10 
purpose of expressing proper names; 
which we shall hereafter advert to. The 
general result of the investigation of 
both these rivals is, that the second in- 
scription, purporting to be written in 
the Encuortat character, is, with the 
exception of the above-mentioned. pro- 
per names, as strictly hieroglyphical as 
the Sacrep; with this only difference, 
that the characters are abbreviated and 
degraded, by means of, or for the pur- 
pose, of epistolary facility of communi- 
cation. 
We estimate the results of this boasted 
discovery of a Demolic or Phonetic alpha- 
bet at a very low rate, and we will 
shortly give our reasons for such dis- 
valuation. Dr. Young, in our opinion, 
may safely suffer his French rival, in 
expounding enigmas by inventing fresh 
ones, to strut about in his worthless 
borrowed plumage, without much war- 
rantable envy, or material loss to his 
antiquarian reputation. No sphynx will 
kill herself in despair at the brilliant 
elucidations of the Parisian Qidipus. 
Dr. Young’s unquestioned merit con- 
sists in a more substantial achievement, 
in the very creditable industry and in- 
genuity which (by comparing their local 
relations in the Rosetta Stone with the 
Enchorial and Greek characters) have 
enabled him to affix a precise meaning 
to a certain number of hieroglyphical 
signs. The Egyptian inquirer is thus 
enabled to dispense with the childish 
enigmas set up in the room of other 
enigmas, by Horus Apollo, anciently, 
and Kircher, in more modern times. 
These interpretations we believe to be 
generally accurate, from the internal 
evidence which their imitative form, as 
well as their combinations, supply; 
although they leave the probability of 
deciphering the Egyptian language of, 
hieroglyphics as much a desperate case 
as ever. . 
Though we do not think that the 
enterprizing Humboldt, in his “ Views 
of the Monuments of the American 
Nations,”’ has established the fact of any 
‘community between the American sym- 
bols and the Egyptian, we are inclined 
to believe, without taking for granted 
the extreme opinions of Pauw and Palin 
on» the subject, that there is a very 
fixing analogy between the Chinese 
and,Bigyptian symbolic languages. But, 
again, the darkness of doubt and mis- 
giving closes the. vista.of interpretation 
in this quarter. A glance at the struc- 
ture of the Chinese language — (an analy- 
sis of which is the only safe step towards 
Egyptian Researches. 
[Feb. 1, 
obtaining a sound knowledge of the 
fabric of the ancient Egyptian—and this 
step both Dr. Young and M. Champol- 
lion have Jeapt over, or passed by)—must 
convince any person who is not blinded 
by his rage for system-building, that the 
language sought to be deciphered, is, 
from the nature of things, uNDECIPHER- 
abtr. We see no likelihood of master- 
ing the difficulty, till the Egyptian hie- 
rarchy “burst their cerements,” and can 
be summoned from the dead, to explain 
by what caprices, local customs, and 
philosophical prejudices, as well as dis- 
coveries, they were governed, while in- 
venting the infinite number of arbitrary 
and conventional signs, of which the least 
reflexion is sufficient to demonstrate, 
that their language must have mainly 
consisted. We are sorry to chill specu- 
lation, but we repeat our firm conviction, 
that although some shallow and trivial 
meanderings from the main stream of 
this ancient language may be traced,— 
some bubblings of drops from the deep 
springs of the great source of Janguage 
identified,—and some shallow collec~ 
tions of its waters sounded and ex- 
plored,—the head of the great volume 
of waters is, and must be, a “ fountain 
sealed.” 
Let us suppose an abolition as total 
of the depositaries of the Chinese lan- 
guage,—of its learned expounders, as 
well as unlearned employers, as that 
which has happened in Egypt,—let its 
explanatory dictionaries be lost or de- 
stroyed: and what would be the result? 
Certainly, that the arbitrary and con- 
ventional symbols of the Chinese lan- 
guage, except in the half-dozen cases 
where the graphic picture resembles the 
object to be recorded, would be-as in- 
capable of interpretation as the Egyptian 
now is. But there is no likelihood of 
this Egyptian darkness happening to the 
Chinese climate,—scarcely more likeli- 
hood than ofa similar event occurring to 
ourselves: and we will now avail ourselves 
of some of the best-established of the 
Egyptian symbols, to shew how farthe re- 
semblance of the two languages holds ; 
where the resemblance is interrupted ; 
why that interruption is the reason that 
the Chinese language will always be in- 
terpretable ; and why the Egyptian sacred 
language will never be interpreted. It 
involves a theory of our own; and we 
request the attention of our readers to 
the following prefatory proofs of the 
close analogy exhibited by the two na- 
tions in the combination of their pictural 
words: and it may not be irrelevant to 
remark, 
