Chapter 10

FOOTNOTES:[1]F. W. Graser, born at Luckau, 1801, studied in Leipsic, 1819-23, 1823 Head Master at the Royal Grammar School at Halle, 1827 Sub-Principal in Naumburg, 1831 Deputy Principal and 1846 Principal at Guben, 1854 Principal at Torgau, 1863 Deputy Principal at the Abbey of Our Blessed Lady in Magdeburg, until 1869. Now lives as a private gentleman in Potsdam. In the Renunciation programme of thirty-seven doctors of philosophy on the 4th of March, 1824, (De epitritris Doriis dissertatio). G. Hermann says of him: A Beckio in Seminarium Regium, a me in Societatem Graecam receptus, utrigue nostrum et propter studiorum diligentiam, et propter praeclarum ingenium insignemque morum humanitatem et suavitatem valde probatus est.[2]In this way the official class, the “chickens,” as the Duke called them, and the nobility, were driven to revolt. It was these two classes, and not the populace, who expelled the Duke.[3]Duke William, of Brunswick, recently deceased.[4]The following fragment of a popular song gives some information in regard to this citizen, Götte. It was discovered by my friend, Professor H. Guthe, who aided me in obtaining farther particulars about Götte:POEM ON CITIZEN GÖTTE IN BRUNSWICK.Hurrah for citizen Götte,The man of the August gate;He’s half a Lafayette,The “Lafa” we abate.It was he that didn’t tremble,To the Duke he pushed his way,And without asking questions,Told him the truth that day.The continuation of this folk-song is unknown. “Yette” is supposed to be equivalent to “Götte,” and it was certainly intended by the ingenious poet that our “Laffe” (dandy) should be recognized in “Lafa.”[5]See appendix I.[6]Dissen died in 1837, after a long and severe illness, at the age of fifty-three.[7]When a pupil in the highest class, Richard had travelled on the Rhine with his father during the vacation, and visited Mainz at the same time. The charming description of this journey, which in print would fill quite a little volume, has been preserved in manuscript.[8]In a letter of Samuel Hirzel’s to Horner, the former gives most lively expression to his delight in the lectures of G. Hermann, and afterwards says: “Then he began inveighing against Buttmann without ceremony.” A. Springer,The Young Hirzel,Leipzig, 1883. It is well known what a harsh attack Hermann Boeckh could make in the presence of his class.[9]De Tabulis Eugubinis. Dissert. Berolini. 1833. (Index to Works. No. 1.)[10]Aeschyl. Agam. vs. 357: πολλῶν γὰρ ὲσθλῶν τὴν ὄνησιν είλόμην. Hermanni interpretationem unam esse rectam. etiamsi librorum lectio retineatur.[11]Berlin 1834. Second Edition. Leipsic 1842. (Index to Works. No. III.)[12]Died in 1680.[13]G. Ebers. On the Hieroglyphic System of Writing. Virchow und V. Holtzendorff’sche Sammlung von wissenschaftlichen Vorträgen. 2. Aufl. Serie vi., No. 131.[14]The names of both of these sovereigns were found upon a second bi-lingual tablet, discovered on the island of Philae.[15]They were bought by the Paris library for fifty thousand francs.[16]Lepsius used the Pentateuch, edited by Wilkins, for his first exercise book.[17]Published in the first edition, under the supervision of Jomard, 1809-28. The second edition was edited by Pankouke, 1821-29.[18]In Rosellini’sI Monumenti dell’ Egitto e della Nubia. Eight volumes, with the addition of two folio volumes of colored plates, published at Pisa in 1832-44. The third folio volume was published after his death, (1843) in 1844; Champollion’sMonuments de l’Égypte et de la Nubie, four folio volumes, with four hundred and forty plates, was published in Paris, 1835-47, and Lepsius thus had the use of the first numbers. Rosellini’s work on monuments, mentioned above, is divided into historical and private monuments, and those pertaining to religious worship. Champollion had originally wished to treat of the former, but, in consequence of his early death, the publication of them fell to Rosellini. Champollion also saw only the first proofs of his own work on monuments.[19]As an example he adduces the scheme:Hebrew, jam—m—ijam—nujam—kaCoptic, jom—ijom—njom—kmy seaour seaM. thy sea, etc.[20]On the Order and Relationship of the Semitic, Indian, Ancient Greek, Ancient Egyptian and Ethiopian Alphabets. Index of Works No. V. The history of the origin of this treatise is peculiar. At that time the Leipsic Egyptologist, Seyffarth, who, as we know, had advanced a system of his own in opposition to that of Champollion, had brought out a publication which bore the strange title: “Our Alphabet a Representation of the Zodiac, with the Constellation of the Seven Planets, etc., etc. Probably according to the Observations of Noah himself. First Foundation of a True Chronology and History of the Civilization of All Nations.” Leipsic, 1834.