The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-12-24
LOCAL AFT AIR S .


MISS Baccn's Historical Lecture.
Yesterday morning Miss Bacon delivered her eighth
lessen history at the stuyvesant Institute She COM
ssesd her discourse by observing that the history with
which she then engaged the newest and Jet old
e. There Is st present grea. difficulty in studying
fhe history Of early periods arising from the fact that
Ne records still in state Of formation and what
earns year 1t Is necessary to unlearn the next II
be desirable to ep pace with the progress Of disco
very. At the time circumstances lend sddi
ticnal interest to the subject She then to
ALI that history which have thus far presented to
You embraces the views Of the remote ages OF civil
sstion In India and the view Of the characteristics
q the Persiansthe former being derived from the re-
salts Of explorations In India by British discovere
Hoh subjects have been ably eucidated by the
new discoveries in the of language These mani
fold and new arts teach us connections hitherto
thought Of between the derent members OF the human
hnily-even those most widely separated Within the
last century the historical monuments have brought this
new this grand field Of historic research within the reach
q scholarly investigation. must remind you Of this,
ana must also refer you to those works which contain
the researches to which have directed your attention
You must not rest contented with one, but must
tnus to read the works they issued IT,
before remarked you wish to keep with the progress
e discovery ach work theory
formed on the last discovery Those great monuments
which extend along the shores Of the Nile to the last caa
ct there for They are no new works They
only quite recently that the discoveries that have been
made enable to Understand their meaning You have
lion Engsh scholar with regard to the credit Of
The grand discovery Of modern hstorythe discovery OF
pcicnt Egypt is written The most candid Judge decides
in favor Of the English scholar Dr. Young Of Cambridge
80 far the original discovery concsrned but for the
awaited but little for his individual labor applied to
the monuments that brought forth the secrets The
writings of the are Of three kinds the hero
gNphic writing Of the priests, the popular writing
and the heratic which kind OF short hand HERO
eyphieay adapted to the ordinary purposes of writing
fke regular phc applied to oscriptons The
nstural changes the forms OF letters had of
prop0rtionate effect the writings Of the Egyptians;
but tia which had been engraved on tn
stones had religious character they preserved
n,o Those TS ws
TO be the original one represents objects by their form
the next by symbols the last by phonetic charac
There MANY words which could not be represented
by symbols. such, for instance, proper names 1t
would be impossible to repretent sound by pictures
ther, that the discovery which furnished the ms.
teria to Dr. Young and the French scholar with the
key to this ancient hieroeyphic language
the Rosetta stone now in the British Museum, which
contained an inscription Of triangle In the period
that this stone sculptured which in the reign
Of of the Ptoemys who patronised the priests in
the true spirit of the Alexandrsn age there in
scrption in Greek beside the ancient heroglyphi, In
fact two proper names were found written in both Ian
guages-" Pto emyn and |" Cleopatran-and compar-
the two n ws thus h. Osue TO n
could be prosecuted successfully 1t was soon discovered
that the monuments contained for the most part the
names Of kings, supplied by phonetic characters The
rules applied TO all the remaining monuments
Of Egypt and the consequence Is the continuation OF
those cbronoogies preserved by Manetho He has de-
scrbed thirty human dynasties Ut the back of which
lsytthe supposed rel ms Of gods The recent Prussan
expedition in Egypt as brought to light monuments
back the fourth dynasty; the third. second, and
FIRST have apparently. monuments or at least none
have bee found mentioned to YOU at the last lesson
that the eighteenth dynssy formed firm ground in the
unsettled chronology Of this period anu you will hud
In the works to which referred YOU quite different
accounts of the chronological discoveries. But the
eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties form safe landing
place where you place your foot and from which You
ages ana forward into those that succeed them,
Regarding the shepherd kings, whom mentioned in my
last 1t is supposed by Lepu that their rule last
cd five hundred years He makes the termination of the
cid empire fall at the back of that period which have
marked as the known oriental chronology He goes back
into the five hundred years which precede this period
then sgain still further baek-so far back that We hardly
dare follow scholar as he is His chronology extends
four thousand years before Christ. The to
ybich directed your attention at the last lesson
supposed be the remains of the most ancient cvza
ton and in them you have the d,mes
tic lives Of the Egyptians who oushed before Abraham
went into that country Miss Bacon here referred to the
map Of Egypt in order to pout out the three divisions of
united the country Mines, i. probably synony nous
with SMinoso of the Grecans, "Menoun of India and
our modern Man ard must be taken in the of
benefactor. That part Of the country formed by the
delta Of the Nile contains but few remains OF ancient
were carried from old buildings in order TO construct
new ones. There is standing there now monument
where Joseph married the daughter Of the high priest
As soon you pas from the Delta into middle Egypt
you will find yourself in country once occupied by the
Kings Of the cid empire In Lepsius We ind that the
wonderful nor which here sbound be charac
terised With certainty The descriptions Of Memphis and
the wonderful labyrinth, fully confirm the accounts fur
nished by Herodotus five hundred years before Christ
After ept. ring into minute particulars ming the
labyrinth Lake Moers Memphis Th-bes. and other mon
unents Miss Bacon incidentally mentioned the shepherd
kinps and remarked that ,he could not agree with Lep
sus in the opinion that they Of the Semitic
tor a they described possessing blue eyer and
Hight hair probable that they formed part OF
the great Ipdo Gerpanic Miss Bacon afterwards
made few general observations on the utility Of care
<,rrxv ID,
preface to the records of modern ages in giving
history Of the United States inquiry into the
condition Of ancient nations formed essensia intro
duetion