young, and consequently we find these two characters standing for the letter s.

In the same way, in writing down the name of Noub, one of their deities, to express the letter b they employed the figure of the ram, in preference to any other sign, because the ram was, by itself, the symbol of this deity; so much so, indeed, that we find him often represented under the figure of a man, with the head of that animal.

For the same reason, to express the letter n, they chose from amongst the several signs employed for the purpose, the sign of a vase, because it was one of the attributes of this deity, to be generally represented with one of these vases lying at his feet.

The lion, which in Egyptian or Coptic, was called labo, or laboi, that is, valde hirsutus, stood for the letter l, as you see in the alphabet; and though this letter was represented by several other signs, yet the Egyptians, in writing the name of Ptolemy, and indeed of all the Roman emperors, always employed the figure of the lion, in preference to any other, no doubt, as a mark of the strength and courage of these sovereigns, as the lion is, and has always been, the symbol of these qualities.

Perhaps here, en passant, I might observe, as an illustration of what I said in a former Lecture, that in the Arabic language, the lion is called lebouah, which sounds very near to the Egyptian labo, or laboi, especially, as in the Hebrew lan

guage, it is called lébieh. For the same reason, no doubt, the eagle, which in Egyptian was called akhóm, represented the letter A, and was always employed in preference to any other sign, in spelling the names and the titles of all the Roman emperors in which it occurred, because the bird was taken as the symbol of the Roman empire itself.

Again, the oval which contains the name of Tiberius, engraved on the portico at Esné, and consecrated to the god Chnoubis, the letter B of the word Tiberius is represented by a ram, which was the symbol of this deity, to whom the temple was dedicated; while in the engraving of the temple at Dendéra, which was consecrated to the goddess Athôr, who was in fact the Egyptian Venus, the same letter B is expressed by a sign totally different, but equally characteristic; and, last of all, this same letter B is represented by a small box of frankincense, in the word Sebastos, which, as you know, means venerable.

In all these instances, and others of the same sort, which might be adduced, we perceive something like a rule, which directed the Egyptians in the selection of their hieroglyphical characters. But this rule is not always perceivable. In these cartouches, or groups, for instance, Table 1, fig. 2, and 11, which contain the name of Ptolemy, the letter M, and the letter P, are expressed in two ways. In the one, fig. 2, we have the plain square for the P, and the three sides of a

parallelogram for the M: in the other, fig. 11, these same letters are expressed by an owl, and by a striated square; although we are unable to find out the apparent reason of this change. The same must be said of the other two groups, fig. 5 and 6, representing the name of Antinous, in which the letter T is expressed by the hand in fig. 5, and by the triangle in fig. 6.

I shall explain my meaning by an example, which will at once shew you the mode employed by the Egyptians, both in imagining and using the different hieroglyphics which represented the same letter of the alphabet. But, before I proceed, I request you will remember, as I have already stated, that to mark or note each letter, the Egyptians chose those objects the names of which began with the sound of that very letter.

Now, suppose we were to imagine an alphabet of our own to write the name of London, for instance, we might choose for the several letters the following images, or hieroglyphics. For the letter L we might take the figure of a lion, or of a lamb, or of a lancet, or a leaf, or any other such objects, whose names begin with an L. Again, to express the letter N, we might select a net, a negro, the north star, and the nave of a temple. To denote the letter D, we might choose the figure of a dromedary, or a dagger, the deck of a ship, or even the whole of the ship, to signify the deck; and for the letter O we might pick out the figure of an oak tree, an ostrich, an ox, or an owl. Now if from

all these images, or hieroglyphics, we should be obliged to write the word London, we ought not to select the lamb, but the lion, as the expression of the letter L, because the lion is the acknowledged emblem of England. For the O we should prefer the representation of an oak-tree, or of the acorn its fruit, as connected with the building of a ship for the N, you certainly would not pick out the negro slave, for this choice would be quite unnatural, and contrary to the decided antipathy which the English have to slavery; nor would you select the representation of the nave of a church, because this emblem would better suit an ecclesiastical government, and by no possible means could it apply to your nation; but you would choose, in preference, the fishing-net, or the north star, as the only images which would convey to the mind of the beholder two of the characteristics of a sea-faring nation, as the English are. And, last of all, for the letter D, you would, I am certain, decidedly prefer the representation of the whole, or of a part of a ship, as the only image connected with the very existence of the nation. Thus the whole word London, written hieroglyphically, would then be represented by a lion, an oak-tree, a net, a ship, and the north star; for, you remember, we have no need to repeat the second O.

Indeed, the Egyptians seem to have been so much animated by this principle, as to enable us to find out the archetype of most of their phonetic hieroglyphics. Ahom, or akhom, was the name which they

gave to the eagle, and the eagle, in fact, is the image they chose, to represent the letter A. A small vase, which they called Berbe; a cow, which they called Bahsi; a little goat, which they named Baréit ; or even a fox, which they called Baschor; were indiscriminately used as signs to express the letter B. The figure of an ox, which was named Kelebin; or of a hood, which was called Klast, or of the knee, which was nominated Kely, were all used to express the letter K. The hand, which was called Tot, became the sign of the letter T; the mouth, to which they gave the appellation of Ro, was employed to signify the letter R; the image of a garden, which was named Schné, to exhibit the S soft, the sh of the English; and I have already mentioned the lion to stand for the letter L, from its name laboi.

I might give further instances, and go through most of the alphabet; but those I have stated will be sufficient, I hope, to shew you the elements of the phonetic hieroglyphical characters employed by the Egyptians; which, in point of fact, is the original of the method generally employed at the present moment, to teach the letters to our children. To the sound of each letter we join the expression and the figure of an object with which the child is already acquainted, and which begins by the sound of that letter. Every mother knows with what pleasure she has taught her infant to know and repeat the letter M, by associating it with the name of mamma,-P, for papa,-N, for