—As this work appeared to emanate from some other than the critical world in which Lepsius had become eminent, and as, strange to say, it had found advocates of repute, the young doctor felt himself bound to refute it duly. So he wrote a critique of it for the “Berliner Jahrbücher,—partly also with a view to “presenting himself gradually before the public in his Coptic costume.” “I do not expect,” he writes, “to demolish the work—by which no honor could be won,—but to give a true explanation of our alphabetical system.” As the “Jahrbücher” had meantime made use of another review, he struck out the portion of the dissertation which was directed against Seyffarth, from that in which he “built up,” submitted this latter to the Berlin Academy, and had it printed in their Transactions.[21]On the origin and relationship of the numerical words in the Coptic, Semitic, and Indo-Germanic Languages. Berlin, 1836. Index of Works, No. VI.[22]Biot,Recherches sur l’année vague des Égyptiens, Paris, 1831.[23]See appendix II.[24]The three volumes of his “Description of the City of Rome” were published from 1830-43; his “Basilicas of Christian Rome” in 1843.[25]Lettre à M. le Professeur Hippolyte Rosellini sur l’alphabet hiéroglyphique.Rome, 1837. Index of Works. No. XIII.[26]If the Egyptologist Seyffarth, mentioned on page 74, claims the merit of having first recognized the syllabic symbols as such, in order afterwards to construct in their favor a perverted system, in which they play a far more prominent part than belongs to them, it is true that priority of discovery cannot be denied to him. But Lepsius immediately accorded to the syllabic symbols their proper place and (as the whole construction of his system proves), quite independently of others.[27]On some Syntactical Points of the Hieroglyphic Language. 1846. Index of Works, No. XLII a.[28]London and Berlin. 1863. Index of Works. No. LXXIV., and also Nos. LIX., LXXV., LXX., LXXI., LXXIa, LXXIII., LXXII., XCI., XCVIII., which all contain dissertations on language, and chiefly on the alphabet.[29]The Book of Kings of the Ancient Egyptians. Index of Works. No. LXVI.[30]F. Champollion.Panthéon Égyptien. Collection des personnages mythologiques de l’ancienne Égypte.Paris, 1826.[31]Index of Works. No. XXXI.[32]Index of Works. Nos. CXII and CXXXII.[33]The oldest texts of the Book of the Dead. Berlin, 1867. Index of Works, No. XCV.[34]Berlin, 1851. Index of Works, No. XLVII.[35]Berlin, 1856. Index of Works, No. LXI.[36]Sur l’ordre des colonnes piliers en Égypte, etc.Index of Works, No. XIX.[37]On some Egyptian Forms of Art and their Development. Berlin, 1871. Index of Works No. CVIII.[38]Lepsius visited Holland and Leyden once again in 1852.[39]Index of Works, No. XXVII.[40]Index of Works, No. XXX.[41]Index of Works, No. XXVIII.[42]Index of Works, No. XXIX.[43]At this time the famous Anastasi papyri were also offered for sale in Berlin through Lepsius, and for a comparatively low price. Yet at that time there were no funds forthcoming for their purchase. The same thing occurred with the beautiful Dorbiney papyrus, which was sent to Berlin in 1851 to be sold, and was examined by Lepsius. He writes, “I would not myself consider the two thousand pounds too dear for such a work of the fourteenth century, which perhaps was put before Moses as a reading-book. But now they would not give eight hundred thalers for it here.” Eighty to a hundred pounds were offered to Miss Dorbiney for it at that time by Olfers; if he had gone a little higher, this treasure would have come to Berlin, but soon after de Rougé deciphered its interesting contents, and it then went, if I am rightly informed, for two thousand pounds, to London.[44]Unfortunately, a work begun by Lepsius during this period of waiting was never completed. It was to be called “The Main Outlines of Hieroglyphics,” and he wrote of it to Bunsen: “In it I must once again touch briefly on the history of discovery, then on the system of writing, but more practically than in its historical development. After this follows my statement regarding consequent transcriptions. These are in Latin letters, for henceforth I shall use the Coptic letters for real Coptic words only, and not, as Champollion has done, for hieroglyphic words, as that only creates confusion. After this comes a short sketch of the hieroglyphic grammar, and I intend to give a selection of groups of hieroglyphics, as the foundation of a lexicon; more to secure for myself the priority of classification than even remotely to supply the need of a lexicon, which I cannot think of at present. I mean to bring out the book, as well as the plates, in the usual octavo form of the Annals.” Written on the 15th of September, 1841.