THE 



QUARTERLY JOURNAL, 



October, 1820. 



Art. I. — On the Inscription on the Column at Alexandria^ 

 in a Letter to the Editor, hythe Earl of Mountnorris. 



Arley-Hall, June 21, 1820. 

 My dear Sir, 



OO much has been written respecting the inscription on the 

 column at Alexandria, formerly called the Pillar of Pompey, 

 that T think the accompanying drawing of the inscription made 

 by Mr. Salt last year, and forwarded by him to me, will be in- 

 teresting to many of your readers. The correctness of Mr. Salt's 

 pencil is so well known that his drawing must put an end to 

 all disputes as to the actual inscription on this celebrated 

 column ; but it may not be uninteresting to trace the progress 

 made in ascertaining it ; I have therefore sent you copies of the 

 inscription as given by Pococke, Colonels Leake and Squire, 

 and Dr. Clarke. 



To Pococke is certainly due the merit of having first at- 

 tempted to decipher this inscription ; that he has in a great 

 degree failed is excusable when it is considered under what 

 difficulties every Christian then laboured who attempted to 

 examine the antiquities of Egypt. Had he been able to dedicate 

 more time to the work, he would have, probably, been more 

 successful ; as in one short visit he correctly ascertained the 

 two first letters of the third line and the three first letters of 

 the fourth line. 



It is extraordinary that the French savans should not have 

 made out any part of this inscription during their long residence 

 at Alexandria, when they ought to have known that Pococke 

 had read a part of it, and that other travellers had mentioned 



Vol. X. B 



