The Litchfield County post., 1827-09-13


Euphrates; river, which, at the melting Of
the SHOWS on the Armenian mountains. where
It takes its rise, periodically Overflows IFS
hanks, and like the Nile, fertzes them. Is
was there, probably earlier than in Egypt,th
human industry was exercised in the manage.
ment of the soil and waters. The pump, and
the water wheel, and dams, and sllIces, were
di~Persed along the EUphrates. Reservoirs,
like inland seas, preserved the means of reg
uar irrigation, and canals that striped the
whole OF MesopOtanlia quite across to the I'll
girls, had bridges thrown over them. and boats
of burthen giided along the date trees that
crowned their banks. Pastures and cornfelds,
that astOnished the eye of Greek traveller
with their gigantic fertility, spread out to the
horizon. Over the vast expause, Babylon
giared with her hundred gates of solid brass
with her central tower, winding up by spiral
stairs to the altitude ola furlopg; and her walls
two hundred cubits high, that were topped
with broad streets for chariots, and formed a
quadrangle of fifteen miles side.
The population of Babylon could not, of
course, have been so dense as that ofour mod
ern cities, and we must suppose that besides
its streets and squares, and far-famed hanging
pleasure grounds. it contained many groves
ofthe apricot and fig tree, and gardens glow
granate.
The traditions of Babylonian manners and
commerce, whilst they afford amusing
glimpses of pristine luxury, vet awfilllv re-
mind us of mans perishable glory, when we
think of those places being now "made a
possession for the bitteln, and pools of wa
ter."$
The Rabylonians hung their houses with
nn frnA IN e.,eA Al
richest colouring. They Imanufa ctured and
exported costly cloths. rings and signets curl.
ously carved, and scented water, which thew
were famous for preparing. Their wines were
brought down from Armenia and their gold
and pearls and cochineal,+ together with the
frankincense for their gorgeous feasts, were
the imports of trade which extended from
Arabia to Thibet, and which was secondary
only to that of Phenicia. From the size OF
their molten idols it is plain that they must
have possessed vast boundaries and from the
pictures on their glazed bricks, they must be
considered the fathers Of enamel painting
Nothing in their ruins, or in tradition, would
lead us to suspect them of having anticipated
a single idea Of Grecian taste in initiative art:
but when we find Alexander the Great trans
uniting to Aristotle their tables of celestial
observations, that had commenced more than
1900 hundred years before that period, the
antiquity of Their science withdraws our won
der even from the conqueror ofthe world. =
Egypt, with its stupendous ancient monu-
ments, is in some points of view an object Of
curiosity unparalleled in the history Of man;
and recent discoveries have made it peculiarly
interesting to our own times. The sagacity
ofan English scholar, who first OWNED the.
means of tracing an alphabet in Egyptian hi
eroglyphics, has created an era in Arch@olo-
gy, and has already engaged others in track
of discovery that may eventually lead to a
full Interpretation of those sacred sculptures.
The Greeks and Romans left "a wild tradition,
that they contained secrets of nature and sub
lime discoveries of philosophy, which the
priests were anxious to keep from the vulgar;
and that they hid the key of their interpreta-
ton so long, as ultimately to lose it them
selves. From all that has been made out,
however, in those inscriptions, they appear to
contain no science but to be merely votye or
sepuchral; and the desire of the priests to
conceal the meaning of hierogIyphics, is i'll at
tested by the existence of a Greek translation
that was found subjoined to the native charac-
tiers on the Rosetta stone. The ancients
pnt modes, popular Mn I sacred) of writing
among the Egyptians and Clemens Alexan-
drinus, father of the church, recorded
three-fold distinction in Egyptian writing,
which taIlies with modern discoveries. From
collating ancient authorities, DR.. Warburton's
strong mind struck out one truth on the sub
ject. amidst the universal Misrepresentation
which developed it; namely, that hieroglyph-
les were not destined exclusively to sacred
purposes. but were real written language,
applicable to the purposes of common life
Still this hint was traced up to no farther con-
sequences, and the public long continued to
dream that nothing but symbols could be
contained in hierOglyphics. .s > @
The arrival OF thea Rosetta stone, with its
Greek translation of Egyptian characters Of
two different kinds on the same monument,
first drew forth some observations from Messrs.
De Sacy and Akeerblad. that certainly were
not useless to DR.. Young; but almost moth
ing in the way Of discovery could be said to
be done when our great. countryman COM
menced his labours. His particular discove-
ries, and those of Champolion, and others
who have followed up his career, belong not
to our subject; shall therefore notice only
the general result. VIZ: that Egyptian writing
was, in all its branches, more or less alpha
betical. The hieroglyphic, or most sacred
kind, contained larger proportion of alpha
hetical figures literally picturing the object to
be expressed, or of symbols less directly ex-
pressing them; the second kind, the hieratic
or sacerdotal, sort of abridged hier0glyphic
writing, still Oftener substituted alphabetical
I.sl~ e.. Hc,,roa ard