[45]Erbkam himself afterwards wrote several excellent works, namely: “Ueber den Gräber und Tempelbau der alten Aegypter” 1852. “Ueber die Memnoncolosse des Aegyptischen Thebes” 1853. “Ueber alte Aegyptische Bauwerke.” Ephemerides, Vienna, 1845.[46]Abeken afterwards published a “Rapport sur les résultats de l’expédition Prussienne dans la haute Nubie. Revue archéol. IV.” 1846, as well as a lecture entitled: “Das Aegyptische Museum.” Berlin, 1856.[47]Bonomi published the following papers: “On the Site of Memphis.” Transactions of the Roy. Soc. of Literature. N. S. II. 1847, “Arundale a. Bonomi. Gallery of Egyptian Antiquities,” London, 1844, and “Catalogue of the Museum of Hartwell House,” London, 1858. Sharpe and Bonomi published together the fine “Sarcophagus of Seti I.” London, 1858. We also know of two papers of his on Obelisks in the Transactions of the Roy. Soc. of Literature, 1841, Vols. I. and II.[48]Index of Works, No. XLVIII.[49]Afterwards thoroughly demonstrated. Index of Works, No. XLIX.[50]Index of Works, No. XXXII.[51]Index of Works No. XXXIII.[52]Index of Works. Nos. XLIV., XLIVa, and XLIVb.[53]Index of Works. No. L.[54]Index of Works. No. LVIIIa.[55]Index of Works, Nos. LIV. and LVIII.[56]Index of Works, No. LXIX.[57]Index of Works, No. XXXIV.[58]R. Lepsius. Briefe aus Aegypten und Aethiopien.—Pages 329 to 357 and notes. Also Index of Works, Nos. XXXVIII. and XXXIX. The biblical-geographical conclusions of Lepsius were controverted by a certain Kutscheit in a paper as superficial as it was spiteful.[59]Ebers. Durch Gosen zum Sinai. Aus dem Wanderbuche und der Bibliothek, 2 Aufl. Leipzig, 1882.[60]Louis Conrad Bethmann, born at Helmstedt, 1812. He was one of the collaborators on the “Monumenta Germaniae historica,” etc. Died in 1867 in Wolfenbüttel, where he was librarian.[61]Index of Works, LIV. a.[62]See Index of Works. No. XLV.[63]The comments upon his work on monuments, given in the sessions of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, only refer to special points.[64]King in opposition during the period of the supremacy of the Persian empire over Egypt.[65]J. Bunsen, Aegyptens Stelle in der Weltgeschichte [Egypt’s Place in Universal History] Hamburg, 1845. Fortsetzung 1856-57.[66]A Boeckh, Manetho und die Hundssternperiode. [Manetho and the Dogstar Period.] Berlin 1845.[67]See page 83.[68]Die Chronologie der Aegypter. [The Chronology of the Egyptians.] Index of Works. No. XLVI.[69]Index of Works. No. LXVI.[70]Index of Works, Nos. XLIX., LI., LIa., LII., LIII., LX., LXIa., LXIV., LXIVa., LXVIa., LXVII., LXVIIa., LXXVII., XCIV., XCVII., XCIX., CIII., CXX., CXXXIV.[71]This pamphlet, dedicated to the Crown Prince Frederick William, was published August third, 1880, on the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Royal Museum at Berlin.[72]Index of Works. Nos. LV, and LVI.[73]Index of Works. No. LVII.[74]Index of Works, Nos. LXII and LXIII.[75]F. Ritschl. Aeschylus Perser in Aegypten: ein neues Simonideum. [Aeschylus’ Persians in Egypt: a new Simonideum.] Rhein. Museum, Bd. XXVII., page 114-126. F. Ritschl, Opuscula philol. Vol. V., p. 194-210.[76]Index of Works, No. LXXIX.[77]Index of Works, Nos. LXXXIV., CII., CXXXVI., CXXXVII., CXXXIX., CXL.[78]Index of Works, Nos. LXXXV.[79]Index of Works, Nos. CXXIV., CXXVII., CXXIX., CXXXVII.[80]Index of Works, No. CXXXVII.[81]Index of Works, No. LXXXVIII.[82]Index of Works, No. CXXXVIII.[83]Index of Works, No. LXXXVII.[84]Dr. Reinisch claimed to have taken part in the discovery of the exceedingly important decree in question, but unjustly. We refer to the explanation given by Lepsius. Index of Works, XC.[85]Recueil de travaux relatifs à la philologie et à l’archéologie égyptiennes and assyriennes. Paris, Vieweg.[86]Revue égyptologique publiée sous la direction de H. Brugsch, F. Chabas, E. Revillout. Paris, Leroux.[87]Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology. London.[88]His work on “The Metals in Egyptian Inscriptions,” mentioned on page 131, is of special importance, Index of Works, No. CVII.[89]Index of Works, No. CXXX.[90]Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellsch. [Journal of the German Oriental Society.] Leipzig, 1881, Bd. XXXV., p. 207-218.[91]Index of Works, Nos. XXXV., CVIIIa., CXXIXa.