rulers of Egypt, differs very much from that we have just considered. It consists of three signs, which I exhibit in fig. 13. The import of the first two signs has been for a long time unknown, but there seems no doubt that they are phonetic; because in other groups, in which the sense seems to be perfectly the same, instead of the waving line, which we know to be an N, we find the headdress and the lituus mixed into one character, [fig. 14.] which is a synonyme of the waving line. But still, of their meaning or their import we knew nothing, and our antiquaries have for some time been at a loss how to interpret the group, which appears in many legends and inscriptions. Fortunately, however, amongst the ruins at Philæ M. Huyot found a ring, containing several characters, which are perfectly similar to those applied to Ptolemy Epiphanis in the Rosetta stone; and this similarity of characters at once shewed, that the two inscriptions referred to the same monarch.

Now by turning to the Greek translation at the bottom of the Rosetta stone, we find the group arising from these three characters, joined to three more, [fig. 15.] translated by the phrase HpaiorOS edokiμalev, that is, Vulcan approves, or approved by Phtha; for the Greeks gave to the Egyptian god Phtha the name of Ηφαιστος. Now we know that the three first characters, [Table 4. fig. 5.] the chain, the square, and the half-circle, are letters spelling the name of that god; therefore, we may reasonably conclude that the remaining three cha

racters [Table 7. fig. 15.] mean, the approved of, that is, the man whom Phtha has approved, or has chosen.

This group, like all other groups of the same sort, implying qualification, may be varied at pleasure, by being added to other phonetic, figurative, or symbolic characters. For if, instead of the phonetic name of Phtha, we add any of the characters expressing the name of Ammon, we shall have, the approved by Ammon; and this meaning will continue the same, if, instead of the phonetic, the characters should be figurative, or symbolical. In the following groups I offer some instances.

In fig. 16. we have the figure of Ammon, and therefore the group means, the approved by Ammon. In fig. 17. we have the symbol of Re; and therefore the group means the approved by Re.

In fig. 18. we have again the figure of Re, with the head of a hawk; and therefore the group does still mean, the approved by Re.

And should we to the group add the pedestal, and over it exhibit the symbols or figures of both Ammon and Re, we should then have the meaning of beloved by Ammon, and approved by Re, as in fig. 19. Or, by changing the figure of any of these deities, and placing in its stead either the symbol or the figure of another god, we shall have the same phrase, of approved of by that god, whose symbol or figure is attached to the grammatical group in fig. 13.

Another proud title assumed by most, if not all

the rulers of Egypt, is-the son of the sun.

This, you remember, is invariably expressed by the figure of the bird, or goose of the Nile, over which lies the circle, the symbolical character of the sun, or, as he is called by the Egyptians, of Re. These two characters are invariably at the top of the second oval, [fig. 4, b.] which contains the historical name of the sovereign, whether he be a king or an emperor, a queen or an empress; in which latter case we always find the half circle, which is the mark of the feminine gender.

You remember that the god Re, or the sun, was looked upon as the king of the visible world, to which he imparted life by his influence and power; and the sovereigns of Egypt, who, in a political point of view, considered themselves as equally beneficial and necessary to the welfare of their country, had established a kind of mystic alliance, of which the ordinary expression was the title which they all bore, of the son of the sun. We find it, in fact, in all the legends of the Pharaohs, of the Ptolemies, and even of the Emperors. The name of Xerxes is the only one which appears without this honour. The hatred, nay, the horror, which the Persian kings at all times exhibited against every religion except that of Zoroaster, may be, perhaps, one of the causes why they themselves disdained a title, the assumption of which might have been considered as if favouring the religion of the Egyptians, which they had so much ridiculed and persecuted. To this very powerful

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 semaşene, 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.