f^^B
 
 ARKKT. 
 
 I'^y
 
 OCTOBER, 1842. 
 
 NEW BOOKS 
 
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 I. 
 
 THE THIRD EDITION OF 
 
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 By the Rev. WILLIAM PALMER, M.A. 
 
 Of Worcester College, Oxford; Author of " Origines Liturgicae." 
 
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 THOUGHTS on the STUDY of the GOSPELS. 
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 A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION to LATIN VERSE 
 
 COiMPOSITION. 
 
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 POEMS. 
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 XXI. 
 
 MATERIALS for TRANSLATION into LATIN : selected and 
 
 arranged by Augustus Grotefend. 
 
 Translated from the German by the Rev. H. H. ARNOLD, B.A. 
 
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 USEFUL KNOWLEDGE; 
 
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 The BAPTISTERY : or the Way of Eternal Life. A POEM. 
 
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 XXIV. 
 
 CATENA AUREA. 
 COMMENTARY on the FOUR GOSPELS, 
 
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 Edited by the Rev. E. B. PUSEY, D.D. 
 
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 MEMOIR of The CHISHOLM, late M.P. for Inverness-shire. 
 
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 XXX. 
 
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 BY J. G. F. & J. RIVINGTON. 7 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 THE THIRD EDITION OF 
 
 A MANUAL of the RUDIMENTS of THEOLOGY; containing 
 
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 Thirty-nine Articles, chiefly from Burnet; together with other 
 
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 xxxir. 
 
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 XXXIII. 
 
 A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION to GREEK ACCIDENCE. 
 
 By THOMAS KERCHEVER ARNOLD, M.A. 
 
 Rector of Lyndon and Late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, 
 
 Second Edition. In Svo. 5s. 6d. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 THE THIRD VOLUME OF 
 
 PLAIN SERMONS. 
 By CONTRIBUTORS to the " TRACTS FOR THE TIMES." 
 
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 XXXV. 
 
 A SELECTION from the First Four Volumes of PAROCHIAL 
 
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 XXXVI. 
 
 ECLOG^ OVIDIAN^ ; being the Fifth Part of the Latemisches 
 
 Elementarbuch, by Professors Jacobs and Doering. 
 
 Edited by THOMAS KERCHEVER ARNOLD, M.A. 
 
 Rector of Lyndon, and late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. 
 
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 XXXVII. 
 
 TRUTH without PREJUDICE. 
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 XXXVIII. 
 
 The CONSISTENCY of the DIVINE CONDUCT in REVEALING 
 
 the DOCTKINES of REDEMPTION: 
 
 Being the Hulsean Lectures for the Year 1841. 
 
 To which are added, 
 
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 By HENRY ALFORD, M.A. 
 
 Vicar of Wymeswold, Leicestershire ; and late Fellow of Trinity College. 
 In 8vo. 7s. (Just published.) 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 A NEW EDITION OF THE SECOND VOLUME OF 
 
 PLAIN PAROCHIAL SERMONS, preached in the Parish Church, 
 
 Bolton-le-Moors. 
 
 By the Rev. JAMES SLADE, M.A. 
 
 Vicar of Bolton, and Prebendary of Chester. 
 
 In 12tno. 6s. 
 
 *»* Lately published, Vols. I., III., & IV.,^nVe 6s. each. 
 
 XL. 
 
 A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION to LATIN PROSE COMPOSITION. 
 
 By THOMAS KERCHEVER ARNOLD, M.A. 
 
 Rector of Lyndon, and late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. 
 
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 considerable attention has been paid to the subject of Synonymes. It is used at 
 
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 Fourth Edition. In Svo. 6s. 6d. 
 
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 A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION to GREEK PROSE COMPOSITION. 
 
 Fourth Edition. In Svo. 5s. 6d. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 LECTURES on the LITURGY of the Church of England, 
 
 Arranged and slightly abridged of the Commentary of PETER WALDO, Esq. 
 
 By the Rev. EDWARD BERENS, M.A. 
 
 Archdeacon of Berks. 
 
 Third Edition. 12mo. 4s. 
 
 XLII. 
 THE EIGHTH EDITION OF 
 
 ANNOTATIONS on the FOUR GOSPELS, and the ACTS of the 
 
 APOSTLES. Compiled and Abridged for the Use of Students. 
 
 In 2 vols. Svo. 1/. Is. 
 
 Aha, lately published, 
 ANNOTATIONS on the EPISTLES ; being a Continuation of the above 
 
 Work. 
 
 By the Rev. JAMES SLADE, M.A. 
 
 Vicar of Bolton-in-the-Moors. 
 
 Fourth FJitioii. 2 vols. Svo. 18s.
 
 m
 
 LECTURES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 ELEMENTS OF HIEROGLYPHICS,
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY R. GILBERT, 
 
 ST. John's square.
 
 LECTURES 
 
 THE ELEMENTS 
 
 HIEROGLYPHICS 
 
 EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 MARQUIS SPINETO. 
 
 ■QucE legat ipsa lycoris. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR C. J. G. & F. RIVINGTON, 
 
 ST. Paul's church-yard, 
 
 AND WATERLOO-PLACE, PALL-MALL. 
 MDCCCXXIX.
 
 TO 
 
 HIS MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY 
 GEORGE IV. 
 
 king of great britain and ireland. 
 
 Sire, 
 I SHOULD not have presumed to lay before 
 your Majesty any lucubration of mine, had I 
 not been for some years connected with that 
 department of literature in the University of 
 Cambridge, which owed its foundation to the 
 munificence of one of your Majesty ^s royal 
 predecessors, and is continued by your Ma- 
 jesty's bounty ; the Professorship of Modern 
 History. 
 
 In addition to the annual course of Lec- 
 tures which I have been in the habit of 
 delivering to the members of the University 
 
 2017:^
 
 VI DEDICATION. 
 
 of Cambridge, on the languages and litera- 
 ture of modern Europe, I have turned my 
 attention to the discoveries recently made 
 in decyphering and methodizing the sacred 
 writings of ancient Egypt, induced by the 
 lively interest which this subject has excited 
 in almost every part of the civilized world. 
 
 I now venture to lay before your Majesty 
 the first fruits of my labours ; they are the 
 tribute of my devotion to your Majesty, and 
 my duty ; they are the imperfect offerings of 
 my gratitude for the peace and comfort which 
 I have enjoyed under your Majesty's Govern- 
 ment. England became my refuge during 
 the revolutionary storms which agitated my 
 own country, and ever since that period it has 
 been the land of my adoption. 
 
 Deign, Sire, to accept the following pages 
 with that gracious condescension, by which 
 your Majesty's character has been at all times 
 so eminently distinguished.
 
 DEDICATION. vii 
 
 It is not for me to invade the province of 
 the historian, or to attempt a description of 
 the signal events, both at home and abroad, 
 which have so happily marked the progress 
 of your Majesty's auspicious reign. 
 
 Let me, however, be permitted to bear my 
 humble testimony to the encouragement and 
 protection which your Majesty has invariably 
 afforded to the arts which adorn, and to the 
 institutions which improve, as they enlighten, 
 society. 
 
 I remain. 
 Sire, 
 Your Majesty's 
 Most faithful and devoted subject and servant, 
 
 SPINETO. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE, 
 May 30, 1829.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 It is with diffidence and hesitation that the follow- 
 ing Lectures are offered to the public. They were 
 originally intended as an addition to a Course of 
 Lectures, which the Author, as Deputy to the 
 Professor of Modern History, has been in the 
 habit of reading in the University of Cambridge, 
 on the literature and languages of modern Europe. 
 At the instance of some distinguished individuals, 
 a few of them were delivered last year at the 
 Royal Institution in London, and at the desire of 
 many of the Author's friends, they now appear 
 before the world. 
 
 In drawing them up, the Author has embraced 
 a large field of inquiry, and has ventured on a path 
 many parts of which have been but faintly ex- 
 plored; and he has had, in many instances, no 
 other assistance than the few scattered materials
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 which he had been able to collect in the constantly- 
 interrupted course of his reading. He has had to 
 address himself to people of education, on a sub- 
 ject extremely difficult, and in a language not his 
 own ; in a language full of idioms and niceties, 
 which present difficulties even to the natives them- 
 selves, and seem to baffle and defy all the efforts 
 of a foreigner. 
 
 Yet he cannot but remember the encom*age- 
 ment he received, while delivering these Lectures 
 at Cambridge, and at the Royal Institution. And 
 as they who heard them seemed to have a plea- 
 sure in listening to him, he cannot but hope that 
 those who read them will be equally indulgent. 
 
 In the following pages the Author never meant 
 to give the detail, but simply the result of his 
 reading ; and as they were originally intended for 
 delivery only, critical discussion has been always 
 avoided ; neither have references been collected 
 nor the authorities noted down on which the dif- 
 ferent statements were founded. To this defi- 
 ciency all Lectures are liable ; it arises from the 
 very nature of that mode of instruction. Yet
 
 PREFACE. Xi 
 
 what was possible has been done ; in most cases 
 the Author has not failed to mention, in a general 
 way, the name of the author, or of the book from 
 which he has taken the fact, or derived assistance. 
 
 It is not improbable that his readers may occa- 
 sionally differ from him on several points, which 
 he has endeavoured to establish, in regard to the 
 antiquities of Egypt, to its literature, to its pro- 
 gi'ess in the arts of civihzation and luxury, and, 
 above all, in regard to chronology, and the succes- 
 sion of the Pharaohs. 
 
 This very difference of opinion, which has 
 always existed among critics, has allowed great 
 latitude in subjects of antiquity and literature ; 
 and a proper degree of candour will no doubt be 
 shewn to the Author, in a land like this, of refine- 
 ment, civilization, and liberty. 
 
 Of the curious nature of the following Lectures 
 he need say but little. The pubhcations of the 
 Society of Antiquaries, and of many learned indi- 
 viduals, — the discoveries of Dr. Young, — the amaz- 
 ing success which has attended the labours of the
 
 xii PREFACE. 
 
 indefatigable Champollion,— the monuments of all 
 sorts which have been imported into England, — 
 the great collection of Egyptian antiquities in the 
 British Museum, and the magnificent descriptions 
 which travellers of all nations have given of the 
 majestic and wonderful ruins existing throughout 
 Nubia and Egypt, have excited so much general 
 interest in favour of hieroglyphics and Egyptian 
 antiquities, that every thing connected with the 
 existence and past gi'andeur of that extraordinary 
 people is become an object of national curiosity. 
 
 One observation, however, the Author feels 
 himself called upon to make, though it is not an 
 observation for him to make, if he could well 
 avoid it ; and it is this : — that, unable to express 
 himself as he might have hoped to do in his own 
 language, he has had no resource but to assemble 
 the greatest quantity of literary facts, and literary 
 notices, which the limits of his Lectures allowed ; 
 being conscious that as he could derive no advan- 
 tage from his manner, he had to depend only on 
 Ms matter ; and as he had no hope to please by 
 the beauty of composition, his efforts have been 
 always directed to give information, if he could, 
 
 8
 
 PREFACE. Xlil 
 
 and information only. And though these Lec- 
 tures have been written with the view of suiting 
 the taste of the general reader, yet he is not 
 without a hope that they may occasionally offer 
 to the scholar and to the antiquary materials suffi- 
 ciently interesting to engage their attention. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE, 
 June \st, 1829.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE L 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Page 
 Necessity of prior explanations, and of understanding ideas 
 
 by signs — Difficulties attending the study of hieroglyphics 
 — Illustrations — Requisites for understanding hierogly- 
 phics — Rosetta stone — Necessity of knowing the lan- 
 guage, history, and customs of the old Egyptians — An- 
 cient historians, Herodotus, Diodorus, Strabo, Manetho — 
 Animals — Deities — Religious doctrine — Egyptian dynas- 
 ties — Antiquities — Thebes — Memphis — Karnac — Louq- 
 sor — Abydos, &c. — Belzoni — Cailliaud — Champollion — 
 Conclusion - - - - 1 
 
 LECTURE n. 
 
 Opinions of the ancients concerning the nature and use of 
 hieroglyphics — Erroneous judgment of the moderns — 
 Scarcity of monuments — The Isiacal table — Horapollo — 
 Hermapion — The Rosetta stone — Discoveries made by 
 M. de Sacy, by Mr. Ackerblad, and Dr. Young — Encho- 
 rial or Demotic alphabet — Attempt at decyphering hiero- 
 glyphics — Manner of counting numbers — Interpretation 
 of names — Reflections ~ - - 49 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 Continuation of the same subject — Discovery of the name of 
 Cleopatra by Mr. Bankes — Means by which it was ob- 
 tained — ChampoUion's publications — Lettre a M. Dacier
 
 xvi CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 — Precis du systeme hieroglypbique — Hieroglyphical 
 Alphabet — Number of characters — Their meaning — At- 
 tempt to account for their multiphcity and difference — 
 Illustrations — Mode by which the Egyptians formed their 
 hieroglyphics — Disposition of them — Examples — General 
 rules — Application of Champollion's alphabet to the read- 
 ing of the names of the Egyptian sovereigns — Under 
 the Romans — the Greeks — the Persians — the Pharaohs 
 — Coincidence between the Bible and some of the Egyp- 
 tian legends — Observations - - - 79 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 Division of hieroglyphics — Figurative and symbolic hiero- 
 glyphics explained — Legends of some of the principal 
 deities— Aramon — Phtha — Neith — Sm6 — Sate — Rhe, or 
 Phre — Isis — Osiris — Character of this latter in the 
 Amenti — Account of the thirty-two regions in which the 
 souls of the dead might be confined — Mode by which they 
 were tried — Important tenet it inculcated — Origin of Tar- 
 tarus, Elysium, Pluto, Cerberus, Acheron, Charon, &c. - 116 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 Continuation of the same subject — Exhibition of the mode 
 by which the souls of the dead entered the Amenti — 
 Further examination of hieroglyphics — Explanation of 
 some of the most important grammatical forms — Genders 
 Number — Verbs — Pronouns — Mixture of hieroglyphics — 
 Legends — Names of individuals — of the Pharaohs — 
 Mystic titles which invariably preceded their historical 
 name — Explanation of some most commonly used — Coin- 
 cidence of the Egyptian inscriptions with the names of 
 some of the kings mentioned in the Bible - - 150
 
 CONTENTS. xvii 
 
 Page 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 Continuation of the same subject — Harnesses the Great — 
 The Sesostris of the Greeks — Rames-Mei-moun — Legend, 
 exhibiting the name and mystic titles of this Pharaoh 
 round the cover of the Sarcophagus in the Museum at 
 Cambridge — Explanation of the legend — Antiquity of the 
 monument — Tomb of the Pharaoh Ousirei opened by Bel- 
 zoni — Legend of his mystic titles and historical name — 
 Reflections on the chronology of the Septuagint and the 
 Hebrew text — Table of Abydos — Discoveries made by 
 Champollion, confirming the canon of Manetho — The 
 Hyk-shos, or the Shepherd kings — Reflections — Plan of 
 an expedition— Important results that might be expected 
 from it — Extract from Dugald Stuart - - 189 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 History of figurative hieroglyphics — Their general use 
 amongst mankind — Explanation of the Mexican mode of 
 writing by representation of the object — Alterations intro- 
 duced by the Egyptians — Causes which must have pro- 
 duced them — Attempt at explaining some of the cha- 
 racters - - - - - 229 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 Continuation of the same subject — Simplicity of the original 
 figures and language of mankind — Hebrew alphabet — 
 Chinese characters — Words mostly monosyllables — Ex- 
 amples — Formation of dissyllabic and trisyllabic words — 
 Examples — Similarity found in most of the Oriental al- 
 phabets — Mode by which figures became arbitrary marks — 
 Their shapes — Specimens of the Chinese and Egyptian — 
 Names attached to each, generally imitative — How ex- 
 pressed in writing — Examples — Difference of hierogly-
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 phics — Joining' of sounds — Analysis of them — Discovery 
 of the alphabet — Generally attributed to the Egyptians — 
 Remarkable passage of Plato — Consequences arising from 
 it — General remarks _ - - - 263 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 Continuation of the same subject — Opinion of those who 
 ascribe the invention of the alphabet to the Antedilu- 
 vians — Scientific and literary productions of the old Egyp- 
 tians — Books of Hermes — A short enumeration of their 
 several classes, and of the priests who were to cultivate 
 each of them — A further account of the scientific produc- 
 tions of the Egyptians — Authorities of the classic writers 
 — Libraries — Of Osymandias — Alexandria — An account 
 of them — General observations _ . _ 297 
 
 LECTURE X. 
 
 Different appellations by which Egypt has been called by the 
 ancients — Origin of the name of Egypt — How called by 
 the natives — Geography of Egypt — Its natural and poli- 
 tical boundaries — Short account of the Oasis, and of 
 the Egyptian colonies on the eastern shores of the Red 
 Sea — Curious answer of the oracle of Ammon — The Nile 
 — ^Difterent names by which it was known — Its course and 
 inundation— Division of Egypt— Attempt at ascertaining 
 when it was first made — Difference between Modern and 
 Ancient Egypt — Mistakes of the ancients — Causes which 
 produced them — Alterations produced by the Greek 
 writers in the Egyptian names — Mode by which they have 
 been recovered - - - - 336
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE XI. 
 
 Statement of the subject — Difference in the chronology of 
 the Hebrew text, and the Samaritan and Greek version of 
 the Bible — Inadmissibihty of the Hebrew computation, 
 proved by facts mentioned by sacred as well as profane his- 
 tory — Ages of Nimrod, of Ninus, and of Abraham, ascer- 
 tained — Foundation of the Egyptian monarchy by Mis- 
 raim — Multiplication of mankind — Opinion of Bishop 
 Cumberland confuted — Alteration of the Hebrew chrono- 
 logy — Objections stated and resolved — Reasons why the 
 genealogical tables recorded by the ancient historians are 
 entitled to credit — Causes which produced the discrepancy 
 in the names and number of the different sovereigns — At- 
 tempt at reducing to a reasonable computation the fabulous 
 reckonings of the Oriental historians — System of M. 
 Gibert — Explained — Exemplified — Babylonian, Egyp- 
 tian, and Chinese chronology . _ . 370 
 
 LECTURE XIL 
 
 Anaglyphs — Remarkable instance of one, exhibiting the 
 figures of the Israelites, Hyk-shos, and Negroes — National 
 sentiments of the Egyptians concerning these Shepherds — 
 Attempt at ascertaining their origin — Historical account 
 from Manetho, Diodorus, Chaeremon, Lysimachus, and 
 Tacitus, analysed — Systems of the ancient and modern 
 writers about the Hyk-shos, and the Israelites — Opinion 
 of the Fathers and the primitive Christians confuted. 
 Hypothesis of Mr. Bryant analysed - - 410
 
 XX CONTENTS, 
 
 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 Continuation of the same subject — Hypothesis of Mr. Faber, 
 in regard to the Exodus and the Hyk-shos, analysed — 
 General reflections — Historical monuments — Important 
 facts — Attempt at explanation — Objections — Conclusion 448
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Necessity of ■prior explanations and of understanding ideas hy 
 Signs — Difficulties attending the study of hieroglyphics — 
 Illustrations — Requisites for understanding hieroglyphics — 
 Rosetta stone — Necessity of knowing the language, history, 
 and customs of the old Egyptians — Ancient historians, He- 
 rodotus, Diodorus, Strabo, Manetho — Animals — Deities — 
 Religious doctrine — Egyptian dynasties — Antiquities — Thebes 
 — Memphis — Karnac — Louqsor — Abydos, Sfc. — Belzoni — 
 Cailliaud — Champollion — Conclusion. 
 
 It is necessary, before I approach the subject of 
 hieroglyphics, to make a few prehminary observa- 
 tions. The information to be found in different 
 individuals who assemble at a public lectm^e is very 
 different. A lecturer must endeavour, above all 
 things, to be as inteUigible to his hearers as the 
 subject admits ; but this, in such a subject as hiero- 
 glyphics, is very difficult, and every allowance must 
 be made for me, while I am alluding to so many 
 things which have been long buried in the ob- 
 scurity of distant ages, and are matters upon which 
 studious and learned men have thought much, and 
 disputed not a little.
 
 2 LECTURE T. 
 
 The present Lecture will be chiefly occupied in 
 endeavouring to explain such terms as I shall have 
 hereafter to use ; the mentioning such characters 
 and points of history as I may have hereafter to 
 allude to; and in giving such information as it 
 would be inconvenient to give while the Lecture is 
 going on, and when such information must be 
 taken for granted. In all sciences, and in every 
 species of instruction, something is generally laid 
 down in the way of lemma, that the thoughts may 
 not afterwards be embarrassed by unseasonable in- 
 terruption. Much of what I am now going to say 
 may be already familiar to those who have at all 
 considered the subject before us, and to such it 
 may appear tedious and unnecessary. This is, 
 however, the great difficulty with which a public 
 lecturer has to struggle, and from which he cannot 
 escape ; that what is necessary to the mind of one 
 hearer, is not so to the mind of another. 
 
 Mankind have always turned with great interest 
 to the subject of hieroglyphics. These were cha- 
 racters found on public monuments in Egypt. The 
 inhabitants of that celebrated land were always 
 considered as the great masters of the knowledge 
 of the ancient world. Here were characters in 
 which much of their knowledge might be con- 
 tained, but it was quite impossible to know what 
 their meaning was. On this subject, therefore, 
 the curiosity of mankind has been always very in- 
 tense. They were supposed to be the characters 
 in which the priests expressed, or rather concealed
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 3 
 
 their knowledge ; and it was even thought that, in 
 later times, the priests had themselves lost the art 
 of understanding them. In looking at the charac- 
 ters, some of them had the appearance of some- 
 thing like letters ; some were the pictures of birds 
 or beasts ; some of the human figure : nothing 
 could be more fitted to baffle inquiry, and perplex 
 conjecture. 
 
 And now I must digress for a moment, to re- 
 quest you will consider what an astonishing thing 
 it is to express a thought of the mind by any writ- 
 ten mark whatever. If I am thinking of a bird, or 
 a lion, or a house, I may draw a bird, a lion, or a 
 house ; a picture may represent a thought ; but be- 
 yond this all is impossibility. When the Spaniards 
 arrived on the coast of Mexico, the Indians, you 
 are aware, had no other way of informing their 
 rulers of this important event, but by drawing pic- 
 tures ; and nothing can be more curious than the 
 exhibition of this sort of picture-writing, to be 
 found in Purchas's Pilgrim, which is an account of 
 the early voyages, and of which I shall speak more 
 fully in a future lecture. But consider, what a wide 
 step there is between this picture-writing, and what 
 we mean by wi'iting. The next possible step would 
 be to represent a bird, or a lion, or any material 
 object, by any very prominent hue belonging to 
 the figure ; but when this has been done, I would 
 ask, what can next be done ? Consider what an 
 alphabet is ; how very artificial ! Consider what 
 it is to combine the letters of the alphabet into 
 
 B 2
 
 4 LECTURE 1. 
 
 words ; consider that there is no possible connec- 
 tion between a cluster of these letters, or of these 
 words, and a thought of the mind. Every mother 
 can tell how slow and painful is the process by 
 which a child may be taught its letters, as it is 
 called. The process may well be slow and pain- 
 ful ; for how should a child discover any connec- 
 tion between the sound and the mark that is made 
 to belong to it ? The difficulty, indeed, has been 
 considered so great, that some philosophers have 
 supposed that mankind could only have derived 
 the use of letters from supernatural interposition. 
 The Chinese are not in possession of an alphabet 
 at this moment ; and nothing can be so curious as 
 the system of their language. 
 
 You will now, then, see the difficulty that be- 
 longed to the subject of hieroglyphics from the 
 first moment they were presented to an inquirer : 
 was it a language of symbols ? did it consist of 
 words ? was it made out of an alphabet ? was it a 
 language spoken ? was it a dead language ? If a 
 living language, what living language ? Was it a 
 language known only to the priests themselves, as 
 the Sanscrit of India was once supposed to be ? 
 How endless were these fields of inquiry ! Many 
 writers offered their reasonings and conjectures on 
 the subject, and from this moment the study of 
 Egyptian antiquities, and of hieroglyphics in par- 
 ticular, was carried on in a direction totally dif- 
 ferent from truth ; since imagination was substi- 
 tuted for reason, and conjecture for facts.
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 5 
 
 I will offer you a specimen in illustration of what 
 I am saying. Observe, for instance, the method 
 employed in the seventeenth century by the Jesuit 
 Kircher. 
 
 This indefatigable writer, in the several works 
 which he pubUshed on hieroglyphics, pretended to 
 have discovered in all the Egyptian inscriptions en- 
 graved on obehsks and mummies, the whole of the 
 cabalistic art, and the extraordinary rules and pre- 
 cepts of the most refined system of demonology. 
 
 Indeed it would be difficult, perhaps impossible, 
 to give an idea of the absurdities which are found 
 in his works, from the practical impossibility of 
 translating some of his explanations. One instance 
 will suffice. Among the obelisks which the Roman 
 emperors removed from Egypt to Rome, there is 
 one called the Pamphihan obeUsk ; it is entirely 
 covered with hieroglyphics, and among them we 
 find a cluster of seventeen characters. These, mo- 
 dern ingenuity has discovered to contain the name 
 of Domitian, accompanied by his titles of Caesar 
 Augustus ; in the Greek language, Kaiffup 2e/3ac7roc, 
 spelt in hieroglyphics Kiaao. How has the learned 
 Jesuit translated them ? You shall hear : — " Gene- 
 rationis beneficus praeses coelesti dominio quadri- 
 potens serem per Mophta beneficum humorem 
 aereum committit amoni inferiora potentissimo, qui 
 per simulacrum et ceremonias appropriatas trahitur 
 ad potentiam exerendam." I find it utterly impos- 
 sible to make any translation of this jargon. 
 
 Such is the specimen of the interpretation which
 
 6 LECTURE I. 
 
 the Jesuit Kircher made of hieroglyphics. Other 
 writers, considering the land of Egypt as too con- 
 fined a spot, thought that the doctrine concealed 
 by these Egyptian characters affected the whole of 
 mankind, and imagined that hieroglyphics con- 
 tained the precepts and the system of the Chris- 
 tian religion, revealed to the Egyptian priests 4000 
 years before its Foimder. Others, with equal 
 truth, imagined that the hieroglyphics on the Pam- 
 philian obelisk were intended to preserve the me- 
 mory of the victory which the believers in the 
 Trinity and the Word obtained over the wicked 
 Pagans, six centm-ies after the flood, during the 
 reigns of the sixth and seventh kings of Egypt ; 
 and, to complete the whole, the chevalier Palin, 
 thinking that there was the greatest possible simi- 
 larity between the Egyptian hieroglyphics and the 
 Chinese characters, has asserted that we have only 
 to translate the Psalms of David into Chinese, and 
 write them in the ancient characters of that lan- 
 guage, to reproduce the Egyptian Papyri ; and that 
 Hebrew translations of many of the consecrated 
 rolls of papyrus are to be found in the Bible. 
 
 On the whole it was quite clear that no real 
 knowledge of the nature of hieroglyphics could be 
 obtained, unless some public edifice or obehsk was 
 found, in which the same inscription was written 
 first in hieroglyphics, and afterwards in some lan- 
 guage that was known. It was then possible that 
 the corresponding parts of the two inscriptions 
 might be compared together, and the general mean- 
 
 1
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 7^ 
 
 ing, at least of some parts of the hieroglyphic in- 
 scription, be discovered. 
 
 But here again it was observed, that if the hiero- 
 glyphic inscription was not made up of symbols, 
 it must have a reference to some language, and 
 unless that language was known, nothing more 
 could, even then, be made out, but that such par- 
 ticular characters had such a particular meaning, 
 and the whole nature of hieroglyphics could not 
 yet be considered as sufficiently ascertained. 
 
 Now it so happens, that a stone of this kind has 
 been found; the celebrated Rosetta stone, of 
 which I shall have to speak hereafter. On this 
 stone there were observed different inscriptions, — 
 one in hieroglyphics, one in Greek, and a third in 
 the characters which the Egyptians had been ac- 
 customed to write for many centuries. 
 
 Here was evidently a field opened for the en- 
 quiry of learned men, and it was possible that in- 
 genuity and diligence might now not be exerted in 
 vain. 
 
 But as the hieroglyphics seem not entirely to 
 consist of pictures of animals or human figures, 
 the probability was, that it had a reference to some 
 language, and the question was, what this language 
 could be. Probably it might be the language spoken 
 in the country at the time the inscription was 
 made. This, at least, was the only chance to pro- 
 ceed upon ; for if the language was a dead one, 
 or one known only to the priests, there was little
 
 8 LECTURE I. 
 
 chance of much discovery in this very curious 
 subject. 
 
 Now the gi-eat hope was, that the language 
 should be the Coptic. This was the language 
 spoken by the Egyptians in later ages ; and an in- 
 genious and learned Frenchman, M. De Quattre- 
 mere, has proved that this was also the language 
 of the old Egyptians, preserved by oral communi- 
 cation from time immemorial. His book bears 
 the title of " Recherches sur la Langue et la Lite- 
 rature de r Egypt ;" and it was published in Paris, 
 in the year 1808. According, therefore, to M. De 
 Quattremere, in whatever time these hieroglyphics 
 were written, the language was probably Coptic. 
 This language was not unknown to learned men ; 
 we have the Pentateuch, and several parts of the 
 Scriptures, translated into Coptic ; so that here 
 was, again, some hope for the student of hiero- 
 glyphics. This old Coptic language might also be 
 affected by the incursions of the Arabians ; for their 
 first incursion and settlement in Egypt precedes 
 the age of Joseph : and there is, besides, every 
 reason to suppose, that in later times, during the 
 captivity of the Israelites in that country, they 
 made a second incursion, and possessed themselves 
 of the whole of the Lower Egypt, where they fixed 
 their residence, and formed a new dynasty, — so 
 much known in history by the appellation of 
 Shepherd Kings, or, as the Egyptians called them, 
 Hyk-shos. But the Arabic language is known.
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 9 
 
 and, therefore, this circumstance would not neces- 
 sarily create an insurmountable confusion. But on 
 these accounts it was on the whole clear, that no 
 student of hieroglyphics was likely to succeed, 
 unless he could make himself acquainted with the 
 history of Egypt, the nature of its language, and, 
 if possible, the customs and manners of the 
 people. 
 
 In the Lectures I shall have to deHver, I must 
 endeavour to explain what progress has been made 
 by those who laboured in this subject now before 
 us ; and a continual reference, as you will already 
 see, must be necessarily made to every thing con- 
 nected with this country of Egypt. 
 
 That the mind may not be hereafter embarrassed 
 for want of a little preliminary knowledge, I will 
 mention a few particulars. 
 
 In the first place, we may refer to the ancient 
 historians, and among them the most known and 
 popular are Herodotus and Diodorus. Most of 
 them seem to have travelled into Egypt for the 
 purpose of acquainting themselves with the nature 
 of its institutions, religion, and learning. They 
 give their account, and state it as the result of the 
 enquiry which they had made, and more particu- 
 larly from the priesthood ; and the information 
 they give may serve not a httle to illustrate such 
 appearances as are found in the hieroglyphics. The 
 animals they mention as sacred, and as, on differ- 
 ent accounts, noticed by the Egyptians, were, the 
 ram, the bull, the cow, the serpent, the bird ibis.
 
 10 LECTURE I. 
 
 the beetle, &c. Now all these are seen in the 
 hieroglyphics. 
 
 Sometimes a particular figure appears in the 
 hieroglyphics, and this figure may be one of their 
 deities. What has been said, therefore, of their 
 particular deities, may assist us in comprehending 
 these hieroglyphics. Theu principal god was 
 Ammon, the Creator of the Universe, or the Demi- 
 urgos. He had for assistants the god Cneph, or 
 Cnouphis, and the goddess Neith. This god 
 Cnouphis, and this goddess Neith, were considered 
 as an emanation of Ammon, the one representing 
 the male principle, or the emblem of paternity, 
 the other the female, or the emblem of mater- 
 nity ; and both together formed one single being, 
 with the great Demim-gos, who had organised the 
 whole world. This goddess Neith was mistaken 
 by the Greeks for their Minerva. The Egyptians 
 had, besides, the god Phtha, whom the Greeks 
 mistook or compared to their Vulcan. Besides these 
 deities there was the goddess Sate, whose particular 
 department it was to dispose of the souls of the 
 dead ; and the goddess Sme, who was the Egyptian 
 Themis, and to whom the Greeks gave the appel- 
 lation of AXiiOiia. The god Phre, or Re, was the 
 eye of the world, the dispenser of light, which the 
 Greeks have converted into their Apollo. Osyris, 
 the representative of Ammon in the next world, be- 
 came the Pluto of the Greeks, and Isis, as the wife 
 of Osyris, or Sate, or Sme, as his assistant, was 
 converted into Proserpine, who was the wife of
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 11 
 
 Pluto, and sometimes into Themis, the goddess of 
 justice and truth. 
 
 But in considering the deities of Egypt, we 
 must not look upon them with the same eye as we 
 do those of Greece and Rome. For nothing would 
 lead us further astray than to apply to the Egyp- 
 tian gods and goddesses the same principle which 
 directs us in regard to the Roman and Grecian 
 Pantheon. The gods and goddesses of Rome and 
 Greece were each a different being, quite distinct 
 among themselves, and the whole religion of both 
 these countries was a regular polytheism. But the 
 gods and goddesses of the Egyptians were merely 
 emanations, or representations of the several attri- 
 butes of the Supreme Being. For the religion of 
 the Egyptians, in its primary institution, was Deism, 
 and the immortality of the soul, and the certainty 
 of a future life was one of their principal dogmas. 
 In fact, many of the hieroglyphical legends which 
 are found in MSS. or sculptured on the ruins of 
 their temples, are but a representation of these 
 important tenets, as I shall have to explain in a 
 future Lecture. Indeed there seems no doubt that 
 the Grecian Pantheon was but a corruption of the 
 Egyptian, and that the gods and goddesses of the 
 Greeks and of the Romans were but a distorted 
 copy of the gods and goddesses of Egypt taken 
 literally, as their Hades and their Tartarus, their 
 Elysian fields, with Charon, Cerberus, Pluto and 
 Proserpine, had no other model than the Egyptian
 
 12 LECTURE I. 
 
 Amenti, and the power of the Supreme Being over 
 the souls of the dead. 
 
 Sometimes the person to whom the hieroglyphics 
 refer, may be some celebrated king, or conqueror ; 
 and, therefore, the Egyptian history, such as it is 
 given by Herodotus, Manetho, and others, may be 
 of use to us. On this subject I shall say more 
 hereafter. 
 
 Sometimes the hieroglyphics seem to describe 
 some scene that has taken place, to relate Some 
 story, to refer to some rehgious ceremony, to some 
 mystery, or to some part of their system of belief. 
 To these we have already alluded, and in the 
 course of these Lectures I shall have to give a 
 distinct representation of this kind. 
 
 In regard to history, though many ancient wri- 
 ters, such as Herodotus, Diodorus, Strabo, Plu- 
 tarch and others, have written on the history and 
 antiquities of Egypt, yet there is but one native 
 Egyptian historian of note, who has given a regu- 
 lar account of the history of his country, and this 
 historian is Manetho. He was a priest, and wrote 
 the history of his country, and of the Egyptian 
 dynasties which had preceded Alexander, by the 
 order of his sovereign, Ptolemy Philadelphus. His 
 work, which was originally in three volumes, is now 
 lost ; but some valuable fragments exist in the 
 works of several ■writers, mostly primitive Chris- 
 tians, who have transcribed him for the sake of con- 
 futing his assertions. His work being, therefore.
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 13 
 
 considered as authentic and important by these 
 writers, may be so considered by us in a later age, 
 and we of course apply to these extracts thus 
 preserved, when we seek for explanation of those 
 monuments which refer to the events which he has 
 recorded. 
 
 From Manetho, therefore, we learn, that up to 
 the time of Alexander, thirty-two different dynas- 
 ties had reigned over Egypt ; that their rulers in- 
 variably assumed the title of Pharaohs ; that during 
 the first sixteen dynasties, Egypt acquired a degree 
 of power and civilization unknown to the rest of 
 the world, and was covered with a great number of 
 magnificent monuments, many of which still defy 
 the hand of time ; that it was during this early 
 period that the various canals were dug, to carry 
 every where the waters of the Nile, and that a 
 large lake was excavated, to collect the superflu- 
 ous waters. In short, it was during this period 
 that the government of Egypt, the wisdom of its 
 laws, and the learning of the priesthood, acquired 
 that degi'ee of celebrity which so entitled them to 
 the subsequent respect of mankind. 
 
 From the same historian Manetho, from Euse- 
 bius, and Josephus, and from monuments which 
 Mr. ChampoUion has been able to decypher, we 
 learn that the sixteenth dynasty of the Pharaohs 
 was composed of five kings, who held the throne 
 of Egypt for the space of 190 years, and that the 
 name of the last king of this dynasty was Timaus 
 Concharis. He held the throne of Egypt but for
 
 14 LECTURE I. 
 
 a short time ; for, in the sixth year of his reign, 
 a horde of foreigners, whom Manetho represents as 
 Arabians, made an irruption into Eg}q:)t, and took 
 possession of that part of the country which hes 
 near the Mediterranean, and is called Lower 
 Egypt, the capital of which was Memphis. 
 
 They formed a new dynasty, the seventeenth, 
 which is distinguished by the historian by the name 
 of Hyk-shos, or shepherd kings. It seems that they 
 held the throne of Egyi^t for the space of 260 
 years ; and though they assumed the title of 
 Pharaohs, yet they are represented as perfect 
 barbarians ; rapacious and cruel, laying waste the 
 country, pillaging and destroying temples and 
 buildings, murdering all the men capable of bearing 
 arms, and reducing to slavery the women and 
 childi'en. During the whole of this disastrous 
 time, Egypt was divided into two different govern- 
 ments, or kingdoms. The one held by the Hyk- 
 shos, at Memphis, the other by the real Pharaohs, 
 who had retired to Thebes ; though it seems, that 
 at the very beginning of the invasion, these latter, 
 unable to withstand the torrent, became tributaries 
 to the usurpers. 
 
 The Pharaohs, however, did not remain idle at 
 Thebes. Recovering their strength and courage, 
 they began to attack the Hyk-shos, and, after a 
 struggle which lasted for some time, the sixth of 
 the Pharaohs, called Misphramouthosis, gained so 
 decisive a victory over the enemy, that he drove 
 them to their last reftige, the town of Aouaris.
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 15 
 
 This was a place of strength, a fortress, which the 
 Hyk-shos had built against the attempts of the 
 Assyrians, and where they had collected the re- 
 mainder of their forces. But the Pharaoh Thout- 
 mosis, son and successor of Misphra, now master 
 of the whole of Egypt, brought up so many forces 
 against them, that they, unable to defend them- 
 selves any longer, left the country, and retired into 
 Syria. 
 
 During this period, the deliverance or departure 
 of the Israelites from the land of Egypt is fixed, 
 and not without reason, as I shall have it in my 
 power to prove, hereafter. 
 
 This victory of Thoutmosis rendered him the 
 chief of the eighteenth dynasty, undoubtedly the 
 gi'eatest that ever held the throne of Egypt ; for 
 among his several successors we find Rameses 
 Meiamon, Rameses Sethosis, the Sesostris of the 
 Greeks, and other princes equally celebrated for 
 their wisdom and conquests. Of these princes I 
 shall have occasion to speak hereafter, as the cover 
 of the sarcophagus which once contained the re- 
 mains of one of these mighty monarch s now lies 
 in the Fitzwilliam museum at Cambridge. 
 
 Upon the whole, therefore, we must divide the 
 whole period of the Egyptian empire into the five 
 following periods. 
 
 The first begins with the first establishment of 
 their government, and comprehends the time 
 during which all religious and political authority 
 was in the hands of the priesthood, who laid the
 
 16 LECTURE I. 
 
 first foundation of the future power of Egypt, 
 founding and embellishing tlie great city of Thebes, 
 building magnificent temples, and instituting the 
 mysteries of Isis, from Misraim to Menes. 
 
 The second period begins at the abolition of this 
 primitive government, and the first establishment 
 of the monarchical government, by Menes. From 
 this time commences what is generally called the 
 Pharaonic age, and ends at the irruption of 
 Cambyses. This is doubtless the most brilhant 
 period of the Egyptian monarchy, during which 
 the whole of Egypt was covered with those mag- 
 nificent works which still command our admiration, 
 and excite our astonishment ; and by the wisdom 
 of its institutions and laws, and by the learning 
 of its priests, was rendered the most rich, the most 
 populous, and the most enlightened country in the 
 world. 
 
 The third epoch, embraces nearly 200 years, 
 and begins from the overthrowing of the empire of 
 the Pharaohs by Cambyses, and ends at Alex- 
 ander. 
 
 The fourth epoch embraces the reign of the 
 Ptolomies. It begins at the death of Alexander, 
 or rather at the elevation of Ptolomy Lagus to the 
 throne of Egypt, 323 years before Christ, and 
 ends at the death of the famous queen, Cleo- 
 patra, when that kingdom became a Roman pro- 
 vince. 
 
 At this period, which precedes the birth of our 
 Saviour by two years only, the fifth epoch begins.
 
 INTRODUCTORY. , 17 
 
 and continues to the time, when about the middle 
 of the fourth century, the Christian rehgion having 
 become the rehgion of the country, the use of 
 hieroglyphics was for ever discontinued, and the 
 Coptic characters generally adopted. 
 
 During the first three periods, from the esta- 
 blishment of the monarchy under the priests, under 
 the Pharaohs, and under Cambyses, the language 
 used in the country was the old Egyptian, or 
 Coptic ; while during the last two periods, from 
 Alexander to the abolition of the hieroglyphics 
 under the Ptolemies and the Roman emperors, 
 we find in many cases the Greek language used on 
 public monuments ; so that the same hieroglyphics 
 which, during the hieratic, Pharaonic, and Per- 
 sian government formed Coptic words, during 
 the Grecian and Roman periods produced occa- 
 sionally Grecian expressions, and Grecian titles. 
 This, of course, was but the natural consequence 
 of the nature of the different governments during 
 these several periods. The priests and the Pharaohs 
 were Egyptians, Cambyses and his successors 
 Persians. But the Ptolemies came from Greece, 
 and the Romans using the Grecian language which 
 they had learned, preferred it to the barbarous 
 Egyptian, as they called it, and of which they knew 
 nothing. 
 
 We must now refer a little to the topography 
 and antiquities of this extraordinary country. 
 Every thing of this nature has a connection with 
 the subject of hieroglyphics, for they are found in
 
 18 LECTURE I. 
 
 particular situations, in temples, and amid the 
 ruins of cities that were long the admiration of the 
 world. These cities, temples, and monuments of 
 ancient grandeur, I shall have continually to refer 
 to in the ensuing Lectures. 
 
 The whole of Egypt was divided into three large 
 portions. The one more south, and nearer to the 
 head of the Nile, was called Higher Egypt, the 
 next was called Middle Egypt, and the last, near to 
 the Mediterranean, w^as called Lower Egypt. 
 
 Originally, during the hieratic government, the 
 whole of this great country had but one capital, 
 and this was Thebes, which the Eg}^tians called 
 Tsaky ; but, after the Pharaoh Menes had built 
 the city of Memphis, in Lower Egypt, and re- 
 moved his court, and taken up his residence in 
 that city, Memphis, though the second capital of 
 the empire, became, in progi'ess of time, the rival 
 of Thebes, and, ultimately, the cause of its ruin ; 
 as both these towns have been very celebrated in 
 history, a short account of their past magnificence 
 and grandeur may not be uninteresting. 
 
 The city of Thebes is, perhaps, the most asto- 
 nishing work executed by the hand of man. Its 
 ruins are the most unequivocal proof of the ancient 
 civihzation of Egypt, and of the high degi^ee of 
 power which the Egj^tians had reached by the 
 extent of their knowledge. Its origin is lost in the 
 obscm'ity of time, it being coeval with the nation 
 which first took possession of Egypt ; and it is suffi- 
 cient to give a proper idea of its antiquity to say.
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 19 
 
 that the building of Memphis was the first attempt 
 made to rival the prosperity of Thebes. 
 
 Its extent was immense, it filled the whole 
 valley which was permeated by the Nile. D'An- 
 ville and Denon state its circmnference to have 
 been S6 miles ; its diameter not less than ten and 
 a half. The nmnber of its inhabitants was in pro- 
 portion to these vast dimensions. Diodorus says, 
 that the houses were four and five stories high. 
 Although Thebes had greatly fallen off from its 
 ancient splendour at the time of Cambyses, yet it 
 was the fury of this merciless conqueror that gave 
 the last blow to its grandeur. This prince pillaged 
 its temples, carried away all the ornaments of gold, 
 silver, and ivory, which decorated its magnificent 
 buildings, and ruined both its temples and its 
 buildings. Before this unfortunate epoch, no city 
 in the world could be compared with it in extent, 
 splendour, and riches ; and, according to the ex- 
 pression of Diodorus, the sun had never seen so 
 magnificent a city. 
 
 Previous to the establishment of the monarchical 
 government, Thebes was the residence of the prin- 
 cipal college of the priesthood, who ruled over the 
 country. It is to this epoch that all writers refer 
 the elevation of its most ancient edifices. The 
 enumeration of them all would require more time 
 than we have. I shall confine my observations to 
 four of the most celebrated, to which I shall have 
 occasion often to refer. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 L E C T U R E I. 
 
 These were the temple, or palace of Karnac, 
 of Louqsor ; the Memnonium ; and the Medineh- 
 Taboii, or, as some other travellers spell it, Medi- 
 net-habou. 
 
 The temple, or the palace of Karnac was, with- 
 out doubt, the most considerable monument of an- 
 cient Thebes. It was not less than a mile and a 
 half in circumference, and M. Denon employed 
 nearly twenty minutes on horseback in going round 
 it, at full gallop. It had in fi'ont two immense 
 courts, adorned by ranges of columns, some of 
 which were sixty feet high, and others eighty ; 
 and at their respective entrances there were 
 two colossal statues on the same scale. In the 
 middle of the second court there were four obe- 
 lisks of granite of a finished workmanship, three 
 of which are still standing. They stood before the 
 sanctuary, built all of granite, and covered with 
 sculptures representing symbolical attributes of the 
 god to whom the temple was consecrated. This 
 was the Maker of the universe, the Creator of all 
 things, the Zeuc of the Greeks, the Jupiter of the 
 Latins, but the Ammon of the Egyptians. By the 
 side of the sanctuary there were smaller buildings, 
 probably the apartments of those attached to the 
 service of the temple ; and behind it other habita- 
 tions, adorned with columns and porticos, which 
 led into another immense coui't, having on each 
 side closed passages, or corridors, and at the top a 
 covered portico, or gallery, supported by a great
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 21 
 
 number of columns and pilasters. In this way the 
 sanctuary was entirely surrounded by these vast 
 and splendid buildings, and the whole was enclosed 
 by a wall, covered internally and externally with 
 symbols and hieroglyphics, which went round the 
 magnificent edifice. 
 
 Beyond this wall there were other buildings, and 
 other courts, filled with colossal statues of grey 
 and white marble. These buildings, or temples, 
 communicated with each other by means of gal- 
 leries and passages, adorned with columns and sta- 
 tues. The most striking circumstance, however, 
 is, that attached to this palace are the remains 
 of a much more considerable edifice, of higher 
 antiquity, which had been introduced into the 
 general plan when this magnificent building was 
 restored by the Pharaoh Amenophis, the third 
 king of the eighteenth dynasty, nearly 2000 years 
 before Christ. This more ancient edifice, or ra- 
 ther its ruins, are considered to be more than four 
 thousand years old, or 2272 years before Christ. 
 I shall have to speak of them in a future Lecture. 
 A second wall enclosed the whole mass of these 
 immense and splendid buildings, the approach to 
 which was by means of avenues, having on 
 their right and left colossal figures of sphinxes. In 
 one avenue they had the head of a bull; in another, 
 they were represented with a human head ; in a 
 third, with a ram's head. This last was a mile and 
 a half in length, began at the southern gate, and 
 led to the temple of Louqsor.
 
 22[ LECTURE I. 
 
 Speaking of this magnificent temple, and of the 
 avenue of sphinxes I have just mentioned, Belzoni 
 exclaims, that " on approaching it the visiter is in- 
 spired with devotion and piety ; their enormous size 
 strikes him with wonder, and respect to the gods to 
 whom they were dedicated. The immense colossal 
 statues, which are seated at each side of the gate, 
 seem guarding the entrance to the holy gi'ound; still 
 farther on was the majestic temple, dedicated to the 
 gi'eat God of the creation." And a little after, '' I 
 was lost," says he, " in a mass of colossal objects, 
 every one of which was more than sufficient of itself 
 alone to attract my whole attention. I seemed 
 alone in the midst of all that is most sacred in the 
 world ; a forest of enormous columns, adorned all 
 round with beautiful figures and various ornaments 
 from top to bottom. The graceful shape of the 
 lotus, which forms their capitals, and is so well- 
 proportioned to the columns, that it gives to the 
 view the most pleasing effect ; the gates, the walls, 
 the pedestals, and the architraves also adorned in 
 every part with symbolical figures in basso rehevo 
 and intaglio, representing battles, processions, tri- 
 umphs, feasts, offerings, and sacrifices, all relating 
 to the ancient history of the country ; the sanc- 
 tuary, wholly formed of fine red granite, with the 
 various obehsks standing before it, proclaiming to 
 the distant passenger, ' Here is the seat of holi- 
 ness ;' the high portals, seen at a distance from the 
 openings of this vast labyrinth of edifices ; the 
 various groups of ruins of the other temples within
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 23 
 
 sight ; these altogether had such an effect upon 
 my soul, as to separate me, in imagination, from 
 the rest of mortals, exalt me on high over all, and 
 cause me to forget entirely the trifles and follies of 
 life. I was happy for a whole day, which escaped 
 like a flash of lightning." 
 
 Such is the language of Belzoni in describing 
 these majestic ruins, and the effect they had upon 
 him. Strong and enthusiastic as his expressions 
 may, perhaps, appear, they are perfectly similar, I 
 assure you, to those of other travellers. They all 
 seem to have lost the power of expressing their 
 wonder and astonishment, and frequently borrow 
 the words and phrases of foreign nations to de- 
 scribe their feelings at the sight of these venerable 
 and gigantic efforts of the old Egyptians. 
 
 I have said that this avenue of sphinxes led to 
 the temple of Louqsor. 
 
 This second temple, though not equal to that 
 of Karnac in regard to its colossal proportions, 
 was its equal in magnificence, and much superior 
 to it in beauty and style of execution. 
 
 At its entrance there still stand two obelisks 100 
 feet high, and of one single block, covered with 
 hieroglyphics executed in a masterly style. It is at 
 the feet of these obelisks that one may judge of the 
 high degree of perfection to which the Egyptians 
 had carried their knowledge in mechanics. M. 
 Denon asserts, that it would cost millions to move 
 them from their place. They were followed by 
 two colossal statues forty feet high. After passing
 
 24 LECTURE I. 
 
 through three different large courts, filled with co- 
 lumns of great dimensions, the traveller reached 
 the sanctuary, surrounded by spacious halls sup- 
 ported by columns, and exhibiting the most beau- 
 tiful mass of sculpture in the best style of execu- 
 tion. 
 
 " It is absolutely impossible," again exclaims 
 Belzoni, " to imagine the scene displayed, without 
 seeing it. The most sublime ideas that can be 
 formed from the most magnificent specimens of 
 our present architecture, would give a very incor- 
 rect picture of these ruins. It appeared to me 
 like entering a city of giants, who, after a long 
 conflict, were all destroyed, leaving ruins of their 
 various temples, as the only proofs of their former 
 existence. The temple of Louqsor," he adds, 
 " presents to the traveller at once one of the most 
 splendid groups of Egyptian grandeur. The ex- 
 tensive propylaeon, with the two obelisks, and co- 
 lossal statues in the front ; the thick groups of 
 enormous columns, the variety of apartments, and 
 the sanctuary it contains ; the beautiful ornaments 
 which adorn every part of the walls and columns, 
 cause in the astonished traveller an obhvion of all 
 that he has seen before." 
 
 So far Belzoni : and in this he is borne out by 
 Champollion, who speaks of Thebes in terms of 
 equal admiration. " All that I had seen, all that 
 I had admired on the left bank," says this learned 
 Frenchman, " appeared miserable in comparison 
 with the gigantic conceptions by which I was sur-
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 25 
 
 rounded at Karnac. I shall take care not to 
 attempt to describe any thing ; for either my de- 
 scription would not express the thousandth part 
 of what ought to be said, or, if I drew a faint 
 sketch, I should be taken for an enthusiast, or, 
 perhaps, for a madman. It will suffice to add, 
 that no people, either ancient or modern, ever con- 
 ceived the art of architecture on so sublime and 
 so grand a scale as the ancient Egyptians. Their 
 conceptions were those of one a hundred feet high ; 
 and the imagination which, in Europe, rises far 
 above our porticos, sinks abashed at the foot of 
 the 140 columns of the Hypostyle hall at Karnac." 
 
 The third grand building of Thebes was the 
 Memnonium ; that is, the tomb, or palace, of the 
 Pharaoh Osymandias, whom the Greeks have sup- 
 posed to be the same as Memnon. In the middle 
 of the first court there was the greatest colossus 
 ever raised by the Egyptians. It was the statue of 
 king Osymandias, 75 feet high. Behind it there was 
 an entrance which led into a second court, sur- 
 rounded by porticos, supported by 50 other colos- 
 suses ; and after crossing several porticos and 
 different apartments, one arrived at the celebrated 
 library, on the entrance of which was an inscrip- 
 tion, the signification of which was, " The medi- 
 cine of the mind." 
 
 To the south of the Memnonium lies Medineh- 
 Tabovi, an Arabian village, the monuments of 
 which evidently prove that it was at one time the 
 residence of a Pharaoh, or at least of some great
 
 26 LECTURE I. 
 
 person of his court. The assemblage of these 
 monuments consists of a temple, and a large mass of 
 buildings, some smaller and some larger. Amongst 
 others, there is a small palace of one story, in high 
 preservation, having still a staircase, its windows, 
 doors, and balconies. The basis of this last is 
 supported by figures of men ; and at a little dis- 
 tance, a large palace, with courts in front, and 
 adorned with basso relievos, which are mostly his- 
 torical. They represent an Egyptian sovereign 
 attacking a body of people, whose dresses evidently 
 shew them to be Persians. The king obtains the 
 victory, pursues the fugitives, besieges one of their 
 towns, returns triumphant, offers sacrifices to the 
 gods, and the like. 
 
 Besides these monuments Thebes offers an im- 
 mense number of others, equally grand and equally 
 interesting ; among which we ought to reckon the 
 tombs of the Pharaohs, in a valley to the north- 
 west of the town. At the bottom of this valley, 
 which is very narrow, the traveller is struck by 
 several openings made in the rock : they are small 
 doors, surmounted by basso relievos, and repre- 
 senting an oval, in which there is a scarabeus, and 
 the fiimre of a man with the head of a hawk. On 
 both sides of this spnbohcal representation there 
 are two men in the act of adoration. 
 
 Each tomb, consisting of a great number of 
 rooms cut into the rock, covered with sculpture 
 and pictures, has a separate entrance. In the most 
 inward apartment of each tomb, often supported
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 27 
 
 by columns or pilasters, lay the sarcophagus that 
 inclosed the mummy. It is invariably made of one 
 block of gi'anite, and covered, inside and out, with 
 hieroglyphics. The cover is also of one single 
 block, and at the top is sculptured, in alto relievo, 
 the figure of the person to whom the tomb belongs. 
 There have been discovered, in these apartments, 
 pieces of sculpture which give a perfect idea of the 
 furniture used by the Egyptians, made in precious 
 wood, and covered with stuff worked in gold. The 
 easy chairs, the stools, and the couches, are very 
 elegant, and extremely tasteful. The figm'e of their 
 harps, and the great number of strings which they 
 had, evidently shew that they belonged to a system 
 of music both complicated and refined. At the 
 time of Strabo, they reckoned forty-seven of these 
 tombs, some of which had been opened. The 
 total number of those which have been now opened 
 amounts to eight. 
 
 It is also to the north-west of Thebes, and in 
 the chain of the Lybian mountains, that they have 
 excavated tombs for the inhabitants of this renown- 
 ed city. Innumerable galleries, more than two 
 miles in length, were destined to receive the 
 embalmed bodies of the citizens of Thebes. In 
 many other parts, and above all to the west of 
 the colossuses of Memnonium, the mountain is 
 entirely hollow, and filled with tombs, more or less 
 splendid. 
 
 These tombs are still in existence ; and if the 
 ruins of Thebes fill the mind with admiration, how
 
 28 LECTURE I. 
 
 can we divest ourselves of the painful sensation 
 arising from the consideration that all these mag- 
 nificent ruins, from which much information might 
 be collected, remain in a spot now so desolate and 
 uncivilized ? 
 
 Such was mighty Thebes, the first, the most an- 
 cient capital of the Egyptian empire. And though 
 many of these splendid buildings were raised or 
 restored under the Pharaohs of the eighteenth 
 dynasty, yet most of them derived their origin during 
 the time of the hieratic government ; that is, when 
 the priesthood held the supreme authority, both 
 religious and civil. But this sort of government 
 lasted only for a time ; and with the change of 
 government began the desertion and the decay of 
 Thebes. An individual, called Menes, wrested from 
 the hands of the priests the temporal power ; and, 
 to get out of the way of their influence and au- 
 thority, he went to reside in Lower Egypt. In 
 that part of the country there was a beautiful vale, 
 at the foot of what is called the Lybian chain of 
 mountains, which the Nile divided into two very 
 unequal portions. To improve the strength and 
 salubrity of this charming spot, Menes caused a 
 new canal to be dug, into which he forced the 
 waters of the Nile ; and in the old bed of the 
 river he laid the foundation of a new city, the 
 celebrated Memphis, to which the Egyptians gave 
 the name of Mafi, or Mefi, and occasionally even 
 Menouf. 
 
 To prevent the possibihty of an inundation.
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 29 
 
 which might carry the river into the old bed, and 
 endanger the safety of the town, Menes ordered a 
 strong dyke to be erected, extending itself four 
 leagues southward : and not far off from this em- 
 bankment he made an immense lake, into which 
 were forced the superabundant waters of the Nile. 
 
 His son and successor, Athotis I., followed the 
 plan and policy of his father ; and, after having 
 built a large palace, came with the whole of his 
 court to reside in this new capital of the Egyptian 
 empire. The noblemen soon imitated the exam- 
 ple of their sovereign, and in this manner Mem- 
 phis, in a very short time, became the rival of 
 Thebes, both in extent and splendour ; because the 
 immediate successors of Athotis, animated by the 
 same policy as their predecessors, very seldom or 
 never visited Thebes, in order to avoid the influ- 
 ence of the priesthood, chiefly resident there, to 
 whom the new form of government was particu- 
 larly obnoxious. Of the extent and magnificence 
 of Memphis, historians speak in terms of admira- 
 tion. At the time of Cambyses, it was not less 
 than nine leagues in circumference, and abounded 
 with magnificent buildings, which have been re- 
 corded as such by all the ancients, and many of 
 the moderns. Among these latter I will quote a 
 passage from Abd-Allah, an Arabian historian, who 
 visited these venerable ruins in the 13th century. 
 
 " Notwithstanding the immense extent of this 
 town, and notwithstanding its high antiquity, — 
 notwithstanding all the vicissitudes attending the
 
 30 LECTURE I. 
 
 various governments by which it has been con- 
 quered, and the efforts of many nations to annihi- 
 late even its ruins, by carrying away the stones and 
 materials of the venerable buildings, and mutilating 
 and otherwise destroying the figures which adorned 
 them ; and notwithstanding all the effects which 
 the course of four thousand years must have neces- 
 sarily added to so many causes of destruction, the 
 ruins of this ancient, and formerly splendid city, 
 offer still to the eye of the beholder a combination 
 of wonders, which astonish the mind, and prevent 
 the possibility of describing them. The more we 
 consider them, the more we feel our admiration in- 
 crease ; and each look one given at these ruins, is 
 a new cause of amazement and wonder ; and when 
 a man thinks to have acquired a perfect knowledge 
 of the whole, he must be convinced that this pre- 
 tended knowledge is much beneath the reality of 
 truth." 
 
 ^'^ Among the number of these wonders, a chamber 
 is still to be admired, which is called the green 
 chamber. It was cut out of a single stone, and 
 was nine cubits (that is, thirteen feet and a half) high, 
 twelve feet long, and eleven broad ; and filled all 
 round with characters, and basso as well as alto 
 rehevos, representing men and beasts in different 
 attitudes. It was destroyed in the year 1449, and 
 formerly belonged to the celebrated temple of the god 
 Phtha, under whose protection Memphis had been 
 placed. It was in this temple that, in progress of 
 time, the Pharaoh Sethosis Rameses had placed 
 
 1
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 31 
 
 his statue, as well as that of his wife, each forty- 
 five feet high, and those of each child thirty, and 
 all cut from one single block." Of the beauty of 
 these statues, our historian speaks in terms of the 
 highest admiration ; he calls them " the highest 
 effort of the excellence to which the Egyptians 
 had carried the art of statuary." 
 
 You must not be surprised at the language of 
 the historian. In Europe we have had no oppor- 
 tunity of forming a correct idea of the degree of 
 perfection which the Egyptians had attained in 
 statuary as well as painting. Our ideas have been 
 acquired from the few diminutive specimens gene- 
 rally worked with great neghgence, and belonging 
 to rehgious ceremonies, which, as they were to be 
 executed according to an estabhshed and fixed 
 pattern, prevented the artist from displaying the 
 extent of his art, or of his genius. We have, 
 therefore, concluded, that the Egyptians knew 
 nothing either in painting or sculpture, and that 
 the productions of their artists were by no means 
 to be compared with those of other nations. 
 But the fact is far otherwise. The perfection to 
 which the Egyptians had carried the arts of statuary 
 and painting has surprised the greatest connois- 
 seurs. In the tomb discovered by Belzoni, the 
 whole excavation, sculptured and painted, was in 
 the most finished style of art. Mr. Salt observes, 
 that their colours are generally pure and brilliant, 
 but intermixed with each other nearly in the pro- 
 portion of the rainbow, and so subdued by the
 
 32 LECTURE I. 
 
 proper introduction of black, as not to appear gau- 
 dy, but to produce a harmony, that, in some of the 
 designs, is really delicious. 
 
 Nor is the language of artists themselves less 
 strong. Mr. Beechey, a son of the celebrated 
 painter. Sir WiUiam Beechey, professes himself 
 quite fascinated with the effect of these combina- 
 tions. " One would think it was in Egypt," says 
 he, " that Titian, Giorgione, and Tintoret had 
 acquired all that vigour and magic of effect which 
 distinguishes them, in point of arrangement, and 
 principally in the happy disposition of their darker 
 colours." 
 
 These magnificent monuments, however, are not 
 the only ones w^hich are found in Egypt. The 
 whole of that country is still covered with precious 
 relics, which are equally ancient and equally inte- 
 resting. From amongst them I shall mention two 
 more, which are found in the Higher Egypt, and 
 they are the temples of Dendera and Esne. 
 
 The temple of Dendera, which the Greeks called 
 Tentyris, was dedicated to Isis, whose colossal 
 image was sculptured at the higher end of the 
 sanctuary, where two gigantic figures were seen 
 burning frankincense before the statue of the god- 
 dess. The description which Denon gives of this 
 magnificent temple, which still exists in the 
 highest possible preservation, is very interesting. 
 Columns, cornices, basement, internal and exter- 
 nal walls, are all covered over with basso relievos, 
 hieroglyphical inscriptions, and historical paintings.
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 33 
 
 exhibiting a great number of the customs and 
 usages of the private hfe of the Egyptians, and the 
 ceremonies of their worship. The whole is exe- 
 cuted in so rich and masterly a style, as to be 
 represented by those who have seen it as producing 
 a wonderful effect. 
 
 " J'aurais voulu tout dessiner," says Denon, " et 
 je n'osais mettre la main a I'oeuvre. Je sentais 
 que ne pouvant m' elever a la hauteur de ce que 
 j'admirais, j'allais rapetisser ce que je voudrais 
 imiter ; nulle part je n'avais ete environne de tant 
 d'objets propres a exalter mon imagination." 
 
 And again, " Ces monumens, qui imprimaient le 
 respect dii au sanctuaire de la divinite, etoient les 
 livres ouverts ou la morale etait dictee, ou la 
 science etait developpee ; tout parlait, tout etait 
 anime dans le meme esprit." 
 
 It is at Dendera that all travellers agi'ee that we 
 must seek for the ancient pattern of the several 
 orders, and the most striking beauties of Grecian 
 architecture. In this art, as well as most others, the 
 Egyptians have been the instructors of mankind. 
 
 In this temple of Dendera exists a monument, on 
 which much has been written to very little pur- 
 pose. It is the representation of the twelve signs 
 of the Zodiac, by which name it is known, placed 
 six to the right and six to the left, but so situated 
 that those of the left seem as if issuing from the 
 temple, while those on the right appear as if coming 
 into it. They have besides the peculiarity of exhi- 
 biting the Lion as the first sign, and the Crab as
 
 34 LECTURE I. 
 
 the last. The other is a kind of representation of 
 a planisphere, in the ceiling of the small apartment, 
 at the extremity of the temple, and round both a 
 great number of hieroglyphics are seen. 
 
 Another such Zodiac, as it was pretended, is 
 found at Esne, which the Egyptians called Sne, or 
 Sna, where there was a magnificent temple conse- 
 crated to Ammon, the god, the creator of eternal 
 light. This monument, like that of Dendera, is 
 represented as a specimen of the high perfection 
 to which the Egyptians had carried architecture, 
 and exhibited in its plan, distribution, and orna- 
 ments, one of the most beautiful models, equal in 
 majesty and elegance to the most famed buildings 
 of Greece. 
 
 This monument, like that of Dendera, is of a 
 modern date, and both belong to the period during 
 which Egypt was a province of the Roman empire ; 
 because the hieroglyphics which surround them, 
 and which hitherto have been considered as con- 
 taining an astronomical legend, merely exhibit the 
 names of some of the Roman emperors, such as 
 Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, Domitian, and 
 others. 
 
 Besides these monuments, still existing in their 
 original situation, there are others that, from time 
 to time, the rapacious hands of conquerors and 
 travellers have imported into different countries. 
 The Roman emperors removed to Rome not less 
 than four obeHsks, all of which are still to be seen 
 in that ancient capital of the world. Mr. Bankes
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 35 
 
 removed the obelisk of Philoe, which now graces 
 the grounds of his estate in Wales. Belzoni 
 opened one of the tombs belonging to the Pharaohs 
 in the vale of Thebes, and brought to England the 
 celebrated sarcophagus of white alabaster; he 
 even removed the cover of the other sarcophagus, 
 which contained the mummy of the Pharaoh Ra- 
 meses Meiamon, and presented it to the university 
 of Cambridge ; other travellers have procured and 
 brought to this country, as well as to others, statues, 
 papyries, inscriptions, mummies, and monuments 
 of all sorts, which are found in several museums, 
 and particularly in the British Museum, the Museum 
 of Paris, the Museum of Turin, perhaps the richest 
 of all, and the Vatican library ; and, last of all, the 
 French commission, sent by Napoleon to Egypt, 
 has given so many accurate fac similies of most of 
 the principal monuments still existing in Egypt, 
 and brought over so many and various monuments 
 of Egyptian antiquity, as to allow our learned men 
 to become quite familiar with the characters, and, 
 by dint of labour, with their subject and meaning. 
 
 Among these monuments, the most important 
 one, indeed, which has produced the whole of 
 the discoveries made in decyphering hieroglyphics, 
 is the celebrated Rosetta stone, which, by the gal- 
 lantry of our army, now decorates the British Mu- 
 seum. It is a huge broken stone, of black colour, 
 discovered by the French in digging for the founda- 
 tion of Fort St. Julian, near Rosetta, and it con- 
 tains an inscription in three several languages, 
 
 D 2
 
 36 LECTURE I. 
 
 or rather three different sets of characters ; one in 
 Greek, the second in hieroglyphics, and a third in 
 a sort of running hand resembhng the Hebrew 
 letters, which were, in fact, the common characters 
 of the country. 
 
 It is this precious relic which has produced the 
 greatest literary discovery of the age, perhaps the 
 greatest of any age — our knowledge in the reading 
 of the hieroglyphics. This I shall explain in my 
 next Lecture. 
 
 Another monument of gi'eat interest, and, with- 
 out doubt, of equal importance to ascertain the 
 history of Egj^t, was brought to light by Mr. Wil- 
 liam Bankes, while endeavouring to obtain the 
 accurate plan of the extensive ruins of Abydos. 
 This ancient and formerly splendid city lies on the 
 western coast of the Nile, between the 27th and 
 28th degree north latitude, and near the entrance 
 of the great Oasis. On the wall of one of the 
 lesser buildings, quite distinct from the principal 
 pile, was found a legend, or a series of forty ovals, 
 or rings, arranged in three long horizontal lines, 
 each containing the mystic or honorary titles of 
 the Pharaohs, who lived before Rameses the Great, 
 whose name is the last, and fills the whole of the 
 third line. 
 
 These mystic titles, by their variety, evidently 
 shew that they belonged to different Pharaohs, and 
 have greatly assisted our antiquaries in ascertaining 
 the order of succession to the throne of Egypt, which 
 is found to coiTespond with the chronological canon
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 37 
 
 of Manetho. It is a great pity that a portion of 
 the wall, on which this important monument is 
 engraved, is in two places in ruin, so as to pro- 
 duce a mutilated legend ; but as far as it goes, I 
 have no hesitation to assert, that this genealogical 
 table of Abydos is as important to history, as the 
 Rosetta stone has been to the decyphering of hiero- 
 glyphics. 
 
 In considering these astonishing productions, we 
 must really wonder how a nation, which was once 
 so great as to erect these stupendous edifices, could 
 so far fall into obhvion, that even their language 
 and method of writing are unknown to us. But our 
 wonder will increase, if possible, to a higher de- 
 gree, when we take into consideration the mate- 
 rials which have been so modelled. They had 
 only four sorts of stones in general use for sculp- 
 ture ; the sandy, the calcareous, the breccia, and 
 granite ; all, except the first, are very hard ; and 
 what is most singular, we do not know with what 
 tools they were cut out. We know by experience 
 that the tools of the present day will not cut gra- 
 nite without great difficulty; and Belzoni, who 
 had made so many experiments on this stone, 
 doubts whether we could give it the smoothness 
 and surface we see in Egypt. On the calcareous 
 stone, the figures have angles so sharp, that the 
 best-tempered chisel of our time could not pro- 
 duce the Uke. It is so hard, that it breaks more 
 like glass than stone. And yet, with these mate 
 rials they have produced the most exquisite speci-
 
 38 LECTURE 1. 
 
 mens of architecture and sculpture ; for in both 
 these arts their productions have a boldness of exe- 
 cution that has never been equalled by any other 
 nation of the universe. The gigantic statues of 
 Greece and Rome are but dwarfs and pigmies when 
 compared to those of Karnac, Louqsor, Esne, Den- 
 dera, and, indeed, of the whole of Egypt and Nubia. 
 
 They had made besides considerable progress in 
 several manufactures, to a degree which is really 
 astonishing. Their linen manufacture had a per- 
 fection equal to our own. For in many of their 
 figiu'es we observe their garments quite transpa- 
 rent ; and among the folding of the mummies Bel- 
 zoni observed cloth quite as fine as our common 
 muslin, very strong, and of an even texture. They 
 had also the art of tanning leather, and staining 
 it with various colours, as we do morocco ; and 
 actually knew the mode of embossing on it. Many 
 specimens of the sort have been found with figures 
 impressed on the leather quite elevated. The 
 same must be said of their art in making glass, 
 some of which was of a beautiful black colour, and 
 so perfect as to resemble the natural obsidian. Of 
 such glass was made the celebrated statue of Me- 
 nelaus. This information we gather from Phny, 
 who makes use of this observation, to prove that 
 the art of manufacturing glass was very ancient. 
 
 Besides enamelling, the art of gilding was in 
 great perfection among them, and they knew how 
 to beat gold nearly as thin as ours ; for Belzoni 
 found many ornaments of the kind, and a leaf of
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 39 
 
 gold, which appeared to him extremely pure, and 
 of a finer colour than is generally seen in our own. 
 They knew also how to cast copper and form it 
 into sheets, and had a metallic composition not un- 
 Hke our lead, rather softer, but of greater tenacity. 
 Carved works were very common, and in great 
 perfection, particularly in the proportion of their 
 figures ; and the art of varnishing and baking the 
 varnish on clay, was in such perfection, that the 
 most enlightened travellers have doubted whether 
 it could be imitated at present. I have already 
 noticed their skill and success in painting, and in 
 the blending of the colours ; and, indeed, the more 
 I read and consider what they have done, and 
 what they were capable of doing, the more I am 
 lost in amazement ; for as most of their stupendous 
 works are of the highest antiquity, they must have 
 been the production of their artists during the hie- 
 ratic government, and so near to the deluge, that, 
 even adopting our older system of the Septuagint 
 chronology, a man can scarcely conceive how a 
 nation could, in so short a time, render habitable 
 the whole valley of the Nile, and acquire such 
 knowledge, and make so great a proficiency in most 
 sciences, in most manufactures, and in all the arts. 
 
 But I must conclude my Lecture. 
 
 I have alluded to such particulars, and men- 
 tioned such names as it is necessary you should be 
 acquainted with, before I enter upon what can 
 properly be called the subject of hieroglyphics, 
 ^luch of this knowledge many of you may be al-
 
 40 LECTURE I. 
 
 ready familiar with ; but this you will excuse. I 
 have dwelt, however, at great length on the ruined 
 temples and cities that Egypt now offers to the in- 
 spection of travellers ; and I have alluded to the 
 accounts that have been given of them, not only 
 to enable you the better to understand such refer- 
 ences as I may hereafter make to them, but to im- 
 press upon your minds more strongly, the interest 
 that belongs to hieroglyphics themselves. Were 
 you, in the wilds of America, to see on the bark 
 of a tree a few characters in which some savage 
 had expressed the ideas of his mind, even these, 
 however rude, would not be without interest to 
 you. But very different must be the interest that 
 belongs to any unknown characters, which have 
 been traced to those who can be shewn to have 
 been a highly civilized people, and who have been 
 always considered as the instructors of the ancient 
 world. Such characters have ever been, and must 
 always be, the subject of rational curiosity ; and 
 it is not at all wonderful to see the interest which 
 hieroglyphics have excited of late years, when new 
 prospects seemed to open, and better chances to 
 offer, of comprehending their meaning. The great 
 neighbouring nation of Europe has not been want- 
 ing to its own glory on this occasion, and you are 
 not likely to be outdone in so generous a course. 
 Speaking of you as a nation, and speaking with 
 those general views to which a foreigner like my- 
 self may pretend, I should say, that rational curi- 
 osity is one of those qualities by which you are
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 41 
 
 honourably distinguished. Your travellers per- 
 vade every portion of the globe ; wherever light 
 can penetrate, or air can circulate, there are they 
 to be found. They even invade the regions of 
 winter, where Nature seems to have forbidden the 
 existence of man ; and the voyager has only to 
 relate the resistance that he has made to her un- 
 alterable decrees. Africa too, like the Pole, — I 
 speak not of the two Americas, of Europe, or of 
 India, — equally sees your adventurous travellers, 
 who return to report her hitherto inaccessible won- 
 ders, or perish in the attempt. 
 
 You realize the description of the poet : 
 
 What seasons can controul, 
 
 What fancied zone can circumscribe the soul, 
 
 Who, conscious of the source from whence she springs, 
 
 By reason's light, on resolution's wings. 
 
 Spite of her frail companion, dauntless goes 
 
 O'er Libya's deserts, and through Zembla's snows ? 
 
 Great as your nation may be, and distinguished 
 among the nations of the earth, this rational curi- 
 osity is one of its highest attributes ; and I cannot 
 suppose for a moment that this ennobling quality 
 will desert you, when any subject, like that of 
 hieroglyphics, is presented to your consideration ; 
 a subject so connected with a country where once 
 were to be found, as among you may be found now, 
 so much of the knowledge and the science, the 
 power and the civihzation, the fame and the glory, 
 of the world.
 
 APPENDIX TO LECTURE I. 
 
 The following account, which is extracted from one of the 
 Letters of M. Champollion, published in the Literary Ga- 
 zette, may serve as a further illustration of the high degree 
 of civilization of the ancient Egyptians. 
 
 Amongst the tombs at Beni-Hassan, M. Champollion has 
 found drawings highly interesting, which give such full par- 
 ticulars of the progress that the Egyptians had made in 
 the different professions, arts, and manufactures, as to make 
 us acquainted with the smallest detail of the mode they 
 pursued in agriculture, in the several arts and trades, in 
 their military education ; in singing, music, and dancing ; 
 in the rearing of their cattle ; in ichnography, that is, por- 
 trait painting ; in games, exercises, and diversions ; in do- 
 mestic justice, and household economy; in historical and 
 religious monuments ; navigation, and zoology. 
 
 The drawings belonging to Agriculture, exhibit the tilling 
 the ground either with oxen or by hand, sowing, treading the 
 ground by rams, and not by hogs, as Herodotus says ; five 
 sorts of ploughs, the use of the pick-axe, the reaping of 
 wheat, the gathering of flax, the putting these two kinds 
 of plants into sheaves, the carrying to the mill, the thresh- 
 ing, measuring, storing in the granaries, which, as it ap- 
 pears from the drawings, were made on two different plans ; 
 the flax carried by asses, the gathering of the lotus, the
 
 APPENDIX TO LECTURE I. 43 
 
 culture of the vine, the vintage, carrying the grapes, two 
 different sorts of presses, one worked by the hand, the 
 other by mechanism; putting the wine into bottles or jars, 
 the gathering of figs, the cultivation of onions, irrigation of 
 the land, and other such exhibitions, containing explana- 
 tory hieroglyphic inscriptions. 
 
 In Arts and Trades, M. Champollion has already formed 
 a collection of pictures for the most part coloured, in order 
 to determine the nature of the objects, and representing 
 the sculptor in stone, the carver in v/ood, the painter of 
 statues, the painter of architecture, furniture, and cabinet- 
 work of all kinds ; a painter with his easel painting a pic- 
 ture ; scribes and clerks of all descriptions; waggons con- 
 veying blocks of stone ; the art of pottery, with all the 
 operations ; the cutting of wood, makers of oars, cabinet- 
 makers, carpenters, sawyers, curriers ; the staining of com- 
 mon leather and morocco ; shoe-making, spinning, weaving, 
 glass-worker, and all his operations ; goldsmith, jeweller, 
 smith, and the like. 
 
 In Military education and tactics, the collection is equally 
 splendid. It consists of several drawings, exhibiting all 
 their gymnastic exercises, represented in above 200 pictures 
 shewing all the positions and attitudes of two wrestlers, 
 attacking, defending, retreating, advancing, standing, and 
 thrown down ; and by them, says Champollion, " you will 
 see whether the Egyptian artists were contented with figures 
 in profile, the legs joined, and the arms pinioned against 
 the side." Besides copying the whole of these soldiers 
 wrestling together, that indefatigable Frenchman has also 
 copied sixty figures, representing soldiers of all arms, a 
 siege, a field of battle, the tortoise, the ram, the military 
 punishments, the preparations for a military repast, and 
 the manufacture of lances, bows, arrows, clubs, battle- 
 axes, &-C. 
 
 The collection belonging to Singing, Music, and Dancing,
 
 44 APPENDIX TO LECTURE I. 
 
 consists of pictures representing a concert of vocal and 
 instrumental music; a singer, accompanied by a musician 
 on the harp, is supported by two chorusses, one of four men, 
 the other of five women, the latter beating time with their 
 hands. It is a complete opera ; players on the harp of 
 both sexes, players on the German flute, flageolet, on a 
 sort of shell ; dancers, forming various figures, with the 
 names of the steps which they dance ; and the female 
 dancers of ancient Egypt, dancing, singing, playing at 
 tennis, and performing various feats of strength and ad- 
 dress. 
 
 The drawings representing the rearing of cattle, exhibit 
 herdsmen, all kinds of oxen, cows, calves, milking, making 
 cheese and butter, goatherds, ass-drivers, shepherds with 
 their sheep, scenes relative to the veterinary art ; poultry- 
 yard, containing numerous species of geese and ducks, and 
 a kind of swan, which was domestic in ancient Egypt. 
 
 The drawings relative to games, exercises, and diversions, 
 are particularly curious. Among them there is the exhi- 
 bition of the Morra, the game which is so popular in Italy, 
 particularly in Naples : the drawing straws, a kind of hot- 
 cockles; the mall, the game of piquets planted in the ground, 
 the hunting of the fallow-deer, a picture, representing a 
 grand chase in the desert, in which are depicted between 
 fifteen and twenty species of quadrupeds ; pictures of the 
 return from the sport, game carried, dead or alive ; several 
 pictures of catching birds with nets, or with snares ; draw- 
 ings relative to fishing, with angling-rod, with the trident, 
 or bident, nets, and the like. 
 
 The pictures exhibiting the exercise of domestic justice, 
 consist of fifteen drawings of basso relievos, representing 
 offences committed by servants, the arrest of the offender, 
 his accusation and defence, his trial by the intendants of 
 the household, his sentence, and the execution, which is 
 confined to the bastinado, the account of which is deli-
 
 APPENDIX TO LECTURE I. 45 
 
 vered, with the documents of the proceedings, into the 
 hands of the master, by the intendants of the household. 
 
 Domestic ecojwmy, is divided into ten different heads ; 
 and the drawings which represent them are very curious. 
 ThQ first division consists of pictures of several houses, 
 more or less sumptuous ; the second of vases of different 
 forms, utensils, and moveables, all coloured, because the 
 colours invariably indicate the materials of which they are 
 composed. The third division contains the drawing of a 
 superb palanquin. The fourth a kind of room, with fold- 
 ing doors, carried on a sledge, which served the great men 
 of Egypt, in former days, for carriages. The fifth consists 
 of pictures of monkeys, cats, and dogs, as well as the 
 dwarfs and other deformed individuals, who, more than 
 1500 years before the Christian era, served to dispel the 
 spleen of the Egyptian noblemen, as well as they did that 
 of the old barons of Europe 1500 years after the Chris- 
 tian era. The sixth division exhibits the officers of a 
 great household, intendants, secretaries, Sec. The seventh, 
 servants both male and female, carrying provisions of all 
 sorts. The eighth, the manner of killing oxen, and of 
 cutting them up for the use of the family. The ninth, a 
 series of designs representing cooks preparing various kinds 
 of provisions : and the tenth, the servants carrying the 
 dressed meat to the master's table. 
 
 The collection of drawings exhibiting historical and reli- 
 gious monuments, consists of inscriptions, basso relievos, 
 and monuments of every kind, bearing royal legends, with 
 a date expressed, as well as the images of various deities. 
 
 The department belonging to Navigation represents the 
 building of vessels and boats of various kind and size, and 
 the games of the mariners, which, M. ChampoUion observes, 
 exactly resemble those that take place on the Seine on great 
 holydays. 
 
 The last division belongs to Zoology, and exhibits a series
 
 46 APPENDIX TO LECTURE I. 
 
 of quadrupeds, birds, insects, reptiles, and fish, designed 
 and coloured with the utmost fidehty. This collection 
 already amounts to more than two hundred specimens, and 
 is extremely interesting. The birds, M. ChampoUion says, 
 are splendid, the fish painted with extreme perfection ; 
 there are above fourteen different species of dogs, such as 
 house dogs, hounds, Sec. from the harrier to the spaniel. 
 
 Magnificent as this account may appear, there is no 
 doubt that it will be considered as very insignificant when 
 compared with the further discoveries which will be made 
 by the indefatigable and learned traveller.
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 Opinions of the ancients concerning the nature and use of hiero- 
 glyphics — Erroneous judgment of the moderns— Scarcity of 
 monuments — The Isiacal table — Horapollo — Hermapion — 
 The Rosetta stone — Discoveries made by M. de Sacy, by Mr. 
 Ackerblad, and Dr. Young — Enchorial or Demotic alphabet 
 — Attempt at decyphering hieroglyphics — Manner of count- 
 ing numbers — Interpretation of names — Refections. 
 
 In my last Lecture I endeavoured to give some 
 preliminary notions of the history and topography 
 of Egypt, and we dwelt at some length on the 
 number and nature of monuments which are still 
 to be found, either in their original situation, or in 
 the various public and private museums of this 
 country as well as of others ; but, above all, it was our 
 business to ascertain what were the notions which 
 both the ancients and the moderns entertained of 
 the nature and import of hieroglyphics. The 
 Greeks were fully persuaded that hieroglyphics 
 were a sort of mystic characters, intended to pre- 
 serve the most important mysteries of nature, and 
 the most sublime inventions of man ; they, there- 
 fore, considered the interpretation of these charac- 
 ters as exclusively confined to the priesthood, and 
 
 1
 
 48 LECTURE II. 
 
 even by them very little understood, as their real 
 and primitive knowledge had been lost and passed 
 away, in the annihilation of the power of the 
 Pharaohs, first by the usm-pation of the Shepherd 
 kings of the seventeenth dynasty, and afterwards 
 by the irruption of the Persians, under Cambyses. 
 This persuasion of the Greeks arose from their 
 believing, what in point of fact seems to be the 
 case, that Egypt was the parent of all arts and sci- 
 ences, the storehouse of the most ancient records, 
 and the repository of all the mighty events which 
 had often changed the face of the world. This 
 persuasion, joined to the profound secrecy under 
 which the hierophant, or high-priest, imparted to 
 the initiated in the mysteries of Isis the sublime 
 truths, to which the veneration and credulity of 
 mankind had attached so much importance, made 
 the Greeks to look upon hieroglyphics as the mys- 
 tic expression of these secrets, so carefully pre- 
 served from the people at large, the explanation of 
 which it was impossible to obtain. 
 
 What has been said of the Greeks might be ap- 
 plied to the Romans also. They seem to have 
 known nothing about the nature of hieroglyphics. 
 The story itself of a reward being offered by one 
 of the first Caesars to him who should give a 
 proper interpretation of the inscription on the obe- 
 lisk which had been carried to Rome, seems very 
 doubtful ; but even if we wish to admit the reahty 
 of this story, as this reward was never claimed, — 
 and we know of no work, or even attempt made to
 
 LECTURE II. 49 
 
 decypher this inscription, — we must conclude that 
 the knowledge of the Romans about the nature and 
 import of hieroglyphics was small indeed. 
 
 This ignorance and misconception of the an- 
 cients must be considered as one of the causes 
 which have tended to mislead the moderns. Find- 
 ing that all the classical authors of antiquity only 
 spoke of two sorts of hieroglyphics, the one repre- 
 senting the figure or picture of the thing, the other 
 exhibiting the same thing by symbols, they, like 
 the ancients, concluded that each hieroglyphic had 
 a fixed and determinate idea. Misled by this rea- 
 soning, they collected from the Greek and Latin 
 authors all the explanations of the signs which had 
 been recorded ; and in this way they adopted all 
 the dreams of the ancients ; and as these signs, ex- 
 plained by Diodorus, Horapollo, Clement of Alex- 
 andria, Plutarch, Eusebius, and the like, were very 
 few, the moderns had recourse to analogy, or ra- 
 ther to imagination, whenever they found any new 
 sign not recorded by these writers ; and in this 
 way they added their own dreams to the dreams 
 of the ancients. From this moment fancy was 
 substituted for fact, and the impossibility of our 
 knowing any thing about the nature of hierogly- 
 phics, became every day more apparent, from the 
 perusal of the works of the Jesuit Kircher, the 
 Abbe Pluche, the ChevaHer Pahn, Count Caylus, 
 and, in short, of all those who had written on the 
 antiquities of Egypt. 
 
 It is true, that the acute Warburton, in his Di- 
 
 E
 
 50 LECTURE II, 
 
 vine Legation, from an attentive perusal of what 
 Porphyry and Clement of Alexandria had said, 
 concluded that " hieroglyphics were a real written 
 language, applicable to the purposes of history and 
 common life, as well as those of religion and my- 
 thology ;" and that amongst the different sorts of 
 hieroglyphics, the Egyptians possessed those which 
 were used phonetically, that is, alphabetically, as 
 letters. The learned still remained incredulous, 
 and no one ever thought of endeavouring to as- 
 certain what this alphabet might be, or even to 
 apply this conjecture of the learned bishop to the 
 monuments then existing in Europe. 
 
 To do so, three things would have been neces- 
 sary : first, to ascertain what was the ancient lan- 
 guage of Egypt, and whether any remains were still 
 to be found : 
 
 Secondly, to possess a certain number of monu- 
 ments, or faithful fac-similies of them : 
 
 Thirdly, to have an authentic translation of an 
 original Egyptian inscription, in a language known 
 to our scholars. 
 
 But of these three requisites none, unfortu- 
 nately, existed at the time. Until Quattremere 
 published his work, " Sur la Langue et Littera- 
 ture de VEgypte" no one ever dreamt that the 
 Coptic language was the language of the old 
 Egyptians. The Copts, or Coptes, are, in fact, the 
 natural inhabitants of Egypt, the only direct de- 
 scendants of the primitive race. They still speak 
 the Coptic language, though imperfectly ; but this
 
 LECTURE II. 51 
 
 language has been orally preserved among the peo- 
 ple, and transmitted in writing, in Greek and Cop- 
 tic characters, from the first establishment of Chris- 
 tianity to the present day. They have, in fact, 
 their missals, the Pentateuch, and some other 
 works, translated into Greek and into Arabic, and 
 from comparing these translations with their origi- 
 nals, it was evident that the ancient common lan- 
 guage of Egypt is not entirely lost. 
 
