fection as to make them the models of all succeeding ages, that we begin to desire to be acquainted with their history; and these very arts, and this very literature, convey to us all that we wish to know in respect to it.

It is far otherwise with Egypt. On visiting that country, the traveller meets in every direction with the most stupendous monuments; obelisks aspiring to the skies; pyramids destined to last while the world shall endure; temples, on whose platforms populous villages are erected, and whose walls are loaded with the most elaborate sculpture; palaces extensive as modern cities; and tombs, vast as temples, excavated in the living rock. Yet, if he should ask by whom these monuments have been executed-for whom these magnificent sculptures were prepared?-no answer can be given him: not only has the tradition of the country itself long ceased to recount their story, but the oldest records of the historian furnish little precise information. Yet, as if still farther to tantalize us, every edifice is crowded with figures, admitted on all hands to be a written language: manuscripts in the same character are daily found, of the greatest beauty and in the most perfect preservation; and the very persons who bore a part in the transactions of the period to which our excited imagination is thus directed, stand before us in the flesh, fresh and unimpaired as on the day of their decease, and enclosed in coffins, embellished with the undecyphered history of their lineage, their name, and their exploits.

Such at least was the state of things before our author commenced his career of discovery. But he has at last raised the veil that shrouded the annals of ancient Egypt. Some steps, and those not unnecessary as preliminaries, had been previously or contemporaneously made by others; but the last and most valuable remained to be effected by him. It consists in the simple, but all-important fact, that the greater part of the symbols of hieroglyphic writing are strictly and truly alphabetic; and this discovery, although at first sight so improbable, and so contrary to all views heretofore entertained on the subject, is at last admitted as true by all competent judges; and is in the work before us supported by such a convincing chain, both of analytic and synthetic demonstration, as to leave in our minds no doubt of its reality. In order to impart our convictions to our readers, we shall enter into a brief and general statement of the external characters and specific objects of this species of writing.

The hieroglyphic characters of the ancient Egyptians have this remarkable distinction from the alphabetic writings of the present day,—namely, that they all, without exception, represent some physical object, designed with a greater or less degree of accuracy, and which are in all cases as easily distinguishable as can be well expected, by those who, from the remoteness of the

era, have such imperfect acquaintance with the manners and customs of the people that traced them. Upon a close examination, it will be seen, that no nation has ever possessed a mode of writing so varied in its signs, and at the same time so picturesque and singular. It in truth comprises the images of every class of objects in the creation, of both nature and art. We find, in hieroglyphic writings, the representation of the several heavenly bodies; the human figure of both sexes, of every age and rank, in every position the body can assume, whether in action or at rest, and every one of the members which compose it, separately employed; quadrupeds, both wild and domestic; a variety of birds; reptiles of several species; fish of kinds that are still found in the Nile; some insects; and, finally, a series of vegetables, flowers, and fruits.

Another and equally extensive order of symbols, is composed of the faithful representation of the instruments and products of the arts invented by man: among them are to be observed vases of various forms, arms, clothing of every kind; furniture, domestic utensils, implements of agriculture, instruments of music, tools of different trades; the representation of sacred and profane edifices, and images of the objects of public worship.

In addition, a considerable number of geometrical figures is admitted among the elements of the sacred writing: lines straight, curved, and broken; angles, triangles, squares, parallelograms, eircles, spheres, and polygons, are frequently met with, and especially the more simple figures.

But this singular species of writing was not content with appropriating all the various forms which man observes in the world of nature, or which are produced by his industry in that of art; the imagination was called to its aid, to create a numerous series of characters, presenting combinations that can never be found in actual existence. These images are of the most fantastic character, and might be considered as the offspring of actual madness; such are human bodies united to the heads of various animals, serpents and even vases mounted upon human feet, birds and reptiles with human heads, quadrupeds with the heads of birds, &c.

All these symbols, however different in their class, are constantly found mingled together; so that a hieroglyphic inscription presents the aspect of an actual chaos. Nothing appears in an appropriate position; all apparent connexion is wanting; objects the most opposite in their nature are found in immediate contact with each other, producing the most monstrous combinations. Yet, in the midst of all these apparent incongruities, there may be detected invariable principles, evident and systematic calculation, that have indisputably directed the hand that traced the picture, at first sight so disordered and chaotic. That, in fact,

these characters, so diversified in their form, often so discordant in their nature, are signs which serve to note a regular concatenation of ideas, express a determinate and connected sense, and are consequently the expressions of a written language, is beyond all question. No one who attentively examines them can for a single moment believe, as was once advanced before they had been attentively studied, that they were merely intended for the ornament of the edifices on which they are engraved.

There are no doubt innumerable sculptures to be found in Egypt, which simply represent scenes, sometimes allegorical, sometimes religious, military and civil; and therefore, the first step in the study of hieroglyphics is to attain the art of discovering those figures which are really such, and of distinguishing them from all the other representations that cover the ancient monuments of Egyptian workmanship. These last, in truth, frequently represent no more than they at once exhibit to the eye, as the portraits of distinguished personages, and their most remarkable actions; but many have insisted upon searching them for occult and profound meanings, and have seen in them, under appearances affectedly allegorical, the most secret speculations of Egyptian philosophy.

