what has been said, I think I have sufficiently shewn, that the Egyptians, in writing hieroglyphically the names, at least, of private individuals, did not confine themselves to one sort of characters, but mixed together the phonetic, the figurative, and the symbolic, without any reason, or, at least, without any reason as yet apparent to us.

I will endeavour to prove that they continued the same practice in regard to the names and legends belonging to kings and princes.

I have already alluded [Table 3. fig. 2.] to an inscription in which the names of the two Pharaohs, Osorgon and Sheschonk were exhibited. At the time that I called your attention to this monument, I merely explained the names of these two sovereigns, and reserved for another occasion the explanation of the rest. I shall now fulfil my promise.

Of the characters which compose this legend some are phonetic, some figurative, and some symbolic. The whole reading, in Coptic, is, ouab an Amon-re soten annenoute Osorchon pri (or pre), ce or ci an ouab an Amon-re Souten Scheschonk re Soten Nebto (Amonmai Osorchon) &c. The meaning is, the pure by Amon-re king of the gods, Osorchon deceased, son of the pure, (here come the two characters, the head and the square, which are still unknown,) then follows by Amon-re, king of the gods, Scheshonk deceased, son of king of the world, (beloved by Amon-re, Osorchon,) imparting life, like the sun, for ever.

As you observe, the groups containing the names of Osorchon and Scheshonk are phonetic, so are most of the other groups representing the word se, which signifies son; the different groups exhibiting the name of Amon, and even the participle mai (beloved), and other such figurative hieroglyphics, are the characters expressing the deity; the indefinite number, of course, is represented by three units, and the repetition of the same characters signifying the world.

So much for the characters; now for the contents of this curious inscription..

Here we have the names of three kings, two called Osorchon, one Scheshonk. The first of these Osorchons seems to have been the grandfather of the second; and yet this second, who was then reigning, had alone the distinction of having his name enclosed in an oval, whilst both his father, Scheshonk, and his grandfather, Osorchon, have their names written without this distinction. Another curious circumstance is, that though these two princes are deprived of the honour of having their names enclosed in an oval, yet they are both decorated by the title of king, which is denied to Osorchon, then reigning, whose name is enclosed in the ring, without this distinction.

This curious difference evidently proves, that the ring itself was considered a sufficient mark to denote principality, and that when this distinction did not take place, it was necessary to add the character expressing it.

Another curious circumstance is, that there

seems to have existed in Egypt, from time immemorial, the custom of pepetuating certain names in the family, and that, generally speaking, to the grandson was given the name of the grandfather; as, for instance, in this legend we have the name of Osorchon given to his grandson, then reigning.

This Osorchon seems to have been the Zarah, or Zarach, the king of Ethiopia, recorded in the second book of Chronicles, who, with an host of a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots came to make war against Asa, the grandson of Jeroboam, and was defeated at Mareshah; although the Greek historians have never mentioned either the name or exploits of Osorchon, this fact is attested by an hieroglyphical manuscript, published by Denon. It is a funeral legend, loaded with figures, on and round which there are several hieroglyphical inscriptions. By the shortness of their contents, and the negligence with which they are engraved, when we consider the importance of the person to whom they refer, they must be looked upon as belonging to that peculiar sort of inscriptions merely recording the death and the obsequies of kings, or other great persons, without pretending to rank amongst the monuments of a higher sort, which are, properly speaking, historical. Inscriptions of this kind are by no means uncommon; they are generally accompanied by figures and representations, sometimes striking, but generally odd and extraordinary. This legend, in fact, Denon mentions that he copied from a manuscript picture,

which represents the mummy of the king Osorchon in various positions, and over which this same legend is repeated several times.

Besides this manuscript, the names of these Pharaohs are found engraved on different statues, and on the columns of the palace of Karnac ; they are also engraved on a magnificent vase which now exists in the Royal Museum at Paris, and formerly belonged to one of the Roman family of the Claudii, who thought proper to use it as a funeral urn, on which they had engraved the name of this patrician, in large Roman letters, over and across the Egyptian.

These Pharaohs lived about one thousand years before Christ, according to the Hebrew chronology, since they were contemporaries of the kings of Judah, Rehoboam, son of Solomon, and Asa; and from this legend, as well as from those I have already quoted, it is evident, first, that phonetic hieroglyphics must have been in use before this time, and that in writing hieroglyphics, the Egyptians promiscuously employed the phonetic, the figurative, and the symbolical characters.

I must now proceed to call your attention to another curious, and not less striking circumstance, and that is, whenever we cast our eyes upon the legends which contain the names of any of the kings of Egypt, we find them always enclosed in two oval rings, the first of which is invariably surmounted by four distinct characters, among which we easily discern the figure of a bee. [Table 7.

N

fig. 4. a. The second oval or ring is surmounted by the bird or goose of the Nile, at the top of which there is a circle. [fig. 4, b.] But as soon as we apply ourselves to find out the meaning of the signs enclosed by these rings, or cartouches, we discover that the historical name of the sovereign is invariably contained in the second oval,which is surmounted by the goose and the circle, while the first oval, without exception, always exhibits one or more names of gods or goddesses, mostly expressed by figurative or symbolical characters, though not seldom phonetic.

They are all honorary or mystic titles, which every ruler of Egypt, from the earliest Pharaohs to the very last of the Roman emperors, regularly assumed. They form a sort of prænomen, so peculiarly defined, as to suit only the individual whom it was intended to specify. This remarkable circumstance is so much the more to be attended to, as from these very prænomina, or mystic titles, we have derived one of the strongest arguments that can be imagined in favour of the great antiquity of phonetic hieroglyphics, and of the immense power and high civilization of the Egyptians, so far back as two thousand three hundred years before Christ, as I shall soon endeavour to explain.

Confining myself at present to the external signs, I beg to observe, that invariably on the oval that contains the mystic titles, there are the characters marked in Table 7, fig. 4, a; whilst on the other oval, that exhibits the historical name, we