[92]Frau Lepsius was the daughter of the celebrated composer, Klein, and many a friend of music will be glad to hear all that her aunts in Cologne related to Frau Elizabeth, regarding the early history of her father, when she visited them at Berlin in 1856. He was the son of a musician who died suddenly, and left his wife and children, the youngest only seven months old, without means. At that time Bernard Klein was twenty-one years old, and immediately announced that he should support his mother and brothers and sisters by giving music lessons. He did this faithfully and with serene confidence in better days to come. The mother always had to care for his clothes, for he paid no attention to his external appearance. He once visited a friend who complained that he had no coat. He gave him his own in entire faith that he had two, but when he got home he found that he had made a mistake, and must buy himself a new one. As a child he had wished to become a merchant, and not to learn music, but he was suddenly seized by a passion for music, and said to his mother: “Now if I had become a merchant, and were so rich that I could drive four horses, I would rather be a music teacher.” Not long after his father’s death he went to Paris with Begas for two years, and there studied music under Cherubini. In 1818 he went to Berlin. Ten years after, as a famous composer, he returned to Berlin, to be present at a great musical festival, at which his “Jephta” was performed with great applause.[93]Frau von Bunsen, as I see by Hare’s biography, was at that time in Wildbad and Baden.[94]Un noser, the good being, the Divinity as the author of all good, the Greek Agathodemon.[95]Both daughters are long since married: Anna to Professor Valentiner, the astronomer, in Carlsruhe, Elizabeth to Pastor Siegel, who lived first in Tegel, afterwards in Neuenhagen near Berlin. Richard, the eldest son, is professor of geology and mineralogy at the Academy of Technology at Darmstadt, and married to the daughter of Ernest Curtius. Bernard, lecturer on chemistry at the Senkenberg Institute at Frankfort on the Main, is married to a daughter of Professor Pauli, the Göttingen historian, since deceased. Reinhold is a painter. The father had a beautiful studio built in the new house in Kleist street for his talented son, and Johannes, after first devoting himself to philosophical studies with the greatest success, has recently passed his theological examination.[96]Charles Richard George Lepsius, born on the nineteenth of September, 1851.[97]From the pamphlet written by father Lepsius on the occasion of the baptism of his oldest grandson Richard, entitled: “The ancestors of the Lepsius Family, Naumburg, 1851,” we see that the family of Lepsius was originally called Leps, and appears to be indebted for its name to the little village of Leps, in the Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau, the ancestral home of the family. It is derived perhaps from the Wendish Lipz, the linden-tree, which word must also be the root of the name of the city of Leipsic. The oldest authentic ancestor is the master tawer, George Leps, at Trebbin in the Mittelmark, who died in 1699. The grandson of this George was the first who changed the name Leps into Lepsius. His father, in addition to the tawer’s craft, carried on a trade in leather and wool, “and was well off, and held in respect and esteem by his fellow citizens.” At the baptism of his child, as if he designed him for a scholar, he bestowed upon him the Latin names, Petrus Christophorus. The latter it was who removed the family to Naumburg, and as Dr. jur. he was administrator of several courts, provost of the cathedral, etc. He died in 1793. He, the great grandfather of Richard Lepsius, like his grandfather and father, was a lawyer.[98]From the post of ambassador to London.[99]See page 38.[100]In “Kurfürst” (Elector) the first syllable means “cure,” and the second “prince.”—Trans.[101]A German expression for housewife.—Trans.[102]After Lepsius had made the Egyptian collection in Berlin what it now is, Humboldt, who was always most warmly interested in the aspirations of talented young men, attempted to substitute as director of the Museum, in the place of Lepsius, the young and highly gifted H. Brugsch, who was at that time an open antagonist of Lepsius.[103]The bride of the silver wedding was of course not the mother but the stepmother (and also aunt) of our Lepsius. (See page 294.)[104]“On the Limits of Natural Knowledge.” The conclusion to which Lepsius came was that the true limits of the knowledge of nature coincide with the limits of human capacity for knowledge in general. Beyond these limits he finds, as we know from other utterances, room for his living God.[105]The 1838 on the title page is a misprint for 1837.[106]No earlier English edition of the “Standard Alphabet” can be found than that of 1863, and none is mentioned in Low’s “English Catalogue of Books.”

