HIEROGLYPHICAL RESEARCHES. 285 



HiEROGLYPHICAL RESEARCHES. 



Young's capacity and acquirements in regard to 

 languages have been already glanced at. As a classical 

 scholar his reputation was very high. His Greek calli- 

 graphy was held to vie in elegance with that of Porson. A 

 man so rounded in his culture could hardly be said to have 

 an intellectual bent ; but if he had one, the examina- 

 tion and elucidation of ancient manuscripts must have 

 fallen in with it. It is quite possible, however, that, 

 had he not been disheartened by the apparent success 

 of Brougham, he would have clung more steadfastly to 

 physical science. However this may be, we now find 

 him in a new field. In October 1752 the first rolls of 

 the papyri of Herculaneum, wearing the aspect of 

 blackened roots, were discovered in what appeared to be 

 the library of a palace near Portici. They had been 

 covered to a depth of 120 feet with the mixed ashes, 

 sand, and lava of Vesuvius. The inscriptions were for 

 the most part written in Greek, but some of them were 

 in Latin. The leaves were carbonised and hard, being 

 glued together by heat to an almost homogeneous mass. 

 Learned Italians had devoted great labour and ingenuity 

 to the separating of the leaves and the deciphering of 

 the inscriptions. To the credit of the Prince of Wales, 

 afterwards George IV., let it be recorded that he 

 manifested from the first an enlightened, liberal, and 

 truly practical interest in these researches. He wrote 

 to the Neapolitan Government, offering to defray all 

 the expenses of unrolling and deciphering the papyri ; 

 and he sent out Mr. Hayter, a classical scholar of 

 repute, to act as co-director with Rossini in the super- 

 intendence of the work. Mr. Hayter appears to have 

 been unequal to the task committed to him. His trans- 



