The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-11-05
MisrfhapFons.
AN lent EGYPT.
BAYARD TAYLORS LECTURE N
THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC

INc Otutct LuftyWuJo W't""'' "''''' N''''~'
tion in the World What the LdbOrs Of h'
Students haze dug up from The only "OlC
World"
Last evening Bayard Taylor delivered
at the Academy of Music, an elaborate
lecture upon ancient Egypt" before SC
large an audience that the capacity ofthe
house was fairly tested. Owing to the
unusual crowd which besieged the en-.
frances to the building the distinguished
lecturer did not appear upon the stage
till somewhat after the appointed hour
He was accompanied by Judge Brady
and several other gentlemen, who took
seats up the rOstrum near him. The
Vice-President of the Young Mems He
brew Association, under the auspices OF
which the lecture was delivered, made a
few remarks introducing Judge Brady,
who in his customary happy manner de-
livered what the Vice President had an
nounced as an Introductory address"
and which the Judge assured the audi
ence was not in any sense an intrOducto-
ry address, but simply brief statement
Ofthe objects, organization, and designs
of the association mentioned. He said
that the lecture of the evening was to be
delivered at the request ofa race descend
ed from those who built the Pyramids,
and would be pronounced by a gentle
man who was not only genial gentle
man and traveller Of vast experience
and observation, but who was always
and above all pre- eminently an Ameri-
can.
Judge Brady then resigned the stage to
Mr.. Taylor without formal presentation,
and that gentleman on coming forward
was received with enthusiastic applause.
Mr.. Taylor after quietly waiting till all
demonstrations had subsidized, placed his
manuscript upon the reading-desk, and
began his discourse by an allusion to
Wendell Phillips's lecture on q" The Lost
Arts" of the ancients, and his moral that
the generations of to-day ought to con-
template with becoming mOdesty their
ciyiliE ton, and speak reverently of the
older nations and their splendid achieve
ments Our civilization was, the speak
er thought, much older than the most OF
rs were willing to admit. Before We
can estimate" said he, "our own civiliza-
ton at its true worth we must trace to
its sources all civilization, and it is with
the object of facilitating the process OF
this operation, that have selected "An-
cient Egypt" as the theme of this even
ing's lecture" In Cursorily describing
Egypt as a geographical entity, Mr. Tay-
loT said it was manifestly set apart as the
home of favored race. Its climate, its
soil, the character of its natural advanta-
ges, the beauty Of its topography, and the
wonderful manner in which all elements
there combined to facilitate rapid pro-
gress, marked it as predestined to become
rich, powerful, and the very birthplace
of a higher civilization. The civilization
of this ancient country must, he thought,
have begun very long ago, much longer
ago, indeed, than is ordinarily supposed,
and this was evidenced clearly by the
finding of the most remarkable remains
in ruins buried sixty feet beneath the
surface of the earth throughout vast
area of country upon the banks of the
Nile. Some idea of the probable antiq-
uity of these curious relics might be form
ed from the computation based upon the
well-established annual accretiOns of sur
face soil resultant upon the yearly over
flow of the rivers. Egypt had, he assert
ed, written language long before the |
tradition Of its existence in other lands |
and the wonderfully solid fashion in
which its people had stamped upon the
granite rocks the records of their ancient |
tongue and the superstitious care with |
which they preserved their dead, lock-
ing them within caverns hewn out of the
solid rocks far into the depths of hillside
excavations, all assisted us 10 note the
evidences of their superior civilization.
Were il not for the wars which have
swept over the country we might have a
yet fuller record of her greatness. The
speaker then described ut length how
and to what extent the ancient language
Of the Egyptians had been recorded by
in the everlasting rocks and
recovered and restored to life by the ef-
forts Of modern research. He told brief
ly the story of Rosetta stone and other
ancient relics, by the aid of whose tri-lin-
quail inscriptions the wonderful HERO
glyphics of ancient Egypt had been read
and after many thousands Of years made
TO reveal the secrets of history intrusted
to their keeping. Mr.. Taylor then cir
eunstaIihRlIy detailed the process by
which the French savant Champollion
first succeeded in naestablishing key to
The hieroglyphic language By means of
the similar letters and char
acters in the ''oyals"' Containing in that 7
symbOlical tongue the names Of Ptolemy
and of Cleopatra. till not less than five
thousand well established words in this
ancient langifage had been correctly in
terpreted. He recited the labors of Lep-
sius, the German student, who had done
80 much to arrange and classify ancient
Egyptian remains, ravaging and mutilat-
ing in his search almost every grand ruin
in the country in order to establish the
museum in Berlin. He gave due credit
70. the Frenchman, Margette, for his dis
eoveries and careful researches I'M that
country, which he has for many years
past made his home in order to facilitate
his investigations. Passing to the con-
sideTation ofthe history of Egypt a grav-
EN- upon its rocks and told by its recoy-
cred remains, the speaker concluded that
according to the best. authority Menss,
the first King Of Egypt, must have reign
ed 5000 years before the Christian era.
He then proceeded TO show how abso-
lutely accurate was very much of the
knowledge Of the ancient Egyptians, men,
tioning as an Instance that our Julian cal
eDdar as It exists at tho present time was
simply stolen from the Egyptians without
any acknowledgment. The''eafly art of
Egypt, too, abundantly testified to the
knowledge Of its early inhabitants, since
there could be no true art without true
knowledge and high civilization. After
casually alluding 10 the fact that even the
cause Of woman suffrage and similar
social questions, supposed to belong onlv
to the advanced civilization Of our mod
efn days, had been freely discussed and
canyassed ages ago by this en-
lighsened people who built the pyramids !