 With respect to the second requisite, the number 
 of monuments then existing in Europe were very 
 few, and mostly collected in particular spots, so as 
 to prevent their being consulted by the generality 
 of scholars ; and the impressions and fac-similies of 
 them were much too incorrect to be of any use ; nor 
 were even these monuments themselves all genuine. 
 Among those belonging to Egyptian antiquity then 
 known, many were imitations, and many spurious. 
 Such, for instance, are some of the obelisks in 
 Rome, and the celebrated Isiac table so called on ac- 
 count of its being supposed to contain the descrip- 
 tion of the festivals which were celebrated in ho- 
 nour of Isis and other Egyptian deities. This 
 table, which is of bronze, five feet long, and three 
 feet wide, is divided into several partitions, filled 
 with all sorts of hieroglyphics ; and this strange 
 mixture alone, independent of other reasons equally 
 strong, seems to establish the fact, that it is a mo- 
 nument of a modern date, fabricated at Rome to- 
 wards the latter end of hieroglyphical writing, by 
 
 some person who knew but httle about the science, 
 
 E 2
 
 52 LECTURE II. 
 
 but who wished to exhibit some of the strange 
 doctrines, rites, and ceremonies, which had been 
 introduced in the mysteries of I sis, when they were 
 estabhshcd in Rome, but very different from those 
 once celebrated in Egypt. 
 
 It was said, indeed, that this monument had 
 been carried into Italy at the time of the Crusades, 
 by a knight of the family of Gonzaga ; but it ap- 
 pears that Cardinal Bembo, only four years after, 
 got it from one of his workmen, who had thrown it 
 away among other rubbish. From the cabinet of 
 Bembo it passed into the museum of the Duke of 
 Mantua, where it remained for nearly a century. 
 At the taking of that fortress by the Imperialists, 
 in 1630, the table of I sis disappeared during the 
 pillage of the town ; but it is pretended that, a few 
 years after, it got into the hands of a physician to 
 the Duke of Savoy, who placed it in the Museum 
 of Turin, where, most likely, it remains. 
 
 This deficiency of public monuments, and the 
 spurious nature of some of the few which were 
 then known, were strongly felt by our scholars, 
 especially when they had not an authentic transla- 
 tion of any original Egyptian inscription, in any of 
 the languages then known. Had such a transla- 
 tion existed then, it might have helped our learned 
 men to decypher the original, and get at the mean- 
 ing of the hieroglyphics. 
 
 It is true, that amongst the records we have 
 received from antiquity, there was the interpreta- 
 tion which the Grecian Hermapion had made of
 
 LECTURE II. 53 
 
 the hieroglyphics engraved on one of the obehsks, 
 which, it was supposed, the Emperor Constance 
 had caused to be carried to Rome ; but, unfortu- 
 nately, the original of Hermapion is lost, and only 
 a part of his interpretation has reached us in the 
 work of Ammianus Marcellinus ; and, what is still 
 more, the learned knew not which was the exact 
 obelisk to which this interpretation applied. Some 
 said that this obelisk was the one which now lies 
 in Rome, before the Porta del Popolo ; others, 
 that it was that which Pope Sixtus V. caused to be 
 erected before the church of St. John Lateran, 
 which, according to Plutarch, had been made by 
 the order of the Pharaoh Rameses, to record his 
 splendid victories ; but recent discoveries have 
 afforded strong reason to believe, that the obe- 
 lisk now standing before the church of St. John 
 Lateran is a work of a more ancient date, raised 
 by the order of the Pharaoh Thoutmosis, who lived 
 nearly three hundred years before Rameses ; and 
 the one which Hermapion translated, it is feared, 
 has not escaped the ravages of the barbarians, 
 much more destructive than the rapacious hand of 
 time. 
 
 Thus, partly from ignorance of the language 
 of the old Egyptians, partly from the deficiency of 
 monuments, and the incorrectness of the fac-similies 
 of the few we had, and, above all, from the want 
 of an authentic translation of an original inscrip- 
 tion in any of the languages then known, the la- 
 bour and ingenuity of our scholars were thrown
 
 54 LECTURE II. 
 
 away upon speculative and imaginary systems, 
 which led them far away from truth. 
 
 There was, indeed, one work, written by Hora- 
 pollo, under the title of " Hieroglyphica" which 
 is pretended to have been translated from Egyptian 
 into Greek by a certain Phihp. Although the 
 learned do not agree about the identity and age of 
 this Philip, yet the work might have been of use, 
 if it really contained the true principles of the gra- 
 phic system of the Egyptians, and the meaning of 
 hieroglyphics ; but this is not the case, for, gene- 
 rally speaking, this work of Horapollo is of a child- 
 ish and doubtful nature, noticing only a few of the 
 symbohcal hieroglyphics, and these not always cor- 
 rect, and mostly belonging to another sort of writ- 
 ing, used, perhaps, in the mysteries of Isis, of which 
 the priests alone had the key. 
 
 Things were in this state, and our knowledge of 
 hieroglyphics amounted hterally to nothing, when 
 the French government sent an expedition into 
 Egypt, most hberally provided with a select body 
 of antiquarians and architects, surveyors, natural- 
 ists, and draughtsmen, to discover, copy, and carry 
 away all that was fitted to explain the scientific 
 and Hterary knowledge of that country. On their 
 return they published a splendid account of their 
 labours, in which all the perfection and elegance 
 which can possibly belong to printing and engrav- 
 ing have been exhibited, and nothing can exceed 
 the fidelity and exactness with which the several 
 MSS. and inscriptions have been represented.
 
 LECTURE II. 55 
 
 Amidst the several monuments which they dis- 
 covered, in digging for the foundation of fort St. 
 JuHan, near Rosetta, they found a huge broken 
 stone of a black colour, which was destined to pro- 
 duce a material revolution in our knowledge of 
 hieroglyphics, and dissipate the dark mist which 
 hitherto had enveloped this important department 
 of antiquity. This stone, which by the gallantry 
 of our army now decorates the British museum, 
 contains an inscription, in three several languages, 
 or sets of characters, one in Greek, another in 
 hieroglyphics, and the third in a sort of running 
 hand, called endiorial characters, that is, the 
 common characters of the country. This stone 
 is mutilated in several places. The top part of 
 the hieroglyphical inscription is altogether want- 
 ing. The beginning of the second, and the end 
 of the third are also mutilated. But enough was 
 left to give us a proper idea of its pm*port and con- 
 tents. 
 
 It was soon ascertained that this stone was too 
 valuable a monument to be laid aside ; and our 
 Antiquarian Society, fully aware of its importance, 
 had it immediately engraved, and generally circu- 
 lated. The precious relic soon attracted the atten- 
 tion of the greatest scholars of Europe, of a Por- 
 son and a Heyne, in regard to the Greek ; and of 
 M. Silvestre de Sacy, Ackerblad, Dr. Young, and 
 Champolhon, in regard to the hieroglyphical, and 
 the enchorial, or demotic. 
 
 As it was natural to suppose, the intermedial
 
 56 LECTURE II. 
 
 text of this inscription, which in the Greek is 
 called enchoi'ia grammata, or letters of the coun- 
 try, was, after the Greek, that which attracted the 
 attention of scholars, and consequently the first 
 that furnished any precise notions concerning the 
 system adopted hy the Egyptians in writing ; be- 
 cause the hieroglyphics presented greater difficul- 
 ties, and the Greek was sufficiently understood, 
 both in England and abroad, to render this part at 
 least of the investigation comparatively insigni- 
 ficant. 
 
 M. Silvestre de Sacy seems to have been the 
 first to discover, in the demotic or enchorial text, 
 the groups which represented different proper 
 names, such as Ptolemy, and Alexander, and find 
 out that the different signs in these groups were 
 letters. 
 
 Mr. Akerblad, a Danish gentleman, and the 
 Swedish resident at Rome, went a httle further. 
 He recognised and separated most of these alpha- 
 betical elements from the proper names, but de- 
 duced his conclusions from the preamble of the 
 decree, which consists in a great measure of fo- 
 reign proper names ; and believing that this part 
 of the inscription was throughout alphabetical, he 
 never suspected the suppression of the intenne- 
 diate vowels, according to the custom of most 
 of the Orientals, and even of the Hebrews, and 
 thought that every word was spelt most fiilly and 
 accurately, without any omission whatever. For 
 this reason, when Mr. Akerblad applied his alpha-
 
 LECTURE II. 57 
 
 bet to decypher the rest of the inscription, he 
 could make nothing of it, especially as throughout 
 the inscription there is no intermediate space left 
 between two words ; but the letters, or characters, 
 follow one another as closely, as if they made one 
 single word ; a practice which prevails also in all 
 the MSS. The first important step, however, was 
 made ; an alphabet, or something like an alphabet, 
 had been published ; and it had been ascertained, 
 that if not always, at least occasionally, the Egyp- 
 tians employed hieroglyphics as letters, or at least 
 had a kind of alphabet, the letters of which were 
 not much dissimilar from those of the Hebrews. 
 But still the real translation of the demotic, or 
 enchorial text of the Rosetta stone was wanting. 
 
 It might have been expected, after the partial 
 success obtained by Mr. Akerblad, that the anti- 
 quaries, the chronologists, and the scholars of all 
 nations would have united heart and hand in a 
 common effort to conquer all the difficulties which 
 still presented themselves, to get at the solution of 
 the grand problem, which was still to be solved 
 concerning the antiquities of Egypt. But it seems 
 that for some time the labours of Akerblad re- 
 mained, if not imnoticed, at least without pro- 
 ducing the effect which might have been expected, 
 till the year 1814, when Dr. Young published, in 
 the Archselogia, an improvement on the alphabet 
 of Akerblad, and a translation of the Egyptian 
 inscription placed by the side of the Greek, but 
 distinguishing the contents of the different lines
 
 58 LECTURE II. 
 
 with as much precision as his materials had enabled 
 him to obtain. It was then ascertained that these 
 inscriptions contained a decree of the Egyptian 
 priests, solemnly assembled in the temple, who 
 inscribe on this stone, as a public expression of 
 their gratitude, all the events of the reign of Pto- 
 lemy Epiphanes, his liberality to the temples, and 
 to the gods; his success against his rebeUious 
 subjects, his clemency towards some of the traitors, 
 his measures against the fatal consequences of the 
 excessive inundations of the Nile, his care to 
 remedy the damage which had already taken place, 
 and his munificence towards the college of the 
 priests, by remitting the arrears of several years' 
 payment of taxes owed to the treasury. 
 
 As the language in which this account is given 
 is rather curious, I will read the introduction, and 
 give you an account of this decree, to enable you 
 to form an idea of the style of writing in use at 
 that time, and of the extraordinary titles assumed 
 by the rulers of Egypt. They are not unlike those 
 which, even at this moment, are used by the Turks, 
 the Persians, the Chinese, in short, by all the 
 Orientals. 
 
 " In the ninth year, on the fourth day of Xan- 
 thicus, the eighteenth of the Egyptian month 
 Mechir, of the young king who received the gov- 
 ernment of the country from his father, lord of the 
 asp-bearing diadems, illustrious in glory, who has 
 estabhshed Egypt ; the just, the beneficent, the 
 pious towards the gods ; victorious over his ene- 
 1
 
 LECTURE II. 59 
 
 mies, who has improved the Ufe of mankind, lord 
 of the feasts of thirty years ; hke Vulcan the 
 mighty king, like the sun, the mighty king of the 
 upper and lower countries ; the offspring of the 
 parent-loving gods, approved by Vulcan, to whom 
 the sun has given the victory ; the Uving image of 
 love, the offspring of the sun, Ptolemy, the ever- 
 living, beloved by Vulcan, the god illustrious, mu- 
 nificent; the son of Ptolemy and Arsinoe, the 
 parent-loving gods ; the priest of Alexander and 
 the saviour gods, and the brother gods, and the 
 gods beneficent, and the parent-loving gods, and 
 the king Ptolemy, the god illustrious, beneficent, 
 being Aetus, the son of Aetus ; Pyrrha, the daugh- 
 ter of Philinus, being the prize-bearer of Berenice 
 the beneficent ; Areia, the daughter of Diogenes, 
 being the bearer of baskets of Arsinoe the brother- 
 loving ; Irene, the daughter of Ptolemy, being 
 priestess of Arsinoe the parent-loving ; it was this 
 day decreed by the high-priests, the prophets, those 
 who enter the sacred recesses to attire the gods, 
 the wing-bearers, and the sacred scribes, and the 
 rest of the priests who came from the temples of 
 Egypt, to meet the king at the assembly of the 
 assumption of the lawful power of king Ptolemy, 
 the ever-living, beloved by Vulcan, the god illus- 
 trious, munificent, succeeding his father ; and who 
 entered the temple of Memphis, and said : Whereas 
 king Ptolemy, the ever-living, the god illustrious, 
 munificent, son of king Ptolemy and queen Arsinoe, 
 the parent-loving gods, has given largely to the
 
 60 LECTURE II. 
 
 temples of Egypt," &c. Thus enumerating all the 
 warlike and benevolent deeds of Ptolemy, which 
 they now wish to remunerate by ordering, " that 
 the honours at present paid to king Ptolemy be 
 augmented greatly ; that there shall be erected an 
 image of king Ptolemy the ever-living, the god 
 illustrious and munificent, which shall be called 
 sacred to Ptolemy, studious of the prosperity of 
 his country ; to Ptolemy, who has fought for 
 Egypt, and to the image the greatest god of the 
 temple shall offer the trophies of victory, in each 
 and every temple, in the most conspicuous place 
 in the temple ; all which things shall be arranged 
 according to the custom of Egypt." 
 
 Then follow the ceremonies which are to be 
 observed, the appointment of the time in which 
 they are to be performed, and of the priests who 
 are to celebrate these ceremonies " with sacrifices, 
 libations, and other honours ;" permitting " that 
 the same festival may be celebrated with proper 
 honours by other individuals," and that they may 
 consecrate, in like manner, a golden shrine to the 
 god illustrious and munificent, with due respect, 
 keeping it in their houses, observing the assembhes 
 and feasts, as appointed, every year ; which shall 
 be done in order that it may be made manifest 
 that the inhabitants of Egypt honour the god illus- 
 trious and munificent, as it is just to do." 
 
 And the whole concludes by ordering that " this 
 decree shall be engraved on a hard stone, in sacred 
 characters, in common characters, and in Greek;
 
 LECTURE II. 61 
 
 and placed in the first temples, and in the second 
 temples, and in the third temples, wherever may 
 be the sacred image of the king, whose life is for 
 ever." 
 
 Such are the contents of this curious monument, 
 which, in the hands of our learned men, has turned 
 out to be the link that connects the antiquities of 
 Egypt with our own times. It belongs to a species 
 of monuments which were by no means uncommon 
 in Egypt. M. Champollion, in his first letter to 
 the duke of Blacas, gives an account of a gi'oup now 
 existing in the Museum of Turin^ representing the 
 Pharaoh Horns, one of the princes of the eighteenth 
 dynasty, and of his daughter Tmauhmot, at the foot 
 of which there is an inscription of twenty-six lines, 
 in hieroglyphical characters ; which, as is the case 
 with the Rosetta stone, is a decree, or a resolution, 
 adopted by authority, enumerating all the benefits 
 which king Horus had done to Egypt, and ordering 
 that his image, as well as that of his daughter, 
 should be placed in a conspicuous part of the tem- 
 ple, there to receive the honours which are speci- 
 fied in the decree ; and concluding with an order 
 to the priests, who are to take care of these images, 
 and to perform, in their honour, some pecidiar 
 ceremonies. 
 
 Of this monument I shall have to speak more 
 at length ; I mention it here, merely to shew 
 that decrees and inscriptions like that exhibited 
 by the Rosetta stone, were by no means of rare 
 occurrence. For the inscription engraved round
 
 62 LECTURE II. 
 
 the throne of Horus is perfectly similar to that 
 of the Rosetta stone, in favour of Ptolemy Epi- 
 phanes, both in regard to the general divisions 
 of the two texts, and the employment of the 
 same principal ideas, is a striking proof that the 
 Egyptians, from time immemorial, had adopted 
 the custom of preserving the memory of the reli- 
 gion and piety of their sovereigns, and of the bene- 
 fits which they had bestowed on the people. This 
 curious fact shews also that the worship of kings, 
 and a priesthood attached to this worship, in 
 Egypt, had preceded, by centuries, the arrival of 
 Alexander ; and that the Grecian princes who, 
 after him, reigned over that country, endeavoured 
 as much as possible to follow the customs which 
 had been sanctioned by a long series of ages, 
 without making any alteration in the form of gov- 
 ernment, as well as the religion, which the Pha- 
 raohs had introduced. 
 
 But to return. The method pursued by our 
 learned men in this herculean task of decyphering 
 the Rosetta stone, deserves to be noticed : it may 
 serve to give you a proper idea of the infinite labour 
 to which they have been obliged to submit; a 
 labour which at first seemed calculated to deter the 
 most indefatigable scholar. Figure to yourself, for 
 a moment, the fashion introduced of writing the 
 English language with the omission of most of its 
 vowels, and then suppose our alphabet to be en- 
 tirely lost or forgotten, a new mode of writing 
 introduced, letters totally different from those we
 
 LECTURE II. 63 
 
 use, and then conceive what our labour would be, 
 if, after the lapse of 1500 years, when the Enghsh 
 language, by the operation of ages, and the inter- 
 course with foreigners, was much altered from what 
 it now is, we should be required, by the help of a 
 Greek translation, to decy^^her a bill of parliament 
 written in this old, forgotten, and persecuted al- 
 phabet, in every word of which we should find, 
 and even this not always, the regular number of 
 consonants, but most of the vowels left out. And 
 yet this is precisely what our learned antiquarians 
 have been obhged to do. The Egyptians, like 
 most of the Orientals, left out many of their vow- 
 els in writing. The enchorial, or demotic alpha- 
 bet, which they used, has been laid aside since the 
 second or third century of our era. From that 
 time to this, that is, for nearly 1600 years, the 
 Coptic alphabet has been used; and yet in this 
 Coptic language, and in these very enchorial or 
 demotic characters, was engi'aved on the Rosetta 
 stone the inscription which they have decyphered. 
 The method, therefore, followed by these learned 
 men, in so arduous an undertaking, deserves to be 
 noticed. A short account is given by Dr. Young 
 himself, in the fourth volume of the Supplement 
 of the Encyclopedia Britannica : the only fault 
 it has, is, that after the manner of great discover- 
 ers, he has made it too short. I shall endeavour 
 to supply the deficiency. 
 
 From the concluding line of the Greek inscrip- 
 tion, it was natural to suppose that the three in-
 
 64 LECTURE II. 
 
 scriptions engraved on this stone were translated 
 from the same original ; and though it was impos- 
 sible to ascertain which of them was the original, 
 yet it seemed evident that two, at least, were but 
 a translation of the third. As the demotic cha- 
 racters shewed something like the shape of letters, 
 it was shrewdly suspected that they might have 
 been used as an alphabet. By comparing, there- 
 fore, its different parts with each other, and with 
 the Greek, it was observed that the two groups in 
 the fourth and seventeenth lines of the Greek 
 inscription, in which Alexander and Alexandria 
 occur, corresponded with two other groups in the 
 second and the tenth line of the demotic inscrip- 
 tion. These two groups, therefore, were considered 
 as representing these two names, and thus not 
 less than seven characters, or letters, were ascer- 
 tained. 
 
 Again, it was observed that a small group of 
 characters occur very often in almost every line. 
 At first it was supposed that this group was either 
 a termination, or some very common particle ; and 
 after more words had been identified, it was found 
 to mean the conjunction and. 
 
 It was then observed, that the next remarkable 
 collection of characters was repeated twenty-nine 
 or thirty times in the enchorial inscription ; and 
 nothing was found to occur so often in the Greek, 
 except the word king, which, with its compounds, 
 is repeated about thirty-seven times. 
 
 A fourth assemblage of characters was found
 
 LECTURE ir. 65 
 
 fourteen times in the enchorial inscription, agree- 
 ing sufficiently well in frequency with the name of 
 Ptolemy, which occurs eleven times in the Greek, 
 and generally in passages corresponding to those 
 of the enchorial text, in their relative situation ; 
 and by a similar comparison the name of Egijpf 
 was also identified. 
 
 Having thus obtained a sufficient number of com- 
 mon points of subdivision, the next step was to write 
 the Greek text over the enchorial, in such a man- 
 ner that the passages ascertained should coincide 
 as nearly as possible ; taking, however, a proper 
 care to observe, that the lines of the demotic, or 
 enchorial inscription, are written from right to left, 
 while those of the Greek run in a contrary direc- 
 tion, from left to right. At first sight this diffi- 
 culty seemed very great ; but it was conquered by 
 proper attention and practice ; because, after some 
 trouble, the division of the several words and 
 phrases plainly indicated the direction in which 
 they were to be read. Thus it was obvious that 
 the intermediate parts of each inscription stood 
 then very near to the corresponding passages of 
 the other. 
 
 By means of this process, Mr. Akerblad, M. 
 De Sacy, and Dr. Young, succeeded in decypher- 
 ing the inscription engraved on the Rosetta stone, 
 in the enchorial or common characters of Egypt ; 
 and thus they obtained a sort of alphabet which 
 might aid them in future researches, and which Dr. 
 
 F
 
 G6 LECTURE If. 
 
 Young published in the sixth number of the Mu- 
 seuna Criticum, in May, 1814, together with the 
 translation of the inscription itself, and a very 
 interesting correspondence which had taken place 
 between him and the above-mentioned distinguished 
 foreigners. 
 
 It is not in the nature of human efforts, that the 
 first discovery in any of our attempts after know- 
 ledge, should be faultless and complete ; and we 
 must, therefore, not be surprised at a few inaccu- 
 racies, arising from scanty materials, in this 
 first gigantic attempt at decyphering hieroglyphics. 
 It is true, the opinion that hieroglyphics occasion- 
 ally represented letters, was by no means new : 
 Clemens and Porphyry, amongst the ancients, had 
 stated this to be the fact, seventeen centuries ago ; 
 but still the precious truth had been disregarded 
 by most, if not all, our antiquarians, and no one 
 before Akerblad and Dr. Young ever thought of 
 applying himself to find out the key that might 
 lead him to the greatest desideratum of all, the 
 discovery of this alphabet ; although, as I have 
 observed already, this same assertion had been 
 repeated by several modern writers, who had ex- 
 pressly stated that hieroglyphics constituted a real 
 written language, applicable to all pursuits of com- 
 mon, as well as public and scientific life, and 
 particularly by Warburton, Zoega, and Professor 
 Vater, who, in a note to Mithridates, asserted that 
 the unknown language of the Rosetta stone, and
 
 LECTURE IF. 67 
 
 of the bandages often found with the mummies, 
 was capable of being analysed into an alphabet, 
 consisting of little more than thirty letters. 
 
 Things remained in this state for some time, 
 when a curious circumstance shewed to a demon- 
 stration, that the demotic alphabet of Akerblad, 
 De Sacy, and Dr. Young, was the true alpha- 
 bet employed by the old Egyptians^ This was 
 nothing else than the discovery of a second 
 stone, formerly existing at Menouf, containing 
 an inscription both in demotic and Greek cha- 
 racters. This stone belonged to M. Drovet- 
 ti, the French consul at Alexandria ; and Dr. 
 Young, who saw it at Leghorn, and very properly 
 considered it as a very important document, the 
 only supplement, in fact, to the pillar of Rosetta 
 then in existence, did all he could to obtain, though 
 in vain, an impression of it. But what the learned 
 Doctor could not get from the illiberal jealousy of 
 M. Drovetti, he got by chance. On his way home, 
 he saw M. Champolhon at Paris, who copied for 
 him some parts of a very important papyrus, writ- 
 ten in clear enchorial characters ; and very soon 
 after, Mr. Grey, on his return from Egypt, left 
 with him a box containing several fine specimens 
 of writing and drawing on papyrus, which Mr. 
 Grey had purchased from an Arab at Thebes, 
 chiefly in hieroglyphics, amongst which were two 
 particularly deserving attention, inasmuch as they 
 contained some Greek characters, in a pretty legible 
 hand. 
 
 F 2
 
 68 LECTURE ir. 
 
 In examining one of these manuscripts. Dr. 
 Yomig, to his great astonishment and dehght, 
 found that it began with these words, " A copy of 
 an Eg)^tian writing ;" and on proceeding with his 
 examination, it turned out to be a coiTect transla- 
 tion of the very MS. which M. Champolhon had 
 transcribed for him ; and both of them, in reahty, 
 were nothing less than the copy of the inscription 
 engraved on the stone discovered at Menouf, be- 
 longing to M. Drovetti, which Dr. Young had seen 
 at Leghorn. 
 
 The contents of this manuscript are of a nature 
 not less remarkable than its preservation and dis- 
 covery. *' It relates to the sale," I copy Dr. 
 Young's own words, " not of a house or a field, but 
 of a portion of the collections and offerings made, 
 from time to time, on account, or for the benefit, 
 of a certain number of mummies, of persons de- 
 scribed at length in very bad Greek, with their 
 children and all their households." You will find 
 the translation of this cmious document in the ac- 
 count which Dr. Young has published about hiero- 
 glyphics, printed by Murray, in the year 1823. 
 The description it gives of the different persons is 
 highly amusing, which is, indeed, the character of 
 the whole work. 
 
 The result derived from this second comparison 
 of the Egyptian with the Greek characters, was 
 the identification of more than thirty proper names, 
 and, consequently, of several new characters, which 
 were added to the enchorial or demotic alphabet.
 
 LECTURE II. 69 
 
 It is now some time since the public prints have 
 announced another trihnguar inscription, engraved 
 on a stone in one of the inosks at Cairo. As the 
 stone itself, on account of its position, was not al- 
 lowed to be removed, a correct fac simile of the 
 three inscriptions is, perhaps, at this moment on 
 its way to Europe. Should it ever reach our 
 shores, I have no doubt that the interpretation will 
 furnish us with further proofs, if proofs should still 
 be wanting, of the correctness and reality of the 
 modern discoveries, which, notwithstanding their 
 success, are still looked upon by some sceptics with 
 an incredulous eye ; so difficult is it to convince 
 men who will not be convinced. 
 
 With these observations I conclude for the pre- 
 sent, at least, our research into the enchorial, or 
 demotic characters. I shall hereafter revert to 
 them again, when I shall have occasion to exhibit 
 to you a more complete alphabet of these, as well 
 as hieratic letters ; but for the present we must 
 confine our attention to hieroglyphics, properly 
 so called. 
 
 In these, the success of Dr. Young was neither 
 so certain, nor so extensive ; yet the merit alone 
 of having first thought of ascertaining, by fact, the 
 opinion of Zoega and Warburton, to read hierogly- 
 phics, as letters, and actually spell the names of 
 Berenice and Ptolemy, is, after all, so great, as to 
 counterbalance every possible mistake ; for it was 
 upon this discovery that M. Champollion after- 
 wards engrafted his system, and was enabled to carry
 
 70 LECTURE II. 
 
 his researches into Egyptian antiquities, and Egyp- 
 tian hieroglyphics, to the truly astonishing degree 
 which he has done. 
 
 In these tables you will see the illustration of 
 my assertion. [[Table 1st, fig. I and 2.^ In the 
 groups contained in these two ovals. Dr. Young 
 was the first who ascertained that they expressed 
 the names of Berenice [[fig. 1.]] and of Ptolemy 
 [[fig. 2.[] ; and what is more, he gave to each 
 hieroglyphic, or character, a proper and distinct 
 value, and an individual import. As the learned 
 Doctor proceeded upon guess and supposition, it 
 could not be expected that he should never be 
 wrong ; he, in fact, was wrong in the explanation 
 of some of the characters, but he certainly was 
 right on the whole. In the name of Ptolemy, for 
 instance, [^fig. 2.[3 he read the square for P ; the 
 half circle for T ; the lion for the syllable le, or 
 ole; the three sides of the parallelogram for M ; 
 the two feathers for E ; and the crooked line for 
 OS ; which, altogether, he supposed made up the 
 name of Ptolemeos. 
 
 In the name of Berenice, [[fig. l.[] he also endea- 
 voured to find out the import of each separate 
 hieroglyphic, and read, or rather suspected, that 
 the box represented the syllable Bi7' ; the mouth, 
 or double oval, the letter E ; the undulating line 
 the N ; the two feathers the C ; and the goose the 
 syllable ken, or cen ; and thus he made out the 
 name of Bireneken, or Bh'enicen. 
 
 In both these ovals. Dr. Young considered the 
 
 1
 
 LECTURE 11. 71 
 
 knot and the hiclge as useless ; which was wrong, 
 as further discoveries have proved that the first 
 stands for an o, and the second for a k. And again, 
 he thought that some of the characters, such as the 
 box, the goose, the Hon, and the crooked hue were 
 syllables, when in reality they are simple letters, 
 as both the names of Ptolemy and Berenice are 
 not spelt Berenicen and Ptolemeos, but Brnks and 
 Ptolmes, according to the oriental mode of leav- 
 ing out the intermediate vowels. But we are to 
 consider that this was the very first attempt ever 
 made at assigning a fixed alphabetical value to 
 hieroglyphics ; for although Mr. Bankes had as- 
 serted, since the year 1818, that the characters 
 contained in this oval [[fig. 3.)] represented the 
 name of Cleopatra, as we shall see in our next 
 Lecture, yet he had not assigned a characteristic 
 import to any of the signs, nor had he said that 
 each of these signs was a letter. ChampolHon did 
 so, and it was then that he found that the lion was 
 an L, and not a syllable. 
 
 Besides these things already enumerated. Dr. 
 Young also discovered the meaning, and inter- 
 preted the signification of seventy-seven more sim- 
 ple characters, and groups consisting of several 
 characters, together with the feminine termination 
 invariably attached to names of females, whether 
 goddesses, private individuals, or princesses, which 
 are the oval and the half circle, a termination in- 
 dicating the female sex [[Table 1. fig. 15.[] ; the 
 whole of which he published in the fourth volume
 
 72 LECTURE II. 
 
 of the Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 
 which I have already noticed. 
 
 It is true, that in these important discoveries. 
 Dr. Young seemed to give the meaning of these 
 hieroglyphical groups taken all together, without 
 assigning a proper value to each of the characters ; 
 nor did he mark the alphabet of hieroglyphics in the 
 same way as he had done that of the enchorial or de- 
 motic : but still it was he who made the first import- 
 ant step ; for it was Dr. Young who first ascertained 
 that many simple objects were represented by pic- 
 tures, that is, by their actual delineations ; that 
 many other objects were used in a figurative sense 
 only ; while a great number of the symbols could 
 be considered as pictures of no existing objects 
 whatever. 
 
 Again, it was Dr. Young who first found out the 
 marks or signs for numbers, that two objects were 
 denoted by the repetition of the same character ; 
 that an indefinite plurality was represented by 
 three characters of the same kind following each 
 other ; that definite numbers were expressed by 
 upright strokes for units ; and arches, either round 
 or angular, for tens, such as I offer you in this 
 table. ITahle Ist.]] 
 
 The units are expressed by single upright 
 strokes, [|fig. 4.]] and they are always repeated to 
 mark any number below ten,which is represented by 
 an arch, either round or angular. No. e. The repeti- 
 tion of these produces the repetition of as many tens 
 up to ninety. A hundred is exhibited by a figiu'e
 
 LECTURE II. 73 
 
 very much resembling our nine. No. g. This same 
 figure is again repeated for every hundred for any 
 number below one thousand, which has a character 
 of its own, to which hangs a cross. No. h. Thus to 
 express the numbers two, three, four, seven, &c. 
 ahke, 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, angu- 
 lar or round arches. The Number 42, for in- 
 stance. No. f, is expressed by four arches, which 
 mean four times ten, forty ; and by two upright 
 strokes, which make two. 
 
 To signify the ordinal numbers, we are to place 
 at the top of each of the numbers the figure 
 marked No. h ; and thus No. a becomes the first. 
 No. c the second, No.y* will become the forty- 
 second, and the like ; and if we change this figure 
 into a kind of three sides of a square. No. d, then 
 the numbers will signify the first time, the second 
 time, the third time, and so on. 
 
 Again, it seems that the same gentleman first 
 discovered the real expression, or hieroglyphic 
 characters, employed to express several letters, 
 such as N. M. P. T. F. as they are marked in the 
 names of Berenice and Ptolemy. They may be, and 
 often are, expressed by other signs besides these 
 marked by Dr. Young ; yet it was a great matter, 
 when no one ever dreamt of a hieroglyphical 
 alphabet, to discover a few characters for some of 
 the letters. 
 
 Dr. Young also found out, or rather verified
 
 74 LECTURE II. 
 
 what had ah*eady been discovered by Zoega, in his 
 work, De Orig. ct usu Oheliscorum, that all proper 
 names were included in a border, a kind of oval 
 ring, or a frame, which the French call cartouche. 
 In this assertion Dr. Yomig went rather too far ; 
 because the further discoveries made by M. Cham- 
 polhon have proved, that this ring, or oval, is not 
 a graphical sign, but a mark of political distinction, 
 as it is engraved only round the names of kings 
 and queens, and never round the names of private 
 individuals. 
 
 In these tables, for instance, one represents 
 the name of Antinous> this favourite of the em- 
 peror Hadiian, from the Barberini obehsk at 
 Rome, which is spelt in two ways, Antainous 
 [;fig. 5r\ and antiis [[fig. 6.]], in which latter 
 case it only preserves all the consonants, and 
 the initial vowel, suppressing all the interme- 
 diate ones ; and the other. No. 7, represents the 
 name of Lucilhus, spelt Loikilios, from the Be- 
 nevent's obelisk. 
 
 In a future Lecture, after I have exhibited to you 
 the hieroglyphical alphabet, I shall retm-n to these 
 groups, and explain to you the import and value 
 of each character ; for the present I refer you to 
 these gi'oups, merely to shew, that the oval, or 
 ring, was not a graphical sign attending any name, 
 but a mark of distinction, paid only to the names 
 of sovereigns. 
 
 Again, Dr. Young first aserted, that all hiero- 
 glyphical inscriptions were read from right to left.
 
 LECTURE II. 75 
 
 as the objects naturally follow each other. This 
 last principle, however, admits of too many ex- 
 ceptions to be received as a rule. For the fact is, 
 as M. Champolhon has proved, that the characters 
 are sometimes disposed perpendicularly, and some- 
 times horizontally, and sometimes both ways. This 
 takes place whenever two, three, or four charac- 
 ters, of different dimensions, happen to meet. Thus, 
 for instance, in fig. 1, the oval contains the name 
 of Berenice, and you find the box, which is B, 
 over the long oval, which is R; then the undu- 
 lating line, which is N, over two characters, the 
 two feathers, which stand for E, and a kind of 
 bridge, which is a K, and lastly, the bird by itself, 
 which is S. Then follow the semi-circle and the 
 egg, which, as I have already stated, are simple 
 marks of the feminine gender, and, therefore, at- 
 tached to all names of females. 
 
 The general rule, therefore, found out by Cham- 
 pollion, is to begin reading an inscription, whether 
 written perpendicularly or horizontally, from the 
 side to which the heads of the animals are turned ; 
 or if, in the inscription, there be no animals, from 
 the side to which are turned the angles, or circles, 
 found in the text. This rule, says M. Champolhon, 
 admits of no exception but one, and that is a hie- 
 roglyphical MS., in which the characters are to be 
 read from left to right, though the heads of the 
 animals look towards the right hand. 
 
 I have dwelt at so great a length on the dis-
 
 76 LECTURE II. 
 
 coveries of Dr. Young, because I consider them 
 as the first and most important step which we 
 have made in the labyrinth of Egyptian hiero- 
 glyphics, and the fundamental stone on which M. 
 Champollion has raised the astonishing struc- 
 ture of his system, which will form the subject of 
 our next Lecture.
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 Continuation of the same subject — Discovery of the name of 
 Cleopatra by Mr. Bankes — Means by which it was obtained 
 — Ckampollion's publications — Lettre a, M. Dacier — Precis 
 du systeme hieroglyphique — Hieroglyphical alphabet — Num- 
 ber of characters — Their meaning — Attempt to account for 
 their multiplicity and difference — Illustrations — Mode by 
 which the Egyptians formed their hieroglyphics — Disposition 
 of them — Examples — General rules — Application of Cham- 
 pollion's alphabet to the reading of the names of the Egyptian 
 sovereigns — Under the Romans — the Greeks — the Persians 
 — the Pharaohs — Coincidence between the Bible and some of 
 the Egyptian legends — Observations. 
 
 In my last Lecture I endeavoured to give you, 
 first, an idea of the opinion which men of learning, 
 of all ages and all nations, had entertained with 
 regard to hieroglyphics ; secondly, of the difficul- 
 ties which this general prejudice of the peculiar na- 
 ture of hieroglyphics had produced, in diverting 
 from its proper coiu-se any attempt that might be 
 made in explaining them ; thirdly, I endeavoured 
 to exemplify this assertion, by stating some of the 
 interpretations published by Kircher, Dupuis, the 
 Abbe Pluche, and the Chevalier Pahn. In the 
 fourth place, I thought it necessary to call your
 
 •78 LECTURE III. 
 
 attention to the scarcity of Egyptian monuments 
 then existing in Europe, and the incorrectness of the 
 copies which had been made of them ; then I men- 
 tioned the principal of these documents, and pointed 
 out to you the necessity of an authentic transla- 
 tion in a known language of some of the Egyptian 
 hieroglyphical inscriptions, which might serve as a 
 guide to our scholars to get at the meaning of the 
 original characters ; for without such a transla- 
 tion it was impossible to make any discovery in 
 the reading of hieroglyphics. I spoke afterwards 
 of the discovery of the Rosetta stone, and of the 
 alphabet of the enchorial or demotic characters, 
 which M. De Sacy, Akerblad, and Dr. Young had 
 found out by comparing the original Egyptian with 
 the Greek translation engraved on this stone, and 
 which enabled the learned Doctor to pursue his 
 investigation in regard to the hieroglyphics also ; 
 I mentioned then the discoveries he had made in 
 spelling the names of Ptolemy and Berenice ; in 
 finding out the manner in which the Egyi^tians 
 wrote numbers ; in ascertaining that the figures 
 contained in a ring, or cartouche, did invariably form 
 or spell a name ; in establishing that an inscription 
 should always be read from right to left ; and in 
 publishing the meaning of more than one hundred 
 characters, or groups, in the article Egypt, in the 
 fourth volume of the Supplement to the Encyclo- 
 paedia Britannica. 
 
 I also mentioned that Mr. Bankes had first dis- 
 covered, CTab. 1st. fig. 1.;] in the year 1818, the
 
 LECTURE III. 79 
 
 name of Cleopatra contained in an oval ; and the 
 several steps by which this name was first ascer- 
 tained, deserve to be recorded, since, while they 
 exhibit the progress of the discovery, they fm'nish 
 also a plain and popular proof of its authenticity. 
 
 The account is given in a long note to a pamph- 
 let on the phonetic system of hieroglyphics, pub- 
 lished by the late Mr. Salt, our consul-general in 
 Egypt, of which I will endeavour to give an 
 abridgement. 
 
 It was a constant observation, that when two 
 figures appear sculptured, or engraved, on any 
 monument, the first, or most forward, figure 
 represented the male ; the second, or most back- 
 ward, the female. In most instances, one figure 
 alone is seen, and then it represents a male ; for 
 instances of the female being represented alone 
 are very rare. 
 
 It was also observed, that when two figures, or a 
 pair, appear once on an edifice, they were, in the 
 same manner of association, repeated through- 
 out the building; and the same repetition took 
 place with the single figure, whether male or fe- 
 male, to an endless multiplication. 
 
 From this circumstance, Mr. Bankes suspected 
 such figures to have been intended for portraits, or 
 representations of the founder of the building, or 
 occupier of the sepulchre. To ascertain this point, 
 he caused a search to be made for the original sar- 
 cophagus in one of the few tombs at Thebes, where 
 the female figure was seen represented singly
 
 80 LECTURE III. 
 
 throughout, both on the sarcophagus and the walls ; 
 and, having discovered such a tomb, he, on the 
 gi'anite cover of the sarcophagus, actually found 
 a female figure, habited as Isis, sculptured in alto 
 relievo. This was a strong presumption that the 
 female upon the walls was the same with the fe- 
 male whose sarcophagus occupied the tomb. 
 
 Again, he observed, that as the Greek inscrip- 
 tion among the ruins of the ancient city of Dios- 
 polis Parva, furnishes the only example of the 
 name of a Queen Cleopatra preceding that of King 
 Ptolemy ; so the sculpture on the same building 
 furnishes the only example of a female figure taking 
 precedence over that of a male. By comparing 
 the signs which he supposed to represent the name 
 of the man, he found them to agree exactly with 
 those which Dr. Young had thought must re- 
 present the name of Ptolemy on the Rosetta 
 stone ; and Mr. Bankes very properly concluded, 
 that the characters written over the female might 
 be those which designated Cleopatra. This sup- 
 position became demonstration, upon seeing that 
 these very names were perfectly similar to those 
 engraved on the obelisk of Philoe. You know, 
 that this obelisk was a monument raised by the 
 priests of Isis, in the island of Philoe, on which 
 they engraved a memorial of King Ptolemy and 
 his two queens, each of the name of Cleopatra, 
 and under which there is a Greek translation of 
 the original hieroglyphics engraved on the several 
 faces of this pyramid. By comparing this transla-
 
 LECTURE III. 81 
 
 tion with the orighial hieroglyphics, the conchision 
 became undeniable, that these signs represented 
 the name of Cleopatra. 
 
 Such was the progress of the learned in the 
 science of hieroglyphics, when M. Champollion, in 
 the year 1822, published his first essay, in the 
 form of a letter to M. Dacier, in which he im- 
 parted to the public the first solid notions on hiero- 
 glyphics. He published as his own some of the 
 opinions advanced by Dr. Young, in regard to 
 demotic characters, and the application of them 
 to hieroglyphics, he began by re-analyzing the 
 characters contained in the oval rings on the Ro- 
 setta stone, as well as on the obelisk of Philoe ex- 
 pressing the names of Ptolemy and Cleopatra; 
 and thus by giving a greater latitude, and a more 
 certain, more firm, and philosophical basis to the 
 surmises expressed by Dr. Young and Mr. Bankes, 
 he ascertained the real import of the several hiero- 
 glyphics which make up these names. 
 
 Then turning his attention to the description of 
 Egypt, published by the French Government, he 
 was enabled to read the name of Alexander in 
 the oval, or cartouche, engraved on one of the 
 edifices at the temple of Karnac, at Thebes ; and 
 this trial produced the discovery of some new cha- 
 racters. Assisted by these and other discoveries, 
 M. Champollion published an alphabet, in which 
 he gave the import of about one hundred hierogly- 
 phical characters, which were used phonetically, 
 that is, as letters of an alphabet. But as the number 
 
 G
 
 82 LECTURE HI. 
 
 of the Egyptian alphabetical letters was very small,— 
 according to some, no more than sixteen, according 
 to others, twenty-three,— it followed, that several 
 of these hieroglyphics must have been employed 
 to represent the same letter, and used indiscrimi- 
 nately in the representation of this letter. For in- 
 stance, the letter a was represented sometimes by 
 a hawk ; at other times by a quail, by the figure 
 of an eye, by that of a feather, of a stretched arm. 
 The letter s sometimes by a crooked hne ; some- 
 times by a broken one ; at other times by a goose, 
 by a kind of star, by a gridiron, and even by the 
 figure of a boy, and so on. To explain this curi- 
 ous circumstance, M. ChampoUion asserted, that 
 the Egyptians, in wishing to express by hierogly- 
 phics any letter of the alphabet, employed the 
 figure of any object, the name of which contained, 
 either entirely or partially, the sound of the letter 
 which they wished to note. Thus, for instance, 
 the hawk in Egyptian was called ahe, therefore 
 was taken to represent the letter «, with which it 
 began. A bird was called lialet, and, therefore, 
 stood for the same letter ; the mouth was called 
 roj therefore the figure of it represented the letter 
 r, and so on. This was a gi'eat discovery, but 
 not the only one which he had made ; for in this 
 letter to M. Dacier, M. ChampoUion also asserted, 
 and proved, that the use of phonetic characters in 
 Egypt must have preceded the empire of the Greeks 
 and Romans : that it must have been more ancient 
 than Alexander ; and he annexed to this produc- 
 
 1
 
 LECTURE III. 83 
 
 tion four tables, containing the names of several of 
 the Roman emperors, and of Egyptian kings and 
 queens, the explanation of whose names seemed to 
 give a greater evidence, a greater degree of cer- 
 tainty, to the alphabet which he also published. 
 
 In this letter, M. Champollion had given to the 
 world the first insight on the subject of hiero- 
 glyphics ; and though his information was not 
 extensive, yet it was of a nature which rendered 
 future discoveries not only probable, but certain ; 
 for in this letter, with very few exceptions, we 
 had the ground-work firmly established on which 
 future scholars might lay the result of future re- 
 search, and by following the light which he had 
 exhibited, they might have proceeded with sure 
 steps through the dark mist of this intricate laby- 
 rinth. Important as some of the discoveries are 
 which he published in this letter, it is not my 
 intention to state them to you ; because my object 
 is to make you acquainted with another work of 
 this most extraordinary man, which he published 
 in 1824, under the title of " Precis clii Systems 
 Hieroglyphique" It is this magnificent work 
 which has immortalized the name of Champollion, 
 and has secured for its author the respect and 
 admiration of the present and future generations. 
 In this work the critic may, indeed, find a few ble- 
 mishes, and even the scholar and the man of taste 
 discover two or three hazardous and contradictory 
 notions ; but these faults will never prevent the 
 philosopher and the impartial reader from considei- 
 
 G 2
 
 84 LECTURE III. 
 
 ing this author as the man who, after the lapse of 
 more than 4,000 years, has found out at last the 
 true key to hieroglyphical reading, and afforded 
 the light which is to lead us through all the in- 
 tricacies of Egyptian antiquities. 
 
 This publication, which even the Edinburgh Re- 
 viewer styles " a work beyond all doubt of the very 
 highest interest and value," not only exhibits a 
 clear and comprehensive view of the few results 
 which had been previously obtained, but embraces 
 a gi*eat variety of new and important investigations, 
 equally calculated to elucidate the graphic system 
 of the ancient Egyptians, and to shed a strong 
 light upon a portion of ancient history hitherto 
 abandoned to scepticism or conjecture. In this 
 masterly performance, the object of M. Champol- 
 lion is to demonstrate the following six different 
 points : 
 
 First, that the phonetic hieroglyphic alphabet 
 can be applied with success to the legends of every 
 epoch indiscriminately. 
 
 Secondly, which is, in fact, the consequence of 
 the first statement, that this phonetic alphabet is 
 the true key of the whole hieroglyphical system. 
 
 Thirdly, that the ancient Egyptians constantly 
 employed this alphabet to represent the sounds of 
 the w^ords in their language. 
 
 Fourthly, that all hieroglyphical legends and in- 
 scriptions are, for the gi'eatest part, composed of 
 signs purely alphabetical. 
 
 Fifthly, that these alphabetical signs were of
 
 LECTURE III. 85 
 
 three different kinds : the demotic, hieratic, and 
 hieroglyphical strictly so called. 
 
 And, lastly, that the principles of the graphic 
 system, which he has laid down, and which he 
 proves by a great variety of applications and ex- 
 amples, are precisely those which were in use 
 among the ancient Egyptians. 
 
 To proceed, however, with that regularity which 
 is of the utmost consequence in an undertaking of 
 this kind, I shall begin our research by the exhibi- 
 tion of the hieroglyphical alphabet which M. Cham- 
 pollion has published. In this table I offer you 
 the principal characters reduced to our alphabet, or 
 Roman letters. Tab. 2. But I ought to observe, that 
 although the alphabet pubhshed by Champollion 
 contained only 134 hieroglyphical characters which 
 are, strictly speaking, phonetic, yet he has found 
 out the real meaning and import of 730 more signs, 
 some of which are symbolical, and others figura- 
 tive ; so that the whole number of all hieroglyphi- 
 cal characters, of every description, amount to 864. 
 Thus he differs from Bruce, who stated them to 
 amount to 114 ; and from Zoega, who reckoned 
 958. M. Champollion divides these 864 charac- 
 ters into eighteen different classes, namely. 
 
 Celestial bodies 10 
 
 Human figures in various positions . .120 
 Human limbs, taken separately ... 60 
 
 Wild quadrupeds 24 
 
 Domestic quadrupeds 10 
 
 Limbs of animals . . ; 22
 
 86 LECTURE III. 
 
 Birds, either whole or in parts . . . . 50 
 
 Fishes 10 
 
 Reptiles, either whole or in parts ... 30 
 
 Insects 14 
 
 Vegetables, plants, flowers, and fruits . 60 
 
 Buildings 24 
 
 Furniture 100 
 
 Coverings for feet and legs, head-dresses, 
 
 weapons, ornaments, and sceptres . 80 
 
 Tools and instruments of various sorts . 150 
 
 Vases, cups, and the like 30 
 
 Geometrical figiu'es 20 
 
 Fantastic forms 50 
 
 Total ... 864 
 
 For the present, however, confining our observa- 
 tion to the number of characters contained in his 
 alphabet, I have to call your attention to several 
 striking and curious circumstances. 
 
 The first is particularly so, and that is, that some 
 of the consonants, and almost all the vowels, are 
 often represented by the same hieroglyphical cha- 
 racters. 
 
 M. Champollion assigns as a reason for such 
 an imperfect mode of spelling, the diversity of the 
 dialects spoken in the Upper, Middle, and Lower 
 Egypt, and the different mode of pronouncing the 
 words in each of these departments ; for, by allow- 
 ing one hieroglyphic to stand for two consonants, 
 the difference existing in these dialects will disappear 
 in writing. Each people, in fact, would consider
 
 LECTURE 111. 87 
 
 this hieroglyphic as the sign of the consonant they 
 used, and express it accordingly. The letter n 
 (P), for instance, of the dialect of Thebes, was 
 changed into F, or <j> (phi), in the dialect of 
 Memphis ; and in the table exhibited by Cham- 
 pollion we find, in fact, that one and the same 
 hieroglyphical character expressed both these con- 
 sonants, the P and the F, and sometimes the V. 
 
 Again, the mouth and the lion are occasionally 
 put one for another ; although, strictly speaking, 
 the mouth was the sign of the letter r in the 
 Caschmouric dialect, that is, the dialect of Middle 
 Egypt ; and the lion of the letter I in the Theaic 
 and Memphitic dialects. In this way it is evident 
 that the natives of these places could find no diffi- 
 culty in reading the words, whether originally 
 Egyptian, or adopted from the Greek, because one 
 of them would have pronounced the hon as an r, 
 and the other as an /. 
 
 The same rule must be applied to the pronun- 
 ciation of the vowels, which have a sound so vague 
 that they are indifferently placed the one for the 
 other. A single and the same character often 
 expresses, on different occasions, the E or the I, 
 while in others it is constantly employed for the A, 
 or E, or O. But we must not be surprised at this 
 strange permutation ; for the different dialects of 
 the same language principally differ from one 
 another in the sound of the vowels. A striking 
 instance of this sort is found amongst all the nations 
 of the Continent, but particularly in this country.
 
 88 LECTURE III. 
 
 Even now I can scarcely make out the English 
 language as it is spoken in the north and south of 
 the island. A thorough-bred Yorkshireman is worse 
 than hieroglyphics to me. 
 
 Another great characteristic, which is equally 
 striking in hieroglyphics, is the great quantity of 
 very different characters which were employed to 
 express the same letter. Some of these were, in fact, 
 represented by ten, twelve, fifteen, and even twenty 
 and twenty-five different figures. M. Champol- 
 lion, in remarking this great abundance of signs, is 
 of opinion, that their multiplicity arose from their 
 wish to represent the idea by the means of symbols, 
 which might at the same time stand for sounds. 
 " In writing," says he, " the articulated sounds of 
 a word, they chose amongst the great number of 
 characters, which they were at liberty to employ, 
 those figures, which by their form represented the 
 object that had a relation to the idea which these 
 characters were to express." Thus, for instance, 
 in these two groups. Table 6, fig. 25 and 26, which 
 mean a child, or rather a son, an offspring, and 
 which in the Coptic language, is called CE [[or 
 se^, the Egyptians, fi-om all the hieroglyphics 
 which were the marks of the letter S, employed 
 in preference either the egg-like figiue of a gi'ain 
 of corn, fig. 26, which in their language was called 
 sono, from the generic name, siti, which means 
 seed, or the figure of a goose of the Nile, fig. 25, 
 which was called chenalo2^ex, on account of the 
 great attachment which that bird shews for its
 
 LECTURE IH. 89 
 
 young, and consequently we find these two cha- 
 racters standing for the letter s. 
 
 In the same way, in writing down the name of 
 Noub, one of their deities, to express the letter b 
 they employed the figure of the ram, in preference 
 to any other sign, because the ram was, by itself, 
 the symbol of this deity ; so much so, indeed, that 
 we find him often represented under the figure of 
 a man, with the head of that animal. 
 
 For the same reason, to express the letter ii, 
 they chose from amongst the several signs employed 
 for the purpose, the sign of a vase, because it 
 was one of the attributes of this deity, to be gene- 
 rally represented with one of these vases lying at 
 his feet. 
 
 The lion, which in Egyptian or Coptic, was 
 called laho, or lahoi, that is, valde hirsutus, stood 
 for the letter /, as you see in the alphabet ; and 
 though this letter was represented by several other 
 signs, yet the Egyptians, in writing the name of 
 Ptolemy, and indeed of all the Roman emperors, 
 always employed the figure of the lion, in prefer- 
 ence to any other, no doubt, as a mark of the 
 strength and courage of these sovereigns, as the 
 lion is, and has always been, the symbol of these 
 quahties. 
 
 Perhaps here, en passant, I might observe, as 
 an illustration of what I said in a former Lecture, 
 that in the Arabic language, the lion is called 
 lehouali, which sounds very near to the Egyptian 
 Jaho, or lahoi, especially, as in the Hebrew Ian-
 
 90 LECTURE III. 
 
 guage, it is called lehieh. For the same reason, 
 no doubt, the eagle, which in Egyptian was called 
 akhom, represented the letter A, and was always 
 employed in preference to any other sign, in 
 spelhng the names and the titles of all the Roman 
 emperors in which it occurred, because the bird 
 was taken as the symbol of the Roman empire 
 itself. 
 
 Again, the oval which contains the name of 
 Tiherius, engraved on the portico at Esne, and 
 consecrated to the god Chnoubis, the letter B of 
 the word Tiberius is represented by a ram, which 
 was the symbol of this deity, to whom the temple 
 was dedicated; while in the engraving of the temple 
 at Dendera, which was consecrated to the goddess 
 Athor, who was in fact the Egyptian Venus, the 
 same letter B is expressed by a sign' totally dif- 
 ferent, but equally characteristic ; and, last of all, 
 this same letter B is represented by a small box 
 of frankincense, in the word Sebastos, which, as 
 you know, means venerable. 
 
 In all these instances, and others of the same 
 sort, which might be adduced, we perceive some- 
 thing like a rule, which directed the Egyptians in 
 the selection of their hieroglyphical characters. 
 But this rule is not always perceivable. In these 
 cartouches, or groups, for instance. Table 1, fig. 2, 
 and 11, which contain the name of Ptolemy, the 
 letter M, and the letter P, are expressed in two 
 ways. In the one, fig. 2, we have the plain 
 square for the P, and the three sides of a
 
 LECTURE III. 91 
 
 parallelogram for the M : in the other, fig. 11, 
 these same letters are expressed by an owl, and by 
 a striated square ; although we are unable to find 
 out the apparent reason of this change. The same 
 must be said of the other two gi'oups, fig. 5 and 6, 
 representing the name of Antinous, in which the 
 letter T is expressed by the hand in fig. 5, and by 
 the triangle in fig. 6. 
 
 I shall explain my meaning by an example, 
 which will at once shew you the mode employed 
 by the Egyptians, both in imagining and using the 
 different hieroglyphics which represented the same 
 letter of the alphabet. But, before I proceed, I 
 request you will remember, as I have already 
 stated, that to mark or note each letter, the Egyp- 
 tians chose those objects the names of which began 
 with the sound of that very letter. 
 
 Now, suppose we were to imagine an alphabet 
 of our own : to write the name of London, for in- 
 stance, we might choose for the several letters the 
 following images, or hieroglyphics. For the letter 
 L we might take the figure of a lion, or of a lamb, 
 or of a lancet, or a leaf, or any other such objects, 
 whose names begin with an L. Again, to express 
 the letter N, we might select a net, a negro, the 
 north star, and the nave of a temple. To denote 
 the letter D, we might choose the figure of a dro- 
 medary, or a dagger, the deck of a ship, or even 
 the whole of the ship, to signify the deck ; and for 
 the letter O w^e might pick out the figure of an oak 
 tree, an ostrich, an ox, or an owl. Now if from
 
 92 LECTURE III. 
 
 all these images, or hieroglyphics, we should be 
 obliged to write the word London, we ought not 
 to select the lamb, but the lion, as the expression 
 of the letter L, because the lion is the acknow- 
 ledged emblem of England. For the O we should 
 prefer the representation of an oak-tree, or of the 
 acorn its fruit, as connected with the building of a 
 ship : for the N, you certainly would not pick out 
 the negro slave, for this choice would be quite un- 
 natural, and contrary to the decided antipathy 
 which the English have to slavery ; nor would you 
 select the representation of the nave of a church, 
 because this emblem would better suit an ecclesi- 
 astical government, and by no possible means 
 could it apply to your nation ; but you would 
 choose, in preference, the fishing-net, or the north 
 star, as the only images which would convey to 
 the mind of the beholder two of the characteristics 
 of a sea-faring nation, as the English are. And, 
 last of all, for the letter D, you would, I am certain, 
 decidedly prefer the representation of the whole, or 
 of a part of a ship, as the only image connected with 
 the very existence of the nation. Thus the whole 
 word London, written hieroglyphically, would then 
 be represented by a lion, an oak-tree, a net, a ship, 
 and the north star ; for, you remember, we have no 
 need to repeat the second O. 
 
 Indeed, the Egyptians seem to have been so much 
 animated by this principle, as to enable us to find 
 out the archetype of most of their phonetic hierogly- 
 phics. Ahom, or aliliom, was the name which they
 
 LECTURE II [. 93 
 
 gave to the eagle, and the eagle, in fact, is the 
 image they chose, to represent the letter A. A 
 small vase, which they called Berbe ; a cow, which 
 they called Bahsi ; a little goat, which they named 
 JBareit ; or even a fox, which they called Baschor ; 
 were indiscriminately used as signs to express the 
 letter B. The figure of an ox, which was named 
 Kelehin ; or of a hood, which was called Klast, or 
 of the knee, which was nominated Kely, were all 
 used to express the letter K. The hand, which 
 was called Tot, became the sign of the letter T ; 
 the mouth, to which they gave the appellation of 
 Ro, was employed to signify the letter R; the 
 image of a garden, which was named Schne, to ex- 
 hibit the S soft, the sh of the English ; and I have 
 already mentioned the lion to stand for the letter L, 
 from its name lahoi. 
 
 I might give further instances, and go through 
 most of the alphabet ; but those I have stated will 
 be sufficient, I hope, to shew you the elements of 
 the phonetic hieroglyphical characters employed 
 by the Egyptians ; which, in point of fact, is the 
 original of the method generally employed at the 
 present moment, to teach the letters to our chil- 
 dren. To the sound of each letter we join the 
 expression and the figure of an object with which 
 the child is already acquainted, and which begins 
 by the sound of that letter. Every mother knows 
 with what pleasure she has taught her infant to 
 know and repeat the letter M, by associating it 
 with the name of mamma, — P, for papa, — N, for
 
 94 LECTURE III. 
 
 nurse^ — T, for top, — B, for bird, — G, for garden ; 
 which is, in fact, but a repetition of the method 
 first invented by the Egyptians, for the formation 
 of their alphabet. As a general rule, it may, there- 
 fore, be said, that whenever we meet with a new 
 phonetic hieroglyphic, the import of which is un- 
 known, we have but to search for the name by which 
 the figure was called, and in ninety-nine times out 
 of an hundred we shall find that the first letter or 
 sound with which this name begins is the import of 
 the character. This, in point of fact, is something 
 like the rule followed by the Hebrew, Chaldee, 
 and Syriac alphabets ; in which languages each let- 
 ter stands for a name, expressing a particular sub- 
 stance, or a particular object ; and that the very 
 first letter, be it a vowel, be it a consonant, with 
 which this name began, had and preserved the 
 very same sound which it had in its own respective 
 alphabet. One great difference, however, exists 
 between them. In the Hebrew, Syriac, and Chal- 
 daic alphabets, we find only one sign for each letter, 
 and this sign invariable ; but in the Egyptian alpha- 
 bet there are many hieroglyphics, or images, to 
 represent and express the same letter, which images 
 they used, now the one and now the other, always 
 selecting the character which had some correspond- 
 ence, some relation, some analogy, with the idea, 
 with the object, or with the person, they wished to 
 record, or to express. 
 
 Another remarkable circumstance, which de- 
 serves our attention in considering phonetic hiero-
 
 LECTURE III. 95 
 
 glyphics, is, the number of the letters they are 
 intended to represent. These letters are not less 
 than twenty-nine, though I have marked only 
 twenty-three of them, mixing two or three toge- 
 ther, in order to simplify the system, by expressing 
 them in om' own Roman characters. Now, twenty- 
 nine letters must appear much too many to be the 
 number that was originally invented. It seems 
 but reasonable to suppose, that the first elements 
 of the alphabet must have been very few, and their 
 multiplication the effect of future improvement 
 and discoveries. And, therefore, as it is pretended, 
 and indeed proved, that the Egyptians employed 
 hieroglyphics phonetically, from time immemorial, 
 during the earliest Pharaohs, it has been asked, 
 what was the original number of letters which con- 
 stituted the Egyptian alphabet at that time ? 
 
 On this point antiquarians are much divided. 
 Some pretend that their number was twenty-five, 
 and this was the opinion of Plutarch ; others that 
 they did not exceed twenty ; and others, with 
 much more reason, assert that they scarcely reached 
 sixteen. 
 
 The Abbe Valperga, in his Rudimentum Litera- 
 turae Copticse, published at Parma, in 1783, gives 
 an alphabet containing not less than thirty letters, 
 in which he reckons tw^o different ^'s, two different 
 t?'s, three different /^'s, five double letters, and 
 amongst them not less than three different sounds 
 given to sc. 
 
 But from this extensive number, and from the
 
 96 LECTURE III. 
 
 circumstance that the first twenty-four letters of 
 his alphabet, are precisely the same with those 
 which we find employed by the Greeks during the 
 latter period of their empire, I am inclined to be- 
 lieve that this great number of sounds, or letters, 
 was imported from Greece into Egypt, after the 
 time of Alexander, when we find Greek names 
 written in hieroglyphical characters. Originally, I 
 have no doubt that the Egyptian alphabet con- 
 tained very few letters ; and as Cadmus carried 
 into Greece only sixteen letters, (for the Grecian 
 alphabet had originally only sixteen,) it seems 
 evident that these sixteen letters formed at the 
 time the whole alphabet then known among the 
 Phoenicians and the Egyptians. 
 
 The last circumstance to which I must call your 
 attention, in regard to hieroglyphics, is their dis- 
 position when employed phonetically as letters. 
 Sometimes you see them placed perpendicularly, as 
 in these cartouches. Table 1, fig. 3 and 8, contain- 
 ing the names of Ptolemy, fig. 3, and Domitian, fig. 8; 
 and when the legend is of a certain length, these 
 perpendicular columns follow each other regularly 
 from right to left. Table 3, fig. 2 ; at other times 
 theyareplacedhorizontally,asin these groups. Table 
 1, fig. 1 and 2, representing the names of Berenice 
 and Ptolemy. But the most remarkable circumstance 
 is, that whether pei-pendicularly, or horizontally 
 placed, they do not follow one another as our let- 
 ters do, but they often are gi'ouped together, so as 
 to partake of both these dispositions, and this hap- 
 pens whenever any character exceeds in length or
 
 LECTURE III. 97 
 
 in height the preceding and the following ones. 
 Thus, for instance, in this group, which represents 
 the name of Ptolemy, [[Table 1. fig. 2.^ the square 
 and the half-circle, as well as the lion and the 
 three sides of a parallelogram, are placed perpen- 
 dicularly, whilst the whole inscription runs hori- 
 zontally. Again, in this other group, [[fig. 7.]] 
 which marks the name of Antinous, the legend 
 runs perpendicularly, and yet some of the charac- 
 ters are situated horizontally. The same must be 
 said of this third cartouche, [[fig. 8.[] containing the 
 name of Domitian. The inscription runs perpen- 
 dicularly, and yet several of the characters lie 
 horizontally ; but in all of them there seems to be 
 observed one invariable rule, — that of never allow^- 
 ing the characters to exceed the line, both in height 
 and in length. This is sometimes puzzling ; and 
 this difficulty is rather increased to those who are 
 not much conversant with the reading of hiero- 
 glyphics, for it is observable, that in horizontal, as 
 well as in perpendicular inscriptions, the charac- 
 ters, and the columns, sometimes run from right 
 to left, and at other times from left to right. 
 
 Thus, in writing hieroglyphics, the signs or 
 figures may be placed in four different ways, and 
 often are found so to exist on the same monument. 
 They are either in perpendicular lines, going from 
 left to right, or from right to left, — or in horizontal 
 lines, following the same rule of going now from 
 left to right, now from right to left. And again, 
 as I have already mentioned, the grouping of cha- 
 
 H
 
 98 LECTURE III. 
 
 racters is often inconsistent with the direction of 
 the Hnes, the one being horizontal, when the other 
 is perpendicular, or vice versa. 
 
 Two rules, however, may be given to determine 
 which way any inscription, or any manuscript, is to 
 be read ; the first is, that in hieroglyphical manu- 
 scripts the characters are mostly placed in perpen- 
 dicular lines ; but in basso relievos and paintings, 
 especially when they refer to persons or indivi- 
 duals, the signs are situated horizontally. The se- 
 cond rule, equally general and equally useful, is, 
 that any inscription, any manuscript, any legend 
 in short, is to be read from the side towards which 
 are turned the heads of the animals, or the angular 
 edges of the characters. Thus, a line of hierogly- 
 phics is like a regular procession, in which all the 
 images of the several objects follow the march of 
 the initial sign ; and it is probably to point out this 
 direction, that almost all the figures of men and 
 beasts, whether birds, reptiles, insects, or quadru- 
 peds, have been designed in profile. 
 
 These are the peculiarities which I thought pro- 
 per to offer to your consideration, in regard to the 
 nature and disposition of phonetic hieroglyphics, 
 that is, of hieroglyphics used as letters. It remains 
 now to prove, that this alphabet suits all the pe- 
 riods of the Egyptian empire, and that by its means 
 we may read not only the legends of the Latin and 
 Grecian epochs, but also those of the Persian and 
 the Pharaonic. You perhaps remember, that the 
 whole period of the Egyptian monarchy is divided
 
 LECTURE III. 90 
 
 into five epochs : the first is fabulous, begins at 
 Misraim, and ends at the institution of the mo- 
 narchy under Menes. During this time, the go- 
 vernment was in the hands of the priesthood. The 
 second epoch embraces the reign of all the Pha- 
 raohs from Menes, and ends at the irruption of Cam- 
 byses, 529 years before Christ. This is the most 
 brilhant period of the Egyptian monarchy, during 
 which the whole of Egypt was covered with those 
 magnificent works which still command our admi- 
 ration and excite our astonishment, and by the 
 wisdom of its institutions and laws, and the learn- 
 ing of its priests, it became the most rich, the most 
 populous, the most enlightened country in the 
 world ; and to this period, as it is the least known, 
 we shall chiefly direct our attention, in regard to 
 the several points which I shall have to offer to 
 your consideration. 
 
 The third epoch, which embraces nearly 200 
 years, begins from the overthrowing of the empire 
 of the Pharaohs by Cambyses, and ends with Alex- 
 ander. 
 
 The fourth epoch embraces the reign of the Pto- 
 lemies ; it begins at the death of Alexander, or 
 rather at the elevation of Ptolemy Lagus to the 
 throne of Egypt, 323 years before Christ, and ends 
 at the death of the famous Cleopatra, when that 
 kingdom became a province of the Roman empire. 
 At this period, which preceded the birth of our 
 Saviour by two years only, the fifth epoch be- 
 gins, and continues to the time when, about the 
 
 H 2
 
 100 LECTURE HI. 
 
 middle of the fourth century, the Christian religion 
 becoming the religion of the country, the mode of 
 writing in hieroglyphics was for ever discontinued, 
 and the Coptic characters generally adopted. 
 
 Now, if I should prove, that by means of the 
 alphabet published by Champollion, we are en- 
 abled to read legends and inscriptions belonging to 
 each of the epochs, we shall be obliged, in the first 
 instance, to conclude, that phonetic hieroglyphics 
 have been used in Egypt from time immemorial ; 
 and, in the second place, which is in fact a conse- 
 quence of the first, that we have at last obtained 
 the key to hieroglyphical knowledge. 
 
 In regard to the Roman epoch, that is, the pe- 
 riod in which Egypt was held as a province of the 
 Roman empire, from the death of Cleopatra to the 
 introduction of Christianity, we find on several 
 monuments, both in Egypt and Rome, the names 
 of all the emperors, from Augustus to Antoninus 
 Pius, written in hieroglyphics, with the exception 
 of Galba, Otho, and VitelKus, whose short reigns 
 prevented the elevation of pubhc edifices, on which 
 they might inscribe their names. The several obe- 
 lisks now existing at Rome, such as the obelisks of 
 Barberini, Albani, Borgian, and Pamphihan, and a 
 part of the public buildings at Philoe, and the tem- 
 ples of Esne and of Dendera, are covered with 
 legends, containing the names and titles of Hadrian, 
 Titus, Tiberius, Nero, Claudius, in short, of all the 
 Roman emperors. These legends are all written 
 in phonetic hieroglyphics, and may easily be read
 
 LECTURE III. 101 
 
 by the assistance of the alphabet which I have 
 produced. 
 
 In Table 1. fig. 1. I offer you the name of Be- 
 renice ; in fig. 3. the name of Cleopatra ; in fig. 8. of 
 Domitian Sebastos ; in fig. 7. of Lucillius ; in fig. 
 5, and 6. Antinous ; and it would have been an 
 easy task for me to have filled these pages with 
 inscriptions and legends dedicated to the other 
 Roman emperors, to their queens and favorites, 
 during the last period of hieroglyphical writing. 
 
 Of the Greek epoch, that is, of the period in 
 which the sceptre of Egypt was held by the Ptole- 
 mies, a period which begins from Alexander, and 
 ends with Cleopatra, I exhibit these few legends, 
 containing the names of Alexander [[Table 1. fig. 
 9.^, of Philip, his father [[fig. 11.]], of two of the 
 Ptolemies [[fig. 2 and 10.[], and of Cleopatra her- 
 self [[fig. 3.[] ; and these specimens I hope will be 
 sufiftcient to prove, that phonetic hieroglyphics were 
 used by the Egyptians during this period, and that 
 the alphabet which we possess exhibits the real 
 and true mode employed by them in this extraor^ 
 dinary species of writing. 
 
 To this period we must refer the date of the Ro- 
 setta stone, which, in itself, is the most convincing 
 argument, that at this time hieroglyphics were used 
 phonetically. 
 
 Of the Persian sera there are few monuments 
 left, because few can have been raised. Cambyses 
 went over Egypt like a ruinous torrent, intent only 
 on destruction, murder, and pillage. He could not
 
 102 LECTURE III. 
 
 offer to the frightened Egyptians any occasion to 
 raise him any monument on which they might in- 
 scribe his name as a beneficent god, a gi'acious 
 monarch, a protector of mankind, or the father of 
 his people. Of him, of course, we cannot expect 
 to find any memorial, unless it be of execration, 
 which, no doubt, was both loud and deep in the 
 hearts of his miserable subjects. But M. Champol- 
 lion, in the second edition of the " Precis du Sys- 
 teme Hieroglyphique," which is just published, as- 
 serts that he has found, not only the name of Cam- 
 byses, but also that of Darius and Artaxerxes, writ- 
 ten in hieroglyphics, among the monuments exist- 
 ino' in the museum of the Vatican, and elsewhere. 
 
 The name of Cambyses, he says, is spelt Kam- 
 hothy or Kamheth; that of Darius, Ndariousch ; and 
 that of Artaxerxes, Artakhschessch. It is to be 
 lamented, that the learned antiquarian has not 
 thought it necessary to pubhsh the characters which 
 exhibit the names of these sovereigns ; nor to im- 
 part to the pubhc whether there was any title that 
 accompanied these legends, and if any, what they 
 were. For it would be rather curious to observe, 
 at least in regard to Cambyses, whether fear had 
 been able to persuade the Egyptians to stifle, or at 
 least to dissemble, the hatred which they must 
 necessarily have felt towards this destroyer of their 
 countiy, this scourge of their nation. 
 
 Though not able to exhibit the names of these 
 sovereigns, I may at least satisfy your curiosity in 
 regard to Xerxes, one of their successors, whose
 
 LECTURE III. 103 
 
 name was found engraved upon an alabaster vase, 
 now in the cabinet of the King of France. It con- 
 sists of seven characters [^Table 1. fig. 12.]] The 
 first is the Coptic letter ^, (chei), which is pro- 
 nounced in the throat hke the Spanish j. 
 
 The second is cy, {sJiei), like the English sh in she. 
 
 The third is an H {e, or an i). 
 
 The bird is an A, the lion an R, and the sixth 
 and seventh are again a cy (shei) and an A, which 
 gives the name of Xerses, as it is spelt and pro- 
 nounced in Persian, the pronunciation of which 
 may appear very strange to you, Khsharsha. 
 
 Besides this oval which contains the hierogly- 
 phical name of Xerxes, there is on the same vase 
 another inscription of five characters, which you 
 will observe by the side of the table, and which spell 
 the name Irina, answering to the word lere, or 
 Iranien, which is the name by which the Persians 
 call themselves. 
 
 Besides the name of Xerxes, M. Champollion has 
 discovered, on the basis of two sphinxes which lie 
 in the hall of Melpomene, in the Royal Museum in 
 Paris, the names of two of the Pharaohs belonging 
 to the Mendesian dynasty, the Pharaoh Nephereus, 
 and Pharaoh Acoris, his son and successor. 
 
 Under these two sovereigns Egypt enjoyed some- 
 thing like rest and tranquiUity. Nephereus, in fact, 
 reigned six years, and Acoris thirteen. It is the 
 longest reign we find among the princes of those 
 dynasties, that occupied the throne of Egypt during 
 this period of trouble and dissensions, from Xerxes
 
 104 LECTURE III. 
 
 to Darius Ochus, who, by imitating Cambyses, 
 added at last to the crown of Persia the posses- 
 sion of Egypt, by deluging that unfortunate country 
 with the blood of its wretched inhabitants. 
 
 In Table 1. fig. 14 and 15. 1 offer you the names 
 of these two princes. The explanation of the first 
 two signs which precede their names, does not fall 
 within the limits of the present Lecture, as they 
 belong to another sort of hieroglyphics, of which 
 we must speak hereafter. The four characters 
 which represent the name of Acoris [[fig. 13.]] spell 
 Hahr ; the first figure is an Eh ; the bird an A ; 
 the third figure a sort of an ax, is a K ; the lion an 
 L, or an R ; and by supplying the intermediate 
 vowel O, we shall have Hahor, of which the Greeks 
 made Ahoris. 
 
 The oval of the fig. 14. contains eight charac- 
 ters : the undulating line is an N ; the bird an A ; 
 the two lines an E ; the serpent a V, or an F ; the 
 dart an R ; the horn an O ; the three lines an U ; 
 the last character, though not marked by M. Cham- 
 pollion in his alphabet, is either an E or an I, the 
 ei or the Mda of the Coptic. So that the whole 
 legend will give us the name of Naif one, or Nai- 
 froui, which is the Nephereus of the Greeks, or 
 the Nepheretis of Manetho. 
 
 These four legends evidently prove, that hiero- 
 glyphical phonetic writing was used by the Egyp- 
 tians at the time of Cambyses ; I shall endeavour 
 to prove to you, that this was the case long before 
 that Persian conqueror.
 
 LECTURE III. 105 
 
 The obelisk Campensis, which the emperor Au- 
 gustus removed from Egypt to Rome, to serve as a 
 gnomon, in the middle of the Campo Marzio, shews 
 on three faces several inscriptions, among which 
 there are the legends which I offer you in these 
 two ovals, or cartouches. The explanation of the 
 first, which merely contains honorific titles, belongs 
 to a future Lecture. The second alone must now 
 attract our attention, as it exhibits the name of one 
 of the Pharaohs, who lived more than an hundred 
 and twenty years before Cambyses [[Table 3. fig. 1.]] 
 Of the five figures which it contains, the square is a 
 P, the crooked line an S, the owl an M, the tongues 
 a T, and the bason, with the ring, a K. To which 
 five consonants, if we add the intermediate vowels, 
 we shall have the name of Psameteh, or Psameteg, 
 the Psammeticus of the Greeks, a name of one of 
 the most celebrated sovereigns of Egypt, who pro- 
 tected the arts, encouraged commerce, opened the 
 ports to the Greeks, and permitted them even to 
 visit the interior of his kingdom, which his prede- 
 cessors had most strictly forbidden. This last cir- 
 cumstance has afforded to those who wish to deny 
 the antiquity of the phonetic system in Egypt, with 
 a plausible argument for supposing, that this per- 
 mission granted by Psammeticus to the Greeks, to 
 visit the interior of his empire, was, in fact, the 
 origin of the Egyptian alphabet ; for as the Greeks 
 had, at that time, the knowledge and use of the 
 alphabet, they influenced the Egyptians to follow 
 their example. This objection, I know, has been
 
 106 LECTURE III. 
 
 made, but I think it perfectly inadmissible, because, 
 in the first place, the evidence of the Greeks them- 
 selves, who confess that they received their alpha- 
 bet from Cadmus, is more than sufficient to make 
 us suppose, that, at his time at least, the Egyp- 
 tians were acquainted with the use of letters. In 
 the second place, M. Champolhon has produced a 
 great number of monuments, legends, and inscrip- 
 tions of all sorts, exhibiting the names of several 
 Pharaohs who Uved long before Psammeticus, writ- 
 ten phonetically. From amongst the many which 
 I could exhibit, I shall select the following. 
 
 The first is a long legend, which, together ^vith 
 others of the same sort, has been found engraved on 
 a column, still existing among the ruins of the first 
 court of the splendid palace of Karnac, at Thebes. 
 
 In this legend we have the names of two of the 
 Pharaohs. The first is the Pharaoh Scheschonk, 
 [^Tab. 3. fig. 2. No. 2.] whom Manetho calls Seson- 
 chis, the King. He was the Schischac of the Scrip- 
 ture, who, in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, 971 
 years before Christ, according to the reckoning of 
 the Hebrew text, " went up against Jerusalem, and 
 took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, 
 and the treasures of the king's house, and the 
 shields of gold which Solomon had made." His 
 army, as it is described in the Chronicles, con- 
 sisted " of twelve hundred chariots, and threescore 
 thousand horsemen ; and the people were without 
 number that came with him out of Egypt ; the 
 Lubims, the Sukkims, and the Ethiopians."
 
 LECTURE III. 107 
 
 The name of this prince, as you see, is spelt as 
 usual, without either of the intermediate vowels 
 By or o, and it consists of four characters ; the 
 two first («) stand for SC or SH, the long line (i) 
 is an N, and the triangle (c) is a K ; so that by sup- 
 plying the intermediate vowels, E, and O, we have 
 the name of ScesconJe, or ShesJionk, 
 
 The other Pharaoh, whose name appears twice in 
 this same legend, is Osorgoii, [^fig. 2. No. 1 and 3.]] 
 spelt Ocrhen, leaving out the intermediate o. The 
 knot is an O ; the roller [[No.l.^ and the cross [^No. 3 J 
 an S ; the oval or mouth an R ; the vase a K ; the 
 feather an E ; the straight line an N. He was, on 
 the authority of Manetho, which corresponds with 
 this legend, the son and successor of Scheuschonk ; 
 and he is the same Pharaoh who, in the second 
 book of the Chronicles, is called " Zerah, the 
 Ethiopian, who, with a host of a thousand thou- 
 sand and three hundred chariots, went against 
 Asa, the king of Judah, and was defeated at Mare- 
 shah." 
 
 The identity of these princes seems now esta- 
 blished beyond the power of controversy. M. 
 Champollion, in his late visit at Karnac, has dis- 
 covered inscriptions which establish this fact. I 
 will quote the passage. Speaking of the temple of 
 Karnac, he says, '' In this marvellous place I saw 
 the portraits of most of the ancient Pharaohs, 
 known by their great actions. They are real 
 portraits, represented a hundred times on the 
 basso relievos of the outer and inner walls. Each
 
 108 LECTURE III. 
 
 of them has his peciiUar physiognomy, different 
 from that of his predecessors and successors. Thus, 
 in colossal representations, the sculpture of which 
 is lively, grand, and heroic, more perfect than can 
 be beheved in Europe, we see the Pharaoh Man- 
 douei combating the nations hostile to Egyi^t, and 
 returning triumphant to his country. Further on, 
 the campaigns of Rhamses Sesostris ; elsewhere 
 Sesonchis, or Shishak, dragging to the feet of the 
 Theban Trinity, Ammon, Mouth, and Khous, the 
 chiefs of thirty conquered nations, among which 
 is found written in letters at full length, the word 
 Joudahamalek, that is, the kingdom of the Jews, 
 or the hingdom of Judahr This, very properly 
 observes M. ChampolUon, " is a commentary of 
 the fourteenth chapter of the first book of Kings, 
 which relates the arrival of Shishak at Jerusalem, 
 and his success. Thus," adds he, "the identity 
 between the Egyptian SheschonJc, the Sesonchis of 
 Manetho, and the Sesac, or Schischah of the Bible, 
 is confirmed in the most satisfactory manner." I 
 admit the truth that Scripture needs no confirma- 
 tion, but it is gratifying to see even the truth of 
 Scripture vouched and confirmed by profane testi- 
 mony. 
 
 But to return to our inscription. From it we also 
 learn, what, in fact, was not recorded by history. 
 The name of the father of Schenshonk, the chief 
 of the twenty-second dynasty, whose name Hke 
 that of his grandson, was also Osorgon ; a custom 
 which seems to have prevailed in Egypt, of pre-
 
 LECTURE III. 109 
 
 serving the name of the grandfather in his grand- 
 children. 
 
 The remaining part of this curious and inter- 
 esting legend, I shall explain in a future Lecture, 
 as, some of the characters being symbolical, and 
 others grammatical, they require that I should 
 illustrate my subject with new reflections. For the 
 present it will be sufficient for you to know that 
 both these Pharaohs, Sesonchis and Osorgon, lived 
 nearly one thousand years before Christ, according 
 to the Hebrew reckoning, at which time it is 
 beyond dispute that the Egyptians were in the habit 
 of using phonetic hieroglyphics, and employing 
 them as letters. 
 
 Of the same sort are some inscriptions discovered 
 by Mr. Salt, one of which was found at Medinet 
 Hahoo, and exhibits the name of Tiraka, [^Tab. 3. 
 fig. 15.^, in which I beg to observe a very curious 
 variation, and that is, the horizontal line employed 
 for a T, and becoming one of the synonyms for that 
 letter, which is generally expressed by the figure of 
 the hand. His name, in fact, so figured, was also 
 found in Ethiopia, by Mr. Linant, a gentleman 
 employed by Mr. Bankes to travel in that country, 
 to discover, if possible, the site and extension, as 
 well as the ruins of Meroe. In this inscription the 
 horizontal line is a T, the geometrical figure an 
 I or E, the Hon an R, the triangle a K. This is 
 the same Tirliakali, king of Ethiopia, mentioned 
 in the Bible, " who came out to wage war against 
 Sennacherib, king of Assyria," of whom some
 
 110 LECTURE III. 
 
 learned men, of high hterary reputation, had been 
 pleased to doubt the existence. He was a con- 
 temporary with the prophet Isaiah, and lived full 
 700 years B. C. 
 
 In these other legends, I offer to your conside- 
 ration the name of two more royal personages of 
 much older date. They are the Pharaoh Ammon- 
 mai, Cfig. 4.;] the fourth king of the eighteenth 
 dynasty, and his sister, Amouse, [^fig. S.]] who suc- 
 ceeded him in the throne of Egypt. The emblem 
 superadded to the ring containing her name, be- 
 sides the goose, has the addition of the semi-circle, 
 which is always the mark of females ; and the re- 
 spective names, both of her and her brother, begin 
 with three hieroglyphics, which stand for the same 
 letters : the feather for A ; the parallelogram for M ; 
 the undulating line for N. But in the ring of her 
 brother [[fig. 4.]] we have the plough and the two 
 feathers, which spell Mai, or Mei. In her ring 
 we have the cinopoelex and the half circle ; the first 
 standing phonetically for the initial of the syllable 
 se, or, symbohcally, for the very word se, or she, 
 but always exhibiting the same sound; and the 
 half circle, as I have mentioned in a former Lec- 
 ture, is the mark of the feminine gender, and shews 
 that the name contained within the ring, is the 
 name of a queen. 
 
 One of the names that occurs most firequently, 
 
 although with a little variation, on almost all the 
 
 monuments and buildings of high antiquity, is the 
 
 name of Ramesses, or Ramses; a name which 
 
 1
 
 LECTURE III. Ill 
 
 seems to have been borne by not less than five 
 different Pharaohs of the eighteenth dynasty, two 
 of whom had been great conquerors, and their 
 memory was highly respected. Whether in more 
 ancient times there had been any other Pharaoh of 
 the same name, I shall not venture to decide, since 
 the monuments which have hitherto been disco- 
 vered do not mount much higher. But as we find 
 in the book of Exodus, that one of the towns in 
 Lower Egypt, built by the Jews dming their cap- 
 tivity, was called Raamses, it is not improbable 
 to suppose, that the appellation given to this town 
 was in commemoration and honour of a prince of 
 that name. It may also, perhaps, be worth noting, 
 that the name of the town of Ramses, which the 
 Jews built, is spelt in the original text by five 
 letters only ; a resh, or r, an ain, or a, a mem, or 
 niy and two samechs, that is, two ^'s, making in 
 the whole Ramss, which is precisely the way the 
 name of Pharaoh is spelt in hieroglyphics. [[Table 3. 
 fig. 5 and 6.]] 
 
 In both figures the name of Ramesses is expressed 
 by a circle, which is a symbolical hieroglyphic, of 
 which I shall have to speak hereafter, and stands for 
 the letter R. In fig. 6, we have a perpendicular 
 line, which is an A, and left out in fig. 5. Then 
 follows a kind of three-tasselled knot, which is an 
 M, and the four broken hues, each two of which 
 are an S. 
 
 To the first of these two great Pharaohs I have 
 just mentioned, Manetho gives the surname of
 
 112 LECTURE III. 
 
 Mei Amon. This surname, in fig. 6, is made out 
 by the feather, which is an A, by the dented 
 parallelogram, which is an M, and by the undu- 
 lating line, which is an N, speUing the name of 
 Amon ; and the fourth character, a sort of a pedes- 
 tal, is an M, and stands for the abbreviation of the 
 word or syllable Mai, the whole making the surname 
 of Maiamon. 
 
 This Pharaoh was the grandfather of Ramesses 
 Sethos, or Sesostris of the Greeks ; according 
 to Manetho, his reign lasted for more than 60 
 years ; and from the inscriptions engi-aved on his 
 palace at Medinet Habout, we learn that he was 
 a warrior and a conqueror. 
 
 The tomb of this prince, which is the fifth 
 towards the east, is still to be seen in the valley of 
 Bilban-el-Molouk, on the west of Thebes. It is a 
 magnificent excavation, consisting of various cham- 
 bers. In the middle of one of them there was a 
 sarcophagus of red granite, the cover of which is 
 six feet long, and now lies in the vestibule of the 
 Fitzwilliam Museum, of the university of Cam- 
 bridge. At the top there is, in alto relievo, sculp- 
 tured the image of this prince ; and round that 
 part of the edge which is whole, there is the iti- 
 scription marked in Table 2. fig. 7. The name is 
 phonetic, although one of the characters be consi- 
 dered as symbolical, or rather figurative. For, in 
 the second oval of the inscription, marked a, the 
 first sign represents the figure of the god Re, or 
 Ra, and, therefore, must be taken as an equivalent
 
 LECTURE III. 113 
 
 for that syllable, or at least for the letter R, 
 simply ; then the knot, as in fig. 5 and 6, is an M ; 
 the crooked line is an S, and the next character is 
 equally an S, spelhng altogether Ramss, and by 
 supplying the intermediate vowels, Ramesses. 
 
 The other part of the inscription must form the 
 subject of a future Lecture. 
 
 To the second Pharaoh I have mentioned, bear- 
 ing the name of Rameses, Manetho gives also the 
 name of SetJios, or Set hosts, and Herodotus that 
 of Sesostris. He was a warrior and a conqueror, 
 since his image is invariably found in basso relievos, 
 representing battles, sieges, marches, and encamp- 
 ments. He carried his arms to distant countries, 
 as in some monuments he appears surrounded by 
 captives, whose dresses and manners are quite 
 different from those used by the Egyptians. He 
 conquered a gi'eat part of Africa, as in other monu- 
 ments he is exhibited as receiving contributions, 
 or presents of wild animals peculiar to that country, 
 such as cameleopards, ostriches, monkeys, and the 
 hke ; and the great number of splendid public 
 buildings which he caused to be raised, evidently 
 shew that he must have amassed great wealth, and 
 increased the revenues of the state, at the expense 
 of foreign nations. For the legend of this prince 
 is found sculptured, painted, or engraved in the 
 dedication, and on almost all the parts of the gi'eat 
 edifices of Issamboul, Calabsche, Derry, Chirche, 
 and Ovady-Esseboua, in Nubia ; on several places 
 in the palace of Karnac, at Thebes; on the 
 
 I
 
 114 LECTURE III. 
 
 columns and other places in the palace of Louqsor ; 
 he is seen on every side, and throughout the edi- 
 fice, which is called the tomb of Osymandias, 
 among the names recorded in the chronological 
 table of the palace of Abydos, and on several 
 obelisks, which are still in Egypt, or have been re- 
 moved to Italy. 
 
