258 Mr. Champollion’s Discoveries 
courageous than I have been, and I sincerely wish that I may 
be convinced he has not gone a little too fast; but, Fortuna 
fortes metuit, ignavos premit: and I am perfectly prepared to 
forgive him a great deal. * * * A. B.C. D. 
Letrer Ifl.. To Witi1am Joun Bankss, Esq. 
My dear Sir, Calais, 21st October, 1822. 
I cannot more effectually lighten the heavy hours that I 
am compelled to pass in waiting for the winds and waves, than 
by employing them in giving you an account of the advantage 
that has already been derived, to the cause of Egyptian Litera- 
ture, from the study of the drawings of your great obelise of 
Philae, combined most ingeniously, by Mr. Champollion, with 
the fortunate discovery of a manuscript, among the papyri of 
Casati, which is written exactly in the enchorial character of the 
stone of Rosetta. The preamble of this manuscript, which 
appears to be a deed of sale, or some other legal contract, 
contains, among the names and titles of the royal family, those 
of Cleopatra, frequently repeated ; and, by setting out from the 
comparison of this name with the Cleopatra of your obelisc, 
Mr. Champollion has fully confirmed, and considerably ex- 
tended, the system of “ phonetic” hieroglyphics, which I had 
conjecturally proposed from the examination of those of Ptolemy 
and Berenice, though certainly the extension is so compre- 
hensive, as to require some further collateral evidence, before it 
can be considered as fully established: and such evidence no 
person is more likely to possess than yourself, since, among the 
_multitude of your Greek inscriptions, of the date of the Roman 
emperors, there must probably be some few, belonging to the 
same buildings at least, in which a variety of hieroglyphical 
names are found, which are interpreted by Mr. Champollion as 
belonging to the different Roman Emperors, with the epithets 
Autocrator Caesar, or sometimes Autoclatol Cesal: for the old 
Egyptians seem to have been as incapable as their school- 
fellows the Chinese of distinguishing the R from the L: and 
hence Mr. Champollion is inclined to believe the Thebaie dia- 
~Tect more ancient than the Memphitic, and to consider asHTLI 