FOOTNOTES:

[1]F. W. Graser, born at Luckau, 1801, studied in Leipsic, 1819-23, 1823 Head Master at the Royal Grammar School at Halle, 1827 Sub-Principal in Naumburg, 1831 Deputy Principal and 1846 Principal at Guben, 1854 Principal at Torgau, 1863 Deputy Principal at the Abbey of Our Blessed Lady in Magdeburg, until 1869. Now lives as a private gentleman in Potsdam. In the Renunciation programme of thirty-seven doctors of philosophy on the 4th of March, 1824, (De epitritris Doriis dissertatio). G. Hermann says of him: A Beckio in Seminarium Regium, a me in Societatem Graecam receptus, utrigue nostrum et propter studiorum diligentiam, et propter praeclarum ingenium insignemque morum humanitatem et suavitatem valde probatus est.

[2]In this way the official class, the “chickens,” as the Duke called them, and the nobility, were driven to revolt. It was these two classes, and not the populace, who expelled the Duke.

[3]Duke William, of Brunswick, recently deceased.

[4]The following fragment of a popular song gives some information in regard to this citizen, Götte. It was discovered by my friend, Professor H. Guthe, who aided me in obtaining farther particulars about Götte:POEM ON CITIZEN GÖTTE IN BRUNSWICK.Hurrah for citizen Götte,The man of the August gate;He’s half a Lafayette,The “Lafa” we abate.It was he that didn’t tremble,To the Duke he pushed his way,And without asking questions,Told him the truth that day.The continuation of this folk-song is unknown. “Yette” is supposed to be equivalent to “Götte,” and it was certainly intended by the ingenious poet that our “Laffe” (dandy) should be recognized in “Lafa.”

POEM ON CITIZEN GÖTTE IN BRUNSWICK.

Hurrah for citizen Götte,The man of the August gate;He’s half a Lafayette,The “Lafa” we abate.It was he that didn’t tremble,To the Duke he pushed his way,And without asking questions,Told him the truth that day.

The continuation of this folk-song is unknown. “Yette” is supposed to be equivalent to “Götte,” and it was certainly intended by the ingenious poet that our “Laffe” (dandy) should be recognized in “Lafa.”

[5]See appendix I.

[6]Dissen died in 1837, after a long and severe illness, at the age of fifty-three.

[7]When a pupil in the highest class, Richard had travelled on the Rhine with his father during the vacation, and visited Mainz at the same time. The charming description of this journey, which in print would fill quite a little volume, has been preserved in manuscript.

[8]In a letter of Samuel Hirzel’s to Horner, the former gives most lively expression to his delight in the lectures of G. Hermann, and afterwards says: “Then he began inveighing against Buttmann without ceremony.” A. Springer,The Young Hirzel,Leipzig, 1883. It is well known what a harsh attack Hermann Boeckh could make in the presence of his class.

[9]De Tabulis Eugubinis. Dissert. Berolini. 1833. (Index to Works. No. 1.)

[10]Aeschyl. Agam. vs. 357: πολλῶν γὰρ ὲσθλῶν τὴν ὄνησιν είλόμην. Hermanni interpretationem unam esse rectam. etiamsi librorum lectio retineatur.

[11]Berlin 1834. Second Edition. Leipsic 1842. (Index to Works. No. III.)

[12]Died in 1680.

[13]G. Ebers. On the Hieroglyphic System of Writing. Virchow und V. Holtzendorff’sche Sammlung von wissenschaftlichen Vorträgen. 2. Aufl. Serie vi., No. 131.

[14]The names of both of these sovereigns were found upon a second bi-lingual tablet, discovered on the island of Philae.

[15]They were bought by the Paris library for fifty thousand francs.

[16]Lepsius used the Pentateuch, edited by Wilkins, for his first exercise book.

[17]Published in the first edition, under the supervision of Jomard, 1809-28. The second edition was edited by Pankouke, 1821-29.

[18]In Rosellini’sI Monumenti dell’ Egitto e della Nubia. Eight volumes, with the addition of two folio volumes of colored plates, published at Pisa in 1832-44. The third folio volume was published after his death, (1843) in 1844; Champollion’sMonuments de l’Égypte et de la Nubie, four folio volumes, with four hundred and forty plates, was published in Paris, 1835-47, and Lepsius thus had the use of the first numbers. Rosellini’s work on monuments, mentioned above, is divided into historical and private monuments, and those pertaining to religious worship. Champollion had originally wished to treat of the former, but, in consequence of his early death, the publication of them fell to Rosellini. Champollion also saw only the first proofs of his own work on monuments.

[19]As an example he adduces the scheme:Hebrew, jam—m—ijam—nujam—kaCoptic, jom—ijom—njom—kmy seaour seaM. thy sea, etc.