 This is the same Pharaoh Rameses, whom Ta- 
 citus mentions in his account of Germanicus, who, 
 when \isiting the venerable ruins of the famous 
 Thebes, inquired from the oldest of the priests 
 the meaning of the hieroglyphical inscriptions 
 which covered these monuments ; the historian 
 informs us, that this priest said, that they contained 
 the records of the ancient state of Egypt, of its 
 revenue and military forces, and of the conquests 
 of Lybia, Ethiopia, Syria, and a great part of Asia, 
 made by one of their ancient kings, called Rameses. 
 It is, indeed, a striking, and at the same time a gra- 
 tifying circumstance, that after the lapse of so 
 many centuries, we should be able to read these 
 very monuments which Germanicus visited, and 
 confirm by our reading the account which, accord- 
 ing to Tacitus, he received fi'om the priest who at- 
 tended him. 
 
 Since writing the above, the French papers have 
 announced that a papyi^us, containing an account 
 of the expeditions and victories of Sesostris, has 
 been found by ChampoUion, in Egypt, and that 
 the whole corresponds with, and confirms, all that 
 1
 
 LECTURE III. 115 
 
 we knew of this prince, from other inscriptions and 
 monuments, which had been decyphered akeady. 
 
 Something of the same sort about Ramesses 
 Meiamon has also been stated by Professor Seyf- 
 farth, in two letters, published in the London 
 Weekly Review of March 14 and 21, 1829. They 
 ought to be consulted ; for, besides the gi'eat inte- 
 rest they possess on matters relating to the history 
 of Egj^t, they may serve also to give an idea of the 
 high progress which that extraordinary nation had 
 made in all the arts that belong to civilized life. 
 
 Among the papyri the learned Professor men- 
 tions some, which " present a diary of the most 
 important events that took place in Egypt ; on the 
 margins are inscribed supplementary notes relat- 
 ing to the affairs of distant provinces ; and have 
 probably been in the hands of Diodorus Siculus." 
 
 " Another papyrus closely written in hieratic 
 
 characters, contains a complete sketch of the his- 
 tory of Eg}^pt The narrative commences with 
 
 the reigns of the Gods. Amnion and Vulcanus 
 first ruled Egypt ; and they were succeeded by 
 Ammon-Sol, and so on to Osiris, Typhon, Hovus, 
 &c. dm*ing an interval of 13917 years. Thout 
 alone is stated to have reigned 3936 years. Then 
 follow the Heroes, and other sovereigns of Mem- 
 phis ; which, with the former reigns, make out a 
 period of 23200. The whole corresponds with 
 Manetho." 
 
 We shall see in our lecture on Chronology how 
 these years are to be reckoned. 
 
 I 2
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 Division of hieroglyphics — Figurative and symbolic hierogly- 
 phics explained — Legends of some of the principal deities — 
 Amon — Phtha — Neith — Sme — Sate — Rhe, or Phre — Isis — 
 Osiris — Character of this latter in the Amend — Account of 
 the thirty-two regions in which the souls of the dead might 
 be confined — Mode by which they were tried — Important tenet 
 it inculcated — Origin of Tartarus, Elysium, Pluto, Cerberus, 
 Acheron, Charon, S^c. 
 
 Of the several legends which I exhibited in our 
 last Lecture, I read and explained to you only that 
 part which contained proper names ; the remaining 
 part, I observed at the time, consisting of charac- 
 ters of a different sort, which required further con- 
 sideration. It will be necessary, therefore, before 
 I proceed with my subject, that I should make you 
 acquainted with these characters. This will be 
 the object of the present Lecture. 
 
 All hieroglyphics, properly and strictly so called, 
 may be distinguished into three different sorts, ac- 
 cording to the greater or less degree of similarity 
 they have to the object they are intended to repre- 
 sent. These three sorts are, 
 
 1. Hieroglyphics proper. 
 
 2. Hieroglyphics abridged. 
 
 3. Hieroglyphics conventional. 
 
 The figurative hieroglyphics, properly so called.
 
 LECTURE IV. 117 
 
 are those pictures which exhibit the exact figure 
 of the thing. Of these, some are the representa- 
 tion of the object, as it exists in nature, such as 
 the sun, the moon, an ox, a bird, and the hke ; 
 others, while they retain their original figurative 
 character, are also used as simple marks to denote 
 the species, and occasionally even the genus, or 
 kind. 
 
 Thus, for instance, in Table 3, fig. 12. the first 
 characters, taken by themselves, will always spell 
 Amonmai, for the feather is an A, the dented 
 parallelogram is an M, the undulating line is N, 
 the ploughshare is M, and the two feathers I. But 
 this word Amonmai, without the last sign of the 
 figure of a man, will be a compound adjective, sig- 
 nifying, beloved hy Anion, a title of honour, which 
 is generally given to all the sovereigns of Egypt ; 
 whilst, with the addition of the last sign, the figure 
 of a man, it becomes the name of a private indi- 
 vidual. 
 
 Again, in Table 3, fig. 8, 9, 10, the first cha- 
 racter represents a ship, which is a generic mark ; 
 but if after this mark we place one of the groups 
 which follow it, then what is generic will become 
 specific, and signify the ship of Phre, [[fig. 8.^ the 
 ship of Osiris, [[fig. 9.^ or the ship of Benno, 
 [[fig. 10.[] because such is the figurative and pho- 
 netic meaning of each group, as I shall explain by 
 and by. 
 
 The same must be said of the other two groups, 
 taken from a basso relievo of the palace of Me-
 
 118 LECTURE IV. 
 
 dina Habou, representing a victory of Rameses 
 Meiamoun, before whom they are bringing a num- 
 ber of prisoners. An Egyptian gives him an ac- 
 count of the enemies slain, which he does by 
 counting the hands that have been cut off from 
 the dead. Another Egyptian writes their number, 
 and a third proclaims it. Now the inscription 
 placed over these persons, represents the figure of 
 a hand, followed by the numeric signs which ex- 
 press the number of the hands to amount to three 
 thousand, (^Table 3, fig. 11. a.]] and immediately 
 after there appears the figurative character of a man, 
 followed by the number denoting one thousand, 
 [[fig. 11. b.]3 which evidently refers to the number 
 of prisoners. 
 
 Such are what are designated proper figurative 
 hieroglyphics. The figurative abridged are those 
 which do not give an exact description, but only a 
 sketch of the object : for instance, instead of giving 
 the elevation, or even one of the sides of a house. 
 They give a plan of the interior. 
 
 The conventional figurative hieroglyphics, are 
 those which, though very far from representing 
 an object as it exists in nature, yet deserve the 
 name of figurative, on account of their exhibiting 
 the form, which the Egyptians attributed to certain 
 things. Such are, for instance, the characters by 
 which they expressed the firmament ; it was nei- 
 ther more nor less than a regular ceiling, some- 
 times interspersed with stars, and at other times 
 simply painted blue. [[Table 3, fig. 13, U.^ Of
 
 LECTURE IV. 119 
 
 the same species are those which recal the idea 
 of their gods, Ammon, Osiris, Isis, Sate, and the 
 Hke. These characters, in regard to their origin, 
 are symbohc, and as such we shall speak of them 
 by and by ; but in regard to their form, they are 
 figurative, because they mark the exact figure of 
 these gods, such as the nation saw them in the 
 temples. 
 
 Besides these three different sorts of hieroglyphics, 
 which all represent the image of the object, more 
 or less accurately, there is another sort, which is 
 called symbolical. These hieroglyphics not being 
 able to express by themselves the forms and figures 
 of the thing itself, are made to do so by bor- 
 rowing the image of another object, which pos- 
 sesses some qualities common to both. This was 
 done in four ways : 
 
 1st. By taking a part for the whole : for instance, 
 two hands and two arms holding a bow, and some 
 arrows, were made to express a battle ; a box, with 
 a flame or smoke issuing out of it, as if burning 
 frankincense, represented an act of adoration. 
 
 2dly. By taking the cause for the effect ; for 
 instance, to take the moon as the sign of the 
 months ; a reed, with a little box used to hold ink, 
 or other colour, for the act of writing. 
 
 3dly. By employing the image of an object to 
 express another metaphorically. Thus, the wings 
 of a bird signify the wind ; the head and shoulders 
 of a lion, force and courage. 
 
 4thly. By convention ; when the image of one
 
 120 LECTURE IV. 
 
 o])ject is made to signify another, with which it has 
 no similarity, nor even a distant relation, except 
 what convention has given to it. Some of these 
 may appear real enigmas, and may occasionally 
 require explanation ; which, however, a tolerable 
 acquaintance with the Coptic language' allows us 
 to obtain. Such is the scarabeus, to signify the 
 world, or the male nature, or paternity ; a vulture 
 the female nature, or maternity ; a twisted serpent 
 the course of the planets ; a mouse, destruction ; 
 a. hare, openness. And, finally, we must reckon 
 among these symbolical, or enigmatical hierogly- 
 phics, those signs which are introduced to repre- 
 sent some of their gods and goddesses ; and this 
 representation may be done in three different ways. 
 
 First, by exhibiting an inanimate object, or even 
 part of an animated one, such as an eye, for Osiris ; 
 an obehsk, for Jupiter Ammon ; a nilometer, for 
 the god Phtha. 
 
 Secondly, by representing each of their gods and 
 goddesses under the human figure, but with the 
 head of the animal that was consecrated to him or 
 to her. Thus, the figure of a man, with the head 
 of a ram, signified Jupiter Ammon ; with the head 
 of a hawk, the god Phtha; with the head of a 
 crocodile, the god Souk, or Suchus, something like 
 the Saturn of the Greeks ; and so on. 
 
 Lastly, by leaving out, altogether, the figure, and 
 exhibiting only the animal, with some of the divine 
 attributes. Thus, a hawk, with a circle on its head, 
 signifies the god Phre ; a ram, having its horns
 
 LECTURE IV. 121 
 
 surmounted by a feather, or more generally by a 
 circle, Ammon Cnouphis ; and so on. 
 
 However ridiculous, or, if you like it best^ how- 
 ever monstrous, this combination may appear to 
 us now, it was the consequence of the notion 
 which has prevailed among mankind from time 
 immemorial, that some particular animal enjoyed 
 the protection of, and was consecrated to, a parti- 
 cular god ; it exists to this day in many parts of 
 Europe, and it has existed amongst all the ancient 
 nations. The form, therefore, which the Egyp- 
 tians gave of their deities, of a human figure with 
 the head of a particular animal, was neither more 
 nor less than what was afterwards practised by the 
 Greeks and the Romans, and after them by the 
 Christians throughout the world. If, instead of 
 placing an eagle by the side of Jupiter, a dove by 
 Venus, a peacock by Juno, an owl by Minerva, a 
 serpent by St. Paul, and a horse by St. Anthony, 
 which are real hieroglyphics, we were to put the 
 heads of these animals on the images representing 
 each of these personages, we should have the 
 exact symbolical characters used by the Egyptians. 
 
 With them, however, it seems that the great 
 respect they felt towards the Deity, a respect which 
 has been shared by all the Orientals, might have 
 been the cause which prompted them to express 
 their names by symbols rather than by letters. 
 
 Indeed, you may see in lamblicus, the import- 
 ance which the Egyptians, and the Greeks who 
 had been brought up in their school, attached to
 
 122 LECTURE IV. 
 
 the names of those of their gods, which they be- 
 lieved of divine institution, full of mysterious sig- 
 nification, and remounting to the first origin of all 
 things. And although we find these mystic names 
 expressed phonetically in the hierogh^hical legends, 
 yet we are to remember that these texts were written 
 by the priesthood, and that the characters them- 
 selves w^ere considered as sacred, and pecuharly 
 fitted to be employed in rehgious matters. This is 
 so true, that in all documents wi'itten in the demo- 
 tic, or common characters of the country, the 
 names of the gods and goddesses were always and 
 invariably written symbolically ; just as the Jews 
 never wrote at full length the ineffable name of 
 Jehovah, but always expressed it by a short mark, 
 which they pronounced Adonai. We are even in- 
 formed by the Leviticus, that the Jews abstained 
 from using the word on any occasion, not only 
 from the dread of profanation, but because it was 
 forbidden by law, under heavy penalties. It has 
 even been asserted, that the pronunciation of this 
 word was lost during the Babylonian captivity. 
 
 The Egyptians seem to have had the same reh- 
 gious dread, and consequently to have adopted the 
 same custom. Indeed, Champollion openly asserts 
 that they m-ote the names of their principal deity, 
 at least, in one way, and pronounced it in another. 
 
 This religious feeling seems to have prevailed 
 among the Greeks also. For in Athens they had 
 a prophetic and a mysterious book, which they 
 called the Testament, to which they beUeved the
 
 LECTURE IV. 123 
 
 safety of the Republic was attached. They pre- 
 served it with so much care, that amongst all their 
 writers no one ever dared to make any mention of 
 it ; and the little we know of this subject has been 
 collected from the famous oration of Dinarcus 
 against Demosthenes, whom he accuses of having 
 failed in the respect due to this ineffable book, so 
 connected with the welfare and safety of the state. 
 
 You know that this was the case among the 
 Romans also, by whom a certain name was held 
 in such reverence, that for want of use it was lost, 
 and is now not known. Solinus informs us that a 
 person named Marenus Soranus was condemned 
 to torture and death, for having incidentally pro- 
 nounced it. And you no doubt remember the pas- 
 sage in Lucan, that the name of Demogorgon, 
 which the Gentiles had given to the Supreme God, 
 was considered so ineffable, that it was believed 
 the whole earth would tremble if that name were 
 uttered. In fact, the sorceress Erito, to command 
 the obedience of evil spirits, threatens to pronounce 
 this terrible name, as the most powerful charm, 
 which would shake hell itself from its very foun- 
 dation. 
 
 This, however, in regard to the Egyptians, re- 
 quires a further explanation. Their principal gods 
 were many, and it would lead us much too far 
 from our present subject to speak of them all ; I 
 shall, therefore, confine my observations to a few 
 of the principal ; to those, indeed, whose images 
 or names often occur in the different legends, as
 
 124 LECTURE IV. 
 
 the protectors of the several sovereigns, or con- 
 nected with the names of private individuals. 
 
 One leading observation, however, I think my- 
 self justified in making, and that is, that we are 
 not to borrow from the Greeks our notions of 
 the Egyptian deities, because the Greeks, either 
 through pride or ignorance, or both, endeavoured 
 to find some kind of similarity between the Egyp- 
 tian gods and goddesses, and their own, when, in 
 point of fact, there is not the least degree of simi- 
 larity between them. The Egyptian gods were 
 originally but the representation of the several 
 attributes of the Deity; such as his truth, his jus- 
 tice, his mercy, his omnipotence, his power of cre- 
 ation, and his power of destruction, all expressed 
 symbohcally, under the signs of those objects which 
 were thought either to possess some great power, 
 or exhibit a remarkable degi^ee of strength, affec- 
 tion, good-nature, impartiahty, and the hke ; al- 
 though, perhaps, in progress of time, and after the 
 lapse of ages, the ignorant people might have taken 
 them as different distinct beings, actually existing. 
 For it appears to me as clear as possible, that the 
 inventor of the Egyptian theogony admitted and 
 held out but one God, who governed the world by 
 means of his several attributes. In the descrip- 
 tion, therefore, that I shall give you of some of the 
 principal gods and goddesses of the Egyptian Pan- 
 theon, you will always find, that they were but a 
 representation of the attributes, the Demiurgos of 
 this Supreme Being, infinite and omnipotent, the
 
 LECTURE IV. 125 
 
 Creator of every thing, the merciful but just avenger 
 of wrongs, whose power continued to be felt by 
 the soul of man, even after death. On the con- 
 trary, in the Grecian system the attributes were 
 converted into distinct deities, that no longer ap- 
 peared to be derived from Jupiter, the supreme 
 god, but exercising distinct and independent func- 
 tions of their own. Thus Horace, after describing 
 Jupiter, observes : 
 
 Proximas illi tamen occupavit 
 Pallas honores. 
 
 This Demiurgos of the Egyptians, this supreme 
 god, the god creator of the world, was Ammon ; he 
 was also called Ammon-re, the same as the Zeu? of 
 the Greeks, the Jupiter of the Latins. The Egyp- 
 tians believed him to have been the Spirit which 
 pervades all things ; the creating Spirit which 
 brought to light all things. He was the god of the 
 Ethiopians and Egyptians, who carried his name 
 and his worship, by their emigration, into Lybia, 
 from the most remote antiquity. The principal 
 places in which he was most particularly wor- 
 shipped were, the city of Meroe, in Ethiopia, the 
 Oasis, in Lybia, and the cities of Thebes and 
 Memphis, in Egypt. His images cover the magnifi- 
 cent monuments of this ancient city, which, in the 
 Egyptian theology, was called the city of Ammon, 
 which the Greeks have faithfully translated by Di- 
 ospolis, that is, the city of Zevg, or Jupiter. It is, in 
 fact, to Ammon, or Ammon-re, that the principal re-
 
 126 LECTURE IV. 
 
 ligious buildings of Thebes are dedicated. His image 
 lies on the Pyramidion, that is, the top of the 
 largest obelisks, such as those of Louqsor and Kar- 
 nac, as well as those superb monuments, the work 
 of the earliest Pharaohs, which the Pvomans carried 
 to Italy. The basso rehevos still existing, both 
 inside and outside the walls, and round the co- 
 lumns of the temples and palaces of Thebes, repre- 
 sent, in some instances, this god in the act of re- 
 ceiving the prayers and offerings of the Egyptian 
 sovereigns ; in others, the Pharaohs themselves, 
 who are presented to him either by the god Phre 
 alone, which is the sun ; or by the god Phre and 
 another god, representing the power of Ammon 
 over his enemies, which the Greeks have compared 
 to their Mars. On other occasions he is exhibited 
 as presenting the Egyptian heroes with the sign of 
 divine life, and occasionally welcoming the victori- 
 ous princes, who are leading before his throne the 
 prisoners they have made, to pay him the proper 
 homage of adoration. It is for this reason that, 
 amongst their titles, the Pharaohs have assumed 
 that of child of Ammon, beloved, approved, or puri- 
 fied by Ammon ; as we shall hereafter see. 
 
 The name of this god is represented in several 
 ways; first, phonetically, ^Table 4, fig. 1.^ in 
 which the first three signs preceding the image of 
 the god, are letters speUing Adih, leaving out, as 
 usual, the intermediate vowel. Sometimes even the 
 middle letter, that is, the M, is left out, which 
 seems, very anciently, to have been pronounced
 
 LECTURE IV. 127 
 
 Amen, or Emon. The second mode of exhibiting 
 his name is figuratively, that is, representing simply 
 the image of the god, without any other sign 
 [^fig. 2.^ The third mode is symbolically, and 
 this is done either by a human figure, having the 
 head of a ram, or simply by a ram, holding between 
 his horns a circle, or the image of the sun [[fig. 3.'2 
 Or, lastly, by an obehsk, [[fig. 4.] which, being the 
 generic emblem of the Deity, is particularly applied 
 to Ammon, the chief of all the gods. Under the 
 form and vdth the attributes of a ram, he obtained 
 the name of Neb, CnepJi, CuoiipMs, and, by abbre- 
 viation, Nef. He was then considered as one of 
 the modifications, or rather an emanation, of the 
 great Demiurges, the primitive cause of all moral 
 and physical blessings. He was then called the 
 good genius ; the male origin of all things ; the 
 spirit which, by mixing itself in all its parts, ani- 
 mated and perpetuated the world. For this rea- 
 son, in some inscriptions he is represented as pre- 
 siding over the immdation of the Nile, because this 
 phenomenon, to which Egypt owed all its gi'eat- 
 ness and prosperity, was considered as a special 
 benefit of the good genius. Sometimes we find 
 Cnouphis, as the good genius, represented by a 
 serpent, a very large reptile, with a beard, which 
 the Greeks called Agathodgemon. 
 
 The worship of this god seems to have been prin- 
 cipally established in the Thebaid, that part of 
 Egypt which was most anciently inhabited. It is 
 to Cnouphis that the great temple at Esne is dedi-
 
 128 LECTURE IV. 
 
 cated, where the image of this god is seen engraved 
 on the walls and the different columns, receiving 
 the homage and adoration of the sovereigns of 
 Egypt. The small but elegant temple of Elephan- 
 tina was equally consecrated to this god by one of 
 the most illustrious of the Pharaohs, Amenophis II. 
 son and successor of Thouthmosis, who lived nearly 
 1800 years before our sera, according to the com- 
 mon computation. This temple, mentioned by 
 Strabo, is still in existence, and almost untouched. 
 The several basso relievos exhibit Amenophis some- 
 times alone ; at others, followed by his queen, Taia, 
 presenting her rich offerings before the symbolical 
 arch ; there welcomed by the god, who receives 
 him in his arms ; and, further on, presenting him 
 to the other gods of his family, who are equally 
 gracious towards this Pharaoh. 
 
 But you will remember, that whether phoneti- 
 cally, figuratively, or symbolically, the name of this 
 god Ammon may be exhibited, the meaning and 
 expression of the sign or signs, is always the same, 
 explaining fully the names of the several forms or 
 modifications under which he was worshipped, as 
 Ammon, Ammon-re, Nub, or Mendes. 
 
 Another gi-eat personage is the god Phtha, or 
 Ptha, whom the Greeks have compared to Vul- 
 can, but who is a very superior being to this black- 
 smith of the gods of mythology. The Phtha of 
 the Egyptians was another emanation of the Demi- 
 urgos ; he was a god to whom the priests attri- 
 buted the organization of the world, and, conse-
 
 LEG TU RE IV. 129 
 
 quently, the invention of philosophy, the science 
 which exhibits the laws and conditions of the very 
 nature he had organized. He is always represented 
 together with the goddess Neith, who was another 
 emanation or attribute of Ammon, and one of the 
 regular companions of the gi'eat Demiiu-gos. The 
 god Phtha was considered as the founder of the 
 dynasties of Egypt, and the Pharaohs had conse- 
 crated to him the royal city of Memphis, the se- 
 cond capital of the empire, where he had a magni- 
 ficent temple superbly embellished, in which the 
 grand ceremony of the inauguration or installation 
 of the Egyptian kings was splendidly performed ; 
 and he was also considered as their protector, by 
 the titles they had assumed of "Beloved by Phtha," 
 " Approved by Phtha," and the hke. 
 
 His name, like those of the other gods and god- 
 desses, was represented phonetically, figuratively, 
 and symbolically. Phonetically [^fig. 5.^ it was 
 spelt Pt/i, or Phth, leaving out the intermediate 
 A ; for the square is a P, the half circle T, and the 
 chain is also a T. Figuratively, by the image 
 under which he was seen in his temple [^fig. 6.]] ; 
 and symbolically, by the figure of a Kilometer, 
 followed by something like the image of the god 
 [fig. 7]]. As he was considered the inventor of 
 philosophy, you will have no difficulty in under- 
 standing why the Nilometer had been selected for 
 the symbol of this deity. He sometimes, under a new 
 form, assumes the surname of Socari, and then he 
 is looked upon as the director of the destiny of the 
 
 K
 
 130 LECTURE IV. 
 
 souls of the dead, who, according to their merit, 
 are to be distributed in the thirty-two supreme re- 
 gions, of which I shall say more hereafter. It is 
 for this reason we always find his image among 
 the funeral rites, in the royal catacombs, and on 
 the engi*avings and paintings which adorn the 
 boxes or coffins, as well as the envelopes of the 
 mummies. 
 
 Under this form, his phonetic name is spelt 
 Cfig. 8.]] Scri, that is, Socri, or Socari, for the 
 broken lines are an S ; the vase with the ring, a 
 K ; the mouth an R ; the two perpendicular lines 
 an I ; and the remaining figure is simply a figura- 
 tive character. His figurative name [|fig. 9.]] re- 
 presents him with a peculiar head-dress, placed 
 over the horns of a ram, and holding in his hand 
 a whip ; these two last emblems, or characteristics, 
 he has derived from his father, Amon Nub, of 
 whose nature he partakes, and, therefore, exhibits 
 his attributes. And, lastly, symbolically, he ap- 
 pears either under the human form, with the head 
 of a hawk, or [|fig. 10.]] under the simple image 
 of this bird, holding an emblematical head-dress, 
 not much dissimilar from that of his figurative 
 representation. 
 
 As Ammon was the supreme deity, the creator of 
 the world, the spirit which animates the whole 
 nature, both male and female, the Egyptians, 
 having considered Cneph, or Cnouphis, as the male 
 emanation of this great Demiurgos, imagined 
 a second emanation, which should represent the
 
 LECTURE IV. 131 
 
 female principle of productive nature. This was 
 the goddess Neith, who, together with Cnouphis, 
 formed but one single being with the great Demi- 
 urgos, who had created and organised the whole. 
 This goddess occupied the superior part of the hea- 
 vens, inseparable from the first principle, and was 
 considered also as presiding over the moral attri- 
 butes of the mind. Hence wisdom, philosophy, and 
 military tactics, were departments that had been 
 attributed to her, and this consideration persuaded 
 the Greeks to look upon her as their Minerva, who 
 was equally the protectress of wise men and war- 
 riors. 
 
 It was before her colossal statues and images 
 that, in the legends engraved on the columns of 
 the magnificent temples dedicated to her worship, 
 the victorious Pharaohs are perceived in the act of 
 striking a confused group of prisoners, who lift up 
 their hands in a supplicating manner. 
 
 The fiirst seat of the worship of this deity was in 
 the city of Sais, in Lower Egypt, where there was 
 a college of priests, and a magnificent temple. 
 The inscription which decorated this sanctuary 
 gave a most sublime idea of the creating power of 
 nature. " I am all that has been, all that is, all 
 that will be. No mortal has ever raised the veil 
 which conceals me ; and the fruit I have produced 
 is the sun !" Such is the interpretation given by 
 M. Champollion, of the hieroglyphics that com- 
 pose it. I have not been able to see the inscription. 
 
 The goddess Neith was symbolically represented 
 K 2
 
 132 LECTURE IV. 
 
 by a vulture [[fig. 2.^, the emblem of the female 
 principle of the creation, and consequently of 
 maternity in general. This arose from an idle 
 notion the primitive Egyptians had, that amongst 
 the vultures there was no male bird. Her phonetic 
 name [[fig. 12.[] consists of four characters. The 
 waiving line an N, the two feathers an E, or I, the 
 half circle a T, followed by the image of a goddess. 
 Hitherto we have seen the god Ammon Cnouphis, 
 and his son, the god Phtha, occupying the first 
 rank among the mystical persons of the Egyptian 
 theology ; because, as we have observed, the god- 
 dess Neith, whow as a second emanation of Ammon, 
 formed in reality but one and the same being with 
 the first principle, from which she had emanated. 
 Ammon and Phtha governed and presided over the 
 intellectual w^orld, and the world above ; but of 
 the material or physical world, the government 
 belonged to another god, not less ancient than the 
 other two. He was considered as the soul of 
 nature, the eye of the world, and the son of Phtha, 
 the active intelligence which had organised the 
 universe. He was no less a personage than the 
 sun, the "HXioc of the Greeks, and in the Egyptian 
 language was called Re, or Ri. The priests de- 
 scribed him as one of the earliest kings, and the 
 successor of his father in the government of Egypt, 
 and, like him, the special protector of the sove- 
 reigns, whom adulation regarded as members 
 belonging to the family of this god. In conse- 
 quence of this belief, all the Egyptian kings, from
 
 LECTURE IV. 133 
 
 the earliest Pharaohs to the last of the Roman 
 emperors, adopted, in the legends consecrated to 
 their honour, the pompous titles of offspring of the 
 sun, son of the sun, king like the sun of all inferior 
 and superior regions, and the like. They had, 
 besides, consecrated to this god, the city of Helio- 
 polis ; and thus each of the four principal cities of 
 the empire, Thebes, INIemphis, Sais, and Heliopolis 
 was under the special protection of one of the four 
 great deities Ammon Cnouphis, Phtha, Neith, and 
 Phre, or Re. 
 
 The city of Heliopolis, which, in the Egyptian 
 language, was called the city of Ow, was situated 
 a little to the north of Memphis, and was one of 
 the most extensive cities of Egypt, during the 
 reign of the Pharaohs, and so adorned by monu- 
 ments, as to be reckoned among the first sacred 
 cities of the kingdom. The temple dedicated to 
 Re, was a magnificent building, having in front an 
 avenue of Sphinxes, so celebrated in history, and 
 adorned by several obelisks, raised by the order of 
 Sethosis Rameses, 1900 years before Christ. By 
 means of lakes and canals, the town, though built 
 upon an artificial eminence, communicated with the 
 Nile ; and during the beautiful ages of the Egyp- 
 tian monarchy, their priests and learned men 
 acquired and taught the elements of learning 
 within the precincts of its temples. It was there 
 that, after the lapse of time, the degenerate de- 
 scendants of the same Egj^tians, communicated 
 to the wise men and lawgivers of Greece, the
 
 134- LECTURE IV. 
 
 ancient documents, and the principles already cor- 
 rupted by the influence of foreign invasion, and 
 polluted by ignorance and superstition. At the 
 time of Strabo, who visited this town soon after 
 the death of our Saviour, they still shewed the 
 apartments in which, four centuries before, Eu- 
 doxus and Plato had laboured to learn the philo- 
 sophy of Egypt. 
 
 The name of this god Re, is represented in all 
 the three usual ways, that is, phonetically, figura- 
 tively, and symbolically. 
 
 Phonetically, by the mouth and the arms [[fig. 
 13.]] which spell Ra, or Re, or by a circle and the 
 perpendicular line [[fig. 14.]] which are but syno- 
 nymes of the two former signs. 
 
 Figuratively, it exhibited the image of the god, 
 as he was seen in the temple, sometimes with the 
 head of a hawk, simply surmounted by a globe 
 Cfig. 15.]], the symbol of the sun ; and at other 
 times having the addition of a serpent, called 
 Uroeus [[fig. 16.]], which, as you know, was another 
 emblem of the supreme power ; and symbolically 
 []fig. 17.]] we find him represented by these same 
 attributes of the globe and serpent, without any 
 farther addition. 
 
 If we are to beheve Horapollo, the Egyptians 
 had given to this god the head of a hawk, because 
 they believed this bird to be very prolific, and long- 
 lived, two qualifications admirably suiting the nature 
 of the sun. They thought, besides, that this bird, by 
 an unknown power peculiar to itself, always held his
 
 LECTURE IV. 135 
 
 eyes directed to the sun, which for this reason was' 
 represented in the temple of Hieracomorphe, under 
 the image of a hawk. This bird, in fact, seems 
 to have been the emblem of many gods, for we find 
 not only the god Phre, but even Phtha Sokaris, 
 often represented under the human form, with the 
 head of this bird. 
 
 Occasionally we also meet with another symbo- 
 lical representation of this god Re, and that is a 
 sphynx, which was considered as the emblem both 
 of strength and prudence. The first of these qua- 
 lities was expressed by its shewing the body of 
 a lion ; the second by its having the human head. 
 
 Another great deity, which I must introduce to 
 your acquaintance, is a goddess who seems to have 
 performed several employments in the organization 
 of the universe. Her name is Sate. As she is said to 
 be the daughter of the sun, who was the sovereign 
 of the physical world. Sate seems to have been 
 the protectress of all the Egyptian monarchs, and 
 especially of the Pharaohs of the eighteenth dy- 
 nasty, since her image is become a hieroglyphical 
 character, half figurative and half symbolic. This 
 is generally seen amongst the signs forming the 
 mystic titles, or the proenomen of the princes of 
 this illustrious race, which reckons among its 
 members the greatest kings that ever reigned over 
 Egypt ; a Mceres, an Amenophis II., an Ousirei, 
 a Ramses Meiamoun, the grandfather of Ramses 
 Sethosis, so well known by the ancients under the 
 name of Sesostris. In fact, the gi-eatest part of
 
 136 LECTURE IV. 
 
 the royal legends, engraved on the different build- 
 mgs of Thebes, m honour of the prmces of this 
 dynasty, under whose reign Egypt attained the 
 highest degi'ee of civihzation, power, and glory, are 
 placed under the protection of this goddess. The 
 titles by which she was decorated were not less 
 magnificent than her emblems. " Sate, the living 
 goddess, the daughter of the sun, the queen of 
 the heavens and of the earth, the ruler of the infe- 
 rior region, the protectress of her son, the lord of 
 the world, the king of the three regions, son of the 
 sun, Phtah-men Ousirei." Such are the words 
 surrounding an image of this goddess, who covers 
 with her wings a legend, in which the name and 
 proenomen of the Pharaoh Ousirei is inscribed, dis- 
 covered and published by the indefatigable and un- 
 fortunate Belzoni. 
 
 These titles, even when unconnected with those 
 that adulation had given to the Pharaohs, are 
 always, the living goddess, the re-establisher, and 
 the benefactress of the inferior region, the ruling 
 deity, like the sun eternal. 
 
 And here, for this inferior region, you are not to 
 understand either the inferior region of heaven, or 
 the inferior region of the earth, but simply Lower 
 Egj'pt. For this name was given to that portion 
 of the country where the Delta begins, as the appel- 
 lation of superior region was bestowed upon 
 Higher Egypt, or the Thebaid. The intermediate 
 territory was called Middle Egypt. 
 
 In the " Egyptian Pantheon," and in the first
 
 LECTURE IV. 137 
 
 edition of the " Precis du Systeme Hieroglyphique," 
 M. Champollion exhibited the name of the god- 
 dess Sate, Hke those of all the other Egyptian 
 deities, phonetically, figuratively, and emblema- 
 tically. Her phonetic name is made up by four 
 signs [^Table 4. fig. 18.]] : the straight line with 
 a kind of flower at the top, is an S ; the half 
 circle is a T ; the two feathers an E ; and the last 
 is a figurative character, representing an abridge- 
 ment of her figure. Figuratively, she is exhibited 
 under the image of a woman, bearing the sign of 
 divine life in her hands, and having her head deco- 
 rated with the upper part of the head-dress called 
 the pschent, adorned by two long horns. The 
 figure of this peculiar head-dress is exhibited in 
 Table 4. fig. 23. 
 
 Another goddess is Sme, called by the Greeks 
 A\r]Biia, answering to Themis, the goddess of jus- 
 tice and truth. These attributes evidently shew 
 her to have been another representation of the in- 
 finite power who continued to influence and act 
 upon the destinies of men, even after death, in a 
 future life ; for we find this goddess almost inva- 
 riably represented on the monuments exhibiting 
 the ceremony of funerals, perpetually leading the 
 soul to the balance, where the deeds and actions of 
 his life were to be weighed, previous to its being 
 introduced to Osiris. 
 
 The phonetic name of this goddess is spelt by 
 three characters, [[Table 4. fig. 19.^ The first a 
 kind of parallelogram, is an S ; the second, a
 
 138 LECTURE IV. 
 
 species of sickle, is M ; the third, the extended 
 arm, is an A or an E ; spelling Sme. To these 
 three characters three more are added ; the half 
 circle, the egg, and the image of a female ; the 
 two former mark the gender, the latter the figure 
 or image of this goddess. Figuratively, this god- 
 dess was represented [[fig. 20.]] under the image of a 
 woman, holding the sign of divine life, and having 
 her head decorated with a feather, which is the 
 peculiar distinction of all her images. Lastly, 
 symbohcally, she was exhibited [[fig. 21.]] by the 
 great serpent, who was the emblem of immortality 
 and wisdom. 
 
 Such is the short account of some of the prin- 
 cipal gods and goddesses, whose names and legends 
 are very often met with among the mins of Egypt, 
 engraved on obehsks, painted on almost every 
 mummy, and mentioned in most MSS. These 
 gods form but a small portion of the Egyptian 
 Theogony ; they hold however, the most impor- 
 tant places in their Pantheon, and such as to 
 enable the generahty of readers to understand the 
 greatest part of the hieroglyphical characters most 
 commonly seen. So far therefore, they may be 
 deemed sufficient to answer our present pm-pose. 
 But as in almost every legend which is connected 
 with the dead, we meet with the representation of 
 another god, whose dominion is principally exercised 
 over the souls of men, I think it better, before I pro- 
 ceed to other topics, to introduce to your acquaint- 
 ance this important personage. He, together with
 
 LECTURE IV. 139 
 
 his wife, belongs to the second order of the Egyp- 
 tian gods. They both are, no doubt, another 
 representation of the attributes of the great Demi- 
 urgos ; and their names are more famihar to you 
 than any I have mentioned as yet : they are the 
 goddess Isis, and her brother and husband, Osiris. 
 It would occupy too much of our time to give the 
 whole account of them both, of their exploits, of 
 the benefits they conferred upon Egypt, of the 
 persecution and murder of Osiris by Typhon, and 
 the anxiety and labours undergone by Isis, to col- 
 lect his scattered limbs, and to have them buried. 
 This foolish story, which, in progress of time, be- 
 came a legend, was, in the beginning, without the 
 least doubt, a regular fable, recording one of the 
 greatest truths transmitted and preserved by tradi- 
 tion amongst mankind, of the sad event of the fall 
 of man, and of the destruction of the world by 
 the deluge. It would not be diflftcult, if I could 
 possibly enter into more minute detail, to point 
 out the analogy which all the circumstances re- 
 corded in the lives of Isis and Osiris, and the cere- 
 monies which accompanied the mysteries, or festi- 
 vals of these and other deities, had to the events, 
 the memory of which they were originally intended 
 to perpetuate ; the creation of the world, the fall 
 of man, the destruction of mankind by the flood, 
 the preservation of Noah and his family, the unity 
 of God, and the promise he made to that patri- 
 arch ; and, consequently, the necessity of abjimng 
 the worship of idols, which properly constituted 
 
 1
 
 140 LECTURE IV. 
 
 the end of the mysteries, and obtained for them 
 the name of regeneration, and for the initiated 
 themselves the proud appellation of regenerated. 
 
 Indeed, the elevation of a ship, w^hich formed a 
 prominent feature in the mysteries both of Isis and 
 Ceres, though in progress of time it might have been 
 applied to other purposes, could not originally have 
 a significant reference to any thing else but Noah's 
 preservation in the ark. The innumerable fables 
 which, towards the end of the Theocratic govern- 
 ment, and much more in the after times, had been 
 invented and engrafted on that event, involved the 
 subject in deeper and deeper mystery. But I have 
 no doubt, that in their origin this ceremony had 
 been introduced to commemorate the destruction 
 of mankind by the deluge. The theories which 
 we find existing among the several nations may 
 indeed be varied, but the necessary consequence 
 which must be drawn from seeing the same emblem 
 among the different nations of the globe is evidently 
 this, that not only the Egyptians, but the Chinese, 
 the Japanese, the Persians, the Hindoos, and even 
 the Indians of North and South America, have 
 theories sufficiently circumstantial to evince that 
 they possess a traditional account of the deluge of 
 Noah. Their respective theories are too copious 
 to be cited here ;. they will form the subject of one 
 Lecture, or perhaps of two. I must therefore, for 
 the present, refer those who wish to acquire a full 
 idea on this most interesting subject, to Bryant's 
 System of Mythology, Perron's Zendavesta, Nieu-
 
 LECTURE IV. 141 
 
 hofF's Voyage to Brazil, Acosta's History of the 
 Indies, Faber's Origin of Pagan Idolatry, and the 
 several papers which have appeared on this subject 
 in the Asiatic Researches, and in the works of Sir 
 W. Jones. 
 
 In regard to Isis and Osiris, you find their names, 
 like those of the other gods and goddesses, ex- 
 pressed phonetically, figuratively, and symbolically. 
 Phonetically, the name of Isis was exhibited by four 
 characters, [[Table 4. fig. 24, and 25.]] the cup, 
 [[fig. 24.]] or its synonyme, the feather, [[fig. 25.[] 
 either of which stood for an I ; the egg, which was 
 an S ; the half circle, which denoted the feminine 
 gender ; and the throne, the emblem by which the 
 goddess was perpetually designated. Figuratively, 
 she was represented by the image of a woman 
 sitting, holding on her head the circle surrounded 
 by horns, and sometimes in her hand either the 
 sign of divine life, [[fig. 26.[] or a flower of lotus, 
 [[fig. 27. [] And, lastly, symbolically, her repre- 
 sentation was the throne, the half circle, and the egg, 
 as specifying gender ; and sometimes they added 
 to these signs the image of a goddess, [[fig. 28. [] 
 
 The phonetic exhibition of Osiris, her brother^ 
 and husband, consisted of four signs, or characters, 
 [[fig. 29.[] a sceptre, with the head of a species of 
 wolf, which denotes the vowel O ; the crooked 
 line S ; the oval an R ; the arm an E, or an I, 
 which gives Osj^e, the abbreviation of Osire, or 
 Osiri, 
 
 His symbolic name was represented by the eye
 
 142 LECTURE IV. 
 
 and the throne, to which sometimes the hatchet 
 was added, [^fig. 31.)] as the symbohcal sign of the 
 deity, and at other times the abridged figure of the 
 god, as a generic character, [^fig. 32.]] 
 
 Lastly, his figm*ative name was represented by 
 the image of a god, mostly sitting, bearing on his 
 head the royal pschent, and often in his hand the 
 whip and the sceptre, as he was considered the 
 king of the Amenti j^fig. 30.]] This place, to which 
 the Greeks had given the appellation of Hades, 
 and the Latins of Tartarus, was the place in which 
 the Egyptians supposed the dead to be. It was 
 governed by four genii, the first of whom was the 
 god Amset ; the second, the god Ajn. Osiris was 
 the king who presided over them all ; and we have 
 seen the god Phtha as the ruler of the destinies of 
 the souls of men after they had parted from the 
 body, in order that they might be distributed, ac- 
 cording to their merits, in the thirty-two superior 
 regions. 
 
 It is for this reason we find the god Thoth 
 a perpetual companion of Osiris, and, after him, 
 the first personage in the Amenti, where he had 
 fixed his residence and his tribunal, to regulate the 
 destinies of the souls in each of their transmigi-a- 
 tions from the body of one man into another. 
 As the first, or, as he is called, celestial TJioth, he 
 was considered an emanation of the first Demi- 
 urges ; and the Egyptians supposed, that, after 
 having assisted him in the work of the creation, 
 he took the human form to enhghten mankind, and
 
 LECTURE IV. 143 
 
 then retired into the moon to assist the god Pooh 
 in the disposition of the souls of men. For this 
 purpose, they had divided the whole world into 
 three zones. The first was the earth, or the zone 
 of trial; the second was the zone of the air, perpe- 
 tually agitated by winds and storms, and was consi- 
 dered as the zone of temporal punishment ; and 
 the third was the zone of rest and tranquillity, 
 which was above the other two. Again, they had 
 subdivided the first zone, or the earth, into four 
 regions or departments ; the second, or the zone 
 of the air, was divided into two only ; the first of 
 these was subdivided into four regions, and the 
 second into eight, making twelve altogether ; these 
 being added to the four regions of the first zone, 
 made sixteen : and, lastly, the third zone of the 
 tranquil atmosphere contained sixteen more re- 
 gions ; so that the sum total of the regions in 
 which the souls of the dead were to be distributed, 
 was, in fact, thirty-two. 
 
 According to this principle, they supposed that 
 the god Pooh was the perpetual director ; a sort of 
 king of the souls, who, after having parted from 
 the body, were thrown into the second zone, to be 
 whirled about by the winds through the regions of 
 the air till they were called upon either to return 
 to the first zone, to animate a new body, and to 
 undergo fresh trials, in expiation of their former 
 sins, or to be removed into the third, where the air 
 was perpetually pure and tranquil. It was over 
 these two zones, or divisions of the world, situated
 
 144 LECTURE IV. 
 
 between the earth and the moon, that the god Pooh 
 exercised the full extent of his power. He had for 
 his^counsel the god Thoth, who presided over that 
 portion of the second or tempestuous zone, which 
 was divided into eight regions, and was only a tem- 
 porary dwelling of the dead. This was, in fact, 
 nothing else but the personification of the grand 
 principle of the immortality of the soul, and the 
 necessity of leading a virtuous life ; since every man 
 was called upon to give a strict account of his past 
 conduct, and, according to the sentence which Osiris 
 pronounced, was doomed to happiness or misery ; 
 for, generally speaking, it seems that the Egyptians 
 had assigned to their principal gods and goddesses 
 most closely connected with their Demiurgos, two 
 different characters ; the one presiding over, or 
 assisting in, the creation of the universe ; the other 
 performing some duties, or exercising some act of 
 authority in the Amenti, as was the case with the 
 god Phtha, the goddess Sme, and others. 
 
 Indeed, this striking tenet of the Eg^^tian reh- 
 gion wdll appear sufficiently evident from the ac- 
 count of the manner in which the Egj^tians gave 
 a burial to their dead, and of the tenets which had 
 been the cause of the several attendant ceremonies. 
 What I am going to state on the first point, is 
 taken mostly from Diodorus Siculus, who, in de- 
 scribing the cemetery of Memphis, which was the 
 largest and most frequented of any in Egypt, has 
 also given a narrative of the ceremonies which 
 were practised on the occasion.
 
 LECTURE IV. 145 
 
 " When any person died," says my historian, 
 " the whole of his family, and all his friends, 
 covered their heads with clay, and went about the 
 city lamenting, until the body was buried. In the 
 mean time they abstained from bathing and from 
 wine, scarcely ate any food, nor did they put 
 on rich clothing. The expense of the funerals 
 was conducted on three different scales, which 
 rendered them costly, moderate, or cheap. A 
 talent of silver, or two hundred and fifty pounds 
 sterling, would scarcely defray the expenditure 
 of the first ; the second required twenty minse, 
 or sixty pounds ; and for the third very httle 
 money was sufiftcient. It seems that amongst the 
 Egyptians there were a set of people, who, like 
 our undertakers, took upon themselves the whole 
 service of the funeral for a stipulated sum, which 
 was agreed upon beforehand. Proper persons were 
 then employed to perform their respective opera- 
 tions. The first seems to have been that of the 
 Scribe, whose duty it was to mark out how the 
 dissection was to be made upon the left side of the 
 body. This was executed with a sharp ethiopian 
 stone, by a man called the Dissector, whose oflEice, 
 however, was considered so vile and so degrading, 
 as to oblige him immediately to betake himself to 
 flight, as if he had committed a crime, to escape 
 the pursuit, and, if caught, a severe punishment 
 from the bystanders." 
 
 *' At the disappearance of the wretched dissector, 
 the embalmers came forward. They were people
 
 14G LECTURE IV. 
 
 held in high respect, considered as sacred persons, 
 permitted to have a free access to the temples, 
 and to associate with the priests. Their office 
 consisted in removing from the corpse every part 
 that was susceptible of decay, and washing the rest 
 with palm wine and spices ; after this immediate 
 operation, they for more than thirty days applied 
 various kinds of resin, to preserve the body ; and, 
 after having impregnated the whole with myrrh 
 and cinnamon, to give it an agreeable smell, they 
 returned it to his relations so perfectly preserved 
 in every part, that even the hairs of the eyelids 
 and the eyebrows remained undisturbed." Indeed, 
 from all accounts, it seems that the whole appear- 
 ance of the deceased remained so unchanged as to 
 be recognised, not only by his height, and the 
 outline of his figure, but even by the character 
 and expression of his countenance. Nor must 
 we be surprised at this great progress which the 
 Egyptians had made in the art of embalming, for 
 they had the custom of keeping the bodies of their 
 ancestors, in their houses, for generations, and 
 enjoyed the gratification as if of living with them. 
 You remember what Lucian says of having been 
 an eye-witness of these mummies being placed on 
 seats at table, as if they had been hving. 
 
 But to return. The common place of burial 
 was beyond the lake Ache)'jsia, or Acharejish, 
 which meant the last state, the last condition of 
 man, and from which the poets have imagined the 
 fabulous lake of Acheron. On the borders of this
 
 LECTURE IV. 147 
 
 lake Acherusia sat a tribunal, composed of forty- 
 two judges, whose office, previous to the dead 
 being permitted to be carried to the cemetery 
 beyond the lake, was to inquire into the whole 
 conduct of his life. 
 
 If the deceased had died insolvent, they adjudged 
 the corpse to his creditors, which was considered 
 as a mark of dishonour, in order to oblige his rela- 
 tions and friends to redeem it, by raising the neces- 
 sary sums amongst themselves. If he had led a 
 wicked life, they ordered that he should be deprived 
 of solemn burial, and he was consequently carried 
 and thrown into a large ditch made for the pur- 
 pose, to which they gave the appellation of Tartar, 
 on account of the lamentations that this sentence 
 produced among his surviving friends and rela- 
 tions. 
 
 This is also the origin of the fabulous Tartarus, 
 in which the poets have transferred the lamenta- 
 tions made by the living to the dead themselves 
 who were thrown into it. 
 
 If no accuser appeared, or if the accusation had 
 proved groundless, the judges decreed that the 
 deceased was entitled to his burial, and his eulo- 
 gium was pronounced amongst the applauses of 
 the bystanders, in which they praised his educa- 
 tion, his religion, his justice, in short, all his virtues, 
 without, however, mentioning any thing about his 
 riches or nobility, both of which were considered as 
 mere gifts of fortune. 
 
 To carry the corpse to the cemetery, it was 
 L 2
 
 148 LECTURE IV. 
 
 necessary to cross the lake, and this was done by 
 the means of a boat, in which no one could be 
 admitted without the express order of the judges, 
 and without paying a small sum for the convey- 
 ance. This regulation was so strictly enforced, 
 that the kings themselves were not exempt from 
 its severity. 
 
 The cemetery was a large plain surrounded by 
 trees, and intersected by canals, to which they had 
 given the appellation of elisout, or elisicens, which 
 means nothing else but rest. And such again is 
 the origin of the poetical Charon and his boat, as 
 well as of the fabulous description of the Elysian 
 Fields. 
 
 The whole ceremony of the interment seemed 
 to have consisted in depositing the mummy in the 
 excavation made in the rock, or under the sand 
 which covered the whole of the ehsout, to shut up 
 its entrance by a large stone ; then it seems that 
 the relations of the deceased threw three handfuls 
 of sand on the tomb, as a sign to the workmen to 
 fill up the cavity, and then departed, after uttering 
 three several cries, as three distinct farewells. 
 
 To express, therefore, the circumstance, that 
 the deceased had been honoured with the rites of 
 burial, and with the proper and legitimate lamen- 
 tations of his friends, they exhibited on the legend 
 imprinted on the mummy, or engraved round his 
 tomb, the figiu-e of a horse of the Nile, which the 
 Greeks mistook for a dog, who, by his fidelity and 
 attachment, has deserved to become the symbol of
 
 LECTURE I\^ 149 
 
 friendship and affection ; and as they at all times 
 wished to add something of their own to the insti- 
 tutions of other nations, in order to express the 
 three cries, or farewells, they represented this same 
 dog as having three different heads. To this 
 emblem, or hieroglyphic, the Egyptians gave the 
 appellation of oms ; and the Greeks, in conse- 
 quence of their mistaking it for a dog, that of 
 Cerher, from the Egyptian Cerlber, a word that 
 means the cry of the tomb, and from which origi- 
 nates the Cerberus of the Grecian mythology. 
 
 The manner in which these religious doctrines 
 were exhibited in hieroglyphics, and how they 
 were further distorted by the Greeks, will form the 
 subject of our next Lecture.
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 Continuation of the same subject — Exhibition of the mode by 
 which the souls of the dead entered the Amenti — Further ex- 
 amination of hieroglyphics — Explanation of some of the most 
 important grammatical forms — Genders — Number — Verbs — 
 Pronouns — Mixture of hieroglyphics — Legends — Names of 
 individuals — of the Pharaohs — Mystic titles which inva- 
 riably preceded their historical name — Explanation of some 
 most commonly used — Coincidence of the Egyptian inscrip- 
 tions with the names of some of the kings mentioned in the 
 Bible. 
 
 We concluded our last Lecture with mentioning 
 the ceremonies practised by the Egyptians in the 
 burial of their dead ; and I deferred to this Lec- 
 ture the exhibition of the hieroglyphics connected 
 with these ceremonies. I now offer to your in- 
 spection a curious picture, [[Table 5.]] representing 
 the trial and judgment which the Egyptians sup- 
 posed the soul of a man to undergo, before he was 
 allowed to enter the region of rest and happiness. 
 It is taken from a curious MS. existing in the 
 Vatican library, of which Angelo Mai, a Milanese, 
 has given a description. Although I have not 
 been able to obtain the original work, yet in Ger- 
 man there is a translation by Louis Bachmann, in
 
 LECTURE V. 151 
 
 three distinct numbers, one of which I have seen. 
 It bears the title of " Die Agyptischen Papyrus der 
 Vaticanischen Bibhothek, — aus dem Itahaenischen 
 des Angelo Mai von Ludwig Baachmann." It was 
 printed at Leipzig, in 1827. 
 
 The whole scene is represented to take place in 
 the praetorium of the Amenti. The frieze at the 
 top contains a continued series of different em- 
 blems, amongst which the most prominent is the 
 Urseus, the serpent who was considered as the 
 symbol of the goddess Sme, or Tme, preceded or 
 followed by the feather, which is also another or- 
 nament, or attribute, of this same goddess. For 
 this is the place where she, as the goddess of truth, 
 must exclusively preside. She seems herself to 
 stand in the middle, with her arms extended, 
 covering two hieroglyphical legends, exhibiting the 
 symbols of the sun and of the moon, to denote the 
 Providence that rules over the universe. To the 
 right and left of this architrave we find the god 
 Thoth, under the shape of a cynocephalus, or an 
 ape : he is also often called Apis, or Ap. 
 
 In ther chapel we observe Osiris sitting on a 
 throne, with all the symbols that belong to him, — 
 the whip and the sceptre, to denote his power over 
 time ; the pschent, or the royal helmet, fr'om the 
 front of which issues the serpent, the emblem of 
 eternity and wisdom, and on which is engraved the 
 symbol of Phre, to signify his prudence and his 
 justice. Over his head we have an inscription in 
 hieroglyphical characters, which contains his titles.
 
 152 LECTURE V. 
 
 and the meaning of whicli seems to be, " Osiris, 
 the beneficent god ; lord of the Uving, the supreme 
 god, everlasting lord ; the ruler of the inferior 
 region. King of the gods." Before him stands a 
 basket, out of which issues a stick, or a pole, on 
 which hangs the skin of a panther, which per- 
 suaded the Greeks to assimilate him to their Bac- 
 chus. 
 
 Before this chapel there is an altar, on which 
 lies an offering of bread, fruit, and flowers of the 
 lotus, and by its side stand two bunches of the 
 same plant, not yet open. They were considered 
 as containing the water of the Nile, without which 
 no sacrifice or libation could be made. 
 
 On a pedestal before this altar rests a horse of 
 the Nile, which the Egyptians called 0ms, the 
 faithful guardian of all burial places, and which 
 the Greeks have transformed into their Cerberus. 
 Over its head there is an inscription in hierogly- 
 phical characters, the import of which is, " Oms, 
 the ruler of the inferior region ;" and just above 
 him there is a god called Sciai, and his wife Ran- 
 nety as it appears from the phonetic characters 
 over their heads ; they both were attendants on 
 Osiris. 
 
 Further back on the sceptre of Osiris is seen 
 a small figure in a sitting posture holding a finger 
 on his lips, to whom the Greeks have given the 
 appellation of Sigalio?i, the Harj)ocrates of the 
 Romans. 
 
 In the opposite comer we have a group of three
 
 LECTURE V. 153 
 
 persons. The first is the goddess Sme : she ap- 
 pears witli all the attributes of her office and power ; 
 the long sceptre in her right hand, and the sign of 
 divine life in her left, to signify, that through her 
 alone a man can pass to immortality and happi- 
 ness ; and lastly, she has her head surrounded by 
 a sort of diadem, surmounted by a feather, her 
 peculiar distinction ; and over it we find the legend 
 which characterises her as " Sme, the goddess of 
 truth, the daughter of the sun, for ever living, and 
 benevolent, ruler of the inferior region." 
 
 On account of her double character, the Greeks 
 have compared this goddess to Themis and Perse- 
 phone, that is, Proserpine. As the goddess of 
 justice she is Themis, as a companion of Osiris, 
 and queen of the Amenti, she is Persephone. 
 
 Next to Sme, we find another figure in the com- 
 mon dress of the Egyptians, who evidently is the 
 person of the deceased. His name is engraved 
 over his head, and signifies " the Osirian, Nesi- 
 mandu deceased, son of Niiahendi deceased ;" and 
 next to this legend there is another, which seems 
 to be a petition which he presents to the goddess 
 Sme, entreating the permission of being allowed to 
 enter the place of rest and tranquillity. 
 
 The last figure I do not exactly know how to 
 describe, for I cannot exactly make her out. She 
 seems, however, to be an attendant of Sme, as if 
 introducing Nesimandu to her. 
 
 The middle part of this curious monument is 
 occupied by a large balance. In one scale there
 
 154 LECTURE V. 
 
 is an urn, containing the actions of the life of 
 Nesimandu, in the other, by way of weight, the 
 image of Sme, the goddess of truth. The scale 
 on which lies the um, is attended by Horus, whose 
 symbolical name is engi'aved over his head. The 
 other, which contains the image of the goddess, is 
 watched over by Anubis. Above his head there is 
 an inscription, of which I cannot entirely make out 
 the meaning ; but from what I can make out, it 
 appears to be " a declaration by Anubis, that these 
 are the proofs of the life and actions of Nesimandu, 
 deceased." 
 
 In front of the balance we have the god Thoth, 
 holding a tablet in his left hand, on which he notes 
 clown with a reed which he has in his right, the 
 result of the weighing of the life and actions of 
 Nesimandu, approving of the result, and recom- 
 mending that he might be introduced to Osiris. 
 
 The middle compartment represents two rows, 
 containing forty-two figures, in two distinct lines of 
 twenty-one each. They are the emblematical 
 figures of the forty-two judges, who upon earth tried 
 the merits and the demerits of every dead person, 
 to see whether he deserved the distinction of a 
 burial. This trial, which even kings were obliged 
 to undergo, formed the most remarkable feature in 
 the Egyptian religious code, and, no doubt, arose 
 fi*om the belief, that in the next world, the same 
 ceremony took place, before the soul of the dead 
 was allowed to be presented to Osiris, in order 
 that he might, accorchng to the life he had led, be
 
 LECTURE V. 155 
 
 sent to the appropriated region, of gi'eater or less 
 happiness or misery. 
 
 To signify that the judges were perfectly im- 
 partial, and that the deceased was tried according 
 to the strictest rules of justice, the judges were 
 represented under the human form, with the heads 
 of the different animals which were the symbolical 
 characters of the several gods or goddesses ; or, in 
 other and more appropriate expressions, the repre- 
 sentation of the several attributes and emanations 
 of the gi'eat Demiurgos. 
 
 To render the whole picture more striking, it 
 seems as if the sentence of the forty-two judges was 
 carried down to the goddess Sme by her attend- 
 ant, while she received the petition of Nesimandu 
 at the time that the god Thoth was registering, on 
 the tablets of fate, the result of the weighing, which 
 Horus and Anubis had made of the whole of his 
 life, against the image of the goddess of Truth. 
 
 The whole of this representation seems, no 
 doubt, to have been executed in honour of Nesi- 
 mandu, as a proof of his having been admitted to 
 the funeral honours which the Egyptians granted 
 to all persons who had led a virtuous life. The 
 MS. to which this curious drawing is attached, is 
 now in the Vatican library ; and I have no doubt, 
 that if it were made out, most of its contents would 
 turn out to be the recital of the actions of Nesi- 
 mandu, or, at least, something concerning him. I 
 am led to this conclusion by seeing over his head, 
 engraved in hieroglyphical characters, not only his 
 1
 
 156 LECTURE V. 
 
 name, but also that of his father Nuabendi ; a 
 circumstance which, according to my opinion, 
 evidently proves, that he is the hero of the repre- 
 sentation, the object of which is to praise him. 
 
 Perhaps it may be asked, whether any monu- 
 ment or inscription exists, in which the scale is 
 observed to preponderate on the opposite side, that 
 is, to exhibit an instance of a bad life in the 
 deceased ; and if so, what were the marks added 
 to such an exhibition, to shew the disapprobation 
 of society ? 
 
 To the first of these questions I answer, that 
 monuments of this sort are very seldom to be met 
 with, though I have no doubt that they were not 
 uncommon. It would be impossible to conceive 
 that the whole of the Egyptian nation was so 
 moral and correct, as not occasionally to exhibit 
 individuals whose immoral conduct deserved repro- 
 bation and punishment. These, we know, were 
 deprived of religious burials,' and their bodies cast 
 into pits, or disposed of in a manner different from 
 that which was generally practised. 
 
 Now as the whole of this ceremony was intended 
 to inculcate the necessity of a virtuous life, by the 
 certainty of a future existence of reward or punish- 
 ment, we have a right to suppose, that, for the 
 sake of example, exhibitions of this sort must have 
 existed,bywhich the people might see that the denial 
 of brurial in this world was followed up by some 
 punishment in the Amenti. Contrary to our ex- 
 pectation, however, it seems that monuments of
 
 LECTURE V. 157 
 
 this sort are very rare ; for M. Champollion told 
 Captain Sabine, from whom I received the informa- 
 tion, that, among the great numbers of pictures 
 and MSS. he had examined, he had seen only one 
 monument in which the urn, containing the soul 
 or actions of the deceased, could not balance the 
 weight of the image of Sme. In consequence of 
 this deficiency, on a flight of stairs which formed 
 the communication between the Amenti and the 
 world, the deceased was represented under the 
 form of a dog, with his tail between his legs, running 
 away from the god Anubis, who was pursuing and 
 driving him back again into the world. This re- 
 presentation confirms the opinion, that the Egyp- 
 tians admitted the doctrine of the Metempsychosis, 
 and believed that the souls of men, for particular 
 crimes, were condemned to return to life under 
 the shape of some animal, to atone for their past 
 sins. 
 
 As no legend was attached to this extraordinary 
 picture, M. Champollion could not ascertain either 
 the name of the deceased, or the offence he had 
 committed. From other circumstances, however, 
 connected with this monument, he is of opinion 
 that the deceased was so punished for the crime of 
 high treason, a crime which, in every civilized 
 country, has been, and very properly too, consi- 
 dered of the most heinous and profligate nature, 
 destructive of the very foundation of society, and, 
 therefore chastised, not only in this world, but 
 in the next. To a certain extent, such seems to
 
 158 LECTURE V, 
 
 be the doctrine of the law of England to this mo- 
 ment. 
 
 Upon the whole, it seems evident that the Egyp- 
 tian Amenti has been the prototype and the origin 
 of the Hades of the Greeks, and the Tartarus of 
 the Latins. Orpheus, who had been initiated in all 
 the secrets of the mysteries of Egypt, carried into 
 Greece these mysteries, and the Greeks soon so 
 altered the whole, as to render it no longer recog- 
 nisable. Osiris became Pluto ; Sme, Persephone ; 
 Oms, Cerberus; Thoth, Mercurius Psychopompos ; 
 Horus, Apis, and Anubis the three infernal judges, 
 Minos, ^acus, and Rhadamanthus. To conclude 
 the whole, the symbolical heads of the different 
 animals under which the forty-two judges were 
 represented, being deprived of their primitive and 
 symbolical meaning, were changed into real mon- 
 sters, the Chimeras, the Harpies, the Gorgons, 
 and other such unnatural and horrible things, 
 with which they peopled their fantastic hell ; and 
 thus the Amenti of the Egyptians, as indeed the 
 greatest part, if not the whole of their religion, 
 became, in the hands of the Greeks and Romans 
 a compound of fables and absurdities. 
 
 Such is the account I have to offer with regard 
 to the leading points of the Egyptian Amenti. We 
 must now pass on to consider another sort of 
 characters, or signs, which may be called, as indeed 
 they are, grammatical forms. They often occur in 
 the different legends, and without a previous ex- 
 planation their meaning is not easily understood.
 
 LECTURE V. 159 
 
 I shall exhibit some of the most important. They 
 turn mostly upon genders, the formation of the 
 plural, on some of the pronouns, and the verbs. 
 And it is indeed surprising to see with what nicety 
 and care the Egyptians seem to have marked all 
 the possible combinations of the grammar, and to 
 have preserved, in writing hieroglyphics, all the 
 rules of syntax which their language required. 
 
 This, as you will readily conceive, is not the 
 most attractive part of the hieroglyphics. I will 
 give you a few specimens, which will enable you 
 to see how these points were managed by the 
 Egyptians. The figures that were made use of, 
 have a reference to words in the Coptic language ; 
 some of these figures I will exhibit, and mention 
 the words to which they refer. If you will favour 
 me with a little of your attention, the whole will 
 be, I hope, intelligible. 
 
 The marks of the genders are, — a square, either 
 plain, CTab. 6. fig. 1.'2 or striated, C;fig. 2.;] for the 
 masculine, and half a circle, [[fig. 3.]] for the femi- 
 nine. The square, in Coptic, is called Pe, and 
 stands for the letter P. The half-circle is called 
 2V, and stands for the letter T. They both are 
 considered as articles. Although, in the spoken 
 language, they are both put before the noun, yet, 
 in writing, the feminine article, that is, the half 
 circle, is generally noted after the noun. 
 
 For instance, the word s/te, or se, means daugh- 
 ter ; and if we wish -to add to it the article te, we 
 should say ts/w, or fse, that is, t/ie (laughter.
 
 IGO LECTURE V. 
 
 Again, the word sen, means sister ; and with the 
 addition of the article we have tsen, that is, the 
 sister. In the same way mou signifies mother ; 
 and with the addition of the article we have tmou, 
 the mother. But in writing hieroglyphics, we must 
 put the half circle at the end, and write, not tsen, 
 but sent, — not tmou, but moid, — not tshe, but shet. 
 
 The plural, as I hope you remember, is inva- 
 riably expressed by a simple repetition of the 
 units ; [^fig. 4.]] to these units sometimes is added 
 the figiu-e of a horn, [|fig. 5.^ or of a quail, [|fig. 6.)] 
 all of which stand for the syllable none, or oue, which 
 is the termination added to the plural. For in- 
 stance, the word sote7i signifies hing ; and by the 
 addition of none we have sotenoue kings, — noyte, 
 god ; noytenoue, gods ; and the like. Sometimes 
 we also find this plural number marked by the 
 undulating line, either in its simple form of one 
 line, [Jag. 7.]] or in the double form of two lines, 
 [|fig. 8.^ which is, in fact, an abbre\dation of the 
 syllable none ; for the undulating line, either in 
 simple or double form, stands for the letter N. 
 
 In regard to the genders, it seems that the 
 Egyptians expressed them by employing the pro- 
 nouns of him, or of her ; and these pronouns 
 were represented by the figure of an undulating 
 line over a serpent, [[fig. 9.^ or over a broken line, 
 [[fig. 10.[] In the first instance, [[fig. 9.[] the group 
 represented the pronoun his, or of him, which, in 
 Coptic, was nef or nev, for these two letters, F and 
 V, being perpetually confused, were expressed by the
 
 LECTURE V. IGl 
 
 same hieroglyphic. In the second instance, [^fig. 
 lOJ the group stood for the pronoun hers, or of 
 her, which in Coptic was called nes. Thus, for ex- 
 ample, if to the word tmou, which, as we have just 
 observed, signifies the mother, we add eph, which 
 is an abbreviation of the genitive case of the pro- 
 noun neph, we shall have the word tmoueph, or 
 tmouph, which means, the mother of him ; and, on 
 the other hand, by adding es, which is an abbre- 
 viation of the pronoun nes, we shall have tmoues, 
 or tmous, to signify the mother of her. Now the 
 same rule stands good in regard to writing hiero- 
 glyphics. If to the vulture, which is the symbol- 
 ical character for mou, mother, we add the serpent, 
 [[fig. 11.)] which stands for the letter F, and is there- 
 fore an abbreviation of the pronoun nef, we shall 
 have the group expressing, phonetically, mouph, 
 that is, mother of him, while, by adding the broken 
 line, [[fig. 12.]] we change the masculine into the 
 feminine gender, and read the group moics, that is, 
 mother of her. 
 
 Again, the chenalopex, that is the goose, or the 
 egg, are the phonetic hieroglyphics expressing 
 the word child, — for both of them represent the 
 letter S, which is an abbreviation of the word se, 
 or tse, son, child. Therefore, if to the bird or the 
 egg we add the figure of the serpent, [[fig. 14.[] or 
 the broken line, [[fig. 15.[] we shall have, in the 
 first instance, the group signifying son of him, or 
 his son ; and, in the second, son of her, or her son. 
 
 Again, the word father is represented phoneti- 
 
 M
 
 162 LECTURE V. 
 
 cally, [[fig. 30.;] by the half drcle, which is a T ; by 
 the serpent, which is U, or ou ; and by the per- 
 pendicular line, E. These make up the word tone, 
 tuye, from the Egyptian verb taye, to beget. By 
 adding, therefore, to these signs, either a second 
 serpent, as in fig. 31. or a broken line, as in fig. 
 32. we shall have in one group [[fig. 31.;] the 
 phrase expres3ing/«//i<?/' of him, — and in the other 
 group, Cfig. ^2r\ father of her. 
 
 But though all these three words, son, father, 
 and mother, may be, and often are, represented by 
 phonetic characters, employed as letters spelhng 
 each of these words, they may all be represented 
 figuratively. For instance, instead of the bird and 
 the Une, l^fig. 26.;] or the eg^ and line, [[fig. 27.;] 
 we may employ the figiu'e of a child, to express a 
 son, — of the vulture to express a mother, — and of 
 the serpent, the father. And again, if to the signs, 
 whether they be phonetic or figiu'ative, of the 
 father and of the mother, we attach another sign, 
 expressing the gender, such as the half circle for 
 the feminine, and the serpent, or a notched fine, 
 for the mascuhne ; then the group will express the 
 sex of the child, and will be read, with the serpent, 
 or notched line, father of him, or mother of him ; 
 and with the half circle, father of her, or mother 
 of her, because the half circle shews the feminine 
 gender, as the serpent or notched line does the 
 masculine. 
 
 Sometimes, indeed, we find the phonetic gi-oup 
 of mother spelt by three signs, [[fig. 13.^ the vulture.
 
 LECTURE V. 1C3 
 
 the hatchet, and the half circle ; of which the first 
 is an M ; the second a U, or ou ; and the half 
 circle, a T ; and then we have also the word 
 mout, which Plutarch quotes as an Egyptian word, 
 to signify mother. 
 
 This character, in fact, of the half circle, is 
 always added to the bird, whenever, in a funeral 
 inscription, they both are employed to express the 
 sex of the deceased. Thus, for instance, if to the 
 bird and the hne, which is the group spelling se, or 
 si, []fig. 26.^ we add the half circle, [^fig. SS.^ we 
 shall have tse, or set, to mean daughter ; but if we 
 add this same half circle to the group in fig. 34. 
 which spells son or sen, and means brother, we shall 
 then have sent, or tson, to express sister. And 
 again, if to the gi'oup in fig. 33. we add the serpent, 
 [^fig. 35.^ then the signification will be, daughter of 
 him. Whilst by adding to the group fig. 34. the 
 broken hne, as in fig. 36. the whole group will 
 signify, sister of her. 
 
 The genitive case, however, when unconnected 
 with any pronoun, is mostly expressed by the un- 
 dulating hne being added to the group. This 
 hieroglyphic, you remember, stands for the letter 
 N, and on those occasions is taken as an abbrevi- 
 ation of the syllable nen, which is the invariable 
 termination of the genitive case in the Coptic 
 language. Thus, for instance, the word king, 
 which in Coptic is soten, or soiten, is represented 
 [fig, 37.^ by a kind of plant, which is an S ; by 
 the half circle, which is a T ; and by the line, 
 either undulating or plain, both of which stand for 
 
 M 2
 
 164 LECTURE V. 
 
 an N, and spell Stn, that is Soten. In the same 
 way the word /j/wc^, which in Coptic is ma, [[fig. 
 38.]] is expressed by two hieroglyphics, by the owl, 
 which stands for an M, and by the extended arm, 
 which is an A. Now if to these gi'oups we add 
 the undulating line, we turn the nominative into 
 the genitive case, and must read the whole of a 
 king, of a place. 
 
 In regard to the verbs, it seems that our know- 
 ledge is not sufficiently extensive to allow us to 
 mark with accuracy the hieroglyphics by which the 
 Egyptians distinguished the different tenses of 
 past, present, and future. If we are to draw our 
 conclusion from the manner in which they conju- 
 gated their verbs, it seems that this should be done 
 by the addition of one or more hieroglyphics ; be- 
 cause in speaking, they marked these different 
 tenses by adding a letter or a syllable to the infi- 
 nitive mood. We find, in fact, that they distin- 
 guished the third person singular of the present 
 tense, in the same way as we do in the English 
 language, by adding the letter s to the word, — 
 such as he does, he writes. And M. Champollion 
 has ascertained, that in hieroglj^hics, the figure 
 of the serpent, or of the broken line, one of which 
 stands for the letter S, and the other for the letter 
 F, is a mark of this third person singular of the pre- 
 sent tense. For the same reason M. Champolhon 
 has also found out that the gi'oup in fig. 16. con- 
 sisting of three characters, is the mark by which 
 they exhibited the third person plural of the future 
 tense. For in fact, the crooked line is an S, the
 
 LECTURE V. 165 
 
 undulating line is N, the three perpendiculars are 
 E ; they are, therefore, an abbreviation of sene, 
 which, in the spoken language, was invariably 
 added to the verb, to express the third person 
 plural of the future tense. 
 
 The passive participle was represented by two 
 hieroglyphics, the horn and the half circle, [[fig. 17.]] 
 The horn is U, or 01 ; the half circle a T ; and 
 they both spell ut, or oit, which was the termina- 
 tion of the passive participle, in the spoken lan- 
 guage. 
 
 With regard to the pronouns, the definite was 
 exhibited by the vase, and the perpendicular line, 
 [[fig. 18.[] The vase represents the letter N, the 
 perpendicular line the vowel A, spelling 7ia, or ne. 
 These two hieroglyphics are always added to 
 groups expressing names, and seem to exhibit the 
 meaning of the pronoun this, in English. 
 
 The relative pronoun wJio, or which, is repre- 
 sented by a vase and half a circle [fig. 19.[] The 
 vase is an N, the half circle is a T. They are an 
 abbreviation of net, which, in the old Coptic, means 
 precisely who or which. The triangle joined to 
 the square, [[fig. 20.[] or a stretched arm holding a 
 triangle, added to a square, [[fig. 21.[] spell j)ot, or 
 pet, which syllable or word, when prefixed to a 
 noun, denotes the demonstrative pronoun, amount- 
 ing to our expression, the man who, or the man 
 belonging to. And in the feminine gender, the 
 same meaning is obtained by the three signs [[fig. 
 22.;] representing a pair of tongs, the undulating
 
 166 LECTURE V. 
 
 line, and the half circle. The phonetic power of 
 the tongs is a T ; of the undulating hne, N ; of 
 the half circle, T : an abbreviation of tent, which 
 means the ivoman who, or the woman belong- 
 ing to. 
 
 Thus, for instance, if before the hieroglj^hics 
 spelling the name of Amon, [fig. 23.^ we put the 
 two characters marked in fig. 20, we shall have, in 
 fig. 24, the word Petamon, which means the man 
 belonging to Amon. And in the same way, if we 
 add the characters marked in fig. 22, expressing 
 the feminine gender, to those exhibited by fig. 23, 
 we shall have, in fig. 25, the word Tentamon, 
 which will mean the woman belonging to Amon. 
 
 Such are the principal and most important gram- 
 matical forms or phrases, which it is proper you 
 should be acquainted with, because the under- 
 standing of them will help us greatly in decypher- 
 ing the legends which I shall have to offer to your 
 consideration. To impress them still more on 
 your mind, I shall exhibit some instances. 
 
 The first of these instances is the group, which 
 exhibits the relation of a son [[fig. 26)]. This, in 
 Coptic, is called sa, or se, or scha, from the verb 
 schai, to be born. Now the bird stands for the 
 letter shei, (cy), the schin {w) of the Hebrew, 
 w^hich corresponds to our sch, and the perpendicu- 
 lar line, for an A or E, according to the different 
 dialects ; and thus the whole gi'oup forms the word 
 scha, or sa, or se. The same must be said of the 
 oval and the line [[fig. 27.[] ; for the oval, or egg.
 
 LECTURE V. 167 
 
 is a synonyme of the bird, and the meaning, or 
 rather the spelHng, is the same, as either is in- 
 differently apphed to signify a son, in regard to 
 the father only ; for when we wish to apply it to 
 the mother, then we employ the other group in 
 fig. 28, which spell ms, an abbreviation of mas, or 
 mese, from the verb mes, to produce. 
 
 According, therefore, to what I said in my last 
 Lecture, as well as in this, of the figurative and 
 symbolic hieroglyphics, we may easily read the 
 legend marked in fig. 29, the meaning of which is, 
 • — Horus, son of Osiris, god, produced by Isis, 
 goddess. 
 
 In this group, we have a mixture of signs, 
 some of which are symbolic, and some phone- 
 tic. The name of Horus is symbolic, consisting 
 of the hawk and the pei-pendicular hue ; the word 
 son is phonetic, expressed by the bird S, and the 
 line A, or E. The names of Isis and Osiris are 
 symbohc ; so are the titles of god and goddess ; 
 for the former is expressed by the post, or hatchet, 
 that stands under the eye ; the latter by the 
 pschent which precedes, and the image of the god- 
 dess which follows, the symbohc name of Isis. The 
 word produced is phonetic, and the oval and the 
 semi-circle are the marks of the female gender 
 belonging to Isis. 
 
 From what has been said, therefore, it is evident, 
 that from the great number of characters which 
 might be used to express the same idea, the Egyp-
 
 168 LECTURE V. 
 
 tians followed three different modes in selecting 
 those they meant to employ. If they wished, for 
 instance, to mention in their writing the name of 
 Ammon, of this supreme deity of Thebes, the 
 writer, or, as the Greeks called him, the hierogra- 
 mata, could, as he pleased, exhibit this idea either 
 figuratively, symbolically, or phonetically. Figura- 
 tively, by drawing the image of this deity such as 
 it was seen in the temples ; symbolically, by de- 
 signing the forms of an obelisk, or of the sacred 
 ram, both of which were the symbols of Ammon ; 
 and phonetically, by writing the three characters, 
 or letters, which spelt its name, and adding to the 
 group the image or the symbol of a god. 
 
 Sometimes, even in expressing some particular 
 object, they joined the symbolic to the figurative 
 characters, and made them thus to represent a 
 particular idea. Such is the group which I offer 
 to your inspection, in which the figurative character 
 of a house [^fig. 39 and 40.^ is joined to the sym- 
 bolic sign which stands for deity, []fig. 41.]] and 
 thus we have the idea of a temple, that is, the 
 house of a deity ; and if to these two characters we 
 add a third, the eye, for instance, [[fig. 42.]] which 
 is the symbolical sign of the god Osiris, we shall 
 have the signification of the temple of Osiris, that 
 is, the sacred house of Osiris ; and if instead of 
 the eye we add other characters that are the sym- 
 bolical expressions of other gods or goddesses, then 
 this general idea of a temple in fig. 41. will be-
 
 LECTURE V. 169 
 
 come the special representation of the temple be- 
 longing to that particular deity whose symbol we 
 employ. 
 
 Indeed this mixture of characters is still more 
 evident in the legends which contain the names of 
 private individuals. They are, generally speaking, 
 intermixed with other hieroglyphics, followed by 
 the figure of a man or of a woman, as a sign of 
 species, without being enclosed in a ring or car- 
 touche, which you remember, I hope, was a mark 
 of political distinction belonging to royalty only. 
 The most curious circumstance is, that, besides the 
 name of the individual, they regularly mention that 
 of his father, and often even that of his mother, 
 and these, without exception, preceded by the signs 
 or characters denoting the relationship of which 
 we have spoken. I shall give some instances. 
 CTable 1. fig. 16.;] 
 
 This inscription, which is found engraved on the 
 basis of a statue in the cabinet of the King of 
 France, is an exemplification of our doctrine. It 
 is a mixture of different sorts of hieroglyphical 
 characters, and exhibits not only the name of the 
 man who ordered this statue, but also those of his 
 parents. 
 
 In this legend we have twenty-six characters, of 
 which twenty-one are phonetic, two are figurative, 
 three are symbolico-phonetic, and the whole le- 
 gend, when interpreted, runs thus : 
 
 Petkhem, (man), son of Petamon, (man), pro- 
 duced by the mistress of the house, Tamtebo ; for
 
 170 LECTURE V. 
 
 the square is a P, the half-circle a T, the third sign 
 a K, the two feathers an E, the next sign an M, 
 spelling the name of PetJcem, or Pethliem. The 
 image of the man is figurative, and is attached 
 as a sign of species to Petkem. Then follows 
 the goose and the perpendicular line, spelling se, 
 and meaning son. The plain line, you remember, 
 is N, and stands for an abbreviation of the syllable 
 nen, or an, and this hieroglyphic always distin- 
 guishes the genitive case, and therefore means of. 
 After it we have the square P, the arm T, the 
 feather A, the dented parallel ogi'am M, the undu- 
 lating line N, spelling Petamon. Then follows 
 another figure of a man, which, like the former, is 
 merely a figurative character. The two next signs 
 spell mese, as we have already noticed, and signify 
 produced. The two characters which now follow 
 are symbolico-phonetic ; the first is an emblem of 
 power and dominion belonging to a master, but 
 the half-circle that follows, as a mark of the femi- 
 nine gender, shews that this power belongs to a 
 woman ; and the figure of the house that comes 
 next proves that this power is exercised in a house ; 
 therefore, the whole group may be rendered by 
 " the mistress of the house." The remaining cha- 
 racters exhibit the name of this mistress to be 
 Tamteho, for the half-circle is T, the bird A, the 
 parallelogram M, the half-circle T, the leg B, the 
 bird O, which make all together Tamtho, that is, 
 Tamteho. 
 Again, in another legend, [[Table 7. fig. 1.^ which
 
 LECTURE V. 171 
 
 is found in two lines round an alabaster vase, we 
 have twenty-one characters ; the two first are sym- 
 bolico-figurative, exhibiting the emblem of a priest. 
 The two first figures of a man are absolutely figura- 
 tives. The third is phonetic ; the straight line is 
 a grammatical form, denoting the preposition, or 
 article, nen, which, in English, answers to the arti- 
 cles of and to. The remainder are phonetic, and 
 the whole legend would be, — " the priest of Amon, 
 Astavi, to his son Amonshe," which answers, word 
 for word, to the Coptic ; that is, Oiieh, the priest ; 
 an, of; Amon, Amon ; Astavi, Astavi ; rome, a 
 man ; an, to ; shef, or shev, his son ; Amonshe, 
 Amonshe ; rome, a man ; which is neither more 
 nor less than, Astavi, or Astovi, a priest of Amon, 
 made a present of this vase of alabaster to his son 
 Amonshe. 
 
 This last name, Amonshe, is, as you perceive, a 
 composition of two words ; Amon, the name of the 
 god, and she, son ; and it was natural for Astavi 
 to have given to his son a name by which he was 
 placed under the protection of the same deity 
 whose priest he was ; for this is a very peculiar 
 characteristic of all the Egyptian names of indivi- 
 duals, that of being generally formed from those 
 of some of their gods. 
 
 A curious instance I can give you in the 
 name of Potipherah, the very same which was 
 given to the priest of On, whose daughter Joseph 
 married, by the order of Pharaoh, as it is men- 
 tioned in Genesis xh. 45. '' and Pharaoh gave him 
 
 1
 
 172 LECTURE V. 
 
 to wife Asenath, the daughter of Potl-pherah, 
 priest of Ow." The name of this priest, as well as 
 that of Potiphar, the former master of Joseph, are 
 both spelt, in the Coptic version of the Pentateuch, 
 PetojyJire, which is a composition of three words. 
 Pet, belonging to, or approved by Ho?', the sym- 
 bolic name of the god Horus, and Re, or Phre, 
 the sun ; so that the whole name means, the man 
 who belongs to, or who is under the protection of 
 Horus, and the sun. I exhibit the legend [[Table 4. 
 fig. 33.^ which M. Champollion has found men- 
 tioned in a hieroglyphic manuscript obtained by 
 M. Cailliaud for the cabinet of the King of France. 
 
 In this legend, the name of Horus and the sun 
 are symbolic ; the figure of a man figurative ; 
 the rest are phonetic ; for the square is a P, the 
 arm a T, the bird and the line Hor, the square a P, 
 the circle re, or jihre, spelHng Pthorpre, or Pet- 
 horphre. The last character, the figure of a man, 
 is figurative, and denotes the species. 
 
 And here I think it proper to recall to your 
 mind what I said in a former Lecture about this 
 town of On, to which the Greeks gave the appella- 
 tion of Heliopolis. O71, in the original Egyptian, 
 signifies the sun, which the Greeks called Helios, 
 and, therefore, called Heliopolis the city of Helios, 
 that is, the city of On ; and it is rather a remark- 
 able circumstance to find this Egyptian name of 
 On preserved in the sacred pages. 
 
 And, since we are now speaking of the name of 
 Joseph's father-in-law, I may as well exhibit to you
 
 LECTURE V. 173 
 
 also the name of Joseph's wife, written in hierogly- 
 phics. We have mentioned that in Genesis she 
 is called Asenath, which is evidently the same as 
 the Coptic, Aseneith, because the alteration of the 
 sound of one or two vowels, either in Hebrew or 
 in Coptic, is a circumstance that happens almost 
 to every word, for both the Egyptians and the Jews 
 left out the vowels in writing. Now this word 
 Aseneith, or Asneith is a composition of the mono- 
 syllable as, belonging to, and Ne'ith, the goddess. 
 CTable 7. fig. 2r\ 
 
 You remember that the phonetic name of Neith 
 consisted of waving line, N ; two feathers, E ; and 
 the half-circle, T. Now by adding to these hiero- 
 glyphics, the arm, which is an A, and the notched 
 line an S ; ^the whole will be Asnetli, or Asneith. 
 
 M. Champollion, in the first edition of his 
 " Precis du Systeme Hieroglyphique," produced 
 another legend for the name of this wife of Joseph, 
 he called her Asesi, [^Table 7. fig. 3.]] a name 
 formed by the monosyllable As, written phone- 
 tically by the arm and the notched line, and 
 the symbolic name of the goddess Isis. This 
 interpretation he has abandoned in the second 
 edition ; but whether Asneith or Asesi be the 
 original of the name of Joseph's wife, it is very 
 curious to observe a man of letters in France, in 
 our own days, finding, in one of the hieroglyphic 
 inscriptions, a name that so corresponds with the 
 name that is found in our sacred Scriptures. 
 
 From the legends I have exhibited, and from
 
 174 LECTURE V. 
 
 what has been said, I think I have sufficiently 
 shewn, that the Egyptians, in wi'iting hieroglyphi- 
 cally the names, at least, of private individuals, did 
 not confine themselves to one sort of characters, 
 but mixed together the phonetic, the figinative, 
 and the symbolic, without any reason, or, at least, 
 mthout any reason as yet apparent to us. 
 
 I will endeavour to prove that they continued 
 the same practice in regard to the names and 
 legends belonging to kings and princes. 
 
 I have already alluded C;Table 3. fig. 2.^ to an 
 inscription in which the names of the two Pha- 
 raohs, Osorgon and Sheschonk were exhibited. At 
 the time that I called your attention to this monu- 
 ment, I merely explained the names of these two 
 sovereigns, and reserved for another occasion the 
 explanation of the rest. I shall now fulfil my 
 promise. 
 
 Of the characters which compose this legend 
 some are phonetic, some figurative, and some 
 symbohc. The whole reading, in Coptic, is, ouab 
 anAmon-re soten annenoute Osorchon 'pri(ox pre) , 
 ce or ci an ouab an Amon-re Souten Scheschonh re 
 Soten Nebto (Amonmai Osorchon) S^^c. The mean- 
 ing is, tlie pure bij Amon-re Mng of the gods, Osor- 
 chon deceased, son of the imre, (here come the 
 two characters, the head and the square, which are 
 still unknown,) then follows by Amon-re, king of 
 the gods, Scheshonh deceased, son of Mng of the 
 world, (beloved by Amon-re, Osorchon,) imparting 
 life, like the sun, for ever.
 
 LECTURE V. 175 
 
 As you observe, the groups containing the names 
 of Osorchon and Scheshonk are phonetic, so are 
 most of the other groups representing the word se, 
 which signifies son ; the different groups exhibit- 
 ing the name of Amon, and even the participle 
 mai (beloved), and other such figurative hiero- 
 glyphics, are the characters expressing the deity ; 
 the indefinite number, of course, is represented by 
 three units, and the repetition of the same charac- 
 ters signifying the world. 
 
 So much for the characters ; now for the con- 
 tents of this curious inscription. 
 
 Here we have the names of three kings, two called 
 Osorchon, one Scheshonk. The first of these Osor- 
 chons seems to have been the gi'andfather of the 
 second ; and yet this second, who was then reigning, 
 had alone the distinction of having his name en- 
 closed in an oval, whilst both his father, Scheshonk, 
 and his grandfather, Osorchon, have their names 
 written without this distinction. Another curious 
 circumstance is, that though these two princes are 
 deprived of the honour of having their names en- 
 closed in an oval, yet they are both decorated by 
 the title of king, which is denied to Osorchon, 
 then reigning, whose name is enclosed in the ring, 
 without this distinction. 
 
