PART I.] [ 625 ] LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE. At the Anniversary Meeting, April 28, the Bishop of Salisbury, as President, delivered his Annual Address. Adverting to the loss which the Society had sustained in the decease of its munificent founder and patron, King George IV., he took occasion to enumerate some of the more important services rendered by the deceased Monarch to the cause of Literature. "His Majesty's attention to the interests of Literature and sound Learning,—an attention called forth by the genuine bias of his cultivated taste and classical accomplishments-was evinced as early as the year 1796, by his donation of two gold and two silver medals to the Scholars of Winchester; the former for the best English composition, the latter for the encouragement of eloquence. "The King was a contributor to the building of St. David's College; and this benefit to the interests of Religion and Learning was subsequently augmented by some valuable endowments bestowed upon that Institution. "That meritorious charity, the Literary Fund, has, at various times, largely partaken of the munificence of the late Sovereign. It was by his Majesty's order, that the work 'De Doctrinâ Christianâ,' &c. discovered in the State Paper Office, in 1823, and ascribed (though, in his Lordship's opinion, erroneously) to Milton, was translated and published. "In the same year, George IV. further merited the title of a Benefactor to Literature, by giving to the nation the valuable and extensive Library which had been collected by his Royal father. "One of the earliest proofs given by the King of his cultivated taste and love of ancient learning, was shown in the Literary Mission to the Court of Naples, for the more rapid developement and transcription of the Herculanean Manuscripts-a Mis sion equally honourable to the country from which it emanated, and the accomplished Prince who promoted it; and successful, beyond what is generally known, in its results. "The mention of the literary zeal displayed by the late Sovereign of England, in these exertions to recover the remains of Ancient Learning, led his Lordship into some details respecting recent discoveries of fragments of great antiquity, in the works of comparatively modern writers. "In conclusion, the President noticed, as another subject of condolence, the loss which the Society had likewise sustained GENT. MAG. Suppl. Vol. CI. Part I. G in the death of the Rev. Edward Davies, one of the Royal Associates, the learned author of the Celtic Researches,' the Mythology of the Druids,' and several other highly esteemed publications; and a contributor of some valuable and ingenious papers to the Royal Society of Literature. The President's Address being concluded, the Secretary read the Annual Report of the Proceedings of the Society, as prepared by him under the direction of the Council. It noticed that the Council having obtained, on a lease for ninety-nine years from the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, a piece of ground for the site of the proposed House for the Society, in the vicinity of St. Martin's Church, proceeded to commence the building without further delay. A beautiful design was gratuitously furnished by Mr. Decimus Burton, whom the Council had appointed their architect; which Messrs. Haward and Nixon, builders, have engaged to execute, according to the specification and estimates furnished by Mr. Burton, for the sum of 3275l. The building will, at the latest, be ready for the Society's accommodation at the First Meeting for the ensuing Session, in November next. The Council have agreed to let the ground floor of the new House to the Incorporated Society for the Building and Enlargement of Churches and Chapels, at the annual rent of 140l. The Council are unable to communicate what may be his Majesty's intentions with regard to continuing the annual Royal Donation; and under the circumstances the further adjudication of Royal Medals is necessarily suspended. The Council is at present engaged in printing the First Part of a Second Volume of the Society's Transactions; to consist of, First-M. Letronne's Memoir on the Greek and Latiu Inscriptions upon the colossal Statue of Memnon, at Thebes. Secondly -Mr. Millingen's paper on the late Discoveries of Ancient Monuments, in several parts of Etruria. Thirdly,-A Collection of Inscriptions from the Rocks of Waady Mokatlib, near Mount Sinai; with an Account of their Discovery, &c. by Mr. George Francis Grey. A brief notice is then given of such of the original Communications with which the Council has been favoured, as have been read since the last anniversary. I. Observations on the Origin of thenism, and on its Progress among the Jews, early Christians, and Mohammedans. By the Rev. Samuel Lee, B.D. Professor of Hebrew, &c. in the University of Cambridge, Honorary Associate, R.S.L. The 626 Royal Society of Literature. purpose of this Memoir is to show that all the splendid, but fallacious, systems of heathen philosophy and theology are derived