298 THOMAS YOUNG. 



in the world. The comparison of these documents 

 formed, as might be expected, an epoch in the history 

 of Egyptian literature. 



We now approach a period of stormy discussion re- 

 garding the claims of different discoverers. And as the 

 tempest raged chiefly round Young and Champollion, 

 it is desirable to fix with precision, if that be possible, 

 the position of the learned Frenchman before he came 

 into contact with Young. This a work published by 

 Champollion at Grenoble in 1821 enables us to do. After 

 speaking of the notions previously entertained regard- 

 ing the hieroglyphical and epistolographic characters 

 of the Egyptians, and of the opinion, universally dif- 

 fused, that the Egyptian manuscripts, like those of to- 

 day, are alphabetical, the author states his case thus : 

 " Une longue etude, et surtout une comparaison atten- 

 tive des textes hieroglyphiques avec ceux de la seconde 

 espece, regardes comme alphabetiques, nous ont conduit 

 a une conclusion contraire. 



II resulte, en effet, de nos rapprochements : 



1 Que 1'ecriture des manuscrits egyptiens de 

 la seconde espece (1'hieratique) n'est point alphabe- 

 tique ; 



2 Que ce second systeme n'est qu'une simple 

 modification du systeme hieroglyphique, et n'en differe 

 uniquement que par la forme des signes; 



3 Que cette seconde espece d'ecriture est 1'hiera- 

 tique des auteurs grecs, et doit etre regardee comme 

 une tachygraphie hieroglyphique; 



4 Enfin, que les caracteres hieratiques sont DES 



SIGNES DE CHOSES, ET NON DES SIGNES DE SONS." 



There is no mention here of the name of Young, 

 though he had, many years previously, made known to 

 the world, as the result of his own researches, the first, 

 second, and third of these propositions. Immediately 