 This curious difference evidently proves, that 
 the ring itself was considered a sufficient mark 
 to denote principality, and that when this dis- 
 tinction did not take place, it was necessary to add 
 the character expressing it. 
 
 Another curious circumstance is, that there
 
 17G LECTURE V. 
 
 seems to have existed in Egypt, from time im- 
 memorial, the custom of pepetuating certain 
 names in the family, and that, generally speak- 
 ing, to the grandson was given the name of the 
 grandfather ; as, for instance, in this legend we 
 have the name of Osorchon given to his gi'and- 
 son, then reigning. 
 
 This Osorchon seems to have been the Zarah, 
 or Zarach, the king of Ethiopia, recorded in the 
 second book of Chronicles, who, with an host of a 
 thousand thousand and three hundred chariots came 
 to make war against Asa, the grandson of Jeroboam, 
 and was defeated at Mareshah ; although the 
 Greek historians have never mentioned either the 
 name or exploits of Osorchon, this fact is attest- 
 ed by an hieroglj^hical manuscript, published by 
 Denon. It is a funeral legend, loaded with figures, 
 on and round which there are several hieroglyphical 
 inscriptions. By the shortness of their contents, 
 and the negligence with which they are engraved, 
 when we consider the importance of the person to 
 whom they refer, they must be looked upon as 
 belonging to that peculiar sort of inscriptions merely 
 recording the death and the obsequies of kings, or 
 other great persons, without pretending to rank 
 amongst the monuments of a higher sort, which 
 are, properly speaking, historical. Inscriptions of 
 this kind are by no means uncommon ; they are 
 generally accompanied by figures and representa- 
 tions, sometimes striking, but generally odd and 
 extraordinary. This legend, in fact, Denon men- 
 tions that he copied from a manuscript picture.
 
 LECTURE V. 177 
 
 which represents the mummy of the king Osorchon 
 in various positions, and over which this same 
 legend is repeated several times. 
 
 Besides this manuscript, the names of these 
 Pharaohs are found engraved on different statues, 
 and on the columns of the palace of Karnac ; 
 they are also engraved on a magnificent vase 
 which now exists in the Royal Museum at Paris, 
 and formerly belonged to one of the Roman family 
 of the Claudii, who thought proper to use it as 
 a funeral urn, on which they had engraved the 
 name of this patrician, in large Roman letters, 
 over and across the Egyptian. 
 
 These Pharaohs lived about one thousand years 
 before Christ, according to the Hebrew chronology, 
 since they were contemporaries of the kings of 
 Judah, Rehoboam, son of Solomon, and Asa ; and 
 from this legend, as well as from those I have 
 already quoted, it is evident, first, that phonetic 
 hieroglyphics must have been in use before this 
 time, and that in wi'iting hieroglyphics, the Egyp- 
 tians promiscuously employed the phonetic, the 
 figurative, and the symbolical characters. 
 
 I must now proceed to call your attention to 
 another curious, and not less striking circumstance, 
 and that is, whenever we cast our eyes upon the 
 legends which contain the names of any of the 
 kings of Egypt, we find them always enclosed in 
 two oval rings, the first of which is invariably sur- 
 mounted by four distinct characters, among which 
 we easily discern the figure of a bee. [^Table 7. 
 
 N
 
 178 LECTURK V. 
 
 fig. 4. r/.^ Tlie second oval or ring is surmounted 
 by the bird or goose of the Nile, at the top of which 
 there is a circle, [[fig. 4, i.]] But as soon as we apply 
 ourselves to find out the meaning of the signs en- 
 closed by these rings, or cartouches, we discover that 
 the historical name of the sovereign is invariably con- 
 tained in the second oval,which is surmounted by the 
 goose and the circle, while the first oval, without ex- 
 ception, always exhibits one or more names of gods 
 or goddesses, mostly expressed by figurative or sym- 
 boUcal characters, though not seldom phonetic. 
 
 They are all honorary or mystic titles, which 
 every ruler of Egypt, from the earliest Pharaohs 
 to the very last of the Roman emperors, regularly 
 assumed. They form a sort of praenomen, so 
 pecuharly defined, as to suit only the individual 
 whom it was intended to specify. This remark- 
 able circumstance is so much the more to be at- 
 tended to, as from these very prsenomina, or mystic 
 titles, we have derived one of the strongest argu- 
 ments that can be imagined in favour of the great 
 antiquity of phonetic hieroglyphics, and of the 
 immense power and high civilization of the Egyp- 
 tians, so far back as two thousand three hundred 
 years before Christ, as I shall soon endeavour to 
 explain. 
 
 Confining myself at present to the external 
 signs, I beg to observe, that invariably on the oval 
 that contains the mystic titles, there are the cha- 
 racters marked in Table 7, fig. 4, a; whilst on the 
 other oval, that exhibits the historical name, we
 
 LECTURE V, 179 
 
 find the other characters expressed by fig. 4, b. The 
 former are tlie plant, two semicircles, and the bee. 
 The first is an S, each of the second a T, an abbrevia- 
 tion oisoten, or suten, which is the Egyptian name 
 to signify a king ; and the bee, which, according to 
 Horoapollo, is the symbol of popular obedience 
 being added to it, enables us to explain the whole 
 group by Mng of the obedient people. As to the 
 other characters, which are at the top of the second 
 oval [^fig. 4. 6.^ you remember that the bird indicates 
 the relation of son, and the circle is the symbolic 
 name of the god Re, or Phre, the great luminary, 
 the sun ; therefore, these two characters mean, 
 son (or offspring) of the sun. These external 
 signs, being always the same, offer no difficulty, for 
 their import never alters. But the case is different 
 with the characters contained in the ring ; for they 
 vary most materially with the names of the dif- 
 ferent kings, each having characters so peculiar to 
 himself, that by the mere difference of them we 
 may distinguish the several monarchs who bore 
 the same name ; the four or five Ramesses, for 
 instance, and all the Ptolemies. But as it would 
 require more time than we have, to enumerate and 
 explain all the groups which enter into the compo- 
 sition of these prasnomina, I shall confine myself 
 to those which most generally occur, in their 
 grammatical form, though they may, and indeed 
 they do vary in their expression, when combined 
 with the names of the different gods, or goddesses, 
 with which each of them forms a specific legend. 
 
 N 2
 
 180 LECTU RE V. 
 
 The first group to which I mean to call your 
 attention, is a figure very much resembhng a 
 plough-share, followed by two feathers. [^Table 7, 
 fig. 5.'2 For some time these signs were incom- 
 prehensible, but fortunately for the progress of 
 the modern discoveries in hieroglyphical litera- 
 ture, these two signs joined to the phonetic name 
 of P/it/ia, were found to exist in the name of 
 Ptolemy, engraved on the Rosetta stone, which 
 was rendered in Greek by the word loved, or 
 beloved by Phtha. This remarkable circumstance 
 attracted the attention of the antiquaries, and M. 
 Champollion ascertained that the plough is an M, 
 the two feathers an E, or I, and the whole gives 
 the word mcli, or mei^ which in Egyptian signifies 
 loved ; and thus perfectly agi'eeing, not only with 
 the Greek version engi'aved on the Rosetta stone, 
 but also with the translation we have from Her- 
 mapion of one of the ancient obelisks of Rome, 
 which unfortunately has not escaped the ravages 
 of the barbarians, and of time. 
 
 Sometimes, instead of the plough, we find a sort 
 of a square, a kind of pedestal joined to the two 
 feathers, [[fig. 6.]] But as this pedestal is a syno- 
 nyme of the plough, and equally represents the 
 letter M, the meaning of the group remains the 
 same. Now, if to this gi'oup of the plough and 
 the feathers, or of the pedestal and the feathers, 
 we add the name of any god or goddess, such as 
 Ammon, Re, Phtha, and the like, whether phoneti- 
 cally, figuratively, or symbolically expressed, we
 
 LECTURE V. 181 
 
 shall have the phrase, beloved by Amon, beloved 
 by Rhe, or beloved by Phtha. 
 
 In the groups, for instance, mentioned in fig. 7, 
 we have this very phrase, beloved by Ammon, ex- 
 pressed phonetically, for the whole reads, Amon 
 metis f that is, beloved by Ammon. This title seems 
 to have been very common to most of the Pharaohs; 
 for these characters are very often found on the 
 obelisks and the great buildings of Thebes, which, 
 without doubt, were raised by their order. 
 
 Sometimes we find this same title expressed 
 partly by figurative, and partly by phonetic hiero- 
 glyphics. In the group, for example, of fig. 8. the 
 name of Ammon is exhibited figuratively ; the ad- 
 jective mai, beloved, phonetically. And as some- 
 times the god Ammon received the appellation of 
 Ammon-1'e, we find some of the Pharaohs assuming 
 the title of beloved by Ammon-re. In this gi'oup 
 you have a phonetic expression of this title, the 
 whole of which reads Amonre-mai. j^fig. 9.^ 
 
 Sometimes we meet with the same title expressed 
 figuratively, as in fig. 10, which shews the image of 
 Ammon, the solar disk, and the adjective mai. 
 
 In some of the legends of the basso reUevos of 
 the temples, the god Ammon is designed with the 
 attribute of being the supreme lord, or lord of the 
 three regions of the world. I exhibit the whole in 
 this legend, [[fig. 11.]] 
 
 In this group we have the name of Amon-re 
 phonetically, followed by his figure, representing a 
 god, and the adjective maiy as usual, at the end.
 
 182 LECTURE V. 
 
 The meaning of the whole legend is, " Beloved 
 by Amon-Re, god, lord of the three regions of 
 the world, supreme lord." 
 
 What has been said of the god Ammon may be 
 applied to all other Egyptian gods and goddesses, 
 whose protection the several Pharaohs boasted of 
 having obtained ; and the names of these gods or 
 goddesses are sometimes expressed figuratively, or 
 phonetically, and at other times symbolically. In 
 this gi'oup, for example, [[fig. 12.]] w^e have the 
 expression, beloved by the god Re. The name of 
 the god may be considered as phonetic, because the 
 circle is an R, and the line is an E ; but it may also 
 be considered as symbolical, because the circle, with 
 or without the perpendicular line, is the symbol of 
 the god Re. And the same expression might be 
 obtained, by exhibiting a human figure with the 
 head of a hawk, in the usual posture in which all 
 the Egyptian gods are represented ; which, you 
 remember, is the figurative representation of the 
 god Re [[Table 4. fig. 10^ ; then the figm-e would 
 stand for the name of the god. The plough, or 
 the pedestal, is an indication of the adjective mat, 
 for these abbreviations are very commonly em- 
 ployed in the hierogl^^hical legends ; and the whole 
 w^ould be, Re-mai, or Re-mei, that is, beloved by 
 the god Re. [Table 7. fig. 12.;] 
 
 However, in reading these different groups, pro- 
 per attention must be paid to observe whether the 
 plough or the pedestal, that is, the characters de- 
 noting the adjective mai, precede or follow the
 
 LECTURE V. 183 
 
 name of the god or goddesses ; for if they follow, 
 as in the gi'oups I have exhibited, the meaning is 
 as I have stated, and they are to be considered as 
 the adjective, or, if you like it best, as the passive 
 participle, loved. But if they precede the name 
 of the god, then they change their signification 
 from passive to active, and mean no longer loved, 
 but loving ; and in this case the reading will not 
 be, beloved by Amnion, or beloved by Re, but loving 
 Amnion, or loving Re. 
 
 The discovery of this curious qualification, arising 
 from the position of these signs, is also due to the 
 Rosetta stone. In the demotic text of that pre- 
 cious monument, which supplies the deficiency of 
 the hieroglyphical inscription, we find this to be 
 the case, whenever the adjective mai precedes the 
 group of the god, and it is, in fact, so translated 
 in the Greek version, by the original author of 
 the inscription. From this circumstance, Cham- 
 poUion suspected that the same thing would have 
 taken place in the hieroglyphic inscription, and, 
 consequently, in endeavouring to ascertain the 
 point, he afterwards found his suspicions right. 
 Many instances might be adduced of this difference 
 of signification from amongst those quoted by Cham- 
 pollion, all of which concur to prove that the posi- 
 tion of the ploughshare, or pedestal, changes the 
 passive into the active signification ; and this you 
 may easily imagine, by altering the position of these 
 characters in the groups I have exhibited. 
 
 Another pretty general title assumed by the
 
 184 LECTURE V. 
 
 rulers of Egypt, differs very much from that we 
 have just considered. It consists of three signs, 
 which I exhibit in fig. 13. The import of the first 
 two signs has been for a long time unknown, but 
 there seems no doubt that they are phonetic ; be- 
 cause in other groups, in which the sense seems to 
 be perfectly the same, instead of the waving line, 
 which we know to be an N, we find the head- 
 dress and the lituus mixed into one character, 
 \yig. 14.^ which is a synonyme of the waving line. 
 But still, of their meaning or their import we knew 
 nothing, and our antiquaries have for some time 
 been at a loss how to interpret the group, which 
 appears in many legends and inscriptions. For- 
 tunately, however, amongst the ruins at Philae 
 M. Huyot found a ring, containing several cha- 
 racters, which are perfectly similar to those applied 
 to Ptolemy Epiphanis in the Rosetta stone ; and 
 this similarity of characters at once shewed, that the 
 two inscriptions referred to the same monarch. 
 
 Now by turning to the Greek translation at the 
 bottom of the Rosetta stone, we find the group 
 arising from these three characters, joined to three 
 more, [^fig. 15.^ translated by the phrase H^aKrroc 
 i^oKi/iial^v, that is, Vulcan approves, or app?'oved by 
 PhtJia ; for the Greeks gave to the Egy^^tian god 
 Phtha the name of H^atarog. Now we know that 
 the three first characters, [^Table 4. fig. 5.]] the 
 chain, the square, and the half-circle, are letters 
 spelling the name of that god ; therefore, we may 
 reasonably conclude that the remaining three cha-
 
 LECTURE V. 185 
 
 racters [[Table 7. fig. 15.]] mean, the approved of, 
 that is, the man whom Phtha has approved, or has 
 jchosen. 
 
 This group, hke all other groups of the same 
 sort, implying qualification, may be varied at plea- 
 sure, by being added to other phonetic, figurative, 
 or symbolic characters. For if, instead of the 
 phonetic name of Phtha, we add any of the cha- 
 racters expressing the name of Ammon, we shall 
 have, the approved by Ammon ; and this meaning 
 will continue the same, if, instead of the phonetic, 
 the characters should be figurative, or symbolical. 
 In the following groups I offer some instances. 
 
 In fig. 16. we have the figure of Ammon, and 
 therefore the group means, the approved by Ainmon. 
 
 In fig. 17. we have the symbol of Re; and 
 therefore the group means the approved hy Re. 
 
 In fig. 18. we have again the figure of Re, with 
 the head of a hawk ; and therefore the group does 
 still mean, the approved by Re. 
 
 And should we to the group add the pedestal, 
 and over it exhibit the symbols or figures of both 
 Ammon and Re, we should then have the meaning 
 of beloved by Ammon, and approved by Re, as in 
 fig. 19. Or, by changing the figure of any of 
 these deities, and placing in its stead either the 
 symbol or the fig*ure of another god, we shall have 
 the same phrase, of approved of by that god, 
 whose symbol or figm-e is attached to the gram- 
 matical group in fig. 13. 
 
 Another proud title assumed by most, if not all
 
 186 LECTURE V. 
 
 the rulers of Egypt, is — the son of the sun. This, 
 you remember, is invariably expressed by the figure 
 of the bird, or goose of the Nile, over which hes 
 the circle, the symbolical character of the sun, or, 
 as he is called by the Egyptians, of Re. These 
 two characters are invariably at the top of the 
 second oval, [[fig. 4, b.^ which contains the histo- 
 rical name of the sovereign, whether he be a king 
 or an emperor, a queen or an empress ; in which 
 latter case we always find the half circle, which is 
 the mark of the feminine gender. 
 
 You remember that the god Re, or the sun, was 
 looked upon as the king of the visible world, to 
 which he imparted life by his influence and power ; 
 and the sovereigns of Egypt, who, in a pohtical 
 point of view, considered themselves as equally 
 beneficial and necessary to the welfare of their 
 country, had estabhshed a kind of mystic alhance, 
 of which the ordinary expression was the title 
 which they all bore, of the son of the sun. We 
 find it, in fact, in all the legends of the Pharaohs, 
 of the Ptolemies, and even of the Emperors. The 
 name of Xerxes is the only one which appears 
 without this honour. The hatred, nay, the horror, 
 which the Persian kings at all times exhibited 
 against every rehgion except that of Zoroaster, 
 may be, perhaps, one of the causes why they them- 
 selves disdained a title, the assumption of which 
 might have been considered as if favouring the 
 religion of the Egyptians, which they had so much 
 ridiculed and persecuted. To- this very powerful
 
 LECTURE V. 187 
 
 reason, we may add another, still more so, and that 
 is, the severe measures which the Persian monarchs 
 were often obliged to adopt, while endeavouring to 
 introduce their own religion. This, of course, pro- 
 duced resistance in the natives, gave fresh animation 
 to the bigotry of the Persians, and at last left them 
 no disposition to allow the wi^etched people the pro- 
 fession of any religion but that of their conquerors. 
 
 We find, in fact, the sovereigns of the Greek 
 and the Roman dynasties, who were not inflamed 
 by the same fanaticism of intolerance, who, in 
 the theology of other nations, saw, or imagined 
 they saw, their own gods, easily adopted, from 
 Alexander to Cleopatra, all the titles invented by 
 the Egyptian court ; and, by so doing, shewed as 
 much policy as tolerance. 
 
 In the legends of the Pharaohs, to this title of 
 son of tJie sun, we often find another added, of the 
 same honorific nature. It is very common, indeed, 
 to meet with, before the name of the sovereign, 
 three more characters, the pedestal, the line, and 
 the serpent, [[fig. 20.]] which express the word mail', 
 composed by men, loving, and er, or ir, him. For 
 you remember, I hope, that the serpent is both the 
 letter R, and the pronoun ir, or er, which means 
 him. Of this legend, therefore, the meaning is. 
 Son of the sun, ivho loves him. 
 
 Other Pharaohs, in the inscriptions raised to their 
 
 honour, assume a still greater title, that of the ^;r^- 
 
 f erred son, ov favourite son, of the god Re. [[fig. 21.]] 
 
 This proud title is seen, in fact, on the two great
 
 188 LECTURE V. 
 
 obelisks of Louqsor, at Thebes, and the characters 
 are all phonetic. The bird S, the line E, the 
 crooked line S, the owl an M, the broken Hne an 
 S, the waving line N, the circle and the line RE, 
 which means, Se, the son, altogether spelling sema- 
 sen, or semasene, that is, preferred, or chosen, — 
 an, by, — Re, the sun. 
 
 I might extend these observations to a gi*eater 
 length, and produce other instances of all the 
 titles we have as yet discovered, which the mo- 
 narchs of Egypt occasionally and severally assumed. 
 But the facts which I have offered to your notice 
 will be sufficient, I hope, to explain to you what is 
 meant by the praenomen enclosed in the first of 
 the two rings, which exhibit the names of the 
 Egyptian sovereigns. One observation more I 
 shall add, and that is, that the honorary titles 
 assumed by a king become the exclusive charac- 
 teristic of that monarch, and are never the same 
 with those assumed by any of his predecessors or 
 successors. Some of the titles, indeed, such as 
 son of the sun, beloved by Amon, by Re, by 
 Horus, and the like, may be found in the legends 
 of other sovereigns ; but with these old titles, if I 
 may call them so, we find some others quite new, 
 either for their originaUty, or for being joined to 
 other titles, so as to produce a new total, and a 
 new legend, which is as peculiarly characteristic of 
 that sovereign, as the specific name by which he 
 is distinguished in history. An exemplification of 
 this sort will form the subject of our next Lecture.
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 Continuation of the same subject— Ramesses the Great — The 
 Sesostris of the Greeks — Rames-Mei-moun — Legend, exhibit- 
 ing the name and mystic titles of this Pharaoh round the 
 cover of the Sarcophagus existing in the Museum at Cam- 
 bridge — Explanation of the legend — Antiquity of the momc. 
 ment — Tomb of the Pharaoh Ousirei opened by Belzoni — 
 Legend of his mystic titles and historical name — Reflexions 
 on the chronology of the Septuagint and the Hebretv text — 
 Table of Abydos — Discoveries made by Champollion, con- 
 firming the canon of Manet ho — The Hyk-shos, or the shep- 
 herd kings — Reflexions — Plan of an expedition — Important 
 results that might be expected from it — Extract from Dugald 
 Stuart. 
 
 We have already made some progress in ascertain- 
 ing the high antiquity of phonetic hieroglyphics ; 
 and we must now go back a little and resume the 
 reading of the inscriptions expressing the names of 
 the Pharaohs. Amongst these inscriptions, con- 
 taining a royal name, we have mentioned one 
 which, more than any other, is found engraved, 
 and, with some little variation repeated upon almost 
 every ancient monument existing, wherever the 
 Egyptians extended their empire. You remember 
 that it is seen scattered through the whole of Nubia, 
 in that tract of land which lies between the second
 
 190 I, EC TURF, VI. 
 
 cataract of the Nile, and the temple of Philoe ; and 
 it is found painted or engraved all over the walls of 
 the great buildings at Isamboul, Calabsche, Derry, 
 Ghirche, and Ovady, as well as at Esse-boua. It 
 is exhibited and repeated all over Egypt, from 
 Syene to the Mediterranean sea ; on several places 
 of the palace of Karnac ; on the great pillar, and 
 throughout the temple of Louqsor ; all over the 
 tomb of Osymandias ; and, lastly, fills a whole line 
 of the table of Abydos. It is also to be seen on 
 almost every obelisk of ancient date, whether still 
 in Egypt, or removed to a foreign land, as well as 
 on the inscription in two languages or characters 
 existing in Syria, at Nahhar-El-Kelb ; in short, 
 throughout the Egyptian world. 
 
 This legend, so many times and so variously 
 repeated, was intended, as we mentioned in a 
 former Lecture, to immortalize the name and the 
 memory of two or three of the greatest Pharaohs 
 that ever held the sceptre of Egypt. Their name 
 was Rameses, or Ramses, of which I offered you 
 the reading in Table 3. fig. 5, h, and fig. 7, a. 
 
 The name of Ramesses seems to have been a 
 favourite name with the Egyptians ; even before the 
 period of which we are now speaking, they gave it 
 to one of the cities which the Pharaoh of the Scrip- 
 tures granted to the Israelites, as it is recorded in 
 Genesis xlvii. 11. " And Joseph placed his father 
 and his brethren, and gave them possession in the 
 land of Egypt, in the best of land, in the land of 
 Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded." 
 1
 
 LECTURE VI. 191 
 
 This city, therefore, must have been akeady in 
 existence at the time of Joseph, and it is not to be 
 confomided with the other of the same name, which 
 one of the Pharaohs compelled the Israelites to 
 build during their captivity. This last circum- 
 stance is also recorded in the Bible, Exodus i. 11. 
 " and, therefore, they did set over them task-mas- 
 ters, to afflict them with their burdens. And they 
 built for Pharaoh treasure-cities, Pithom and 
 Raamses." 
 
 The ruins of one of these cities are still to be 
 seen near the village called Schleimi. It formerly 
 stood on the border of a great canal, which carried 
 the water of the Nile into the lake Mariotis. With 
 regard, however, to the Pharaohs who bore this 
 name, it is curious to observe that the cover of the 
 sarcophagus, which held the remains of one of 
 these great princes, now lies at the Museum in 
 Cambridge. The mummy itself may be perishing, 
 it is impossible to say where : it may be meet- 
 ing the careless gaze of the vulgar, or attracting the 
 reflection of the intelligent, but without a name, 
 and no longer perpetuating the memory of the 
 mighty monarch, who in his lifetime had been 
 styled the Destroyer of his enemies, and the Con- 
 queror of distant nations, who had been honoured 
 by the still more affecting title of the Father of his 
 people, though no doubt, like all other conquerors, 
 he ought rather to have been termed the scourge 
 of mankind. Such is the brief immortality that 
 can be bestowed even by all the genius that is
 
 192 LECTURE VI. 
 
 displayed by the fine arts, even by all the wonders 
 that can be performed by the mere mechanical 
 power of man. This was felt by a mortal of a 
 similar description, the once formidable conqueror 
 of our own times. Buonaparte had been admiring 
 for some time one of the best pictures of Guercino, 
 in the palace of the Louvre, when turning to the 
 Baron Denon, who was attending him, " Que ce 
 tableau est superbe, Denon !" " Oui, Sire ; c'est un 
 ouvi'age immortel." " Immortel !" cried Buona- 
 parte : " Oui, Sire, immortel." " How long do 
 you think it will last ?" " With care, five hundred 
 years." " And how long do you think a statue 
 may last ?" " Perhaps two thousand." " Eh bien, 
 Denon, do you call this immortal ?" 
 
 We now return to the great Egyptian potentate 
 we have just alluded to. The man, the monarch, 
 whose remains were covered by the lid of this sar- 
 cophagus, and to whom most of these inscriptions 
 refer, we are informed by history, was a warlike 
 prince, for his image is engraved in relievos, repre- 
 senting sieges, battles, marches, and congresses. 
 He also carried his victorious arms against distant 
 countries, since upon some of the monuments he 
 is represented receiving the homage of the nations 
 he had conquered ; their dress and complexions 
 are very different from those of the Egyptians, 
 whose images are equally engraved in the same 
 relievos. From the presents he receives of animals 
 and other productions peculiar to Africa, this prince 
 must have advanced deeply into the interior of
 
 LECTURE V[. 193 
 
 that vast continent, so little now known to us. 
 From the inscriptions of the several temples which 
 have been dedicated to him, it is evident that he 
 was their founder, or their restorer ; and we may 
 consequently judge of his power and of his riches. 
 
 According to M. Champollion, whose train of 
 reasoning is much too long for a lecture of this sort, 
 the name of this prince was Rameses Mei-amoun, 
 great grandfather of Rameses the Great, the Sesos- 
 tris of the Greeks, who, according to Manetho, 
 made the conquest of Syria, Phenicia, Babylon, 
 and Media; and was considered one of the greatest 
 princes that ever sat on the throne of Egypt. He 
 received the surname of Great, to distinguish him 
 from other Pharaohs, who bore the name of Ra- 
 meses. 
 
 From the chronological canon of Manetho, it 
 appears that the reign of our Rameses Mei-amoun, 
 was very long, more than sixty years, which seems 
 to correspond with the military expeditions, an 
 account of which is engraved on his palace at 
 Medinet-Habou. The tomb of this prince exists 
 still in the valley of Biban-el-Malouk, to the west 
 of Thebes, which Strabo records to have been 
 opened before his time. This superb excavation 
 resembles greatly that of the Pharaoh Ousirei, 
 which was opened by the labours of the indefa- 
 tigable and unfortunate Belzoni, the model of 
 which was exhibited for a long time at the Egyp- 
 tian hall, and which has been mistaken by some 
 for the tomb of Necao, and by others for that of
 
 194 LECTURE VI. 
 
 Psameticus. The legend, in fact, which is contained 
 in the oval exhibiting the name of the prince, whose 
 remains had been laid in that tomb, evidently shews 
 that his name was Ousirei, [^Table 7. fig. 22, b.'2 
 For it is made out by three hieroglyphics, one 
 figurative, and two phonetic, — the figure of Osiris, 
 and the two feathers. For you remember that the 
 three characters above, and the two below, are 
 a continuation of his mystic titles, some of which 
 are contained in the first oval, [[fig. 22, «.^ so 
 that the whole legend exhibited in the two ovals 
 would be, — the Os Irian king, (beloved by Re 
 and Sme,) son of the sun, (beloved by Phtha, 
 Ousirei.) 
 
 I shall explain each hieroglyphic. The first 
 two characters are the eye and the throne ; [[fig. 
 22, «.[] They are the symbolical representation 
 of Osiris, in the form usually found before the 
 titles and proper name of the deceased of all 
 classes, and under all circumstances. This god, 
 you remember, is the ruler of the Amenti, and 
 under his jurisdiction all men are placed at the 
 moment of their death. These two hieroglyphics 
 together spell selc, or soh, and may be considered 
 as symbolico-phonetic. Of the next two characters, 
 the plant is an S, and the half circle is a T, an 
 abbreviation of Soten, King. In the oval, the first 
 character is the symbol of the god Phre, the second 
 the figure of the goddess Sme, the goddess of 
 truth and justice ; and the last is a synonyme of 
 the plough-share and pedestal, and stands for an M,
 
 LECTURE VI. 195 
 
 an abbreviation of Mei, loved. The signification 
 of the bird and the circle, at the top of the oval h, 
 we have seen to signify, son of the sun. Within 
 it we have the three first characters, which, like 
 those in Table 4. fig. 5, spell the name of the god 
 Phtha. Then follows the name of Ousirei, and 
 the whole concludes with the pedestal, which stands 
 for Mei, and the waving line, the mark of the ge- 
 nitive case. 
 
 I am glad to hear that Mrs. Belzoni has adver- 
 tised a publication of all the drawings made by her 
 late husband, about this magnificent tomb, though 
 in the Prospectus I have seen, some errors have 
 been committed in explaining the maps, and much 
 heterogeneous matter has been introduced ; but 
 that is not her fault. The work will be published 
 under the patronage of his Royal Highness the 
 Duke of Clarence, who on this, as on all other 
 occasions, has shewn himself both the friend of the 
 unfortunate, and the enlightened patron of learn- 
 ing. With my heart I wish Mrs. Belzoni the great- 
 est possible success : she is deserving of it on all 
 accounts. The efforts of her husband have been 
 highly serviceable to enlarge our knowledge, and 
 to ascertain several points connected with Egyptian 
 antiquities. His herculean labours have afforded 
 to our scholars, and to M. Champolhon most par- 
 ticularly, the means of continuing their learned 
 inquiries. 
 
 We must return now to the tomb of Ramesses 
 Mei-amoun. In this tomb there was a sarcopha- 
 
 o 2
 
 19G LECTU HE V[. 
 
 giis of red granite, the cover of which, as I have 
 just mentioned, hes in the vestibule of the Fitz- 
 wiUiam Museum in the University of Cambridge. 
 As a mark of gratitude for the many favours he 
 had received, Mr. Belzoni presented it to the Rev. 
 G. A. Browne, Fellow of Trinity College ; and this 
 gentleman, very generously, wishing still to allow 
 Mr. Belzoni to reap the full benefit of his labours 
 presented it, in Belzoni's name, to the University 
 of Cambridge. Round this cover, amidst other 
 characters, there is the inscription marked in Table 
 3. fig. 7. 
 
 The meaning of this inscription was first inter- 
 preted by M. Champollion, and communicated by 
 letter to the same Rev. G. A. Browne. It has 
 since been published by Mr. Yorke, in his work 
 on the Eg}^ptian monuments existing in this coun- 
 try, and it appears to be this. Osiris, or the 
 Osirian king of the obedient j^^ople, Lord of the 
 ivorld, (whom the sun and Sate protect, the be- 
 loved of Anion,) the son of the sun, loving the 
 gods, the lord of the three regions, (Ramses the 
 martial,) deceased. 
 
 The first three signs of this inscription I have 
 already explained in decyphering the name of 
 Ousirei. Here, however, we have the addition of 
 the figure of a god, which does not exist in the 
 mystic titles of that Pharaoh ; perhaps it was left 
 out for the sake of avoiding confusion by too great 
 a multiplicity of signs. 
 
 The other expressions. King of the obedient
 
 LECTURE VI. 197 
 
 2^eGple, Lord of the world, evidently belong to the 
 person enclosed in the sarcophagus, and prove him 
 to be one of the kings of Egypt. The title of 
 King is expressed by the three following phonetic 
 signs, the first of which is an S, the second a T ; 
 they stand for an abbreviation of the word Soten, 
 which means king. The bee, as I stated in a for- 
 mer Lecture, is the symbol of obedience, or rather, 
 the obedient people. 
 
 Of the two rings, the first contains the prseno- 
 men, or mystic titles ; and the characters which 
 they exhibit produce a legend somewhat different 
 from that which we have just stated. For these 
 characters consist, first of a circle, which is the 
 symbolic expression of the god Phre ; secondly, 
 of a post or sceptre, with a jackall's or dog's head 
 at the top. This, according to Horapollo, was the 
 symbol of watching, or watchfulness, and, there- 
 fore, often taken for a guardian ; for it is not to be 
 confounded with the other character of nearly the 
 same sort, which, in Table 4. fig. 4, we stated to 
 be the symbol of the deity. The third hierogly- 
 phic is the image of Sme, the goddess of truth and 
 justice, which in the first edition of his " Systeme," 
 M. Champollion had taken for Sate. The next 
 three characters spell the name of Amon, and the 
 last, you remember, is an M, and stands for the 
 participle Mai, beloved. Therefore the whole put 
 together would be, " the guardian sun of justice 
 and truth, beloved hy Ammon" And so, in fact, 
 has M. Champollion explained these characters iii
 
 198 LECTURE VI. 
 
 the second edition of his *' Precis du Systeme 
 Hieroglyphique." 
 
 After this ring we meet with six characters ; the 
 first, as we have already observed, is phonetic, 
 stands for an S, and is an abbreviation of se, which 
 means son ; the second is figurative, and represents 
 the image of the sun, and both together signify 
 son of the sun. 
 
 Of the next two characters, the plough-share is 
 an M, and stands for Mei, which, as it precedes 
 the symbohcal character of the deity, means loving; 
 and the three units, which express the plural, allow 
 us to read them, loving the gods. 
 
 The other two characters mean the lord of the 
 three regions, that is. Upper, Lower, and Middle 
 Egypt. For the sign at the top, you remember, 
 is the symbol of power, the two small half circles 
 under it, placed upon one another, are the emblem 
 of a country, or, more properly, of Egypt, and 
 the three units signify the three portions of this 
 country, that is, the upper, the middle, and the 
 lower. 
 
 The next frame, marked a, exhibits the historical 
 name of the mummy contained in the sarcophagus, 
 and it is composed of four signs ; the first is the 
 figurative expression of the god Re ; the next is 
 an M, and each of the two last is an S ; so that 
 the whole spells Ra-m-ses. 
 
 Of the next two characters, M. Champollion 
 interprets the meaning to be martial, but I do not 
 know the reason, for he assigns none.
 
 LECTURE VI. 199 
 
 The last two signs, which conclude the inscrip- 
 tion, are phonetic. The first is an N, the second 
 I do not know. But they are an abbreviation of 
 a larger group, which M. Champolhon considers 
 as terminating every funeral inscription. 
 
 The last observation I shall make, is, that in 
 this legend we have, as usual, a mixture of figura- 
 tive, symbolical, and phonetic characters, employed 
 indiscriminately. 
 
 M. Champolhon has shewn that this Ramses 
 Mei-amoun was the fifteenth king of the eighteenth 
 dynasty, which was called diospolitan, because the 
 kings who belonged to this dynasty were of a 
 Theban family, and in the neighbourhood of that 
 city they had their sepulchres. To him we must 
 ascribe the building of the great palace of Me- 
 dineh-tabou ; and, in fact, the name of this prince 
 is engraved on every part of this superb edifice ; 
 just as the names of Ptolemy Philometor, and of 
 Evergetes II., are found all over the temple of 
 Ombos, the foundation of which, according to the 
 Greek historians, is due to these two princes of 
 the Lagid dynasty. 
 
 Perhaps, by way of a digression, I may be 
 allowed to observe a great similarity of significa- 
 tions of the word Tahou, in the Egyptian language, 
 and in the dialect used by the inhabitants of several 
 islands in the Pacific ocean. In both these lan- 
 guages this w^ord means sacred, no matter whether 
 sacred to the living or to the dead. You remem- 
 ber the account which Captain Cook gives. For 
 
 1
 
 200 LECTURE VI. 
 
 a long time the natives would not allow him to 
 enter a place enclosed by a kind of pahng ; and 
 for a long time the English commodore was not 
 able to find out the reason of this prohibition. 
 Whenever he made an attempt to enter the place, 
 he was told he could not, because it was tahou, or 
 tahouecl; and it was after he became acquainted 
 with their language and their customs, that he 
 found out that the word tahou signified sacred, and 
 that the place was so called because it contained 
 their dead. 
 
 Indeed, if we were to follow the analogy which 
 navigators and travellers have found in the lan- 
 guage and customs of many of the most distant 
 nations both in the old and the new continent, and 
 especially among the savages of the Pacific Ocean, 
 we should be surprised at the great similarity which 
 exists in the customs and languages of both the 
 one and the other, and which evidently proves a 
 common origin, a common descent, and a common 
 stock. It is from considerations like these that 
 Carh, who had well studied the origin of languages, 
 and the annals of mankind, asserted that the Egyp- 
 tians had peopled America. This is not the place, 
 nor indeed the time, for me to develope the inge- 
 nious system of the learned antiquarian, nor the 
 mode by which the descendants of Noah have 
 spread far and wide throughout the world. This 
 subject, so interesting in itself and in its conse- 
 quences, requires to be treated in a regular, not 
 in a cursory way : and perhaps at a future time I
 
 LECTURE VI. 201 
 
 « 
 
 may endeavour to offer to your consideration facts 
 which will excite your curiosity, and command 
 your attention. " La terre," says Fontenelle, 
 " est une vieille coquette, elle tache en vain avec 
 sa parure de cacher les rides de son visage." 
 
 But to return to our inscriptions. 
 
 However high may appear the antiquity of the 
 monument belonging to Ramesses Mei-amoun, 
 Champollion has discovered others referring to 
 Pharaohs whose reigns belong to a still more an- 
 cient period. From amongst them we may record 
 the monument raised to Amenophis II., whose 
 colossus, under the name of Memnon, excited for 
 a long time the curiosity of the Greeks and of the 
 Romans. From the inscriptions engraved on this 
 colossus, as well as on the ruins of the Memno- 
 nium, it appears that this prince was the founder 
 of the magnificent temple and palace at Louqsor ; 
 by his victories, he extended the hmits of his 
 empire for more than one hundred leagues beyond 
 the island of Philae, which was the farthest boun- 
 dary of ancient Egypt ; and at Soleb, as high as 
 the twentieth degree, north latitude, his name and 
 exploits are still to be seen engraved on those 
 magnificent ruins, surrounded by images of several 
 nations in a state of captivity. 
 
 This Pharaoh, with two more of his predeces- 
 sors, whose legends are given by Champollion, 
 belong to the early princes of the eighteenth dy- 
 nasty, the most brilliant period of the Egyptian 
 monarchy, preceding, as he says, the Christian aera
 
 202 LECTURE VI. 
 
 by not less than 1800 years ; for during, or about, 
 this time, happened the great events recorded by 
 the sacred as well as by profane history ; such as 
 the expulsion of the shepherd kings, or Hyk-shos ; 
 the restoration of the ancient monarchy ; the con- 
 quest of many distant nations ; the construction of 
 most of the magnificent buildings of Thebes and 
 Nubia ; the departure of the Israelites under the 
 guidance of Moses ; the emigration into Greece of 
 the Egyptian colonies, headed by Danaus. But, 
 although the learned antiquarian be perfectly cor- 
 rect, in ascribing to this period the passing of all 
 these events, he is most undoubtedly wrong in 
 regard to the mode in which he reckons their chro- 
 nology, for the antiquity of these monuments 
 mounts to a much earlier period, as I shall prove 
 in a future Lecture. 
 
 These historical facts are incontrovertible. They 
 derive their certainty not only from the inscriptions 
 engraved on these monuments, but also from the 
 chronological canon of Manetho, which, very un- 
 deservedly, has been looked upon as of doubtful 
 authority by some of the critics ; but it seems that 
 the table of Abydos has established the veracity of 
 the Egyptian historian in a manner which was 
 never suspected by these critics. 
 
 The ruins of this ancient and formerly splendid 
 city lie on the western coast of the Nile, between 
 the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth degree north 
 latitude, and near the entrance of the great Oasis. 
 Close by are seen other ruins of a royal palace,
 
 LECTURE VI. 203 
 
 formerly the residence of a king of Egypt, named 
 Memnon, or Ismandes, by the Greeks. This name, 
 Ismandes, is supposed, and not without reason, to 
 be a corruption of the Egyptian Osymandias, whom 
 Manetho also calls Sesolchris, one of the sovereigns 
 of the twelfth dynasty, who reigned above 3000 
 years before Christ ; for it is to this remote epoch 
 that the monuments of Abydos reach, if Ismandes, 
 or Osymandias be considered as the founder of that 
 city ; an epoch which is by no means incredible, 
 provided we follow the chronology of the Sep- 
 tuagint. 
 
 Perhaps I may be allowed to observe, en pas- 
 sant, that the difference between the computation 
 of the Hebrew text, which we now follow, and that 
 of the Septuagint, which we have disregarded, is, 
 according to the most moderate calculation, no 
 less than, 1437 years ; a period sufficiently long to 
 account for these events, the antiquity of which 
 may at first startle us, and excite our unbelief. 
 
 It might also be mentioned, that we have adopted 
 the Hebrew chronology, since the time of the Re- 
 formation. An attempt, indeed, to introduce it 
 had been made long before this period, by the 
 venerable Bede, in the eighth century, but with 
 very little success ; for the fact is, that up to the 
 second century of our asra, there was no difference 
 whatever between the reckoning of the Hebrew 
 text, and that of the Septuagint ; and even when 
 Luther roused the attention of Europe, the autho- 
 rity of that version, and the unanimous consent
 
 20i LECTURE VI. 
 
 of the primitive writers, were still found to regu- 
 late the age of the world. In the warmth of con- 
 troversy, the more rigid Protestants, in condemn- 
 ing the chronology of the Samaritan text, con- 
 demned also the computation of the Septuagint, 
 and, without examining the grounds of their opi- 
 nion, decided that the numbers of the original text 
 were to be preferred to those of any version. In- 
 fluenced by this opinion, they bestowed the weight 
 of their authority upon the Jewish side of the ques- 
 tion, and opposed that which the Christians had 
 maintained from the days of the Apostles, which 
 corresponds also with the computation of profane 
 writers, who had used it before Christ. 
 
 As this question will form the subject of a fu- 
 ture Lecture, I think it proper to make here but 
 one observation, and that is, that the alteration in 
 the chronology of the Hebrew text did not take 
 place before the beginning of the second century 
 of our sera. For a long time this alteration re- 
 mained, if not unnoticed, at least disregarded ; be- 
 cause the translation of the Septuagint was gene- 
 rally used by all the Christian writers, as well as 
 by all the Pagans who had lived long before and 
 after Christ. From these facts, then, it follows, 
 that without again adopting the chronology of the 
 Septuagint, it is impossible to account for historical 
 facts, to which not the least shadow of doubt can 
 possibly be attached. 
 
 Mira sed et scena testlficata loquor.
 
 LECTURE VI. 205 
 
 To those of my hearers who wish to make them- 
 selves acquamted with this subject, I beg to recom- 
 mend the introduction to " A Connection of Sa- 
 cred and Profane History," by Dr. Russell ; a work 
 in which the reader will find exhibited, in a short, 
 but luminous manner, what has been written, and 
 what is worth knowing, upon this important sub- 
 ject. 
 
 But to return ; it is to the chronological table 
 of Abydos, that I must now call your attention. 
 
 You remember, I hope, that this table consists 
 of forty ovals, or rings, arranged in three horizon- 
 tal lines ; the two first lines contain the prse- 
 nomen only, that is, the mystic titles of the Pha- 
 raohs who lived before Ramesses ; and the third 
 line is merely made by the repetition of the name 
 and prsenomen of this last Pharaoh, both of which 
 are exhibited throughout the line in two distinct 
 ovals, one containing his name, the other the prae- 
 nomen. Now as every one, and all these mystic 
 titles, or praenomina of the two first lines differ from 
 one another, it is evident that they belonged to 
 different individuals. But as the prsenomen was 
 not sufficient by itself to enable our antiquarians 
 to ascertain to which of the Pharaohs each of 
 them belonged, this monument, valuable as it 
 is, would have been of no use, unless, by other 
 means, we, could have found also their historical 
 name. 
 
 Now this has been done by Champollion. This 
 indefatigable scholar, by dint of immense labour.
 
 200 LECTURE VI. 
 
 by comparing the praenomina of the table of 
 Abydos with the same praenomina engraved on 
 other inscriptions, and other monuments, to which 
 the historical name was also attached, has suc- 
 ceeded in finding out and explaining the whole of 
 the middle line ; and has ascertained that these 
 praenomina belonged to the Pharaohs of the eigh- 
 teenth dynasty, beginning fi'om the Pharaoh Thout- 
 mosis, and ending at Amenophis III., perfectly 
 corresponding in regard to the order of the succes- 
 sion and the length of their reign, with those men- 
 tioned by Manetho. 
 
 This is very satisfactory ; but a second discovery 
 made by M. Champollion, which though not less 
 important is unfortunately less gratifying, is this : 
 that the existing monuments of Egypt, with few 
 exceptions, do not ascend higher than the reign 
 of the Pharaohs of the eighteenth century, the 
 rest having been destroyed during the usui'pation 
 of the shepherd kings of the seventeenth dynasty. 
 Some remains, however, of more ancient monu- 
 ments are still to be found intermixed with those 
 which the magnificence of the Pharaohs of the 
 eighteenth dynasty caused again to be both raised 
 and restored, after the expulsion of those barbari- 
 ans. Such, for instance, are the remains of a still 
 more considerable edifice, built by the order of the 
 Pharaoh Ousi-mandouei, which were religiously 
 introduced into the plan of the palace of Karnac, 
 which was raised by the order of Amenophis III. 
 On these old remains, the name and praenomen of
 
 LECTURE VI. 207 
 
 Ousi-mandouei are to be seen engraved in relievo. 
 Of this Ousi-mandouei the Greeks have made a 
 second Ismandes, or Osymandias ; for you remem- 
 ber they had given the same name of Ismandes 
 to the Pharaoh Osymandias, who had built the 
 palace at Abydos. Of the Pharaoh Ousi-mandouei 
 of Karnac, Diodorus relates the wonderful achieve- 
 ments upon the authority of the Egyptian annals. 
 He lived 2272 years before Christ, nearly two 
 centuries before the invasion of the shepherds ; and 
 this seems the most ancient date of the authentic 
 monuments still existing in Egypt, according to 
 M. Champollion. I call them authentic, because 
 their date is ascertained. 
 
 This striking fact certainly confirms the history 
 of Manetho, for it proves that the chronological 
 table of Abydos corresponds with the legends en- 
 graved on the monuments of Nubia and Egypt ; 
 and both together they produce the series of kings 
 mentioned by the Egyptian historian, placed genea- 
 logically, as the sovereigns of the eighteenth dy- 
 nasty, just as the ovals of their praenomina are 
 situated in the middle line of the table of Abydos. 
 
 From this fact, we have every possible reason to 
 suppose, that the ovals still undecyphered of the 
 first line of that interesting table, belong to princes 
 who reigned during an earlier period. Admitting, 
 therefore, the truth of the assertion, that the 
 Hyk-shos destroyed most, if not all the monu- 
 ments existing in Egypt at the time of their inva- 
 sion, we must not be surprised at the hatred which
 
 208 LECTURE Vl. 
 
 the Egyptians felt at the very name of these shep- 
 herds. This hatred seems to have pervaded the 
 whole nation, and to have been transmitted un- 
 abated to their posterity. The Egyptian monu- 
 ments are to this day covered with pictures and 
 relievos, exhibiting these barbarians in a kneeling 
 and submissive posture, loaded with chains, and in 
 the act of imploring mercy ; and it is by no means 
 a rare circumstance to observe, that the shoes 
 found in and out of the sepulchres are stamped 
 outside the sole, with the figure of one of these 
 strangers in the posture I have just described. 
 This must have been a necessary consequence of 
 their ferocious conduct, and of the desolation they 
 brought on the land of Egypt; for in the frag- 
 ments of Manetho, whenever this historian speaks 
 of these barbarians, he represents them under the 
 most hateful colours that can be imagined. He 
 exhibits them as the destroyers of every public 
 institution, barbarous, lawless, intent only on ra- 
 pine and murder, reducing women and children to 
 slavery, murdering all men capable of bearing 
 arms, and carrying fire and sword wherever they 
 went. But such are the scourges of mankind, whom 
 human folly has misnamed conquerors ! 
 
 The irruption of the Hyk-shos seems to have 
 taken place about 2082 years before Christ, in the 
 sixth year of the reign of Timaus Concharis, the 
 last prince of the sixteenth dynasty, which had 
 been founded 190 years before that event, by the 
 Pharaoh Ousi-mandouei. It also seems, that the
 
 LECTURE VI. 209 
 
 Pharaohs who had succeeded the unfortunate 
 Timaus, unable to withstand the barbarians, retired 
 into the Thebaide, and became even tributaries of 
 these usurpers. Issuing from their retreat, as they 
 acquired strength, they ventured, with various 
 success, to attack the Hyk-shos, and after a period 
 of 260 years the Pharaoh Misphragmouthosis, 
 having killed an immense number of these barba- 
 rians, drove the remainder of them to their last 
 shelter, the town of Aouaris. This was the fi-on- 
 tier town towards Assyria, which the Hyk-shos had 
 fortified, and its very name exhibits another proof 
 of the hatred of the Egyptians towards these bar- 
 barians. Aouaris, in fact, is a composition of two 
 Coptic words, oiia and iri, which signify to give a 
 curse, to give a malediction. But this is not the 
 only appellation by which it was designated ; we 
 find it occasionally called Thatij)Jioou, which means 
 " the dwelling of Typhon," or " Typhonia," from 
 having been the residence of the Hyk-shos, whom 
 the Egyptians compared to Typhon, the author of 
 all evil. 
 
 The victorious Pharaoh, however, did not leave 
 them long unmolested, and his son and successor, 
 named Thoutmosis, now master of the whole of 
 Egypt, brought up so large a force against them, 
 that the Hyk-shos, unable to oppose him, left the 
 country and retired into Syria, about the year 
 1822 before Christ, and the Pharaoh Thoutmosis, 
 for having delivered his country from the tyranny
 
 210 LECTURE VI. 
 
 of these barbarians, became the chief of the 
 eighteenth dynasty. 
 
 It is, indeed, gratifying, after the lapse of hun- 
 dreds, nay, thousands of years, to find authentic 
 monuments, which estabHsh so many historical 
 facts, of which some have been controverted, 
 others denied. Further discoveries will, no doubt, 
 afford to our posterity, if not to ourselves, the 
 means of ascertaining what we still require to 
 know, and supply the loss of the work of Manetho. 
 M. Champollion has, in fact, made some valuable 
 discoveries, and these, I have no doubt, are the 
 harbingers of still greater ones. He has already, 
 in his portfolio, copies of inscriptions, which are of 
 an invaluable importance, to establish the chro- 
 nology of Egypt. Among these, there is a copy of 
 the chronological part of an inscription at Alexan- 
 dria, which ascertains the chronology of the last of 
 the Saites, of the twenty-sixth dynasty. He has 
 also copies of the hieroglyphic inscriptions engraved 
 on the rocks, on the road to Cosseir, which give 
 the express duration of the reigns of the kings of 
 the Persian dynasty ; and on his return to Thebes, 
 he expects an immense harvest of historical 
 facts. These are his words : " Since I have been 
 running through Thebes for the space of four 
 days, I have already collected important docu- 
 ments." 
 
 I think I have already mentioned that in inspect- 
 ing at Aix, the collection of MSS. of M. Sallier,
 
 LECTURE VI. 211 
 
 he has discovered two papyri, containing " the 
 history, expeditions, and victories of Sesostris." 
 The MSS. are said to bear the date of the ninth 
 year of the reign of this prince ; and the events 
 recorded in them seem to agree perfectly with 
 those engi-aved on the wall of the tomb of this 
 prince, opened by Belzoni at Ibsamboul. 
 
 Indeed, if the hope of an important discovery 
 can possibly be entertained, it is in the prosecu- 
 tion of the plan imagined and begun by this inde- 
 fatigable traveller ; and that is, by digging under 
 the ruins of Thebes, and searching under moun- 
 tains of sand, for the lost treasures of ancient 
 learning. It is in the abode of the Hierophantes, 
 in the secret repositories of their ruined temples, 
 in the subterraneous passages, which served as a 
 security to the priesthood, that we may indulge the 
 hope of hereafter obtaining materials that will en- 
 large our knowledge concerning the sacred hiero- 
 glypical language of the Egyptians, and these may 
 lead us to important conclusions. From the little, 
 the very little I have been able to collect about the 
 mysteries of Isis, and of the doctrines which they 
 inculcated, I have no doubt that much, if not the 
 whole of the knowledge of the ancient Greek phi- 
 losophers was derived fi*om Memphis and from 
 Thebes. 
 
 It has even been asserted, and I have every 
 reason to believe the assertion, that what now 
 seems a production of our times, the excavated 
 way under the Thames, which seems to baffle our 
 
 p 2
 
 212 LECTURE VI. 
 
 skill, or to exceed our strength, has been practised 
 by the Egy])tians at a time of the most distant 
 antiquity. Underneath their great capitals, Mem- 
 phis and Thebes, and underneath their principal 
 nomes, stretched far and wide the secret subterra- 
 neous passages, which, without a movement being 
 seen or known by the people, placed all the temples, 
 and the mighty capitals of Egypt, under the access 
 and control of those among the priesthood, to 
 whom their winding maze was known. The as- 
 semblage of all these avenues, or labyrinths, seems to 
 have terminated in three points ; and, though they 
 diverged apparently to an endless inextricable 
 maze, yet when the master-key was known, this 
 seeming intricacy was found regulated by the 
 nicest geometrical skill, and most correct precision. 
 These three important points, or centres, are still 
 in existence, though blocked up by mountains of 
 rubbish and sand. If we are rightly informed, 
 they are to be sought in the Memnonian plain of 
 the Thebaide temple of the mysteries ; near the 
 sacred lake of Mceris, and the labyiinth of the 
 lower districts ; and lastly in the pyi'amids which 
 are, as it were, the heart of Memphis, occupying the 
 middle and the important central points. Had 
 Belzoni continued his excavations in this last abode 
 of man, we might, perhaps, by this time be in pos- 
 session of some valuable document, that would open 
 to us the road to this knowledge : but he gave up 
 the task, and, like all other travellers, directed his 
 attention and his efforts to the ruins of Kamak
 
 LECTURE VI. 213 
 
 and Lugsor, and to the tombs of the short-Hved 
 race of some of the Pharaohs. 
 
 I am aware, that many learned men have held, 
 and do still hold, a contrary opinion, on the gromid 
 that in the inscriptions already decyphered, there 
 is no other mention made besides the Egyptian 
 pantheon, which, no doubt, in the corrupt state in 
 which it has reached us, is sufficiently absurd. But if 
 we consider the nature of these inscriptions, which, 
 numerous as they are, all belong to the votive or 
 sepulchral kind, it will appear, that this severity of 
 judgment, upon the learning of the Egyptian 
 priests, is rather premature. We know that the 
 Egyptians were idolaters ; we know that their 
 idolatry, in later times, was of the most degrading- 
 kind, and, therefore, we must expect, in these 
 public monuments of their public worship, the 
 representation of the same doctrines which dis- 
 graced their creed. It is not, therefore, among 
 these monuments that we can hope to discover the 
 philosophy or the knowledge of the priesthood. 
 If this knowledge was ever put into writing, for 
 which we have the authority of many ancient 
 writers, it must have been written in the sacred 
 language, and in the sacred characters kept con- 
 cealed by the priests, whose very existence de- 
 pended on the secrecy of their doctrine. The 
 seal of secrecy under which some of their doctrines 
 were revealed to the initiated in the mysteries of 
 Isis, the great trials to which the aspirants were 
 exposed, before they were admitted to these myste-
 
 214 LECTURE VI. 
 
 ries, are so many proofs of the truth of my asser- 
 tion. It is generally allowed, that among these 
 doctrines, the priests taught the unity of God, the 
 immortality of the soul, a future life of reward and 
 punishment, an utter contempt for the Egyptian 
 deities, whom they styled mere men, deified by the 
 imbecility and the credulity of mankind. 
 
 This admits of no doubt. On the other hand, 
 the mere inspection of their hieroglyphics, the 
 mode they have employed of applying the sym- 
 bolical properties of things and animals to express 
 abstract ideas, and the record we have from the 
 sacred pages of the wonders exhibited by the 
 priests of Pharaoh, in opposition to the miracles 
 performed by Moses, must inspire us with no mean 
 idea of their knowledge in science and natural 
 history. The same must be said of their success 
 in the several arts. Their immense buildings, 
 their magnificent statues, the Colossus of Memnon, 
 the division of their tombs, the beautiful colours 
 with which they have stained their different com- 
 partments, shew a boldness of invention, and a 
 delicacy of execution, which cannot but surprise 
 the beholder, and prove the high degree of civili- 
 zation of the people, who could imagine and exe- 
 cute these superb and magnificent monuments, 
 first-rate works of imagination and skill, exhibiting 
 such a beauty of execution, especially in the most 
 pleasing arts. 
 
 These are all interesting subjects of inquiry, 
 from which we may expect very great and very
 
 LECTURE VI. 215 
 
 important results, for there is no saying where they 
 may lead us. But another and a still greater ad- 
 vantage, I conceive, might be derived from our 
 obtaining a proper and perfect knowledge of the 
 reading of the hieroglyphics, and that is, infor- 
 mation respecting the mode by which mankind 
 have peopled the earth, and the primitive civili- 
 zation of Egypt. 
 
 It seems that both Nubia and Ethiopia abound 
 with a great number of monuments, covered with 
 hieroglyphics, perfectly similar, both in regard to 
 form and disposition, to those which are found on 
 the buildings of Thebes. But by inspecting more 
 closely these legends, we find that the names of 
 the sovereigns mentioned in the Nubian inscrip- 
 tions are exactly the same with those recorded on 
 the Egyptian monuments ; while the names of the 
 sovereigns engraved on the pillars and buildings 
 found in Ethiopia, have not the least resemblance 
 to either of them. They are, indeed, composed 
 of the same hieroglyphical characters, they repre- 
 sent deities endowed with the same symbolic qua- 
 lifications, they are disposed in the same form, and 
 seem to possess the same titles, but they produce 
 names which hitherto are entirely unknown ; and 
 what is more, these names are never found repeated 
 on any of the numberless monuments existing in 
 Nubia or Egypt. 
 
 From these facts several important consequences 
 may be drawn ; the first is, that there has been a 
 time in which the civilized part of Ethiopia, the
 
 216 LECTURE VI. 
 
 peninsula of Meroes, and all the country on both 
 banks of the Nile, from Meroes to Dongola, was 
 inhabited by a nation, who had a language, writing, 
 and a rehgion similar to those of Egj'pt, without 
 however depending on the Egyptian sovereigns 
 of Thebes and Memphis. 
 
 From this consideration, very important in itself, 
 a question arises, which is still more so ; and that 
 is, has civilization from Egypt reached Ethiopia, 
 or have mankind, from Ethiopia, gi'adually spread 
 themselves along the course of the Nile, and car- 
 ried population and civihzation to the shores of the 
 Mediterranean ? In the first case, the Egyptian 
 nation must have had an Asiatic origin ; and in 
 the second, it must have come from a race of men 
 indigenous to Africa, to this ancient part of our 
 globe, which shews every where the most striking 
 feature of exhaustion and decrepitude. 
 
 That Ethiopia once was the cradle of mankind, 
 the place where arts, literature, and science were 
 first invented, is an opinion which has been ad- 
 vanced and supported by the best scholars of almost 
 every nation of modern Europe ; amongst whom 
 may be enumerated Carli, and Sir W. Jones. The 
 physical constitution of the Egyptians, their cus- 
 toms, their manners, the social organization of 
 their government, had but a very small resem- 
 blance to the natural and pohtical existence of the 
 people inhabiting the west of Asia, who were their 
 nearest neighbours. The Egyptian language had 
 scarcely any similarity with the eastern languages.
 
 LECTURE VL 217 
 
 and the Egyptian mode of writing was not less 
 different from that which had been adopted by the 
 Phoenicians, the Babylonians, and the Persians. 
 Every thing, in short, seems to indicate the Egyp- 
 tians to have been a people perfectly strangers to 
 the continent of Asia. 
 
 Add to this the difficulty and the hardship to 
 which the first inhabitants of Egypt, supposing 
 them to have come from the Asiatic shores, must 
 have been necessarily exposed, in a country annu- 
 ally subjected to a long and general inundation, 
 such as the valley situated between the first 
 cataract of the Nile, and the Mediterranean. 
 
 The reading of the hieroglyphics will undoubt- 
 edly decide this important question ; as far as 
 Soleb, which lies about one hundred leagues nearer 
 to the equator than the island of Philae, we find 
 the last monument which bears the name of an 
 Egyptian king ; he is one of the Pharaohs, the 
 Ramses, or Ramesses, who lived 3600 years before 
 our time, 1800 years before Christ, and scarce 300 
 after the flood, according to the chronology of 
 the Hebrew Bible, but much earlier, according 
 to the computation of the Septuagint. At such 
 distance of time. Nubia was inhabited by a nation 
 speaking the same language, using the same mode 
 of hieroglyphical writing, professing the same reli- 
 gion, and governed by the same sovereigns who 
 ruled over Egypt. 
 
 The difficulty consists in being able accurately 
 to distinguish the monuments of the most ancient
 
 218 LECTURE VI. 
 
 date, from those whose antiquity does not ascend 
 so high, and with which they are perpetually in- 
 termixed ; to fix correctly the epoch in which they 
 were raised, and thus to ascertain the gradual 
 alteration which took place, not only in the mode of 
 hieroglyphical writing, but also in the notions of 
 mankind, in the extent of their civilization, and in the 
 manner with which they cultivated arts and sciences. 
 But I am not inclined to despair. The resources 
 of the human mind are immense ; the effects of 
 perseverance, joined to talent, incalculable. Not- 
 withstanding the taste which seems to have affected 
 all ranks for Ught reading and books of amusement, 
 the thirst after knowledge certainly seems to be 
 the characteristic of our age. Among the scholars 
 of the present day, there are still to be found not 
 a few who toil after useful and solid pursuits, and 
 who spurning the ephemeral reputation of seeing 
 their productions upon the toilets and tea-tables of 
 our fashionables, direct their attention to useftil 
 and laborious studies. Among our men of power, 
 there are still some who generously offer pecuniary 
 assistance to talent, and who would cheerfully con- 
 tribute to the expences of the intrepid traveller, 
 who should engage in an African expedition, for the 
 decided object of searching after monuments of 
 Egyptian antiquity. 
 
 The repeated attempts, encouraged by Govern- 
 ment, as well as by private individuals, at find- 
 ing out a passage to Asia by the North Sea, or 
 at ascertaining the course of the Niger, have al-
 
 LECTURE VI. 219 
 
 ready cost the nation many lives and many thou- 
 sands of pounds. The time will come, when, with 
 less danger, the resources of England will be ap- 
 plied to the discovery of the treasures scattered 
 through the whole of Nubia and Ethiopia, buried 
 under the ruins of past grandeur, and hidden by 
 the immense mountains of sand which cover the 
 plains of the Thebaide. 
 
 The French Government has already dispatched 
 no less a man than Champollion on an expedi- 
 tion of this kind ; and I have already alluded 
 to the discoveries he has made, which are but 
 the harbingers of those he will undoubtedly make. 
 I fear, however, that that learned traveller will 
 direct his attention to other topics ; and I do 
 think that the French Government would not be 
 inclined to supply the enormous expences attend- 
 ing an expedition on the plan I recommend. But 
 I have no doubt, that if such an expedition was 
 undertaken under the direction of a man of talent, 
 well versed in the Hebrew, Coptic, and Arabian 
 languages, possessing the indefatigable persever- 
 ance of Belzoni, and a mind well stored with solid 
 and unprejudiced knowledge ; I have no doubt, I 
 say, that this man, by the discoveries he would make 
 throughout the north-east of Africa, would give a 
 new turn to our knowledge of antiquity, and surprise 
 the modern nations of Europe by the account of 
 the gigantic undertakings of the primitive inhabit- 
 ants of that magnificent continent. Indeed the 
 discoveries of the lamented Belzoni give ample
 
 220 LECTURE VI. 
 
 room to suppose that our expectation would not be 
 deceived ; and had he joined to his wonderful 
 strength and remarkable perseverance a mind equally- 
 cultivated, we might at the present moment pos- 
 sess what will require the powerful assistance of 
 time. In my own mind, I repeat it, I have no 
 doubt, and feel not the least hesitation in assert- 
 ing, that an underground communication existed 
 between Thebes and Memphis ; that the Pyramids 
 themselves were connected with the system ima- 
 gined by the Hierophantes, as well as the Govern- 
 ment of Egypt; and that records of some sort 
 must be found in these subterraneous abodes of 
 the Egyptian priests. 
 
 As a concluding remark, I may mention, that it 
 is very possible, that, from hieroglyphic inscrip- 
 tions, if they could be found in sufficient number, 
 very striking illustrations might be discovered of 
 our sacred Scriptures. I have noted some in the 
 course of these Lectures, and I may perhaps be 
 permitted to conclude by a reference to them. 
 
 In one of the hieroglyphic inscriptions which 
 I read to you, was seen the name of Poti- 
 pherah ; and there was seen also the name of 
 Asenath. These hieroglyphics come fi'om two 
 different MSS., one of which is in the cabinet of 
 the king of France, the other in the possession of 
 the Earl of Mountnorris, and from a little en- 
 amelled statue. Observe, now, the text in the 
 Bible, that runs thus, in Genesis xh. 45 : " x\nd 
 he gave him to wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-
 
 LECTURE VI. 221 
 
 pherah, priest of On." On, as I observed in a 
 former Lecture, is the name the Egyptians gave to 
 the town called Heliopolis by the Greeks. 
 
 Again ; in one of the hieroglyphical inscriptions 
 found at Karnac, we see the name of Osorchon. I 
 produced one of the legends. Now Osorchon in 
 the Coptic is called Zerach ; and in the second 
 book of Chronicles xiv. 9. we have, " And there 
 came out against them Zerah, the Ethiopian, with 
 a host of a thousand thousand and three hundred 
 chariots." 
 
 Again ; there were several of the Pharaohs who 
 were called Ramesses ; and this name perpetually 
 appears in hieroglyphical inscriptions. It seems 
 that out of respect for some of these princes, the 
 Egyptians had given this name of Ramesses to 
 some of their towns. Two of them are recorded 
 in three different places of the Pentateuch. In 
 Genesis xlvii. 11. we have, " And Joseph placed 
 his father and his brethren, &c. in the best of 
 land, in the land of Ramesses." In Numbers xxxiii. 
 3. speaking of the departure of the Israelites from 
 Egypt, we find, " And they departed from Ra- 
 messes in the first month, on the fifteenth day of 
 the first month," &c. And in Exodus i. 11. Moses, 
 recording the hardships to which Pharaoh had 
 condemned the Israelites, says, " And therefore 
 they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them 
 with their burdens ; and they built for Pharaoh 
 treasure-cities, Pithom and Raamses." 
 
 Again ; in our third Lecture I produced the
 
 222 LECTURE VI. 
 
 hieroglyphic legend mentioning the name of Cher- 
 shak, or Shishak ; and in the second book of Chro- 
 nicles, the name of this prince is mentioned not 
 less than three times in the twelfth chapter ; first, 
 in the second verse we have these words : " In the 
 fifth year of king Rehoboam, Shishak, king of 
 Egypt, came up against Jerusalem." In the fifth 
 verse we read, " Then came Shemaiah, the prophet, 
 to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, that 
 were gathered together to Jerusalem, because of 
 Shishak, and said unto them, thus saith the Lord, 
 Ye have forsaken me, and therefore I have left you in 
 the hand of Shishak." And, lastly, in the ninth verse 
 we have, " Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against 
 Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the 
 house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's 
 house ; he took all, and carried away also the 
 shields of gold which Solomon had made." 
 
 Again ; in the same third Lecture, I mentioned 
 the names of two Pharaohs w^hich Mr. Salt, our 
 consul at Alexandria, had discovered among the 
 ruins at Medinet-habou ; and one of these Pha- 
 raohs was called Tiraka. Now in the second book 
 of Kings xix. 9., we find this Pharaoh mentioned 
 in these words, " And when he heard say of Tir- 
 hakah, king of Ethiopia, behold, he is come out to 
 fight against thee." 
 
 Again ; the name of the Pharaoh Necao, which 
 is seen engraved and painted in many places of the 
 ruins at Thebes, is mentioned in the second book 
 of Chronicles xxxiii. 20., in these words : " After
 
 LECTURE VI. 223 
 
 all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, 
 Necho, king of Egypt, came up to fight against 
 Carchemish, by Euphrates :" and it may also be 
 added, that the hatred which the Egyptians enter- 
 tained against the Hyk-shos, or shepherds, as it is 
 mentioned by Manetho, and appears from the mo- 
 numents, is also recorded in Genesis xlvi. 34-., in 
 the advice which Joseph gives to his brethren, in 
 these words : " And it shall come to pass, when 
 Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say. What is your 
 occupation ? that ye shall say. Thy servants' trade 
 hath been about cattle from our youth, even until 
 now, both we and also our fathers : that ye may 
 dwell in the land of Goshen ; for every shepherd 
 is an abomination unto the Egyptians." 
 
 And now that I am taking leave of hieroglyphics, 
 I cannot but cast my eyes back on the different 
 religious opinions which, from time to time, seem 
 to have been held by the EgyjDtians. Originally, 
 it seems, that the unity of God, and the certainty 
 of a life to come, were the first and only tenets of 
 their religion. But, obhged to speak to rude and 
 ignorant people, the priests had recourse to sym- 
 bols, to render more evident to the eyes of the 
 vulgar, the different attributes of the deity. In 
 progi'ess of time, these symbols lost their primitive 
 significations, and the figures, which were but an 
 expression of these attributes, were afterwards 
 considered as different and distinct deities, though 
 not quite unconnected with the Supreme Being. 
 Thus, the representation of the goddess Neith, and 
 
 1
 
 224 LECTURE VI. 
 
 the god Plitha, of the goddess Sate, and the god- 
 dess Sme, of the god Phre, of Osiris, of Tsis, and 
 Anubis, were no longer considered as visible signs 
 of the different attributes of Ammon, but as distinct 
 deities, who, with him, had organized the world, 
 and given laws to mankind. The representation 
 itself of the Amenti, and the weighing of the soul 
 of the deceased, which originally had been but a 
 visible mode of imparting the notion of the rewards 
 or punishments attending a future life for the con- 
 duct held in this, was, in progress of time, believed 
 to be a real trial, held before the tribunal of Osiris ; 
 and the symbolical figures of Hermes, Sme, Anu- 
 bis, and Osiris himself, which were intended to 
 exhibit the justice and the mercy of the Supreme 
 Being, and the record he kept of all the actions of 
 men, were, in progress of time, erected into so 
 many different deities, who acted by the immutable 
 decree of Ammon, but perfectly distinct from him, 
 both in substance and power. 
 
 The main point, however, was never lost sight 
 of ; Ammon still continued to be the Demim'gos ; 
 the Amenti still was considered as the place where 
 the souls of the dead were ordered to appear to 
 receive judgment for the conduct they had held 
 in this life, to be either condemned to perpetual 
 pvmishment, or preserved for eternal happiness. 
 And notwithstanding the fatal encroachment of 
 idolatry, and the degrading superstition which cor- 
 ruption had introduced in their creed, the unity of 
 God, the certainty of a life to come, the eternity
 
 LECTURE VI. 225 
 
 of punishment or of reward, continued to con- 
 stitute, to the very end of the Egyptian empire, the 
 most important tenets inculcated by the reUgion of 
 the people. 
 
 Of the manner in which this tenet was taught 
 to the people in a sensible manner, I exhibited a 
 curious specimen in a former Lecture ; [^Table 5.]] 
 and here, perhaps, I may be permitted to observe, 
 that this weighing of souls, such as it was repre- 
 sented by the Egyptians, has been exhibited nearly 
 in the same manner, by most of the pagans, and 
 generally by the primitive Christians. It is not an 
 uncommon thing, even in this country, to meet 
 in some old churches with paintings of this sort. 
 Among other instances, I am told that on the 
 screen in the church at Preston, a village not far 
 from Brighton, a fresco painting still exists, in 
 which two souls are weighed against one another. 
 Although the painting be much injured, on account 
 of having been white-washed, it is still sufficiently 
 perfect to allow a beholder to comprehend the 
 nature of the subject : and I have seen a print, in 
 which the Archangel Michael is represented weigh- 
 ing the souls of the dead, thrusting those whose 
 good works are found light to his left hand, where 
 they are seized upon by the devils, who are waiting 
 for them, while those whose virtues cause the 
 scale to preponderate in their favour are turned 
 off to the right, and introduced to St. Peter, pre- 
 viously to their being admitted into Paradise. 
 And here' \ cannot avoid referring to a pas- 
 
 Q
 
 226 LECTURE VI. 
 
 sage of one of your celebrated writers, in his 
 elements of the philosophy of the human mind, 
 which must be considered extremely elegant in 
 expression, and profound and just in sentiment. 
 He is speaking of the different opinions of man- 
 kind, on the important question of religion and 
 morality. " The variety of systems," he says, 
 " which they have formed to themselves concern- 
 ing these subjects, has often excited the ridicule of 
 the sceptic and the libertine ; but if, on the one 
 hand, this variety shews the folly of bigotry, and 
 the reasonableness of mutual indulgence ; the 
 curiosity which has led men, in every situation, to 
 such speculations, and the influence which their 
 conclusions, however absurd, have had on their 
 character and their happiness, prove, no less 
 clearly on the other, that there must be some 
 principles from which they all derive their origin, 
 and invite the philosopher to ascertain what are 
 these original and immutable laws of the human 
 
 mind In truth, the more striking 
 
 the contradictions, and the more ludicrous the 
 ceremonies, to which the pride of human reason 
 has thus been reconciled, the stronger is our 
 evidence that religion has a foundation in the 
 nature of man. When the greatest of modern 
 philosophers (Lord Bacon, in his Essays) de- 
 clares, that ' he would rather believe all the 
 fables in the legend, and the Talmud, and the 
 Alcoran, than that this universal frame is with- 
 out a mind ;' he has expressed the same feeling.
 
 LECTURE VI. 227 
 
 whicli, in all ages and nations, has led good 
 men, unaccustomed to reasoning, to an implicit 
 faith in the creed of their infancy ; a feeling which 
 affords an evidence of the existence of the Deity, 
 incomparably more striking than if, unmixed with 
 error, and undebased by superstition, this most 
 important of all principles had commanded the 
 universal assent of mankind. Where are the other 
 truths in the whole circle of the sciences, which 
 are so essential to human happiness, as to procure 
 an easy access, not only for themselves, but for 
 whatever opinions may happen to be blended with 
 them ? Where are the truths so venerable and 
 commanding, as to impart their own sublimity to 
 every trifling memorial which recalls them to re- 
 membrance ; to bestow solemnity and elevation 
 on every mode of expression by which they are 
 conveyed; and which, in whatever scene they 
 have habitually occupied the thoughts, consecrate 
 every object which it presents to our senses, and 
 the very ground we have been accustomed to 
 tread ? To attempt to weaken the authority of 
 such impressions, by a detail of the endless va- 
 riety of forms, which they derive from casual asso- 
 ciations, is surely an employment unsuited to the 
 dignity of philosophy. To the vulgar, it may be 
 amusing in this, as in other instances, to indulge 
 their wonder at what is new or uncommon ; but 
 to the philosopher it belongs to perceive, under 
 all these various disguises, the working of the same 
 common nature ; and in the superstitions of the 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 LECTURE VI. 
 
 later ages of the Egyptian religion, not less than 
 in the lofty visions of Plato, to recognise the exist- 
 ence of those moral ties, which unite the heart of 
 man to the Author of his being." 
 
 The justice of these observations will appear, in 
 a more striking manner, in a future Lecture, on 
 the origin of idolatry.
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 History of figurative hieroglyphics — Their general use amongst 
 mankind — Explanation of the Mexican mode of writing by 
 representation of the object — Alterations introduced by the 
 Egyptians — Causes which must have produced them — A t tempt 
 at explaining some of the characters. 
 
 I HAVE now explained, in as comprehensive a 
 way as I could, the whole of the discoveries which 
 have been made hitherto in the decyphering of 
 hieroglyphics. Our scholars may now, by the 
 assistance of the Coptic language, and with com- 
 paratively little trouble, read almost any and every 
 inscription which can be found amongst the Egyp- 
 tian monuments. But although this may be a great 
 satisfaction, yet there are other topics connected 
 with this celebrated country of Egypt, which now 
 command our attention. Who, for instance, were 
 these dreaded Hyk-shos, or shepherd kings ? Who 
 was the Pharaoh that protected Joseph, and ad- 
 mitted the Israehtes into Egypt ? Who was the 
 other Pharaoh who opposed Moses ? What were 
 the celebrated mysteries of Isis ? What was their 
 nature and their import? Have they been the 
 cause, or have they been the consequence, of ido-
 
 230 1-ECTURE VII. 
 
 latry ? In either case, were they connected with 
 the theology of the people ? Can any thing re- 
 specting them be collected from their literatm-e ? 
 and if so, of what character was the Egyptian lite- 
 rature ? How was it made public, how preserved ? 
 Are there any records from which we can collect 
 some information concerning this important ques- 
 tion ? And, above all, how were these books 
 vvTitten ? Did the Egyptians always make use of 
 the alphabet ? and if so, what is the origin of 
 hieroglyphics ? and, on the other hand, if these 
 latter were the first invented and employed, by 
 what step did the Egyptians come to the discovery 
 of the alphabet ? 
 
 These are all important, curious, and highly in- 
 teresting questions, which command the attention 
 of the scholar, as well as the general reader, and 
 they will furnish us with the subject for the 
 remaining part of these Lectures. Amongst these, 
 the invention of the alphabet seems the first to 
 claim our attention ; and, therefore, in this Lec- 
 ture we shall confine our research to the origin 
 and manner of writing adopted by the Egyptians, 
 which, from time immemorial, has attracted the 
 attention of the learned, but which, till the present 
 moment, seemed to have been enveloped in fables 
 and obscurity. Indeed, the variety of opinions held 
 on this subject, even now, is appalling. Many, in 
 fact, pretend that the Egyptians had three differ- 
 ent manners of writing ; others, that they had only 
 two. The acute Warburton asserted that they
 
 LECTURE Vir. 231 
 
 had four ; and not a few have strenuously sup- 
 ported, that hieroglyphical writing was the only 
 mode in use amongst them, because, according to 
 the hypothesis adopted by these writers, to other 
 nations was due the credit of having invented the 
 alphabet. 
 
 To clear up so much uncertainty will be the 
 object of this and the next Lecture. To do so, it 
 will be necessary to inquire what were the precise 
 notions of the ancients in regard to hieroglyphics, 
 and what information can we derive from the writ- 
 ings of the moderns ? We must then proceed to 
 trace, if possible, the origin of the hieroglyphics. 
 
 Clement, a priest of Alexandria, who lived about 
 the end of the second century of our aera, a man 
 of great learning, and who had paid a great deal 
 of attention to the study of antiquity, asserted that 
 the Egyptians had three different modes of wiiting, 
 or, in other words, three different sorts of charac- 
 ters. These were, the epistolograjyhic, or com- 
 mon characters, used in all the common transac- 
 tions of life ; the hieratic, or sacerdotal, employed 
 merely in the writing of books by the priesthood ; 
 and the hieroglyphics, destined to religious uses, 
 and generally on public monuments. Of the former 
 sets of characters, Clement does no more than 
 mention the names, because, being alphabetical, 
 and consequently not very different from the letters 
 employed by other nations, there was no more to 
 be said on the subject. He is more minute in
 
 232 LECTURE VII. 
 
 regard to hieroglyphics, because, as they were 
 pecuhar to the Egyptians, he thought it necessary to 
 state all he knew about them ; and he does it accu- 
 rately enough, though not with sufficient clearness 
 to enable those who knew nothing of hieroglyphics 
 to find out the mode of decyphering them, of 
 which, probably, he himself was ignorant. He 
 only speaks of their nature and quality, but not of 
 their import. He correctly divides all hierogly- 
 phics into curiologic, which employ the first ele- 
 ments of letters ; and symbolical, which he subdi- 
 vides into imitative, tropical, and enigmatical. 
 The imitative represent the plain figure of the 
 object ; for instance, a circle to express the sun, 
 half a circle the moon. The tropical figurative 
 hieroglyphics have recourse to analogy for the re- 
 presentation of the object, and alter its appearance 
 by way of anaglyphs ; that is, by adding something 
 to, or deducting something from, the true figm^e of 
 the thing. " By these anaglyphs," he says, " the 
 Egyptians celebrated the praises of their kings on 
 their religious inscriptions." This, I own, is not 
 very clear ; but, according to the opinion of M. de 
 Sacy, who has written a long dissertation on this 
 passage of Clement, it seems that by anaglyphs, 
 he meant a particular species of abstract and fanci- 
 ful figures, which were destined to some particular 
 purposes, of which more hereafter. 
 
 Of the symbolical enigmatical hieroglyphics, 
 Clement gives no definition, but exhibits examples.
 
 LECTURE VII. 233 
 
 " The Egyptians," says he, " draw the figure of a 
 serpent to signify the obhque course of the stars, 
 and the figure of a beetle to express the sun." 
 
 Such is the account which, more than sixteen 
 centuries ago, Clement of Alexandria gave of the 
 nature of hieroglyphics. Something, indeed, of 
 the same sort, but not quite so clear, has also been 
 recorded by Porphyry in the " Life of Pythagoras ;" 
 in which he says, that the Egyptians had three 
 different kinds of letters, epistolographical, liiero- 
 glyphical, and symbolical ; and as he makes no 
 mention of the hieratic letters recorded by Cle- 
 ment, the acute Warburton thought that the Egyp- 
 tians had, in fact, four different sorts of characters ; 
 but this is evidently a mistake ; because, in his 
 epistologi'aphic, Porphyry comprehends both the 
 hieratic and the demotic characters, and mentions 
 the symbolical as a mere division, or species, of 
 hieroglyphics. 
 
 However, long before all these writers, Manetho 
 had stated, that the first Hermes had engraved on 
 pillars in the sacred or poetical language, and in 
 hieroglyphical letters, the predictions he had made 
 from the inspection of the heavens. These were 
 afterwards, by the second Hermes, translated into 
 the common dialect, and written in books in hie- 
 ratic letters. According to Plato, these letters 
 had been invented by Thot, or Thoth, during the 
 reign of the Pharaoh Thamus ; from which testi- 
 mony it is evident, that, at the time of Plato, the 
 Egyptians not only had the use of the alphabet.
 
 234 LECTURE VII. 
 
 but it was also believed that they had been the 
 inventors of it. This assertion is so much the 
 more to be attended to, because, the intercourse 
 between Egypt and Greece being very great, Plato 
 would never have dared to wi'ite an untruth which 
 might be contradicted by any one of his country- 
 men. On the contrary, we find many authorities 
 w^hich confirm this assertion of Plato ; for he, 
 having said that it was necessary for his country- 
 men to read mathematics, gives as a reason, that 
 in Egypt the children were in the habit of learning 
 them as soon as they had learned their letters ; 
 and both Herodotus and Diodorus inform us, that 
 these letters were the demotic alphabet, not very 
 dissimilar from the hieratic, and of which it was 
 equally behoved Hermes was the inventor; and 
 something of the same import is said by Clement 
 of Alexandria. 
 
 We are, in fact, informed by Apuleius, that when 
 he was initiated in the mysteries of Isis, the Hiero- 
 phantes shewed him hooks written in unknown 
 characters ; and M. Zoega, with his usual acute- 
 ness, proves, that in this passage Apideius speaks 
 of two different sorts of characters, the hiero- 
 glyphics and the alphabetical ; and, fi'om another 
 passage of Clement, he proves that the Egyptian 
 w^ords could not conveniently be ™tten in Greek 
 characters. 
 
 I beg you will pay particular attention to this 
 passage of Clement ; for, as I stated in a former 
 Lecture, this difficulty which the Greek writers
 
 LECTURE VII. 235 
 
 experienced in writing in their alphabet the Egyp- 
 tian words, was one of the principal causes why the 
 Greeks have so unwarrantably altered the names 
 of the Egyptian kings, animals, and places, as to 
 render it extremely difficult to recognise them. 
 
 The hieroglyphics, says Zoega, are letters ; and, 
 like letters, they are arranged in lines, and express 
 sentiments, actions, and ideas. For by their shape 
 they are pictures, by their disposition letters. 
 " Signa hieroglyphicorum ad literarum instar sin- 
 gulatim ordinata in series sive versus, animi sensus 
 factorum idearumque seriem exprimant. Id enim 
 hieroglyphicis proprium est, ut quoad figuram pic- 
 turae sint, quoad ordinem litterae." This is a very 
 striking passage ; and, as far as I know the only one 
 uttered by a modern writer, in which it is so point- 
 edly, and so positively asserted, that hieroglyphics 
 are letters. He allows, indeed, another species of 
 hieroglyphics, which we should call symbolical, but 
 which he calls anaglyphs ; these, he says, have 
 been called hieroglyphics on account of their short- 
 ness, and principally on account of the custom of 
 using them in the temples, for which reason they 
 obtained the name of sacred, or hieroglyphics. 
 They, however, are not what we should call alpha- 
 betical letters, because they express ideas. Such, 
 for instance, is the celebrated inscription on the 
 propylaeum of the Egyptian temples at Sais and 
 Thebes, exhibiting the figures of an old man, an 
 infant, a hawk, a fish, and a crocodile ; in which 
 the infant is the emljlem of nativity, the old man 
 1
 
 236 LECTURE VII. 
 
 of death, the hawk of the deity, the fish for hatred, 
 and the crocodile for impudence. So that, accord- 
 ing to Clement, the whole means, " O you who 
 are born, and you who die, remember, that the 
 gods hate impudence." 
 
 All this is sufficiently plain, and perfectly coin- 
 cides with the modern discoveries, by which we are 
 enabled to read inscriptions engraved on monu- 
 ments much anterior to the time of Moses, and 
 nearly ascending to the age of Abraham. The 
 difficulty consists in finding out which was the first 
 mode of writing employed by mankind ; that is, 
 whether hieroglyphics preceded or succeeded the 
 invention of the alphabet. To ascertain this point, 
 we should consider that every thing is emblematic, 
 every thing is figurative, every thing is more or 
 less hieroglyphical, amongst the ancients. They 
 began in Chaldea, by placing, or rather by giving 
 to some constellations the name of the ram, and 
 of the bull, either to signify the productions of 
 these animals during the spring, or, as we shall see 
 in a future Lecture, to pay a peculiar homage to 
 the Deity, as soon as they began to depart from 
 the pure religion of Noah. Fire was the symbol 
 of the Deity amongst the Persians ; the rising of 
 Sirius, or the dog-star, informed the Egyptians of 
 the inundation of the Nile ; the serpent holding 
 its tail in its mouth, became the image of eternity. 
 The whole of nature was disguised, and emblemat- 
 ically represented, by the primitive inhabitants of 
 our globe.
 
 LECTURE VII. 237 
 
 Travellers from the most remote antiquity have 
 found in India frightful statues, furnished with ten 
 arms, symbohcally representing the power of virtue, 
 or the power of the deity. These statues, by our 
 missionaries, have been taken for representations 
 of the devil. In this supposition, whatever ignor- 
 ance they may have betrayed about the origin 
 of idolatry, and of the progress and civilization of 
 the natives, our missionaries have shewn a con- 
 sistency highly calculated to prove the httle ad- 
 vance they themselves had made in the history of 
 mankind. Being persuaded that the true know- 
 ledge of the Deity was confined to Europe, they 
 never thought it possible that the Hindoo nation, 
 who could not speak French, English, or Portu- 
 guese, did not worship the devil. 
 
 If we place all the symbols and emblems which 
 we have received from antiquity, under the inspec- 
 tion of a man of sense, or even of a scholar, who 
 had never heard of them, he will not be able to 
 understand, and much less will he be able to ex- 
 plain, any of them. It is a figurative and emblem- 
 atical language, which requires a particular study 
 before it can be understood. 
 
 It is for this reason that the ancient philoso- 
 phers, and Pythagoras principally, who had tra- 
 velled much in India and Egypt, employed this 
 mode to convey instruction to their pupils. Most, 
 if not all, the precepts of this last mentioned phi- 
 losopher, are couched in such figurative expres- 
 sions as to become riddles, or hieroglyphics.
 
 238 LECTUR E VII. 
 
 " Do not stir the fire with the sword," said he ; 
 to signify, do not irritate a man who is already in 
 a passion, 
 
 " Do not eat beans," to signify, avoid piibHc 
 assembhes, in which we know the vote was given 
 by beans. 
 
 " During the storm, go and worship the echo ;" 
 to signify, dm-ing civil wars retire to the comitry. 
 
 Such is a specimen of the figurative mode of 
 speaking of Pythagoras, the sense of which is not 
 now difficult to understand. But he is not the 
 only instructor of mankind who has employed this 
 mode. Most of the ancients have been equally 
 emblematical, and have made use of the same em- 
 blematical figures. One of the most beautiful of 
 these figures that ever was uttered, is that of 
 Timeus of Locri, who described the Deity to be a 
 circle, the centre of which was every where, and 
 the circumference no where. Plato adopted this 
 emblem ; and, amongst the moderns, Pascal has 
 inserted it amongst the materials which he meant 
 to employ in a future work, and to w^iich the 
 French have given the title of " Pensees de Pascal." 
 
