1886.] on Thomas Young. 581 



considerably defaced. Towards the ends, however, both inscriptions 

 were fairly well preserved ; and these were the portions subjecte 1 to 

 the scrutiny of Young. Making allowance for the differences of space 

 occupied by the two inscriptions, and measuring from the final words of 

 the inscriptions, proportional distances, determined by the Enchorial 

 characters for God, King, Priest, and Shrine, the meaning of which 

 had been well established, Young sought at the places indicated by 

 these measurements for the corresponding hieroglyphics. He soon 

 found that shrine and priest were denoted by pictures of the things 

 themselves. The other terms, God and King, were still more easily 

 ascertained, from their situation near the name of Ptolemy. Having 

 thus fixed his points of orientation, Young placed them side by side, 

 and subjected the characters lying between them to a searching com- 

 parison. He offers in his article of 1819, the last line of the sacred 

 characters, with the corresponding parts of the other inscriptions, as 

 a "fair specimen of the result that has been attained from these 

 operations." 



Up to the time of which we now speak, although profoundly learned 

 men had attempted to decipher the funeral papyri of Egypt, if we 

 omit the labours of Young, very little progress had been made even 

 in this direction ; while in regard to the decipherment of the hiero- 

 glyphics nothing had been done. To Young '* belongs the honour of 

 having within a short space of time, discovered that the Enchorial 

 writings contained symbolic as well as phonetic signs, and that the 

 hieroglyphic inscriptions possessed not only a symbolic but a phonetic 

 element. The latter discovery was based chiefly upon his analysis of 

 the names of Ptolemy and Berenice." 



A vast extension of our knowledge of Egyptian writing is to be 

 ascribed to a circumstance which might almost be called miraculous. 

 An Italian named Cassati, had brought to Paris several manuscripts 

 from Upper Egypt. One was written exactly in the Enchorial character 

 of the second inscription on the Kosetta stone. Ifc was a deed of sale, 

 and on the back of the manuscript was an endorsement in Greek. 

 When in Paris, Young had received from Champollion a tracing of 

 the Enchorial deed, but not of the Greek endorsement. About the 

 same time, Mr. Grey, an English traveller, brought to England a 

 n amber of manuscripts, which he placed in the hands of Dr. Young. 

 One of them was written entirely in Greek, and Young immediately 

 perceived that it was a perfect copy of the Enchorial deed of sale. 

 He wrote immediately to Champollion, informing him of the fact, and 

 begging him to send a copy of the Greek endorsement which he had 

 omitted. This he did not do ; but his countryman Eaoul Eochette 

 courteously and promptly responded to Young's request, and sent 

 him a correct copy of the whole Cassati manuscript. 



The possession of the Greek translation was of course an immense 

 help to Young in his efforts to decipher the Enchorial deed, on which 

 he was at this very time engaged. " I could not," he says, " but 



