient or modern, ever conceived the arts of architecture and sculpture on so sublime and so grand a scale as the ancient Egyptians. Their conceptions were those of men a hundred feet high."

[ O. p. 75. ]

Similarity of Egyptian and Hebrew Writing and
Language.

[What the author has here stated, in terms which imply almost a doubting state of mind with respect to the facts in question, is regarded as being a plain matter of fact, by all good Hebrew critics and grammarians at the present time. One need only to read the interpretation of the names of the Hebrew alphabet successively, in order to believe that originally there was some analogy between the shape of the respective letters, and the objects by whose names they are

* At the entrance of the temple of Luxor, there still exist two obelisks which are an hundred feet high, and which are carved from a single block.

called. For example; beginning with the alphabet we proceed thus; or, house, camel, door, hollow, hook, armour, travelling-scrip, serpent, hand, hollow-hand, ox-goad, water, fish, prop, eye, mouth, screech-locust, ear, head, tooth, cross. These make out the whole original alphabet of the Hebrews; and no one can well suppose that these names rather than others were given to the letters, except on account of some resemblances to the objects which bore these names.

That the resemblances to these respective objects, are not found in the present Hebrew alphabet, is no argument against the positions stated above; for all critics are agreed, that the ancient Hebrew letters have exchanged their forms for those of a later alphabet. But whether any alphabet now known exhibits, in any considerable degree, the forms of the original Hebrew alphabet, may well be questioned. Some critics have maintained, that the Samaritan alphabet is substantially that of the old Hebrew; and this, because letters of this character are found on the coins which were stamped in the times of the Maccabees. But the late work of Kopp, on the subject of the Palæography of the Shemitish languages, has rendered such a supposition quite uncertain. The same work has shown us in the most satisfactory manner, that the present square Hebrew alphabet, instead of being brought from Babylon by the returning exile Jews, as has been generally maintained, is the offspring of a kind of Estrangelo or old Syriac alphabet, such as is now still visible on the ruins of Palmyra and Tadmor in the Syrian desert. There can, indeed, be but little doubt at present, that the square Hebrew character has taken its rise, by gradual deflections from the ancient character, since the commencement of the Christian era.

The very inspection of the Hebrew alphabet, as the letters are represented in Hebrew names, is sufficient to show, that the same principle regulated the choice of names here, which regulated the choice of hieroglyphs in Egyptian writing; viz. each name of a letter, began with the same sound or letter as that which the name designated; e. g. denoted *; na, a; b, a, etc.

In like manner with regard to the vowels; three letters only of the original alphabet were vowels, and these not

properly and constantly, but occasionally and as it were accidentally. The letters,, are, on this account, called vowel-letters by Gesenius, because they occasionally supplied the place of vowels. Even when thus used, they were sometimes inserted and sometimes omitted; and this, in the very same words, occurring repeatedly in the same paragraph. Any one acquainted, therefore, with the nature of the Shemitish languages, and knowing how continually facts are occurring, in respect to the quiescent letters (as they are called), of the same nature as occur in regard to the vowels in the Egyptian hieroglyphs which are now inserted and now omitted, will not think it in the least strange, that such a practice existed in Egyptian writing. He finds it on every page of Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, and Samaritan; and therefore he may well expect to find it in the language of a neighboring country.

In regard to the relation of the hieroglyphic writing and language, to that of the Hebrew and its sister dialects (of which M. Greppo speaks on p. 75 of this work), one can hardly fail to recognize the fact itself, who is acquainted with the Shemitish languages. The Coptic alphabet (the form of which is taken in the main from the Greek, and which gradually supplanted the hieroglyphic alphabet, after the Greek dynasty had commenced in Egypt), contains not only the Greek sounds, but also several of the Hebrew ones which the Greek alphabet could not exhibit. The Coptic (Fei) is equivalent to the Hebrew (Vav) i. e. ƒ or v; so the Coptic (Khei) equals the Hebrew or kh; the Coptic (Hori) is the same as the Hebrew h; the Coptic X (Sjansjia) is like the Hebrew=ts or 2s; the Coptic Ō

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has also one syllabic letter, i. e. T=ti; which however

is to be considered not properly as a letter of the alphabet, but in such a light as our &c.

The similarity, then, of the Coptic and Hebrew alphabetic sounds, is very great. This similarity also might be easily traced in the forms of many of the Egyptian hieroglyphs, as well as in their sounds. But a full development of this subject cannot be made, until Champollion shall have completed his researches in regard to the language and written characters of ancient Egypt. The probability seems to be, that much more relation will be shown to have existed between the old Egyptian and the Hebrew, than has hitherto been supposed. And this it will be very natural to believe, at least in regard to written characters; for as Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, who can well suppose that some of his written characters in Hebrew, where these agreed in sound with the Egyptian letters, would not be more or less conformed to the Egyptian mode of writing them? Nay more; when Abraham went down into Egypt, he appears to have had no difficulty in conversing with Pharaoh and his servants, Gen. xii. 14 seq. This might be, because the latter understood the Hebrew or Canaanitish language; or because Abraham understood Egyptian. But a more probable reason would seem to be; such a similarity of dialects, that conversation could be carried on intelligibly, at least by the help of gestures and looks.

Every Hebrew student must feel an interest in having more light thrown upon this subject; and more he may expect will yet be thrown upon it. M. S.]

[ P. p. 76. ]

Numeration by Hieroglyphics.

"The units are expressed by single upright strokes, and they are always repeated to mark any number below ten. The number ten is represented by an arch, either round or angular. The repetition of these arches produces the repetition of as many tens up to ninety. A hundred is exhibited by a figure very much resembling our nine; [it resembles

the second sign in cartouche a No. 3-the sign which answers to the Greek letter Y.] This same figure is again repeated for every hundred, for any number below one thousand. [One thousand is represented by a cross, over which is a figure like an inverted, opening to the left.] Thus to express the numbers two, three, four, seven, &c., alike, we are to mark two, three, four, or seven upright strokes. To signify twenty, or thirty, or ninety, we are to write two, three, or nine, angular or round arches. The number 42, for instance, is expressed by four arches, which mean four times ten = forty; and by two upright strokes, which mean

two.

To signify the ordinal numbers, we are to place at the top of each of the numbers, a figure [which resembles our ∞ (8) placed horizontally]; thus a single upright mark with the horizontal 8 over it would signify first, two upright strokes with this figure over them, would signify second; the signs which stand for forty-two, with this figure over them, would signify forty-second, &c.; and if this figure be changed into one like the three sides of a square, then the numbers will signify the first time, the second time, the forty-second time, &c.” (Spineto, Lect. ii. p. 72.)

[ Q. p. 111. ]

Doubts as to the escape of Pharaoh from the catastrophe at the Red Sea.

[The modesty and ingenuity which M. Greppo has exhibited, in the discussion which gives occasion to the present note, certainly entitle him to much credit and approbation. Still it seems to me very doubtful, whether the exegesis in question can be supported. When God says, in Exod. xiv. 17, “I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen ;" and when he repeats the same sentiment in Exod. xiv. 18; the natural inference seems to be, that the fate of Pharaoh would be the same as that of

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