 The sacred pages exhibit innumerable examples 
 of this mode of speaking, which the Hebrews had 
 adopted from the Egyptians. A striking and most 
 beautiful specimen is found in the last chapter of 
 Ecclesiastes. " When the keepers of the house 
 shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow them- 
 selves, and the gi'inders shall cease because they 
 are few, and those that look out of the windows
 
 LECTURE VII. 239 
 
 be darkened ; and the doors shall be shut in the 
 
 streets ; when the sound of the grinding is low 
 
 when the almond-tree shall flourish, and the grass- 
 hopper shall be a burden, .... or ever the silver 
 cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or 
 
 the pitcher be broken at the fountain, then 
 
 the spirit shall return unto God, who gave it." 
 
 All this passage, which, however, I have much 
 abridged, but which is a figurative description of 
 old age, signifies, when old men lose their teeth, 
 and their sight grows dim, when their hair becomes 
 grey as the leaves of the almond-tree, when their 
 feet swell hke those of the grasshopper, and their 
 hair falls like the leaves, &c. &c. we must prepare 
 ourselves for the great and last journey. 
 
 The more we advance towards the east, the 
 more we find this custom of using emblems and 
 figures ; and the more these emblems and these 
 figures differ from those which our customs and 
 our notions allow us to employ. It is principally 
 among the Indians, the Egyptians, and the Syrians, 
 that the most extraordinary emblems were con- 
 secrated by religion. 
 
 These, as we shall see hereafter, were but 
 the symbols of the several attributes of the Deity, 
 all originating from the same source, all convey- 
 ing the same notions and the same ideas. From 
 these considerations, and from more cogent and 
 conclusive reasons, which shall be developed in 
 the course of this, as well as of my next Lec- 
 ture, I am inclined to believe, that the first mode
 
 240 LECTURE VII. 
 
 invented by mankind to communicate their know- 
 ledge to posterity, or to absent persons, was the 
 plain and simple representation of the things them- 
 selves, by pictures. 
 
 There is still a curious specimen of this wi-iting 
 by painting, imported to Europe by a Mexican, 
 who translated it into Spanish. I recollect hav- 
 ing seen it in the library of the Escurial, many 
 years ago, where I also saw another specimen of 
 wi'iting by quipos. This Spanish version has 
 been turned into English by Purchas. The 
 title of the book is, " History of the Empire 
 of Mexico, with Notes and Explanations," and it 
 is to be found in " Purchas's Pilgrimes," Part the 
 third. 
 
 I also remember to have read somewhere in the 
 works of Freret, or in the Mercure de France, 
 that the original MS. is, or at least was, in the 
 library of the King of France ; but I do not re- 
 member how it got there, nor whether it is the 
 original MS. in the Mexican language, or of the 
 English translation. 
 
 Although these specimens, properly speaking, 
 belong to a more advanced and more polished 
 period of picture writing, when mankind had 
 already made some progress in this as well as other 
 departments of social intercourse, yet, as far as 
 they go, they will give you no mean idea of the 
 subject under consideration. 
 
 The translation I have alluded to is divided into 
 three parts.
 
 LECTURE VII. 241 
 
 The first is a history of the Mexican empire, 
 containing the biography and conquests of not less 
 than eleven kings. The second is a regular roll of 
 the several taxes which each conquered province 
 or town paid to the royal treasury : and the third 
 a digest of their civil law, the largest branch of 
 which was of their common law, ox jure pair io. 
 
 In each of these pictures, every king is repre- 
 sented with different characteristics ; the length 
 of his reign is marked by squares round the mar- 
 gin, which, when the reign happens to be extremely 
 long, fill the four sides of the picture. In each 
 square there is a small circle to signify the year, a 
 mark which they repeat according to its number 
 till they reach thirteen, after which they begin 
 over again to count one ; and under these small 
 circles there is a kind of hieroglyphic figure, 
 which is repeated in every fourth square. Thus, 
 in Table 8. fig. 1. we have the representation of 
 the length of the reign, and the warlike deeds 
 performed by a king, whose reign lasted seventeen 
 years,because the squares round the picture amount 
 to that number. In each square we see a small 
 circle, from one to thirteen, when the single circle 
 again makes its appearance. In the first square 
 there is a kind of lozenge, in the second a sort of 
 building, in the third the head of an animal, in the 
 fourth a bush of canes, which figures or characters 
 are constantly repeated in the same order, over 
 and over again in every one of the pictures. They 
 no doubt had their meaning, of which I am en- 
 
 R
 
 242 l.ECTURE VII. 
 
 tirely ignorant ; they were most likely connected 
 either with their religious rites, or with their astro- 
 nomical knowledge. 
 
 In all the pictures that exhibit the reign of each 
 king, there is a figure which shews the nature of 
 his government, and, therefore, vary according to 
 the circumstances and the events that took place 
 during his reign. In this picture it is a shield, or 
 a target, (c) crossed by four lances, which means 
 that this king subdued, by force of arms, four 
 towns or people ; they are expressed by four rough 
 drawings of a house, to which a symbol, or hiero- 
 glyphic figure, denoting the name of each, has 
 been attached. In the first, (fZ) we have a tree ; 
 in the second, (g) another tree of a different sort ; 
 in the third, (h) a kind of basket ; in the fourth, 
 (?) a sort of box, with two baskets. These ex- 
 hibitions I am unable to explain, but they no doubt 
 were perfectly intelligible to the people ; and per- 
 haps might have had a reference to the natural 
 productions of the subdued provinces. 
 
 To mark the beginning of the reign, and the 
 different epochs in which a king performed any of 
 the actions mentioned in the picture, or even his 
 death, they painted the figure of the king, with 
 his characteristic emblem, which denotes his name, 
 opposite to the year in which the event had taken 
 place. Thus, in our picture, the king's name is 
 said to be Acamapichtli, and his figure is repeated 
 twice ; opposite the first square, which marks the 
 beginning of his reign, and opposite the eighth
 
 LECTURE VII. 243 
 
 square, which shews, that in the eighth year of 
 his reign he put to death the chiefs of the four 
 towns he had conquered. This circumstance is 
 expressed by the four heads placed before him, 
 distinguished by the same hieroglyphical charac- 
 ters which mark the towns or provinces over which 
 they reigned. Across the figure of the king there 
 is a kind of sash, with a knot on his shoulder, 
 which, by its length and breadth, means the num- 
 ber of wives and children he had. In the present 
 instance it seems not to be deficient in either of 
 these dimensions. I am told that there is another 
 mark to express the quality and number of chil- 
 dren, whether male or female ; but, to confess my 
 ignorance, I could never discover it; although I 
 have observed all the pictures of the several reigns 
 recorded by this curious piece of history, with 
 every possible attention. 
 
 To the picture of each reign, a second picture 
 was invariably attached, which indicated the other 
 actions of the sovereign as a politician, and the 
 other events that had distinguished his government. 
 The whole account given by Purchas is curious, 
 and highly amusing. 
 
 In recording the tribute, or taxes, which each 
 town had to pay, as it was paid in kind, it seems 
 that the Mexicans had adopted the plan of drawing 
 the figure of the object. Thus, to represent a bas- 
 ket of cacao-meal, or of any other sort of corn, they 
 drew the figure of a basket containing the ears of 
 corn, or the meal extracted from the fruit of that 
 
 R 2
 
 '244 LF.CTU R !■: VII. 
 
 tree, or of that plant. To represent suits of mili- 
 tary clothing, armour, or shields, they exhibited 
 their respective figures ; the different sorts of man- 
 tles, whether of feathers or of other materials, were 
 signified by their respective figures, differently 
 coloured. The number of each article was ex- 
 pressed either by circles, each of which signified 
 ten, or by a kind of pine-apple, which meant five, 
 painted at the top of the basket, or by the side of 
 each individual article ; and if their quantity was 
 so great as to amount to a burthen, or a load, this 
 was expressed by another mark, which had the same 
 signification. The like must be said of their paper, 
 their cups, pots of honey, cochineal, wood, planks, 
 beams, timber, loaves of salt, hatchets, lumps of 
 copal, refined and unrefined, shells, wool, stones, 
 canes to make darts, eagles, skins of animals ; in 
 short, of every thing which each town had to pay, 
 for the maintenance of the state. 
 
 It would be impossible for me to give you a mi- 
 nute account of their civil and religious institutions, 
 which form the third, and by far the largest depart- 
 ment, in this most extraordinary picture. Every 
 trade, every office, every employment, is differently 
 delineated. The rites attending the several cere- 
 monies of burial, marriage, and baptism, (for they 
 certainly had some sort of baptism,) are minutely 
 set down. But, above all, it seems that the edu- 
 cation of children, from their infancy to manhood, 
 had attracted the greatest attention of their legis- 
 lature. The quantity of food, the quality of
 
 LECTURE VIL 245 
 
 labour, the different pursuits attached to each dis- 
 tinct age, the various punishments decreed for the 
 different faults, are stated with a precision and 
 clearness which is quite astonishing. The age of 
 the child can always be made out by the number 
 of circles placed above its head. The figure of 
 the mother, and indeed of any woman, by her 
 kneeling posture, and sitting on her legs ; while 
 the figure of the father, the priest, the teacher, 
 and indeed of all men, besides the different attri- 
 butes, which designate the employment, is always 
 represented either standing, or sitting on a low 
 stool, with his knees to his breast. 
 
 As a specimen, I offer you a table of the cere- 
 monies attending their marriage. [^Table 8. fig. 2.]] 
 This was generally brought about by an old woman, 
 whom they called Amantesa, (t) that is, a mar- 
 riage broker, who was to carry the bride {w) on her 
 back to the house of the bridegroom, at the begin- 
 ning of the night, accompanied by four women, 
 (x and %) bearing torches of pine-tree. When 
 arrived at the house, the bride {I) and the bride- 
 groom {7)1) were seated near to the fire, on a mat, 
 the woman, as usual, sitting on her legs, the man 
 on a stool. There they were tied together by the 
 corner of their garments, after which they offered 
 to their gods a perfume of copal ; two old women, 
 {n and v) and two old men, {i and r) being pre- 
 sent as witnesses. This ceremony over, they were 
 allowed to dine, upon two different sorts of meat, 
 {j) and q) and some pulse (.s). Thus, not only
 
 •246 LECTURE Vll. 
 
 the dishes which were to be used are marked, but 
 also the cup («) out of which they were to drink. 
 The witnesses were allowed to dine after the newly 
 married couple, which circumstance is expressed 
 by their being seated at the four corners of the 
 mat, which served for a dining-table. The sign 
 which is added to the mouth of these four witnesses, 
 signifies, that before they retired they had the 
 right to give, and in fact they gave, to the married 
 folks, good counsel, how to behave themselves, 
 that they might live in peace and happiness. The 
 position of one of the women, (n) holding up her 
 right hand, means that the portly matron is already 
 making use of the privilege allowed, to give a little 
 exercise to her tongue ; while the folded arms of 
 the remaining witnesses prove that they are waiting 
 for their turn. 
 
 In the pmiishments of their children, the Mex- 
 icans seem to have been ingeniously cruel. Most 
 of the chastisements I find marked domi consisting 
 in unmerciful castigations ; in driving into the 
 hands, arms, legs, and into the body of the culprit, 
 thorns and prickles. Sometimes they singed his 
 head with fire, at other times they tied him down to 
 a board, and threw him into a bog ; and occasion- 
 ally they held the head and nose of the unfortunate 
 child upon the smoke of a particular wood, which 
 they called axi. 
 
 The crimes, for which they inflicted punishments 
 so severe and so cruel, are the same with those 
 which are condemned by the laws of the most
 
 LECTURE VII. 247 
 
 civilized nations of Europe, and cannot but inspire 
 us with a very favourable, nay, exalted opinion^ 
 of the moral notions of the Mexicans. They seem 
 even to have gone beyond us, for the sake of pre- 
 serving proper habits of industry and morality 
 among the people ; for they not only punished 
 drunkenness with death, but also idleness ; for if 
 drunkenness, said they, renders a man capable of 
 committing a crime, idleness exposes him to drinking, 
 and to bad company. This law, however, lost its 
 power with men and women as soon as they 
 reached the age of seventy ; they were then 
 allowed to pass their lives in idleness, and to get 
 drunk, both in public and private. The reason 
 assigned for this extraordinary regulation is, that 
 as they could no longer work, and had but a short 
 time to live, the law indulged them with the enjoy- 
 ment of what seems to have been considered, by 
 the Mexicans, as one of the greatest pleasures of 
 life. 
 
 Such is the short account that I can give you 
 of this most singular mode of expressing ideas by 
 pictures, which is, I think, an exemplification of 
 the first mode of writing by hieroglyphics. It is, 
 besides, one of the most interesting monuments 
 by which we can arrive at the knowledge of the 
 history of Mexico. For it is evident, that, from 
 the wisdom of their regulations, from the quantity 
 of taxes which, as is recorded in these pictures, 
 were levied upon the different towns and nations, 
 from the minuteness of the details, and from the 
 1
 
 248 LECTURE VII. 
 
 pictures themselves, which shew some knowledge 
 of perspective and drawing, the Mexicans had 
 made no inconsiderable progress in knowledge, in 
 civiHzation, and in the cultivation of the arts. 
 And yet these are the people whom the intolerance 
 and bigotry of the rulers of Spain condemned to 
 destruction, as if a superior sort of brutes, but by 
 no means worthy to be considered as rational be- 
 ings, or possessing souls. Oh how often, in read- 
 ing the history of mankind, have I blushed at the 
 excesses committed by man ! 
 
 This mode of writing by signs, whether sym- 
 bolical, figm-ative, or conventional, has been often 
 adopted even by the modern inhabitants of our 
 part of the globe. Among the many instances 
 which I could quote, I shall select a curious alma- 
 nack, which is considered to have been the per- 
 formance of a monk of Brittany, so late as the 
 year 1468. It was found in the year 1731, in a 
 hollow square place of a wall, built over by brick- 
 work, in the castle of Coedic. It was engi'aved on 
 both sides of a piece of wood, five inches long, 
 and half an inch thick. The extraordinary appear- 
 ance of the characters could not, as you may 
 easily suppose, but excite the curiosity of the 
 nation ; and as the idea which even the learned at 
 that time had of these past ages was not very 
 correct, some considered this extaordinary piece of 
 wood as a table calculated to tell people's fortunes, 
 or draw horoscopes ; others looked upon it as a 
 talisman ; but the most part regarded it as a spe-
 
 LECTURE VII. 249 
 
 cies of diabolical and nefarious schedule, drawn up 
 for the purpose of making incantations, enchant- 
 ments, and other such magical operations, from 
 which they concluded that it could not soon enough 
 be thrown into the fire. Fortunately, however, 
 the proprietor of the castle thought otherwise ; he 
 sent it to the Academy of Inscriptions, and M. 
 Lancelot, having found out that it was a perpetual 
 almanack, published in the following year a frill 
 description of it. 
 
 This almanack was engraved over on both sides, 
 and each side contained six divisions, exhibiting 
 thus the twelve months of the year. The first six 
 divisions were engraved on the upper side, the re- 
 maining on the lower ; but at the top of both there 
 were engraved two heads, one of a man, another of 
 a woman, most probably meant to represent the 
 king and queen then reigning. Each division, or 
 month, contains several marks, or dots, correspond- 
 ing to the number of its days ; and opposite many 
 of these dots there is an emblematical sign, shew- 
 ing the most remarkable feast-days in the year, or 
 at least those for which the contriver of this alma- 
 nack felt a particular veneration. All these feast- 
 days are of a fixed nature, that is, such as return 
 every year, on the same day, without alteration ; 
 and thus it differs fr'om the almanacks of the 
 Greek Church, both in Asia and Russia, a speci- 
 men of which has been published at Antwerp in 
 the " Acts of the Saints," under the article of " the 
 month of May ;" but it resembles the ancient alma-
 
 250 LECTURE VII. 
 
 nacks published in Norway, which Olalis Rudbeck, 
 in his " Atlantique," calls Primstafs, and in which 
 the principal feast-days were designated by marks 
 and points differing very little from one another. 
 
 The most remarkable feature, however, which is 
 to be found in this almanack is, that the divisions, 
 or months, do not run from left to right, but go 
 backward, from right to left. Thus, in the first 
 division, January holds the place where we now 
 should place June ; and in the second, July, where 
 we should put December. 
 
 Although the figures which mark the feast-days 
 maybe the offspring of the author's own fancy, yet 
 they generally have some real or allegorical rela- 
 tion to the object of this feast, or to the cha- 
 racter or employment of the person. A cross, for 
 instance, is meant to represent all the mysteries of 
 our Saviour, although varied by further additional 
 circumstances. 
 
 We find it, in fact, on the 1st of January, the 
 day of the Circumcision ; on the 6th, the day of 
 the Epiphany ; on the 3d of May for the invention 
 of the Cross ; on the 6th of August for the Trans- 
 figuration ; on the 14th of September for the ex- 
 altation of the Cross ; on the 25th of December for 
 the Nativity. The same sign, with different addi- 
 tions, we find as a mark for All Saints' day, on the 
 1st of November, and for many of the Apostles ; 
 such as the 25th of January for the Conversion of 
 St. Paul ; on the 2 1th of February for St. Mat- 
 thias, and the like.
 
 LECTURE VII. 251 
 
 All the festivals of the Virgin Mary are distin- 
 guished by a fleur-de-lys ; as on Purification day, 
 the 2d of February ; on the Annunciation, the 
 25th of March ; on the 8th of September, the day of 
 the Nativity ; on the 8th of December, the day of 
 the Conception. It is equally employed for the feast 
 of St. Mary Magdalen, on the 22d of July, most 
 probably on account of her name of Mary ; and on 
 the 26th of the same month, to mark the feast of 
 St. Anne, the mother of the Virgin. 
 
 The festivals of those Saints who bore the name 
 of John, are represented by a kind of cup, which 
 is the emblem generally put into the hands of St. 
 John the Evangelist. In this way we find ex- 
 pressed the festival of St. John Chrysostom, on 
 the 27th of January ; of St. John the Hermit, on 
 the 27th of March ; of St. John Port Latin, on the 
 6th of May ; of the Decollation of St. John the 
 Baptist, on the 27th of June ; and on the 27th of 
 December for St. John the Evangelist. 
 
 A key represents all the festivals of St. Peter ; 
 for instance, on the 29th of June, and on the 1st 
 of August ; a gridiron that of St. Laurence, on the 
 10th of August ; a bundle of arrows that of St. 
 Sebastian, on the 20th of January ; and a species 
 of scraper, very much resembling the instrument 
 used by tanners to peel skins, to exhibit the festi- 
 val of St. Bartholomew, on the 24th of August. 
 
 To distinguish the female Saints, who died vir- 
 gins and martyrs, the author has employed a spe- 
 cies of axe, siu'mounted by three sharp points. We
 
 252 LECTURE VII. 
 
 meet with this mark on the 21st of January, the 
 day of St. Agnes ; on the 5th of February, the day 
 of St. Agatha ; on the 9th of the same month, for 
 St. Apolhna; on the 16th of June, for St. Judith ; 
 on the 2d of November, for St. Ceciha; and the 
 hke. 
 
 The popes, the bishops, the abbots, and, indeed, 
 all clergymen, are designed by a cross. Those 
 intended for popes and bishops are more compli- 
 cated, and more bent ; the others more simple and 
 more straight. Of the more simple sort is that 
 on the 12th of March, the festival of St. Paul, 
 who was the first bishop of Leon ; on the 31st 
 of December, the festival of St. Silvester; and the 
 hke. 
 
 Of the second, or more complicated sort, is the 
 mark opposite the 21st of June, the festival of St. 
 Meen, the abbot of St. Malo ; opposite the 22d of 
 August, for St. Philbert, abbot of Tumiege. Some- 
 times this same cross is turned the contrary way, 
 as on the 13th of January, the feast of St. Hilary, 
 bishop of Poitier ; on the 4th of November, for St. 
 Melaine, bishop of Rennes. To some prelates, 
 however, our author has granted different marks ; 
 such are, for instance, those to express the two 
 festivals of St. Martin, on the 4th of July, and the 
 11th of November, which is a kind of episcopal 
 crosier; whilst those of St. Nicholas, of the 9th 
 of May, and the 6th of December, look very much 
 like the upper part of the capital letter B. 
 
 Some of the signs, however, are very curious.
 
 LECTURE VII. 253 
 
 Those expressed to signify the festivals of St. An- 
 thony, on the 17th of January, and on the 13th 
 of June, are a kind of half-circle, furnished inside 
 with sharp points ; while those employed for the 
 two apparitions of St. Michael, on the 29th of 
 September, and 16th of October, consist of three 
 straight lines, two of which, having a ring at each 
 end, hang right and left from the one which hes in 
 the middle. Whether such a sign was meant to 
 signify the wings with which this archangel is gene- 
 rally represented, or to make an allusion to tJie 
 einployment of weighing the souls of men, which 
 some painters have attributed to him, it is impossi- 
 ble for me to decide. And it is equally impossible 
 to explain the sort of bird which we find on the 
 18th of October, to express the day of St. Luke 
 the Evangelist ; unless we should have recourse to 
 the French proverb of '' L'oiseau de S. Luc," the 
 origin and signification of which I do not feel my- 
 self authorized to state in this place. 
 
 Of the same sort is the mark employed to 
 signify All Souls' day, on the 2nd of November, 
 and the day of the Innocents, on the 28th of De- 
 cember. 
 
 Such is this curious almanack, which, at the 
 time it was found, produced so much alarm, and 
 created so much curiosity, as to engage the atten- 
 tion of one of the first learned societies of Europe. 
 
 To return now to our subject. From these 
 facts, and from others, which I shall by and by 
 produce of the Chinese, I have a right to conclude
 
 254 LECTURE VII. 
 
 that, in the primitive state of society, mankind 
 had no other method to express their ideas in 
 writing than the simple representation of the 
 objects. We must, therefore, endeavour, 'if pos- 
 sible, to ascertain what alterations were made 
 in this picture-writing before the different figures 
 became what we now, strictly speaking, term hie- 
 roglyphics. 
 
 Unfortunately, the total deficiency of monuments 
 of the first attempts of mankind, puts it out of our 
 power to speak with certainty of the expression 
 and purpose of this mode of writing. We are 
 totally unacquainted with, and most likely we 
 shall continue for ever ignorant of, the primitive 
 efforts of the Egyptians in hieroglyphical writing. 
 The monuments which still exist on this ancient 
 land, although much anterior to any thing of the 
 sort which has as yet appeared in Europe, far 
 from exhibiting the first originals, are the result of 
 the considerable improvement which they had 
 made in painting, sculpture, and architecture. The 
 basso relievos by which they are ornamented are 
 generally attached to legends, perfectly similar in 
 their form and combination to those which, in later 
 ages, were dedicated to the Grecian kings and Roman 
 emperors : and, for the space of more than three 
 thousand years before Christ, we cannot discover 
 the least difference in the manner and arrange- 
 ment of hieroglyphics. 
 
 In attempting, therefore, to explain the na- 
 ture and use of hieroglyphics during these primi-
 
 LECTURE VII. 255 
 
 tive ages, we have no other guide than probability, 
 no other resource than analogy ; and it is by their 
 assistance and the peculiar situation in which the 
 Egyptians found themselves when they first went 
 to settle in that country, that we must endeavour 
 to ascertain the nature and use of their hierogly- 
 phical writing. 
 
 We have seen that the representation of the ob- 
 jects themselves was, as it must have been, the first 
 method adopted by mankind to communicate their 
 thoughts in writing. This mode must have pre- 
 ceded by many centuries the Dispersion ; for it is 
 found to have existed, more or less, among the most 
 rude, as well as the most polished nations of the 
 globe ; nations who, from their natural position, and 
 the immense distance which separated them from 
 the other civilized parts of the world, could not have 
 held any intercourse with the rest of mankind. 
 
 The difficulty and labour attached to this mode 
 of writing soon persuaded the people to be satisfied 
 with the outlines only of the figure which expressed 
 the object ; and this seems, in fact, to have been 
 the method used by most, if not all the nations of 
 the earth. It was found in Mexico and in Peru, 
 at the discovery of America, and, in some respects, 
 still exists in China, as we shall see in a future 
 Lecture. 
 
 But as this method of expressing the objects 
 even by outlines was still very troublesome, the 
 Egyptians adopted another and more simple mode 
 of writing, and that was, to substitute a kind of
 
 256 LECTURE VII. 
 
 mark, or simple character, for the outhnes of the 
 object. These marks, or these characters, still 
 retained some resemblance to the figm^e made by 
 the outlines ; but they were less difficult, needed 
 less skill, and much less trouble, and they were, 
 therefore, soon generally used. They were, how- 
 ever, still intricate, and required a certain degree 
 both of patience and skill. To simplify, therefore, 
 the method of writing, the priests turned these out- 
 lines into marks which, although they retained 
 some resemblance to the outlines for which they 
 had been substituted, were, however, more simple 
 and expeditious. 
 
 In this manner the Egyptian hieroglyphics un- 
 derwent the same revolution to which they had 
 been exposed in China. In that country, the pri- 
 mary institution of writing by the representation 
 of figures, was soon turned into arbitrary marks, 
 which, although in the beginning they might still 
 preserve a little resemblance to the natural objects, 
 yet in course of time deviated so much from their 
 originals, as to render it impossible to trace them 
 to their archetype. 
 
 The Egyptian priests, however, for reasons which 
 will be shewn in the course of these Lectures, 
 although they adopted these marks as the general 
 method of writing, yet for their own purposes 
 invented other characters, and other marks, which 
 were more arbitrary than the former. They were 
 absolutely symbolical, and of a nature which was 
 very difficult to be understood, without a previous
 
 LECTURE Vil. 257 
 
 knowledge or study ; and it seems that they did so 
 in three ways. 
 
 The first was to employ the most remarkable 
 circumstance attending any subject, to express 
 the subject itself. Thus, if they wished to repre- 
 sent two armies ready to come to battle, they 
 painted two hands, the one of which held a bow, 
 the other a shield, as we find amongst the hiero- 
 glyphics of Horapollo. 
 
 The second was more ingenious, and it con- 
 sisted in substituting for the thing which they wished 
 to exhibit, the real or metaphorical instrument by 
 which the thing itself could be done ; thus, an eye 
 and a sceptre represented a king ; a sword a tyrant ; 
 a vessel with a pilot the ruling power of the uni- 
 verse ; the emblem of nature, for the productive 
 power of the earth. 
 
 The third mode went still further ; it employed 
 one thing for another, in which there was no other 
 resemblance than that which convention had 
 established ; thus, a serpent, with its tail in its 
 mouth, forming a circle, became the symbol of the 
 universe, and the spots on its skin the emblems of 
 the stars. 
 
 In process of time, the use of this third mode 
 was extended to express the qualities of substances 
 by sensible images ; for instance, a hare meant an 
 openness of character ; a buck, impudicity ; a fly, 
 impudence ; an ant, science ; a client flying for relief 
 to his patron, and receiving none, was represented 
 by a sparrow and an owl ; a king, inexorable and 
 
 s
 
 258 LECTURE VIF. 
 
 estranged from his people, by an eagle ; a man 
 who exposes his children through poverty, by a 
 hawk ; a wife who hates her husband, or her children, 
 by a viper ; one initiated in the mysteries, or under 
 an obhgation of secrecy, by a grasshopper, which 
 was thought to have no mouth. And thus, by de- 
 grees, they imagined symbols, or symbolical images, 
 to express those things which, being merely quali- 
 ties or powers, have no visible form. 
 
 It is from this third mode of writing, and from the 
 custom of expressing the qualities of things by the 
 picture of visible objects, that scholars have expe- 
 rienced the greatest, if not the whole difficulty of 
 understanding hieroglyphics ; and this difficulty is 
 not entirely removed by the recent discoveries ; for, 
 indeed, we are not yet sufficiently acquainted with 
 the natural history of ancient Egypt, or with the 
 prejudices and notions of the people, to be able to 
 ascertain how they could find any similarity 
 between two objects, in which we find none. Thus, 
 for instance, he who had borne his misfortunes 
 with com'age, and had at last surmounted them, 
 was signified by the picture of an hyena, because 
 the skin of that animal was supposed to make the 
 wearer fearless and invulnerable. 
 
 But the department in which the priesthood 
 exercised all their ingenuity, in regard to symbols, 
 was their theology ; for we find the most extraor- 
 dinary figm*es employed emblematically, to repre- 
 sent their gods and goddesses. Originally, as we 
 shall see in a future Lecture, these symbols were
 
 LECTURE VII. 259 
 
 such as to be consistent with the religion of Noah. 
 But, in progi'ess of time, they underwent a consi- 
 derable alteration ; and, as the people departed 
 from the purity and simplicity of the primitive 
 rehgion, they were strangely perverted. But, 
 although the several attributes of the Supreme 
 Being were afterwards considered as so many gods 
 and goddesses, and the symbols, or hieroglyphics, 
 which originally had been invented and employed, 
 as a representation of these attributes, became 
 themselves the symbols and expressions of new 
 gods and new goddesses ; yet the names, by which 
 these symbols or hieroglyphics had been signified, 
 were not abolished. The circle still continued to 
 be the symbol of the sun ; the name of Rhe, by 
 which he had been distinguished, as the first lumi- 
 nary, was still preserved in use, though he had 
 been made a god. The goddess Neith and the 
 god Phtha were still represented by the symbols 
 which originally had been employed to denote the 
 creative or rather the generative power of the 
 Supreme Being. The import and meaning of the 
 primitive hieroglyphics lost nothing of their original 
 signification. This signification might be distorted 
 by the perversion introduced by idolatry ; but a 
 name was still employed to denote and express 
 their meaning, whatever might be the idea 
 which had been and was still attached to each of 
 them. The notions of the people might have 
 been altered, the signification of the several sym- 
 bols might have been changed, but they still con- 
 
 s 2
 
 260 LKCTURE VII. 
 
 tinued to express a sound, and to have a name, 
 and in most cases the same name, although the 
 ideas which they excited might no longer be the 
 same ; for, I imagine, and it is impossible to think 
 otherwise, that before the invention of the alphabet, 
 hieroglyphics were, and indeed must have been, 
 ideographic. 
 
 That such must have been the fact is evident 
 from the innumerable inscriptions engi'aved on the 
 Egyptian monuments, which exhibit these different 
 sorts of hieroglyphics, and sometimes so mixed 
 together, as to perplex a reader not accustomed 
 to them. The exact and elaborate figures of the 
 object were invariably engraved on public monu- 
 ments, and public buildings, whether symbolical 
 or figurative ; the simple outlines were used in 
 exhibitions of a less remarkable character, and 
 the arbitrary marks in manuscripts only. And 
 although the gi'and elaborated style may be occa- 
 sionally met with in buildings of inferior note, and 
 even in manuscripts ; yet the arbitrary marks are 
 never to be seen, as far as I have been able to 
 ascertain, but in manuscript writing, or on works 
 comparatively insignificant ; and this fact evidently 
 shews, what I have endeavoured to estabhsh, that 
 the difficulty and labour attending picture writing 
 was the cause, or at least one of the causes, why 
 the use of outhnes and symbols was adopted. 
 
 But if to these considerations, already powerfid, 
 we add others equally strong, arising from the 
 peculiar state in wliich the primitive Egyptians
 
 LECTURE VII. 261 
 
 found themselves, when they first went to inhabit 
 their country, we shall be able to understand the 
 meaning of many other symbols, and the cause of 
 their adoption. Most of these have a reference to 
 the Nile, and to the annual inundation, which was 
 in fact the principal reason of the prosperity of 
 Egypt ; others are connected with, or depending 
 upon the habits, customs, and religion of the 
 natives ; not a few exhibit the peculiar specula- 
 tions and religious practices of the Egyptians ; 
 although in their origin they undoubtedly belonged 
 to the theology of mankind before the dispersion, 
 because, with, few alterations, they were substan- 
 tially and fimdamentally the same with the cere- 
 monies and ritual of all the nations of the world. 
 
 All these alterations, however, must have pre- 
 ceded the invention of the alphabet, although some 
 of them must have taken place after the Disper- 
 sion. For, if the invention of the alphabet had 
 preceded the Dispersion, we should have found the 
 use of it generally established amongst mankind, 
 and hieroglyphics and picture writing entirely laid 
 aside. But this is not the case. The Mexicans 
 and the Peruvians, up to the fifteenth century, and, 
 to this day, the Chinese have no knowledge of the 
 alphabet. They all, like the Egyptians, made 
 use of hieroglyphics, more or less abridged, more 
 or less symbolical ; or, if you please, more or 
 less arbitrary ; but they had no knowledge of the 
 alphabet. The invention of letters, therefore, 
 must have happened after the Dispersion, at a time
 
 262 LECTURE VII. 
 
 when picture or hieroglyphical writing was gene- 
 rally used ; it was thus imported into the respec- 
 tive countries, by the primitive inhabitants, as they 
 separated themselves from the common society, 
 carrying in their migrations those partly true 
 and partly false notions of the Deity, and of the 
 gi-eat event which had submerged the world; 
 notions which, in fact, are to be found in the theo- 
 logy and ritual of all the nations in the universe, 
 although more or less disfigured and altered; as we 
 shall see in a future Lecture. 
 
 Such, it appears to me, is the probable account 
 of the origin, nature, and use of hieroglyphics pre- 
 vious to the invention of the alphabet. How that 
 discovery happened, and what alterations took 
 place, after it became generally known, in the 
 mode of writing and in the meaning of hierogly- 
 phics, we will shew in our next Lecture.
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 Continuation of the same subject — Simplicity of the original 
 figures and language of mankind — Hebrew alphabet — Chinese 
 characters — Words mostly monosyllables — Examples — Forma- 
 tion of dissyllabic and trisyllabic words — Examples — Simi- 
 larity found in most of the Oriental alphabets — Mode by 
 which figures became arbitrary marks — Their shapes — Speci- 
 mens of the Chinese and Egyptian — Names attached to each, 
 generally imitative — How expressed in writing — Examples — 
 Difference of hieroglyphics — Joining of sounds — Analysis of 
 them — Discovery of the alphabet — Generally attributed to 
 the Egyptians — Remarkable passage of Plato — Co7isequences 
 arising from it — General remarks. 
 
 In my last Lecture I endeavoured to prove that 
 the first method of writing employed by mankind, 
 was the simple or full representation of the ob- 
 ject. This, in fact, we found to have been the 
 mode employed by the Mexicans ; and although 
 the specimens which I exhibited at the time 
 belong to another sort of picture-writing, more 
 settled and more complicated, and consequently 
 in some measure inapplicable to our present in- 
 quiry ; yet they were, in other respects, sufficiently 
 conclusive to exemplify the mode of writing I was 
 then describing.
 
 264 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 It being, then, fully established that this picture 
 drawing was the first method of writing adopted 
 by mankind, we must now continue our inquiry, 
 and ascertain, if possible, by what means, and by 
 what steps men arrived at the greatest of all inven- 
 tions, that is, the invention of the alphabet. 
 
 The scarcity, or rather the deficiency of monu- 
 ments and authorities which might lead, or at least 
 help us in this inquiry, is so great, that we have 
 no other resource left than analogy ; but I hope, 
 notwithstanding these great difficulties, to be able, 
 from the little which learned men have written on 
 this subject, and from what has taken place amongst 
 the Chinese and the Jews, to be able to attain 
 our object, as far as the slender acquaintance I 
 have with the languages of these two nations has 
 allowed me to do. 
 
 Two things, however, I think it necessary to men- 
 tion at the very first outset of our inquiry, to which 
 I beg you will pay a particular attention, and they 
 are, first, that the greatest part of the characters, 
 or figurative hieroglyphics, were very simple, and 
 absolutely confined to the exhibition of the cor- 
 poreal objects they wished to represent. Thus, 
 taking the Chinese, for instance, we find that, 
 originally, when they wished to express the sun, 
 the moon, a mountain, or a hand, they traced the 
 figure of a circle with a dot in the middle, [^Table 9. 
 fig. 1.^ to represent the sun ; two half-circles upon 
 one another, with a dot, C;fig. 2.^ to express the 
 moon ; a species of five-prong fork [[fig. 3.]] for
 
 LECTURE VIII. 265 
 
 the hand ; and a short pyramid, with two or three 
 points, or peaks, [[fig. 4i^\ for the mountain ; and 
 so on. 
 
 Now taking this for granted, and assuming that 
 this was the general method adopted by mankind, 
 which, in fact, we know was the mode pursued 
 by the Chinese, the Egyptians, and the Mexicans, 
 it follows that each of these three nations, in look- 
 ing at any one of these figures, would give them 
 the name by which they were called in their 
 respective language. Thus, for instance, an Egyp- 
 tian in looking at the figure of the sun would call 
 out phre, while a Chinese would have said ge, 
 because such are the names by which each of them 
 call the sun. In the same way, if the figure of a 
 hand were exhibited to a Jew, to an Egyptian, or 
 to a Chinese, the Jew would call it jod, the Egyp- 
 tian tot, the Chinese cheou, or you, because so is the 
 hand called in the Hebrew, the Coptic, and the 
 Chinese languages. To this I hope no possible 
 objection can be made. 
 
 The second circumstance to which I beg to call 
 your attention, is the simplicity of the language 
 spoken by the primitive inhabitants of the world, 
 and the small number of sounds or words by which 
 it was composed ; for as a language is intended 
 to express all the ideas and wants belonging 
 to the people by which it is spoken, it is evident 
 that the fewer these ideas are, and the fewer these 
 wants, the fewer must be the words. Now the posi- 
 tion of mankind immediately after the flood was
 
 266 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 such as to preclude the possibility of supposing 
 that they had many ideas and many wants ; there- 
 fore, we may reasonably conclude, that their lan- 
 guage consisted of those words only, which were 
 intended to express the things most necessary to 
 life, and consequently contained a small number of 
 words. We find, in fact, that the letters of the 
 most ancient alphabets known, signified the most 
 common and the most simple objects. This is 
 particularly the case in the Ethiopian and Hebrew 
 alphabets, under which we may comprehend also 
 the Arabic, the Syriac, the Chaldean, the Phoeni- 
 cian, and the Samaritan. In these alphabets the 
 letter A, which they call aleph, signified unity, as 
 well as pre-eminence ; the B, which they termed 
 beth, signified a house ; the gimel, that is, the G, 
 the camel ; daleth, our D, the gate, or the door ; 
 jod, which the Ethiopians called jaman, that is, 
 our J, the hand; mim, which the Ethiopians 
 termed mai, that is, our M, with a very httle altera- 
 tion, signified water ; and I might continue this 
 catalogue through the remaining letters, and shew 
 you, that to each of them they had attached a 
 meaning, for each of them expressed a common 
 and simple object. 
 
 This being admitted, I think it will not be diffi- 
 cult to ascertain how, from the simple picture of 
 the objects, mankind have arrived at the invention 
 of the alphabet. But as the deficiency of monu- 
 ments respecting the western nations puts it out 
 of my power to follow up our inquiry in regard to
 
 LECTURE VIII. 267 
 
 the Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Phoenicians, I must 
 refer you to the Chinese, and, by comparing their 
 characters with those employed by the Jews, endea- 
 vour, if possible, to get at the first adoption of the 
 alphabet. 
 
 I have already said that the first mode of writing 
 adopted by man was to express, by pictures, the 
 nature of the thing they wished to represent. 
 Thus, for instance, the figure of a hand has been 
 employed to exhibit the human limb, which we call 
 hand, and which was called ye, ya, or you ; and 
 from the great quantity of monosyllables which 
 are found in the Oriental languages, mostly signi- 
 fying the plainest and most simple objects, I am 
 authorized to suppose that the primitive sounds, 
 or words, invented by men to express these simple 
 and common objects, were mostly, if not all, mono- 
 syllables. We find, in fact, this to be the case in 
 the Chinese language, in the language of Egypt, 
 and so on. I am also authorized to suppose, that 
 to make a compound word, they added to the first 
 monosyllable a second monosyllable, the significa- 
 tion of which was likewise determined by its figure ; 
 and these two monosyllables, so joined together, 
 produced a compound word, or a word of two 
 syllables, which was expressed in writing by putting 
 together the two figures, each of which separately 
 represented one of the two monosyllables that made 
 the compound word. 
 
 This being established, I take, for instance, the 
 Hebrew letter daleth, which, as I have stated.
 
 268 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 signifies both a door and the letter D, which, in the 
 Hebrew alphabet, is something like a door. [[fig. 5. '2 
 Now suppose that the primitive Jews, when they 
 wished to express an idea of which this word daleth 
 formed a part, shortened its sound, and pronounced, 
 not daleth, but da only, and that by adding to it 
 the second monosyllable ija, which signifies both 
 the letter J and the hand, they formed the word 
 ijada, made up by two monosyllables, one signify- 
 ing a hand, and the other a door, and thus we shall 
 express the meaning, to extend, to spread, for such 
 must be the effect produced by the hand on a door ; 
 and now it turns out that this is precisely the mean- 
 ing of the Hebrew word [[fig. 6.;] spelt only by a J 
 and by a D, without the intervention of any vowel, 
 according to the custom of all the Orientals. 
 
 Upon the same principle, if to the word yada 
 we add the third monosyllable din, which means 
 the eije, we shall have the word yadaa, which wdll 
 of course signify, to open one's eyes, to extend 
 one's sight, and, metaphorically, to hiow, to be 
 aware ; and this, in fact, is the meaning of the 
 Hebrew word yadaa, spelt by a J, a D, and an A, 
 [[fig. 7.^ and to which, if we were to apply hiero- 
 glyphics, that is, if we were to express this word 
 according to the meaning of each monosyllable by 
 the picture of the things of which it is composed, 
 we should draw the picture of a hand, of a door, 
 and of an eye. [[fig. 8.[] 
 
 This is very satisfactory ; but it is not all, for we 
 find this precisely to be the case in the Chinese
 
 LECTURE VIII. 269 
 
 language, as well as in the Hebrew ; for the cha- 
 racters, or group, which in Chinese is called kia, 
 is composed of three different primitive characters, 
 the first of which represents the abridged picture 
 of a hand, [[fig. 9.^ the second of a door, [[fig. 10.[] 
 and the third [[fig. ll.[] of the eye, and all together 
 produce the word Ma, which, in the Chinese lan- 
 guage, means, to examine, to see. In putting 
 these three characters together, the Chinese follow 
 the example of the Egyptians, and dispose the 
 two first at the top, and the third under them, 
 [[fig. 12. [3 just as we find them in the grouping of 
 hieroglyphics ; but for the sake of clearness, we 
 may now dispose them according to the Hebrew 
 monosyllables, which we have analysed already. 
 
 Again, in the Chinese language we find the 
 word Ilia, [[fig. 14.[] which is written with three 
 figures ; each of the first two {a and H) represents 
 the abridged image of a door, and the third (c) 
 exhibits the figure of the teeth, equally abridged. 
 Now in Hebrew we have seen that the two doors 
 are two daleths, that is, two of our D's, and the 
 figure of the teeth is their shin, which answers to 
 our sh, ^, [[fig. 15.[] so that what the Chinese call 
 Ilia, the Jews call shadacl [[fig. 15. «[] ; but these 
 two words, though different in point of sound, 
 have precisely the same meaning in both these 
 languages ; for Jiia in the Chinese, and shadacl in 
 Hebrew, signify to hreah, to make an opening, a 
 signification which suits the nature of the charac-
 
 270 LECTURE vnr. 
 
 ters, that is, the figures of the objects which were 
 used to express them. 
 
 I might extend these observations to a greater 
 length, and produce more instances to prove, by 
 numerous examples, that originally the figure of 
 the object was employed by all the nations of 
 the world to express this same object, and that 
 to such figure each nation gave a sound which 
 expressed the image ; and though this sound might 
 be, and in some instances was, very different from 
 that which was uttered by other nations, yet they 
 all had the same signification, that is, they all 
 meant to express the same object. 
 
 But before I proceed I may, by way of digres- 
 sion, call your attention to a curious fact, which 
 must be very striking to an attentive observer, and 
 that is, the very great similarity which exists be- 
 tween the original alphabets of the Chinese, the 
 Egyptians, and the Jews, and, indeed, of most, if 
 not all, the nations of the globe. This cmious 
 circumstance must, in fact, be a necessary conse- 
 quence of the primitive mode of writing adopted 
 by the whole of mankind ; for as they first began 
 by exhibiting and copying the figure of the object, 
 the alterations which, in progress of time, were 
 introduced, could not possibly vary to such a de- 
 gree, as to prevent the possibility of discovering 
 the first original. I shall explain myself by ex- 
 amples. 
 
 In the instance I have just mentioned of the 
 word shadad, I have observed that the Jews em- 
 
 1
 
 LECTURE VIII. 271 
 
 ployed the letter tJ^, {shin), which is like our sh. 
 Now if we turn to the Egyptians we cannot but 
 observe, that a great similarity exists between the 
 W, {shin), []fig. 15.^ of the Jews, and the same 
 letter, as it was used by the Egyptians, both in 
 their hieroglyphics and hieratic writing ; for among 
 the hieroglyphics we have fig. 16., which is very 
 like the Hebrew ; and in the hieratic we find an 
 abbreviation of the same figure, cy, [^fig. 17.^ which, 
 with the exception of the under line, is precisely 
 the Hebrew letter. They all prove to have been 
 derived from the same original pattern, although 
 the Jews may have altered it in one way, and the 
 Egyptians in another. Indeed it would not be 
 difficult, by running over the hieratic and demotic 
 characters used by the Egyptians, to shew the 
 great resemblance which exists between them and 
 the Hebrew letters ; for, as I have just stated, they 
 are all derived from the same original, — the picture 
 of the object, which afterwards has been altered 
 and abridged for the sake of convenience and ex- 
 pedition, in different ways by the several nations. 
 
 To render you sensible of the truth of this asser- 
 tion, I beg to observe that the drawing of the figure 
 must have been a troublesome and laborious opera- 
 tion, and sometimes even difficult. To remedy 
 this evil, another character was adopted, which ex- 
 pressed only the outlines of the figure, a sort of 
 an abridged representation of the object. Thus, 
 for instance, originally, to represent a bird, they 
 drew the figure of the bird ^fig. 18.^ ; but as this
 
 272 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 was a tedious operation, they began to be satisfied 
 with the outhnes only. C;fig. 19.;] But as this me- 
 thod occasionally required a degree of skill and 
 trouble above the generality of the people, this 
 abridged representation of the bird was still more 
 abridged by the adoption of a mark c;fig. 20.;] which 
 was partly figurative, partly conventional. It was 
 figurative because it still retained some of the 
 leading features of the bird, and it was conven- 
 tional, because, without a previous agi'eement, no 
 one could have imagined that it was intended to 
 represent the figure of the bird. Thus, instead of 
 the outlines in fig. 19, the simple lines in fig. 20 
 were introduced ; and even these were shortened 
 by the adoption of two simple lines, one of which 
 might represent the length of the body, and the 
 other the feet of the bird. Cfig. 21.;] And ulti- 
 mately this very simple representation became the 
 secret or mysterious character, exhibited by arbi- 
 trary marks, C;fig. 22.;] which no one could make 
 out unless he had been told. 
 
 Whether this invention took place before or after 
 the discovery of the alphabet, I have it not in my 
 power to decide ; I merely bring it forward now to 
 follow up the notice of the alterations introduced 
 into the original mode of representing a thing or 
 an object, first graphically, by a full picture of it, 
 secondly, by regular outhnes ; thirdly, bylines which 
 still preserved something of the regular outhnes, 
 but very much shortened ; fourthly by a still greater 
 abridgement ; and, lastly, by arbitrary marks.
 
 LECTURE VIII. 273 
 
 I shall explain my meaning by what has happened 
 in China, where we have a striking example of this 
 alteration. In that country, the people have not 
 only laid aside the use of the pictures of things, 
 which, from the most remote antiquity, they had 
 adopted, and retained the marks which they had sub- 
 stituted for these images ; but they have increased 
 these marks to a prodigious number, making each 
 mark to mean a particular idea, to which they had 
 attached a distinct sound, or word. But what is 
 really surprising, is, that this mode of writing, arbi- 
 trary as it is, is common to many neighbouring 
 nations, who speak a different language. It is 
 common to the people of Cochin China, of Ton- 
 quin, and Japan, each of whom speak a dialect of 
 their own, very dissimilar from the Chinese ; but 
 all these nations, although they cannot under- 
 stand each other by speaking, yet do so perfectly 
 by writing. Du Halde, from whom I borrow the 
 account, says, that their books are common to all 
 of them. These characters, therefore, are a species 
 of arithmetical signs, which each nation expresses 
 by a different word, although, amongst them all, 
 they represent the very same number, and excite 
 the very same idea. 
 
 The shapes and figures of these several charac- 
 ters, however disguised they may be now, still 
 betray their original, from the primitive pictures 
 and images. 
 
 This fact will appear more plain to you upon 
 observing, in Table 9, some curious Chinese cha- 
 
 T
 
 274 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 racters, which I copy from Martinus Martinius. 
 Among these characters. 
 
 Fig. 23, which signifies a mountain, is now writ- 
 ten as you see, in fig. 24. 
 
 Fig. 1, which formerly represented the sun, is 
 now expressed as in fig. 25. 
 
 Fig. 26, which originally stood for a rude image 
 of a dragon, is now expressed as you see in fig. 27. 
 
 Fig. 28, which was intended to represent in a 
 rough manner an eye and a sceptre, to signify the 
 ruling power, is now turned into the arbitrary 
 character expressed by fig. 29. 
 
 And, finally, for fig. 30 and 31, which were ex- 
 actly the images of a hen and a cock, they have 
 now substituted the marks expressed by fig. 32 
 and 33. 
 
 And Martinius says, that he possessed a very 
 ancient and scarce book, written in six different 
 ways, or characters, on which account the Chinese 
 set upon it a gi'eat value, in which the form of the 
 ancient letters was precisely the same with those he 
 had seen on the obelisks at Rome, that is, the per- 
 fect images of the things they wished to represent. 
 
 " Habeo poenes me librum litteris Sinicis ad sex 
 diversos modos conscriptum, opus antiquisimum et 
 rarum, Sinis ob vetustatem raritatemque magno 
 semper in pra^tio habitum. In eo libro antiquae 
 literae formam ut cumque referunt earum, quas 
 Romae in obeliscis saepe me videre memini." 
 
 Indeed, in Table 9, you may also see the altera- 
 tions w^hich, by degrees, the Chinese have intro-
 
 LECTURE VIII. 275 
 
 duced in their mode of writing. Originally, a 
 mountain was represented, as Martinus Martinius 
 mentions, by the exact figure of a mountain, [|fig. 
 23.^ ; and a chain of mountains by the addition of 
 several of these pictures, like an undulating line, 
 [[fig. 34^. But, by degrees these signs degenerated, 
 first into a kind of three-pronged fork, [[fig. 35.^ and 
 ultimately into the arbitrary mark, [[fig. 24.[] which 
 still shews something of its original. The figure 
 which represents a door, [[fig. 36.[] was turned into 
 the sign [[fig. 37.^ not very dissimilar from the 
 first ; and, lastly, into the arbitrary mark, [[fig. 14, 
 a or hr\ the outhnes of which still exhibit the top 
 and one of the sides of a door. The character in 
 fig. 38, which shews the outlines of a man sitting, 
 was turned into an arbitrary mark, [[fig. 39. [] which 
 still shews the length of his legs, and the bending 
 of the body ; and I have no doubt that a man well 
 learned in the Chinese mode of writing, might 
 easily find the originals of, and the intermediate 
 alterations made in, each of the Chinese characters, 
 of which, I confess, I have very little knowledge. 
 Indeed, these few specimens which I exhibit, are 
 now produced simply to shew you the regular steps 
 by which mankind passed from the picture of the 
 things to the adoption of arbitrary marks. In 
 them, however, you cannot but be struck by the 
 great similarity they have to the Egyptian hiero- 
 glyphics, for no other reason than because they 
 came from the same original, that is, fi'om real 
 pictures, which were afterwards shortened into 
 
 T 2
 
 270 LECTURE Vlll. 
 
 simple outlines, and by further alterations became, 
 at last, arbitrary marks. 
 
 These marks, however, still retained their origi- 
 nal sound ; and each of these characters, whether 
 absolutely figurative, linear, or arbitrary, still con- 
 veyed the same ideas, and were still expressed by 
 the same sound. In this way what was the figure 
 of the object became an arbitrary mark, and this 
 arbitrary mark became a letter, and thus the mono- 
 syllable which originally was employed to express 
 the full figiue of a thing, was equally employed to 
 express, first, the outlines, then the abridged figure 
 of the same thing, and ultimately, the arbitrary 
 mark, or letter, which was substituted for them all. 
 
 To explain this theory still more fully to you, I 
 beg leave to repeat what I have partly stated in a 
 former Lecture ; and that is, that the Egyptians, 
 to express a word or a sound, employed the figure 
 of an object, the name of which, either in the 
 whole or in part, exhibited the sound which they 
 meant to express. For instance, if they wished to 
 give the idea of a son, they painted the figure of a 
 young man, and to this figure they gave the name 
 of si, or se. If they wished to express the idea, not 
 of a son in general, but a particular son, that is, the 
 son, they added to the figure of a young man the 
 square, which they called j^he, and made the word 
 phese, orphsi. And though, in process of time, these 
 two figures of a young man and the square were 
 changed into arbitrary marks, yet they still conti- 
 nued to represent the same idea, and were expressed
 
 LECTURE VIII. 277 
 
 by the same sounds ; that is, the arbitrary mark of 
 the square was called pJie, and the arbitrary mark 
 of the young man se. By degrees, however, the 
 original patterns of these arbitrary marks were 
 forgotten, because in process of time men lose 
 the recollection of the origin of many of their 
 institutions ; but this forgetfulness of the original 
 pattern of the arbitrary mark, to which they gave 
 the name of se, to express the idea of son, did not 
 in the least affect the sound of the monosyllable, 
 nor the idea which they meant to convey by it ; 
 for the arbitrary mark was still called se, and this 
 sound or expression, se, still conveyed the idea of 
 a son ; and the arbitrary mark, which was substi- 
 tuted for the square, still was called ^9/^<?, and con- 
 veyed the idea of what we should call a definite 
 article. Therefore, whenever an Egyptian found 
 the arbitrary marks which had been substituted for 
 the figures of a young man and a square, joined 
 together, he called them pJise ; and this is, in my 
 opinion, the reason why, in all the Oriental lan- 
 guages, which undoubtedly are the most ancient 
 amongst all languages, we find the words expressed 
 by consonants only, without the intervention of 
 vowels. Because the arbitrary marks, or letters, 
 by which these words are expressed, have been 
 substituted for the figure of the object, which ex- 
 hibited the thing, as it exists in nature. 
 
 What I have said of the word pJise must be ap- 
 plied generally to all words in all languages, and 
 particularly in the Egyptian ; for there is no doubt.
 
 278 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 at least such is the most received opinion amongst 
 the learned, that to the Egyptians we must refer 
 the invention of the alphabet. How this hap- 
 pened we are informed by Zoega ; who, in his 
 most excellent treatise on the origin and use of 
 obelisks, has collected the different passages of 
 Plato, Pliny, Plutarch, Tacitus, Diodorus, and 
 Varro, by which he has proved that the Egyptians 
 were the inventors of the alphabet. Before, how- 
 ever, I proceed to the investigation of this subject, 
 I must continue for a little time longer our inquiry 
 about the introduction of arbitrary marks ; and 
 the multiplication of them. 
 
 As the names which mankind gave to the dif- 
 ferent objects had something very significantly 
 expressive of the leading characteristics of these 
 objects, it was evident that they were obliged to 
 employ different figures to express, sometimes, the 
 same sound. To render you more sensible of the 
 observations which I am going to offer you, permit 
 me to have recourse to the English language. 
 
 I have already said, that by adding two or three 
 monosyllables together, mankind formed words of 
 two or three syllables ; and that these words were 
 expressed in writing by joining together the figures 
 of the objects, the names of which were expressed 
 by each of these monosyllables. 
 
 Now suppose we were to express in English 
 the word hoy, we should draw the figure of a lad ; 
 and if we were to express the word hood, we should 
 draw the figure of a hood ; and by putting these
 
 LECTURE VIII. 279 
 
 two figures together, we should have the word 
 boyhood. 
 
 Again ; if, instead of drawing the figure of a 
 boy, and of the hood, we should exhibit only the 
 outlines of these two objects, we should still pre- 
 serve to each of them separately the expressions of 
 hoy and of hood, and when joined together, we 
 should still call the group boyhood, to mean the 
 young age of a boy. 
 
 The same must be said if we should alter the 
 outlines, and by degrees adopt, first, a very abridged 
 figure of these two objects, and then an arbitrary 
 mark. To each of these abridged figures, and 
 these arbitrary marks, we should give separately 
 the name of boy, and of hood ; and to both toge- 
 ther the appellation of boyhood : which marks, 
 and which sounds, whether in seeing them painted, 
 or hearing them pronounced, would convey to our 
 minds the same idea as if we had seen the primi- 
 tive figures of a boy and of a hood. 
 
 Again ; we also call buoy, though differently 
 spelt, the conical floating barrel which marks the 
 situation of the anchor at sea. And, therefore, for 
 this second expression of buoy, we could not draw 
 the figure of a young man, but the figure of a barrel 
 tied to a rope ; and, to mark the use to which we 
 employ it, we should draw the figure of a ship, 
 which, being joined to the figure of the barrel, 
 would give the word ship-buoy ; and this appella- 
 tion would be continued even after the figure of
 
 280 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 the ship and the barrel had been turned mto an 
 arbitrary mark. 
 
 In this way we should have two marks, or signs, 
 to express the same sound. At first, no doubt, as 
 long as we recollected the originals of these marks, 
 we should know the difference between the one 
 and the other, and employ each accordingly ; but 
 it is evident that after a lapse of years, when peo- 
 ple had forgotten the originals of both these two 
 arbitrary marks, they would find two different 
 signs to express the same sound ; and if they 
 were obliged to write down boyhood, or ship- 
 buoy, they would be not a little confused, espe- 
 cially if they had but a slight knowledge of the 
 English language, to know which mark should 
 be employed in writing boyhood, and which ship- 
 buoy. 
 
 What has been said of the words hoij and huoy, 
 must be apphed to all other monosyllables begin- 
 ning with the letter B, which would considerably 
 increase the number of signs that might be used 
 to express this letter. This multiphcation would 
 then produce a terrible confusion ; for whatever 
 care mankind might have taken to reduce the num- 
 ber of symbols, and to employ skilfully the same 
 character, or the same form of characters, to sig- 
 nify a great number of things, which might have a 
 resemblance, however trifling, to one another, — 
 whatever care they might have taken, not to ima- 
 gine new characters, but preserve the old ones by
 
 LECTURE-VIII. 281 
 
 altering their form, either by adding to, or taking 
 away, some trifle from them ; yet the nmnber of 
 these signs would increase to such a prodigious 
 quantity, as to require an infinite number of vari- 
 ations, to express not only the multitude of objects 
 which were to be represented, but also to convey 
 the diversity of ideas which they were intended to 
 excite. The inconvenience, therefore, arising from 
 their number would be immense, and this is pre- 
 cisely what is experienced in the writing of the 
 Chinese. Their ciiaracters amount to not less 
 than 24,000, a number so prodigiously extensive 
 as to require, nay to exceed, the labour of a long 
 and industrious life. 
 
 Fortunately, however, for the Egyptians, they 
 avoided falling into this terrible labyrinth, by 
 adopting another mode, which ultimately proved 
 a safer and shorter way of writing, and that was 
 the invention and use of symbols. 
 
 Here, I hope, you remember what I stated in a 
 former Lecture, about the nature of symbolical 
 hieroglyphics, which are of three sorts. By these 
 symbols the Egyptians expressed ideas ; and the 
 sound or words which they had attached to each 
 of them did not express a thing by its figure, but 
 by an abstract principle, which had attached an 
 idea to the sign or character, by a mere convention, 
 or by some known or supposed quahties belonging 
 to the object which was expressed by the sign. 
 Thus, two arms, one holding an arrow, and the 
 other a bow, represented a battle ; the moon was
 
 282 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 employed to signify the months ; a reed and a 
 vase containing ink, or colom% the action of writing ; 
 the beetle, the world ; the bee, an obedient people ; 
 the hare, openness and timidity ; the lion, strength ; 
 the wings of a bird to signify the wind ; and so on. 
 
 To these symbols we must add those which 
 were employed to exhibit the names of their seve- 
 ral gods and goddesses ; and they sometimes con- 
 sisted of the figure of the animals which were 
 sacred to them. Thus, a hawk represented the 
 god Phre ; a ram, Jupiter Ammon ; a crocodile, the 
 god Suchus; an ibis, the god Thoth ; and the 
 like. At other times, we find the same deities 
 represented by symbols which might be considered 
 perfectly enigmatical: for instance, the figure of 
 an eye was used to designate Osiris ; the nilometer, 
 the god Phtha ; an obelisk, Jupiter Ammon ; and, 
 you remember, I hope, all the other symbols which 
 I exhibited in a former Lecture, by which the Egyp- 
 tians signified their gods. 
 
 Thus then, it is evident, that the Egyptians, in 
 writing, when they could no longer represent the 
 figure of a thing, employed symbols, which by 
 themselves expressed an idea, and to which they 
 had attached a particular sound; that is, had a 
 word attached to each of them ; and these symbols 
 being joined to a figurative character, produced 
 another word, which was made up by the mono- 
 syllable that expressed the figurative character, 
 joined to the sound which expressed the symbol. 
 
 I shall explain myself by an example of the
 
 LECTURE VIII. 283 
 
 manner in which they made their plural. We have 
 seen that the vulture was employed to give the 
 idea of a mother, which in this spoken language 
 was called mou ; and that the half circle, which 
 was called te, expressed the idea of the feminine 
 article. Therefore, by joining the figure of a 
 vulture to that of the half circle, they made the 
 compound word tmou ; that is, tJie mothe7\ Now 
 it is clear, that in this group the figure of the vul- 
 ture was symbolic, and that it excited the idea of 
 a mother, merely by convention ; for there is not 
 the least similarity between the figure of this bird 
 and the idea of a mother. The sound, however, 
 which they had attached to this figure, was pre- 
 cisely the same as that by which they called 
 mother. 
 
 You also remember, I hope, that the Egyptians 
 in speaking formed the plural by the addition of 
 the syllable one, or rather nuoe, and that this idea 
 was conveyed in writing by three perpendicular 
 lines [[Table 6, fig. 11.^, to which sometimes the 
 figure of a quail, or of a horn, was attached. In the 
 spoken language, therefore, the word tmouiwue, 
 or tmoue, expressed the idea of the mothers, being 
 composed of three monosyllables, te, the article ; 
 mou, the mother ; and noue, the termination of the 
 plural. And from the same principle, the picture 
 of the half of a circle, of a vulture, and of three per- 
 pendicular lines, actually excited the same idea of 
 the mothers. Now again, it appears to me, that, 
 taken in the abstract, these three perpendicular lines
 
 284 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 are absolutely symbolical, because they can excite 
 the idea of an indefinite plural merely by convention, 
 for their number, taken as it is marked, excites 
 only the idea of the definite number three. By 
 convention, therefore, these three lines express the 
 plural, and they must consequently be considered 
 as a symbolical character. But mark what has 
 happened; by joining these three lines with trans- 
 versal fines, which connect their high extremities 
 with the lower, we produce an undulating line, 
 and this evidently is the original of the arbitrary 
 mark which has been substituted for the primitive 
 character consisting of three lines. But we have 
 ^een the three lines to stand for the syllable none, 
 expressing the plural ; and, therefore, we find that 
 the undulating line also stands for the same 
 syllable, noue, and equally expresses the plural ; 
 and as this syllable, none, begins vnth an N, as soon 
 as the alphabet was formed, the undulating line was 
 taken to express that letter. Hence it happens, 
 as I have already observed, that the Egyptians, by 
 the very nature of their characters, like the rest of 
 the Orientals, never can mark the vowels, but in 
 writing exhibit only the figure of the object, or the 
 conventional sign which has been employed instead 
 of this figure. 
 
 This custom of mixing figurative and symbolical 
 characters has been pursued in China also ; and, 
 no doubt, the Chinese adopted it after the example 
 of the Egyptians. For, in the instances I have 
 already quoted, this mixture of figiu'ative and
 
 LECTURE VIII. 285 
 
 symbolical characters is most evident, although, by 
 the succeeding alterations, these figurative charac- 
 ters of the Egyptians can scarcely be traced to 
 their original figures. If the view which I take of 
 this subject should prove true, what then shall we 
 say of the Chinese ? They are no longer that 
 ancient nation, who boast of a chronology which 
 overturns all the antiquities of our globe ; they 
 are a colony of the Egyptians, though, perhaps, 
 more than any other people, they have preserved 
 their monuments, and thereby the memory of their 
 origin. This, Carli had suspected long since ; and 
 many other writers, as well as Carli, have thought 
 so ; and now the Egyptian monuments, or rather 
 the discovery of the original method adopted and 
 pursued by them, confirms this opinion of Carli. 
 
 I shall endeavour to establish this fact beyond 
 the possibility of doubt. We know, that in Egyp- 
 tian hieroglyphics, the figure of the different 
 animals had different significations, for sometimes 
 they were used to convey the simple idea of the 
 animal, and at other times the abstract and sym- 
 bolical notion of a thing, which apparently had not 
 the least relation to it ; but then another hiero- 
 glyphic was added, which served to shew and ex- 
 press this allegorical meaning. This is also what 
 the Chinese do. In their writing, the simple 
 figure of a dog, for instance, or, what is the same, 
 the arbitrary mark which has been employed 
 instead of the figure of a dog, serves to excite the 
 idea of that animal ; but if this mark is joined to
 
 286 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 the character expressing a man, then these two 
 marks no longer mean a dog and a man, but 
 exhibit a third idea, and that is humility ; and if, 
 instead of the sign expressing man, we employ the 
 sign which is used to signify deface , then these two 
 characters no longer signify a dog and a face, but 
 the sense of smelling. And again, if instead of the 
 sign of a face, we employ the one which exhibits 
 a field, then we shall have another signification, 
 and that is, the action of hunting, or the chace. 
 
 This is still more evident from the character by 
 which they express the night. This character is 
 composed of three signs, one signifying ohscuritij ; 
 another, the action of covering, and a third a man; 
 so that the whole literally means the obscurity 
 covering man, that is, night. 
 
 To express the idea of knowing, or being aware, 
 they employ a character which is composed of two 
 signs, one representing a mouth, and the other an 
 arrow, which symbolically means the power of hit- 
 ting ; so that the whole group signifies, the speech 
 that hits like an arrow. Indeed, of this symbo- 
 lical signification of the arrow, we have an example 
 in the Holy Scripture. In Ezekiel xxii. 21., we 
 find, " The king of Babylon stood at the parting of 
 the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divi- 
 nation. He ivas mixing his arrows." As the best 
 commentators have translated it. And this most 
 undoubtedly refers to the custom of almost all the 
 Orientals, in a doubtful case, to shoot away arrows, 
 to know what they were to do. On each of the
 
 LECTURE Vin. 287 
 
 arrows they had written one of the answers that 
 decided the question, and the answer which was 
 written on the arrow that hit the mark, was the 
 very one which was followed. 
 
 It is the difficulty of discovering this analogy, or 
 rather the symbolical meaning of each character, 
 that renders the Chinese language the most diffi- 
 cult of any. For, in order to understand the mean- 
 ing of each word, we should be w^ell acquainted 
 with their manners, customs, laws, rehgious habits, 
 prejudices, in short, with whatever has belonged 
 and does belong to the people, and this no doubt is 
 the origin of the emphatic and bombastic style and 
 modes of speech used by all the Orientals. 
 
 Two more circumstances I shall quote, and I 
 have done with the Chinese. 
 
 We have seen that the Egyptians inscribed, in 
 an oval or a ring, the names of certain individuals ; 
 and in the Chinese books, the names of individuals 
 are oftentimes equally enclosed in a ring. The 
 Egyptians, in their manuscripts, invariably wi'ote in 
 a perpendicular line, and went from right to left ; 
 and this is precisely the manner in which all the 
 Chinese books are written. I might carry this 
 comparison to a greater length, but from the 
 examples I have quoted, it has been sufficiently 
 proved, that in the invention of the characters, in 
 their disposition, and in their simple as well as 
 symbolical meaning, the Chinese have closely fol- 
 lowed the example of the Egyptians ; and that in 
 the written languages of these two nations, we 
 
 1
 
 288 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 find originally words made up by the assemblage 
 of two or more characters, each of which exhibited 
 the figure or arbitrary mark of any object to which 
 they had attached a sound or a word. 
 
 Things were in this state when, fortunately 
 for the benefit of mankind, there appeared in the 
 land of Egypt a man, who observed that each 
 monosyllable ended by a sound which, with little 
 variation, was repeated in all monosyllables. 
 These sounds, to which we have given the appel- 
 lation of vowels, were soon distinguished, and it 
 was found that each figure or character, which 
 hitherto had been taken as expressing the whole 
 monosyllable, might be taken as the representation 
 of the first part of this monosyllable, which was 
 more varied, and more liable. 
 
 That such must have been the case, appears 
 from the very nature of the sounds or words by 
 which the primitive simple figures were called indi- 
 vidually ; and I hope to be able to make the whole 
 intelligible to you, by examples taken at random 
 fi'om the Egyptian language. 
 
 We shall take, for instance, the words ro, the 
 mouth ; suo, or soo^ a grain of corn ; tot, the hand. 
 In all these words, the last termination, or sound, is 
 always the same, always o, though the beginning 
 is different, being T in tot, R in ro, and S in soo. 
 Again, in the words rime, a tear ; se, or si, a child ; 
 tse, or tsi, the daughter, we have another general 
 termination in e, or /, attached to three other sounds 
 of the R, the S, and the T ; it was, therefore, evident
 
 LECTURE VIII. 289 
 
 that these sounds, R, S, T, might be attached to 
 the inflexions of voice, O or I, and still preserve 
 their original pronunciation. By carrying this 
 analysis into the sound of the other vowels, it be- 
 came evident that these sounds were no more than 
 four or five ; that they were regularly combined, 
 and repeated in every syllable, or monosyllable ; 
 that their combination did not alter the pronuncia- 
 tion of the stronger and more labial sound to which 
 they were attached ; and, consequently, that each 
 hieroglyphic might be taken as the representation 
 of this strong and labial sound, without considering 
 the four or five inflexions of voice which invariably 
 accompanied them. 
 
 Having gone so far, the next consideration was, 
 to ascertain the number of these strong labial 
 sounds, which were invariably joined to the four 
 or five inflexions of voice ; and this required very 
 little labour ; for as each syllable, or monosyllable, 
 generally began with one of these strong and labial 
 sounds, they had but to run over a certain quantity 
 of words, to see that they were not many. Indeed, 
 fi'om the circumstance that Cadmus imported into 
 Greece no more than sixteen letters, four or five 
 of which were vowels, and fi'om seeing that the 
 Jews themselves had no more, and originally even 
 less, than sixteen letters, it is more than probable 
 that whoever invented the alphabet in Egypt, did 
 not distinguish many consonants, and often con- 
 fused two or more together : for instance, the D 
 and T ; the P, the V, and the F ; the G and the K ; 
 
 u
 
 290 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 the L and the R ; a confusion which every one 
 who is in the least versed in the reading of hiero- 
 glyphics, must have constantly observed ; and you 
 remember, perhaps, what I said on this subject in a 
 former Lecture, when, for the first time, I exhibited 
 the hieroglyphical alphabet found out by Cham- 
 pollion ; and in Table 2, I have, for this pui-pose, 
 mixed these letters together. 
 
 In process of time, however, happened to the 
 Egyptians what had happened to other nations 
 before them. They began to distinguish more 
 minutely between the sounds of the consonants, and 
 thus increased their number ; but I think that this 
 addition did not take place before the time of the 
 Pharaoh Psammeticus ; for at that time the Greeks, 
 having been permitted to visit Egypt, imparted 
 to the natives the additional letters which they 
 had discovered ; and thus the Egyptian alphabet 
 began to multiply, till at length, after the time of 
 Alexander, more letters were introduced, and thus 
 a more con^ect method of spelling was adopted. 
 
 But who was the man who first discovered these 
 primitive letters, and invented the alphabet? I 
 own that I am unable to give an answer to 
 this question. All the authors who have vvTitten 
 on this subject have followed theories of their own, 
 and, on this account, I may be excused if I have 
 ventured to follow their example, by imagining 
 another, and thus to state what I thought to be 
 the most plausible manner of solving this intricate 
 question, the discovery of the alphabet. T have
 
 LECTURE VIII. 291 
 
 given the credit of it to the Egyptians, because in 
 this opinion I am borne out by the most transcend- 
 ent authorities of the most accredited writers ; and 
 though I have differed from them in regard to the 
 mode by which this discovery was made, yet I 
 have followed them most closely in regard to the 
 nation to whom the credit of this discovery is to 
 be given. 
 
 In respect to the first inventor of the alphabet, 
 amidst a variety of opinions, which is very appal- 
 ling, there is a passage of Plato, which may, per- 
 haps, be worth relating. He says, that '' During 
 the reign of king Thamus, his secretary, Thouth, 
 or Theuth, came to lay before him the several dis- 
 coveries he had made, amongst which was the inven- 
 tion of the alphabet ; and he came to consult king 
 Thamus whether it ought to be made public. The 
 king, who saw the advantage of the discovery, was 
 particularly adverse to the measure, and, like a 
 true politician, concealed the real, and assigned a 
 more remote and secondary cause why he wished 
 that it should be kept secret. He, therefore, told 
 his secretary, that if the new mode of writing 
 should be divulged, people would no longer pay 
 any attention to hieroglyphics ; they would soon 
 be forgotten, and thus prove the greatest hindrance 
 to the progress of knowledge." 
 
 Thus far says Plato, and I am aware that this 
 passage has been differently interpreted and ex- 
 plained by several writers ; some of whom pre- 
 tend that Theuth did not discover the alphabet, 
 
 u 2
 
 292 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 but only the arbitrary marks which were to be 
 employed instead of figures, as a shorter and less 
 laborious mode of hieroglyphical writing. But this 
 is a forced explanation ; for, according to the best 
 critics, this passage has been employed to prove, 
 that, at his time, a general opinion prevailed among 
 the Greeks, that ascribed to the Egyptians the ho- 
 nour of having invented the alphabet ; for they say, 
 that Plato would never have dared to give the credit 
 of the discovery to the Egyptians, unless he had 
 been certain of not being contradicted. If, there- 
 fore, this passage of the Greek philosopher has 
 been made use of to prove that the invention of 
 the alphabet is due to the Egyptians, it is evident 
 that Plato does not speak of the arbitrary marks, 
 but of the alphabetical letters. 
 
 Admitting therefore, the account given by Plato, 
 this new method of writing was for some time, if 
 we are to believe the historian, kept under the seal 
 of secrecy, but as it might be expected, was gene- 
 rally adopted as soon as it was know^n. The 
 utility of it was apparent ; it diminished to a pro- 
 digious degree the difficulty of writing ; it short- 
 ened the labour of memory, and was capable of 
 expressing all subjects, all ideas, every possible 
 thought, in the utmost variety with which they 
 affect the mind. 
 
 The first who seem to have got a knowledge of 
 this system, were the Phoenicians ; they imparted it 
 to the Arabians, to the Jews, and carried it over 
 to Greece. From that country it was exported to
 
 LECTURE VIII. 293 
 
 the several islands, carried to the continent, and 
 reached the northern nations. The Chinese alone 
 refused to adopt the valuable discovery ; proud of 
 the antiquity of their social establishment, believ- 
 ing themselves superior to the rest of mankind, 
 they still adhered to their ancient mode of writing. 
 This, as I have already observed, though originally 
 the same with that used by the Egyptians, became, 
 in process of time, materially different, being made 
 up of arbitrary marks, which are for the most part, 
 ideographical. 
 
 With the discovery of the alphabet, however, a 
 very material change took place in regard to hie- 
 roglyphics. Originally, as we have seen, they had 
 been the common, nay, the sole mode of writing, 
 employed by the nation at large, in all the trans- 
 actions of life, and through the policy of king 
 Thamus, the alphabetical letters were kept secret ; 
 but as soon as this discovery became known, the 
 contrary happened ; alphabetical writing became 
 common, and hieroglyphics mysterious, not be- 
 cause they were purposely hidden in mystery, but 
 simply because they required greater application 
 and greater trouble. They indeed still continued 
 to be used in matters of religion, funerals, public 
 monuments, and the like ; but in all business, and 
 common transactions, the alphabetical writing was 
 employed. This was a necessary consequence of 
 the general use of hieroglyphics in their primitive 
 state ; for although the Egyptians might, and, in 
 fact, did, give the preference to the alphabet, yet
 
 294 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 they did not think it necessary to erase the old 
 hieroglyphical characters from their temples, from 
 their obelisks, from their tombs, and religious 
 vases. The priests, therefore, still continued to 
 study and preserve the knowledge of hierogly- 
 phics ; and these, partly by their showy nature, 
 partly by the continuation of the old custom, con- 
 tinued still to be used in public monuments of a 
 votive and fimereal nature. To distinguish them, 
 therefore, from the alphabetical letters newly in- 
 vented, they obtained the name of sacred, on the 
 score of their being employed only in matters of 
 religion. 
 
 The priests however, who had already invented 
 a new set of arbitrary marks, as a shorter way of 
 hieroglyphical writing, which they employed ex- 
 clusively in transactions which concerned their 
 body and their pursuits, after the invention of the 
 alphabet turned these marks into letters, and thus 
 they formed another set of characters, or mode of 
 writing, to which they gave the appellation of hier- 
 atic, as belonging exclusively to their order. In 
 these characters they wrote all historical, political, 
 and religious transactions. And as the common, 
 or demotic letters, were employed in all the com- 
 mon business of life, and hieroglyphics confined 
 to public monuments, and funereal, and votive 
 ceremonies, the Egyptians became possessed of 
 at least three different modes of writing, or sets 
 of characters, which were hieroglyphic, demotic, 
 and hieratic. Whether the priests had invented
 
 LECTURE VIII. 295 
 
 another set of characters, unknown to the people, 
 and in which they concealed their doctrine and 
 their knowledge, is a question which cannot be 
 solved at present. The want of monuments dis- 
 ables us from saying any thing of a decisive nature 
 on this subject. One thing alone we can suppose 
 with certainty, that if such a mode of writing did 
 ever exist, and for the purpose which it is supposed 
 to have existed, the knowledge of it must have 
 been confined to the priests only, and the records 
 so written concealed with the greatest care from 
 the eye of the nation. If therefore such records 
 exist, they must be sought for in the dwelling of 
 the Hierophant, in the most recondite places of 
 the temples ; perhaps in those subterraneous pas- 
 sages, which now lie hidden under mountains of 
 sand, and in which no one but the priests were ever 
 permitted to enter. 
 
 From what has been said, it is evident that hie- 
 roglyphics were never intended to hide mysteries, 
 or in other words, hieroglyphics were in use as com- 
 mon writing, amongst most if not all the nations of 
 the universe long before the invention of the alpha- 
 bet. Originally they exhibited the regular picture of 
 the thing ; and by an easy and gradual alteration, for 
 the sake of shortening labour, they were turned into 
 arbitrary marks, which however had the same signi- 
 fication and import as the original figure. And as 
 most of the words which were attached to each of 
 these figures or marks were monosyllables, these 
 figures and these marks were finally taken as the 
 1
 
 296 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 expression of the hard sound of the consonants with 
 which each monosyllable began ; and thus, by de- 
 grees,mankind came to the invention of the alphabet. 
 But hieroglyphics, neither in their original nor alpha- 
 betical signification, were intended to conceal mys- 
 teries, nor was their knowledge ever kept from the 
 people. To suppose, in fact, that hieroglyphics 
 were invented for the sake of secrecy, is to suppose 
 what has been contradicted by the most authentic 
 historical records ; and to assert that the Egyptians 
 had letters before they had hieroglyphics, is the 
 same as to affirm that they danced before they 
 could walk. Whether they had any literature, or 
 scientific books, we will consider in our next Lec- 
 ture.
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 Continuation of the same subject — Opinion oj" those who ascribe 
 the invention oJ" the alphabet to the Antediluvians — Scienti- 
 Jic and literary productions of the old Egyptians — Books of 
 Hermes — A short enumeration of their several classes, and of 
 the priests who were to cultivate each of them — A further 
 account of the scientifc productions of the Egyptians — 
 Authorities of the classic writers — Libraries — Of Osyman- 
 dias — Alexandria — An account of them — General observa- 
 tions. 
 
 In my last Lecture I endeavoured to explain how 
 mankind came to the discovery of the alphabet. 
 We saw that the original mode of writing was the 
 exact figure of the object, and that this figure, for 
 the sake of diminishing labour, became first a sim- 
 ple drawing of the outlines, then a sketch some- 
 what resembling the outlines, and ultimately an 
 arbitrary mark, which produced the three different 
 modes of writing existing amongst the Egyptians, 
 generally designated by the appellations of hiero- 
 glyphic, demotic, and hieratic. We noted that 
 these different characters had a sound attached to 
 them, and were mostly expressed in the common 
 language by monosyllables. By adding two of
 
 298 LECTURE IX. 
 
 these marks together, mankind came to form words 
 of two syllables, which in writing, were represented 
 by the addition of the two marks, each of which 
 expressed one of these monosyllables. Thus, origi- 
 nally, each picture, or hieroglyphic, had the sound 
 of a whole syllable, that is, a sound made up by a 
 consonant and vowel : and, by degrees, by analyz- 
 ing the sound of the vowels in which these mono- 
 syllables generally terminated, men came at last 
 to find the consonants, that is, to consider these 
 marks, which originally represented a monosylla- 
 ble, or a sound of a consonant joined to a vowel, 
 as representing the consonant only. To prove 
 this theory, we had recourse to the Hebrew, Chi- 
 nese, and Egyptian alphabets and languages, from 
 which we derived several examples, by which I 
 endeavoured to join the different links of the chain 
 of our reasoning. 
 
 Turning afterwards to the country where this 
 discovery was made, we gave the credit of it to the 
 Egyptians, and quoted a remarkable passage of 
 Plato. From this passage we deduced many im- 
 portant consequences, and principally that hiero- 
 glyphics were never intended for secrecy, and that 
 they were in use amongst all the nations of the 
 globe, long before the invention of the alphabet ; 
 and I concluded the Lecture by a promise to 
 attempt at ascertaining whether the Egyptians had 
 any literature or scientific productions. 
 
 Before however I fidfil this promise, I think 
 it necessary to state to you another opinion, by
 
 LECTURE IX. 299 
 
 which some celebrated writers have accounted for 
 the invention of the alphabet ; an opinion which is 
 often alluded to in works on antiquities, and is there- 
 fore apt to mislead those who have not paid much 
 attention to the subject, inasmuch as it refers to 
 times and to persons of whom no critical and 
 authentic records have reached us ; for it is pre- 
 tended that the discovery of the alphabet preceded 
 the flood, and is due to Enoch. It is said, in fact, 
 that Enoch communicated this invention to Me- 
 thuselah, and this patriarch to Noah, by whose 
 family it was gradually spread among their de- 
 scendants, and carried into the different countries 
 which they went to inhabit, as they separated under 
 their respective leaders. It is further stated, that 
 Noah brought it into China, where it underwent 
 considerable changes, without being much im- 
 proved ; that some of the descendants of Shem 
 cultivated it amongst the Jews ; while his son 
 Elam imparted it to the Persians, whose language 
 is pretended to be a dialect of the Hebrew ; at 
 the same time that the children of Joktan carried 
 this alphabet into Arabia, whose language is also 
 asserted to be another dialect of the Hebrew. 
 In proof of this last assertion, the book of Job is 
 quoted, which is said to have been written in this 
 dialect. And lastly, that by Ham and his son 
 Misraim this alphabet was introduced into Egypt, 
 where, in process of time the priests, to conceal 
 what they call abominable doctrines, substituted 
 hieroglyphical for alphabetical characters.
 
 300 LECTURE IX. 
 
 Having thus disposed of all the African and 
 Asiatic languages, to prevent the objection that 
 might be urged from the difference of the Euro- 
 pean, which cannot be deduced from the Hebrew, 
 it is stated that Cadmus first conceived the idea of 
 generalizing this alphabet, by rendering it suitable 
 to the characteristic principles of every distinct 
 language. This he did by inventing sixteen let- 
 ters, which he afterwards carried into Greece, and 
 on which account he is considered as the inventor 
 of the alphabet. 
 
 To complete the whole, it is finally urged, that 
 the descendants of Japheth conveyed the same let- 
 ters, and the same language, to the more remote 
 parts of the world, differing from one another by 
 the different shades arising from the fi'esh migra- 
 tions, as they issued forth from the East, or from 
 the colonies which had been planted in different 
 countries from the parent stock. 
 
 To solve or prevent the objections that might be 
 produced against this fanciful theory, the Hebrew 
 language is made the mother tongue of all lan- 
 guages ; and thus not only the Persian, the Phoe- 
 nician, and the Arabic are considered as dialects, 
 or corruptions, of the Hebrew, but also the San- 
 script and Chinese ; for it is taken for granted that 
 Noah settled himself in China, where he died, not, 
 however, before he had visited India. 
 
 To point out the tenth part of the endless ab- 
 surdities attached to this jumble, a lecturer would 
 require more time than I have, and be obliged to
 
 LECTURE IX. 301 
 
 undergo an herculean labour, which would deter 
 many from applying to the task. I shall only ob- 
 serve, that to fix upon any of the languages still in 
 existence, as the mother tongue of all others ; or, 
 in other words, to pretend to have found out which 
 of the existing languages was the language spoken 
 by mankind at the construction of Babel, would 
 be as absurd as to declare one's self a witness of 
 the first meeting between Adam and Eve ; and to 
 pretend that the invention of the alphabet preceded 
 the birth of Noah, betrays such an ignorance of 
 the origin of the arts and sciences, and of the 
 manner in which they were invented and spread 
 amongst mankind, as to preclude the possibility of 
 reasoning with such men. 
 
 The whole, in fact, rests upon a vague and 
 idle tradition which is found amongst the Jews, 
 that Enoch wrote a book of prophecies, in 
 which he spoke of the stars, of the descent of 
 the angels upon earth, of their marriages with the 
 daughters of men, of the dispersion of the Jews, of 
 the last judgment, and other such hke topics, in- 
 termixed with a great deal more than I can tell. 
 It is further added, that this patriarch wrote this 
 book in consequence of a vision, by which he was 
 also directed to build a temple in the bowels of the 
 earth, the entrances to which should be through 
 nine several and distinct porticos, each supported 
 by a pair of pillars, and curiously concealed from 
 human observation, for the sake of preserving the 
 ineffable characters he had seen in his vision, and
 
 302 LECTURE IX. 
 
 that he did build this temple accordingly. This 
 tradition originated with the Jews and the Arabs, 
 and I am not sure whether it does not exist amongst 
 some of them to this day. 
 
 From this tradition an argument is derived, to 
 prove that the invention of letters must have pre- 
 ceded the flood ; for they must either have been 
 invented before the birth of Enoch, or, at latest, 
 by this patriarch. Unfortunately, however, for the 
 supporters of this opinion, the book, like the tem- 
 ple, is but a vision ; it was a fabrication, or rather a 
 supposition, of the heretics during the first ages of 
 Christianity, who, not satisfied with corrupting the 
 text of Scripture, laughed at the credulity of their 
 followers, by pretending to quote works that had 
 never existed. But even granting that that patriarch 
 had actually written the book, does it follow that 
 he invented the alphabet, or that alphabetical 
 writing was in use in his time ? Might not that 
 book have been written in hieroglyphics, that is, 
 by the figure of the objects he meant to designate ? 
 To say that he invented the letters because he 
 wrote a book, is to assume the very point in ques- 
 tion. 
 
 These are all idle stories, generated by the 
 love of wonder and novelty, which seems to form 
 one of the great characteristics of our nature; 
 and fi'om which some, even of the greatest writers, 
 have not been exempt. We may take it, therefore, 
 for granted, that the invention of the alphabet took 
 place in Egypt ; and whether the steps and man-
 
 LECTURE IX. 303 
 
 ner by which I have endeavoured to explain the 
 mode in which this discovery was effected, be ad- 
 mitted or denied, we may rest assured that it was 
 effected by the Egyptians, who thus became pos- 
 sessed of three different sorts of characters, as we 
 saw in our last Lecture. 
 
 The number of characters has also been doubted; 
 for according to some writers, the Egyptians had 
 four different modes of writing; according to 
 others, two ; and there have not been wanting those 
 who have defended the opinion, that they had one 
 only, which was the hieroglyphics ; for the credit of 
 having invented the alphabet is attributed, by these 
 gentlemen, now to Moses, now to the Phoenicians, 
 now to the Chaldeans, and now to Cadmus. From 
 what has been said, you may judge of the degree 
 of credit to which each and all of these fanciful 
 statements are entitled. 
 
 We must pass now to the subject of this Lecture, 
 a very important object of inquiry, and that is, 
 whether the Egyptians had any books of litera- 
 ture and science, and if so, what were they ? What 
 was their number ? What their nature 1 All 
 these are very proper and reasonable questions ; 
 for as Egypt was always looked upon as the cradle 
 of human knowledge, and the repository of all the 
 historical records which commemorated the pro- 
 gress of civilization and learning, it is but just that 
 we should inquire a little into the grounds upon 
 which this flattering opinion rests. 
 
 From the scarcity of monuments, or rather
 
 304 LECTURE IX. 
 
 Egyptian MSS. which have reached us as yet, and 
 even from the nature of those we have, mostly, if 
 not wholly, of a votive and sepulchral kind, we are 
 not to consider, as some of your writers have done, 
 that this was the only sort of books or writings of 
 the ancient Egyptians ; for the fact is quite other- 
 wise. From Diodorus we learn, that the tomb of 
 Osymaudias contained a library in which, accord- 
 ing to Seleucus, as it is related by lambhcus, there 
 were 20,000 volumes, and according to Manetho, 
 3625, which on account of their antiquity, or of 
 the importance of the subject, were honoured 
 with the title of Hermetic, that is, belonging to the 
 god Shoth or Hermes. 
 
