to Darius Ochus, who, by imitating Cambyses, added at last to the crown of Persia the possession of Egypt, by deluging that unfortunate country with the blood of its wretched inhabitants.

In Table 1. fig. 14 and 15. I offer you the names of these two princes. The explanation of the first two signs which precede their names, does not fall within the limits of the present Lecture, as they belong to another sort of hieroglyphics, of which we must speak hereafter. The four characters which represent the name of Acoris [fig. 13.] spell Hakr; the first figure is an Eh; the bird an A; the third figure a sort of an ax, is a K; the lion an L, or an R; and by supplying the intermediate vowel O, we shall have Hakor, of which the Greeks made Akoris.

The oval of the fig. 14. contains eight characters: the undulating line is an N; the bird an A; the two lines an E; the serpent a V, or an F; the dart an R; the horn an O; the three lines an U; the last character, though not marked by M. Champollion in his alphabet, is either an E or an I, the ei or the hida of the Coptic. So that the whole legend will give us the name of Naifoue, or Naifroui, which is the Nephereus of the Greeks, or the Nepheretis of Manetho.

These four legends evidently prove, that hieroglyphical phonetic writing was used by the Egyptians at the time of Cambyses; I shall endeavour to prove to you, that this was the case long before that Persian conqueror.

The obelisk Campensis, which the emperor Augustus removed from Egypt to Rome, to serve as a gnomon, in the middle of the Campo Marzio, shews on three faces several inscriptions, among which there are the legends which I offer you in these two ovals, or cartouches. The explanation of the first, which merely contains honorific titles, belongs to a future Lecture. The second alone must now attract our attention, as it exhibits the name of one of the Pharaohs, who lived more than an hundred and twenty years before Cambyses [Table 3. fig. 1.] Of the five figures which it contains, the square is a P, the crooked line an S, the owl an M, the tongues a T, and the bason, with the ring, a K. To which five consonants, if we add the intermediate vowels, we shall have the name of Psametek, or Psameteg, the Psammeticus of the Greeks, a name of one of the most celebrated sovereigns of Egypt, who protected the arts, encouraged commerce, opened the ports to the Greeks, and permitted them even to visit the interior of his kingdom, which his predecessors had most strictly forbidden. This last circumstance has afforded to those who wish to deny the antiquity of the phonetic system in Egypt, with a plausible argument for supposing, that this permission granted by Psammeticus to the Greeks, to visit the interior of his empire, was, in fact, the origin of the Egyptian alphabet; for as the Greeks had, at that time, the knowledge and use of the alphabet, they influenced the Egyptians to follow their example. This objection, I know, has been

made, but I think it perfectly inadmissible, because, in the first place, the evidence of the Greeks themselves, who confess that they received their alphabet from Cadmus, is more than sufficient to make us suppose, that, at his time at least, the Egyptians were acquainted with the use of letters. In the second place, M. Champollion has produced a great number of monuments, legends, and inscriptions of all sorts, exhibiting the names of several Pharaohs who lived long before Psammeticus, written phonetically. From amongst the many which I could exhibit, I shall select the following.

The first is a long legend, which, together with others of the same sort, has been found engraved on a column, still existing among the ruins of the first court of the splendid palace of Karnac, at Thebes.

In this legend we have the names of two of the Pharaohs. The first is the Pharaoh Scheschonk, [Tab. 3. fig. 2. No. 2.] whom Manetho calls Sesonchis, the King. He was the Schischac of the Scripture, who, in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, 971 years before Christ, according to the reckoning of the Hebrew text, "went up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, and the shields of gold which Solomon had made." His army, as it is described in the Chronicles, consisted " of twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen; and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt; the Lubims, the Sukkims, and the Ethiopians."

The name of this prince, as you see, is spelt as usual, without either of the intermediate vowels e, or o, and it consists of four characters; the two first (a) stand for SC or SH, the long line (b) is an N, and the triangle (c) is a K; so that by supplying the intermediate vowels, E, and O, we have the name of Scesconk, or Sheshonk.

The other Pharaoh, whose name appears twice in this same legend, is Osorgon, [fig. 2. No. 1 and 3.] spelt Ocrken, leaving out the intermediate o. The knot is an O; the roller [No.1.] and the cross [No.3.] an S; the oval or mouth an R; the vase a K; the feather an E; the straight line an N. He was, on the authority of Manetho, which corresponds with this legend, the son and successor of Scheuschonk ; and he is the same Pharaoh who, in the second book of the Chronicles, is called Zerah, the Ethiopian, who, with a host of a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots, went against Asa, the king of Judah, and was defeated at Mareshah."

The identity of these princes seems now established beyond the power of controversy. M. Champollion, in his late visit at Karnac, has discovered inscriptions which establish this fact. I will quote the passage. Speaking of the temple of Karnac, he says, " In this marvellous place I saw the portraits of most of the ancient Pharaohs, known by their great actions. They are real portraits, represented a hundred times on the basso relievos of the outer and inner walls. Each

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of them has his peculiar physiognomy, different from that of his predecessors and successors. Thus, in colossal representations, the sculpture of which is lively, grand, and heroic, more perfect than can be believed in Europe, we see the Pharaoh Mandouei combating the nations hostile to Egypt, and returning triumphant to his country. Further on, the campaigns of Rhamses Sesostris ; elsewhere Sesonchis, or Shishak, dragging to the feet of the Theban Trinity, Ammon, Mouth, and Khous, the chiefs of thirty conquered nations, among which is found written in letters at full length, the word Joudahamalek, that is, the kingdom of the Jews, or the kingdom of Judah." This, very properly observes M. Champollion, " is a commentary of the fourteenth chapter of the first book of Kings, which relates the arrival of Shishak at Jerusalem, and his success. Thus," adds he, "the identity between the Egyptian Sheschonk, the Sesonchis of Manetho, and the Sesac, or Schischak of the Bible, is confirmed in the most satisfactory manner." I admit the truth that Scripture needs no confirmation, but it is gratifying to see even the truth of Scripture vouched and confirmed by profane testimony.

But to return to our inscription. From it we also learn, what, in fact, was not recorded by history. The name of the father of Schenshonk, the chief of the twenty-second dynasty, whose name like that of his grandson, was also Osorgon; a custom which seems to have prevailed in Egypt, of pre