[11] [The Athenæum, in a late review of this work, questions the word “prince,” and proposes to read “son;” now, in a subsequent letter (p. 39), Lepsius himself conjectures that this Prince Merhet was the son of Cheops, which the reviewer appears to have overlooked in his excellent remarks.—K. R. H. M.]
[12] [As a further illustration of this scene, but briefly passed over by the originator of it, the following observations of Mr. Gliddon will be found very interesting. “Mr. Gliddon hoped, that besides the day view, the Prussians would add their night scene of New Year’s Eve, 1842, when the blaze of bonfires, lighted on the top of each of the three pyramids, cast a lurid glare on every side, bringing out the craggy peaks of the long desecrated mausolea of Memphite Pharoahs, tinting that drear wilderness of tombs with a light, emblematical of Lepsius’ vindication of their inmates’ memories, and leaving the shadows of funereal gloom to symbolize the fifty centuries of historic night, now broken by the hierologists:—
“‘Dark has been thy night,
Oh Egypt, but the flame
Of new-born science gilds thine ancient name.’”
—Gliddon’s Otia Egyptiaca; Lecture II. Burke’s Ethnological Journal, No. VI. p. 265.—K. R. H. M.]
[13] [The reed; A initial, Bunsen, vol. i. p. 556, Alphabetic No. 3 = A: the sickle, M Alphabetic No. 2, p. 563 = M: the sieve, χ Alphabetic No. 1, p. 571 = χ: unknown object, p. 571, with U, the chicken, p. 570 = χU = AMCHU. This will give the uninitiated an idea of the way in which hieroglyphic words are formed.—K. R. H. M.]
[14] [See Bunsen’s Egypt’s Place in Universal History, vol. i. p. 618.—K. R. H. M.]
[15] [This has been done, and better than in any other museum in the world, see page 40.—K. R. H. M.]
[16] Unfortunately the colours have now quite faded. The unequal surface of the stone had rendered it necessary to spread a thick groundwork of lime over the sculptures ere they could be painted upon; this lime has peeled off by its transportation and the moist sea air, so that only the rough sculpture is remaining. In the “Monuments of the Prussian Expedition,” Part II. Plate 19-22, the colours are faithfully given, as they were preserved by the covering of sand in their original freshness.
[17] On our return from the south, two other perfect tombs, besides this one, were taken down and brought to Europe. All three have been re-erected, with the rest of the monuments, in the New Museum at Berlin.
[18] [Bunsen, vol. i. p. 618.—K. R. H. M.]