from the authentic records of Creation, as given by Moses; and that, although varying in particulars, they are all identical in principle: the whole of these systems agreeing in the doctrine of emanations; that is, of various orders of angelic or superhuman beings, proceeding, together with the material universe, from one Fountain of Light and Power, in the acknowledgment of whose Supreme Unity they all coincide. With this view, the Professor first carries his inquiry through the theological systems of the ancient Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Persians, all of which he substantially identifies with the opinions of the Greeks, and with those now taught by the followers of Buddh and Brahma; the common foundation of all these corrupted forms of Religion being the doctrine above stated, founded upon the principles of Revelation, debased by tradition and by the inventions of a fanciful Philosophy. The writer's researches are next directed to supply an answer to the question whether, and to what extent, the principles of heathen philosophy may be traced to the Jews. The conclusion to which he comes, on this point, is, that although it may be true that the Pagan philosophers did not borrow the facts and notions adduced by them, directly from the Hebrew writings, yet those facts and notions cannot strictly lay claim to originality; inasmuch as both the theology of the Jews and the theories of the philosophers are alike drawn from one common source in an original Revelation. His arguments are here supported by references to the Cabbala, and the other monuments, of the early opinions of the Jews. The numerous heresies which deformed Christianity in the first centuries, were merely an adaptation of the philosophic system of emanations to the form, and under the name, of the Religion of Christ. The able attempts of Lardner to refute the charges brought on this head against the early heresiarchs, are examined by the writer in this part of his Essay. Professor Lee proceeds, lastly, to consider the Mohammedan faith. The corruption of the religion of Mohammed, from one of pure authority, as it was left by its author, to one appealing to evidence and argument, which began to take place in the time of El Mamun, seventh Calif of the House of Abbas, was similar in character, and derived from the same sources of heathen philosophy, with those corruptions which the heretics of the first century introduced into the Christian Church. After the metaphysical system was once brought into Arabia, it soon began to be pursued with ardour. Its beginning, gradual extension, and complete establishment, are traced by the writer in a sketch of the opinions of the va [VOL.CI. rious sects which profess the religion of Mohammed; particularly the two Grand Divisions of the Sonnee, or Orthodox,— who hold the purest form of Mohammedanism, and the Shiah, or followers of Ali, -among whom it is so much corrupted as, in some cases, to border upon pure heathenism. The esoteric doctrine, called Suffeeism, which prevails almost universally among the higher classes in Persia, is nothing more nor less than the metaphysics of Plato, grafted in upon the religion of the Arabian prophet. "From what has been said," observes the Professor, "I think it must have appeared that Heathenism, Hindooism, Buddhaism, Gnosticism, Judaism, and Mohammedanism, in the main, are all regulated on the self-same principle; and actually end in bringing about the same results in practice. It is to my mind equally certain, that all have built upon the same foundations, viz. the facts recorded in the Holy Scriptures, but which have been more or less distorted, by the operation of a false philosophy." This valuable and learned Memoir concludes with some advice to those who are engaged in introducing a purer form of worship among the professors of these erroneous systems, respecting the way in which their corruptions may be most effectually met.-Read May 5th, November 17th, December 1st, and December 15th, 1830, and February 2d, 1881. II.-An Account of the late Discoveries of Ancient Monuments, in several parts of Etruria. By James Millingen, Esq. Royal Associate of the Society.-Read May 19th, 1830. III.-An Abstract of a Memoir, by M. Letronne, Honorary Member of the Society, on the Inscriptions upon the colossal Statue of Memnon, at Thebes. Drawn up by W. R. Hamilton, Esq. M.R.S.L. &c.— These inscriptions, the work of various persons who visited this celebrated Statue, at an early period, and who thus attested the fact of the sound said to have been emitted by it, were first collected by Pococke: additions and corrections have been since made by Norden, by the French Commission of Egypt, by Mr. Hamilton, &c. and finally, by Mr. Salt. Upon the copies supplied by these authorities, several learned critics have already exercised their powers, with various degrees of success. The writer's attention, in the present Memoir, is confined exclusively to an account of the Inscriptions; he does not go into the question respecting the causes, &c. of the sounds alleged to have been heard. He divides these records into two classes-those which are, and those which are not, dated. In the former class, consisting of thirtynine Inscriptions, he adopts the chronologic order, without regard to the nature of the composition. The latter he subdivides into, 1st, Greek, 2d, Latin.