102 Miscellaneous. [Feb. 



M. Remusat possessed a mind of the highest order. Every thing he produced was 

 done with facility, and was remarkable for its luminous and profound character. His 

 loss cannot easily be supplied, and Oriental literature will long have reason to deplore 

 the untimely death which carried him off, when his judgment and acquirements might 

 he supposed to have only just reached their highest maturity. 



"One of the most illustrious scholars reared under the auspices of M. Remusat was 

 Jean St. Martin, who, from an attack of cholera, followed his former master to the 

 tomb at the brief interval of thirty-seven days. 



" While Abel Remusat devoted himself to the investigation of the philosophy, his- 

 tory, antiquities, and natural history of China, Tibet, and in general of all those countries 

 where Budd'hism and Chinese manners prevail, St. Martin occupied himself with 

 researches into the ancient history of Persia and the adjacent countries. He had for 

 this purpose studied particularly the Semitic family of languages, the difficult idiom of 

 Armenia, and the Zend and Pahlevi. The extent and value of his investigations may 

 be judged of from the Memoirs on Armenia, which he published in two volumes : they 

 are full of erudite and ingenious mattev,*and their appearance fully established his cha- 

 racter as an Oriental scholar and critical antiquary. 



" The chronology of ancient nations was his favourite object of study, and he aimed 

 at elevating it to the rank of one of the exact sciences. Unfortunately but few of his 

 works in this path are printed, and the same remark applies to several valuable essays 

 on the ancient history of Africa, and other subjects, which were read before the Acad£- 

 mie des Inscriptions. In February, 1822, he published his opinion, that the Egyptian 

 tablet, generally known under the name of the Zodiac of Dendera, was a work of com- 

 paratively modern date, and but few months had elapsed when the discoveries of 

 Champollion proved it to be even more recent than the era assigned to it by M. St. 

 Martin, the monument itself, with the other erections of Esne and Dendera, being 

 referable to the reign of the Emperor Claudius. 



"To M. St. Martin must be attributed the suggestion of an archaeological journey 

 into the East, which was subsequently undertaken by that able and lamented scholar, 

 Dr. Schultz, at the expense of the French Government. His design was to collect Zend 

 and Pahlevi MSS., antiquities, and medals, and to make fac-similes of all the cunei- 

 form inscriptions. The specimens he had succeeded in obtaining previous to the 

 melancholy termination of his existence by assassination were placed in the hands of 

 M. St. Martin, and enabled him to complete an alphabet of the cuneiform character, 

 published a few months before his decease, by M. Klaproth, in his " Apercu des 

 diverses Ecritures," &c. Besides the literary labours noticed above, and many others 

 which the Council is precluded from mentioning here, M. St. Martin was the principal 

 conductor of the journal published by the Asiatic Society at Paris; and to his care 

 and exertions its high character, as a repository of Oriental literature, must be in a 

 great measure ascribed. In conclusion, it may be said of M. St. Martin, that he was 

 not less respected for his strict integrity and ardent adherence to truth, than admired 

 for the composure of his mind tinder the trials of adversity. 



" Scarcely had the dreadful scourge which had spread from Asia to Europe removed 

 St. Martin, ere it struck another eminent Orientalist, of whom Fiance might be just- 

 ly proud ; in the latterg|M>f the month of August, M. Antoine Leonard Chezy 

 fell its victim in the'^ftieth year of his age. To Monsieur de Chezy belongs the 

 glory of having attempted and succeeded in laying open the rich stores of Sanscrit 

 literature, at a period when no assistance was to be derived from grammars, or even 

 the communications of others who had been tempted to explore the same path. Be- 

 fore the studies of Mr. Wilkins and Sir Willi am Jones were known in Europe, M. 

 de Chezy had penetrated, with no other key than the imperfect outlines of P. de St. 

 Francis Barthelemy, into the closed portals of Brahminical lore. The principal 

 work which he has left behind him, is an edition and translation of the well-known Sans- 

 crit drama entitled Sacountala. A short time before his death he finished transcrib- 

 ing another called the Dhourtta Samagama ; the MS. of which is in the hands of 

 the Baron de Sacy, and will probably be printed. An analysis of the celebrated 



