COPT COPY. 



449 



previously possessed, and protected their church from 

 the encroachments of Hie Constantinopolitan see. 

 But the Copts soon found that their privileges would 

 be of little avail under oppressive or fanatical princes. 

 Their wealth, numbers, and respectability rapidly de- 

 clined ; and, though rarely intermarrying with their 

 conquerors, and preserving their features, manners, 

 and religion unaltered, they soon lost their language, 

 which had resisted the influence of a Grecian court 

 for so many ages. Their alphabetical characters, 

 which, with a very few exceptions, were borrowed 

 from the Greek, and probably first introduced towards 

 the latter end of the third century, had contributed 

 to preserve their language in its original form, while 

 a desire of instructing the people had led the monks 

 to compose many religious works in their vernacular 

 tongue ; but the poverty and ignorance, which soon 

 sprung up from the oppression under which they la- 

 boured, could not fail to cut them off from the use of 

 such instructors, and accustom them to neglect a 

 language which served only as an invidious distinc- 

 tion. In the lower, or northern provinces, it appears 

 to have been little, if at all, spoken as early as the 

 tenth century, though used and studied, as a learned 

 language, as late as the fifteenth century. In the 

 Said, or Upper Egypt, which was less exposed to 

 foreign influence, it prevailed much longer, and the 

 peculiar dialect of that country was generally spoken 

 by the people in the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 

 tury. Vansleb, who was there in the latter part of 

 the seventeenth century, saw the last of the Copts to 

 whom this language could be said to be vernacular. 

 It is an original tongue, having no distinct affinity 

 with any other, though many Greek words have been 

 introduced, unaltered by Christian writers, and seve- 

 ral terms appear to hare been anciently borrowed 

 from the Hebrew. The Coptic version of the New 

 Testament is valuable on account of its antiquity, 

 dating, according to several critics, as early as the 

 second century, and not later than the fifth, at the 

 lowest computation. As a relic of the ancient Egyp- 

 tian, also, the Coptic language is deserving of atten- 

 tion ; and the light which a study of the fragments 

 written in it will throw on the history and antiquities 

 of ancient Egypt has been clearly shown in the works 

 of M. Quatremeres and M. Champollion. 



In person and features, the Copts differ much from 

 the other natives of Egypt, and are evidently a dis- 

 tinct race an intermediate link in the chain which 

 connects the Negro with the fairer tribes to the north 

 and south of the tropics, strongly resembling the 

 Abyssinians, who, though extremely dark, are much 

 paler than the genuine Negroes. Dark eyes, aqui- 

 line noses, and curled hair are the usual characteris- 

 tics of both nations ; and the mummies which have 

 been examined show the resemblance of the modern 

 Copts to their ancestors. (Blumenbach, in Com- 

 ment. Reg. Sec. Gottingen, xiv., 38.) Reduced, by 

 a long series of oppression and misrule, to a state of 

 degradation, their number and national character 

 have rapidly declined ; so that at the highest calcula- 

 tion, they do not now amount to more than between 

 400,000 and 500,000 souls ; according to another ac- 

 count, their number does not exceed 80,000. They 

 are chiefly employed as agricultural labourers. 

 Many, in the larger cities, are engaged in manu- 

 factures and commerce, and most or the various kinds 

 of business requiring much skill. In their hands, 

 moreover, is the whole business of imposing and col- 

 lecting the taxes. This they have managed ever 

 since the Arabs made the conquest of Egypt. The 

 Turks are generally ignorant, and little disposed to 

 business. The beys and mamelukes, being taken 

 from the class of slaves, cannot even read ; and thus 

 the care of the finances falls, almost necessarily, into 



the hands of the Copts, who make a mysterious sci- 

 ence of their administration, which none can under- 

 stand but themselves. The following cut represents 

 the costume of a Copt of rank. 



They are quiet, industrious and saturnine, but are 

 often represented, by travellers, as crafty, fraudulent, 

 and revengeful. All, however, allow that they show 

 a capacity and disposition, which, under more favour- 

 able circumstances, would raise them to a respectable 

 rank in the scale of civilized nations. 



The Coptic, of which the English Orientalist 

 Woide has published a grammar and dictionary, has 

 become a dead language. In modern times, how- 

 ever, it has been made pretty evident that the dialect 

 of the modern Copts has much resemblance to that of 

 their ancestors ; and it has served as a key to the 

 latter, as well as to the long hidden meaning of the 

 hieroglyphics. The celebrated Champollion is said 

 to have prepared a new grammar of the Coptic, 

 which, within a short time, has become a highly im- 

 portant language. He expected to prove that Cop- 

 tic is the language used in the ancient hieroglyphics. 

 This indefatigable savant also composed a Coptico 

 Egyptian dictionary, in three quarto volumes, com- 

 prising the three distinct dialects, viz. : the Thebaic, 

 Memphitic, and Heptanomic. 



COPY comes from the Latin copia, abundance, be- 

 cause copying a thing is multiplying it. A copyist 

 ought always to understand his original, whether this 

 be a manuscript or a work of art, to avoid the rumer- 

 ous blunders which he will otherwise make in most 

 cases in which copying is required. In ancient times, 

 when the art of writing was less improved than it is 

 at present, and, at the same time, the art of print- 

 ing was not in existence in Europe, good copyists 

 were much esteemed. With the Romans they were 

 slaves, and commanded very high prices. In the 

 middle ages, when learning had fled from the world 

 into the convents, the monks were busily engaged 

 in copying the manuscripts of the ancient clas- 

 sics, and others of a later date ; but very often 

 they did not understand what they wrote, or did their 

 work carelessly, because copying was often imposed 

 upon them as a penance ; so that great labour has 

 been subsequently spent in correcting the errors of 

 the manuscripts of the middle ages. At the time 

 when copying was the only means of multiplying 

 books, their price was, of course, very great ; and 

 this was the case even with common books, as the 

 breviary. In the fine arts, much more talent is ne- 

 cessary to produce an exact copy of a masterpiece 



