On this page

• Text (3)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    PEBBTTAB-g 28,1357.] THE LEADER, 211

  • 

    GERMAN PROTESTANTISM. A Manual of Religi...

  • 

    A MEDLEY OE NOVELS. Richard Embleton: a ...

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Hieroglyphic Science. The Egyptians In T...

    dences upon which so unreserved a judgment should be founded . For \ fhskt , in point o f f act , are the discoveries in connexion with the hieroglyphs apart from theories and . assumptions . Until the exhumation of the Rosetta stone , in 17 99 * , from centuries of obscurity , the ideas of Europe with reference to the ancient characters of Egypt were vague , fanciful , and contradictory . The most arbitrary methods of classification and interpretation were adopted- Some read tke Hermetic books on the monuments of the Nile ; some the hymns of Isis ; some a body of laws Kirclier invented , while he . affected to translate ; one Frenchman , even with the llosetta marble before him , saw tbe Hundredth Psalm on the pictured portico of Dendera , and another identified the hieroglyplis as transcripts from several parts of the Bible . Tke Rosetta marble , however , is supposed to have furnished a key to the mysterious lore of the Nile "V alley . It contained , as is well known , a tiigranimatical inscription—Greet , demotic , hieroglyphic . In the Greek

    it Tras represented to be a solemn deeree of the united priesthood in synod , at Memphis , in honour of the fifth Ptolemy , who had conferred upon them certain benefits , in gratitude for which they had ordered it to be erected in every temple of the first , second , and third rank throughout the country , in three forms of writing . Here was , indeed , a clue , but one as likely to mislead as to explain . Half the hieroglyphic characters had been destroyed . It was iv matter open to dispute whether tiiey represented ideas , syllables , or sounds . Comparing the Greek with the demotic , it was ascertained that , while in the one a certain word was repeated thirty times , in the other it was repeated , supposing the identity established , thirty-seven times , and that the enchorial " JPtolemy" fourteen times repeated , represented the Greek " Ptolemy , " repeated only eleven times . Meanwhile , the Egyptologers were not content-with the 'O pen , sesame ! of llosetta . Pal in asserted that iit was only necessary to translate the Psalrns . of David into Chinese , and to write them in the ancient characters of that , language , in order to reproduce the Egyptian papyri ; Lenoir treated them as Hebrew

    documents 5 an Arabian quack elucidated the whole mystery with complacent ease ; one Italian impostor translated , dated , and annotated the hieroglyph o f the Pamphilian obelisk as though he had been paraphrasing Ariosto . The more serious masters of the Egyptian school , however , continued to spell the llosetta inscription , convinced that it pointed the way to a world of philology . Seckler fastened upon a somewhat -rational hypo-, thesis , but made the worst possible use of it . Vater had previously suggested to Young that the unknown language on the stone mi ght-be resolved into an alphabet of thirty letters , and Young , applying the phonetic principle in a peculiarly clumsy manner , elicited in a way very creditable to his energy an interpretation of the mystic oracle . He worked his way through , the euchorial to the hieroglyphic groups , and satisfied himself that the hierog l yph was not a translation , but a paraphrase of the enchorial . Here , then , was a new element of confusion ; the horizon retired as the explorers advanced , and the Rosetta stone , as deciphered by Young , was set aside in the limbo of rejected theories .

    Then came Champolhon , a proficient Coptic scholar , who conjectured the hieroglyphs in the cartouches to be used alphabetically , and not syllabically . He supposed that in the texts each hieroglyph had the value of the initial syllable of the object it represented , a pictured knee being identical with the initial K , of Kleopatra , and the pictured Lion with the initial L in the Coptic Laboi , or Lion . " Supposed , " and u probable value , " arc the terms which even , a theorist so daring as Mr . Birch applies to the process by which Champollion groped through Egyptian darkness in search of a glimmer of history . But , although that eminently learned man had undoubtedly exhibited as much genius as erudition in his attempt to solve the mystery of tlie mute language of a dead race , other Egyptologers appeared who questioned his success . Spohn , considered the hieroglyphs to have been a . sacred dialect , composed , not of letters , but of their symbols , and Seyfiurth followed him . Mi * . Birch says -. "Aided by-the light of philology , the present age penetrates the gloom of thirty centuries , and unsealed the closed lips of the dead . " But it has been written , by one at least his equal in authority ,

