reason, we may add another, still more so, and that is, the severe measures which the Persian monarchs were often obliged to adopt, while endeavouring to introduce their own religion. This, of course, produced resistance in the natives, gave fresh animation to the bigotry of the Persians, and at last left them no disposition to allow the wretched people the profession of any religion but that of their conquerors.

We find, in fact, the sovereigns of the Greek and the Roman dynasties, who were not inflamed by the same fanaticism of intolerance, who, in the theology of other nations, saw, or imagined they saw, their own gods, easily adopted, from Alexander to Cleopatra, all the titles invented by the Egyptian court; and, by so doing, shewed as much policy as tolerance.

In the legends of the Pharaohs, to this title of son of the sun, we often find another added, of the same honorific nature. It is very common, indeed, to meet with, before the name of the sovereign, three more characters, the pedestal, the line, and the serpent, [fig. 20.] which express the word mair, composed by mai, loving, and er, or ir, him. For you remember, I hope, that the serpent is both the letter R, and the pronoun ir, or er, which means him. Of this legend, therefore, the meaning is, Son of the sun, who loves him.

Other Pharaohs, in the inscriptions raised to their honour, assume a still greater title, that of the preferred son, or favourite son, of the god Re.[fig.21.] This proud title is seen, in fact, on the two great

obelisks of Louqsor, at Thebes, and the characters are all phonetic. The bird S, the line E, the crooked line S, the owl an M, the broken line an S, the waving line N, the circle and the line RE, which means, Se, the son, altogether spelling semasen, or semasene, that is, preferred, or chosen,— an, by,-Re, the sun.

I might extend these observations to a greater length, and produce other instances of all the titles we have as yet discovered, which the monarchs of Egypt occasionally and severally assumed. But the facts which I have offered to your notice will be sufficient, I hope, to explain to you what is meant by the prænomen enclosed in the first of the two rings, which exhibit the names of the Egyptian sovereigns. One observation more I shall add, and that is, that the honorary titles assumed by a king become the exclusive characteristic of that monarch, and are never the same with those assumed by any of his predecessors or Some of the titles, indeed, such as son of the sun, beloved by Amon, by Re, by Horus, and the like, may be found in the legends of other sovereigns; but with these old titles, if I may call them so, we find some others quite new, either for their originality, or for being joined to other titles, so as to produce a new total, and a new legend, which is as peculiarly characteristic of that sovereign, as the specific name by which he is distinguished in history. An exemplification of this sort will form the subject of our next Lecture.

successors.

LECTURE VI.

Continuation of the same subject-Ramesses the Great-The Sesostris of the Greeks-Rames-Mei-moun-Legend, exhibiting the name and mystic titles of this Pharaoh round the cover of the Sarcophagus existing in the Museum at Cambridge-Explanation of the legend-Antiquity of the monument-Tomb of the Pharaoh Ousirei opened by Belzoni-Legend of his mystic titles and historical name-Reflexions on the chronology of the Septuagint and the Hebrew textTable of Abydos-Discoveries made by Champollion, confirming the canon of Manetho-The Hyk-shos, or the shepherd kings-Reflexions-Plan of an expedition-Important results that might be expected from it-Extract from Dugald Stuart.

We have already made some progress in ascertaining the high antiquity of phonetic hieroglyphics; and we must now go back a little and resume the reading of the inscriptions expressing the names of the Pharaohs. Amongst these inscriptions, containing a royal name, we have mentioned one which, more than any other, is found engraved, and, with some little variation repeated upon almost every ancient monument existing, wherever the Egyptians extended their empire. You remember that it is seen scattered through the whole of Nubia, in that tract of land which lies between the second

cataract of the Nile, and the temple of Philæ; and it is found painted or engraved all over the walls of the great buildings at Isamboul, Calabsché, Derry, Ghirché, and Ovady, as well as at Esse-boua. It is exhibited and repeated all over Egypt, from Syene to the Mediterranean sea; on several places of the palace of Karnac; on the great pillar, and throughout the temple of Louqsor; all over the tomb of Osymandias; and, lastly, fills a whole line of the table of Abydos. It is also to be seen on almost every obelisk of ancient date, whether still in Egypt, or removed to a foreign land, as well as on the inscription in two languages or characters existing in Syria, at Nahhar-El-Kelb; in short, throughout the Egyptian world.

This legend, so many times and so variously repeated, was intended, as we mentioned in a former Lecture, to immortalize the name and the memory of two or three of the greatest Pharaohs that ever held the sceptre of Egypt. Their name was Rameses, or Ramses, of which I offered you the reading in Table 3. fig. 5, b, and fig. 7, a.

The name of Ramesses seems to have been a favourite name with the Egyptians; even before the period of which we are now speaking, they gave it to one of the cities which the Pharaoh of the Scriptures granted to the Israelites, as it is recorded in Genesis xlvii. 11. " And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded."

This city, therefore, must have been already in existence at the time of Joseph, and it is not to be confounded with the other of the same name, which one of the Pharaohs compelled the Israelites to build during their captivity. This last circumstance is also recorded in the Bible, Exodus i. 11. and, therefore, they did set over them task-masters, to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure-cities, Pithom and Raamses."

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The ruins of one of these cities are still to be seen near the village called Schleimi. It formerly stood on the border of a great canal, which carried the water of the Nile into the lake Mariotis. With regard, however, to the Pharaohs who bore this name, it is curious to observe that the cover of the sarcophagus, which held the remains of one of these great princes, now lies at the Museum in Cambridge. The mummy itself may be perishing, it is impossible to say where it may be meeting the careless gaze of the vulgar, or attracting the reflection of the intelligent, but without a name, and no longer perpetuating the memory of the mighty monarch, who in his lifetime had been styled the Destroyer of his enemies, and the Conqueror of distant nations, who had been honoured by the still more affecting title of the Father of his people, though no doubt, like all other conquerors, he ought rather to have been termed the scourge of mankind. Such is the brief immortality that can be bestowed even by all the genius that is