[19]As an example he adduces the scheme:

[20]On the Order and Relationship of the Semitic, Indian, Ancient Greek, Ancient Egyptian and Ethiopian Alphabets. Index of Works No. V. The history of the origin of this treatise is peculiar. At that time the Leipsic Egyptologist, Seyffarth, who, as we know, had advanced a system of his own in opposition to that of Champollion, had brought out a publication which bore the strange title: “Our Alphabet a Representation of the Zodiac, with the Constellation of the Seven Planets, etc., etc. Probably according to the Observations of Noah himself. First Foundation of a True Chronology and History of the Civilization of All Nations.” Leipsic, 1834.—As this work appeared to emanate from some other than the critical world in which Lepsius had become eminent, and as, strange to say, it had found advocates of repute, the young doctor felt himself bound to refute it duly. So he wrote a critique of it for the “Berliner Jahrbücher,—partly also with a view to “presenting himself gradually before the public in his Coptic costume.” “I do not expect,” he writes, “to demolish the work—by which no honor could be won,—but to give a true explanation of our alphabetical system.” As the “Jahrbücher” had meantime made use of another review, he struck out the portion of the dissertation which was directed against Seyffarth, from that in which he “built up,” submitted this latter to the Berlin Academy, and had it printed in their Transactions.

[21]On the origin and relationship of the numerical words in the Coptic, Semitic, and Indo-Germanic Languages. Berlin, 1836. Index of Works, No. VI.

[22]Biot,Recherches sur l’année vague des Égyptiens, Paris, 1831.

[23]See appendix II.

[24]The three volumes of his “Description of the City of Rome” were published from 1830-43; his “Basilicas of Christian Rome” in 1843.

[25]Lettre à M. le Professeur Hippolyte Rosellini sur l’alphabet hiéroglyphique.Rome, 1837. Index of Works. No. XIII.

[26]If the Egyptologist Seyffarth, mentioned on page 74, claims the merit of having first recognized the syllabic symbols as such, in order afterwards to construct in their favor a perverted system, in which they play a far more prominent part than belongs to them, it is true that priority of discovery cannot be denied to him. But Lepsius immediately accorded to the syllabic symbols their proper place and (as the whole construction of his system proves), quite independently of others.

[27]On some Syntactical Points of the Hieroglyphic Language. 1846. Index of Works, No. XLII a.

[28]London and Berlin. 1863. Index of Works. No. LXXIV., and also Nos. LIX., LXXV., LXX., LXXI., LXXIa, LXXIII., LXXII., XCI., XCVIII., which all contain dissertations on language, and chiefly on the alphabet.

[29]The Book of Kings of the Ancient Egyptians. Index of Works. No. LXVI.

[30]F. Champollion.Panthéon Égyptien. Collection des personnages mythologiques de l’ancienne Égypte.Paris, 1826.

[31]Index of Works. No. XXXI.

[32]Index of Works. Nos. CXII and CXXXII.

[33]The oldest texts of the Book of the Dead. Berlin, 1867. Index of Works, No. XCV.

[34]Berlin, 1851. Index of Works, No. XLVII.

[35]Berlin, 1856. Index of Works, No. LXI.

[36]Sur l’ordre des colonnes piliers en Égypte, etc.Index of Works, No. XIX.

[37]On some Egyptian Forms of Art and their Development. Berlin, 1871. Index of Works No. CVIII.

[38]Lepsius visited Holland and Leyden once again in 1852.

[39]Index of Works, No. XXVII.

[40]Index of Works, No. XXX.

[41]Index of Works, No. XXVIII.

[42]Index of Works, No. XXIX.

[43]At this time the famous Anastasi papyri were also offered for sale in Berlin through Lepsius, and for a comparatively low price. Yet at that time there were no funds forthcoming for their purchase. The same thing occurred with the beautiful Dorbiney papyrus, which was sent to Berlin in 1851 to be sold, and was examined by Lepsius. He writes, “I would not myself consider the two thousand pounds too dear for such a work of the fourteenth century, which perhaps was put before Moses as a reading-book. But now they would not give eight hundred thalers for it here.” Eighty to a hundred pounds were offered to Miss Dorbiney for it at that time by Olfers; if he had gone a little higher, this treasure would have come to Berlin, but soon after de Rougé deciphered its interesting contents, and it then went, if I am rightly informed, for two thousand pounds, to London.

[44]Unfortunately, a work begun by Lepsius during this period of waiting was never completed. It was to be called “The Main Outlines of Hieroglyphics,” and he wrote of it to Bunsen: “In it I must once again touch briefly on the history of discovery, then on the system of writing, but more practically than in its historical development. After this follows my statement regarding consequent transcriptions. These are in Latin letters, for henceforth I shall use the Coptic letters for real Coptic words only, and not, as Champollion has done, for hieroglyphic words, as that only creates confusion. After this comes a short sketch of the hieroglyphic grammar, and I intend to give a selection of groups of hieroglyphics, as the foundation of a lexicon; more to secure for myself the priority of classification than even remotely to supply the need of a lexicon, which I cannot think of at present. I mean to bring out the book, as well as the plates, in the usual octavo form of the Annals.” Written on the 15th of September, 1841.