    We cannot assert that any inscription , or part of an inscription , has been deciphered with any certainty . " The proof is contained in the single fact that Scyffarth continues to argue with force and consistency agaitist the system bequeathed by Champollion , and . that the learned Uhllmann and l arratt adopt and defend his views . It is easy to say of them , as of Kla .-proth , that they are wrong in principle ; the point has not been demonstrated ; on the contrary , no ono can study the writings of the Egyptologers without remarking upon the confusion and discrepancy mixed up with conjectures , assumptions , andcritical " restorations"of mutilated texts . Champollion reckons the number of hieroglyphics in use among the Egyptians at 864 ; Bruce at 514 ; Goega at 958 ; Bunscn gives 969 ; Mr . Birch says 1000 in round numbers . Lepsius , indeed , has added to the enormous alphabet ; but we are well aware of his method . No ono can make the Nile voyage without seeing the name of the German doctor gigantically daubed amf profanely ¦ blackening the monuments . IIo may be a successful discoverer , but ho is certainly a very authoritative theorist .

    We do not wish to disparage the useful and interesting manual prepared by Mr . Birch . It is neat , clear , and pleasantly written . But it bus all the faultsof Champollionisin ; it is didactic and daring , and inconclusive . Hieroglyphic science does not rest on the impregnable basis claimed for it by Mr . Birch . Sir Gardner Wilkinson ' s sketch of E gyptian manners in tho time Of the Pharaohs , though alloyed with conjecture , is an example of the success with which & writer , full of Ins subject , can illustrate it with a popular design . l

    Pebbttab-G 28,1357.] The Leader, 211

    PEBBTTAB-g 28 , 1357 . ] THE LEADER , 211

    German Protestantism. A Manual Of Religi...

    GERMAN PROTESTANTISM . A Manual of Religion and of the History of the Christian Church , for tlie itse of Upper Classes in Ihiblic Sc / wofx in Germany , and for all Educated JMen in General . J 5 y Karl GottlioU Brctschucider . Translated from the German . Longman and Co . This is a handbook of German Protestantism , translated and published With a view to supply a defect in our own upper schools , and to create a greater rapprochement of the Protestants of both countries . How far such a work , emanating from a German source , tinged and laden with German

    logic , will be acceptable , we are not disposed to conjecture . In Germany there is a greater degree of liberality on such questions . The student is allowed to dip into philosophic speculations which would create a complete horror amongst our theological professors , either of Oxford or Cambridge . That -we are still behind Germany in liberty of conscience is evident from the fact that a Maurice can be expelled from our orthodox metropolitan college , and a Macnaught from a club of his clerical brethren . We have many steps to take before we can come up with the Germanic States in our rights of viewing theological questions in our own way . It is true the fire and the fagot no longer follow the heretic in England . But this is owing rather to our political and civil than to our ecclesiastical and religious instu tutions . Wherever ecclesiastics are armed with a however little or brief authority , they play such tricks as make the angels weep . Liberal England has only recently thrown open the doors of office to Catholics , and illiberal Spooner annually seeks to perpetuate the distinction between tbe Papists and Protestants of Ireland , while Jews ai * e still excluded from participating in the honours of legislation .

    The work opens with an introduction to the student . A few prefatory remarks on philosophical theology brings us to the subject itself . A history of the Christian Church concludes the manual . Each section of the book is divided into numbered paragraphs . Wherever a point or an assertion seems to require it , an amplified explanation is given , as well as illustrations introduced . Of course in a book of this kind the Immortality of the Soul occupies a fundamental position . Herr Bretschneider remarks therefore on this question that without the belief in this undyingness of the soul we could not believe in the reality of a Divine Being , lie asserts that our faculties are capable of accomplishing more than they can accomplish within a limited sphere of time . lie argues that it would not be consistent with our notions of the goodness of a Divine Being to create in us longings after an immortality which He did not intend to gratify . The intellectual , moral , and aesthetical education for the soul is ~ on account of the naturo of the present existence not accomplished ; and does not therefore- fulfil its