A second step, and one not less important, is to acquire an intimate knowledge of the exact form of the hieroglyphic characters themselves. We shall wonder less at the small progress that was made before the time of our author, in the decyphering of hieroglyphies, if we consider how little care has been taken in copying them, and with what negligence the drawings and engravings of them have been usually executed. The only safe way of study, is that of having under the eye a great number of authentic monuments, or of consulting no copies unless made by persons qualified for the task by a long and minute study of the productions of Egyptian art.

Not only are the characters extremely various in their nature and forms, but they may be arranged into several distinct classes, in reference to the degree of precision, elegance, or exactness with which they are themselves executed. Some are engraved upon stone, or designed on other materials, with the greatest care and precision, by which the most minute detail is faithfully represented. In these, animals are drawn and sculptured with a purity of design and a spirit, which at once distinguish their characters, whether generic or specific; the vases, the furniture, the utensils, tools and instruments, are never devoid of a certain degree of elegance; all the symbols, in fine, declare with boldness and fidelity the exact object the artist wishes to exhibit. To enrich the design, and render the imitation still more complete, the aid of colours is called in; on some, applied in exact conformity with that furnished by the natural object itself; on

others, according to certain conventional rules. Other hieroglyphics have only a plane surface, the exterior contour or profile of the objects to be represented; and this is sometimes filled up with one uniform colonr. The first of these species is only found upon the greater and more magnificent buildings; the second, upon lesser basso relievos, funeral monuments, small statues, &c. But the greater part of the manuscripts, and of the legends that decorate the coffins of mummies, are composed of characters in simple outline, the mere sketches of the objects to be represented, but which, although generally composed of the smallest possible number of lines, are usually so spirited, that there is little risk of mistaking the objects intended to be indicated.

These differences are not in the characters themselves, but only in the manner of representing them; they are no more than methods, more or less perfect, and more or less expeditious, of writing, painting, or graving; the elements of one and the same graphic system.

The sacred writing of the Egyptians, sculptured upon stone, or drawn upon wood and papyrus, derived beauty and expression from the art of painting; it also, as we have seen, made use of every species of physical objects, and by the multitude and variety of its forms, the skill of the grouping, and the splendour of its colours, acquired the power of creating pictures of striking interest even to the untutored spectator.

On the first examination, it might appear that the number of symbols is such as to defy research; but by carefully classing them, they become susceptible of enumeration. Bruce, who examined a considerable part of the monuments of Egypt, states, that he was not able to count more than five hundred and fourteen distinct signs: but this conclusion proves but a superficial and inattentive examination; as the study of the obelisks and monuments transferred to Italy by the Romans alone, had previously furnished a list of nine hundred and fifty-eight separate hieroglyphics. Our author is however of opinion, that the last enumeration errs in excess, several having probably been noted as distinct characters, that differed merely in the manner and style of representing the same object by different artists. By a re-examination of the monuments in Italy, and the careful collation of sculptured stones, manuscripts, and the accurate copies recently made of the prominent remains, he has been able to describe eight hundred and sixty-four. It might appear at first that this corresponded with the number of separate sounds or ideas that the method was capable of expressing; but if for sounds merely, the number is too great, being far beyond the number of diversified syllables that can be modulated by the human voice; and if intended as the expression of ideas, the number is far too small. It might therefore, we conceive, have been

inferred, that the method contained the mixed expression of sounds and ideas, as our author has conclusively shown to be the case.

The characters of hieroglyphic writing are arranged either in horizontal lines, or in vertical columns. When in horizontal lines they are sometimes to be read from left to right, as in modern writings; sometimes from right to left, as in the Hebrew; but, as the characters are very different in their altitude, two, three, or even four, are sometimes placed one above the other, taking care not to exceed the altitude of those objects which are necessarily placed with their greatest length in a vertical position. It may be generally known by inspection, in which direction the writing is to be perused, the faces of the men and animals, with the angular and projecting parts of the other characters, being turned towards the beginning of the inscription. Where the hieroglyphics are arranged in vertical columns, the breadth of the objects figured in a horizontal position is taken for the breadth of the column; and where other characters have less horizontal dimensions, two, three, or four of them are ranged on the same level. These parts of the inscription must sometimes be read from left to right, at others from right to left; and this is pointed out in the same way as in the horizontal form.

Four different manners, then, exist, in which hieroglyphics may be disposed; and these sometimes occur, all inscribed upon. the same monument. A line of hieroglyphics may always be considered as representing a regular procession, the figures of all the animated beings that are contained in it, appearing to follow the march of the initial symbol; and, probably for the purpose of facilitating the reading, nearly all the figures of men or animals ⚫ are represented in profile. The paintings of the Mexicans have been likened to the sacred writings of the Egyptians, but we here observe a most marked distinction between them: the signs. of the Egyptians being arranged in a symmetric order, while the paintings of the Mexicans are no more than single or successive pictures of events.

The immense number of inscriptions in this species of writing, that cover both the public and private monuments of every age of Egypt, and even of the remoter parts of Nubia, proves that its use was general in every part of the valley of the Nile. It would also lead us to suspect that its study was not in truth so difficult as has been long imagined, and that the system was not exclusively reserved for the use of a single privileged class of the Egyptian nation. Of this last position, indeed, we have cotemporary proof. Clement of Alexandria, a father of the Christian church, who lived before hieroglyphics had entirely ceased to be employed, states that, even in his day, all well educated Egyptians were instructed in their three species of writing, the Epistolo