[45]Erbkam himself afterwards wrote several excellent works, namely: “Ueber den Gräber und Tempelbau der alten Aegypter” 1852. “Ueber die Memnoncolosse des Aegyptischen Thebes” 1853. “Ueber alte Aegyptische Bauwerke.” Ephemerides, Vienna, 1845.

[46]Abeken afterwards published a “Rapport sur les résultats de l’expédition Prussienne dans la haute Nubie. Revue archéol. IV.” 1846, as well as a lecture entitled: “Das Aegyptische Museum.” Berlin, 1856.

[47]Bonomi published the following papers: “On the Site of Memphis.” Transactions of the Roy. Soc. of Literature. N. S. II. 1847, “Arundale a. Bonomi. Gallery of Egyptian Antiquities,” London, 1844, and “Catalogue of the Museum of Hartwell House,” London, 1858. Sharpe and Bonomi published together the fine “Sarcophagus of Seti I.” London, 1858. We also know of two papers of his on Obelisks in the Transactions of the Roy. Soc. of Literature, 1841, Vols. I. and II.

[48]Index of Works, No. XLVIII.

[49]Afterwards thoroughly demonstrated. Index of Works, No. XLIX.

[50]Index of Works, No. XXXII.

[51]Index of Works No. XXXIII.

[52]Index of Works. Nos. XLIV., XLIVa, and XLIVb.

[53]Index of Works. No. L.

[54]Index of Works. No. LVIIIa.

[55]Index of Works, Nos. LIV. and LVIII.

[56]Index of Works, No. LXIX.

[57]Index of Works, No. XXXIV.

[58]R. Lepsius. Briefe aus Aegypten und Aethiopien.—Pages 329 to 357 and notes. Also Index of Works, Nos. XXXVIII. and XXXIX. The biblical-geographical conclusions of Lepsius were controverted by a certain Kutscheit in a paper as superficial as it was spiteful.

[59]Ebers. Durch Gosen zum Sinai. Aus dem Wanderbuche und der Bibliothek, 2 Aufl. Leipzig, 1882.

[60]Louis Conrad Bethmann, born at Helmstedt, 1812. He was one of the collaborators on the “Monumenta Germaniae historica,” etc. Died in 1867 in Wolfenbüttel, where he was librarian.

[61]Index of Works, LIV. a.

[62]See Index of Works. No. XLV.

[63]The comments upon his work on monuments, given in the sessions of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, only refer to special points.

[64]King in opposition during the period of the supremacy of the Persian empire over Egypt.

[65]J. Bunsen, Aegyptens Stelle in der Weltgeschichte [Egypt’s Place in Universal History] Hamburg, 1845. Fortsetzung 1856-57.

[66]A Boeckh, Manetho und die Hundssternperiode. [Manetho and the Dogstar Period.] Berlin 1845.

[67]See page 83.

[68]Die Chronologie der Aegypter. [The Chronology of the Egyptians.] Index of Works. No. XLVI.

[69]Index of Works. No. LXVI.

[70]Index of Works, Nos. XLIX., LI., LIa., LII., LIII., LX., LXIa., LXIV., LXIVa., LXVIa., LXVII., LXVIIa., LXXVII., XCIV., XCVII., XCIX., CIII., CXX., CXXXIV.

[71]This pamphlet, dedicated to the Crown Prince Frederick William, was published August third, 1880, on the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Royal Museum at Berlin.

[72]Index of Works. Nos. LV, and LVI.

[73]Index of Works. No. LVII.

[74]Index of Works, Nos. LXII and LXIII.

[75]F. Ritschl. Aeschylus Perser in Aegypten: ein neues Simonideum. [Aeschylus’ Persians in Egypt: a new Simonideum.] Rhein. Museum, Bd. XXVII., page 114-126. F. Ritschl, Opuscula philol. Vol. V., p. 194-210.

[76]Index of Works, No. LXXIX.

[77]Index of Works, Nos. LXXXIV., CII., CXXXVI., CXXXVII., CXXXIX., CXL.

[78]Index of Works, Nos. LXXXV.

[79]Index of Works, Nos. CXXIV., CXXVII., CXXIX., CXXXVII.

[80]Index of Works, No. CXXXVII.

[81]Index of Works, No. LXXXVIII.

[82]Index of Works, No. CXXXVIII.

[83]Index of Works, No. LXXXVII.

[84]Dr. Reinisch claimed to have taken part in the discovery of the exceedingly important decree in question, but unjustly. We refer to the explanation given by Lepsius. Index of Works, XC.

[85]Recueil de travaux relatifs à la philologie et à l’archéologie égyptiennes and assyriennes. Paris, Vieweg.

[86]Revue égyptologique publiée sous la direction de H. Brugsch, F. Chabas, E. Revillout. Paris, Leroux.