    destination , namel y . Rationality , which is the condition of moral progress . One philosopher based his argument on this , that Reason in requiring us to aim at the highest good would demand something impossible and contradictory if Immortality did not exist . A similar train of reasoning is pursued by Herr Bretschneider . " The moral law , " he says , " reveals itself to our Conciousness as claiming implicit obedience , that is to say as a law iising above sensual life , and demanding that we should sacrifice all pleasurable ieclings , and even the sensual life itself , to duty . TLis demand would be absurd and contradictory if the sensual life constituted the whole existence of man , because in this case the preservation of life would be the highest good and law . But from the : existence of the demand follows the possibility of meeting it ; and as this cannot be accomplished -without the soul beinj ? immortal , Immortality must be admitted . " Herr Bretschneider uses in this woi'k ait amount of reasoning and logical deduction not usually f ound in works of a similar character in this country .

    A Medley Oe Novels. Richard Embleton: A ...

    A MEDLEY OE NOVELS . Richard Embleton : a Novel . 3 vols . ( NTcwby . )—The author of Richard Embleton has wandered far and wide in search of impossibilities , and Las discovered them in abundance . But , instead of disposing them in dramatic order , he has piled them up in formless confusion , casting over British chalk his red touches of Italian light , and mingling his black , white , and grey , in a most melancholy chaos . Richard , an articulate mummy , is primall y introduced at the village of llockham , near tho glad , blue sea . lie enters a church , dwelling in ecstasy on the thought of the happy moment , swiftly coming , when he is once more to meet his ICnthemie Murburn . But , hark ! that heavy sound!—the officiating clergyman pronouncing . 'banns of marriages , names ^ Catherine Harburn and Jtunes Bcxley . OfTtothe beacb goes Richard , to . iflone tower , and marvellous to say , Kathcrine goes thither also . He sees her face ; he might touch her curls . ; but refrains and

    on the appointed morning , watches her approach the altar , Bexley ' s bride . Then , a volume of retrospect . Among the episodes is that of a hollow-eyed old man on his death-bed , trying to stab his ( laughter , that he may save one more Virginia from the pollution of the world . Richard interferes , however . After three hundred pages in wandering in ^ zes lost , the second volume discloses that Katharine Harburn was not married , for , in tho middle of the service , she broke away , and fainted . I'Vanccsca , however , is a , troublesome item , her . light gipsy figure being wrapped in n robu of rosecoloured Lyons silk , " cinctured by a cord of gold , " and her face bein <» romantically angelic . In that rose robe and girdle of gold she d /' , and Is buried , and Richard weds Kathcrine . Wo wonder where the writer found hid rusty daggers , his tragic masks , his pantomime properties , and magician tern effects . We wonder , still more , tiuit novels so furnished from llie old repertories of fustian and frippery , should be acceptable to any class of readers .

    Jij-nosl Mi I aunt ; a Talc of Manchester Ufa . By Powys Oswyn , Author of * Ralfe Dearn .:. " ( Hope . )—Mr . Powys Oswyn lias probably been laughed at in Manchester , and has written this book in revenge . Uut , in attempting assassination , he has committed suicide . Ilia profane incohcrcncies must disgust any adventurous reader -who happens to "lance at the crazy book called ' tinted Milmun . What the writer intends is , apparently , to lash the merchant princes and cotton lords of the north . And how does he do it ? In that style of inepbitic rhapsody which properly belongs to intoxication or to insanity . This , observe , is u philanthropic ejaculation , or lament ov « r tbe woes of poor women : —

    J hey may sell their virtue for money to procure inoro—inoro— -more of that scorching , l > lnHliii £ , burning liquid that , winds ho many immortal . souls to an eternal hell Tb « y may ( iur . se , and sweor , and blnspheme , and yoll out oiitli . s , the very Hound of which would almost make a devil shudder . They may unsex tlicmsclviw . They may lose the woman in tbo fiend . They may slide downward—downwards—downwards — -shrieking yelling , howling , screaming , crying , until tboy reach that bluzinij , ( laming hell , into which , with onu hint , long , appalling Bhrick , that neeimj to rend tho very h \ uq » , they disappear , thorn to spend uu eternity of woo—a never-ending

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 28, 1857, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28021857/page/19/