 Amongst these sacred books they reckoned, and 
 paid a particular veneration to, those which treated 
 of the nature, the order, and the worship of the 
 gods. Such was, according to Manetho,. the book 
 written by the Pharaoh Suphis, to whom he attri- 
 butes the building of the greatest pyramid. This 
 prince had been at first a great despiser of the gods, 
 but wished afterwards to atone for his impiety, by 
 the composition of this book, which was held in 
 great veneration by the Eg}^tians. Of the same 
 sort was another book, which explained the rites 
 and the worship which were to be paid to the gods, 
 and other such topics, upon which the priests had 
 written an immensity of volumes by way of com- 
 mentary. 
 
 Besides these, they had another set of books, 
 which they styled Pseudo Hermeti, containing
 
 LECTURE IX. 305 
 
 liymns, or lyric poems, in honour of their gods 
 and their heroes, the most ancient of which 
 seem to have been the hymns of Isis. By 
 means of these, Diodorus says, the priests used 
 to instruct their sovereigns, and by the record 
 of the great and pious deeds of their predeces- 
 sors, excite them to the practice of virtue. These 
 books, from their contents and purport, were en- 
 titled " Institution of the Royal Life," that is, 
 rules of life for a sovereign. They were written in 
 lyric measure, a custom which in our Lecture on 
 lyric poetry, we saw to have prevailed among the 
 most ancient nations, and consequently followed 
 by the Egyptians, from the earliest period of their 
 monarchy. They had also books of astronomy, 
 cosmography, geography, medicine, and others, 
 which they called astrological books ; these were a 
 kind of encyclopaedia, containing the whole science 
 of the hierogrammatae, who in Egypt were, as 
 they afterwards became in Greece, both gramma- 
 rians and sophists. In these books there was 
 every thing which belonged to the measure and 
 valuation of the land, to the manner in which the 
 income of the sovereign, and of the different col- 
 leges of the priests should be let out, the descrip- 
 tion of the whole of Egypt, and of the Nile ; the 
 catalogue of the public revenue, as well as of the 
 different articles which were used in the service of 
 the temples, and the record of the several measures 
 for all commodities. 
 
 These, and other books of the same species, 
 
 X
 
 306 LECTURE IX. 
 
 were divided into as many classes, as the priests 
 themselves were divided into ; and it seems that 
 each class of the priesthood was obliged to learn 
 and cultivate one particular department of science. 
 For this we have the authority of Clement ; and 
 as the passage is curious, and throws a great light 
 on this part of our inquiry, it may amuse you to 
 hear it at full length. 
 
 Talking of the most sacred books, which were 
 considered as the works of Hermes, and confined 
 to the different classes of the priesthood, our histo- 
 rian thus proceeds : 
 
 " In Egypt each individual cultivates a particu- 
 cular branch of philosophy ; and this principally 
 appears in their sacred ceremonies. For, before 
 all, goes the Singer, carrying in his hand one of 
 the symbols of music. He is said to be obliged to 
 learn two books of those of Hermes, one of which 
 contains hymns of the gods, and the other the 
 rules by which a prince ought to live. After the 
 singer comes the Horoscoinis, holding a clock, and 
 a branch of a palm tree, which are the symbols of 
 astrology. He must have perpetually in his mouth, 
 that is, he must know well by heart, the books of 
 Hermes that treat of astrology, and these are four 
 in number. One of these treats of the order of the 
 fixed stars ; the second of the motion and phases of 
 the sun and moon ; and the remaining two, of their 
 rising. Then follows the Hierogramma, with two 
 feathers on his head, and a book and a ruler in his 
 hand; in which there are the instruments of writing,
 
 LECTURE IX. 307 
 
 some ink, and a reed. He must know what are called 
 hieroglyphics, and those sciences which treat of 
 cosmography, geography, and astronomy ; and, 
 particularly, of the sun, moon, and the five planets; 
 the chrorography of Egypt, and the description of 
 the Nile, together with the description of the fur- 
 niture of the temples, and of the consecrated places 
 which belong to them ; and, lastly, of the articles 
 as well as the measure of these articles which are 
 used in these places. After these persons, follows 
 the man who is called StoUstes, and who bears a 
 square, as the emblem of justice, and the cup for 
 libations. He knows every thing which belongs to 
 the education of children, that is, every thing that 
 has any relation to sacrifices, first fruits, marking 
 of calves, hymns, prayers, religious pomps, days of 
 festivals, and the like ; the whole of which is con- 
 tained in ten books. After them all comes the 
 Prophet, who wears in his bosom an open water- 
 pot, or bucket. This, according to Apuleius, was 
 the venerable eflSgy of the Deity, but more hkely of 
 the Nile." [^Indeed, you may read in the eleventh 
 book of the Metamorphoses of that writer, the 
 superb description he gives of this costly emblem, 
 which is also confirmed by Vitruvius and Plutarch.^ 
 *^ He was followed by those who carried bread, cut 
 into shces. The duty of this prophet, or rather of 
 this prefect of the sacred rites, was to know the 
 ten books which are called sacerdotal, and treat 
 of the laws of the gods, and of the whole discipline 
 of the priesthood. He also presides over the 
 
 X 2
 
 308 LECTURE IX. 
 
 distribution of the religious income ; that is, the 
 income arising from, and dedicated to, the purposes 
 of rehgion. There are therefore, forty-two books 
 of Hermes, which are absolutely necessary ; of 
 these, thirty-six, containing the whole philosophy 
 of the Egyptians, are learned by those whom we 
 have mentioned ; and the remaining six are 
 learned by the Pastophori, or tent-bearers, as they 
 belong to anatomy, to diseases, to instruments of 
 surgery, to pharmacy, to the diseases of the eyes, 
 and to the maladies of women." 
 
 So far Clement ; and what he says requires no 
 commentary. For although he does not mention 
 what the contents were of each class of these 
 books, or why they were divided into volumes ; 
 yet upon the whole, what he says of the subjects 
 of each class corresponds with the relation that 
 other writers have given. The whole philosophy, 
 therefore, of the Egyptians, according to Clement,, 
 may be divided into the following sixteen heads : 
 
 First class. — Hymns of the gods. 
 
 Second class. — Rules for the life of a monarch. 
 
 Third class. — Astrology, which was divided into 
 four books, or volumes ; the first of which treated 
 of the order of the fixed stars ; the second of the 
 planets ; the third of the phases of the sun and 
 moon ; and the fourth of their rising. 
 
 The fourth and fifth classes consisted of two 
 books on hieroglyphics. 
 
 The sixth turned upon cosmography, that is, 
 the description of the world and of the heavens.
 
 LECTURE IX. ,309 
 
 or of the revolutions of the sun, moon, and five 
 planets. 
 
 The seventh was on geography. 
 
 The eighth on the chorography of Egypt, and 
 
 The ninth on the survey of the Nile. From 
 these two last classes, it is evident that the Egyp- 
 tians knew and had the use of drawing charts and 
 maps. 
 
 The tenth treated of the lands dedicated to the 
 service of the temples. 
 
 The eleventh, of the articles belonging to these 
 temples. 
 
 The twelfth, of the different measures of these 
 several articles, and 
 
 The thirteenth, of the various things which were 
 required to carry on the service of the temples. 
 
 The fourteenth head turned upon ten different 
 subjects, which however, were of the same reli- 
 gious nature ; such as sacrifices, first fruits or pri- 
 mitiae, hymns, prayers, solemn pomps and ceremo- 
 nies, festivals, and the like. 
 
 The fifteenth turned upon the gods, sacrifices, 
 laws, and the instruction of the priests ; and the 
 whole was divided into seven heads, or volumes ; 
 and, lastly. 
 
 The sixteenth, which consisted of six books, 
 treated of the mode of living, diseases, anatomy, 
 pharmacy, diseases of the eyes, maladies of women, 
 instruments of surgery, and the like. 
 
 These were all called the writings of Hermes ; 
 not that Hermes had actually written them, but
 
 310 LECTURE IX. 
 
 that, in order to render them more venerable in 
 the eyes of tlie people, they had been referred to 
 Hermes. Of these writings a certain quantity, or 
 department, had been assigned to a particular class 
 of the priesthood : the hijmn Singers learned the 
 lyric compositions ; the Horoscopi the astrological ; 
 to the Pastophori, a kind of overseers, who were 
 the lowest class of the priesthood, was assigned 
 the medical department ; and to the Stolistes, or 
 Sacr'ificers, every thing concerning rites and cere- 
 monies. 
 
 It was the duty of this class of the priesthood to 
 inspect the animals that were brought to market 
 for food, and to mark with their seal the oxen 
 which were destined for sacrifices. For this rea- 
 son, some of them were called Moscliosphraglstce , 
 that is, the markers of calves ; and if we are to 
 believe Porphyry, their duty consisted in the ob- 
 servance of not less than six hundred rules, w^hich 
 all turned upon the manner of choosing and killing 
 the different animals either destined for sacrifices 
 or food ; and such seems to have been the earnest- 
 ness of these laws, that the punishment of death 
 was decreed to any one who should sacrifice a 
 victim which had not been marked by the seal of 
 the Stolistes. The w^hole, however, is fiilly related 
 by Herodotus, and a curious account it is, and 
 well worth your perusal. 
 
 It was also the office of the Stolistes to withhold 
 from the sight of the profane those symbols which 
 they were not allowed to behold ; hence in public
 
 LECTURE IX. ,311 
 
 processions they carried in their hands covered 
 baskets, in which these symbols were enclosed. 
 They also, at stated periods represented, by a kind 
 of scenical exhibition, the adventures of Osiris, 
 during which they buried him first, and then 
 brought him to life again. 
 
 To the Prophets belonged the knowledge of 
 the law, of theology, the discipline of the whole 
 order of the priesthood, and the administration of 
 the revenue ; whilst to the Hierogrammatcu, or 
 sacred scribes, were assigned the care and duty of 
 making themselves perfectly acquainted with every 
 thing that belonged to Egypt, whether sacred or 
 profane, political or historical, military or com- 
 mercial, scientific or literary ; in short, with every 
 thing that might be said to belong to Egypt ; for 
 they were looked upon as knowing the whole en- 
 cyclopaedia of their country. 
 
 Besides these sciences, or departments of learn- 
 ing, the Egyptians had several books on mathema- 
 tics ; a study which, though chiefly cultivated by 
 the prophets, was not disregarded by the other 
 classes of the priesthood. They had also books 
 on gi'ammar, geographical maps, and charts of the 
 Nile, as well as of the whole country. These, it 
 seems, were intrusted to the care of the Prophets ; 
 for it was their duty to be thoroughly acquainted 
 with the constitution of Egypt, the prerogatives of 
 the crown, and the rights and liberties of the people. 
 They were looked upon as interpreters of the will 
 of the gods, and, as such, were invested with the
 
 ;U2 LECTURE IX. 
 
 most important offices of the state, as high priest, 
 chancellor, treasm-er, and the like, and even as the 
 advisers and guardians of the monarch. 
 
 This is by no means a despicable account of the 
 learning of the Egyptian priests ; but it is not the 
 whole, for to these we must add other productions 
 which the Greek and Roman writers have embo- 
 died in their works, and of which only fragments 
 have reached us; though by the way in which 
 these productions have been used, it is difficult to 
 determine accurately what was the original Egyp- 
 tian. Of this sort was the book first mentioned 
 by Fabricius, about the influence of the seven 
 planets, and to which they had given the name of 
 Panaretum, that is, possessing every species of 
 virtue. They had attributed in fact, fortune to 
 the moon, genius to the sun, love to Venus, ne- 
 cessity to Mercury, boldness to Mars, victory to 
 Jupiter, and justice to Saturn ; and perhaps, under 
 the same head, or at least, as a consequence of 
 the doctrine laid out in the Panaretum, we must 
 reckon the ritual, explaining the influence or power 
 which the several gods had on the different parts 
 of the human body. This ritual forms a part of the 
 funeral papyrus found in a munnny whose name 
 was Petamenof, and pubhshed by Cailliaud. I give 
 you here the translation of ChampoUion ; and I 
 give it with the greater pleasure, because in the 
 mummies we find the images of certain deities in- 
 variably painted or engraved on a particular limb. 
 This explanation therefore, will help you much in
 
 LECTURE IX. 313 
 
 recognising these deities, and the reason why they 
 have been represented on that particular part of 
 the mummy. 
 
 The hair belonged to Pemoou, the celestial Nile, 
 the god of the primitive waters, and father of the 
 gods ; the head to the god Fhre the sun ; the 
 eyes to the goddess Hator, that is, Venus ; the 
 ears to the god Macedo, a god generally repre- 
 sented with the head of a jackal, the guardian of 
 the tropics ; the right temple to the spirit of 
 Atmou, in the habitation oi Siou, that is, the stars; 
 the left temple to the living spirit ; the nose and 
 lips to Amihis ; the teeth to Selk ; the heard to 
 Macedo ; the nech to Isis and Nepthus ; the arms 
 to Osiris ; the knees to the goddess Neith ; the 
 elbows to the god Ord, of the region of Gir ; the 
 back to the god Sisho ; the thighs to the god Bal 
 Hor ; the legs to Netpe ; the feet to Phtah ; the 
 fingers to the living Urcei, that is, to all the god- 
 desses. 
 
 This perhaps, may appear to some of you ridi- 
 culous enough ; but I beg you will remember, that 
 even at this moment ninety-nine men out of every 
 hundred throughout the world, are holding these 
 very absurdities, which we are ridicuhng; they 
 perhaps excite our smiles and our contempt in the 
 direct ratio of our ignorance of the causes which 
 have produced such notions amongst the whole of 
 mankind ; for as Champollion has properly re- 
 marked, " Les savans qui font une etude appro- 
 fondie des mythes et des croyances Egyptiennes
 
 314 LECTURE IX. 
 
 se garderont de porter sur ce tableau un jugement 
 definitif avant de connaitre plus parfaitement toute 
 Vensemhle de la theologie Egyptienne." 
 
 To this opinion I fully subscribe. For however 
 ignorant and superstitious we may consider the 
 Egyptian priests who lived after Cambyses, I have 
 no doubt in my own mind, that the predecessors 
 of this degenerated race were highly civilized, and 
 extremely well informed ; for cherishing and teach- 
 ing doctrines which still secretly inculcated the pu- 
 rity of religion, the first founders of the Egyptian 
 priesthood were obliged to employ symbols, and 
 these symbols in process of time, through the 
 ignorance of their successors, were the cause of 
 all the abominable superstitions which disgi'aced 
 the creed and the morals of the degenerated 
 Egyptians even before Alexander. The very ac- 
 count of the tricks which their priests performed 
 before Pharaoh, in opposition to the miracles wrought 
 by Moses, rests on an authority which is too vener- 
 able to be denied, but which evinces the great pro- 
 gress the Egyptian priests must have made in 
 mathematics, optics, and chemistry, as well as na- 
 tural philosophy. The same apparitions, but of a 
 natm'e more frightful and imposing, we know to 
 have been displayed before the eyes of the aspi- 
 rants in the mysteries of Isis ; and from the scat- 
 tered account which the most dauntless classical 
 writers have dared to give of these terrible appa- 
 ritions, we are compelled to admit, that in the 
 pursuit of many of the natural sciences, they were
 
 LECTURE IX. 315 
 
 our equals, and in some even our superiors. We 
 are in fact informed by Manetho, that the Pha- 
 raoh Nechepsos, king of Sais, and grandfather to 
 Psammeticus, and the philosopher Petosiris, who 
 was his contemporary, had written valuable treatises 
 on astronomy, astrology, natural philosophy, and 
 medicine. This last treatise is mentioned even by 
 Galenus, and Aetius, and that on astronomy by 
 Eusebius and Pliny, though no doubt, very much 
 altered and interpolated by the philosophers of 
 Alexandria, who began to flourish under the Pto- 
 lemies, but whose ignorance and superstition were 
 a disgrace to their school and their age. It is 
 asserted that in this treatise Nechepsos and Pe- 
 tosiris accounted for the creation of the world, 
 and the climacteric changes, or influence, of the 
 heavenly bodies upon the human frame ; for such 
 is the account which Julius Firmicus gives of these 
 books, which he says he had read. According to 
 Zoega, Nechepsos and Petosiris lived seven cen- 
 turies before Christ. But this is a mistake : their 
 age precedes the period marked by Zoega by many 
 centuries. 
 
 Be this as it may, to the Pharaoh Nechepsos is 
 attributed the invention of placing each limb of 
 our body under the immediate influence of a par- 
 ticular sign of the zodiac, in order that a proper 
 remedy may be applied to each disease. " Locum 
 de signorum per membra division e divinus ille Ne- 
 cepso, ut remedia valetudinum inveniret, diligen- 
 tissimc quidem, ut tanti viri potuit ingenium, mani-
 
 316 LECTURE IX. 
 
 festis tractatibus explicavit." So says Firmicus, as 
 he is quoted by Zoega. 
 
 From Sais this prejudice passed to the school 
 of Alexandria ; was adopted by the Greeks and 
 Romans ; was further taught by the Saracens, and 
 by them transmitted to the School of Salerno, and 
 strongly defended and acted upon by all the medi- 
 cal men of every nation of Europe. It is still 
 preserved in some of our most reputed almanacks ; 
 in those indeed, that boast of preserving the me- 
 mory of many of our old notions, institutions, and 
 customs, which, however ridiculous and absurd 
 they may appear to us now, are nevertheless very 
 valuable, inasmuch as they enable us to trace at least 
 the antiquity of some of our prejudices, and the 
 progi'ess of our improvement, a very different thing, 
 however, from what is enthusiastically called the 
 march of intellect. You have but to turn to the al- 
 manack, which is perhaps, in the hands of most peo- 
 ple, entitled Vox Stellarum, or Moore's Almanack, 
 and there you will find that the different planets or 
 signs of the Zodiac are said to exercise a direct 
 influence, not only on the several limbs which con- 
 stitute the human frame, but also on the political 
 events, which often turn the destinies of mankind. 
 
 In its origin however, this dazzling prejudice 
 might have rested on the received ground of the 
 power which both the sun and the moon exercise 
 on the flux and reflux of the sea, and on the 
 atmosphere in general, a power which, in process 
 of time, was extended to the other planets, and
 
 LECTURE IX. 317 
 
 with a more apparent reason, to the signs of the 
 Zodiac. For if the two great luminaries have any 
 influence on our globe, it is evident that this influ- 
 ence must vary according to their distances, and 
 consequently may be supposed to exist also in the 
 different signs of the zodiac, by which alone these 
 distances were commonly calculated ; and as, ge- 
 nerally speaking, some diseases affecting the various 
 parts of the human frame seemed, particularly in 
 hot climates, to be the effect of the different seasons, 
 and perfectly endemic, it was natural to suppose 
 that they were produced by the influence of the 
 several constellations in which the sun was at the 
 time, or of the different planets that happened to 
 be above the horizon. 
 
 That this, or something like this, must have been 
 the reason of the first notions of mankind, in 
 regard to the influence of the celestial bodies upon 
 every thing that moves in this world, is evident 
 from the general dread which at all times has 
 prevailed amongst all nations, in respect to the 
 appearance of comets. This sentiment has been 
 found to exist amongst the most savage as well as 
 the most civilized communities, and even at the pre- 
 sent moment is so strongly rooted in the mind of 
 some people, as to prevent the possibility of con- 
 vincing them to the contrary. Can we then con- 
 demn the Egyptians for having entertained those 
 very opinions, some of which we have scarcely 
 abandoned, while others are still cherished, and per- 
 tinaciously defended, by men otherwise well inform-
 
 318 LECTURE IX. 
 
 ed and highly talented ? Knowhig by the united 
 consent of antiquity, that Egypt had been the cradle 
 of all arts and all sciences, and the very emporium 
 of civiHzation, and its priests the first, almost the 
 only instructors of mankind, with what grace do we 
 venture to look contemptuously upon them for the 
 sake of a few absurd prejudices, of which we can- 
 not take upon ourselves to say that we have not a 
 garbled and perhaps a distorted account ? Knowing 
 so little as we do of the extent of their knowledge, 
 which, from the stupendous relics of their gigantic 
 works, we have every reason to suppose to have 
 been very great, and astonishingly extensive, we 
 laugh at the Egyptians for some absurd speculative 
 tenets, while we are not capable of accomplishing 
 one tenth part of what they actually did. The 
 tunnel, for instance under the Thames, which seems 
 to present difficulties sufficiently great to tire the 
 patience of the English, if not to baffle the skill of 
 some of our engineers, is a performance which the 
 Egyptians had executed from time immemorial 
 under the Nile, as you will see hereafter, when we 
 shall turn our attention to the mysteries of Isis. 
 But such is the unfortunate propensity of our na- 
 ture ; we cannot bear a superior, we are scarcely 
 induced to confess an equal ; and this failing of 
 individuals may, with equal propriety, and stronger 
 reason, be applied to nations also. 
 
 In regard to the Egyptians, however, this feeling 
 is unjust, and at all events, ill-timed. We have 
 nothing to fear from their power, nothing to appre- 
 1
 
 LECTURE IX. 319 
 
 heiid from their emulation. Tlie merciless hand 
 of death has long before this, levelled to the 
 gromid these first teachers of mankind : their voice 
 can no longer silence ours ; the sullen foot of Time 
 has already turned that once flourishing country 
 into a desert, and its power can never more be em- 
 ployed in emulation of ours ; the silence of the 
 grave has long since closed on the whole of the 
 inhabitants, and the greatest efforts of the human 
 mind, and of the human power, is necessary to 
 redeem the few precious rehcs from the hands of 
 the barbarians who have now turned into dwellings 
 the repositories of the dead, the very tombs of 
 these departed spirits. If any thing is now to be 
 obtained from these illustrious dead, it is the praise 
 of sharing their immortality, by publishing to the 
 world an impartial account of their doctrine and 
 learning, an act worthy of a generous nation, to 
 whom, perhaps, more than to any other, may be 
 applied the " parcere subjectis et debellare su- 
 perbos" of Virgil. 
 
 But to return. 
 
 We are informed by Tatian, that the Greeks had 
 learned how to write history from perusing the 
 Egyptian annals. This assertion is correct ; from 
 the most remote antiquity, the Egyptians had, in 
 fact, adopted the custom of transmitting to poste- 
 rity the memory of past events. Originally, they 
 seem to have written them in verse, and inscribed 
 them on stones, in hieroglyphical characters ; but 
 immediately after the invention of the alphabet
 
 320 LECTURE IX. 
 
 they employed prose, and began to write regular 
 books, although they still retained the custom of 
 celebrating, in lyric measure, the praises of their 
 great men, and their heroes, which, as we have 
 seen, was the office of a particular class of the 
 priesthood. It seems, however, according to the 
 account of the indefatigable Zoega, who has col- 
 lected all the authorities of ancient writers on this 
 subject, that the books of history were very nume- 
 rous in Egypt, and that the care of writing them 
 formed one of the several duties of both the Hiero- 
 grammatse and the Prophets. " Herodotus," says 
 he, " suppressing the mention of the books, asserts 
 that he had acquired his knowledge about Egypt 
 from the priests, who read to him from a papyrus 
 the names of 330 kings, who had reigned in that 
 country from Menes to Sesostris, amongst whom 
 there were eighteen Ethiopian sovereigns, and one 
 Egyptian queen." 
 
 To discuss the truth or falsehood of this state- 
 ment, would lead us rather too far from our sub- 
 ject ; and I have quoted the passage merely to 
 prove, that, at the time of the Greek historian, 
 the Egyptians had numerous volumes of history ; 
 the same is attested by Theophrastus, who seems 
 to have been acquainted with the royal annals of 
 Egypt. We know from Manetho that he had col- 
 lected his history from authentic records ; and in 
 fact, Diodorus mentions histories of all sorts, sacred 
 as well as profane, and commentaries written on 
 them ; this is also confirmed by Josephus, and by
 
 LECTURE IX. 321 
 
 Strabo, who even praises the shnpUcity of then" 
 style. It is from these annals and these records, 
 that the Greek authors, such as Eratosthenes, Syn- 
 cellus, Apollonides, Asclepiades, and others, have 
 compiled their histories of Egypt. What we 
 have said of history, must be applied to law also ; 
 for if the Egyptians have been the teachers of the 
 Greeks in history, they have also been the instruc- 
 tors of mankind in law, and judicial proceedings ; 
 and in fact, the account of their laws forms but a 
 part of their political history. The law proceed- 
 ings which they instituted from the most remote 
 antiquity, have been adopted by the Greeks and 
 the Romans, and are at this moment followed by 
 most if not all the civihzed nations of Europe, and 
 are to be found in some of the courts even of this 
 country. For this we have the authority of Dio- 
 dorus. " From the most remote antiquity," says 
 he, "immediately after the fabulous age of the 
 gods and heroes, Menes pubhshed a code of laws, 
 and persuaded the people to adopt them for rules 
 of life. These laws were afterwards improved by 
 the kings Sasyches, Sesoosis, Bocchoris, and Ama- 
 sis ; and, being collected in eight books, they were 
 intrusted to the whole body of the judges. Accord- 
 ing to the rules laid down in this code, the law 
 proceedings were not allowed to be carried on by 
 speeches, but by writing only. The plaintiff stated, 
 on paper, the origin of his demand, and to this 
 declaration the defendant was allowed to plead in 
 writing. Should the answer not be deemed suffi-
 
 322 LECTURE IX. 
 
 cient, the plaintifF was permitted to repeat his de- 
 mand, and state the arguments by which he might 
 rebut the plea of the defendant ; and to this second 
 demand the defendant was again permitted to reply. 
 The whole then was submitted to the judges, who 
 passed their sentence accordingly." 
 
 Besides these books, which in some respects may 
 be considered as of a public nature, (for they treated 
 of subjects that interested the community at large, 
 and therefore not confined to the priesthood, 
 although exclusively entrusted to their care,) there 
 were others, which the priests alone were pennitted 
 to consult, and the reading of which was carefully 
 kept from the profane. Of this sort were the 
 mystic books, and secret writings mentioned by 
 Ammianus Marcellinus, which treated of the origin 
 of the Egyptian rehgion, and contained other 
 secrets of the same important nature : such was, 
 for instance, the one which taught that the age of 
 Apis was not to be prolonged beyond the established 
 period. Among this class the undaunted Apuleius 
 also reckons those which contained the description 
 of the rites to be performed in the mysteries of 
 Isis ; Achilles Tatius those w^hich treated of the 
 phoenix ; and Damascius those from which the 
 philosopher Asclepiades, a native of Alexandria, 
 collected the whole system of the Egyptian theo- 
 logy. 
 
 It is deeply to be lamented that Alexander 
 Severus, while travelling in Egypt, in a fit of ill- 
 lunnour ordered all these books to be sought for,
 
 LECTURE IX. 323 
 
 and to be thrown into the tomb of Alexander. 
 " Ne," says my historian Dion, " quisquam corpus 
 ejus videret in posterum, neve ea, quae in hbris illis 
 scripta erant, legeret." Something, indeed, of the 
 same sort, had been ordered long before by Artax- 
 erxes Ochus concerning the historical books, some 
 of which however, the Egyptian priests were able 
 to redeem from the hands of the eunuch Bagoa, 
 by paying their weight in gold : and in latter times, 
 a similar step was taken by another tyrant, the 
 emperor Diocletian, who highly incensed against 
 the Egyptians on account of a sedition, exercised 
 against the people his cruelty, and even ordered 
 that all their books on metals should be burned, in 
 order that, by the hope of riches, they should not 
 be again tempted to rebel. 
 
 Other books, equally forbidden to the profane, 
 and only allowed to the highest class of the priest- 
 hood, were those which treated of the causes that 
 produced the inundation of the Nile. Although 
 it seems that the generality of the Egyptians knew 
 nothing of the heavy rains which fall in Ethiopia, 
 and which are the only cause of the inundation, 
 yet Heliodorus asserts that the priests were not 
 ignorant of them, but concealed this knowledge 
 most scrupulously from the people, no doubt for 
 the sake of enhancing their own authority, and 
 keeping up the species of sacred worship which 
 w^as paid to the Nile. 
 
 I am not aware whether the books which treated 
 of the highest departments of astronomy were 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 LECTURE IX. 
 
 equally concealed from public inspection. That 
 from the most remote antiquity they had cultivated 
 this science, seems a fact that admits of not the 
 least shadow of doubt. Strabo even asserts that 
 the Greeks had learned from them the very rudi- 
 ments of this science, that is, from the commen- 
 taries that the Egyptian priests had v^ritten on the 
 books of Hermes. Herodotus, in fact, relates that 
 the astronomical records of the Egyptians extended 
 to not less than 400,000 years. But in our Lecture 
 on Chronology we shall see how these years are to 
 be computed. They seem also to have been the 
 first who calculated exactly the duration of the year 
 to consist of three hundred and sixty five days and 
 a quarter. 
 
 Amidst so much learning, and so many really 
 excellent institutions, we must expect to find 
 some absurdity and prejudice. The deep super- 
 stition in which the priests endeavoured to keep 
 the nation, is no doubt one of the great causes of 
 this lamentable fact. Deriving the greatest part, 
 if not the whole of their power from the religious 
 notions prevailing amongst the people, they had 
 every reason to conceal from them all the know- 
 ledge which could explain by natural causes those 
 phenomena, which hitherto had been ascribed to 
 the immediate interference of the gods. 
 
 The books therefore on natural philosophy, as 
 well as those on the origin and nature of the gods 
 and heroes, on the essence and destination of the 
 soul, on the formation of the universe, on the sub-
 
 LECTURE IX. 325 
 
 mersion of the world, on the institution of sacri- 
 fices, on the dispersion of mankind, in short, on all 
 those topics the knowledge of which would have 
 undoubtedly lessened the authority of the priest- 
 hood, were by them allowed to be consulted only 
 by the Initiated in the mysteries of Isis ; and the 
 seal of secrecy under which these truths were re- 
 vealed, even to the Initiated, and the long and ter- 
 rible trials to which they were exposed before they 
 were permitted to become acquainted with these 
 truths and these books, were considered by the 
 priests as a sufficient security against any exposure 
 or publication. In a great measure they seem to 
 have been right in this supposition. From their 
 first institution, the curiosity of mankind has in 
 vain endeavoured to obtain a proper insight into the 
 ceremonies and doctrines of these mysteries. The 
 Initiated have kept their secret, and even the almost 
 omnipotent hand of time has not been able entirely 
 to rend or remove the veil, which from its origin, 
 has concealed from the eyes of men the purport 
 and extent of the imposing pageantry. 
 
 In spite however of so much circumspection 
 and so much deference, some dauntless writers 
 have been found, who have dared to break open 
 the cell of these dark mysteries, and reveal to pos- 
 terity facts and circumstances sufficiently strong and 
 accurate to enable us to come at a great portion 
 of the interesting details, if not at the whole extent, 
 of this curious drama. Under the shield of their 
 authority, we know now, and pretty exactly too.
 
 326 LECTURE IX. 
 
 what was the object of this institution ; what doc- 
 trines were revealed to the initiated ; what pledges 
 they were obliged to give; the trials they were 
 made to undergo ; in short, most of the things con- 
 nected with the nature of this far-famed exhibition 
 of antiquity. Something like an account of it I 
 gave in the first course of these Lectures, so far 
 back as ten years, when for the first time I called 
 your attention to the scenical representations of 
 the ancients. A more accurate, and, to the best 
 of my power, a more full naiTation of the whole 
 will fonn the subject of a future Lecture. For the 
 present we must go on with our inquiry into the 
 scientific learning of the Egyptians. 
 
 The department of knowledge in which they 
 appear to have mingled the greatest portion of 
 superstition, seems to have been medicine. This 
 profession had been held by the people in high 
 repute, from the most remote antiquity ; and the 
 progress which their medical men had made in the 
 method of making up remedies, is even recorded 
 with praise by Homer in his Odyssey ; and amongst 
 the books which were called Hermeti, there were 
 several \mtten exclusively on the nature and 
 symptoms of several diseases, and of the mode of 
 treating them. We even learn from Herodotus, 
 that the practice of each physician was confined to 
 the study and treatment of one particular disease, 
 a regulation which, at first sight, certainly pro- 
 duces a favourable impression ; yet it seems that 
 there was a law, which decreed that this treatment
 
 LECTURE IX. 327 
 
 should be made according to the old prescriptions 
 and method set down in these medical books, and 
 that the adoption of another treatment, though 
 not exactly forbidden, was at least extremely 
 dangerous. For we are informed by Diodorus, 
 that a physician was condemned to death, if he 
 failed to save the life of his patient, by using reme- 
 dies of his own invention ; while no one took 
 notice of him if he killed ever so many people by 
 pursuing the treatment expressed in the above- 
 mentioned medical books. The reason which 
 Diodorus gives for this curious law is, to prevent 
 ignorant and rash men from sacrificing the lives of 
 the people. This is fair and plausible enough, but 
 whether it does or does not hinder the progress of 
 science, may be an object of dispute, at least 
 amongst those who, according to our modern way 
 of thinking, enjoy the full privilege of kilhng people 
 in any way they please, without any danger to 
 themselves. 
 
 The most curious part however of the whole is, 
 that they had mixed astrology with medicine, and 
 judged of a malady not from its symptoms only, 
 but from some odd rules of their own, which made 
 them look at the manner in which the sick person 
 lay, and endeavoured to cure him by amulets and 
 incantations, which they thought had some secret 
 virtue attached to them. Indeed it seems that 
 magic was one of the pursuits of the Egyptian 
 priests, or at least, that they wished to deceive 
 the people, and refer to the power of magic those
 
 328 LECTURE IX. 
 
 effects which they produced by their knowledge 
 in chemistry ; for in this science we know they 
 had made a considerable progi'ess ; it had in fact 
 originated amongst them, in commemoration of 
 which they have given to it the name of their 
 country ; for in the old Egyptian language the 
 name of Egypt was Kemi, from which we have 
 made alchymy, and in English chemistry ; but of 
 this more hereafter. 
 
 Such is the short account I have thought it 
 necessary to give you of the progress which the 
 Egyptians had made in the several sciences. Of 
 course, much of it must now to us appear absurd 
 and incomprehensible ; but I beg you will remem- 
 ber that ovu' information is derived through the 
 channel of the Greek and Latin writers, who, per- 
 haps, might themselves know very little of the 
 subject, and at best might fairly misunderstand 
 what was told them by the Egyptian priesthood. 
 Indeed, upon this chapter I have no hesitation to 
 assert, that what has been transmitted to us, is 
 not the fair account of the Egyptian learning. We 
 know, that to the nation at large the priests only 
 imparted what may be called practical knowledge, 
 for the sake of obtaining the conveniences of life ; 
 but what was speculative, or theoretical know- 
 ledge, was entirely confined to the priesthood, and 
 delivered to the initiated only in the mysteries of 
 Isis. The account therefore, which the Greek 
 writers have thought proper to give us of the 
 learning of the Egyptians, can scarcely be called
 
 LECTURE IX. 329 
 
 accurate ; the very circumstance of their never 
 transcribing any long passage of the books which 
 they mention, may lead us to suppose, that they 
 had not read them. There is therefore, every rea- 
 son to believe that the Greeks had derived their 
 knowledge from oral communication, and conse- 
 quently, had learned no more than was generally 
 known amongst the people. This for the reasons 
 already stated, cannot be considered as the real phi- 
 losophy of the priesthood. Besides, we are also 
 to remember that the Greek historians who have 
 spoken of Egypt, began to visit that country rather 
 late, at a time when the priests themselves had lost 
 much of the learning for which their predecessors 
 had been so justly celebrated ; because, although 
 under the Pharaoh Psammeticus, foreigners were 
 allowed, for the first time, to visit the interior of 
 the country, and settle in Egypt, the Greek histo- 
 rians who have spoken of that country, lived very 
 long after that period ; and you perhaps remember, 
 that from the irruption of Cambyses downward, 
 the priests, by degrees, lost a portion of their 
 knowledge, until they became an ignorant and 
 degenerate race, sharing in all the superstitions of 
 the people. To judge therefore of the know- 
 ledge of the priesthood under the Pharaohs from 
 the garbled account we have of their successors, is 
 as absurd as to judge of the merit of the Greek 
 writers under, or before Pericles, from the produc- 
 tions of their successors after Mahomet 11. 
 
 I am led to this conclusion from what I have
 
 330 LECTURE IX. 
 
 already stated of the great library attached to what 
 is commonly called the tomb of Osymandias at 
 Thebes. Diodorus erroneously makes him to be 
 the successor of Protheus, and a contemporary of 
 Priam, king of Troy, for he was much more 
 ancient. But even admitting the chronology of 
 Diodorus, it is evident, that before the Trojan war, 
 the Egyptians had made so much progress in phi- 
 losophy and learning, and had composed so great 
 a number of books, as to allow Osymandias to 
 form a large collection of them. We also know, 
 that at Memphis, in the temple of the god Phtha, 
 there was another great hbrary, from which the 
 Greek poet Naucrates accuses Homer of having 
 stolen both the Iliad and the Odyssey, and to have 
 afterwards pubhshed them as his own. 
 
 True or false as this accusation may be, it is 
 certainly a proof of the public opinion at that time 
 in favour of the learning of the Egyptians ; for 
 Naucrates would never have dared to ascribe the 
 first invention of the two poems to the Egyptians, 
 unless they had been thought capable of writing 
 them. Indeed the very circumstance that this 
 collection of books was open to the pubUc, and 
 might be consulted by every respectable indi- 
 vidual, must inspire us with no mean idea of the 
 wisdom and civihzation of the old Egyptians. The 
 love of books, however praise-worthy it may ap- 
 pear, generally speaking, is nevertheless deserving 
 of our encomium in two cases only ; — when one is 
 able to know their value, and appreciate them
 
 LECTURE IX. 331 
 
 according to their merit ; and when their use, that 
 is, the reading of them, is not confined to a few 
 privileged individuals. Whether the Egyptians 
 actually deserve the praise of having been able to 
 act up to the former case, I am unable to tell ; but 
 they certainly merit the eulogium of having prac- 
 tised the latter ; for it seems that the principle of 
 granting to the public a free access to these reposi- 
 tories of learning was never forgotten, and never 
 abolished. It was one of the rules of the library 
 of Osymandias, and it continued to be an esta- 
 blished rule in regard to the library of Alexandria 
 also. 
 
 And perhaps, since I have mentioned this once 
 famous and still celebrated collection of books, I 
 may as well occupy the few minutes we have left 
 with a short account of its origin, increase, and de- 
 struction. You know, that at one time it was, and 
 it is still, considered as the greatest library that 
 ever existed in the world. It was commenced 
 under Ptolemy Soter, and collected by the care of 
 his successor, Demetrius Phalereus, from all the 
 quarters of the globe. At the very beginning it 
 contained 54,800 volumes. But, soon after, their 
 number almost exceeded calculation. Josephus 
 says, that it contained not less than 200,000 vo- 
 lumes, and that Demetrius hoped, in a short time, 
 to extend it to half a million. Eusebius asserts, 
 that at the death of Ptolemy Philadelphus, the 
 number of books amounted only to 100,000. But 
 he allows that, by degrees, the successors of this
 
 332 LECTURE IX. 
 
 prince increased it, till at last they collected the 
 enormous number of 700,000 volumes. 
 
 It is true, that in regard to a great number of 
 these books, the term volume may suggest a 
 wrong idea of their size, as many learned critics 
 and antiquaries have properly noticed ; for many 
 of them must have been papyrusses, or rolls, by 
 no means as large as our volumes. But still the 
 number stated by the different historians is so 
 prodigiously gi'eat, that even admitting the force 
 of this criticism to the fullest extent, the col- 
 lection of books at Alexandria must have been 
 immense ; for we know that the Ptolemies spared 
 neither trouble nor expense to collect as many 
 books as they could. It is on record, that De- 
 metrius bought, at a most exorbitant price, 
 some of the works of Aristotle, and many other 
 celebrated productions, for which he sent commis- 
 sioners to Rome, Athens, Persia, and even to 
 Ethiopia. It is even reported, that in this library 
 there was the original manuscript of the Greek 
 translation of our holy Scripture, commonly called 
 the Septuagint, which Ptolemy had caused to be 
 made, by applying to the gi'and priest Eleazar, 
 through the means of Aristeus, a very learned 
 man, and the captain of the royal guard. It is 
 also said, that the autographs of the tragedies 
 of iEschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, were to 
 be found in this truly magnificent library. They 
 had been obtained from the Athenians by Ptolemy 
 Phiscon, on the deposit of fifteen talents, which
 
 LECTURE IX. :}3;j 
 
 the Egyptian monarch chose rather to lose than 
 return the precious manuscripts, of which how- 
 ever, he sent them a copy ; and in justification of 
 the Athenians, for parting with the venerahle 
 originals, the historian remarks, that the loan of 
 them was the absolute condition on which Phiscon 
 agreed to let them have some corn in a year of 
 great scarcity. 
 
 It is to be lamented, that of this magnificent 
 library not the smallest vestige exists. Every 
 scholar is acquainted with the causes which obliged 
 Julius Caesar to order the burning of his fleet, 
 whilst he was besieged in Alexandria. Unfortu- 
 nately the wind carried the flames further than 
 Caesar expected. The houses near the harbour 
 having caught fire, the conflagration reached the 
 district which was called Burchion, spread to the 
 magazine of corn, and at last attacked the library. 
 Some writers believe, that in this terrible circum- 
 stance 400,000 volumes perished, and that all the 
 rest were carried to the new library of Serapion. 
 Amongst these were the 200,000 volumes of which 
 Anthony had stripped the library of Pergamo. 
 This famous library is said to have been formed 
 by the kings Eumenes and Attains, who, wishing 
 to emulate the grandeur and magnificence of the 
 Ptolemies, collected not less than 200,000 vo- 
 lumes, in their capital of Pergamo ; but Anthony 
 having taken the city, carried away the books, and 
 made a present of them to Cleopatra. 
 
 Be this as it may, this library of Alexandria was,
 
 334 LECTURE IX. 
 
 for the space of six centuries and a half, a kind of 
 bone of contention ; and, after being many times 
 pillaged, and as often restored, was at last utterly- 
 destroyed by order of the caliph Omar, the third 
 after Mahomet, who commanded that, without 
 any exception, the books should be distributed to 
 the different baths of the city, and in the lan- 
 guage of your great historian, " six months were 
 scarcely sufficient for the destruction of the precious 
 fuel." 
 
 In this manner perished the greatest collection 
 of books that was ever made in the world ; and the 
 loss of literature and science is perhaps, more than 
 any one can estimate. But even after its destruc- 
 tion, the library of Alexandria will always stand on 
 the page of history as a remarkable specimen of the 
 protection which, at all times, the sovereigns of 
 Egypt have shewn to knowledge. If then, even 
 under the Ptolemies, the degenerate Egyptians pos- 
 sessed so valuable a testimony of their attachment 
 to learning, we may well conceive what this attach- 
 ment must have been, during the brilliant ages of 
 the Pharaonic rule, when the most valuable con- 
 tributors to the scientific learning of Egypt, were 
 those very priests, who had been the discoverers of 
 so many important inventions, and, by their pre- 
 cepts and example, the instructors of mankind. 
 
 From the short account which, to the best of my 
 abilities, I have endeavoured to give, we must 
 acquit the ancients of any sin of exaggeration, and 
 not wonder at the praises, however extravagant 
 
 1
 
 LECTURE IX. 335 
 
 they may appear to us, which they have bestowed 
 on the learning of the primitive priests, under the 
 Pharaohs. In the information which I have 
 offered, my best guide has been the indefatigable 
 and learned Zoega, to whose work on the origin 
 and use of obelisks I stand indebted for many of 
 the facts I have stated to you. Indeed the more I 
 dip into the antiquities of Egypt, the morel feel con- 
 vinced, that the discovery of the reading of hierogly- 
 phics is, without doubt, the greatest literary disco- 
 very of the age, or perhaps of any age ; and if some 
 of the monuments of Egyptian wisdom, and Egyp- 
 tian learning are still, as I suppose, in existence, I 
 dare hope that human efforts, and European skill 
 will, at some time or other, disinter them from under 
 the mountains of sand and rubbish under which 
 they are lying. If we can once get into the subterra- 
 neous passages leading to this theatre, where the 
 mysteries of Isis were once celebrated, we may, I 
 have no doubt, get at the chamber of the Hiero- 
 phantes. There some monuments, perhaps some of 
 the Hermetic books, may still be found, and what 
 revolution they may produce upon our knowledge 
 of antiquity, who shall tell ?
 
 LECTURE X. 
 
 Different appellations by which Egypt has been called by the 
 ancients — Origin of the name of Egypt — How called by the 
 natives — Geography of Egypt — Its natural and political 
 boundaries — Short account of the Oasis and of the Egyptian 
 colonies on the eastern shores of the Red Sea — Curious answer 
 of the oracle of Amman — The Nile — Different names by luhich 
 it was known — Its course and inundation — Division of Egypt 
 — Attempt at ascertaining tvhen it was first made — Difference 
 between Modern and Ancient Egypt — Mistakes of the ancients 
 — Causes which produced them — Alterations produced by the 
 Greek writers in the Egyptian names — Mode by which they 
 have been recovered. 
 
 For the sake of giving you, to the best of my 
 power, a full idea of the extraordinary kingdom of 
 Egypt, and its still more extraordinary inhabitants, 
 I mean in this Lecture to direct your attention to 
 its topography. I shall endeavour therefore, first 
 to ascertain the different names by which it was 
 known, and the extent of its natural as well as 
 political limits ; and in so doing I shall mention 
 the different colonies which acknowledged the au- 
 thority of the Pharaohs. I shall afterwards pro- 
 ceed to describe the Nile, the mighty river from
 
 LECTURE X. ;};57 
 
 which this country derived the greatest part of its 
 celebrity and power ; and as well as I can, exhibit 
 a comprehensive account of its origin and course, 
 and of the different names by which it was desig- 
 nated. 
 
 From the topography of this country, it is my 
 intention to turn to its pohtical existence, and to 
 mention the number of governments, or provinces, 
 into which it was divided, and the names by which 
 they were signified. This consideration will lead 
 us to observe the alterations which the Greeks 
 made in the ancient terms ; and as a necessary 
 consequence, to ascertain the causes of this change, 
 which increases the difficulty of obtaining from 
 them an accurate account of Egypt under the 
 reign of the Pharaohs ; and I shall conclude the 
 Lecture with stating the mode by which the old 
 nomenclature has been recovered, so as to have 
 allowed us to form a clearer and more full idea of 
 the whole subject of Egyptian antiquities. 
 
 The country which we now call Egypt has 
 received several appellations from the ancients. 
 Most of them, indeed, seem rather epithets than 
 names, though occasionally they have been used 
 as such, and without exception they all betray 
 their Greek origin, that is, they were all invented 
 by the Greeks. Of this sort is the name of Apeia, 
 from the supposed wife of Belus, who was the father 
 of Egyptus, and Atna, from an Indian called Aetos. 
 We find it also called Potamia, from Ylora^iog, 
 the appellation they gave to the Nile, and Qyvyut,
 
 338 LECTURE X. 
 
 from the adjective Qyuytot,-, which means, belong- 
 ing to Ogyges. For the same reason we find it 
 occasionally styled 'H^ato-na, that is, belonging to 
 'H^aicTToc, Hephaistos, the name which the Greeks 
 gave to the Vulcan of the Romans ; and MtXaju/So- 
 \og, on account of its land being of a black colour. 
 It is pretended that the Phoenicians called it Mijsra 
 and Myara, which latter appellation may be a 
 corruption of the former, or rather a mistake of 
 the copyist ; for Misra is the same as Missr, a 
 name which the Orientals still give to Egypt. It 
 is evidently an abbreviation of Misraim, who ac- 
 cording to Scripture, first went to inhabit the land, 
 unless we should adopt the opinion of the Arabi- 
 ans, who pretend that Missr was the son of Mis- 
 raim. There was in fact, an ancient custom amongst 
 the Orientals, generally to name a nation after 
 some peculiar characteristic of their language, or 
 some remarkable personage recorded by their his- 
 tory, or by their traditions ; and this custom seems 
 still to exist amongst the Arabians, the Persians, 
 the Tartars, and the Ethiopians. 
 
 These were the principal, but not all the names 
 by which the different writers of antiquity have 
 designated Egypt ; and this appellation, which hke 
 the rest, is of Greek extraction, has been adopted 
 by most of the nations. 
 
 The Greeks called it AtyuTrroc, from which the 
 Latins made JEgijiitus, and the moderns Egypt. 
 The fables which according to custom, the Greeks 
 invented to account for this denomination, are
 
 LECTURE X. ,339 
 
 well known. ^Egyptus, they say, was the brother of 
 Danaus ; and you remember the attempt made by 
 the fifty daughters of this latter, to murder their 
 husbands, who were all sons of the former. Da- 
 naus, who had planned and devised this criminal 
 deed, was obliged to leave the country with his 
 daughters. After much wandering, they arrived 
 at Argos, where the king Pelasgus, or Sthenelus, 
 received them with hospitality. At the death of 
 Pelasgus, Danaus, having taken possession of the 
 throne, gave his name to these people, who were 
 then called Danai, whilst the Egyptians derived 
 their name from his brother i^gyptus. 
 
 Unfortunately however, for this account of the 
 Greek historians, and even of the poet ^^^schylus, 
 who has written a tragedy upon it, there is no 
 mention made by the chronological canons of 
 Egypt, of any sovereign who had borne this name 
 of Egyptus, or any thing like it. Manetho indeed, 
 speaking of Sethosis Ramesses, son of Ameno- 
 phis III., and the chief of the nineteenth dynasty, 
 relates, that Sethosis being on the point of setting 
 out for a distant expedition, entrusted to his bro- 
 ther Armais the government of Egypt. This fero- 
 cious man, as soon as he saw himself free from the 
 authority of Sethosis, began to tyrannize over the 
 people, and even to form schemes how to possess 
 himself of the supreme power. Sethosis, however, 
 being informed of the wicked designs of his bro- 
 ther, returned to Egypt, and obliged Armais to 
 leave the country, which he had polluted with his 
 
 z 2
 
 340 L E C T U R E X. 
 
 crimes. He sought an asylum in Greece, where 
 he took the name of Danaus. Such is the account 
 we have from Manetho, which seems to acquire a 
 greater degree of probabihty from the considera- 
 tion of the epoch of the arrival of Danaus at Argos 
 being the same with the reign of Sethosis in Egypt. 
 But whether Danaus concealed from the Greeks 
 the real cause of his banishment, or whether they 
 had lost the recollection of the fact, it seems quite 
 established beyond dispute, that the fable of his 
 fifty daughters, whom they lodged in hell, to serve 
 as an example to all criminal wives, is a mere 
 imagination of their own. 
 
 The case is a little different in regard to the 
 name of ^gyptus, which they gave to Sethosis, the 
 brother of their Danaus. As they did not know 
 the name of the Egyptian king who had expelled 
 Danaus, they applied or rather extended to him 
 the appellation by which they distinguished the 
 country over which he reigned ; but in process 
 of time their descendants, who knew nothing of 
 the origin of this name, thought that the country 
 itself had received from its king the name of Egypt, 
 
 Al'yVTTTOQ. 
 
 Be this as it may, this name of Egypt seems a 
 corruption of the Egyptian word Kupt, to which 
 the Greeks added the syllable ai, and the termina- 
 tion OS, and made AtyuTrr, and then A/yuTrrot,-. The 
 signification of this word Knpt, or Gupt, is simply a 
 Copt, that is, an inhabitant of that country, which 
 we now call Egypt, but which, by the Egyptians
 
 LECTURE X. 341 
 
 themselves, was called khajli, {Kemi), or KHjixe, 
 {Kerne), a name which we find in the enchorial or 
 demotic text of the Rosetta stone, KAi.1, that is, 
 Kmi, leaving out the intermediate vowel h or e, 
 always corresponding to that of AfyuTrroc, of the 
 Greek translation. It means hlack, and it seems 
 that it was so called on account of the black mud 
 which the waters of the Nile left on the land. 
 For this fact we have the authority of Herodotus ; 
 and it is even mentioned by Virgil, in the fourth of 
 the Georgics, who says, 
 
 Et viridem jEgyptum Nigra fecundat arena. 
 
 If from the etymology and ancient name of this 
 celebrated country, we turn our attention to its 
 extent, and endeavour to establish its limits, we 
 shall find that it was the theatre of long and fatal 
 revolutions. The difficulties which present them- 
 selves to an inquiry of this sort, become greater 
 in proportion to the distance of time, and the 
 unfaithfulness of the historical records, mostly 
 written by foreigners, that have reached us. We 
 must therefore, not be astonished at finding this 
 country so very different from what it has been, 
 when under a wise and enlightened legislation. 
 The people, who had already acquired a very high 
 degree of civihzation, assisted to the utmost of 
 their power the efforts of nature, under one of the 
 most favoured climates upon earth. The misfor- 
 tunes to which this country has been exposed, have 
 terribly changed the appearance of the greatest
 
 342 LECTURE X. 
 
 portion of its territory. Formerly covered with 
 gigantic monuments^ populous cities, superb build- 
 ings, and magnificent temples, it now presents the 
 appearance of a vast desert. The alteration is 
 dreadful ! The mighty people who once inhabited 
 this land, raised on the banks of the Nile immortal 
 vouchers of their existence ; the degenerate people 
 who now dwell in and tyi*annize over this land, tread 
 under foot the precious relics of these magnificent 
 monuments, and dare to call those who raised 
 them their ancestors. Egypt, therefore, as it now 
 gi'oans under the tyrannical yoke of the Turks, is 
 very far from resembling Egypt, smiling and flou- 
 rishing under the enhghtened sway of the Pha- 
 raohs. Accounts of all sorts have made us ac- 
 quainted with Egypt as it is ; we must endeavour 
 to obtain some knowledge of Egypt as it formerly 
 was. 
 
 This country, properly speaking, is but a long 
 valley, w^hich runs from the south to the north, 
 following all the while the course of the Nile, for 
 more than four hundred miles. At its latter extre- 
 mity, towards the Mediterranean, it becomes con- 
 siderably wider, and offers a free passage to the 
 several branches into which the Nile divides itself. 
 Surrounded almost on all sides by arid deserts and 
 mountains, and on the north by the sea, this coun- 
 try is thus bounded by natural hmits, which seem 
 perfectly immutable ; but these have seldom been 
 its pohtical boundaries. From time immemorial 
 it seems that Lybia formed one of the provinces
 
 L E C T U R E X. 343 
 
 of Egypt ; and Manetho relates an insurrection of 
 these people against the Pharaoh Nekherophes, the 
 first king of the third dynasty, who lived 5152 
 years before Christ. From what I shall have to 
 state in a future Lecture concerning the mode of 
 computing Egyptian chronology, we may date the 
 reign of this prince about the year 2900 before 
 the Christian era ; which evidently proves that 
 from almost the very beginning of the Egyptian 
 monarchy Lybia was under the control of the Pha- 
 raohs. In fact the ruins which we still discover in 
 the Oasis, and particularly at the village or town 
 of Siouah, seem to confirm the report of the 
 ancient writers. 
 
 You know that the Oases are portions of land 
 irrigated by rivulets, which produce vegetation, and 
 assist agriculture in this part of the world, so en- 
 tirely surrounded by a sandy desert. They are 
 separated fi'om the rest of the world, and seem 
 like islands in the middle of a frightful solitude. 
 The only road by which they can be approached 
 is over a long and desolated tract of land, deprived 
 of every particle of verdure, without the least ap- 
 pearance of humidity, and dried up by the burning 
 rays of the sun. Their Egyptian name is oti^^e 
 (Ouase, or, in the Thebaic dialect, Ouahe) of which 
 the Greeks have made Oasis. Herodotus mentions 
 only one of them; Strabo three, and fixes their situa- 
 tion correctly. The first is called the great, the 
 second the small, and the third the Oasis of Ammon.
 
 344 LECTURE X. 
 
 The great Oasis lies at the distance of seven 
 days' journey from the ancient city of Abydos, 
 quite in a western direction, and was called by the 
 Egyptians oxi^^e -n^oi, (Ouase Psoy,) that is, the 
 Oasis of Psoy, which was the name of the capital 
 nearest to it. 
 
 The small Oasis lies to the north of the pre- 
 ceding one, and near the celebrated lake of Moeris. 
 The Greeks, whose imagination embelhshed even 
 the deserts, gave to this situation the name of the 
 happy island, or rather, the island of the happy. 
 The Egyptians called it the oTi.^e nejULxe, 
 (Ouase Pemsje,) the Oasis of Pemsje, because it 
 was situated near the town of that name. 
 
 The Oasis of Ammon, so called because it was 
 near the oracle of Ammon, lay about twelve days' 
 journey to the westward of Memphis, and of this 
 place, as well as of the ruins of the temple belong- 
 ing to this great deity of Egypt, My. Brown has 
 given a correct account in his Travels through 
 Syria. Some curious notions may also be collected 
 from Belzoni, though not always correct in regard 
 to history. 
 
 But to return. 
 
 Besides Lybia and the three Oases, the Egyptian 
 monarchy contained also all the tract of land which 
 lies between the Nile and the Red Sea. And 
 during the beautiful period of its splendour under 
 the Pharaoh Sesookhris, the Osymandias of the 
 Greeks, and the Pharaoh Sethosis, Ramesses, the
 
 LECTURE X. . 345 
 
 Sesostris of Diodoriis, countries still more distant, 
 and people still more civilized, acknowledged the 
 authority of these victorious sovereigns. 
 
 This historical fact proves that the Red Sea 
 was not the boundary of the Egyptian monarchy 
 towards the east. Beyond its shores the Egyp- 
 tians had founded colonies, who spoke the same 
 language as the people of Thebes and Memphis. 
 Of this there seems to be not a shadow of doubt. 
 The celebrated traveller Carsten Niebuhr, in one 
 of his excursions to mount Sinai, which the Arabs 
 call Djehhel Mousa, — the mountain of Moses, 
 discovered on the east of the Red sea, that is, in 
 Arabia, a very extraordinary monument, bearing 
 evident marks of its Egyptian origin ; and on the 
 summit of another mountain, called by the Arabi- 
 ans Djehhel el MoJiatteh, that is, the " written 
 mountain," he found the foundation of a vast 
 building, full of sepulchral stones, six or seven 
 feet long, covered with hieroglyphics similar to 
 those of the Thebaide. 
 
 The existence of this cemetery is an incontro- 
 vertible proof of the extent of the Egyptian power 
 beyond the eastern coast of the Red Sea. The 
 reason of such an establishment, unless it be for 
 the encouragement of commerce, or military ex- 
 peditions, cannot now be ascertained, nor can we 
 guess at the epoch of the first settlement of these 
 colonies. Every possible reason leads us to sup- 
 pose that the Egyptian monarchs took an early 
 possession of the eastern shores of the Red Sea.
 
 34G LECTURE X. 
 
 It is asserted that the Pharaoh Sethosis Ramesses 
 made the first successful attempt. Some writers 
 pretend that this prince Uved 1409 years before 
 Christ; but the account which Niebuhr gives of 
 the monument he saw on Mount Sinai, evinces a 
 much greater antiquity. 
 
 Such were the pohtical boundaries of Egj'pt 
 during the period of its greatest splendour. But 
 this great power did not last long. With the 
 death of Sethosis, or Sesostris, it seems that the 
 Egyptians lost the ability and spirit of making 
 further conquests, or even of retaining those they 
 had made. The descendants of this great prince 
 by little and little lost all the acquisitions made by 
 their predecessors ; and after that time the autho- 
 rity of the Pharaohs was confined within the 
 limits assigned by nature to the Egyptian territory, 
 that is, the whole valley of the Nile. 
 
 This naiTOw tract of land was then called, and 
 has since been called, strictly speaking, Egypt ; 
 although this denomination has been extended also 
 to that portion of land which the waters of the 
 Nile overflowed during the inundation. For this 
 we have the authority of Strabo and Herodotus ; 
 and this last writer relates, in confirmation of this 
 assertion, that the inhabitants of two cities, Marea 
 and Apis, being harassed by the Egyptians, on 
 account of some religious ceremonies, applied to 
 the oracle of Ammon, to know whether they could 
 be dispensed from following the religious customs 
 of their masters. The reasons they assigned for
 
 LECTURE X. 347 
 
 such an exemption, were, that as they spoke a lan- 
 guage which was not the language of Egypt, and 
 dwelt in cities situated beyond the Delta, on the 
 western boundaries of Egypt towards Lybia, they 
 could not be considered as Egyptians, and there- 
 fore they should not be compelled to follow the 
 religious customs of the Egyptians, which were 
 contrary to their own. To this demand the oracle 
 gave the following answer. " That all the coun- 
 try which the Nile inundated by its overflowing 
 belonged to Egypt ; and that all the inhabitants 
 of the country below the city of Elephantina, who 
 drank the waters of this river, were Egyptians." 
 
 At first sight, and according to the literal 
 meaning of this sentence, we should imagine that 
 the inhabitants of Marea and Apis had gained the 
 cause, because both these cities being very far from 
 the Delta, it was impossible for the inhabitants to 
 taste the waters of the Nile. But the fact was not 
 so. For the meaning of the oracle was, that 
 although the overflowing of this river did not reach 
 Marea and Apis, yet their inhabitants were Egyp- 
 tians, because " they drank the waters of this 
 river," which were carried to both these cities by 
 means of canals, during the time of the inundation, 
 and preserved in cisterns for the rest of the year. 
 
 This river in fact, seems to have been, if not 
 the first, certainly one of the first causes of the 
 prosperity of Egypt ; and it is without doubt, one 
 of the most remarkable singularities which draw on 
 this country the attention of mankind. This mag-
 
 348 LECTURE X. 
 
 nificent river, by its periodical inundation, imparts 
 fertility and life to that portion of the country 
 which it bathes with its waters. Without this 
 beneficial influence, Egypt would be a sandy de- 
 sert, like those immense solitudes by which it is 
 surrounded. It is this river, it is the Nile there- 
 fore, which is the preserver, and I may almost 
 say, the creator of the land over which it runs 
 throughout its course. 
 
 The ancient Egyptians were fully persuaded of 
 the force of this truth. They knew that without 
 the Nile, Egypt, instead of supplying foreign 
 nations with corn, would have been obliged to beg 
 this article from them ; or rather, could not pos- 
 sibly be inhabited ; and knowing how to appre- 
 ciate every thing which tended to the benefit of 
 their country, they paid a kind of worship to this 
 river, which they looked upon as sacred. Plutarch 
 in fact, informs us, that the Egyptians gave to the 
 Nile the name of the father and the saviour of 
 Egypt. 
 
 The obscurity of its origin seemed to add fresh 
 weight to this general feeling of the people. From 
 time immemorial, no one has been able to ascer- 
 tain its source ; and even at the present moment, 
 the opinions of the learned differ very widely upon 
 this subject, not less than they did amongst the 
 ancients. 
 
 Herodotus confesses, that no one of the Eg)^p- 
 tians, Lybians, or Greeks, whom he consulted 
 during his travels in Egypt, knew any thing of the
 
 LECTURE X. :}49 
 
 subject. The hierogramma of Sais indeed, that 
 is the priest who wrote and interpreted the sacred 
 books, was the only person who attempted at men- 
 tioning a particular spot as the place of the origin 
 of this river. But the description he gives of this 
 place evidently proves, that either the hierogramma 
 pretended to be wiser than he really was, or that 
 Herodotus himself had not understood what the 
 priest had said ; for he places the source of the 
 Nile in the middle of two mountains, situated 
 between the city of Siene and the island of Ele- 
 phantina, which is decidedly false. He tells us, 
 however, that the course of the Nile was known 
 for the space of four months' journey, but that its 
 origin was much fiu'ther off. 
 
 The story he adds, of some Lybians having 
 crossed the desert, for the sake of ascertaining the 
 source of this river, is evidently another mistake. 
 He says that these Lybians, after a long journey, 
 arrived at a flat country, full of fruit trees, where 
 they were made prisoners by men of a very short 
 stature, who led them across a marshy plain, to a 
 town inhabited by negroes ; and at the west of this 
 town flowed a large river, which they conceived 
 to be the Nile, as it was frequented by crocodiles. 
 Supposing this journey to be true, the river must 
 have been either the Senegal, or some other river 
 that flows into it, but could never possibly be the 
 Nile, and much less its source. 
 
 Indeed, the notions the Greeks had upon this 
 subject are of the most ridiculous nature. Strabo
 
 350 LECTURE X. 
 
 thought that the Nile originated in Mauritania, in 
 a place full of monsters and wild beasts ; but he 
 relates an idle story of Alexander the Great, who, 
 having reached the Hydaspes, finding this river 
 inhabited by crocodiles, imagined that he had 
 found the source of the Nile, and wished to sail 
 with a fleet towards Egypt. General opinion, 
 however, beheved the Nile to have had its origin 
 in Ethiopia. 
 
 In modern times, the notions of the learned 
 have been, perhaps, little less erroneous than those 
 of the ancients. The Portuguese Jesuits placed 
 the source of this river in Abyssinia, in the pro- 
 vince of Goyama, on the east of the lake Dam- 
 beia. Bruce seemed to have given his authority 
 to this supposition of the Jesuits ; and it is very 
 amusing to read in his travels, the description he 
 gives of the spot where the supposed Nile springs 
 from under ground, and the ceremonies he per- 
 formed on tasting of its water; and he further 
 states, that the Nile, after crossing Ethiopia, joins 
 itself to a large river, which in the Arabian lan- 
 guage is called the white river. According to 
 Cailliaud, this white river seems to be the true 
 Nile ; and you may read the whole account of it 
 in his " Voyage a Meroe," which is a very interest- 
 ing book, and from which much information may 
 be gathered. 
 
 However, before CaiUiaud, the London African 
 Society, upon the best possible information that 
 could be obtained, had established that the white
 
 LECTURE X. 351 
 
 river of Bruce and the Portuguese Jesuits, was 
 the true Nile ; and that the river which they con- 
 sidered as the Nile, was no other than the Abawi. 
 According therefore, to the best discoveries, this 
 white river takes its origin to the south of Darfour, 
 in the country of Donga, and joins the Abawi in 
 Abyssinia, near the town of Nouabiah, which 
 D'Anville believes to have been built on the spot 
 where the ancient Meroe was. But although no 
 European had been able, before Cailliaud, to go so 
 far into the interior of Africa, Major Rennel, whose 
 name cannot but be considered as carrying the 
 greatest possible authority, had thought, that from 
 the Mediterranean to the head of the Nile, there 
 are about 1440 geographical miles, in a straight 
 line. The Nile, therefore, must run over nearly 
 2000 miles. 
 
 It would be an idle undertaking to describe to 
 you the whole course of this river, and the several 
 cataracts for which it has been celebrated by the 
 ancients. These, modern discoveries have proved 
 to be very insignificant, and scarcely deser\ang 
 the name of waterfalls. I shall only observe, that 
 these cataracts, or waterfalls, are many, and of 
 them eight only are considered as deserving of 
 attention. 
 
 After having cleared them, the Nile continues 
 its course in almost a straight channel, strewed 
 with islands of different sizes, until it reaches the 
 Delta ; there it divides itself into several branches. 
 In ancient times these amounted to seven ; at the 
 
 1
 
 352 LECTURE X. 
 
 present moment they have been so neglected as to 
 produce an immense marsh, and it is ahnost im- 
 possible to recognise the seven mouths of this 
 river, so celebrated by the ancients. 
 
 Perhaps I ought now to notice the extraordinary 
 phenomenon which, more than any other, has con- 
 tributed to give celebrity to this river, and splen- 
 dour to the country it washes ; I mean the period- 
 ical inundation, which begins about the summer 
 solstice, and continues for nearly three months. 
 The ancients have left us a detailed account of the 
 influence which the height of the waters had upon 
 the produce of agriculture, and the harvest of 
 Egypt. " The proper increase of the water," says 
 Pliny, " is sixteen cubits. Smaller inundations 
 are not sufficient to cover the whole country, and 
 larger ones require too much time to subside. If 
 the inundation be no higher than twelve cubits, 
 there will be a scarcity ; if thirteen, a deficiency ; 
 but fourteen cubits produce hilarity, fifteen secu- 
 rity, and sixteen luxury." By thus spreading its 
 waters over the country, this river inundated the 
 land to the distance of about two days journey on 
 both sides ; but whether the old Egyptian priests 
 wished to conceal from the public the cause of this 
 phenomenon for the sake of inspiring a greater 
 idea of the power of the Deity, and consequently 
 to assume a gi'eater authority to themselves, or 
 that their ignorant successors, after the fall of the 
 empire, had sunk into a profound ignorance, cer- 
 tain it is that the Greek travellers, who asked from
 
 LECTURE X. 353 
 
 the priests to know the cause of this phenomenon, 
 could not obtain a proper explanation. From 
 Herodotus and Plutarch the scholar has learned 
 the different opinions which they had heard on this 
 subject, and no doubt he more than once has been 
 tempted to smile. But it is very curious, that 
 while the later writers referred the inundation to 
 false or imaginary causes. Homer, who lived long 
 before, had given to the Nile the epithet of AIIOE- 
 TEOS, which, according to the best interpretation, 
 means, " swelled by rain." It is, in fact, the pro- 
 fuse rain that falls in Ethiopia a« little before the 
 summer solstice, that produces the overflowing of 
 this river. 
 
 Like the country which the Nile crosses, this 
 river has been distinguished amongst the ancients 
 by different names. The passage of Tzetzes re- 
 lated by Diodorus, has recorded them all. " The 
 Nile, (says this writer,) has had three names. The 
 first is Ocean, the second Aetos, on account of its 
 rapidity, the third is Egyptus. The name of Nile 
 is a modern one." 
 
 Perhaps, in regard to its first name, I might ob- 
 serve, the word Q/ctav>jc is evidently a mistake, and 
 it ought to be read Qicea^rjc. QKza^inQ, in fact, is a 
 mere alteration of the Egyptian word ottk^juh, 
 (oukame,) which means black, on account of the 
 black colour of its sediment. 
 
 I am ignorant of the real origin of the term 
 Nile ; Diodorus indeed, asserts that this river re- 
 ceived such an appellation from NaXoc, a king of 
 
 A a
 
 354 LECTURE X. 
 
 Egypt ; but in the chronological canon of Manetho 
 there is no Egyptian sovereign who bore this name. 
 In the catalogue however, [of the kings of Thebes, 
 preserved by Eratosthenes, we find that the thirty- 
 sixth Thehcm king was called Phruron, or Nilus. 
 The custom of the Egyptian kings to have several 
 names, was no doubt very common, and very an- 
 cient ; but as Eratosthenes does not mention that 
 this monarch gave his name to the Nile, I know 
 not whether the simple authority of Diodorus be 
 sufficient to establish the fact. To derive it from 
 the Hebrew language, as some of our modern 
 writers have pretended, appears to me an ingenious 
 dream ; and between modern and ancient specu- 
 lations, I rather prefer the report of Diodorus. 
 
 It seems however most certain, as M. Cham- 
 pollion has properly observed, that the ancient 
 Egyptians gave to the Nile the name of iA.po, 
 (iaro,) which means river. It is also certain that 
 the Jews adopted this name of river, as it is found 
 in chap, xxvii. 12. of Isaiah, and in chap. xxix. 3. 
 of Ezekiel. And it also appears that up to the 
 thirteenth century of our era, the Copts still dis- 
 tinguished the Nile by the appellation of iaro, or 
 phiaro. 
 
 Under the Greeks and Romans, Egypt was di- 
 vided into three different parts, the Delta, or Lower 
 Egypt ; the Heptanomides, or Middle Egypt ; and 
 the Thehaide, or Higher Egypt. It is reasonable 
 to suppose that this division is not to be dated from 
 the time of the Pharaohs, as it is not mentioned by
 
 LECTURE X. 355 
 
 Herodotus. But it seems certain, that, even during 
 the reign of these princes, the country was divided 
 into a great number of small provinces, each of 
 which the Greeks called ISiofxoi, and the Egyptians 
 neocy, Pthosch. Diodorus asserts, that it was 
 Sethosis Ramesses, son of Amenophis III. who 
 divided Egypt into Nome, at the time that he me- 
 ditated the conquests of Asia and Africa. Being 
 aware that the execution of these vast projects 
 required a long absence, and wishing that his people 
 should enjoy the benefit of a wise and well directed 
 administration of justice, he divided his kingdom, 
 or rather the whole of Egypt, into thirty-six small 
 provinces, in order that the governors of each of 
 these provinces might more easily attend to the 
 execution of the laws. 
 
 According to this account of Diodorus, it seems 
 that Sethosis Ramesses was the author of the first 
 division of Egypt into provinces. But this is evi- 
 dently a mistake. For it would be difficult to sup- 
 pose that the primitive Pharaohs could have carried 
 on the administration of justice, and the affairs of 
 government, without the appointment of officers 
 and ministers who could see the orders of the 
 monarch executed in the different departments of 
 the state, and in the various cities and villages of 
 the kingdom. The necessity of appointing these 
 ministers or governors evidently proves a divi- 
 sion of land, to prevent the authority of each of 
 them from encroaching on the authority of the 
 other ; and there is even reason to suppose that 
 
 A a 2
 
 356 LECTURE X. 
 
 such was the case, and that these governments or 
 provinces were, in fact, six and thirty. We learn 
 from Strabo, that this division was made in the 
 primitive times of the monarchy, perhaps the 
 period of the hieratic government. In speaking 
 of the Labyrinth, he says, " This extraordinary 
 building contained as many courts as there were 
 nomes ; and a little after he mentions the number 
 of these nomes to have been exactly thirty-six." 
 And indeed, if we were to adopt the opinion of the 
 ancient writers who have spoken of the Labyrinth, 
 we might be led to suppose that this superb build- 
 ing had been raised to serve as a point of union to 
 all the governors of the thirty-six nomes, when- 
 ever the importance of affairs required that they 
 should assemble together. It was, in fact, situated 
 in the very centre of these nomes, eighteen of 
 which lay on its northern, and eighteen on its 
 southern side. Manetho relates, that it had been 
 raised by order of the Pharaoh Lamaris, or Labaris, 
 who gave to this monument his own name, and 
 who lived 1900 years before Sethosis, that is, more 
 than 3000 years before Christ. 
 
 Be this as it may, one certain conclusion we may 
 draw from these accounts of Strabo and Manetho, 
 that the division of Egypt into thirty-six nomes, 
 or Pthosch, was looked upon by the Egyptians as 
 an institution of their first monarchs, much ante- 
 rior to the time of Sethosis Ramesses, as is asserted 
 by Diodorus. 
 
 Such is the short account of this extraordinary
 
 LECTURE X. 357 
 
 country, in regard to its topography : and I must 
 now proceed to consider the alterations which the 
 Greeks made in the ancient terms, and the mode 
 by which the old nomenclature has been recovered ; 
 but before I do so, it is necessary that I should 
 make some preliminary observations. 
 
 The name of this country awakens in the mind 
 of the scholar recollections of a peculiar nature, as 
 it belongs to the most memorable epochs recorded 
 by history. It has been the cradle of all the arts 
 and all the sciences ; and whilst many of the Ori- 
 ental, and almost all the European nations, were 
 plunged into ignorance and barbarism, Egypt, 
 having reached the height of civilization, splen- 
 dour, and glory, boasted of possessing the benefit 
 of a wise system of legislation, and numerous col- 
 leges of priests, whose duty it was to watch over 
 the improvement of knowledge, and the happiness 
 of the people. Their institution, it may be said, 
 must have been coeval with the establishment of 
 the monarchy, and their progress so rapid and so 
 extensive, as to have surpassed most, if not all the 
 other nations of the globe. In fact, when under 
 the reign of Psammeitus, the Egyptian empire, 
 which many centuries before had been shaken and 
 harassed by the repeated incursions of the Arabians 
 and the Ethiopians, was at last overturned by Cam- 
 byses, the whole of Europe could scarcely ex- 
 hibit the first fruit of an incipient civilization. Up 
 to that period, that celebrated country was, and 
 from time immemorial had been, governed by
 
 358 LECTURE X. 
 
 several dynasties of Pharaohs, who, by the wisdom 
 of their laws, and the brilliancy of their conquests, 
 had rendered the people familiar with every spe- 
 cies of glory. But at this period, overcome by a 
 conqueror who, by destroying its religious and 
 political institutions, took from the nation every 
 possible superiority ; subdued afterwards by Alex- 
 ander ; but arising after his death to a new life 
 under the Ptolemies ; bending under the weight of 
 the Roman power ; in succeeding time conquered 
 by the Arabians, and at last, fallen under the yoke 
 of the ignorant nation which still keeps them in 
 chains; this country of Egypt has, at different 
 periods, been the theatre on which knowledge and 
 ignorance, happiness and misery, civilization and 
 barbarism, have alternately made their appearance. 
 Nothing therefore, can be more interesting than 
 the full investigation of the history of this extra- 
 ordinary nation ; of their customs and their laws ; 
 of their religious as well as political institutions, 
 during the ages of their prosperity. These ages 
 have long since passed by, and are now lost in the 
 obscurity of time ; but this very antiquity seems 
 to attach something so wonderful and extraordi- 
 nary to the very existence of this people, as to 
 lessen in some respect, the admiration and interest 
 which they ought to excite. But the gigantic 
 remains which still exist at Karnac, at Louqsor, 
 at Esne, at Dendera, in short all over the land of 
 Egypt, and the less bulky, though perhaps not 
 less striking monuments which the greedy hand
 
 LECTURE X. 359 
 
 of travellers or despotism has caused to be re- 
 moved to Europe, will attest to future ages, that 
 the Greek and Latin authors, who have given so 
 alluring a description of the knowledge, civiliza- 
 tion, and power of the old Egyptians, far from 
 exhibiting an exaggerated account, have in fact 
 told us much less than the truth. 
 
 This assertion will require no other proof than 
 the simple statement of a few historical facts, 
 which the Greeks themselves have transmitted 
 to us. 
 
 By Strabo we are informed, that the ancient 
 kings of Egypt took every precaution to prevent 
 foreigners and strangers from visiting the interior 
 of their empire ; because, as he says, they were 
 satisfied with their own opulence. It was the 
 rigorous execution of this political measure which 
 threw into the hands of the Phoenicians the great- 
 est part of the maritime commerce of Egypt. This 
 same account is confirmed by Diodorus. " The 
 priests," says he, " who held the first rank, and 
 exercised the first employments of the state, being 
 persuaded that the happiness and prosperity of 
 Egypt depended on the preservation of these cus- 
 toms, which perhaps, they themselves had esta- 
 bhshed, endeavoured, with all their might, to pre- 
 vent the people from having any communication 
 with foreigners." This fundamental maxim of the 
 Egyptian policy seems, at one time, to have been 
 generally adopted by all the Orientals, and is still 
 most carefully enforced in China and Japan.
 
 3G0 LECTURE X. 
 
 Much has been said, and much still may be said, 
 against such a regulation. A free intercourse with 
 foreigners and strangers may, and does, no doubt, 
 produce a gi'eater degree of civilization, and en- 
 courages the progress of commerce. It may also 
 be of use to eradicate from amongst the people 
 some of the prejudices arising from a selfish notion 
 of an exclusive superiority, and of which no nation 
 is free ; but, on the other hand, if we consider that 
 these foreigners, while they communicate some 
 portion of knowledge, communicate also many of 
 their vices ; and that commerce, if it produces 
 riches, produces also luxury, and this at a long 
 run, must enervate the courage, and destroy the 
 moral principle of the nation ; then perhaps, we 
 might be inclined to justify, to excuse, at least, the 
 Egyptian government and the Egyptian priesthood, 
 for the measures they had employed to prevent 
 foreigners from having any intercourse with their 
 people. And indeed, the unfortunate events which, 
 not long after the abolition of this maxim, put an 
 end to the splendour and liberty of Egypt, seems 
 to have fully justified both the Pharaohs and the 
 priests. 
 
 The fall in fact, of the Egyptian empire might 
 have been foretold by the relaxed manner in which 
 the people and the government enforced the 
 execution of the ancient laws; and it became 
 unavoidable, as soon as the Pharaoh Psammouthis I. 
 and his successor Amasis, had given permission to 
 foreigners to multiply at pleasure their relations
 
 LECTURE X. 361 
 
 and intercourse with Egypt. Under the reign of 
 the Pharaohs who had preceded them, the priest- 
 hood, being both powerful and numerous, em- 
 ployed all their influence to keep up this exclusion 
 of strangers ; and as the priests were the deposi- 
 taries of knowledge, as well as religion, they kept 
 the Pharaohs themselves in a species of tutelage 
 or subjection, and rendered the government of 
 Egypt in a manner theocratical, or more pro- 
 perly, hieratical. 
 
 To preserve their power untouched, and their 
 doctrine unpolluted, they had even been able to 
 excite among the people a general dislike, and, 
 indeed, more than a dislike, for every thing con- 
 nected with navigation ; so that if by law and cus- 
 tom strangers were kept away from their land, 
 custom and prejudice prevented even the natives 
 from wishing to leave their own country. But 
 after Amasis, things began to assume quite a dif- 
 ferent appearance, and paved the way to the in- 
 vasion of Cambyses. For this assertion we have 
 the authority of Manetho and of Syncellus, who 
 says, " Egyptum autem Amasis tempore a debito 
 regis obsequio secedentem, armisque et continuis 
 tumultibus agitatam Cambyses subjecit." It was 
 then that this ferocious conqueror, having put an 
 end to the dominion of the Pharaohs, ravaged the 
 country, pillaged the cities, burnt the temples, and 
 almost annihilated the priesthood ; and then the 
 whole of this land, which formerly had been the
 
 362 LECTURE X. 
 
 abode of the arts and of the sciences, lost its splen- 
 dour, its glory, and its knowledge, without how- 
 ever losing its celebrity. 
 
 From Cambyses to Alexander this country ex- 
 hibits a regular succession of the bitterest civil 
 wars, that ever raged amongst mankind. The per- 
 petual efforts of the several chiefs to dehver their 
 country from the yoke of the Persians, drew upon 
 this unfortunate land the misfortunes and the ruin 
 that are the inevitable consequences of revolutions 
 produced by the stubborn resistance of a people, 
 who still preserved the memory of their glory and 
 of their lost independence. But the unfortunate 
 success of these efforts, by increasing the power of 
 their oppressors, rendered them still more tyran- 
 nical and cruel, and produced the greatest possible 
 evil that could befal them as a nation, the ob- 
 livion of their ancient institutions and their ancient 
 customs. 
 
 It was at this time that Herodotus visited Mem- 
 phis. He saw this people, so renowned for their 
 wisdom and their knowledge, in the utmost dejec- 
 tion, their temples ruined, their cities destroyed ; 
 and the high idea which even then he conceived 
 of Egypt, allows us to imagine what his impression 
 would have been, if he had been permitted to visit 
 this celebrated country during the period of its 
 highest splendour. 
 
 From this time the Greeks never failed to go to 
 Egypt for the sake of instruction ; and it was in the
 
 LECTURE X. 363 
 
 schools of the Egyptian priests that the philoso- 
 phers, the legislators, and the wise men of Greece 
 acquired a great portion of their knowledge ; and 
 yet what a difference between the priests of this 
 period, and those who lived under the Pharaohs ! 
 The priests of the Pharaonic ages were well versed 
 in astronomy, physics, geometry, mechanics, and 
 chemistry, in short, in most of the sciences ; while 
 their successors, the teachers of Herodotus and 
 Plato, were but the passive echoes of their prede- 
 cessors, and scarcely could be said to have pre- 
 served the first rudiments and the general outlines 
 of so much learning. 
 
 Among the Greek scholars, there were a few, 
 who after returning to their country, attempted 
 to communicate to their contemporaries, and to 
 transmit to posterity, what they had seen and heard 
 during their travels in Egypt ; and Herodotus 
 seems to have been the first who attempted to give 
 a short description of that country. But as the 
 Greek alphabet had not a sufficient number of 
 letters fitted to express all the sounds and inflex- 
 ions of the Egyptian language, Herodotus, first, 
 and all the Greek historians after him, were com- 
 pelled to use those letters of their own alphabet 
 which came nearer to the sounds of the Egyp- 
 tian. The alteration which this mode of spelling, 
 necessarily produced, is one of the causes why the 
 Egyptian names are scarcely recognisable in the 
 writings of the Greeks ; and this difference be- 
 comes more striking, and infinitely more difii-
 
 364 LECTURE X. 
 
 cult to unravel, according to the facility which 
 they had in visiting the interior, and taking their 
 abode in Egypt. 
 
 This was the case at the time of Alexander. 
 Having conquered the Persians, he transferred the 
 sceptre of that country into the hands of his coun- 
 trymen ; and under the empire of the Ptolemies, 
 by little and little disappeared the last traces of the 
 government of the Pharaohs, and of the ancient cus- 
 toms and usages of the primitive Egyptians. Every 
 thing then assumed a Grecian appearance, and a 
 Grecian tint ; the Egyptian blood became dege- 
 nerated by being mixed with the Macedonian ; the 
 ancient love for knowledge and improvement was 
 lost amongst the natives ; the priests themselves 
 confined their cares and their business to sacred 
 ceremonies, and, neglecting altogether the scientific 
 pursuits which had engrossed the attention of their 
 predecessors, they lost sight of one of the most 
 important objects of their institution. 
 
 During this last period of the Egyptian empire, 
 that is, from Ptolemy Lagus to Cleopatra, the 
 Greeks made immense changes in every thing with 
 which they meddled in Egypt. By translating into 
 their language the names of most of the Egyptian 
 towns and Egyptian kings, they took from pos- 
 terity the power of recognising them under their 
 ancient form, or even under the form which had 
 been used by their primitive writers. This last 
 circumstance indeed is very striking in the writings 
 of Strabo, and much more of Diodorus, when com-
 
 LECTURE X. 365 
 
 pared with those of Herodotus. In the account 
 which this latter historian gives of Egypt, we find 
 but few Egyptian names translated into Greek ; 
 but the case is very different with his successors. 
 Strabo in fact, made considerable alteration in the 
 nomenclature used by Herodotus ; and Diodorus, 
 following his example, made some change even in 
 that which Strabo had adopted. 
 
 One of the principal causes however, for so 
 unpardonable a liberty is to be sought for in that 
 national vanity which formed the characteristic 
 feature of the Greeks. Wishing to appropriate to 
 themselves the discoveries of the great men of 
 other nations, they tried to establish a similarity of 
 origin, audi might say, of theogony, between 
 their own gods and those of Egypt, as they had 
 done with those of Babylon, Persia, and India. 
 But ignorant of the Egyptian language, and mis- 
 taking the very essence of the Egyptian theology, 
 they enveloped the whole under the veil of fable, 
 and transmitted to posterity, not the real creed of 
 the primitive Egyptians, but the corrupt notions of 
 their debased successors, still more vitiated and 
 altered by their own. Misled therefore, by their 
 ignorance and their vanity, they erroneously con- 
 ceived, that the Egyptian Athos was their Aphro- 
 dite ; Ammon, their Zeus ; Phtha, their Hephaistos ; 
 Neith, their Minerva ; Horus, their Apollo ; Thoth, 
 their Hermes ; Sme, their Themis ; Sate, their 
 Juno ; and, Isis and Osiris, mere names to signify 
 the moon and the sun.
 
 366 LECTURE X. 
 
 This mistake of the Greeks is so much the more 
 to be lamented, as the Egyptians had the custom 
 of giving to many of their towns the names of their 
 deities, and even of the animals that were sacred 
 to them. The errors therefore, which the Greeks 
 made in the names of the Egyptian gods and 
 goddesses, are repeated also in the nomenclature 
 of the natural history, as well as of the geography 
 of Egypt. 
 
 But this is not all. The scholar has another and 
 more serious charge to bring, not indeed against the 
 Greek writers, but against the Greek sovereigns who 
 ruled over Egypt, the vain and silly Ptolemies. These 
 princes, wishing to transmit their names and their 
 deeds to posterity, endeavoured to imitate the ex- 
 ample of their predecessors ; but unable to perform 
 the stupendous works executed by the Pharaohs, they 
 only betrayed their weakness and their arrogance, 
 by the wicked attempt at erasing from the old 
 monuments the names of their founders, for the 
 sake of substituting their own. In spite of all 
 their efforts, the deep and bold engravings of the 
 primitive workmen still appear, under the feeble 
 strokes of their puny successors ; and the names 
 of the great Pharaohs, by whose order these monu- 
 ments were raised, may still be traced under the 
 comparatively superficial lines which were intended 
 to consign them to oblivion. Hence it happens, that 
 the description which the Greeks give of these 
 monuments mislead the reader, inasmuch as they 
 speak of them as the original performance of the 
 
 1
 
 LECTURE X. 361 
 
 Ptolemies, and not as the production of more 
 powerful and more ancient sovereigns, the primi- 
 tive Pharaohs. 
 
 To apply therefore to the Greek writers for a 
 knowledge of the language, religion, laws, and cus- 
 toms of the ancient Egyptians, is to apply to a 
 vitiated and prejudiced source, which exhibits 
 only the darkest and most faithless side of the 
 picture. The account however, which they have 
 given may be of use ; it may direct us to consult 
 higher and more faithful authorities ; and even 
 their own narration, by the assistance of a proper 
 and well-directed criticism, may serve to impart 
 valuable notions. Hard and difficult as this criti- 
 cism may be, it is of absolute necessity. With- 
 out it we shall add the erroneous opinions of our 
 own mind to those which they have left us ; and 
 our errors in the language of your poet may be 
 compared to 
 
 Alps on Alps arise. 
 
 Upon this statement, it may be asked, how then 
 the old Egyptian names have reached us ; or in 
 other words, how have we been able to discover 
 the old Egyptian names, which the Greeks had so 
 altered as to render it quite impossible to recognise 
 them ? I answer, through the means of the Arabians, 
 and the Coptic manuscripts. I shall endeavour to 
 establish this fact by the following considerations. 
 
