21 



ADDITIONAL NOTE. VI. 

 HIEROGLYPHIC CHARACTERS. 



So erst as Egypt's rude designs explain. CANTO I. 1. 351. 



THE outlines of animal bodies, which gave names to the constella- 

 tions, as well as the characters used in chemistry for the metals, and 

 in astronomy for the planets, were originally hieroglyphic figures, 

 used by the magi of Egypt before the invention of letters, to record 

 their discoveries in those sciences. 



Other hieroglyphic figures seem to have been designed to per- 

 petuate the events of history, the discoveries in other arts, and the 

 opinions of those ancient philosophers on other subjects. Thus their 

 figures of Venus for beauty, Minerva for wisdom, Mars and Bellona 

 for war, Hercules for strength, and many others, became afterwards 

 the deities of Greece and Rome; and together with the figures of 

 Time, Death, and Fame, constitute the language of the painters to 

 this day. 



From the similarity of the characters which designate the metals 

 in chemistry, and the planets in astronomy, it may be concluded that 

 these parts of science were then believed to be connected; Avhence 

 astrology seems to have been a very early superstition. These, so far, 

 constitute an universal visible language in those sciences. 



So the glory, or halo, round the head is a part of the universal 

 language of the eye, designating a holy person ; wings on the 

 shoulders denote a good angel; and a tail and hoof denote the figure 

 of an evil demon; to which may be added the cap of liberty and the 

 tiara of popedom. It is to be wished that many other universal cha- 

 racters could be introduced into practice, which might either consti- 

 tute a more comprehensive language for painters, or for other arts; 

 as those of ciphers and signs have done for arithmetic and algebra, 

 and crotchets for music, and the alphabets for articulate sounds; 



