HIEROGLYPHICAL RESEARCHES. 991 



Young, as we have seen, had begun his labours on 

 the Eosetta stone in May, 1814. In the month of 

 August he was able to announce to Mr. Gurney his 

 discovery that some of the Enchorial characters were 

 hieroglyphics. Prior to Young, no human being had 

 dreamt of the transfer of the characters of the first 

 inscription to the second. The first was pictural and 

 symbolic; the second, to all appearance, a purely alpha- 

 betical running-hand. It had always been regarded as 

 such. By means of the funeral papyri Young still 

 further established the relationship between the first 

 and second inscriptions. In 1816 he obtained from Mr. 

 William Hamilton a loan of the noble work entitled 

 " Description de 1'Egypte," in which were carefully pub- 

 lished several of the papyrus manuscripts. Many of the 

 inscriptions dealt with the same text, and by comparing 

 them one with another Young was able to trace the 

 gradual departure from the original hieroglyphic charac- 

 ters. Probably with a view to more rapid writing, these 

 had passed through various phases of degradation, until 

 they reached the stage corresponding to the Enchorial 

 inscription of the Eosetta stone, " which," says Young, 

 " resembled in its general appearance the most un- 

 picturesque of these manuscripts." Long before the 

 time of Young, learned men had tried their hands on 

 the Eosetta characters, but no relationship like that 

 here indicated had ever been discerned. 



Pre-eminent among the Egyptologists of that time 

 was the celebrated Champollion, librarian at Grenoble. 

 In his very first reference to Champollion, Dean 

 Peacock speaks thus of the illustrious Frenchman: 

 " He had made the history, the topography, and anti- 

 quities of Egypt, as well as the Coptic language and its 

 kindred dialects, the study of his life, and he started 



