Ancient Language of Egypt (Vol. iv., pp. 152. 240.).
—The only works on the language of ancient Egypt preserved in the hieroglyphical inscriptions that possess any authority are the Grammaire Egyptienne of Champollion,[4] and the appendix to the first volume of the Chevalier Bunsen's Egypt's Place in Universal History. Much, however, is known to individuals who have studied the language, which has not been published, or perhaps digested into a system; and the works mentioned are by no means to be depended on as to matters of detail, especially as respects the verbs and pronouns, though the general principles of interpretation may be considered as settled. There was another language used by the ancient Egyptians, and expressed in what is called the demotic or enchorial character. Brugsch of Berlin is the highest authority as to this; his work, De natura et indole linguæ popularis Ægyptiorum, is, I believe, incomplete, but he has published others in Latin and German.
[4] This contains the latest views of the author, whose most important discoveries were made near the close of his life. The Précis contains much that Champollion afterwards rejected as erroneous. The Dictionnaire is a compilation, made after his death from what he wrote at different periods of his life. It is inconsistent with itself, and abounds in errors, so as to be worse than useless to the student.
The work on Egyptian chronology, from which most seems to be expected, is that of Lepsius; but he has yet published only the first volume, which consists of preliminary matter. Le Sueur's treatise, though crowned by the French Académie, is a failure. Bunsen's less palpably erroneous, but a great part of the second and third volumes, which were published in German in 1844, would require to be re-written. Those who wish to study the chronology, as systematised by the Egyptians themselves, should consult the Turin Book Of Kings, of which an accurate fac-simile, with explanatory text, has been lithographed, and is about to be published by subscription, under the superintendence of a committee, of which Sir Gardner Wilkinson is the most prominent member.
E. H. D. D.
Welwood's Memoirs (Vol. iv., p. 70.).
—The edition referred to by MR. ROSS I have not seen, but there is one in my library printed at London in 1702, and which bears to be "the fourth edition," with the dedication to the king, and an address "to the reader" commencing as follows:—
"These sheets were writ some years ago, by the encouragement of one whose memory will be ever sacred to posterity. It's needless to mention the occasion; and they had not been published now, if a surreptitious copy of a part of the manuscript had not crept abroad."
The volume, which is very well got up in 8vo., is printed for "Tim. Goodwin, and sold by James Round at the Seneca's Head in Exchange Alley."
It may be fairly inferred that this edition came out under the superintendence of Welwood, and it would be interesting to ascertain whether there are any alterations in the sixth edition. Welwood was a Scotchman, and a letter from him to James Anderson, the eminent Scotish antiquary, will be found amongst the Anderson Papers in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates. It has been printed in the appendix to the Catalogues of Scotish Writers, Edinburgh, 1833.