302 THOMAS YOUNG. 



qu'il pretendat ensuite a la priorite. II cherche en 

 plusieurs endroits de son ouvrage a faire croire qu'il 

 a decouvert beaucoup des mots de 1'inscription egyp- 

 tienne de Kossette. J'ai bien peur que ce ne soit la que 

 du charlatanisme : j'ajoute meme que j'ai de fortes 

 raisons de le penser." The work of Champollion here 

 referred to was entitled " L'Egypte sous les Pharaons, ou 

 recherches sur la geographic, la religion, la langue, les 

 ecritures et 1'histoire de 1'Egypte avant 1'invasion de 

 Cambyses." Two volumes of the work were published 

 in 1814, but it was never completed. 



In a letter written towards the end of 1815, Young 

 passes the following judgment upon this book in regard 

 to its relation to the Eosetta inscriptions : 



" I have only spent literally five minutes in looking 

 over Champollion, turning, by means of the index, to 

 the parts where he has quoted the inscription of Eosetta. 

 He follows Akerblad blindly, with scarcely any acknow- 

 ledgment. But he certainly has picked out the sense 

 of a few passages in the inscription by means of Aker- 

 blad's investigations; although in four or five Coptic 

 words which he pretends to have found in it, he is 

 wrong in all but one, and that is a very short and a 

 very obvious one." 



Our neighbours, the French, have been always fond, 

 perhaps rightly fond, of national glory, not only in 

 military matters, but also in science and literature. 

 They rallied round Champollion. Even De Sacy, who 

 had previously warned Young against him, eventually 

 joined in the general paean. Arago also, who, in regard 

 to the optical discoveries of Young had behaved so 

 honourably, delivered an Eloge of Young, founded, 

 according to Peacock, on the most imperfect and 

 narrow views of the case. In fact, patriotism came 