 Notwithstanding the irruptions, and the con- 
 quest which the Persians, the Greeks, and the
 
 368 LECTURE X. 
 
 Romans made of Egypt, the feeble remainder of 
 the nation still preserved in their common lan- 
 guage the names which their ancestors had given 
 to their deities, to their animals, and their cities. 
 In this they followed the example of the Orientals, 
 who at all times have been considered as pre- 
 serving, better than any other nation, their names 
 and their customs ; so that, even at this moment, 
 many of the most ancient cities in Asia, and indeed 
 all over the East, are known by the names they 
 received from the earliest time ; and although 
 subdued by foreign conquerors, they have preserved 
 their native language, and local denominations. 
 This is an observation of lamblicus, who had paid 
 a great deal of attention to this subject ; and I 
 think it perfectly correct. It is in fact confirmed 
 by history ; and perhaps, more so in regard to Egypt 
 than any other people upon earth. For although 
 the Greeks altered the ancient Egyptian names, 
 yet these denominations were used by their own 
 nation only, and adopted even by their country- 
 men residing in Europe ; but never by the native 
 Egyptians. These latter continued to use their 
 ancient names, and either disregarded or despised 
 the alterations introduced by their conquerors. 
 
 The Romans, when they subdued Egypt, being 
 entirely ignorant of the language of the natives, 
 but well acquainted with the Greek language, 
 adopted all the terms and denominations which 
 they had introduced ; and the old Egyptian names, 
 and perhaps the Egyptian language itself, would
 
 LECTURE X. 369 
 
 have been lost for ever, had not the Arabians by 
 their conquest, put an end to the jargon introduced 
 by the Greeks, and protected and encouraged the 
 vernacular language of their new subjects. Having 
 at that time very little connexion with the Greeks 
 and the Romans, feeling a sort of gratitude towards 
 the Egyptians, who had assisted them in the con- 
 quest of their country, trusting to them the care 
 of collecting the tributes which were to be levied 
 on the different cities, and finding a great analogy 
 between the pronunciation of the Egyptians and 
 their own, the Arabs gave the preference to the 
 Coptic denominations and names, and thus the 
 changes introduced by the Greeks were for ever 
 abohshed. In this way the ancient names, being 
 generally revived, were adopted even by the Ara- 
 bians themselves, who have transmitted them to 
 us with some shght modifications. 
 
 What these alterations are, I do not think it 
 necessary to mention. The account of them 
 belongs more properly to the analysis of the Coptic 
 and Arabian languages, with which we have nothing 
 to do ; our object is merely to ascertain the mode 
 by which the ancient Egyptian names, and Egyp- 
 tian language, have been preserved.
 
 LECTURE XL 
 
 Statement of the subject — Difference in the chronology of the 
 Hehreio text, and the Samaritan and Greek version of the 
 Bible — Inadmissibility of the Hebrew computation, proved by 
 facts mentioned by sacred as xvell as profane history — 
 Ages of Nimrod, of Ninus, and of Abraham, ascertained — 
 Foundation of the Egyptian monarchy by Misraim — Multi' 
 plication of mankind — Opinion of Bishop Cumberland con- 
 futed — Alteration of the Hebrew chronology — Objections 
 stated and resolved — Reasons why the genealogical tables 
 recorded by the ancient historians are entitled to credit — 
 Causes which produced the discrepancy in the names and 
 number of the different sovereigns — Attempt at reducing to 
 a reasonable computation the fabulous reckonings of the Ori' 
 ental historians — System of M. Gibert — Explained — Exem- 
 plifed — Babylonian, Egyptian, and Chinese chronology. 
 
 In one of my Lectures, speaking of the origin of 
 the city of Abydos, and indeed in most of the 
 Lectures that I have given on the subject of hiero- 
 glyphics, I have mentioned so repeatedly the high 
 antiquity of some of the Egyptian monuments, 
 that I think it necessary, before I proceed any fur- 
 ther, to prove to you that this antiquity is by no 
 means improbable, nor does it contradict in the 
 least the commanding authority of our holy Scrip-
 
 LECTURE XI. 371 
 
 tures. On one occasion particularly, (page 203,) 
 alluding to this antiquity, I made this same obser- 
 vation, and mentioned, that however startling the 
 antiquity of some of the Egyptian monuments 
 may appear at first sight, it is entitled to our belief, 
 provided we adopt the chronology of the Seventy, 
 that is, of the version which was made of our holy 
 Scriptures from the Hebrew into the Greek lan- 
 guage, at the desire as it is said, of Ptolemy Phila- 
 delphus, about three centuries before Christ. 
 
 To make you understand this point, I will, in 
 the best manner I can, call your attention to some 
 facts which will render what I have to state, in 
 regard to Egypt, more intelligible. 
 
 You know we have three different texts of the 
 Scriptures : the Hebrew, the Samaritan, and the 
 Greek ; or as it is commonly called, the Septuagint. 
 As they inculcate the same doctrine, exhibit the 
 same facts, record the same events, give the same 
 history; in short as they agree together on all points, 
 they are either three texts, or copies of the same 
 original. Their authenticity therefore is indis- 
 putable. The only thing they differ upon, is the 
 chronology of the primitive ages of the world. 
 The Hebrew text shortens its period, and reckons 
 about 4000 years from the Creation to the birth of 
 our Saviour. The Septuagint carries the calcula- 
 tion between Adam and Christ to above 6000 vears ; 
 and the Samaritan text adopts a third computation, 
 which differs from the Hebrew and Septuagint. 
 
 To give you a specimen of these different modes 
 
 B b 2
 
 372 LECTURE XI. 
 
 of chronological reckoning, I shall instance two or 
 three dates. According to the Hebrew, we have, 
 between Adam and the flood, 1656 years ; accord- 
 ing to the Samaritan, 1307 ; and according to the 
 Septuagint, 2242. This difference becomes more 
 striking, and by far more puzzling, in regard to the 
 dates of the different events which are related to 
 have come to pass after the deluge ; for as we have 
 no other mode for ascertaining the first establish- 
 ment of the several monarchies, and the antiquity 
 of the different nations, we find ourselves sur- 
 rounded by almost insurmountable difficulties, 
 whenever we try to reconcile the account of pro- 
 fane writers with the authority of the Bible. These 
 difficulties however, principally exist in regard to 
 the Hebrew text, which shortens the chronology 
 so much, as physically to allow no time to mankind 
 to become sufficiently numerous to fill a corner of 
 the earth, much less to separate into different 
 bodies, and perform the deeds which are recorded. 
 
 For this reason, I am not in the least surprised 
 at the incredulity of those who, never having 
 turned their thoughts to this subject, deny the 
 antiquity of ancient monuments in general, and of 
 the Egyptian in particular, and in short the autho- 
 rity of most profane writers, merely because they 
 exceed the reckoning of the Hebrew Bible. 
 
 The object therefore, of the present Lecture 
 will be twofold. In the first instance, I shall endea- 
 to shew that the computation of the Hebrew text 
 is inadmissible, and that the chronology of the
 
 LECTURE XI. 373 
 
 Septuagint is the only true reckoning. This I 
 shall prove, first, by arguments of fact principally 
 drawn from the sacred pages themselves ; and after- 
 wards by the authority of all writers, both sacred 
 and profane, who, in giving the history of the seve- 
 ral nations, have followed a computation which 
 coincides with the chronology of the Septuagint, 
 the only one known in the world, long before and 
 after the birth of Christ. 
 
 Having thus ascertained the truth of the reckon- 
 ing established by the Septuagint, I will, in the 
 next place, endeavour to prove, that the antiquity 
 of the Egyptian monuments, as it is recorded by 
 Manetho, by no means contradicts the authority of 
 the sacred pages, according to the reckoning of 
 the Greek version. 
 
 Of the great many instances which might be 
 adduced to prove the incongruity of the reckoning 
 of the Hebrew text, I shall select two periods ; one 
 preceding and the other following the flood. The 
 one preceding the deluge will be the date attached 
 to the death of Methuselah ; the other, following 
 the flood, will be the birth of Abraham. The 
 former I bring forward merely to shew the incon- 
 sistency of the reckoning of the Hebrew text ; the 
 latter, besides this general purport, will have 
 another object, much more important to our present 
 inquiry, and that is, to enable us to fix, with a 
 degree of certainty, the antiquities of Egypt. 
 
 In Genesis we are told that Methuselah lived 
 969 years ; that he was 187 years old when he begat
 
 374 LECTURE XI. 
 
 Lamech ; and that Lamech, at the age of 182 
 years, begat Noah ; therefore, if we sum up toge- 
 ther the age of Lamech when he begat Noah, and 
 the age of Methuselah when he begat Lamech, we 
 shall find that Methuselah was 369 years old when 
 Noah was born. Now Methuselah lived 600 years 
 after this event ; and we are also told, that Noah 
 entered the ark when he was in the six hun- 
 dredth year of his age ; therefore, it follows, that 
 when Noah entered the ark, Methuselah was still 
 alive ; and as there is no mention made of his 
 having accompanied his grandson into the ark, he 
 must have perished in the flood. Let the defend- 
 ers of the chronology of the Hebrew text explain 
 this calculation as well as they can, and reconcile 
 it with the account which Moses gives in Genesis. 
 
 Now for the birth of Abraham. On that period 
 all writers agree, and the testimony of the sacred 
 pages gives an indisputable weight to their au- 
 thority, that powerful kingdoms were already 
 established; great cities had been built; regular 
 armies were maintained; mankind already wit- 
 nessed the pomp of courts, and the luxury of indi- 
 viduals; Pharaoh appeared surrounded with his 
 princes ; Abimelech came attended with the cap- 
 tain of his host; the use of coined money was 
 introduced, and Abraham himself was rich in gold 
 and silver, in tents, flocks, and herds. 
 
 Now according to the genealogical computation 
 of the Hebrew Bible, Abraham was born in the 
 two hundred and ninety -second year after the 
 
 1
 
 LECTURE XI. 375 
 
 flood. This is too short a period to produce so 
 much civiUzation and hixury ; by far too short to 
 suppose so great a multiphcation of the human 
 species ; because, if such was the state of things 
 in Egypt, and in other countries at a comparatively 
 great distance from the first seat of population, we 
 are also to suppose, that in this first seat of popula- 
 tion, in the plain of Shinar, and on the borders of 
 the Euphrates and Tigris, kingdoms had been 
 formed, cities built, and courts estabhshed. We 
 are in fact, informed by Moses, that the beginning 
 of a regular government and of regal power was at 
 Babel. Nimrod, the son of Cush, the gi'andson of 
 Ham, the mighty hunter mentioned in Genesis, 
 " began to be a mighty one in the earth ;" that is, 
 Nimrod was the first sovereign who aspired to 
 independence and the prerogative of an autocrat. 
 
 Upon this evidence therefore, we are authorized 
 to believe, that prior to the birth of Abraham, the 
 Babylonian empire had been founded. The diffi- 
 culty therefore, will be to ascertain the date of the 
 birth of Nimrod. If we admit the chronology of 
 the Hebrew text, he was born 2218 years before 
 Christ, that is, 130 years after the flood. 
 
 Now I contend that this period is much too short 
 to allow mankind to multiply to such a degree, as to 
 be able to estabUsh a regular government at Babylon, 
 to erect the building of Babel, and to divide them- 
 selves into different societies. The reasons which 
 lead me to this conclusion are the following : 
 
 We know, that after the flood, the race of man-
 
 376 LECTURE XI. 
 
 kind proceeded from the three sons of Noah ; for 
 there is no mention made any where that that 
 patriarch had any other child after the deluge. 
 According to the Hebrew genealogy, we cannot 
 possibly admit, during the course of the first cen- 
 tury, more than three generations. The text is 
 clear. Noah begat Ham, Ham begat Cush, and 
 Cush begat Nimrod; and this is said to have 
 happened in the year 130 after the flood. Upon 
 this statement I beg leave to make the following 
 observations : 
 
 According to the sacred text, in the first genera- 
 tion which proceeded from the three sons of Noah, 
 we have seven male individuals in the family of 
 Japheth, four in that of Ham, and five in that of 
 Shem ; in all, sixteen males only. Now before we 
 can give a wife to each of these, we must suppose 
 an equal number of daughters born in the respec- 
 tive families of Japheth, Ham, and Shem. Taking 
 ten years as the shortest possible period for the 
 birth of these sixteen females, and thirty-five years 
 as the usual age for marriage, nearly one-half of 
 the first century must have passed away before 
 these thirty-two cousins could intermarry with one 
 another. 
 
 Now let us suppose that these thirty-two cousins, 
 or sixteen married couples, were as fruitful as their 
 parents had been, and consequently that each 
 begat five sons and five daughters, the result will 
 be sixteen multiplied by ten, 16X10=160, that is, 
 one_ hundred and sixty people, amongst whom we
 
 L E C T U R E XI. 377 
 
 have Cush the son of Ham, as the produce of the 
 second generation of the three sons of Noah. 
 
 Now these 160 people make eighty married cou- 
 ples ; and upon the same principle, allowing to all 
 these couples ten children each, we shall have eight 
 hundred individuals as the third generation from 
 Noah, for such is the product of eighty, which is the 
 number of the married couples, multiphed by ten, 
 the number of children begotten by each of them. 
 To these, if we add their fathers and their mothers, 
 their grandfathers and their grandmothers, and 
 even their great-grand parents, with the common 
 stock of all Noah and his wife, we shall have one 
 thousand individuals as the sum total of man- 
 kind at the birth of Nimrod, that is, in the year 
 130 after the flood. For the whole account runs 
 thus. 
 
 Noah, with his wife and three sons, 
 
 and their wives, saved in the ark 8 individuals. 
 
 Children of Shem, Ham, and Ja- 
 pheth, amongst whom Cush . 32 
 
 Grand-children of these three pa- 
 triarchs, amongst whom Nim- 
 rod, the son of Cush, the son 
 of Ham 160 
 
 Great-grand-children of Shem, 
 Ham, and Japheth, Nimrod, 
 and the rest of mankind . . . 800 
 
 Making altogether . . 1000 individuals. 
 This is much too small a number to justify the
 
 378 LECTURE XI. 
 
 account of the usurpation of Nimrod, the building 
 of Babel, and the dispersion of mankind. Indeed, 
 the very building of that tower required more means 
 and more tools, and materials, and instruments, than 
 men could have produced or collected in so short a 
 space. For in the computation just made, the 
 greatest part were children and infants, and there- 
 fore unable, for some time, to do any sort of work, 
 for they must have reached the years of manhood 
 about the time when Nimrod usurped the supreme 
 power, and began to build Babylon, which could 
 not have been sooner than thirty years after, if 
 even then. 
 
 Nor can it be objected, that in the computation 
 just made, too small a number of children has been 
 allowed to each married couple ; for the fact is 
 quite the reverse. The Scripture in fact, in the 
 second generation, reckons only thirty-six males as 
 the grandsons of Noah, and we have allowed him 
 eighty, which is more than double that number. 
 For the truth of this assertion I have only to refer 
 you to the tenth and eleventh chapters of Genesis, 
 in which we have seven sons recorded in the family 
 of Japheth, twenty-four in that of Ham, and five 
 in that of Shem ; in all thirty-six. 
 
 I am aware that other computations have been 
 made, which give a number not a little at variance 
 with that which we have had. Amongst these 
 computations we must record that of Dr. Cumber- 
 land, bishop of Peterborough, who published, about 
 a century ago, an amusing tract on this subject.
 
 LECTURE XI. 379 
 
 According to this prelate, the number of mankind 
 about the year 140 after the flood amounted to no 
 less than 30,000 ; and two centuries after, the mar- 
 ried people alone to no less than 6,666,666,660. 
 Now if to these we add the moderate average of 
 two children to each marriage, we shall have more 
 than twenty thousand milhons of human beings 
 existing in the year 340 after the flood; a sum 
 which exceeds by more than one half, any number 
 that has ever been supposed to have existed in the 
 world at any given time. 
 
 When an argument terminates in positive absur- 
 dity, it is hardly worth while, says Dr. Russell, to 
 examine the process of reasoning by which the con- 
 clusion was attained ; and to confute the Reverend 
 Prelate would be an unpardonable waste of time. 
 
 From what I have stated, and from other rea- 
 sons which I forbear to state, it is evident that the 
 chronology of the Hebrew text is inadmissible ; 
 and every intelligent reader of ancient history, both 
 sacred and profane, and even of the holy Bible, must 
 see the absolute necessity of adopting the com- 
 putation of the Septuagint version, which agrees 
 with the writers of all ages and all nations, and 
 with the Hebrew text itself, as it had been known 
 in the world up to the second century of our era. 
 Do not startle at this assertion : the reasons which, 
 after having bestowed on this subject all the atten- 
 tion it deserves, have led me to this conclusion, 
 are of the most convincing nature ; 
 
 Mira, sed et scaena testificata, loquar.
 
 380 LECTURE XL 
 
 The fact is this : up to the year 127 after Christ 
 there was but one system of chronology, which had 
 been followed by all chronographers and historians, 
 whether sacred or profane, both before and after 
 the birth of Christ. This chronology was the 
 chronology of the Hebrew text itself, and conse- 
 quently the chronology of the several versions that 
 had been made of it, the Samaritan Pentateuch, 
 and the Septuagint. 
 
 I could adduce many arguments to prove this 
 to have beeen the fact, but this discussion would 
 lead us much away from our subject. I will there- 
 fore mention one only of the many proofs of the 
 agreement of the Greek version with the Hebrew 
 text, and that is, that Josephus openly and repeat- 
 edly asserts that he compiled his Antiquities from 
 the Hebrew Scriptures, and yet his chronology 
 coincides with the computation of the Septuagint. 
 and disagrees with the reckoning of the Hebrew text 
 as much as the Septuagint now does. This was, in 
 reality, the chronology which had been adopted by 
 the heathen wi'iters before the birth of Christ, and 
 by the heathen and the Christian authors even after 
 the death of our Saviour. For in point of fact, 
 before the second century of the Christian era, no 
 traces can be found of any controversy, or of any 
 difference between the Greek and Hebrew texts of 
 the Holy Bible. All the authors who quote the 
 Old Testament at that early period, whether Jews, 
 Christians, or Heathens, and even the apostles and 
 our Saviour, have recourse to the Hebrew text and
 
 LECTURE XT. 381 
 
 the Greek version indiscriminately, without indi- 
 cating the least suspicion in respect to their not 
 perfectly agreeing together. 
 
 The difference, therefore, which we now find in 
 the chronology of these two texts of our Scrip- 
 tures, is the work of a time posterior to the first 
 century after Christ ; and it seems a fact now 
 fully established, that this alteration took place 
 about the year 30 of the second century. At 
 that time a new translation of the Old Testament 
 into Greek was produced by the Jews, under the 
 auspices of their leading Rabbis, the object of which 
 was to bring into discredit the venerable work of 
 the Seventy. This task was performed by a learned 
 man, and a pagan priest, of the name of Aquila, 
 who, after having embraced Christianity, was for 
 his heretical opinions expelled from the bosom of 
 the Church, and therefore attached himself to the 
 Jews, for the sake of injuring and calumniating the 
 Christians, and their religion. 
 
 Although the liberties which Aquila and the 
 Rabbis used with the original were soon perceived 
 and exposed, yet two years after a work appeared, 
 entitled Seder Olam Rahha, that is, the great 
 Chronicle of the world ; which presented to the 
 Jews the first fruits of the labours which the ene- 
 mies of Christianity had bestowed upon the Hebrew 
 writings. This mutilated system of chronology 
 was put forth under the name of Rabbi Jos'i, and 
 favoured by the countenance of the notorious
 
 382 LECTURE XI. 
 
 Akiba, the supporter of the rebel and false Christ 
 Barchocab. 
 
 The pubhcation of the Seder Olam Rahha 
 may with certainty be regarded as marking the 
 epoch at which the Jews altered the dates of the 
 great events recorded in their sacred books, and 
 adopted the abbreviated scheme of ancient Chro- 
 nology. I have already stated, that as the 
 Christians were wont to produce the testimonies of 
 Scripture against the Jews, out of the Greek ver- 
 sion, the Jews were obliged to appeal from that 
 Greek version, which alone the Christians under- 
 stood, to the Hebrew text, which they understood 
 not ; and in order to avoid the arguments of the 
 Christians, they not only translated their original 
 Scriptures in a different manner, but altered the 
 dates. 
 
 For five or six centuries this flagi'ant treachery 
 of the Jews was at different times exposed, and con- 
 sequently their new chronology was never adopted 
 by the Christian writers. But about the year 720, 
 the venerable Bede published his works De Tem- 
 porum Ratione et sex getatibus mundi, &c. ; in 
 which he endeavoured to introduce the reckoning 
 of the Jews. But his reasoning was ill-received, 
 and neglected ; though perhaps, during the dark 
 ages, the weight of his name might have procured 
 some followers to his opinion. 
 
 On the revival of learning the controversy was 
 renewed with vigour and freedom, and it soon called
 
 LECTURE XI. 383 
 
 into the field the powerful talents of a Scaliger, a 
 Petavius, a Vossius, a Perron, and an Usher. 
 
 By the powerful efforts of these justly celebrated 
 men, the reckoning of the Septuagint was again 
 fully established. But at the time of the Reforma- 
 tion, the most stern of the Reformers, finding that 
 the Samaritan computation was wrong, and wishing 
 to oppose, in any thing and every thing, the doc- 
 trines of the Church of Rome, decided that the 
 chronology of the Greek version must be equally 
 wrong ; and without analysing the grounds of their 
 decision, they threw the weight of their authority 
 in favour of the orignal Hebrew, and thus suc- 
 ceeded in introducing, at least among the Protest- 
 ants, the corrupt chronology of the Hebrew text. 
 
 But if then, the concurrent testimony of all ages 
 and all nations refer us to the computation of the 
 Septuagint ; if the dictates of reason point to us 
 the chronology marked by this version of the Scrip- 
 tures, as the only means of extricating ourselves 
 from difficulties which we cannot otherwise con- 
 quer or explain ; if the monuments of Egypt, un- 
 deniable by their nature, and unimpeachable in 
 regard to their authenticity, add a fresh weight to 
 the necessity of this adoption, and an additional 
 authority to this computation, a computation which 
 has been for ages the only one known in the 
 world, we may, and indeed we must, look upon it 
 as the only reckoning that can reconcile Scriptural 
 chronology with those Egyptian monuments that 
 now so boldly stare us in the face. «,
 
 384 LECTURE XI. 
 
 According to this computation, the period which 
 elapsed from the creation of the world to the birth 
 of our Saviour, contains not less than 5441 years, 
 exceeding the Hebrew text by 1437 years. This 
 period must be divided into two parts ; one pre- 
 ceding, the other following the deluge ; the former 
 comprehends the space of 600 years, the latter 
 a little more than 800 ; according therefore, to the 
 computation of the Septuagint, the deluge of 
 Noah happened in the year 2262 of the world ; 
 and from that time to the birth of Christ, have 
 passed not less than nearly 3200 years. This 
 period, with a very trifling difference, agrees with 
 the gi-eatest part of the chronological accounts 
 recorded by the different chronographers ; and, 
 with very trifling variations, corresponds with the 
 chronology of most of the Eastern nations, the 
 Persians, the Hindoos, the Chinese, the Phoeni- 
 cians, and the Egyptians ; and it is quite sufficient 
 to account for any degree of civilization and im- 
 provement, which we find recorded by the histo- 
 rian, under the first leaders of mankind. Amongst 
 these are the founders of the Babylonian and Assy- 
 rian monarchies, Nimrod, and Ashm', or, more pro- 
 perly, Ninus. By adopting the computation of the 
 Septuagint, Nimrod was born 334 years after the 
 flood ; to these, 30 years at least must be added, 
 to allow him to be of an age sufficiently strong to 
 become the head of his people, and we shall have 
 364 years as the period in which Babylon was 
 founded. Now this number is large enough to
 
 LECTURE XI. 385 
 
 suppose the children of Ham to have multiplied 
 to an extent quite sufficient for the establishment 
 of the Babylonian empire ; for during this period, 
 there must have been eleven or twelve generations, 
 which would produce a number of individuals 
 sufficiently large to undertake the building of 
 Babel, and soon after to separate under different 
 leaders. 
 
 And here perhaps, I may be permitted to ob- 
 serve, that in adopting the reckoning of 5441 
 years from Adam to Christ, I have not assumed 
 the largest number. According to the Alphonsine 
 Tables, the computation would have carried us to 
 nearly 7000 years; and even, according to Ric- 
 cioh, to 5634, which is nearly 200 years more. 
 
 Having thus proved the existence of the Babylo- 
 nian empire, anterior to the time of Abraham visit- 
 ing Egypt, my next object will be to ascertain the 
 period in which that patriarch made his appear- 
 ance at the court of Pharaoh. According to the 
 Hebrew text, he visited Egypt 1921 years before 
 Christ, that is, 292 after the Flood. This compu- 
 tation is wrong. For if I have proved Nimrod to 
 have established the Babylonian empire in the 
 fourth century after the Flood, it is evident that 
 Abraham, who was much later in point of time, must 
 have hved long after the period assigned by the 
 Hebrew Bible ; and we shall find that, in fact, he 
 did not come into the world till the year 1072, 
 reckoning from the same point. 
 
 The proof of this assertion is by no means diffir. 
 c c
 
 386 LECTURE XI. 
 
 cult, though perhaps, it may be a httle intricate ; 
 but if you favour me with a httle attention, I hope 
 to make the whole quite plain. 
 
 It seems a point agreed upon by all the most 
 learned writers of antiquity, that Abraham was 
 contemporary with Ninus. This monarch, having 
 conquered the Babylonian empire, added its fertile 
 provinces to his Assyrian dominions. By ascertain- 
 ing therefore the age of Ninus, we shall in fact 
 ascertain the age of Abraham ; and as this pa- 
 triarch visited Egypt, at a time when that kingdom 
 had already acquired a great degree of civilization 
 and power, by establishing the date of his appear- 
 ance at the court of Pharaoh, we shall remove 
 every possible objection that can be urged against 
 the antiquities of Egypt ; for it is only in reference 
 to Egypt that we enter into all this discussion ; 
 my object being to point out to you, that the 
 antiquity of the monuments found in that coun- 
 try is proved by the most undeniable historical 
 authorities, and by no means contradictory to, 
 or contradicted by, the Mosaic account ; on the 
 contrary, confirming every syllable of it. 
 
 Amongst the ancient writers who have endea- 
 voured to transmit to posterity the history of the 
 Assyrian and Babylonian empires, the most re- 
 markable are Syncellus, Alexander Polyhistor, 
 Africanus, and the celebrated Moses Chorenensis, 
 commonly called Moses of Chorene, who, in his 
 Armenian history, has preserved a valuable frag- 
 ment, copied from Abydenus, an industrious com-
 
 LECTURE XT. S87 
 
 piler of Chaldean records. All these writers ap- 
 pear to have copied from more ancient authors, 
 the passing of the events which they have recorded, 
 the date of which is now lost in the darkness of a 
 very remote antiquity. 
 
 All these historians agree in mentioning the 
 names of eighteen different kings, who succeeded 
 Nimrod at Babylon, and from their account it 
 seems an established fact, that, between Nimrod 
 and Ninus, three successive dynasties held the 
 sceptre of that empire. The first, which com- 
 menced with Nimrod, consisted of seven kings, 
 and continued for the space of 225 years ; some 
 writers say 190. The second dynasty consisted of 
 six kings ; it was founded by Mardocentes, an 
 Arabian, who invaded Babylon, and, together with 
 his successors, held the empire for 215 years. 
 The third dynasty, consisting of five kings, began 
 with ^<?/?/^, and lasted 217 years. Now by adding 
 together these three different numbers of 225 years, 
 which is the duration of the first dynasty ; 215, the 
 duration of the second; and 217, the duration of 
 the third, we shall have the sum of 657 years for 
 the whole duration of the Babylonian monarchy, 
 from Nimrod to Arbelus, the fourth descendant of 
 Belus. 
 
 This Arbelus was conquered by Ninus, from 
 whose reign begins the Assyrian empire, strictly 
 speaking. He was a descendant of Ashur, the 
 first founder of that monarchy, who according to 
 
 c c 2
 
 ,^88 LECTURE XI. 
 
 the Mosaic account, went forth from the the land 
 of Babel, and built Nineveh, and other cities. 
 
 Now, if to the 364 years, which is the period in 
 which Nimrod built Babylon, we add the 657, 
 which is the whole duration of the Babylonian 
 monarchy previous to Ninus, we shall have the 
 sum of 1021 years, as the date of the birth of 
 Ninus, who afterwards conquered Arbelus, and 
 added the Babylonian to his Assyi'ian dominions. 
 And as Ninus was a contemporary of Abraham, it 
 follows, that the computation of the Septuagint, 
 which places the birth of that patriarch in the 
 year 1070 after the Flood, is perfectly correct. 
 
 I have said, that the Assyrian empire, strictly 
 speaking, begins from Ninus, although it had been 
 founded by Ashur. The reasons of this assertion 
 are the following. In the first place, during the 
 first 400 years of the Babylonian empire, no men- 
 tion is made, by any writer either sacred or pro- 
 phane, of the Ass}Tian monarchy, or even of the 
 colony which left Babylon, under the guidance of 
 Ashur ; and in the second place, we are assured 
 by the sacred pages, that this Ashur was a de- 
 scendant of Nimrod, although we know not the 
 date of his birth, or how far distant he was in 
 regard to relationship from the founder of Babylon; 
 for the language of Moses is rather general : " And 
 from that land," (that is. Babel), " went forth 
 Ashur, and built Nineveh." Genesis x. Consider- 
 ing, therefore, that the population of Babylon
 
 LECTURE XI. 889 
 
 could not be so numerous in its origin, as to allow 
 a colony to depart in search of a new settlement, 
 we are justified in supposing, that some time must 
 have elapsed before their number increased so as 
 to require or permit a colony to depart under 
 Ashur. 
 
 But this is not the time to inquire into this 
 subject more minutely. My object is to estabhsh 
 the period of the reign of Ninus, for the sake of 
 ascertaining the date of the birth of Abraham, 
 as the only means by which I can prove the 
 authenticity and antiquity of the Egyptian monu- 
 ments. 
 
 It is undeniable, that when Abraham visited 
 Egypt, that country had already attained a very 
 high degree of civilization and power. But if we 
 consider the natural state of that country, sometimes 
 subject to the violent inundation of the Nile, which 
 covers the whole land with more than twenty-two 
 feet of water, and at other times exposed to a 
 drought which threatens to destroy every principle 
 of vegetation, we cannot but allow that an immense 
 quantity of labour, and a great length of time 
 must have been necessary, to cut the numberless 
 canals which were to carry the superabundant 
 waters into the immense lakes or reservoirs, from 
 which, at a proper time, these same waters were to 
 be distributed over the land. The performance of 
 such works, and the building of cities, such as those 
 which were seen in Egypt, evidently require the 
 help of a numerous population; and this population
 
 390 LECTURE XT. 
 
 undoubtedly, proves the immense resources of the 
 Egyptian government, and the high civihzation of 
 the people, while all together, they evince the 
 necessity of supposing the concurrence of a great 
 length of time, and the assistance of ages. 
 
 But this is not all. In the twenty-third chapter 
 of Genesis, we have an account of the purchase of 
 Machpelah, made by Abraham from the children 
 of Heth, to bury his wife Sarah ; and the minute 
 detail of the whole transaction, for which he paid 
 " four hundred shelcels of silver current money T 
 Here then we have a current public money of 
 silver, coined, stamped, and of a regular acknow- 
 ledged weight. But this could not be done without 
 the previous operation of discovering and digging 
 the mines ; of melting, purifying, and working the 
 metal; in short, without a great previous knowledge 
 and labour, in which by experience we know, that 
 the industry of men makes but very slow progress. 
 
 Perhaps it may be objected, that the genealogy 
 of the Babylonian kings, from Nimrod to Arbelus, 
 upon whose existence, after all, the strength of 
 my argument chiefly depends, is given by authors 
 whose veracity on other points has been doubted, 
 and, therefore, not entitled to an implicit degree of 
 credit ; and consequently if these kings, either al- 
 together, or partially, had never existed, the age 
 between Ninus and Nimrod being considerably 
 shortened, the antiquities of Egypt must be 
 brought so near the Deluge, as to render their 
 performance physically impossible.
 
 LECTURE XI. 391 
 
 This objection is groundless ; because the period 
 which we have mentioned, as passing from the 
 Deluge to Abraham, does not rest upon the exist- 
 ence of the kings who reigned in Babylon before 
 Ninus only ; but it has been proved by arguments 
 drawn from the power of the multiphcation of man- 
 kind, during the time which intervened between 
 the Flood and the building of Babylon by Nimrod ; 
 and it has been shewn, that by following the 
 reckoning of the Hebrew text, there would scarcely 
 have been a sufficient number of hands to gather 
 materials to build a house, much less a city and a 
 tower like that of Babel. Other arguments of 
 the same weight, though of a different nature, 
 might be adduced, by which it would appear, that 
 the chronology of the Hebrew text subjects the 
 whole account to objections perfectly unanswer- 
 able ; objections which entirely disappear as soon 
 as we adopt the computation of the Septuagint 
 version. 
 
 To impeach therefore, the veracity of the Baby- 
 lonian and Assyrian historians on the ground of 
 their having followed a chronology which contra- 
 dicts that of the Hebrew text, is an ungracious and 
 a groundless task : because besides the arguments 
 already adduced to prove that the Hebrew chrono- 
 logy is wrong, there are others which seem to 
 establish the reahty of the descendants of Nimrod, 
 and the authenticity of their records. For it seems 
 an indisputable fact, that all the Orientals, and 
 more particularly the native tribes of Arabia and
 
 392 LECTURE XI. 
 
 Syria, from time immemorial have taken the greatest 
 pains to preserve their genealogies. Among the 
 shepherds of Mesopotamia and Canaan the first 
 efforts of hterature appear to have been directed to 
 hardly any other object besides perpetuating the 
 names and succession of their Patriarchs. The 
 tablets which contained the genealogy of his tribe, 
 were regarded by the descendant of Abraham as 
 the most valuable treasure that could fall to him 
 in right of inheritance. The same feeling exists to 
 this day in Arabia, and seems to have extended the 
 pride of preserving the pedigree not only of their 
 famihes, but even of their horses. The sacred 
 pages are filled with catalogues intended to keep 
 unbroken the long line of the descendants of 
 Adam, through the whole ramification of the sons 
 of Noah, in the family of Jacob, as well as the 
 children of Esau ; and indeed it will be found to 
 have prevailed among all classes and denomina- 
 tions of eastern people, who continued to recog- 
 nise a common descent, and whose rank and pos- 
 sessions could only be determined by an appeal to 
 their genealogical tables. 
 
 For these reasons, the lists which have reached 
 us of the Babylonian and Assyrian monarchs are 
 entitled to greater confidence than a hasty reader 
 would be disposed to allow. Though we cannot 
 ascertain the manner in which these documents 
 were constructed or preserved, and of the mate- 
 rials as well as the mode which were employed in 
 keeping them, we are not permitted to doubt that
 
 LECTURE XI. 393 
 
 such catalogues were made, and carefully preserved. 
 The actions, indeed, of some of the chiefs, through 
 the ignorance, flattery, gratitude, fear, or hatred of 
 the historian, might be exaggerated or misrepre- 
 sented, without however altering the simple names 
 of their ancestors, as well as their posterity. We 
 may, for example, believe that Nimrod established 
 the kingdom of Babylon, though we may doubt 
 the dimensions of the city and tower of Babel. 
 We may believe that Ninus, one of the successors 
 of Ashur, conquered Babylon, and reigned over 
 the Assyrian as well as the Babylonian empire ; 
 but we may be permitted to doubt whether he ac- 
 tually conducted his victorious armies from the 
 Indus to the Nile. We may beheve that his wife 
 Semiramis succeeded him on the throne of Nine- 
 veh ; but we may be allowed to express a degree of 
 incredulity, of suspicion at least, about the im- 
 mense space of ground which this city has been 
 reported to have covered, or about the length and 
 height of the walls by which it has been said to 
 have been encompassed on all sides. The impro- 
 bability of this statement ought not to lessen the 
 credibility which is due to the other. Nineveh 
 might not have been sixty miles in circumference ; 
 its walls might not have been one hundred feet 
 high ; and yet Ninus might have succeeded Arbe- 
 lus on the throne of Babylon, and be in his turn 
 followed by Semiramis, both in his Babylonian and 
 Assyrian dominions. 
 
 It is true, that some discrepancies are observed
 
 ,394 LECTURE XI. 
 
 in the names, and dates, and actual number of the 
 sovereigns who are described as having reigned 
 during a certain period ; and nothing, I admit, is 
 so hkely to puzzle the understanding, and shake 
 the belief, of a young chronologer. For indeed 
 we find in different authors the names of the same 
 dynasty of kings written so differently as to defy 
 and baffle all the efforts of etymological skill ; as 
 it is impossible to discover, in some of them, the 
 slightest resemblance, either in their orthography 
 or import. But this objection, which seems so 
 insurmountable at first sight, gradually disappears 
 by reading, and in a gi'eat measure vanishes with 
 the full knowledge of eastern history. By this 
 reading we discover, that almost every king had 
 more than one name, and therefore it was a mere 
 matter of taste and convenience to an historian 
 by which of them he should call him. Indeed, it 
 seems to have been an ancient custom in Asia and 
 Egypt, for the reigning sovereign to give to his son 
 some important government, with the title of king, 
 which title or name was generally changed as soon 
 as he succeeded to his father. The son of Shapor 
 the Second, for instance, was called Kermanshah 
 by his subjects, and by the European writers Car- 
 masat ; but when he mounted the throne of Persia 
 he assumed the name of Baharam. Indeed, there 
 is scarcely a king or a sovereign of Asia, of whom 
 the same thing may not be said from time imme- 
 morial. The sacred pages will bear me out in 
 establishing the truth of this assertion. 
 
 1
 
 LECTURE XI. 395 
 
 In the books of Chronicles we find long lists of 
 names, which, when compared with the correspond- 
 ing series in other parts of the Old Testament, 
 cannot be recognised. Esther, the favourite wife 
 of Ahasuerus, appears under the name of Hadas- 
 sah, the niece of Mordecai the Jew, while by the 
 Persian historian she is exhibited under the appel- 
 lation of Satira; a Hebrew compiler therefore, 
 would speak of her as the patriotic Hadassah, a 
 Grecian historian as the prudent Esther, and a 
 Persian poet, or even a Persian chronographer, as 
 the beautiful Satira. The same must be said of 
 Daniel. You all know that he is sometimes de- 
 signated by the appellation of Belteshazzar ; while 
 the three children, Hananiah, Mishael, and Aza- 
 riah, come forth, upon a change of circumstances, 
 under the familiar denominations of Shadrach, Me- 
 shach, and Abednego. 
 
 If from the sacred pages we turn our attention to 
 profane history, whether connected or unconnected 
 with the events recorded by the holy Scripture, we 
 find the same alteration of names. In Ezekiel we 
 read that he was brought " to the door of the gate 
 
 of the Lord's house, and behold there sat 
 
 women weeping for Thammuz." This Thammuz 
 is probably the Thaumas of the Greek mythology, 
 but undoubtedly the Adonis of the Phoenicians. 
 The Nimrod of Genesis is the Evechoiis of the 
 Chaldeans ; the Ramesses of Egypt, the Sesostris 
 of the Greeks ; and you remember, no doubt, how 
 these latter distorted the spelling of most of the
 
 :596 LECTURE XI. 
 
 Egyptian names, whether belonging to their Pan- 
 theon, or to the dynasties of their monarchs, so as 
 to be no longer recognisable. 
 
 Upon all these considerations, I have a right to 
 conclude that we are not hastily to pronounce 
 against the credibility of ancient writers, on the 
 simple ground of their occasionally differing among 
 themselves, either in the names, in the number, or 
 in the dates of the different sovereigns. Because, 
 these very differences when once reconciled on the 
 basis of sound learning and criticism, the authority 
 of the history, so far from being shaken or impaired, 
 receives a stronger confirmation, inasmuch as they 
 shew the historians to have derived their accounts 
 from different sources, and different authorities. 
 
 I am aware that the opinion of many learned 
 writers will be found in opposition to this statement 
 of mine, because as having assumed, upon the 
 authority of several ancient historians, that Ninus 
 was the son of a chief called Belus, they have 
 laboured to shew that Belus and Nimrod were the 
 same person ; and in this way, as they make Ninus 
 to be the son of Nimrod, they deny the existence 
 of the three dynasties which we have proved to 
 have existed between these two celebrated indivi- 
 duals. But with the utmost deference to the 
 labours and talents of these learned wi'iters, I may 
 be permitted to observe, that this appellation of 
 Belus was not the name of a particular individual, 
 but, like the appellation of Pharaoh, a title of 
 honour, a political distinction, which invariably
 
 LECTURE XI. 397 
 
 distinguished the sovereign ; though, in progress of 
 time, it was extended even to those who could 
 boast of a royal descent. It signified, in fact, the 
 lord, the chief, the master ; and for this reason, 
 many are the kings, both in the Chaldean and 
 Assyrian dynasties, who bear this designation of 
 Belus ; and Dr. Russell observes, that this same 
 title was conferred by the Phoenicians, the Persians, 
 the Syrians, the Phrygians, and even by the remote 
 people of India, on all their sovereigns. 
 
 The opinion therefore, of those who deny the 
 existence of the three dynasties reigning in Baby- 
 lon, previous to the conquest of Ninus, on the sup- 
 position that this prince was the son of Behis, 
 whom they pretend to have been no other than 
 Nimrod, is perfectly gratuitous and inadmissible ; 
 and unable to overturn the position, that a period 
 of 657 years intervened between these two princes, 
 which renders Ninus a contemporary of Abraham, 
 and proves, that, at the time of this Patriarch, not 
 only Egypt, but even Babylon and Assyria, had 
 obtained a great degree of civilization and power. 
 
 I have entered into all this discussion, not with 
 the idea of giving you a lecture on Chronology, for 
 this subject would require a whole set of Lectures, 
 to be treated properly ; but simply to convince you 
 that the antiquity of the monuments of Egypt, 
 however high it may appear to you, is not incre- 
 dible, nor contrary to the authority of the holy 
 Scriptures. For amongst the primitive Christians, 
 we find the Fathers of the Church, and most of
 
 398 LECTURE XI. 
 
 the defenders of our religion, to have adopted, on 
 the authority of the Septuagint, a computation 
 which approaches very near, and sometimes goes 
 beyond, the chronology of Manetho ; and in many 
 points perfectly coincides with the account of this 
 Egyptian historian. 
 
 But here again it may be objected, that the. 
 periods of thousand and thousand years which Ma- 
 netho gives to the Egyptian monarchy, even before 
 the age of the Pharaohs, exceeds so much the com- 
 putation of the Septuagint, as to appear not less 
 fabulous than the annals recorded by the Chinese 
 and Babylonian Chronicles ; and therefore, this cir- 
 cumstance alone is quite sufficient to authorize us 
 to look upon his history as a compound of fables, 
 entitled to no credit whatever. 
 
 This objection is certainly strong, but it is not 
 fatal. For the enormous duration of the Egyptian 
 annals, as they are reported by Manetho, as well as 
 those related by other writers of the Chaldean, 
 Babylonian, and Chinese nations, may be so reduced 
 as to agree with the computation of the sacred 
 pages, according to the most approved chronolo- 
 gical systems, explained by some of the most cele- 
 brated Fathers of the Christian Church, well versed 
 in Oriental languages and antiquities. 
 
 What I am going to state is chiefly taken from 
 a letter published at Amsterdam, by Gibert, in the 
 year 1743, a work which I can safely recommend 
 to those who wish to acquire a full knowledge of 
 this interesting subject.
 
 LECTURE xr. 399 
 
 From the account we have received from Ma- 
 crobius, Diodorus, Varro, St. Augustin, Phitarch, 
 and other celebrated writers, it seems proved that 
 the primitive nations had the custom of giving the 
 appellation of a year to a revolution of a planet, 
 without however, confining themselves at all times 
 to the same planet. In this way, when they con- 
 sidered the moon as the planet by the revolution 
 of which they marked the progress of time, the 
 year consisted sometimes of one week, at other 
 times of two, and more generally of four weeks, 
 according to the mode they looked upon each, or 
 all its phases, as the mark of time. Thus, for 
 instance, if they took the whole of one of its revo- 
 lutions into calculation, whether from a new or 
 from a full moon, to the next new or the next fidl 
 moon, the year consisted of a whole month. While, 
 on the other hand, if they reckoned from the new 
 to the full moon, or from one quarter to the next 
 quarter, the year then consisted of one or two 
 weeks. The same principle they applied to the 
 motion of the sun. When they took the whole 
 revolution of that planet, counting time from the 
 moment it left a fixed place of the heaven, till its 
 return to the same place, then the year consisted 
 of twelve months. But as sometimes they con- 
 fined their observation to a part only of its annual 
 career, whether from solstice to solstice, or from a 
 solstice to the next equinox, then the year, in the 
 first case, consisted of six months, and in the second 
 only of three. And we are informed by Palephatus.
 
 400 LECTURE XI. 
 
 and Suidas that very often they reckoned their 
 time by the apparent diurnal motion of that planet, 
 that'is, from smi-rising to smi-rising, and not seldom 
 from smi-rising to sun-setting. 
 
 From this statement it is evident that the length 
 of the year, amongst the ancients, varied consider- 
 ably. Sometimes it consisted of twelve, and at 
 other times of six, or even three months ; some- 
 times of four, and at other times one or two weeks, 
 and very often of a single day. This difference, 
 as I have already mentioned, arose from their 
 taking now the sun, now the moon, and sometimes 
 the whole, and other times only a part, of the 
 revolution of each of these luminaries, as a mea- 
 sure of time. 
 
 This being established, the question will be to 
 ascertain which of these reckonings was followed 
 by the Chaldeans, Babylonians, Egyptians, and 
 Chinese, in computing the length of their annals. 
 M. Gibert asserts, that it was the diurnal revolu- 
 tion of the sun. He says that the solar day was 
 their astronomical year ; and he proves this asser- 
 tion by a variety of arguments, which seem to esta- 
 blish the truth of his opinion. 
 
 As neither the object of this Lecture, nor the 
 time allowed to us, permit me to follow the learned 
 writer in all the views he takes of this subject, I 
 must be satisfied to give you the results only of 
 his reasoning ; and they turn chiefly on the man- 
 ner in which the enormous length of the Oriental 
 annals may be reduced, so as to correspond with
 
 LECTURE XI. 401 
 
 our chronology. Thus, for instance, the 473,000 
 years which the Chaldeans allowed to their empire, 
 if they be considered as so many days, and the whole 
 be divided by 365, we shall have the sum of nearly 
 1296 of our years. Now this is precisely the pe- 
 riod which Eusebius makes to have elapsed, from 
 the first discoveries made in astronomy by Atlas, 
 to the invasion of Asia by Alexander. According 
 to the chronology of the Septuagint, this inva- 
 sion took place in the year 1682, after the death 
 of Abraham ; and Eusebius, following the same 
 chronology, asserts that the astronomical disco- 
 veries of Atlas happened in the three hundred and 
 eighty-fourth year after the death of Abraham; 
 deducting, therefore, 384 from 1682, the result is 
 1298, which is very nearly the sum total of the 
 473,000 years mentioned by the Chaldean Chro- 
 nicle. 
 
 Again ; Callisthenes, in calculating the antiquity 
 of the Babylonian astronomical observations, says, 
 that they took place 1903 years before the taking 
 of that empire by Alexander. This number of 
 1903 years, established by Callisthenes, seems quite 
 irreconcilable with that mentioned by the Babylo- 
 nian historian Epigenes, who asserts that they had 
 taken place 720,000 years before that epoch. But 
 if we consider these 720,000 years as 720,000 days, 
 and divide the whole by 365, we shall have 1972 
 years, and nearly eight months, as the quotient ; 
 and this sum differs only by sixty-eight years from 
 that which Callisthenes had calculated upon to 
 
 D d
 
 402 LECTURE XI. 
 
 mark the antiquity of these discoveries ; and even 
 this difference, small as it is, disappears, if we con- 
 sider that the calculation of Callisthenes ends at 
 the taking of Babylon by Alexander ; while Epi- 
 genes, who hved under Ptolemy Philadelphus, 
 brought his down to his own time. 
 
 Upon this calculation therefore, it is evident 
 that the astronomical observations of Babylon do 
 not reach higher than the year 2285 before Christ, 
 which is much within the limits of the reckoning 
 of the Septuagint, though much above the com- 
 putation of the Hebrew text. 
 
 This is all very plausible and very conclusive ; 
 but M. Gibert continues his calculations and proofs 
 to a greater extent. I shall give you one or two 
 instances more. 
 
 Alexander Polyhistor, copying Berosus, asserts, 
 that in Babylon they had preserved for 150,000 
 years, historical memoirs of what had happened 
 during this long interval. This proposition at first 
 sight, carries every possible mark of being a fable ; 
 because it is an historical fact, that Nabonassar, 
 who lived about 410 or 411 years before Alex- 
 ander, had destroyed every possible historical 
 monument he could find. The assertion, there- 
 fore, of Alexander Polyhistor and Berosus, has 
 been regarded as a proof of the extent to which 
 some of the ancient historians had carried their 
 fabulous recitals, and has been quoted by many 
 learned writers, as one of the most conclusive 
 arguments against the veracity of ancient annals.
 
 LECTURE XI. 403 
 
 But according to the theory of Gibert, if we con- 
 sider these 150,000 years mentioned by Berosus to 
 be as many days, and reduce them into our solar 
 years, we shall have 410 years, eleven months, and 
 fifteen days, which is precisely the period that 
 elapsed between Nabonassar and Alexander. The 
 utmost therefore, that can be urged against Bero- 
 sus and Polyhistor is, that they are guilty of a 
 puerile affectation unworthy of historians ; unless 
 it should be said, in extenuation of this affectation, 
 that by so doing they flattered the vanity of the 
 nation, by giving them a large apparent claim to 
 antiquity, without however violating the strictness 
 of truth. 
 
 In the same way, the 30,000 years which the 
 Egyptians gave to the reign of the sun, under 
 which appellation, according to the best critics, 
 they symbolized Joseph, produce no more than 82 
 of our years, for which time, according to Scripture, 
 the ministry of that patriarch lasted. The 1300 
 and more years, which some writers assert to have 
 passed between Menes and Neithocris, are simply 
 years of six months each, producing 650 Julian 
 years, which the canon of the Theban kings, pre- 
 served by Erastosthenes, counts to have elapsed 
 between these two reigns : and the 2936 years 
 which Dicearcus assigns as the period intervening 
 between Sesostris and the first Olympiad, are 
 merely the computation of the several seasons ; or, 
 in other words, years of three months each, and 
 which, in fact, produce the 734 Julian years which 
 
 D d 2
 
 404 LECTURE XI. 
 
 the marble of Paros reckons to have elapsed from 
 Danaus, the Egj^ptian Armais, brother of Sesostris, 
 to the institution of the Olympic games. 
 
 The most curious calculation however, in the 
 whole letter of M. Gibert, is the one which he 
 makes to reduce the Chinese chronology to our 
 mode of reckoning. By a series of detached facts, 
 but closely connected with the chronology of the 
 nation, he proves that the first astronomical ob- 
 servations made in China happened 150 years be- 
 fore the reign of the emperor Yao. Now accord- 
 ing to the calculation of the celebrated Freret, this 
 emperor lived 2145 years before Christ. If there- 
 fore, we add these two numbers together, we 
 have the sum of 2295 years before Christ, as the 
 epoch in which the Chinese made their first astro- 
 nomical observations. But this epoch is nearly 
 the same with the one we have just remarked of 
 the same observations being made at Babylon; 
 therefore the chronology of the Chinese and of the 
 Babylonians, in regard at least to their astrono- 
 mical observations, coincide amongst themselves, 
 and by no means exceed the chronology of the 
 sacred pages ; they are nearly nine centuries dis- 
 tant from the flood, more than five hundred years 
 after Nimrod, but not quite two centm-ies before 
 Ninus and Abraham, and consequently, much 
 posterior to the first establishment of the Egyptian 
 monarchy under Misraim, the brother of Cush, 
 who was the father of Nimrod ; and this furnishes 
 us with a new argument to prove, that, after all.
 
 LECTURE Xr. 405 
 
 there is every reason to suppose that this proud 
 nation of the Chinese are but a colony of the 
 Egyptians, as I have already mentioned in a former 
 Lecture. 
 
 Such are the observations which I thought it 
 necessary to submit to your consideration in favour 
 of the chronology adopted by the Septuagint, 
 which completely establishes the antiquity of the 
 Egyptian monuments. The arguments which I 
 have employed have been mostly drawn from, or 
 founded upon, the authority of our Holy Scriptures. 
 They refer chiefly to the high degree of civihza- 
 tion and power which not only the Egyptians, but 
 also the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, and the Assy- 
 rians, had acquired at the time of Abraham. This 
 civihzation, and this power, necessarily presup- 
 pose a numerous population ; and the one, as well 
 as the other, evidently shews, that at the time of 
 this patriarch there must have existed other em- 
 pires, equally powerful and equally populous. Ac- 
 cording to the Mosaic account, we have proved 
 these empires to be the Babylonian and the Assy- 
 rian ; the former founded by Nimrod ; the latter 
 by Ashur. Calculating therefore, on the chrono- 
 logy of the Hebrew text, what could possibly be 
 the number of the human individuals in the world 
 at the time of Nimrod, we found it so small and 
 insignificant, as to estabhsh at once the impossi- 
 bility of building the city and tower of Babel, and 
 much less to migrate, under different chiefs, in 
 search of new settlements. Thus having esta-
 
 406 LECTURE XI. 
 
 blished the necessity of adopting the computation 
 of the Septuagint, we were compelled to place the 
 birth of Nimrod more than two hundred years 
 later than the Hebrew text fixes the birth of 
 Abraham. And again, having ascertained that 
 Abraham was a contemporary of Ninus, and 
 that between Nimrod and Ninus there reigned in 
 Babylon three distinct dynasties, during the space 
 of 657 years, the adding the 364 years that elapsed 
 between the flood and Nimrod, to the 657 years 
 which intervened between the same Nimrod and 
 Ninus, we found that this Assyrian conqueror was 
 born about the year 1021 ; he consequently, was 
 a contemporary of Abraham, who according to 
 the chronology of the Septuagint, was born in the 
 year 1070 after the Flood. 
 
 By the same mode of reasoning we find the 
 length of the Egyptian empire previous to Abra- 
 ham ; for as Moses informs us that the Egyptian 
 monarchy was founded by Mizraim, who was the 
 son of Ham, and the brother of Cush, and conse- 
 quently anterior to Nimrod, who was the son of 
 Cush, it was evident that the foundation of the 
 Egyptian monarchy must have preceded the age 
 of Nimrod. But Nimrod was born in the year 334 
 after the Flood ; therefore Mizraim must have 
 been born long before that period, and conse- 
 quently, the foundation of the Egyptian monarchy 
 must have taken place at latest about the time of 
 the birth of Nimrod, and at least seven centuries 
 and a half before the birth of Abraham. This
 
 LECTURE XI. 407 
 
 period is certainly sufficiently long to produce all 
 the improvement, civilization, and power which 
 the monuments and annals of Egypt so evidently 
 prove, and which even the sacred pages testify. 
 We have no need therefore, to be surprised at the 
 great antiquity of some of the Egyptian monu- 
 ments. The whole length of that empire, from its 
 first foundation to Cleopatra, embraces a period of 
 2845 years, according to the computation of the 
 Septuagint, and 4338 years according to the same 
 computation recorded and explained by the Al- 
 phonsine tables. 
 
 On the other hand, if we follow the Hebrew 
 chronology, besides the topics I have alluded to, 
 we must admit impossibilities, and believe in one 
 page what is contradicted in the next. We must 
 admit that the Father of the Faithful, who is de- 
 scribed as dying " in a good old age, and an old 
 7nan, and full of years" expired thirty -five years 
 before Shem, who was born nearly a hundred 
 years before the deluge, and nine generations be- 
 fore this son of Ter^h. We must beheve him con- 
 temporary with Noah for more than half a cen- 
 tury, and with Shem during his whole life ; we 
 must believe that Isaac was born only forty-two 
 years after the death of Noah, and that he was 
 contemporary with Shem for the period of 110 
 years ; and as not the slightest mention is made 
 of any intercourse between Abraham and those 
 venerable patriarchs who survived the deluge, and
 
 408 LECTURE XI. 
 
 were miraculously preserved as the second pro- 
 genitors of the human race, we are to conclude 
 that this great reformer of religion wandered about 
 from country to country, either ignorant of their 
 existence, or regardless of their authority. 
 
 These, and other things worse than these, we 
 must believe, by following the Hebrew computa- 
 tion ; whilst by adopting the chronology of the Sep- 
 tuagint, every thing is clear, every thing follows in 
 proper order ; the age, the birth, the death of every 
 patriarch is distinctly set down ; no objection, no 
 confusion, no anachronism, no incongruity ; no 
 violence is offered to the meaning of the sacred 
 pages, no contradiction to profane history, there is 
 no difference between the chronology of the sacred 
 Scriptures, and the reckoning of most, if not all 
 the Oriental nations. 
 
 I cannot conclude this Lecture without men- 
 tioning, for the benefit of those who wish to acquire 
 a complete knowledge of this interesting subject, 
 the title of the books which ought to be consulted ; 
 they are, 
 
 Syncelli Chronographia. 
 
 Vossius on the Chronology of the Septuagint. 
 
 Gibert sur la Chronologic des Orientaux. 
 
 The Alphonsine Tables. 
 
 Freret's Dissertations on the Chronology of the 
 Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. 
 
 Jackson's Chronological Antiquities. 
 
 Josephus's Jewish Antiquities ; and, above all, the
 
 LECTURE XI. 409 
 
 Preliminary Dissertation published by Dr. Russell 
 at the head of his " Connection of Sacred and Pro- 
 fane History ;" a book that I cannot sufficiently 
 recommend, and from which I have derived the 
 greatest assistance.
 
 LECTURE XII. 
 
 Anaglyphs — Remarkable instance of one, exhibiting the figures 
 of the Israelites, Hyk-shos, and Negroes— National senti- 
 ments of the Egyptians concerning these shepherds — Attempt 
 at ascertaining their origin — Historical account from Mane- 
 tho, Diodorus, Chceremon, Lysimachus, and Tacitus, analysed 
 — Systems of the ancient and modern writers about the Hyk- 
 shos, and the Israelites — Opinion of the Fathers and the 
 primitive Christians confuted. Hypothesis of Mr. Bryant 
 analysed. 
 
 Our last Lecture turned upon chronology, and I 
 thought it necessary to call your attention to so 
 important a subject, as a prehminary step to the 
 investigation of some of the most interesting events 
 recorded in history. Amongst these stands pre- 
 eminent the endeavour to ascertain the historical 
 names of the kings who held the throne of Egypt 
 at the time of Joseph and of Moses. 
 
 They are both designated in our Holy Scriptures 
 by the general denomination of Pharaoh, which 
 was a simple title of honour, as amongst us is the 
 name of king, corresponding to the Beliis of the 
 Assyrians, and to the Ccesar of the Romans. But 
 on the appellation by which these Pharaohs were 
 known in history, Moses is entirely silent. To 
 1
 
 LECTURE XIF. 411 
 
 ascertain therefore, this point, I am compelled to 
 draw your attention to a particular sort of hiero- 
 glyphics, which I have often mentioned in former 
 Lectures, under the name of anaglyphs. 
 
 This peculiar sort of hieroglyphics seems an 
 enlargement of the use and meaning of symbolical 
 hieroglyphics. They are emblematical signs, or 
 fantastic figures, which represent not syllables or 
 words, nor even real objects, but ideas, and even 
 these are exhibited allegorically. They do not offer 
 to our view scenes and objects belonging to public 
 or private life, or to religious rites and ceremo- 
 nies, but they seem, fand are, an extraordinary 
 mixture of imaginary as well as real beings, which, 
 without having the least similarity together, are 
 nevertheless so united as to represent several ideas. 
 These signs are not uncommon on Egyptian monu- 
 ments, as you may easily ascertain by looking into 
 the " description de I'Egypte," but fortunately they 
 are not many. Horapollo has given the meaning 
 of about forty of them, and they seem allegorically 
 formed by the combination of several distinct qua- 
 lifications, or attributes, belonging to different 
 subjects. 
 
 I shall give you an example from the letter of 
 Champollion to the duke of Blacas, in which this 
 indefatigable scholar gives an account of the disco- 
 veries he has made in examining the inscriptions, 
 statues, and mummies, existing in the Museum at 
 Turin. 
 
 On a block of black granite, which represents a
 
 412 LECTURE XII. 
 
 throne, there are two royal personages, one male, 
 and the other female, with a long inscription, by 
 which it appears that the name of the Pharaoh was 
 Horus, and the name of the woman was Tmauhmoty 
 his daughter, who succeeded him in the kingdom. 
 The purport of this inscription is precisely the same 
 with that of the Rosetta stone in regard to Ptolemy, 
 namely, to order that the image of Horus and his 
 daughter should be placed in a distinguished part 
 of the temple, on account of the great benefits 
 they had bestowed upon Egypt, and the respect 
 they had shewn towards the gods ; mentioning the 
 honours which they should receive, and the priests 
 to whom such service should be intrusted. The 
 legends containing the names and mystic titles of 
 both the Pharaoh and his daughter, are as usual, 
 included in an oval, and are like those of all other 
 kings, a mixture of phonetic and symbolical signs. 
 On each side of this throne there is a curious 
 basso relievo. The one on the side of the throne 
 towards queen Tmaulimot presents a curious spe- 
 cimen of anaglyphs. [[Table 11. fig. 1.]] It con- 
 sists of a female sphinx, of a peculiar sort ; it has 
 a human head, as usual, and it is sitting ; but 
 instead of a paw it has an arm, raised in the atti- 
 tude of protection. From the shoulders of the 
 animal issue two large wings, half unfolded, and 
 its tail rises perpendicularly and falls almost in the 
 same direction, with a large tassel at its end. On 
 the head there is a round bonnet, peculiar to queens 
 and goddesses, at the top of which there is a bunch
 
 LECTU RE XII. 413 
 
 of flowers, rather elegantly arranged. On the 
 ears of the monster hang large round rings, similar 
 to those worn by other females painted on coffins 
 or mummies, and round its neck there is a collar, 
 the medallion of which, instead of falling on the 
 breast, projects forward, and remains suspended in 
 the air. 
 
 This most extraordinary figure, perfectly Egyp- 
 tian, rests on a low basis, and has before its right 
 hand an oval surmounted by the solar disk, stand- 
 ing in the middle of two enormous feathers. The 
 interior of this oval contains six characters, alto- 
 gether forming the name of Tmauhmot. The 
 half-circle a T, the vulture an M, the chain an U, 
 or an OU, the three sides of a square an M, the 
 circle a T. The female figure is merely figurative 
 and emblematical. And to conclude the whole, 
 below the animal are thirteen plants, or rather 
 flowers of lotus, arranged in two different lines. 
 
 This is a perfect anaglyph. The sphinx, we 
 know, was the emblem of strength and wisdom, 
 inasmuch as it consisted of the body of a lion with 
 the head of a man, and consequently was sym- 
 bolically used to represent some of the gods and 
 goddesses, who are reasonably considered to pos- 
 sess these two attributes in an eminent degree. 
 But on this occasion, the oval which exhibits the 
 name of queen Tmauhmot evidently proves that 
 we must look for the person, which this basso re- 
 lievo intends to honour, not amongst the celestial, 
 but the terrestrial goddesses. This is not, indeed.
 
 414 LECTURE Xll. 
 
 the first time in which the sovereigns of Egypt 
 have been figured under the fantastic form of a 
 sphinx, with or without wings. This exhibition 
 therefore, must be considered as a symbohcal image 
 of queen Tmauhmot herself, and the flowers of 
 lotus, which are evidently, though emblematically, 
 taken for the Nile, and the whole country of Egypt, 
 produce one of those anaglyphs, which, under 
 appearances very often monstrous, contained the 
 praises of the Egyptian monarchs. The signifi- 
 cation therefore of the whole, seems to be, a mo- 
 nument raised to the memory of queen Tmauhmot, 
 styled the Guardian and Protectress of the land 
 of Egypt, by her wisdom and strength. 
 
 This however, is not the only inscription which 
 renders this monument highly interesting ; for on 
 the side of the Pharaoh there is another basso 
 relievo, representing four prisoners, having their 
 arms and necks tied by ropes; but two of them 
 turn their faces to the right, while the faces of the 
 other two prisoners are turned to the left. The 
 former have all the appearance of Negroes, and 
 resemble in every possible respect those which 
 Belzoni discovered in the Royal tomb at Thebes, 
 and exhibited at the Egyptian Hall. But the two 
 prisoners who have their faces turned to the left, 
 are peculiarly attired : they both wear a long and 
 thick beard, have a species of tippet, which, de- 
 scending to the elbow, covers their breast ; and one 
 of them has on his head a bonnet of a curious 
 construction, narrow at the top, but increasing its
 
 LECTURE XII. 415 
 
 dimensions as it descends on the neck, where it is 
 very large ; and it is besides, fixed by a band, that 
 resembles a diadem. 
 
 Now in looking over all the Egyptian monu- 
 ments, in which prisoners, captives, and conquered 
 enemies are introduced, we observe that the figures 
 of these people, as well as the negroes, and another 
 nation always painted in red, with blue eyes, and 
 red hair, are constantly represented as the enemies 
 of the primitive Pharaohs. These last people, 
 with blue eyes and red hair, evidently more savage 
 than the other two, are generally exhibited with 
 long and dishevelled hair, and appear either dressed 
 in the hide of an ox, still rough, which envelops 
 them, or is simply tied round their waist ; in which 
 case their legs and arms are very roughly tatooed. 
 As I stated in a former Lecture, the Egyptian 
 monuments never exhibit these people, (and par- 
 ticularly those with long beards and large tippets,) 
 but in a state of captivity and subjection ; and often 
 they are seen lying bound on the ground, serving 
 as footstools to the throne of the Pharaohs ; an 
 example which was followed also by the Egyptian 
 people at large ; for they often wore the image of 
 one of these savages in a state of bondage, under 
 their sandals, so rivetted was the feeling of horror 
 and contempt, in the bosom of the Egyptians, 
 towards these strangers. There seems to be no 
 doubt that these people are the Hyk-shos. 
 
 It is against them most particularly that the 
 Pharaohs of the seventeenth dynasty, were perpe-
 
 416 LECTURE Xll. 
 
 tually engaged, until they were finally expelled 
 from Egypt by Misphra-Tlioutmosis. Every cir- 
 cumstance connected with the warlike exploits of 
 this prince and his successors, is sculptured not 
 only on the palaces at Karnac and Louqsor, but 
 also in the magnificent excavations of Nubia. We 
 are not however, to believe that these prisoners, 
 engraved on the throne of king Horus, refer to any 
 military expedition of that prince ; for in the de- 
 cree I have just mentioned we find not the least 
 allusion to them in the enumeration of the benefits 
 which he had conferred on his subjects, and of the 
 deeds he had performed ; but we must consider 
 these representations as systematically adopted by 
 all the Pharaohs of the eighteenth dynasty, as the 
 lineal descendants of Misphra-Thoutmosis and 
 Amenoftep, who, after many desperate battles, 
 conquered these strangers. 
 
 According to the opinion of Mr. Bryant, of Sir 
 John Marsham, and Mr. Faber, these Hyk-shosw^ere, 
 for some time at least, the masters of the Israelites, 
 and to these barbarians we must look to ascertain 
 the period of the reign, and consequently the his- 
 torical name of the Pharaoh who opposed Moses, 
 and was at last drowned in the Red Sea. 
 
 But before I proceed with my enquiry into this 
 important point of the sacred as well as profane 
 history, I will offer to your consideration all that 
 the ancients have said of these Hyk-shos, and shall 
 begin with Manetho, the most ancient of all. You 
 remember he was a native of Sabenytus, and a priest
 
 LECTURE XII. 417 
 
 of Isis, and that by the order of king Ptolemy 
 Philadelphus, he wrote the history of Egypt from 
 the most remote antiquity. You also remember, 
 I hope, that this history is now lost, and that 
 only a few fragments have reached us in the works 
 of Julius Africanus, Josephus, Eusebius, and Syn- 
 cellus ; and lastly you also recollect that Manetho 
 compiled his history from the authentic memoirs 
 and documents deposited in the archives of the 
 temples entrusted to his care. All this appears 
 from the original letter of Manetho to king Pto- 
 lemy, preserved by Syncellus. 
 
 Now in the answer which Josephus wrote against 
 Apion, we find this remarkable passage from Ma- 
 netho : 
 
 " We had a king whose name was Timaus, and 
 in his reign we fell, beyond all imagination, under 
 the god's heavy displeasure. There came flowing 
 in upon us a rugged robust people out of the 
 East, that made an inroad into the province ; and, 
 there encamping, took it by force, and carried all 
 before them, without any material resistance, put- 
 ting our princes in chains, cruelly laying our cities 
 in ashes, demolishing our temples, and miserably 
 oppressing our inhabitants ; some they murdered, 
 and others, with their wives and children, were 
 sent away into bondage. After this they made 
 one of their number to be king, and his name was 
 Salatis." 
 
 " This new king advanced to Memphis, and having 
 reduced both the upper and lower provinces to 
 
 E e
 
 4,1S LECTURE XII. 
 
 the payment of a tribute, and put garrisons into 
 all tenable places, he fortified to the eastward in a 
 particular manner, for fear of an invasion from the 
 Assyrians, whom he looked upon as stronger than 
 themselves. He found in the nome, that is, the 
 province or department of Saites, a city formerly 
 called Avaris, which was situated, very conveni- 
 ently for his purpose, to the east of the river Bu- 
 hastis. This city he improved, repaired, and forti- 
 fied with strong works and walls, and a body of two 
 hundred and forty thousand men to cover it. Hither 
 he was wont to resort in summer time, to measure 
 out the corn which he received as a tribute, to pay 
 his soldiers, and to train them to the use of arms, 
 that he might strike terror into his foreign neigh- 
 bom's." 
 
 " Salatis died in the nineteenth year of his reign, 
 and one Bceon succeeded him, who reigned forty- 
 four years. After him came Apachmas, who go- 
 verned thirty-six years and seven months. Apo- 
 cMs came next, and he ruled sixty years and one 
 month ; Janias fifty years and one month ; and, 
 last of all, came Assis, who reigned forty-nine 
 years and two months. These six were the first 
 kings ; they were perpetually engaged in war, and 
 they seemed bent on the design of utterly extermi- 
 nating the Egyptians. 
 
 " These people were called Huc-sos, that is to 
 say, shepherd kings, for Hue in the holy tongue 
 means a hing, and sos in the common dialect 
 means a shepherd ; so that Huc-sos is taken as a
 
 LECTURE XII. 419 
 
 compound. Some believe these people to have 
 
 been Arabs." 
 
 ** When these kings, or shepherds, and their 
 posterity had kept the government of Egypt for 
 511 years, the king of Thebes, and the remainder 
 of Egypt that was not yet subjected, made a vio- 
 lent and obstinate war upon the shepherds, and 
 routed them under the command of king Alis- 
 phragmoutJiosis ; and when the greatest part of 
 them had been driven out of Egypt, the rest with- 
 drew into Avaris, which comprehended ten thou- 
 sand acres ; and this the shepherds had enclosed 
 with a strong wall, that secured all their provisions 
 and plunder. Here they were besieged by T/m- 
 7nosis, son of Alisphragmouthosis, with an army 
 of 480,000 men ; but despairing to reduce them by 
 assault, he made a treaty with them to depart 
 from Egypt without molestation, and retire whither 
 they pleased. Upon these terms they marched 
 away with all their families and goods, to the num- 
 ber of 240,000, by the way of the wilderness into 
 Syria ; and through the fear of the Assyrians, who 
 were lords of Asia, they retired into a country now 
 known by the name of Judaea, and built a city 
 large enough to contain them all, and called it 
 Jerusalem." 
 
 So far Manetho, who however, still goes on 
 with his story, by mentioning a succession of Egyp- 
 tian princes, who reigned for the period of 393 
 years, that is, from the expulsion of the Shepherds 
 to the time of Sethosis, or Egyptus, and the dc- 
 
 E e 2
 
 420 LECTURE Xir. 
 
 parture of his brother Armais, or Daiiaus, for 
 Greece. 
 
 After some inteiTuptioii, Josephus gives another 
 large extract from Manetho, and introduces to our 
 acquaintance a new race of people afflicted with 
 lej)rosy, amounting to the number of 80,000, and 
 put to hard labour in the stone-quarries on the 
 eastern side of the Nile, by the Pharaoh Ame- 
 nophis, at the persuasion of a holy and learned 
 priest of great authority amongst the Egyptians. 
 
 " This wise heavenly man," continues Manetho, 
 " in a horror of conscience for what he had done, 
 and in the dread of a judicial vengeance from 
 heaven, finding by a revelation that Divine justice, 
 to balance the tyrannical oppression of these 
 leprous people, had, in providence, appointed them 
 the government of Egypt for thirteen years, and 
 being afraid to tell it to the king, committed the 
 inspiration to writing, and laid \iolent hands on 
 himself, to the great terror of the king." 
 
 I beg you will pay particular attention to this 
 passage. 
 
 " The king being now plied with petitions on the 
 behalf of these miserable people, and particularly 
 for some place of retreat, where they might live 
 safe and easy, they pitched upon Avaris, formerly 
 known by the name of TijpJion, and the seat of 
 the Shepherds. The prince granted them this 
 boon, and they were no sooner settled in it, but 
 finding it a commodious post for a rebellion, they 
 listed themselves under Osarsiph, a priest of Heli-
 
 LECTURE XII. 421 
 
 opolis, and took an oath of fidelity to him in what- 
 ever he should command them, upon these pre- 
 liminary conditions, that they should neither wor- 
 ship any of the Egyptian gods, nor abstain from 
 any of the meats that they accounted holy, nor 
 intermarry but with the people of their own opi- 
 nion. When they had gone thus far in opposition 
 to the Egyptians' interest and customs, the com- 
 mander presently ordered the fortifying and wall- 
 ing in of the city, and the levying of war against 
 Amenophis ; and sent an embassy to the Shep- 
 herds at Jerusalem, whom king TJiemosis had 
 expelled from Egypt, with instructions to the depu- 
 ties to advise upon the common cause, and to 
 invite them into a league against Egypt, with a 
 promise to join in the confederacy, and receive 
 them into Avaris, the seat of their ancestors, 
 where they were sure they could want nothing; 
 fight when they should find it convenient, and, with 
 all the ease in the world, make themselves masters 
 of the province. The Shepherds were transported 
 with joy at this proposal, and immediately drew 
 out to the number of 200,000, and marched to 
 Avaris." 
 
 " Amenophis, upon the news of this invasion, 
 was at his wit's end what to think of the prophe- 
 tical paper the priest left behind him, and called a 
 great council of the princes and people together, 
 and sent away all the beasts that passed for sacred, 
 with a strict order to the priests to keep all their 
 idols as close as possible. He committed his son
 
 422 LECTURE XII. 
 
 Sethon, otherwise called Ramesses, after his father's 
 name, Rhampses, a child of five years of age, to 
 the care of a particular friend ; and so marched 
 away himself at the head of 300,000 fighting men, 
 to encomiter the enemy; but upon second thoughts, 
 and a check of conscience, he turned short with- 
 out fighting, and went to Memphis, where he and 
 his people took shipping, and, with Apis and the 
 rest of their gods, fled into Ethiopia. The king of 
 the country gave them so generous a reception, 
 
 that they wanted for nothing during 
 
 the whole course of that fatal thirteen years' 
 banishment." 
 
 " In the meantime, the Jerusalem auxiliaries 
 made infinitely more ravage in Egypt than they 
 who had called them ; for there was nothing they 
 stuck at, that was either inhuman or wicked, and 
 the very spectacle of their impiety was a calamity 
 not to be expressed. The razing, burning, and 
 rifling of towns and villages was nothing to them ; 
 they sacrilegiously broke the images of the gods to 
 pieces, most barbarously tearing the consecrated 
 creatures that the Egyptians adored, limb from 
 limb, forcing the priests and prophets to be them- 
 selves the executioners, and then turning them off* 
 naked." 
 
 " The founder of this pohty was one Osarsiph, 
 a priest of Heliopolis, so called from Osiris, a 
 god that was worshipped there ; and this priest 
 changing his rehgion, changed his name also, and 
 called himself Moses"
 
 LECTURE XII. 423 
 
 " Amenopkis and his son Rhanqjses marched 
 afterward out of Ethiopia with two great armies, 
 encountered the Shepherds and the lepers, routed 
 and had the chase of them, with a very great 
 slaughter, to the borders of Syria." 
 
 This is the account we have from Manetho, as it 
 has been preserved and transmitted to us by Jose- 
 phus. 
 
 In this account we are to consider several import- 
 ant points. The first, and perhaps the most deserv- 
 ing of attention, is the statement of two different 
 and distinct incursions of the Shepherds into Egypt ; 
 the one when they were expelled from Themosis ; 
 the other when they were invited by the rebellious 
 lepers, and ultimately driven out by Amenophis 
 and his son Ramesses ; but in both cases the city 
 ofAvaris had been the residence of these strangers. 
 
 The seond striking circumstance is, the prophecy 
 of the old priest, foretelling that these strangers 
 were destined to rule over Egypt for the space of 
 thirteen years ; on which account king Amenophis 
 retired into Ethiopia, and at the end of these thir- 
 teen years attacked, routed, and expelled them. 
 
 The third fact mentioned by Manetho is, that 
 from the first expulsion of the Shepherds, under 
 Themosis, to the reign of Sethosis, and the depar- 
 ture of Danaus for Argos, there reigned over 
 Egypt sixteen kings, and two queens, the united 
 period of whose government amounts to 348 
 years ; and it further appears, that this Sethosis, 
 son of Amenophis, was eighteen years old when 
 
 1
 
 424 
 
 LECTURE XII. 
 
 his father, returning from Ethiopia, attacked and 
 routed the Shepherds. For the computation given 
 by Josephus of 393 years is evidently a mistake ; 
 because, by summing up the reigns of all the in- 
 tervening princes, according to the specification of 
 them, the total is 348 years and seven months, and 
 not 393. In the following Table I offer you their 
 names, with the length of their respective reigns. 
 I have also added to the names by which they are 
 called by Josephus, the names by which they have 
 been designated on the Egyptian monuments. 
 
 Order NAMES, 
 
 of Sue- According to the . ,. . . „. , . 
 
 cession. Monuments. According to ancient Chronologists. 
 
 1 — Amenoftep . . Amosis, Thoutmosis, son of Mishra 
 
 Thoutmosis 
 2 — Thoutmosis I. Chebron, his son . 
 3 — Amon-Mai . . Amenophis I. 
 4 — Amense . . . Amense, his sister . 
 5 — Thoutmosis II. Miphres, Miphra, Maeris, her son 
 6 — Amenophis I. Miphra Thoutmosis, his son 
 7 — Thoutmosis III. Thoutmosis, his son 
 8 — Amenophis II. Amenophis II. 
 9 — Hor Horus, his son 
 
 10 — Tmauhmot 
 11 — Ramses I. 
 12 — Ousirei . . 
 13 — Mandouei , 
 14 — Ramses II. 
 15 — Ramses III. 
 16 — Ramses IV 
 
 Akencherses, his daughter 
 Rathotis, Athoris, her brotheu 
 Achencheres, his son 
 Achencheres, his brother 
 Armais, Armes, his son . 
 Ramesses, his son . 
 
 Meiamoun | ^^amesses Meiamoun, his son 
 17 — Ramses V. . . Amenophis Ramesses III., his son 
 
 Length of 
 their 
 
 Reigns. 
 
 Yrs. M. 
 30 7 
 13 
 
 20 7 
 
 21 9 
 12 9 
 25 10 
 
 9 8 
 
 30 
 
 38 
 
 12 
 
 9 
 
 12 
 
 20 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 348 7
 
 LECTURE XII. 425 
 
 It may be also worth noting, that the number of 
 511 years, mentioned by Manetho, does not end 
 at the first expulsion of the Hyk-shos by Mishrag- 
 thoutmosis and his son, but at the time when they 
 were expelled together with the Israelites. In 
 other words, the entire duration of the dominion 
 of these Shepherds, from first to last, is but 511, 
 and they terminate not with their first, but their 
 final expulsion ; such indeed, is the mode in which 
 the best chronologers have understood this passage 
 of Manetho. 
 
 From this it follows, that their first expulsion 
 took place at the end of 259 years and ten months, 
 which are comprised within the length of the reigns 
 of their six earliest princes, as they are mentioned 
 by Josephus. Here I exhibit their names, and 
 the extent of the time in which they held the 
 sceptre of Egypt. 
 
 Yrs. Months. 
 
 1 Salatis reigned . . 19 
 
 2 Baeon 44 
 
 3 Apachmas ... 36 7 
 
 4 Apochis, or Apophis 61 
 
 5 Janias 50 1 
 
 6 Assis, or Asseth . . 49 2 
 
 259 10 
 
 I have thought it necessary to make these re- 
 marks, because as there are other writers who 
 make mention of the Shepherds, as well as the 
 Israelites, it is very proper that your attention
 
 426 LECTURE XII. 
 
 should be called to those circumstances which 
 may ultimately lead us to the discovery of the 
 main object of our present inquiry. These authors 
 may be reduced to four, and they are Chaeremon, 
 Lysimachus, Diodorus, and Tacitus. The account 
 which the two former, Chaeremon and Lysimachus, 
 give, is recorded in a fragment preserved by Jo- 
 sephus, in answer to Apion ; what Diodorus and 
 Tacitus say of the Shepherds and the Jews, is to 
 be found in their respective works. Chaeremon is 
 another Egyptian historian, and from his history 
 Josephus quotes the following passage. 
 
 " The goddess Isis appeared to king Ameno- 
 phis, in a vision, and chid him severely for suffer- 
 ing her temple to be ruined in the war ; and Phri- 
 tiphantes, a holy scribe, suggested it to the king, 
 that if he would clear Egypt of all people labour- 
 ing under foul and malignant distempers, he should 
 never be troubled again with like apparitions. 
 Upon this there was a call made of impotent and 
 infirm wi'etches, and 250,000 of them were banished 
 from the place, under the command of Moses and 
 Joseph, two of the number, and holy men. Moses, 
 in Egyptian, was called Tisithes, and Joseph, 
 Peteseph. They found at Pelusium 380,000 
 men, whom Ameiiophis had left there, refusing 
 them a passage into Egypt. They struck a league, 
 and joined in an expedition against the Egyptians; 
 but Amenophis would not stand it, and withdrew 
 into Ethiopia, leaving his wife pregnant behind 
 him. She shifted up and down in caves, till she
 
 LECTURE XII. 427 
 
 was delivered of a male child, whom she called 
 Messenes, who, growing up to man's estate, drove 
 about 200,000 of the Jews into Syria, and brought 
 back his father, Amenophis, from Ethiopia." 
 
 In this passage of Chaeremon, we have some 
 truths and some errors ; we hear nothing of the 
 Shepherds, but only of the Jews ; and they are 
 described as labouring under foul and malignant 
 distempers. They rebel and attack the Egyptians, 
 by the assistance of the army which Amenophis 
 had left at Pelusium, and thus our historian differs 
 from Manetho, who says, that they were assisted 
 by the Shepherds, whom the Jews invited into 
 Egypt. But from both it is clear, that the Jews 
 had an auxiliary force to support them in their 
 rebelHon; and that, for some time, Amenophis 
 would not act against them. The mistake of 
 making Joseph a contemporary of Moses is too 
 palpable to be mentioned ; and of the same nature 
 may be considered the situation of the wife of 
 king Amenophis, the birth of Messenes, whom he 
 mistakes for Ramesses, and the mode by which the 
 Jews were driven into Syria. 
 
 From the same Josephus we have another not 
 much dissimilar account, in a fragment of Lysi- 
 machus, another historian, who speaks of the 
 Exodus of the Jews. The passage runs thus : 
 
 " While Bocchoris was king of Egypt, the nation 
 of the Jews, being infected by an inveterate leprosy, 
 fled to the temples and begged for food. Many dying 
 by reason of the disorder, a great famine took
 
 428 LECTURE XII. 
 
 place. Upon this the king consulted the oracle of 
 Ammon, and was charged to purge the land from 
 all the unclean and impious race, by which both 
 the land and the temples had been polluted, and to 
 drown those that were ulcerated and leprous ; for 
 the sun itself had an horror for so abominable a 
 sight ; and this being done, the earth should bring 
 forth fruit again, and nature return to her course. 
 Bocchoris upon this calls his priests and his di- 
 viners, and, by their advice, orders the sick people 
 to be sorted together and delivered up to the sol- 
 diers ; the lepers and sick to be wrapped up in 
 lead, and cast into the sea ; and the others to be 
 carried into the wilderness. The night now 
 coming on, these poor people began to think 
 what to do with themselves ; so they kept a fast to 
 reconcile themselves to the gods they had offended. 
 On the day following, they elected Moses to be 
 their leader, and after many hardships, came at 
 last into a country that they now call Judaea." 
 
 Here again we have no mention made of the 
 Shepherds, king Bocchoris is brought forward 
 instead of Amenophis, and his son Sethosis, not a 
 word of any auxiliary force coming to the assist- 
 ance of the Israelites ; not the slightest hint at 
 any cruelty or wantonness exercised by them in 
 the land of Egypt ; but they are represented to be 
 labouring under leprosy and disgusting diseases, to 
 have departed from Egypt under the guidance of 
 Moses, and to have gone into Judaea. 
 
 It scarcely need be remarked, that the fable
 
 LECT ORE XII. 429 
 
 of drowning these lepers in the sea, while those 
 who escaped fled into the wilderness, has plainly 
 been taken from the destruction of Pharaoh and 
 his army in the Arabian gulph, the punishment 
 being ingeniously transferred, as Mr. Faber pro- 
 perly observes, from the oppressors to the op- 
 pressed. 
 
 The next historian who speaks of the Exodus 
 of the Israelites, is Diodorus, in his Bibliotheca, 
 and the account he gives of it is shortly this : 
 
 " Formerly a pestilential disorder prevailed in 
 Egypt, which most were willing to ascribe to the 
 
 wrath of heaven Hence the aboriginal 
 
 inhabitants began to suspect that they should 
 never be free from the malady until they expelled 
 
 the aliens. Upon this the most noble 
 
 and warlike of these foreigners, being compelled 
 to leave the country, emigrated into Greece, under 
 the command of several illustrious leaders, amongst 
 whom Cadmus and Danaus are particularly cele- 
 brated. But another numerous division marched 
 by land into Judaea. Of this colony one Moses was 
 the leader, a man of great wisdom and fortitude." 
 
 So far Diodorus, who however, goes on much 
 in the same way as Lysimachus, to tell us some- 
 thing more of the manner in which the Jews 
 treated the various people they met with in their 
 route, &c. &c. &c. which certainly agrees with the 
 account that Moses has left us. 
 
 In this passage of Diodorus, no king is men- 
 tioned, nor Shepherds; the pestilential disorder is
 
 430 LECTURE XII. 
 
 common to the Egyptians as well as the strangers ; 
 the Jews are represented setting off mider the 
 command of Moses: and the only striking circmn- 
 stance is, that they leave Egypt at the same time 
 in which Cadmus emigrates into Greece. Much 
 of the same sort is the story related by Tacitus. 
 The Jews, as usual, have a leprosy, and as a race 
 hateful to the gods, are driven out of Egypt by 
 Bocchoris. Moses persuades them to submit to 
 him, as a leader sent from heaven, and they march 
 into Judaea, drive out its former occupants, and 
 build a city and a temple. 
 
 So far Tacitus, in every respect, agrees with 
 Lysimachus ; and the reason why I have quoted 
 him is, that in the progress of his history he says, 
 " That it was variously reported, that the Jews 
 had come from Mount Ida, in Crete ; that they 
 emigrated from Egypt during the reign of Isis, 
 under the command of Hierosolymus and Judas, 
 and that they were generally esteemed descendants 
 of the Ethiopians, whom fear and hatred had com- 
 pelled to change their habitations." 
 
 From this last account, it is evident, that Taci- 
 tus mistakes or confounds what Diodorus has said 
 of the other foreigners, who under Danaus emi- 
 grated into Greece, at the time that the Jews, 
 under Moses, went into Syria ; and very little re- 
 flection will shew us that Diodorus considers 
 Ethiopia as the country of the Shepherds, as he 
 evidently speaks of them when he mentions the 
 other foreigners who went off with Danaus ; for he
 
 LECTURE XII. 431 
 
 says that, " they had emigrated from Egypt, 
 during the reign of Isis, under the command of 
 Judas ;" and " that they were considered descend- 
 ants of the Ethiopians." If then they came from 
 Ethiopia, and left Egypt, they must have come 
 into the country, and this coming is precisely the 
 invasion of the Shepherds, mentioned by Manetho, 
 during the reign of Timaus. 
 
 Such, with a few more additions, scarcely worth 
 noting, is the account which the ancients have 
 left us of the invasion and departure of the Hyk- 
 shos, or Shepherds, from Egypt, as well as of 
 the Exodus of the Israelites ; and before I venture 
 to state my own opinion on the subject, I think it 
 necessary to explain to you, in as short a way as I 
 can, what are the most remarkable systems which 
 have been framed upon the foregoing authorities, 
 concerning the country of the Hyk-shos, and the 
 time in which they left Egypt. These systems 
 may be reduced principally to three ; the first, 
 imagined by Josephus, Eusebius, and many of the 
 primitive Christian writers ; the second, by Sir John 
 Marsham and Mr. Bryant ; the third, by the vene- 
 rable historian of " The Origin and Progress of 
 Pagan Idolatry." 
 