[87]Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology. London.

[88]His work on “The Metals in Egyptian Inscriptions,” mentioned on page 131, is of special importance, Index of Works, No. CVII.

[89]Index of Works, No. CXXX.

[90]Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellsch. [Journal of the German Oriental Society.] Leipzig, 1881, Bd. XXXV., p. 207-218.

[91]Index of Works, Nos. XXXV., CVIIIa., CXXIXa.

[92]Frau Lepsius was the daughter of the celebrated composer, Klein, and many a friend of music will be glad to hear all that her aunts in Cologne related to Frau Elizabeth, regarding the early history of her father, when she visited them at Berlin in 1856. He was the son of a musician who died suddenly, and left his wife and children, the youngest only seven months old, without means. At that time Bernard Klein was twenty-one years old, and immediately announced that he should support his mother and brothers and sisters by giving music lessons. He did this faithfully and with serene confidence in better days to come. The mother always had to care for his clothes, for he paid no attention to his external appearance. He once visited a friend who complained that he had no coat. He gave him his own in entire faith that he had two, but when he got home he found that he had made a mistake, and must buy himself a new one. As a child he had wished to become a merchant, and not to learn music, but he was suddenly seized by a passion for music, and said to his mother: “Now if I had become a merchant, and were so rich that I could drive four horses, I would rather be a music teacher.” Not long after his father’s death he went to Paris with Begas for two years, and there studied music under Cherubini. In 1818 he went to Berlin. Ten years after, as a famous composer, he returned to Berlin, to be present at a great musical festival, at which his “Jephta” was performed with great applause.

[93]Frau von Bunsen, as I see by Hare’s biography, was at that time in Wildbad and Baden.

[94]Un noser, the good being, the Divinity as the author of all good, the Greek Agathodemon.

[95]Both daughters are long since married: Anna to Professor Valentiner, the astronomer, in Carlsruhe, Elizabeth to Pastor Siegel, who lived first in Tegel, afterwards in Neuenhagen near Berlin. Richard, the eldest son, is professor of geology and mineralogy at the Academy of Technology at Darmstadt, and married to the daughter of Ernest Curtius. Bernard, lecturer on chemistry at the Senkenberg Institute at Frankfort on the Main, is married to a daughter of Professor Pauli, the Göttingen historian, since deceased. Reinhold is a painter. The father had a beautiful studio built in the new house in Kleist street for his talented son, and Johannes, after first devoting himself to philosophical studies with the greatest success, has recently passed his theological examination.

[96]Charles Richard George Lepsius, born on the nineteenth of September, 1851.

[97]From the pamphlet written by father Lepsius on the occasion of the baptism of his oldest grandson Richard, entitled: “The ancestors of the Lepsius Family, Naumburg, 1851,” we see that the family of Lepsius was originally called Leps, and appears to be indebted for its name to the little village of Leps, in the Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau, the ancestral home of the family. It is derived perhaps from the Wendish Lipz, the linden-tree, which word must also be the root of the name of the city of Leipsic. The oldest authentic ancestor is the master tawer, George Leps, at Trebbin in the Mittelmark, who died in 1699. The grandson of this George was the first who changed the name Leps into Lepsius. His father, in addition to the tawer’s craft, carried on a trade in leather and wool, “and was well off, and held in respect and esteem by his fellow citizens.” At the baptism of his child, as if he designed him for a scholar, he bestowed upon him the Latin names, Petrus Christophorus. The latter it was who removed the family to Naumburg, and as Dr. jur. he was administrator of several courts, provost of the cathedral, etc. He died in 1793. He, the great grandfather of Richard Lepsius, like his grandfather and father, was a lawyer.

[98]From the post of ambassador to London.

[99]See page 38.

[100]In “Kurfürst” (Elector) the first syllable means “cure,” and the second “prince.”—Trans.

[101]A German expression for housewife.—Trans.

[102]After Lepsius had made the Egyptian collection in Berlin what it now is, Humboldt, who was always most warmly interested in the aspirations of talented young men, attempted to substitute as director of the Museum, in the place of Lepsius, the young and highly gifted H. Brugsch, who was at that time an open antagonist of Lepsius.

[103]The bride of the silver wedding was of course not the mother but the stepmother (and also aunt) of our Lepsius. (See page 294.)

[104]“On the Limits of Natural Knowledge.” The conclusion to which Lepsius came was that the true limits of the knowledge of nature coincide with the limits of human capacity for knowledge in general. Beyond these limits he finds, as we know from other utterances, room for his living God.

[105]The 1838 on the title page is a misprint for 1837.

[106]No earlier English edition of the “Standard Alphabet” can be found than that of 1863, and none is mentioned in Low’s “English Catalogue of Books.”

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