Rev. Edward Hincks on the Egyptian Stele, or Tablet. 57 



case B should follow at once. It is well known, that the subject of an Egyptian 

 verb, whether noun or pronoun, was always placed after it. 



The connecting verb is followed by the pronoun of the third person, required 

 by the contents of the space A. If a single male deity be there mentioned, the 

 horned serpent, corresponding to the Hebrew i, is invariably used ; if a single 

 female deity be mentioned, one of the usual characters for S is used ; and if two 

 or more deities be mentioned, the plural pronoun SN, with three small lines as 

 a determinative sign, is employed. For convenience of grouping, a hand hold- 

 ing a small triangle is frequently substituted for the triangle itself. Thus, we 



liave ^ y\ 



" he has given." 



The contents of the space B were supposed by Dr. Young to be offerings to 

 the gods, instead of gifts of theirs to the deceased person ; and I believe the 

 nationality of some English antiquarians leads them still to persist in this mis- 

 take. That it is such must be evident to any one who admits the first prin- 

 ciples of hieroglyphic interpretation, from the use of the preceding verb and 

 pronoun, as just explained. It is also evident from an examination of the con- 

 tents of B ; for, though many things there enumerated may be supposed to be 

 given to the gods, as well as by them, this is by no means the case with all. 

 We frequently meet among the gifts " a good burial ;" — " that he may go in 

 and go out in Noutehir, without being turned back at the gate of the abode of 

 glory ;" — " that he may adore the Sun in Heaven ; that he may give aid in battle 

 to Sebh upon the earth ; that he may speak the truth (i. e. be justified or pro- 

 nounced righteous) before Osiris in Amente." These are not the kind of gifts 

 that a man would offer to a deity. 



It may be asked, why I have translated the verb between A and B in the 

 past tense, rather than in the optative mood. The latter appears more natural ; 

 and, as the letter N, the usual sign of the past tense, is not affixed to the verb, 

 I should certainly have preferred " may he give ;" did I not feel myself con- 

 strained by the authority of the Rosetta stone to adopt the other translation. In 

 the fifth line of the hieroglyphic text of that inscription, we have an expression 

 precisely similar to that in the tablets, in which the N of the past tense is equally 

 wanting ; and in the thirty-fifth line of the Greek version the verb is translated 

 in the past tense. This appears to me decisive on the subject. The objection, 



VOL. XIX. H 