 As to Jews and Christian writers, such as Jose- 
 phus, Eusebius, Africanus, and others, their opinion 
 is not worth confuting, though it may be proper to 
 mention it ; because they all, wishing to enhance 
 the antiquity of the Jewish nation, for the sake of 
 answering the heathen writers, who attacked them
 
 432 LECTURE XII. 
 
 on all sides, have asserted that the Shepherds were 
 the Israelites ; and, to defend this untenable opi- 
 nion, they have distorted facts, imagined events, 
 added something of their own to the quotations of 
 ancient writers, and passed over many circum- 
 stances, however important and well attested, that 
 made against their system ; they must, therefore, be 
 dispatched all together with this general reflection : 
 and if now and then I shall have occasion to quote 
 from them, it will be only in those cases in which 
 no facts, no authorities, no history militate against 
 their assertions. 
 
 But it is not in this summary way that I can 
 mention the theory imagined by Sir John Marsham 
 and Mr. Bryant ; for although the system of these 
 learned writers may be considered in some points 
 as liable to strong objections, it nevertheless con- 
 tains much that is valuable, and capable of assist- 
 ing us in the present inquiry. 
 
 Both these learned writers agree in confuting 
 the absurd notion of Josephus, as evidently ad- 
 vanced to promote the honour of his country, that 
 the invading Shepherds were the Israelites, and 
 that what Manetho afterwards says of the real 
 Israelites, has been by the historian of the Jewish 
 antiquities, studiously thrown out of place, and 
 disfigured. In no one particular, says Mr. Faber, 
 do these two races of Shepherds agree, except in 
 the single point of their pastoral character. The 
 royal Shepherds invaded Egypt by force of arms, 
 and amounted to the number of 240,000 persons ;
 
 LECTURE XII. 433 
 
 the Israelites came peaceably into Egypt, to avoid 
 the horrors of famine, and, at the time of their 
 descent, were but a single family of seventy souls. 
 The royal Shepherds reduced the whole land to ser- 
 vitude, and acted the part of relentless tyrants ; 
 the Israelites were themselves slaves, and were 
 grievously oppressed by the governing power. The 
 royal Shepherds were unwilling to leave the coun- 
 try, and retired not until they were fairly driven 
 out by main force ; the Israelites wished to depart, 
 and were long prevented from withdrawing. The 
 royal Shepherds founded Jerusalem ; the Israelites 
 occupied it long after it had been built. The 
 royal Shepherds marched straight into Palestine ; 
 the Israelites wandered forty years in the wilder- 
 ness. The royal Shepherds returned into Egypt, 
 and were a second time expelled ; the Israelites 
 left the country but once, and never returned. In 
 short, Manetho, and most of the ancient writers, 
 specify two distinct races of Shepherds, one of 
 which succeeded the other. The first conquered 
 Egypt by force of arms, and occupied and fortified 
 the district of Avaris, for their own protection ; 
 the second had a grant of Avaris, from a native 
 Egyptian king after the first had left it. 
 
 Having thus disposed of the opinion of Josephus, 
 and other writers who, like him, suppose the Israel- 
 ites to have been the only shepherds that are men- 
 tioned by Manetho, Mr. Bryant proceeds to con- 
 sider them separately. He very properly remarks, 
 that the second race, who succeeded the first Shep- 
 
 F f
 
 434 LECTURE XII. 
 
 herds in Avaris, are undoubtedly, the Israehtes. 
 For they are said to have abhorred the idolatry of 
 the Egyptians, to have refused to worship their 
 gods, and to have intermarried only among them- 
 selves. They are described as being compelled to 
 undergo hard labour ; they are placed in an evacu- 
 ated district, on the eastern side of the Nile, just 
 as the Israelites are placed in the land of Goshen, 
 which is similarly situated. This seems to have 
 been sufficiently established by M. Champollion, 
 who, in his " Egypt sous les Pharaons," has placed 
 the city of Ramesses, where, according to the 
 Bible, Joseph settled his father and his brothers, 
 on the eastern side of the Nile, quite close to 
 Avaris ; so that these two cities belonged to the 
 same district, which might be called after the name 
 of either of them. They are besides, represented 
 as having for their leader a priest of Heliopolis, 
 called Osarsifli, a name which Mr. Bryant inter- 
 prets to be composed of two words, Sar and Josiph, 
 that is, the Lord Joseph, who married the daugh- 
 ter of the priest of On, an appellation which has 
 been rendered in Greek by Heliopolis, as both of 
 them mean the sun. They are finally declared to 
 have emigrated from Egypt into Syria, under the 
 command of Moses, who has been confounded with 
 Osarsiph, or Joseph. 
 
 Upon these considerations Mr. Bryant declares 
 the second race of Shepherds to be the Israehtes ; 
 and I do not think that the least shadow of doubt 
 can be attached to this opinion ; for even the dress 
 
 1
 
 LECTURE Xir. 435 
 
 in which these Shepherds are exhibited on the 
 Egyptian monuments, evidently shews them to have 
 been the Israehtes. 
 
 If then the second race of Shepherds were the 
 Israehtes, the next question is, who were the royal 
 Shepherds, to whom Manetho gives the appellation 
 of Hyk-shos, and who preceded the other shep- 
 herds in the land of Avaris. These Mr. Bryant 
 supposes to have been the Cushim of Babylonia ; 
 and says, that the 511 years mentioned by Mane- 
 tho must be considered as the whole period during 
 which both Shepherds dwelt in Egypt, and which 
 ends at the Exodus of Israel. Therefore by reck- 
 oning these 511 backward from the Exodus, we 
 shall arrive at the sixth year before the birth of 
 Abraham as the epoch of the first pastoral invasion, 
 and he explains the whole transaction in the follow- 
 ing manner. 
 
 In the days of Peleg, (says he,) an orderly divi- 
 sion of the earth took place according to the regu- 
 lations of Noah. You know that Peleg was the 
 great-great-gTandson of this Patriarch by Shem. 
 For Shem begat Arphaxad, Arphaxad Salah, Salah 
 Eber, and Eber Peleg ; so that from Noah to Peleg 
 we have, in fact, five generations. The Cushim, 
 that is the children of Cush, the father of Nimrod, 
 displeased with their allotment, marched off to the 
 eastward of Armenia, whence, after a little time, 
 they returned in a south-westerly direction, and 
 arriving in the plain of Shinar began to build the 
 tower of Babel. In this attempt, which was made 
 
 Ff 2
 
 436 LECTURE XII. 
 
 not long after the birth of Abraham, they were 
 miraculously defeated ; and from Babylonia they 
 were scattered over the whole earth. One great 
 branch of them marched straight to Egypt, then 
 occupied by the Mizraim,who had peaceably retired, 
 like the other children of Noah, to their appointed 
 settlement, when the earth was regularly divided 
 in the time of Peleg. At the period of this Cuthic 
 irruption, the Mizraim, that is, the Egyptians, so 
 called from Mizraim the son of Ham, and founder 
 of their monarchy, were a barbarous and uncivi- 
 lized people, devoted to the basest idolatry, asso- 
 ciated together in no regular polity, and living like 
 savages in the land they had occupied. As such 
 they were easily subdued by the warlike and disci- 
 plined Shepherds, who constituted the first real 
 dynasty of Egypt ; for the other dynasties which 
 are said to have preceded them must be rejected 
 as altogether fabulous. The Cushim remained 
 masters of the country for the space of 260 years, 
 and they were driven out fifteen years before 
 the arrival of Joseph, and thirty-six years before 
 the descent of Israel. When the Shepherds were 
 driven out they left the land of Avaris, or Goshen, 
 vacant ; and thus, in the course of God's Provi- 
 dence, they made room for the Israelites, who with 
 their flocks and herds were immediately placed in 
 the empty country. Here they remained and mul- 
 tiplied until " a new king arose who knew not 
 Joseph." This new king was the first sovereign of 
 a new Egyptian dynasty ; who, as such, was unac-
 
 LECTURE Xll. 437 
 
 qiiainted with the merits of that patriarch, and 
 who felt no sense of obhgation to his family. Jea- 
 lous of the growing power of Israel, he attempted 
 to break the strength of the people by the most 
 iniquitous tyranny ; but his dynasty was at length 
 compelled to grant a free egress to them; and 
 these second Shepherds retired from the country 
 after an abode of 215 years. Then was completed 
 the entire sum of 511 years, which Manetho spe- 
 cifies as the full period during which Egypt was 
 occupied by the Shepherds. 
 
 Such is the system imagined by Mr. Bryant, and 
 I have no doubt that you have already anticipated 
 the many objections to which it is liable, which 
 however, I will endeavour to state in as clear a 
 light as I can, for the sake of proceeding with all 
 the regularity which the subject requires. 
 
 In the first place, Mr. Bryant supposes that a 
 division of the earth had already taken place among 
 the children of Noah, previous to the building of 
 Babel, and that this tower was not built by the 
 united effort of all mankind, but by the children of 
 Cush only. 
 
 In the second place, he fixes the building of this 
 tower after the birth of Abraham. This indeed, 
 is a necessary consequence of his theory, because 
 having disposed of a large portion of time before 
 this attempt, he is obliged to fix the origin of this 
 monument at a period much later than it really 
 was. 
 
 Now both these positions are erroneous ; for
 
 438 LECTURE XII. 
 
 the tower of Babel was built by the united efforts 
 of all the children of Noah, and the dispersion of 
 mankind took place during the life-time of Peleg. 
 Now Peleg died more than three hundred years 
 before the birth of Abraham. But this is not all. 
 
 Mr. Bryant supposes the Cushim to have gone 
 from Babylon to Egypt (immediately after their 
 failure at Babel,) where they found the family of 
 Mizraim already in possession of the country ; but 
 as the dispersion from Babel was general, it is evi- 
 dent that both the Cushim and the Mizraim at the 
 best must have occupied the country at the same 
 time ; and if the Cushim were the first, they must 
 have found Egypt without inhabitants. 
 
 In the third place, Mr. Bryant asserts that at 
 the time of the invasion the Egyptians were a 
 barbarous and uncivilized people ; which is not the 
 case, for we saw, in our Lecture on Chronology, 
 that at the time of Abraham, in which Mr. Bryant 
 fixes the dispersion, Egypt was highly civilized, 
 " powerful kingdoms were already established, 
 great cities had been built, regular armies were 
 maintained, mankind had already witnessed the 
 pomps of courts and the luxury of individuals ; 
 Pharaoh appeared surrounded with his princes ; 
 Abimelech came attended with the captain of his 
 host ; the use of coined money was introduced, 
 and Abraham himself was rich in gold and silver, 
 in tents, flocks, and herds." []Page 374.^ Now 
 this is quite the reverse of Mr. Bryant's supposition, 
 both in regard to the time in which the Egyptian
 
 LECTURE XII. 439 
 
 monarchy was founded, as well as to the high degree 
 of civilization which the nation had attained. 
 
 In the fourth place, Mr. Bryant supposes that 
 the Shepherds constituted the first real dynasty 
 of Egyptian sovereigns, and rejects altogether as 
 fabulous, all the other dynasties which are men- 
 tioned by all the historians who have written on 
 the antiquities of Egypt. Now in my opinion 
 this is going rather too far ; and I see no earthly 
 reason why Mr. Bryant should reject, in this 
 respect, the joint testimony of those very writers 
 whose authority he strongly depends upon on other 
 points, except that on this topic they happen to 
 contradict his hypothesis ; for to a certain extent, 
 even the monuments which have been decyphered 
 by Champollion, have assisted that learned an- 
 tiquarian to ascertain some of the names of the 
 Pharaohs of the seventeenth dynasty, who lived 
 during the time of the invasion of the Shepherds, 
 and the number of years in which the sovereigns of 
 the sixteenth dynasty held the throne of Egypt ; 
 and there is all possible probability for supposing 
 that the praenomina, or mystic titles, of the Pha- 
 raohs, which fill the top line of the table of Aby- 
 dos, belong to princes who were even anterior to 
 them. 
 
 Such are the principal objections that may be 
 urged against the hypothesis of Mr. Bryant, and 
 which, in my opinion, render his system perfectly 
 inadmissible. But, notwithstanding the necessity 
 of rejecting his theory, there are, in what he says.
 
 UO LECTURE XII. 
 
 many points which deserve to be recorded, for 
 they may help us much in the present inquiry. 
 
 In the first place, he states very properly, that 
 the entire sojourning of the Israelites in Egypt 
 amounted only to 215 years. This, at the first 
 sight, may appear contradictory to the authority of 
 the Bible ; for in the twelfth chapter of Exodus, 
 Moses repeats it twice, that " the sojourning of the 
 children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was 430 
 years." But if we take the trouble to inquire a 
 little more attentively into this subject, we shall 
 find that Mr. Bryant is right ; for long before him 
 the same opinion had been advanced and proved 
 by many of the fathers, by the best commentators 
 of the Bible, and the best chronographers, both 
 ancient and modern. These 430 years, in fact, are 
 to be reckoned, not from the time that the family 
 of Jacob went into Egypt, but fi'om the time in 
 which Abraham first went into that country, or 
 rather from the promise, which God made to him. 
 
 This e\ddently appears, from what God said to 
 that patriarch in the fifteenth chapter of Genesis : 
 " That his seed shall be a strange?' in a land that 
 is not theirs, and shall serve them, and shall afflict 
 them four hundred years." He does not say in 
 the land of Egypt, but in a land that is not theirs; 
 and surely the Israelites were as much strangers 
 in the land of Canaan, as they were in Egypt. In 
 confirmation of this interpretation, the reading of 
 the Septuagint version of the passage of Exodus may 
 be adduced, in which Moses says, "And the sojourn-
 
 J.ECTURE XII. 441 
 
 ing of the children of Israel in Egypt and in the 
 land of Canaan, they and their fathers, was fozir 
 hundred and thirty years." The same thing may 
 be collected from the third chapter of St. Paul to 
 the Galatians, in which the Apostle computes the 
 430 years from the promise made to Abraham to 
 the publication of the laiv by Moses. In fact, by 
 casting up all the intermediate periods from this 
 first visit of Abraham, to the departure of the 
 Israelites under Moses, we shall find that 430 
 years had elapsed ; for the account will run thus : 
 
 From the promise of God to Abraham, 
 
 to the birth of Isaac, we have ... 25 years. 
 From Isaac to the birth of Jacob . . 60 
 From Jacob to the descent into Egypt. 130 
 From the descent to the Exodus . . .215 
 
 Altogether .... 430 years. 
 
 This is so true, that by adopting the opinion of 
 the Israelites' subjection in Egypt for the whole 
 period of 430 years, we find this computation con- 
 tradicted by Moses himself; for by him we are 
 informed, that the servitude of the Israelites began 
 after Joseph's death, whose life extended to 110 
 years, seventy-one of which he lived after the 
 descent of Israel, he being at that time forty years 
 old. If : then, we add these forty years to the 
 430, we shall have the sum of 470 as the total of 
 the slavery of the children of Israel, which is not 
 true.
 
 412 LECTURE XII. 
 
 But this is not all : we are told by Moses that 
 Kohath, or Caath, a son of Levi, came down with 
 Jacob into Egypt, and he lived 133 years. This 
 Kohath was the Father of Amram, who lived 137 
 years, and was the father of Moses, who was eighty 
 years old when he left Egypt at the head of the 
 Israelites. Now if we sum up these three items 
 together, we shall have the sum of 350 years ; from 
 which, if we deduct the age of Kohath when he 
 came to Egypt, and the years which he and his son 
 had counted before he begat Amram, and Amram 
 Moses, we shall have exactly the sum of 215 years 
 from the arrival of Kohath in Egypt to the Exodus ; 
 for according to Epiphanius, whose reasoning is 
 much too long for this place, Kohath was sixty- 
 five years old when he begat Amram, and Amram 
 seventy when he begat Moses ; therefore, if we add 
 together the sixty-five years of Kohath, the seventy 
 of Amram, and the eighty of Moses, we shall have 
 the precise sum of 215 years from the descent of 
 Israel to the Exodus. 
 
 From this reasoning therefore, it is evident that 
 the expressions of Moses in Exodus, are not to be 
 confined to Jacob alone, but to Isaac and Abraham 
 also ; and his 430 years comprehend not only the 
 sojourning in Egypt, but also in Canaan and other 
 places. This, in fact, as we have seen, is the man- 
 ner in which the Septuagint records this passage 
 of Moses ; and this is also the manner in which 
 St. Paul in his epistle to the Galatians, remarks on 
 the passage. It has been, moreover, in the same
 
 LECTURE XII. 443 
 
 manner interpreted by St. Augustin, Eusebius, Jo- 
 sephus. Usher, Willet, in short, by the best and most 
 approved chronologers and expositors of Scripture. 
 
 Perhaps, before I conclude, I may as well quote 
 the opinion of Liranus, a celebrated interpreter, 
 why Moses mentioned only Egypt, leaving out the 
 other places in which the Israelites had been 
 strangers, and which equally were] " not theirs." 
 
 " First," says he, '' the dwelling of the Israelites 
 in Egypt was the last, and things generally take 
 their denomination from the end. In the second 
 place, the sojourning in Egypt was the longest ; 
 for Jacob dwelt in Mesopotamia only twenty years, 
 and the other patriarchs at different times so- 
 journed in Canaan ; and though the sum total of 
 all these dwellings may amount to a large period, 
 yet they were made at different intervals, and 
 each for a shorter time, while the dwelling of the 
 Israelites in Egypt continued uninterrupted for the 
 space of 215 years." And, last of all, adds he, 
 " the sojourning in Egypt was the most famous, 
 and by far the most celebrated ; not only for the 
 honourable situation of Joseph, but also for the 
 extensive multiphcation of the Israehtes, and for 
 the miracles which were wrought to obtain their 
 deliverance." 
 
 Perhaps this very multiplication of the Israelites 
 may be considered by some as a strong argument 
 for supposing the length of 215 years of too short 
 a duration, and estabhshing the necessity of adopt- 
 ing the whole period of 430 years mentioned by
 
 444 LECTURE XII. 
 
 Moses ; but upon inquiry you will find this objec- 
 tion perfectly groundless ; for during these 215 
 years, seven generations may easily have existed, 
 allowing to each generation the usual length of 
 thirty years. Now even supposing that only the 
 ten children of Jacob, excepting Joseph and Levi, 
 were married, and that from each marriage five 
 sons were produced, we shall have, after the first 
 
 30 years .... 50 males in the first generation. 
 
 60 250 in the second. 
 
 90 1250 in the third. 
 
 120 6250 in the fourth. 
 
 150 31,250 in the fifth. 
 
 180 156,250 in the sixth. 
 
 210 781,250 in the seventh ; 
 
 a number much exceding that which is mentioned 
 by Moses. And here you are to observe, that out 
 of the twenty individuals who went with Jacob into 
 Egypt, I have calculated only upon ten marriages. 
 I have not included the children of Joseph, or the 
 children of Levi, or the children of any other of 
 Jacob's grandsons, who was actually married at 
 the time. 
 
 Upon all these considerations, Mr. Bryant has a 
 right to conclude, that the dwelling of the Israelites 
 in Egypt did not exceed 215 years ; and I have 
 dwelt so long on some of the arguments which 
 militate in favour of his opinion, to convince those 
 of my hearers who perhaps for the first time hear 
 of it, that this is actually the fact ; a fact upon
 
 LECTURE Xir. 445 
 
 which I have endeavoured to establish my reason- 
 ins: in regard to the Pharaohs who held the throne 
 of Egypt at the time of Joseph and of Moses. 
 
 I now retm*n to Mr. Bryant. 
 
 Another remarkable observation he makes, affects 
 the royal Shepherds as well as the Israelites, and 
 consists in the mode in which he calculates the 
 sojourning of both of them in Egypt. As accord- 
 ing to Manetho, the first empire of the Hyk-shos 
 lasted 260 years, and the servitude of the Israelites 
 215 ; by adding these two numbers together, we 
 have the sum of 475 years. These being deducted 
 from the 511 years, which constituted the entire 
 period which elapsed from the first invasion, to the 
 total expulsion of the Shepherds, we have a defi- 
 ciency of thirty-six years ; and this period must 
 have elapsed between the first expulsion of these 
 invaders by Thumosis, to the arrival of Israel. 
 
 Not less important in its results, though not 
 quite so reasonable in regard to its origin, is 
 the adoption of the old opinion, that the royal 
 Shepherds were the Cushim of Babylonia. Mr. 
 Bryant, in reviving this hypothesis, is perfectly 
 correct in regard to the country from whence these 
 strangers came, for such appears to me to be the 
 fact ; although, by the reasons which I have already 
 stated, the mode for which he leads them to make 
 the conquest of Egypt, appears to me utterly inad- 
 missible. That the Shepherds belonged to the 
 family of Cush, who had taken up their residence 
 and built Babylon, is certainly true ; but that they
 
 446 LECTURE XII. 
 
 came from Babylon to Egypt immediately after 
 their defeat at Babel, is an opinion that, on every 
 possible ground, cannot be defended for a moment. 
 
 Perhaps, before I have done with Mr. Bryant, I 
 ought to mention the mode in which he explains 
 the passage in the first chapter of Exodus, in which 
 it is stated, " that a new king arose up over Egypt, 
 who knew not Joseph." Mr. Bryant considers 
 that these expressions specify the accession to the 
 throne of Memphis of a new dynasty, who must 
 have been strangers to the country ; " otherwise," 
 says he, " they could not be unacquainted with the 
 benefits that Joseph had bestowed upon the dis- 
 tressed inhabitants, during the seven years of 
 famine." We shall see, in our next Lecture, that 
 this is also the opinion of Mr. Faber. 
 
 Such are the merits and the objections which 
 must strike every intelligent reader, when he con- 
 siders the hypothesis of Mr. Bryant. I have 
 endeavoured to state them to you in the clearest 
 Avay I could, because I considered it my duty, 
 whilst endeavouring to explain the objections to 
 which it is liable, to pay a proper tribute of respect 
 to the extensive knowledge and indefatigable 
 efforts of that learned gentleman, whose very name 
 ought to carry con\dction, if, in hterary discussions, 
 authority alone could enforce conviction. Although 
 at all times I am ready to submit my opinions to 
 those of the great writers who, like Mr. Bryant, are 
 giants in literature ; yet with all due deference to 
 their talents and their knowleds^e, I shall never
 
 LECTURE XII. 447 
 
 shrink from what I consider to be my duty, as a 
 pubhc Lecturer, to state the judgment I have been 
 led to form, upon due consideration, on all the 
 circumstances of the case. And I do so with the 
 less hesitation, because the great authority at- 
 tached to the names of acknowledged scholars is 
 apt to mislead the generality of readers ; because 
 being prejudiced in their favour, on account of the 
 deference they are incHned, and have been pro- 
 perly taught to pay to the opinions of such men, 
 they very often adopt, as indisputable truths, sen- 
 timents, systems, and notions, which by no means 
 deserve the flattering appellation.
 
 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 Continuation of the same subject — Hypothesis of Mr. Faber in 
 regard to the Exodus and the Hyk-shos analysed — General 
 reflections — Historical monuments — Im-portant facts — Attempt 
 at explanation — Objections — CoJiclusion. 
 
 We concluded our last Lecture with the criticism 
 on the system imagined by Mr. Bryant, to solve 
 the grand question, who were the Hyk-shos, or 
 Shepherd kings, whence they came, and at what 
 period they ruled over Egypt. As, according to 
 the authority of Manetho and other ancient writers, 
 the history of these invaders is closely connected 
 with the eventful departure of the Israelites from 
 Egypt, I endeavoured, in as full a way as I could, 
 to put you in possession of what is known, or 
 rather of what has been said about them by 
 the most credible ancient authors. I quoted the 
 fragment of Manetho, which has been pre- 
 served by Josephus, Chaeremon, and Lysimachus ; 
 and I quoted also what Diodorus and Tacitus 
 have written on the subject. I endeavoured to 
 point out to you the most important points on 
 which these several authors agree or disagree
 
 LECTURE XIII. 449 
 
 among themselves, and proceeded afterwards to 
 explain the different systems which have been 
 formed to ascertain who were these Hyk-shos, or 
 Shepherd kings, whose figures are so often met 
 with either painted or engraved on many of the 
 Egyptian monuments of high antiquity. I stated 
 then that the fathers and the primitive Christian 
 writers, for the sake of enhancing the antiquity of 
 the Jewish nation, have strongly maintained the 
 opinion, that these Shepherds were the Israelites ; 
 but I observed at the same time, that this opinion 
 is inadmissible ; for it does not only contradict the 
 report of all historians, but also the undoubted 
 authority of the Egyptian monuments ; and I 
 might also have added, which I lament I did not, 
 the still more undoubted authority of the Bible. I 
 passed then to examine the hj^othesis of the 
 learned historian of Ancient Mythology, of which I 
 endeavoured to give you, to the best of my power, 
 a detailed account ; and pointed out both the 
 merits it possessed, and the strong objections to 
 which it was liable. We must now go on with our 
 subject ; and according to what I stated then, I 
 must now endeavour to make you acquainted with 
 another hypothesis, invented by a no less celebrated 
 and venerable writer, I mean Mr. Faber ; and what 
 he says of the Hyk-shos, or Shepherd kings, may 
 be reduced to the following account : 
 
 " We are informed by Manetho," says Mr. Faber, 
 " that while Egypt was in a state of profound tran- 
 quillity, a fierce and warlike race suddenly invaded 
 
 G g
 
 450 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 it, under the name of the Shepherd kings. These, 
 during the reigns of six of their princes, which 
 jointly amounted to 260 years, remained masters 
 of the country, and governed it with the utmost 
 tyranny. They were then besieged by the native 
 Mizraim, in a walled district, denominated Avaris, 
 and at length expelled. Upon this they retired 
 into Palestine, and built Jerusalem. Shortly after 
 their secession, the king of Egypt granted the 
 land of Avaris, now unoccupied, to another race of 
 Shepherds, whom circumstantial evidence demon- 
 strates to have been the Israelites. Here these 
 multiplied so rapidly, that they soon found them- 
 selves in a sufficiently flourishing condition to pre- 
 pare for war with their sovereign. Desirous, how- 
 ever, of ensuring success, they called in the aid of 
 the expelled Shepherd kings, and invited them to 
 return and repossess themselves of Avaris. The 
 invitation was accepted ; the whole of Egypt was 
 conquered by the allies ; and its unfortunate prince 
 was driven into the Thebais and Ethiopia." 
 
 In confii-mation of this hypothesis, Mr. Faber 
 observes, on the authority of Manetho, that " the 
 leprous Shepherds, who were leagued with the 
 Shepherd kings, are plainly the Israelites ; hence," 
 he concludes, that " they left Egypt at the same 
 time which the Shepherd kings did, who must 
 clearly have been their taskmasters ; for, during the 
 time of their servitude, the native Egyptians were 
 either expelled or subjected ; and like the chil- 
 dren of Israel, they were employed in burning 
 
 1
 
 LECTURE XIII. 451 
 
 bricks, and in building for their tyrants. But at 
 the expiration of 215 years, the Israehtes were 
 miraculously brought out by Moses, notwithstand- 
 ing the reluctance of their o^jprcssors ; therefore, 
 these oppressors must have been the Shepherd 
 kings. Hence the king and the host that perished 
 in the Red Sea must have been the king and the 
 host of these Shepherds, not of the native Egyp- 
 tians ; for these latter did not recover their inde- 
 pendence until the Shepherds were^««//f/ expelled; 
 and the Shepherds were not finally expelled until 
 the day of the Exodus. 
 
 " Their arm of strength being thus broken by 
 the judgment which plunged beneath the waves 
 their choicest warriors, the dispirited residue were 
 attacked by the native Egyptians." But Mr. Faber 
 supposes, that although this was the end of the 
 511 years mentioned by Manetho for the final ex- 
 pulsion of the Shepherds ; yet he seems to quibble 
 upon the meaning of this word final, and takes it 
 as " the last in point of succession, but not the 
 last in point of time ;" for, says he, " then com- 
 menced their final expulsion : but, as might natu- 
 rally enough be supposed, this clearing the land of 
 strangers was not effected in a single day," and he 
 assigns for this total clearing of the land a period 
 of more than ninety years. 
 
 *^ The work," adds he, " began with the recess 
 
 of the Israelites ;" but '" others of the 
 
 Shepherds appear to have made a considerably 
 protracted resistance." To prove this assertion, 
 
 Gg2
 
 ■152 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 Mr. Faber admits the number of 260 years to have 
 been the period of the first residence of the Shep- 
 herds in Egypt ; " at the end of which period they 
 were expelled from Avaris, as it is mentioned by 
 Manetho." But he adds to these 260 years, 340 
 more, which elapsed, according to the same Mane- 
 tho, from this first expulsion of the Shepherds, to 
 the emigration of Danaus. Now these two sums 
 put together make up a period of 600 years in 
 round numbers. From these 600 years Mr. Faber 
 then deducts the 511, which is the sum total of 
 the domination of the Shepherds, and the residue 
 is nbietij years. These he supposes to have been 
 all employed in the expulsion of the remaining part 
 of the Shepherds, who remained behind after the 
 first portion went off together with the Israelites. 
 " I suppose," says he, " that the 511 years of pas- 
 toral domination expired when the strength of the 
 Shepherds was broken in the Red Sea, and when 
 the Israehtes quitted the country ; but that the 
 work of their complete expulsion occupied an addi- 
 tional period of some ninety years ; during the 
 lapse of which this fragment ' of the Israelites,' and 
 that fragment ' of the Shepherds,' were successively 
 driven out, until the business closed with the recess 
 of the Danai and the Cadmians." 
 
 This is Mr. Faber's hypothesis, which, as you 
 may have already observed, may fairly be divided 
 into two parts. The first ends at the expulsion of 
 the Shepherds at the time of the Exodus ; the 
 second begins at the Exodus, and ends at the
 
 LECTURE XIII. 453 
 
 departure or expulsion of Danaus. The first con- 
 tains the period of 511 years ; the second of ninety; 
 and both together may be divided into the follow- 
 ing smaller portions : 
 
 The first contains 260 years, during which the 
 Shepherds, for the first time, held the dominion of 
 Egypt, and were expelled by Thumosis. 
 
 The second consists only of fifteen years, which 
 elapsed from the expulsion of these Shepherds and 
 the arrival of Joseph. 
 
 The third embraces the period of twenty-one 
 years, which, according to Moses, intervened be- 
 tween the arrival of Joseph and the descent of 
 Israel. These two periods make up thirty-six 
 years, and during them the land of Avaris was 
 perfectly unoccupied, and was therefore gi'anted to 
 the Israelites. 
 
 From this moment begins the fourth period of 
 215 years, which embraces the whole sojourning 
 of that people in Egypt, and ends at the Exodus ; 
 so that these four periods together make up 
 exactly the sum of 511 years mentioned by Ma- 
 netho, specifying the whole time of the residence 
 of the Shepherds. 
 
 With the fifth period of ninety years that elapsed 
 from the Exodus to Cadmus, we have nothing to 
 do ; for our inquiry is not so much to ascertain 
 who Cadmus was, but who the Shepherds were, 
 and at what time they left Egypt. Mr. Faber 
 has embraced this period in his hypothesis, because 
 he wishes to make Cadmus and his followers ap-
 
 454 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 pear to have belonged to the Shepherds' cast ; but 
 if, according to Manetho, Cadmus was Armais, 
 brother of the Pharaoh Sethosis, I cannot possibly 
 see how he could have been a leader of the Shep- 
 herds, especially as it does not appear from any 
 historian I know, that any of the Shepherds lin- 
 gered behind after their final expulsion at the 
 Exodus. On the contrary, it seems to me that at 
 that period the Shepherds were fully driven out, 
 and never more returned to Egypt until Cam- 
 byses. I mention Cambyses because, according 
 to Mr. Faber's theory, the Persians must have 
 belonged to the same family of Cush. 
 
 Be this as it may, as Mr. Faber's opinion agrees, 
 in many respects, with that which I had formed 
 even before I became acquainted with his valuable 
 work on the Origin of Idolatry ; and as some of 
 the arguments on which I have grounded this opinion 
 are the same with those he has advanced in sup- 
 port of his own, I think it necessary to state them, 
 because, by so doing, you will be better able to 
 judge of the merits of Mr. Faber's hypothesis, and 
 understand more clearly the alterations I have made. 
 
 The strongest arguments made use of by Mr. 
 Faber are undoubtedly those which he has derived 
 from Scripture. We know from Moses the im- 
 portant services which Joseph had rendered to 
 Egypt, and the high favour that on his account 
 the Israelites enjoyed even after his death. During 
 this time, in the language of Moses, " they were 
 fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied.
 
 LECTURE XIII. 455 
 
 and waxed exceedingly mighty, and the land was 
 filled with them." But after this period of happi- 
 ness, according to the same sacred authority, " there 
 arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not 
 Joseph." This king both Mr. Faber and Mr. 
 Bryant say, from the very circumstance of not 
 knowing Joseph, must have been a stranger ; for 
 it would have been impossible for a native Egyp- 
 tian sovereign not to have known the eminent ser- 
 vices of Joseph, which increased to so great an 
 extent the power of the Pharaohs. He is evidently 
 the head of a new dynasty ; the leader of those 
 Shepherds who, Manetho says, had been invited by 
 the leprous Shepherds who had succeeded them in 
 Avaris, when they began to meditate revolutionary 
 projects. As a stranger and a conqueror, he must 
 have been aware that as soon as his tyrannical yoke 
 was felt by the people, the Israelites would again 
 join their old friends the Egyptians ; and this formi- 
 dable addition to the forces of the Pharaoh might 
 produce a revolution against which it would be 
 impossible for him to make a stand. In this si- 
 tuation, as it is related by Moses, he said unto 
 his people, " Behold, the people of the children of 
 Israel are more and mightier than we. Come on, 
 let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, 
 and it come to pass, that when there falleth out any 
 war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight 
 against us, and so get them up out of the land." 
 
 This speech evidently shews this new king to be 
 a foreigner ; for however rapid the multiplication
 
 45G LECTURE XIII. 
 
 of the Israelites might have been, it is impossible 
 that they, at any time, could have exceeded the 
 native Egyptians ; for even when they left Egypt, 
 more than a century after, they were only 600,000 
 men on foot. At the time of which we are now 
 speaking, their number must have been infinitely 
 less, and by no means such as to allow the sovereign 
 to say that they were " more and mightier than we J' 
 
 But while our sacred Scriptures detail the perse- 
 cution of the Israelites, profane history records the 
 sufferings of the conquered Egyptians. We know 
 from Manetho and from Herodotus, that these 
 Shepherds shut up the temples, persecuted the 
 priests, murdered the men, reduced the women and 
 children to the most abject slavery, and the wretched 
 inhabitants that had escaped from the sword were 
 compelled to hew stones in the quarries, drag them 
 to the Nile, and float them down that river in pro- 
 per vessels. It is on record, that ten years were 
 spent, by the united labour of 100,000 men, in 
 making the very road over which the stones were 
 to be conveyed. Just as we are informed, from 
 the sacred pages, that the Israelites were equally 
 condemned to build cities for their merciless con- 
 queror. 
 
 Perhaps, by way of a parenthesis, it might be 
 mentioned, that amongst the buildings which the 
 Israelites were compelled to raise, by the command 
 of their oppressors, Herodotus mentions the Pyra- 
 mids, an opinion which has also been adopted by 
 Josephus and other celebrated writers. Amongst
 
 LECTU RE XIII. 457 
 
 the different arguments which they adduce to prove 
 this assertion, they quote the authority of sacred 
 as well as profane history, from which it appears 
 that the diet of the workmen consisted of onions 
 and garlic, a sort of food from which, as they say, 
 every Egyptian most religiously abstained. M. 
 Zoega, however, thinks quite differently ; and con- 
 siders onions and garlic to have formed a part of 
 the common food of the lower order of the people 
 in Egypt. 
 
 Be this as it may, this is not the only point in 
 which a striking similarity appears to have existed 
 between the condition of the Israelites and their 
 fellow-slaves the Egyptians. 
 
 Herodotus, as we have seen, mentions, that the 
 diet of the toiling Egyptians consisted of radishes, 
 onions, and garlic ; and Moses relates that the diet 
 of the toiling Israelites equally consisted of cucum- 
 bers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. According 
 to Herodotus, the Egyptians were condemned to 
 toil as builders ; according to Moses, the Israelites 
 were compelled to perform the same work. Accord- 
 ing to Herodotus and Manetho, the tyranny of 
 these merciless Shepherds had been foretold by an 
 oracle ; and according to Moses, the slavery of the 
 Israelites had been revealed to Abraham by an 
 immediate communication from God. 
 
 To these great points of similarity we may add 
 another, which chronology offers us. According 
 to Manetho, the second tyranny of the Shepherds 
 lasted 115, and according to Herodotus 106 years ;
 
 458 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 now according to Moses, the slavery of the Israel- 
 ites could not have lasted longer. 
 
 This calculation is correct : Manetho mentions 
 511 years as the entire dominion of the Shepherds 
 in Egypt, from their first irruption to the Exodus ; 
 and the duration of that first irruption was 260 
 years. Now deducting these 260 years from the 
 511, we shall have the sum of 251 years. Fifteen 
 years after their expulsion, Joseph comes into 
 Egypt, and 21 years after Israel also comes ; these 
 two periods make up 36 years, which, being de- 
 ducted from the 251 years, leave the residue of 
 215 years, from the descent of Israel to the Exodus. 
 Of these 215 years we must allow at least full 100 
 years before the Israelites became so numerous as 
 to excite the jealousy of their tyrants ; and de- 
 ducting this period from 215, we shall have either 
 the 115 years mentioned by Manetho, or the 106 
 years recorded by Herodotus and Eusebius, during 
 which the Egyptians groaned under the tyranny of 
 their oppressors. 
 
 That this was the fact is evident from what Moses 
 says in the book of Exodus. He was eighty years 
 old when he demanded the liberation of his people, 
 and Aaron three years his senior ; this makes 
 eighty-three years. At that time the persecution 
 was at its height, and had begun some time before. 
 But when Moses was exposed his sister Miriam 
 must have been a young woman, for she is made 
 to watch the bulrush ark of her infant brother. 
 Suppose she was seventeen or eighteen ; therefore
 
 LECTURE XIII. 459 
 
 summing up all these portions of time, it is plain 
 that the oppression, which continued till the day 
 of the Exodus, must have continued, in the whole, 
 some few years more than a century. 
 
 Now if we put all these matters together, Mr. 
 Faber observes, we must come to the conclusion, 
 that the Shepherd invaders, and not the Pharaohs, 
 were the oppressors of the Israelites : that their 
 leader was the new king, who knew not Joseph ; 
 that it was he who persecuted both the Israelites 
 and the Egyptians. 
 
 This supposition alone, adds the same writer, 
 can explain an apparent contradiction in two pas- 
 sages of Deuteronomy xxiii. The first is contained 
 in the 3d, 4th, and 6th verses. " An Ammonite 
 or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation 
 of the Lord, even to their tenth generation shall 
 they not enter into the congregation of the Lord 
 for ever." And in the 6th verse, " Thou shalt not 
 seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days 
 for ever." 
 
 If we inquire into the cause of so much and eter- 
 nal hatred, we find it assigned in the 4<th verse. "Be- 
 cause they met you not with bread and with water 
 in the way when ye came forth out of Egypt, and 
 because they hired Balaam, the son of Beor, of 
 Pethor in Mesopotamia, to curse thee." 
 
 Now according to this command, an Ammonite 
 or Moabite was to be abominated for ever, because 
 they had ill-treated the Israelites, and had at- 
 tempted to persuade Balaam to curse them. I say
 
 460 LECTURE XI 11. 
 
 attempted, because the curse did not take place ; as 
 Balaam, instead of cursing, blessed them. But 
 still the very wish of having them cursed was a 
 sufficient reason for abominating an Ammonite or 
 a Moabite for ever. 
 
 But if we turn to the 8th verse, we find the fol- 
 lowing command ; " Thou shalt not abhor an 
 Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land. 
 The children that are begotten of them shall enter 
 into the congregation of the Lord in their third 
 generation." 
 
 If we consider attentively this passage, we can- 
 not but be struck with the contradiction it contains 
 in regard to the Moabites and the Ammonites ; for 
 these two nations are cursed for ever, because they 
 had ill-treated the Israelites ; while the Egyptians, 
 who had ill-treated them a thousand times more, 
 who had heaped upon them oppression over op- 
 pression, after a certain period were to be cherished 
 like brothers. But let history speak, and be rightly 
 explained, and every contradiction vanishes. Under 
 an imperfect dispensation, which required an eye 
 for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, the injuries of 
 Moab and Ammon were never to be forgotten ; 
 while on the other hand the fostering friendship of 
 the ever kind Egyptians was eternally to be remem- 
 bered and requited. 
 
 If then, the Hyk-shos were a nation different 
 from the Israelites, and if they were expelled at 
 the Exodus, the next question will be about the 
 time at which this event took place. On this head
 
 LECTURE XIII. 461 
 
 we have three different computations, the Hebrew 
 text, the Samaritan, and the Septuagint ; and I 
 hope you remember what was said about them in 
 our Lecture on Chronology, and the reasons which 
 have persuaded the best chronologists to adopt the 
 computation of the Septuagint. Mr. Faber how- 
 ever, prefers the chronology of the Samaritan text ; 
 and calculates the Exodus of the Israelites to have 
 happened about the year 1591. But with all pos- 
 sible deference to the judgment and superior ac- 
 quirements of the learned gentleman, I must beg 
 leave to differ from him. For the sake of refreshine: 
 your memory, I shall simply repeat, that, according 
 to the Hebrew text, Abraham was born 292 years 
 after the Flood, and consequently 2056 B.C. Ac- 
 cording to the Samaritan Pentateuch, he was born 
 942 years after the Flood, and consequently 1994 
 B.C. ; while according to the Septuagint version 
 this same Patriarch was born 1072 years after the 
 Flood, and consequently 2686 years B.C. 
 
 Therefore, according to the Hebrew text, the 
 Exodus took place in the year 805 after the Flood, 
 and 1543 B.C. ; according to the Samaritan Pen- 
 tateuch, in the year 1455 after the Flood, and 1481 
 years B.C. ; and according to the Septuagint, 
 1585 years after the Flood, and 2173 years B.C. 
 From this it follows, that according to the Hebrew 
 text, the first irruption of the Hyk-shos must have 
 taken place 294 years after the Flood ; according 
 to the Samaritan Pentateuch 1992 years B.C. ; 
 and according to the Septuagint at least 1074 years 
 after the Flood, or 2684 years B.C.
 
 462 LECTURE XJ[[. 
 
 Of these three computations I shewed you, in our 
 Lecture on Chronology, that the Septuagint reck- 
 oning is the most reasonable, and most generally 
 followed by the best chronologists and historians, 
 both Heathen and Christians ; and indeed it was 
 the only one known up to the beginning of the 
 second century of our era. 
 
 Having, therefore, estabhshed that the year 2173 
 
 B.C. is the year of the Exodus, I will endeavour 
 
 to find out, if possible, who was the Pharaoh that 
 
 reigned at the time of the Exodus, and perished 
 
 in the Red Sea, and who was the Pharaoh who 
 
 received Joseph, and a few years after Israel and 
 
 his children. This, after all, must be, as it is, a 
 
 question of chronology, and therefore you must 
 
 not be surprised at finding a difference of opinion 
 
 that is quite appalling. One thing, however, may 
 
 be assigned as certain, and that is, that the final 
 
 expulsion of the Shepherds, and the dehverance of 
 
 the Israelites, must absolutely have taken place 
 
 during the reign of the Pharaohs of the eighteenth 
 
 dynasty. This conclusion is evident from what 
 
 has been said, because, as the whole tyranny of the 
 
 Shepherd kings, from first to last, continued for 
 
 511 years, when they were finally expelled at the 
 
 Exodus,--as the first irruption of the Shepherds 
 
 happened under the reign of the Pharaoh Timaus, 
 
 the last sovereign of the sixteenth dynasty,— as they 
 
 continued to hold the sceptre of Egypt during the 
 
 whole of the seventeenth dynasty, for the space of 
 
 260 years,— as they, at the end of this period were 
 
 driven out by Thoutmosis, who was the chief of
 
 LECTURE XIII. 463 
 
 the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty, — and as the 
 princes of this eighteenth dynasty reigned over 
 Egypt for 348 years, it is evident that the remain- 
 ing 251 years must have expired during some of 
 the reigns of this dynasty. If we can therefore 
 ascertain the exact date of any one of these events, 
 we shall be able with ease to fix the chronology of 
 the rest ; for in the sum total sacred as well as 
 profane history coincide. In fact, we know upon 
 the authority of the sacred pages, that the Israel- 
 ites left Egypt after the lapse of 430 years, and 
 that this period is to be reckoned backward to the 
 time of Abraham, when that Patriarch had the 
 communication from God that his " seed should 
 continue a stranger in a land which was not theirs" 
 for that space of time. We also know that he was 
 at that time 85 years old. If therefore, we add 
 these two periods together, we have the total of 
 515 years, which differs from Manetho's account 
 only by six years ; and which probably may be the 
 six years of the reign of Timaus, at the end of 
 which he was put to death by the ruthless Shep- 
 herds. Therefore, whether we take the birth of 
 Abraham as the point of our calculation, or whether 
 we assume any of the other events which happened 
 from the birth of this patriarch to the Exodus, or 
 whether we follow the recital of Manetho, the re- 
 sult of our reckoning must necessarily be the same. 
 The only plan therefore, we are to pursue, is to 
 ascertain, first, the succession of the Pharaohs, 
 who reigned during the eighteenth dynasty, and
 
 4(54 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 this we have done in our last Lecture, page 424 ; 
 secondly, the length of each reign, which was at 
 that time equally specified ; it remains, therefore, 
 now to fix, if possible, the date when any one of 
 them began to reign. 
 
 Mr. Faber, who follows the chronology of the 
 Samaritan Pentateuch, fixes the first irruption of 
 the Shepherds at six years before the birth of 
 Abraham, that is, 300 years after the Dispersion ; 
 but, according to this computation, Abraham was 
 born 942 years after the Flood ; therefore, accord- 
 ing to Mr. Faber, the Shepherds first entered Egypt 
 936 years after the Flood, and, consequently, 
 about 2000 years before Christ. But we know, 
 that the first dwelling of the Shepherds in Egypt 
 was for 260 years ; therefore, their first expulsion 
 happened 1196 years after the Flood ; and, there- 
 fore, 1740 before Christ. We also know, that 
 they were expelled by Thoutmosis, the chief of 
 the eighteenth dynasty, and that from this expul- 
 sion to the Exodus, when they were again finally 
 expelled, elapsed 250 years. Now by computing 
 these 250 years through all the sovereigns who 
 reigned in Egypt, we find that they terminate at 
 the end of the reign of the Pharaoh Mandouei, 
 the thirteenth king of that dynasty ; therefore, 
 according to the reckoning of Mr. Faber, the 
 ' Exodus happened at the very end of the reign of 
 Mandouei, 1490 years B.C. 
 
 The same result, in regard to this Pharaoh, we 
 must have, whether we follow the chronology of
 
 LECTURE XIII. 465 
 
 the Hebrew text, or of the Septuagint ; because, as 
 we must in either case calculate 251 years down- 
 wards through the reigns of the several princes who 
 succeeded Thoutmosis, we must always terminate 
 our reckonings at the death of Mandou-ei. The only 
 difference will be, that, according to the Septua- 
 gint, this event took place 1605 years after the 
 Flood, and 2271 years B.C. ; while, following the 
 Hebrew text, this same event happened only 797 
 years after the Flood, and about 1483 B.C. But 
 they all do and must agree that it took place at 
 the death of the Pharaoh Mandou-ei. 
 
 Against this supposition the authority of Syn- 
 cellus may be adduced, who positively says that 
 the Exodus of the Israelites took place during the 
 reign of Misphragmuthosis, whom he describes as 
 the twelfth Pharaoh after Concharis, or Timaus. 
 Now as he reckons amongst these twelve princes 
 the six Shepherd kings, it is evident that, according 
 to his calculation, the Pharaoh Misphragmuthosis he 
 alludes to, is the sixth sovereign of the eighteenth 
 dynasty, who was also called Amenophis I. [[page 
 424^. But this is evidently an error ; for he quotes 
 in favour of his opinion the authority of Manetho. 
 Now we have seen that, according to that historian, 
 we must reckon 251 years from the first expulsion 
 of the Shepherds, by Thumosis, to the Exodus, and 
 the reign of Misphragmuthosis, as it is mentioned 
 by Syncellus, scarcely gives 120 years, and there- 
 fore he cannot possibly be the Pharaoh mentioned 
 by Moses. The reason why Syncellus commits this 
 
 H h
 
 466 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 mistake, is the consequence of an assertion which 
 he had made a Httle before, that the twenty-second 
 king of Egypt, whom he calls Ramessemeno, was 
 the first Pharaoh mentioned by Scripture, in whose 
 time Abraham visited Egy|:)t; he was therefore driven 
 by necessity to pitch upon Misphragmuthosis, as the 
 Pharaoh who reigned at the Exodus, because at 
 his time, according to his genealogy of the Egyp- 
 tian sovereigns, terminate the 430 years recorded 
 by Moses, since the communication made by God 
 to Abraham. 
 
 Another argument may be adduced to prove 
 this mistake of Syncellus. He says in another 
 place, that Joseph, after thirteen years slavery in 
 Egypt, at the age of thirty, was raised by the 
 Pharaoh Aphophis to be the governor of Egypt. 
 In looking over the list of the Pharaohs that he 
 himself mentions, the name of this Pharaoh Apho- 
 phis appears as the fourth sovereign of the Shepherd 
 kings ; by summing up the years of his reign with 
 those of his two successors, we have the sum of 
 140 years, and this calculation alone proves the 
 mistake of Syncellus ; for the period that inter- 
 venes between the expulsion of the Shepherds and 
 the appointment of Joseph, cannot possibly be more 
 than twenty-one or twenty-two years. 
 
 If you indulge me with a little attention, I will 
 make it clear to you. We know that the first 
 dweUing of the Shepherds in that country lasted 
 260, and that the whole sojourning of the Israelites 
 was 215, years. These two periods joined toge-
 
 LECTURE XIII. 4(>7 
 
 ther, make up the sum of 475 ; therefore, to com- 
 plete the 511 years mentioned by Manetho, we 
 want 36 ; this is the medial space that intervenes 
 between the first expulsion of the Shepherds and 
 the arrival of Jacob ; and these thirty-six years 
 may be thus divided. 
 
 From Genesis xxxvii. 2. we learn, that Joseph 
 was sold when he was seventeen years old, and was 
 full thirty when he stood before Pharaoh. He 
 had been, therefore, thirteen years in Egypt. Then 
 commenced the seven years of plenty ; and in the 
 second year of famine, when five years of famine 
 were yet unexpired, Jacob and his family emigrated 
 into Egypt, Genesis xlvi. Hence, at the period 
 of the emigration, Joseph had resided twenty-one 
 years in Egypt. But if we deduct these twenty- 
 one years from thirty-six, we shall have the resi- 
 due of fifteen years ; and this is the period that 
 elapsed between the expulsion of the Shepherds 
 and the selling of Joseph by the Midianites to 
 Potiphar. Now we know that these thirty-six 
 years must begin from the conquest of Egypt 
 made by the Pharaoh Thumosis. We also know 
 that his reign, from first to last, continued for 
 thirty years, Cpage 424]], some of which must 
 necessarily have been employed in the war with 
 these Shepherds ; therefore, these thirty-six years 
 must expire, either under the reign of Chebron, 
 son of Thumosis, or in the reign of his successor, 
 Amenophis ; and we shall see that this last is the 
 Pharaoh. 
 
 H h 2
 
 468 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 From the first expulsion of the Shepherds from 
 Avaris by Thumosis, to their finally leaving the 
 country, elapsed a period of 251 years. By sum- 
 ming up the reigns of the successors of this prince, 
 we find these 251 years terminate at the death of 
 the Pharaoh Mandouei, the thirteenth sovereign 
 of the eighteenth dynasty. But Thumosis employed 
 seven or eight years at least before he could expel 
 the Shepherds, and the arrival of Jacob took place 
 thirty-six years after ; by joining these two items 
 together, we have the sum of forty-four or forty- 
 three years, if not more. Now the united reigns 
 of Thumosis, and his son Chebron, amount to 
 forty-three years only ; therefore, the Pharaoh 
 who gave to Joseph the government of Egypt, 
 must have been Amenophis, the successor of 
 Chebron, whose name, perhaps by a mistake of 
 orthography, was changed into that of Aphophis, 
 and whose reign continued for twenty years. 
 From what has been said, I think I may conclude, 
 that the Pharaoh Mandouei was the Pharaoh who 
 occupied the throne of Egypt at the time of the 
 Exodus, and that the Pharaoh Amenophis I. was 
 the prince who protected Joseph. 
 
 This hypothesis I shall endeavour to establish 
 still more by the following considerations, and his- 
 torical facts. 
 
 On all Egyptian monuments which record the 
 victories of the different Pharaohs over the enemies 
 of their country, we always distinguish three seve- 
 ral and distinct sets of people, and they are the
 
 LECTURE XIII. 469 
 
 negroes, whose appearance, says M. Champollion, 
 can never be mistaken, for they appear in the same 
 costume, in which the negroes are invariably 
 painted on the royal monuments of Thebes, disco- 
 vered by Belzoni. Joined to these, there is another 
 set of people, invariably represented with red hair, 
 and blue eyes, wearing round their bodies ox- 
 hides, still rough and untanned, while their arms 
 and legs are tatooed. These barbarians, M. Cham- 
 pollion very properly remarks, are the celebrated 
 Shepherds, the Hyk-shos, who, issuing from Asia, 
 conquered and ruined Egypt, till the Pharaohs of the 
 eighteenth dynasty put an end to their depredations. 
 Besides these two nations, a third set of people 
 is to be met with, on almost all the Egyptian monu- 
 ments, represented with long and thick beards, 
 sometimes having their heads uncovered, at other 
 times wearing a species of bonnet, very large 
 towards the neck, but fastened at the top by a 
 circle, or diadem. They have also a sort of tippet, 
 which descends to their elbows, and covers the 
 whole bust. These, like the two nations above 
 mentioned, are very often to be met with on the 
 Egyptian monuments raised to the memory of the 
 Pharaohs of the eighteenth dynasty, and this cir- 
 cumstance alone justifies the supposition, which 
 their dress and manner must certainly suggest, of 
 their being the Israelites, the people who, next to 
 the Shepherds, brought desolation and ruin over 
 Egypt, and whose images, like those of the Hyk- 
 shos and the negroes, are never represented but
 
 470 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 in a state of dejection, bondage, or captivity. 
 In the beautiful collection of prints published by 
 the " Commission d'Egypt," and even in those 
 attached to the travels of Caillaud, there are many, 
 exhibiting them all prostrated and in chains, on 
 the footstools of the throne of the Pharaohs ; 
 some of them are to be seen amongst the ruins at 
 Sourien-Taoua, in Nubia, a monument which 
 bears a great deal of similarity to the Memnonium ; 
 and the figures are engraved round the lower part 
 of the columns which supported and adorned the 
 temple, just as Champollion mentions, in his first 
 letter to the Duke de Blacas, that he had observed 
 round the monument of the Pharaoh Horns, in 
 the Museum of Turin. Indeed, we have seen, in 
 a former Lecture, that such was the detestation 
 which the whole nation felt towards these indivi- 
 duals, that amongst the several collections of Egyp- 
 tian relics, very often we meet with shoes, painted 
 underneath with the figures of prisoners belonging 
 to each of the three above-mentioned people. Of 
 these specimens there are several in the different 
 cabinets of the learned ; and M. Caillaud, from all 
 accounts, possesses, perhaps, the most curious. 
 
 It might be said, that if the Shepherds, and 
 not the Egyptians, were the oppressors of the 
 Israelites, and if, according to the opinion of Mr. 
 Faber, the army of the former, and not of the 
 latter, perished in the Red Sea ; in short, if the 
 Egyptians were as cruelly treated by the Shep- 
 herds as the Israelites, why should the Egyptians
 
 LECTURE XIII. 471 
 
 shew so much detestation for the Israehtes, who, 
 after all, were the descendants and relations of 
 Joseph, of that very man who had conferred so 
 much benefit on their land, and whose memory 
 could never be forgotten ? To this objection it 
 may be answered that, according to the relation 
 of Manetho, the Israelites had called to their aid 
 the Hyk-shos, and the hardships which the Egyp- 
 tians underwent, during the time of their dwelling 
 in their land, were a strong and a sufficient reason 
 to make them share in the hatred which the Egyp- 
 tians felt for these destroyers of their country, even 
 if there had been no previous cause for detesting 
 them, which is not the case. For, in this respect, 
 the same story is told both by the Holy Bible and 
 Manetho. According to this historian, you remem- 
 ber, I hope, that the Shepherds held the throne of 
 Memphis, and for some time at least rendered 
 tributaries even the Pharaohs, who reigned at 
 Thebes, from the death of Timaus to their leaving 
 the country, by the victories of Thumosis, that is, 
 for the space of 260 years. During this time the 
 Shepherds practised every species of cruelty and 
 abomination throughout the land, and their beha- 
 viour certainly must have inspired the natives with 
 sentiments and feelings of horror and detestation 
 towards these barbarians. Now the same fact is 
 recorded by our sacred Scripture. At the time of 
 the descent of Israel into Egypt, we are informed 
 in the book of Genesis, that Joseph instructed his 
 brethren how they should answer Pharaoh. '* And
 
 472 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, 
 and shall say, what is your occupation ? that you 
 shall say, thy servants' trade hath been about cattle 
 from our youth even until now, both we and also 
 our fathers : that you may dwell in the land of 
 Goshen ; for every shepherd is an abomination 
 nnto the Egyptians" 
 
 If then the Egyptians felt such a dislike to 
 the very trade of a shepherd, as to require some 
 management on the part of Joseph, notwithstand- 
 ing his great power at the court of Pharaoh, 
 to obtain for his father and brothers the land of 
 Goshen, it is clear that this feeling must have had 
 an origin and a cause ; and Manetho tells us, that 
 this cause was the tyrannical treatment which the 
 Egyptians had received at the hands of the Shep- 
 herds. 
 
 I see, therefore, according to the relation of 
 Manetho, not the sHghtest reason why the Israel- 
 ites, who had called the Shepherds to their aid, 
 should not be equally detested as their allies ; for 
 these allies were the sworn enemies of the Egyp- 
 tians, the mockers of their religion, and the destroy- 
 ers of their land. 
 
 But again, it may be insisted upon, that the 
 figures of the people whom we take to be the 
 Israehtes, may, after all, represent the Assyrians, 
 the Persians, or any other warlike nation who had 
 attacked Egypt, for the costume of these prisoners, 
 as far as we know, may belong to any one of these 
 nations, whose mode of worship was as different
 
 LECTURE XIII. 473 
 
 as that of the Israehtes from the rehgion of the 
 Egyptians. Then* representing the Israehtes, 
 therefore, is but a supposition ; for, amongst the 
 several inscriptions found on the different temples 
 throughout Egypt, there is no monument which 
 records their departure, or even their dwelling in 
 the land. 
 
 To this objection it may be answered, that 
 although we have no monument or inscription 
 which records the sojourning and departure of the 
 Israelites from Egypt, these facts are mentioned 
 with a great deal of precision and minuteness by 
 Manetho, whose account explains many passages of 
 the Bible, of which no one can otherwise see the 
 reason ; and that historian, by fixing the date of 
 the first and second irruption of the Shepherds, 
 when they came to the assistance of the Israelites 
 does in fact empower us to suppose that the images 
 of the prisoners whom we take to be the descend- 
 ants of Jacob, were in fact the representations of 
 these people ; because the monuments on w^hich 
 they appear are unquestionably the production of 
 times much posterior to the first years of the descent 
 of Israel. 
 
 To this powerful reason it may be added, that the 
 monuments which we have as yet derived from Egypt 
 are, comparatively speaking, so few, as to prevent 
 us from asserting with certainty that there are not 
 others from which the information required may 
 be obtained. The difficulties which European tra- 
 vellers have encountered in their attempts to col-
 
 474 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 lect the little they have discovered, are well 
 known to those who have perused their jour- 
 nals ; and the national jealousy which most if 
 not all of them felt against the success of others 
 who were not their countrymen, has been, per- 
 haps, the greatest and most humiliating feature 
 in this distressing picture. It was the principal 
 cause of the failure of the indefatigable Belzoni ; 
 of the delay which Dr. Young experienced in ob- 
 taining a copy of the inscription found at Menouf ; 
 and of the trouble which most travellers have been 
 obliged to take, and of which they most bitterly 
 complain. 
 
 The absence therefore of historical monuments 
 which commemorate any of the events attached 
 to the sojourning and departure of the Israelites 
 from Egypt, can never be considered as a con- 
 clusive evidence of their non-existence. They 
 may still make their appearance, and the indefatig- 
 able and well-directed exertions of M. Champollion, 
 who is now on the spot, at the head of two com- 
 missions expressly sent to dig, collect, and acquire 
 any and every valuable remains of Egyptian anti- 
 quities, make me hope that the epoch is not far 
 distant when the full knowledge of every thing 
 connected with the history and customs of the old 
 Egyptians will no longer be withheld from our 
 scholars. Some valuable information has been 
 already obtained from the collections which the 
 several travellers have made. That of M. Cail- 
 laud possesses some curious specimens of almost
 
 LECTURE XIII. 475 
 
 every article of dress, several of furniture, differ- 
 ent utensils, cloth, musical instruments, and strings, 
 combs, looking-glasses, baskets, and what perhaps 
 will surprise you to hear, as much as it surprised me 
 to learn, is, that the custom of wearing wigs and 
 false hair was by no means uncommon amongst the 
 Egyptians. 
 
 But we must return to our subject, and try whe- 
 ther, amongst the monuments and insciiptions we 
 have, we can find any that have some reference 
 to the Israelites and the Hyk-shos. 
 
 Amongst the Egyptian antiquities existing in the 
 Museum of Turin, the indefatigable Champollion, 
 in his first letter to the Due de Blacas, mentions 
 one which appears to me to deserve our attention, 
 as it exhibits a fact, the explanation of which is 
 rather difficult and puzzling. 
 
 You remember that in the elevation of the cele- 
 brated palace of Karnac, the remains of a much 
 older building had been preserved, so as to form a 
 whole with the new edifice. On these remains there 
 are various hieroglyphical legends, and one in par- 
 ticular, which is often repeated. It consists, as usual, 
 of two ovals, [[Table 11. fig. 3. a and hr\ the first 
 exhibiting the praenomen, or mystic titles, and the 
 second the name of one of the Pharaohs. The mean- 
 ing of which is, " King of the obedient people, the 
 sun, guardian of the worlds, loving Ammon, son of 
 the sun, beloved (or chosen) by Phtha, Maiidoii-ei" 
 
 Of this inscription I suppose you will now be 
 able to decypher most of the characters. I will
 
 47G LECTURE XIII. 
 
 therefore mention only those which, being symbo- 
 Hg, may present some difficulty. In the oval «, 
 the external phonetic hieroglyphics express the 
 usual title common to all monarchs, '' King of the 
 obedient people ;" and amongst the internal, we see 
 first the circle, which is the symbol of the god 
 Phre, or the Sun, and the post with a jackal's head, 
 the symbol of a guardian, then follows the beetle, 
 as the symbol of the world, and the three dots, 
 which are the mark of the plural number, and 
 therefore of the three divisions of Egypt, or the 
 Egyptian world ; and the pedestal, an M, preceding 
 the phonetic name of Amnion, (page 183,) means, 
 loving Ammon. In the oval h, the external cha- 
 racters signify, as usual, son of the sun ; and of the 
 internal, the first three are the phonetic hierogly- 
 phics of the god Phtha, (page 129,) and of the last 
 two, the parallelogram stands for M, and means Met, 
 or Mai, that is, loved ; the undulating line is an N, 
 and means of, or hj. Among the middle characters 
 we have, first, the symbolico-figurative hieroglyphic 
 of the god Mandou, and the two feathers, which 
 are phonetic, and stand for I, or EI. 
 
 This Pharaoh Mandou-ei, is the Osymandias of 
 the Greeks ; the great conqueror whose magnifi- 
 cent tomb contained a voluminous library, and 
 exhibited the sculpture of the campaigns of this 
 prince against the Bactrians ; Diodorus Siculus, 
 who gives a minute description of this superb build- 
 ing, speaks of it from the information he had col- 
 lected from the Egyptian annals, when he visited
 
 LECTURE XUI. 477 
 
 that country ; for the whole had disappeared. 
 This of course must have been the effect of violence. 
 The hand of time alone could not produce its anni- 
 hilation. Time has been forced to respect, in 
 Egypt, buildings less solid than this. But the 
 curious circumstance to which I wish to call your 
 attention is, that in all the legends of the Pharaoh 
 Mandou-ei, the image of the god Mandou has been 
 hammered away, and entirely cancelled. Even on 
 the colossus of this prince, now existing in the 
 Museum of Turin, and on which the name of 
 this Pharaoh is repeated seven times, the same 
 mutilation is observed : and the gentlemen who 
 formed the commission of Egypt have also been 
 obliged to publish, in the description of that 
 country, the name of this prince, more or less 
 mutilated in the two syllables which made the 
 word Mandou, that is, they saw that in that place 
 there was a hieroglyphic representing something 
 like a sitting figure, which had been so defaced 
 as not to allow them to discover that it had the 
 head of a hawk, with two small feathers, or tufts. 
 The same is observed in the colossus of this Pha- 
 raoh, in the British Museum. 
 
 This mutilation is much too general to suppose 
 it the effect of chance. The cry of the whole na- 
 tion can alone explain the striking phenomenon. 
 History has in fact preserved accounts of some of 
 these terrible judgments passed by the people on 
 some of their sovereigns. We know the decree which 
 was enacted against the founder himself of the
 
 478 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 Egyptian monarchy, and the total abohtion of the 
 honours once paid to him ; we read, not without 
 shuddering, the very words of the malediction and 
 curses poured on and inscribed against the very 
 name of Menes, within the sacred precincts of the 
 temples ; and every scholar remembers in what 
 degree of horror were held even those of Cheops 
 and Chephrenes. We have then reason to suppose 
 that something of the same sort was decreed 
 against the Pharaoh Mcmclou-ei, and that the 
 proscription of his memory was the cause of the 
 mutilation. But then we should be inclined to ask, 
 why so much hatred against a sovereign whose 
 victories had extended their empire, and added 
 new lustre to the annals of his reign, and adorned 
 the capital, and indeed the whole of the country, 
 with splendid and magnificent buildings ? 
 
 M. Champollion, in noticing this extraordinary 
 mutilation, leaves it in doubt whether this animad- 
 version was directed against the Pharaoh, or the 
 god Mandou ; and after analysing this question in 
 all its bearings, with that diffidence which at all 
 times is the greatest characteristic of talent and 
 learning, concludes the examination with the well- 
 known saying, 
 
 Non nostrum tantas componere lites. 
 
 Perhaps after this confession of such a man as 
 Champollion, I ought to imitate his example, and 
 let this monument alone ; for the motto with 
 which he concludes his observations may, with 
 
 1
 
 LECTURE XIII. 479 
 
 greater reason, be repeated by me. I must, there- 
 fore, request you will acquit me of presumption, if 
 I venture to state some circumstances connected 
 with this extraordinary mutilation of the name of 
 Mandou, by which, perhaps, it may appear not 
 unreasonable to suppose, that this mutilation was 
 the effect of national indignation against the Pha- 
 raoh himself, not entirely unconnected with the 
 Exodus of the Israelites. 
 
 In the first place, I ought to observe, that amongst 
 the Pharaohs of the different dynasties, we find only 
 three whose names were either entirely or in part 
 made by that of the god Mandou. The first is the 
 Pharaoh Mandou-ei, or Osymandias I. [|fig. 3.^ which 
 I have just mentioned. He was the chief of the six- 
 teenth dynasty. His historical name and mystic 
 titles we have already explained, and therefore I 
 pass on to the second Pharaoh, who bore the name 
 of Mandou-ei. He is the Achencheres of Manetho. 
 He was the thirteenth sovereign of the eighteenth 
 dynasty, as we saw in a former Lecture, page 424, 
 and lived, in round numbers, nearly seven centu- 
 turies after the first. His historical name and 
 mystic titles are exhibited in Table 1 1 . fig. 2. « and 
 h. The external hieroglyphics at the top of each 
 oval are the same with those in fig. 3. exhibiting 
 the legend of Mandou-ei I. ; therefore, their mean- 
 ing is, " King of the obedient people, and son of 
 the sun." Equally the same are the characters in 
 the oval h, which mean, " beloved by Phtha Man- 
 dou-ei." But those in the first ovala are different.
 
 480 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 for they exhibit the symbol of the god Phre, and 
 the figure of the goddess Sme, joined to the paral- 
 lelogram, which is an abbreviation of Mei, and 
 therefore means, " beloved by Phre and Sme." It 
 is by this difference in the mystic titles that we 
 discover, that though these two Pharaohs bore the 
 same name of Mandou-ei, yet they are two distinct 
 sovereigns, belonging to different dynasties. 
 
 The third Pharaoh, whose name composed that 
 of the god Mandou, is Mandoiiftep. He was 
 the chief of the twenty-first dynasty, and lived 
 four centuries after Mandou-ei II. ; and his name 
 appears on a very interesting monument, which 
 M. Champolhon, in his second letter to the Due 
 de Blacas, styles " un precieux modele de sculp- 
 ture Egyptienne." On this monument there is 
 a long inscription in hieroglyphics, consisting of 
 fifteen long lines ; the first and second of which 
 exhibit, among other characters, the oval, contain- 
 ing some of his titles, and his historical name. 
 CTable 11. fig. 4.;] 
 
 Of the four external characters you have the 
 regular import ; " King of the obedient people." 
 The first two pictures in the oval, the goose and 
 the circle, are phonetic characters, and mean, " son 
 of the sun ;" and of the remaining signs the paral- 
 lelogram is an M, the undulating line an N, the 
 tongs a D, the bird an O, or U, the next sign an F, 
 the half-circle a T, and the square a P ; spelling 
 all together Mandouftep, which is a compound of 
 Mandou, the name of the god, and te}^, or tef.
 
 LECTURE XIIL 481 
 
 which means sacred, or devoted ; so that the whole 
 means, " sacred to the god Mandou." 
 
 From these facts, therefore, it appears to me, 
 that the mutilation of the hieroglyphics, whether 
 figurative, symbolical, or phonetic, expressing the 
 name of Mandou, cannot be applied to the god 
 himself, nor to the Pharaoh Mandouftep, because, 
 if this had been the case, we should have found 
 the same mutilation on the monument I have just 
 described, which, being of an important and reli- 
 gious character, was very proper to be selected as 
 a fit object for this national animadversion. Upon 
 these considerations, we may reasonably conclude 
 that this mark of reproach was directed against 
 one of the predecessors of Mandouftep ; and we 
 must therefore endeavour, if possible, to ascertain 
 whether it was against Mandou-ei I. or Man- 
 dou-ei II. 
 
 According to my view of the subject, I should 
 suppose him to have been Mandou-ei II. Because, 
 if public indignation had been roused against the 
 first Mandou-ei, it would have been expressed 
 against him, and him only, and not extended to 
 his innocent successor; and therefore we should 
 expect to find the name of this latter respected 
 and intact on those monuments which were either 
 raised by his order, or to his memory, just as we 
 have seen the monument of the Pharaoh Man- 
 douftep. Because it is not likely that national 
 hatred would have continued unabated for the 
 space of seven centuries, and been shewn against 
 
 I i
 
 482 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 Mandou-ei the Second, merely because he hap- 
 pened to bear the name of his detested predeces- 
 sor. But this is not the case ; for we find even 
 the name of this second Mandou-ei to have under- 
 gone the same mutilation. In the obelisk which 
 some of the Caesars had removed to Rome, and 
 Pope Sixtus V. had caused to be placed before the 
 Porta del Popolo, the figurative character of Man- 
 dou has been equally cancelled in the name of 
 this prince, and the inscriptions of the Sallustian 
 obelisk, which are but an indifferent copy, made 
 by a Roman artist, of the beautiful sacred inscrip- 
 tions engraved on the Flammian, exhibit the hiero- 
 glyphical character of Mandou, disfigured, and 
 almost erased ; and in fact where this character was, 
 there is a hollow more strongly marked than for 
 any of the remaining signs. 
 
 This is a very curious and important fact, which, 
 according to my opinion, proves that the disfiguring 
 and mutilation of the figurative signs of Mandou, 
 must have been posterior to the reign of Man- 
 dou-ei I., and anterior to that of Mandouftep. 
 
 But it may be objected, if Mandou-ei II. had 
 been the Pharaoh who had excited the indignation 
 of his subjects, why should they have exhibited 
 the same feeling of indignation, and mutilated the 
 hieroglyphical inscriptions bearing the name of his 
 predecessor Mandou-ei I., who had been dead seven 
 centuries before ? To this objection it may be 
 answered, that popular fury and popular resent- 
 ment is blind and uncontrolable ; and we have no
 
 LECTURE Xlll. 483 
 
 reason to suppose the Egyptians to have been more 
 reasonable and more scrutinizing than the rest of 
 mankind. If the Pharaoh Mandou-ei II. had really 
 given to his people a sufficient cause to detest his 
 memory, and to erase even his name from the mo- 
 numents on which it had been engraved, it is by 
 no means improbable, nor indeed contrary to our 
 nature, to suppose, that in consequence of their 
 resentment and vengeance, the Egyptians had 
 wished to expunge from their annals, and in fact 
 totally annihilated, the very name of the detested 
 Pharaoh, so that on no public monument should 
 be found the figurative signs which might renew 
 the memory of his name. This very violence of 
 popular fury may lead us to suspect that the cause 
 which produced it must have been very great ; and 
 as we know nothing so remarkable that happened 
 during the reign of this prince as the Exodus of 
 the Israelites, and the expulsion of the Hyk-shos, 
 it is not improbable that this cause had been fur- 
 nished by the Israelites themselves. 
 
 Against this supposition it may be urged, that 
 if, according to the hypothesis of Mr. Faber, the 
 Shepherds had been the oppressors of the Egyp- 
 tians, as well as of the Israelites, why should these 
 latter share with their oppressors the hatred of the 
 people ? Under these circumstances, it seems that 
 both the Egyptians and the Israelites would have 
 made common cause, and joined heart and hand 
 against their tyrants ; but they never would have 
 thought of turning their strength against one 
 
 I i 2
 
 484. LECTURE XIII. 
 
 another, for it would have been the greatest folly 
 to destroy their friends and fellow-sufferers : and if 
 so, why should the Egyptians have manifested on 
 their monuments towards the Israelites, the same 
 hatred which they bore towards the Shepherds ? 
 and, therefore, why should we find the Israelites 
 exhibited in the same abject and humiliating pos- 
 ture as the Shepherds, and why should their images 
 have been drawn upon the soles of the shoes of the 
 Egyptians ? 
 
 This objection is more specious than just. You 
 remember that, according to Manetho, the Israel- 
 ites called to their assistance the expelled Shep- 
 herds ; and though afterwards they might have 
 become the victims and the slaves of their allies, 
 still the Egyptians could never forget that their 
 own sufferings were the consequence of this first 
 step of the Israelites. This consideration alone 
 was sufficient to stifle in their hearts every feeling 
 of compassion for their fellow-sufferers, and even 
 persuade the Egyptians to extend to them the 
 indignation they felt towards their oppressors ; for 
 in point of fact, the Israelities had been the first 
 and only cause that had brought on the land of 
 Egypt and its wretched inhabitants, the devasta- 
 tion and misery produced by the second incursion 
 of the Shepherds. 
 
 To this powerful reason another might have 
 been added, arising from the vanity of the Pha- 
 raohs, or the flattery of the courtiers, who, perhaps, 
 joined the Israelites to the conquered enemies of
 
 LECTURE XIII. 485 
 
 their country for the sake of giving a greater degree 
 of splendour to the victories, the memory of which 
 their monuments were intended to preserve. 
 
 But, it may be repHed, admitting that the na- 
 tional indignation towards the Shepherds might 
 have been extended to the Israelites for having 
 invited them to come to their assistance; and 
 admitting that the Exodus of these latter took 
 place under the reign of Mandou-ei II. there is no 
 possible reason to account for the hatred which 
 the Egyptians exhibited against this prince, who, 
 after all, had nothing to do with the Shepherds ; 
 because, if these had been the oppressors of the 
 Egyptians, as well as of the Israelites, so as to 
 excite the wrath of the Almighty, who overpowered 
 them at last in the Red Sea, no cause can be 
 assigned for the indignation of the people against 
 the Pharaoh Mandou-ei ; for he either had no share 
 whatever in the transaction, or must have directed 
 his exertions in favour of his subjects, and against 
 the common enemies of his country. We must, 
 therefore, conclude, that either the Exodus of the 
 Israelites did not take place during the reign of 
 this prince, or that the cause which prompted the 
 Egyptians to erase the name of this Pharaoh from 
 the monuments, had no connexion whatever with 
 the Israelites. 
 
 I am obliged to acknowledge the force of this 
 difficulty ; the only one, in fact, which appears to 
 overturn the supposition of the Shepherd kings 
 being the oppressors of the Israelites, and their
 
 486 LECTURE XIH. 
 
 monarch the Pharaoh who was drowned in the 
 Red Sea ; for, admitting that the hatred of the 
 Egyptians against the name of Mandou had been 
 directed, not against the god, but against the 
 Pharaoh, we are at a loss to accomit for so much 
 national indignation, but by the simple supposition 
 that he was the monarch who had brought upon 
 his people the evils recorded in Scripture, and had 
 been the leader of the army that perished in the 
 Red Sea. 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, so gi'eat an objec- 
 tion, we ought to consider that we know so little 
 of the Egyptian history of this period, and that 
 little from the fragments of Manetho ; these have 
 not reached us entire, but much mutilated and 
 altered by his antagonists, who quoted him for the 
 sake of proving, contrary to his own assertions, 
 that the Hyk-shos were no other than the Jews. 
 We must, therefore, pause before we lay aside 
 the mass of evidence and facts which I have de- 
 tailed to you merely because we cannot account 
 for the expression of national indignation which 
 the Egyptians had manifested against Mandou-ei II. 
 But whether we deny or admit the supposition in 
 regard to the mutilation of characters which I 
 have just mentioned ; that is, whether we deny or 
 admit that the king of the Hyk-shos, and not the 
 monarch of Egypt, was the Pharaoh who was 
 drowned in the Red Sea ; the validity of the com- 
 putation which fixes on the reign of the Pharaoh 
 Mandou-ei II. as the era in which the Exodus took
 
 LECTURE XIII. 487 
 
 place, remains equally unaffected and established ; 
 for the account we have from Manetho, mutilated 
 as it is, has been acknowledged to be true by the 
 most accredited historians ; and we must, as far as 
 it goes, consider it as a true and faithful represen- 
 tation of the events that happened at the time. 
 The Egyptian monuments also command our be- 
 lief; their authority and genuineness are undenia- 
 ble ; they, as well as their historian, explain events, 
 and account for facts which are either shortly 
 related by, or merely hinted at, in the sacred books 
 of Genesis and Exodus. How, then, is it possible 
 to reject such a mass of direct as well as collateral 
 evidence which presses upon our minds ? 
 
 The question, after all, is a simple question of 
 chronology, resting upon data which are generally 
 admitted. We have but to count 430 years from 
 Abraham first visiting Egypt to the Exodus, and 
 compare the result with the statement of Mane- 
 tho, from the first irruption of the Shepherds, to 
 their final expulsion. And whether we follow 
 the reckoning of the Hebrew text, or of the 
 Septuagint, I do not see how we can deny that the 
 Pharaoh Amenophis was the prince who admitted 
 Israel and his family into Egypt. This being the 
 case, we have but to reckon 215 years from this 
 period downwards, through the whole series of 
 the princes who succeeded Amenophis, and the 
 consequence is undeniable ; for these 215 years 
 terminate at the time of the Pharaoh Mandou-ei. 
 
 Perhaps the monuments will, ere long, supply 
 10
 
 488 LECTURE XIH. 
 
 the deficiency of history ; and this inquiry, which is 
 at present surrounded with so much difficulty, will 
 then appear simple and clear, even to the most in- 
 attentive reader. For one thing, however, I may 
 be permitted to express my regret, and that is, that 
 the luckless fate which has attended many of my 
 pursuits, has still, on this occasion, exercised its 
 malignant influence. I had ventured to write on 
 this subject to ChampoUion ; and that amiable 
 scholar, with the readiness that always accompa- 
 nies high talent and real knowledge, had been kind 
 enough to collect for me some important mate- 
 rials in answer to the questions that I had put to 
 him. But my evil genius was still on the watch ; 
 the friend I had commissioned, to obtain Cham- 
 poUion's answer, not happening to call at the mo- 
 ment, ChampoUion, in the hurry and confusion of 
 his departure for Egypt, forgot both my questions 
 and his answers, and the valuable information never 
 reached me. Notwithstanding, however, such a 
 loss, wishing to gratify the repeated instances of 
 my friends, I have endeavoured, to the best of my 
 power, to collect and to state as shortly as I could, 
 what has been written, and what my thoughts are 
 on this most interesting point of ancient history ; 
 a point which hitherto has baffled the efforts of 
 men much my superiors in regard to natural talent, 
 and solid and extensive knowledge. 
 
 With this inquiry we close, for the present, our 
 Lectures on hieroglyphics. On this curious sub- 
 ject more still remains to be said ; and I am sorry
 
 LECTURE XIII. 489 
 
 that want of time does not permit me to read to 
 you three or four more Lectures, which I have 
 already compiled. They will supply us with some 
 of the materials for our next course. I shall then 
 exhibit to you the alphabet of the demotic as well 
 as hieratic letters; and explain the method dis- 
 covered by Champolhon, how the Egyptians turned 
 hieroglyphic into demotic characters. I have also 
 to offer to your consideration, in a more regular 
 and detailed form, what I said in the very first 
 year of my lecturing, and which I have occasion- 
 ally repeated in my subsequent courses concerning 
 the mysteries of Isis ; the doctrines which they 
 inculcated ; the trials of the aspirants ; the length 
 of their probation ; and the mode which was pur- 
 sued by the priesthood to ensure the inviolability 
 of the secret. This account will lead us to the 
 investigation of another subject equally connected 
 with hieroglyphics, and extremely interesting in its 
 nature; — I mean, the origin of idolatry : and if the 
 multiplicity of my avocations allows me sufficient 
 leisure, I mean to turn my attention to the table 
 of Abydos, and dedicate one or more Lectures to 
 explain its contents. 
 
 But before we part, for the sake of those whom 
 I see here for the last time, and who perhaps will 
 continue to pursue the study of hieroglyphics and 
 Egyptian antiquities, I think it necessary to warn 
 you all never to form too hasty a judgment in 
 regard to any real or apparent discrepancy which 
 you may find between the Egyptian monuments.
 
 490 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 and the venerable account of our sacred Scriptures. 
 I warn you still more against the perusal of those 
 books which tend to shake our belief, by attacking 
 the veracity of the Mosaic account, at least, until 
 your judgment has acquired a proper degree of ma- 
 turity, and your mind has been sufhciently stored with 
 proper and wholesome knowledge. From decidedly 
 immoral books I know you will turn away with 
 disgust ; and I even hope that you will immediately 
 lay aside those which, under the alluring colours 
 of fashion, have the same tendency. The descrip- 
 tion of vice and immorality can never occupy the 
 mind of a well-bred scholar ; their images, not- 
 withstanding the high pohsh of language, are too 
 coarse to fix for a moment the attention of a gen- 
 tleman. It is not against these books that I am 
 talking : my warning is directed towards another 
 and more dangerous sort of pubhcations, which 
 mislead the unwary by the imposing name of phi- 
 losophy, which discuss subjects above the capacity 
 of the human mind ; which go on carefully collect- 
 ing every little discrepancy, every minute difference 
 that can be found or imagined in the several books 
 of the sacred writings, for the sake of attacking 
 the veracity of the whole, and bringing into con- 
 tempt the authority of the Gospel. 
 
 Against these books, I repeat it, I can never 
 sufficiently warn you. The difference, however 
 striking, that can be found in the account of the 
 circumstances attending any fact, believe me, is 
 not a sufficient reason for disbelieving that fact.
 
 LECTURE XIII. 491 
 
 Sound criticism and a more extensive reading will 
 soon reconcile these apparent contradictions. The 
 best authenticated histories are full of them ; and 
 yet most of these histories are the productions of 
 eye-witnesses ; of men who had a share in the 
 transactions they relate ; of pious and honourable 
 individuals, who had neither a wish nor a reason 
 to conceal the truth, and most of them men of 
 great mental acquirements, and in every respect 
 fitted to do ample justice to then: subject; and 
 yet what a difference in the relations of these his- 
 torians ! Sometimes, even, what manifest contra- 
 dictions ! Do we then say, that what they relate 
 is false ? Do we disbelieve their recitals, and dis- 
 regard the whole as a tissue of fables ? And yet 
 this is precisely the mode that these pretended 
 philosophers adopt, when they speak of the Chris- 
 tian rehgion. They wish to extinguish the hght 
 of the Gospel, for the sake of introducing the light 
 of reason. Light of reason indeed ! In our Lec- 
 ture on the origin of idolatry, you will hear into 
 what a dreadful state this boasted light of our reason 
 led the whole of mankind, previous to the publica- 
 tion of the Gospel. You will then see the excesses 
 which all nations have committed; the terrible 
 and disgusting consequences which have followed 
 the aberration of human reason. - From the his- 
 torical picture which I shall then endeavour to 
 draw ; from the short account of the religious revo- 
 lutions which have happened amongst all nations ; 
 from the brief examination we shall make of all
 
 492 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 ages ; we shall only learn the history of our errors, 
 of our follies, and of our abominations. In one 
 corner of the universe, one single nation, one peo- 
 ple alone possessed sure and proper notions of the 
 Supreme Being, and of the moral duties belonging 
 to man. Every where else we shall find stupidity, 
 wanderings, and darkness. It is true, that in their 
 origin the mysteries of Isis might have been esta- 
 blished for the sake of preserving the right idea of 
 the Deity ; for the sake of transmitting to posterity 
 the memory of those events which so deeply in- 
 terested the fate of man : but in progress of time 
 even these mysteries became polluted, corrupt, and 
 abominable. The priests of Egypt, as they be- 
 came, in point of time, the distant successors of 
 the primitive Hierophantes, were no longer the 
 preservers and vouchers of truth, but the teachers 
 of fable, and the heralds of absurdity. The true 
 God, the God of all nations, was forgotten, or mis- 
 represented ; his indivisible and unchangeable es- 
 sence was divided amongst as many dependent and 
 changeable gods as there were upon earth and in 
 the heavens creatures whom he himself had cre- 
 ated. The most extraordinary deities, both male 
 and female, had taken the place of the most per- 
 fect of all Beings ; men paid divine honours to 
 animals, to the ox, to the dog, to the cat, and the 
 crocodile ; incense was offered by the cunning or 
 deluded priesthood, to the sun, the moon, the 
 stars, and the earth ; and a great portion of man- 
 kind paid adoration and homage to senseless trees.
 
 LECTURE XIII. 493 
 
 and even to the offensive onions ; the empty names 
 of fortune and fear, the worst passions of our na- 
 ture, were deified ; and a whole host of wise men, 
 at the head of their respective nations, were seen 
 on their knees before grotesque figures, which 
 perhaps the artist himself had ridiculed whilst he 
 was working them, but which he himself adored 
 after they were finished. Our own forefathers 
 prostrated before hideous and shameless images ; 
 heroes consulting the feeding of chickens ; the 
 flight of birds striking terror into the hearts of the 
 bravest ; and every where infamous worship, im- 
 pure offerings, gods stained with the most foul 
 crimes, cruel sacrifices, human victims, vice on the 
 altars, pollution in the temples, and the hearts of 
 men possessed by the vilest passions, which, in the 
 present state of social civihzation, and by the light 
 of the Gospel, we can scarcely believe possible to 
 belong to our nature. Indeed, if there be one 
 benefit greater than another, for which we ought 
 to be truly thankful, it is undoubtedly that of being 
 born under the Christian dispensation. 
 
 THE END.
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 PAOB.I.INE. 
 
 3 2\/or Pilgrim read Pilgrimes 
 
 16 24 — Ptolomies read Ptolemies 
 
 18 14 — Tsaky read Tape 
 
 78 31 — fig. 1. read fig. 3. 
 
 88 21 — fig. 25. and 26. read fig. 26. and 27. 
 
 — 27 — fig. 26. read fig. 27. 
 
 — 29 — fig. 25. rearf fig. 26. 
 110 9 — Amouse reflrf Amonse 
 112 86 — Table 2. read Table 3. 
 127 1 — Emon read Amon 
 132 1 — fig. 2. read fig. n. 
 
 151 2 — Agyptischeii read .^gyptischen 
 
 — 4 — Baacliraan read Bachman 
 
 — 1 1 — Tme read Same 
 
 PAOS. LINB- 
 
 181 6/or ranis read mai 
 
 213 1 — Lugsor rearf Louqsor 
 
 235 12 — Exprimant reflfZexprimunt 
 
 2t9 11 — This Almanack was readTh'is Al- 
 
 manak [Table 10] was 
 
 283 19 — nuoe read noue 
 338 Myara read Mysara 
 
 355 4 — No/uoi read Nojuor 
 
 — 7 ^ Nome read Nomes 
 
 357 24 — Psammeitus read Psammeticus 
 
 377 2 — second read first 
 
 439 13 — have been decyphered read have 
 
 been afterwards decyphered. 
 
 479 31 •- ovala read oval
 
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