of the Letters of the Hieroglyphic Alphabet. 139 
followers, in applying the principle of the peculiar letters with their comple- 
ments to the arrangement of the Egyptian phonoglyphs, I believe to be two. 
They were ignorant of another principle, in some measure antagonistic to this, 
which I have been fortunate enough to discover ; and they adopted an unsound 
method of investigating the powers of the characters. The course which I mean 
to adopt in this essay is, in the first place, to establish the new principle to which 
[ allude. I will then consider the various modes of investigating the powers of 
the characters which have been practised or suggested, with the objections which 
may appear to lie against any of them, and I will point out the course which 
appears to me most likely to attain the desired end. Lastly, I will apply the 
principle that I have discovered, by the method that appears to me the true one, 
to the practical ascertaining of the powers of the phonoglyphs. In doing this, I 
may err as to some matters of detail, and I candidly acknowledge that there are 
some of the characters of which I have not yet satisfactorily ascertained the 
powers; but if the principle that I announce be established—if the method of 
investigation which I pursue myself, and recommend to others, be a sound one— 
and if the powers of a large number of the phonoglyphs be completely ascertained, 
I trust that I shall not be considered to have laboured in vain. 
PART I.—NEW PRINCIPLE IN READING PHONOGLYPHS. 
The principle which I wish to establish is this. “The phonoglyphs which 
compose the proper Egyptian alphabet had names, which consisted of themselves 
with the addition of certain expletive characters ; and these names might be, 
and often were, used in place of the simple phonoglyphs. If then, a phono- 
glyph belonging to the alphabet be followed by the expletive character which 
appertains to it, that expletive may be, and for the most part should be, altogether 
neglected.” This principle is, as I have already observed, antagonistic to the 
principle of Dr. Lepsius. His complemental characters, though omitted, must 
be sounded; my expletive characters, though expressed, are in general not to be 
sounded. 
I propose to establish this principle in the following manner. I will first 
shew that it prevailed in respect to foreign words, when expressed in Egyptian 
characters, during a particular period, which I will call “the age of the papyri.” 
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