-Read June 16, 1831. PART I.] Royal Society of Literature. IV.-Letter on "The Old Egyptian Chronicle." From I. Cullimore, Esq. M.R.S.L. The design of this communication is to prove that the ancient Egyptian astronomers and historians possessed in the Hermaic Zodiacal period (stated in the Chronicle referred to, from the Genesis of Hermes, to have consisted of 36,525 unintercalated solar years), a great cycle, equivalent in its nature and uses to our Julian period-both being compounded of a series of solar and lunar cycles, or, the solar canicular period of 1461 unintercalated years multiplied into the lunar cycle of twenty-five unintercalated years; in consequence of which, each year of the Egyptian annals (which were regulated by the Zodiacal Revolution) possessed fixed and unalterable solar and lunar characters, that could never return but with a new revolution of the great cycle. Upon the principles of this remarkable system, the writer proceeds to show the epoch of the Egyptian Monarchy, as fixed in the Chronicle, necessarily corresponds to the 598th year of the 24th solar canicular period, ́ and consequently to the year before the Christian æra 2188-an epoch confirmed by the testimony of all original and impartial authorities. He further makes it appear, from independent calculations, drawn respectively from the solar and lunar characters of the Zodiacal revolution, that this systein must have been constructed in the sixteenth century before the Christian æra; which was the age of Hermes Trismegistus, its author, and the golden age of Egyptian science. This being, therefore, the time at which the Genesis of Hermes was composed, as determined by the system which it developes, a strong confirmation is hence obtained for the conclusions of the writer, in a previous paper, laid before the Society, that the Hermaic system is a corruption of the sacred chronology of Moses, effected in the age of the Hebrew Legislator, the contemporary of Hermes.-Read June 16, 1830. V.-W. Sotheby, Esq. read a second specimen of his Translation of the Iliad, Nov. 3, 1830. VI." On the late Monastic Libraries and Archives in France." By Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart. M.R.S.L. This paper contained an account of numerous valuable Books and Manuscripts, formerly belonging to Monasteries, inspected by the writer in the Public Libraries of St. Omer and Lille; together with a notice of the contents of the Archives of the latter town; in which are to be found many most valuable manuscripts relating to the history of Flanders, and the surrounding states.-Read Nov. 17, 1830. VII. On the use of the Ancient Cycles in sellling the differences of Chronologists. Memoir II. On the Egyptian Chronology. By Syncel, Ed. Par. pp. 51 and 52. 627 the Rev. Frederick Nolan, LL.D. M.R.S.L. This very learned contribution to the Society's Collection of Papers is a further elucidation of the subject treated in Dr. Nolan's Memoir on the Chaldean Chronology, of which an account was given in the last Annual Report. As the greater part of the Essay still remains to be read, the analysis is deferred till a future occasion.-A portion read December 1, 1830. VIII. At the Meeting of December 15, 1830, two ancient Latin Manuscripts, belonging to Sir Thomas Phillipps, were presented for the inspection of the Society, and an account of their contents, in a letter from Sir Thomas, read. One of the manuscripts, a work of the twelfth or beginning of the thirteenth century, entitled 'Mappa Clavicula,' contains a description of the various materials used in the art of painting and illuminating manuscripts, with the composition of the ingredients for forming the different colours. It likewise explains the method of gilding, and writing in gold letters; and describes several other mechanical arts, as practised in those centuries. The subject of the other Manuscript is a narrative of the Conspiracy entered into by the Archbishop of York, and others of the nobility, in the reign of Richard II. IX.-A Catalogue of Pictish and Scottish Kings, with Remarks, communicated, in a letter, from Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart. M.R.S.L. This Catalogue is taken from an ancient Manuscript, in the possession of Sir Thomas. It differs from that given by Innes, and is more correct.-Read Feb. 2, 1831. X.-Letter on the Hieroglyphic Chronological Tablets of Abydos and Carnak. By I. Cullimore, Esq. M.R.S.L. In this letter the author explains the principles on which he proceeded in an attempt to restore the lost fragment of the hieroglyphic tablet of Ramses the Great, found at Abydos *; laid before the Society in November, 1830; in connection with a scheme of the monumental and historical succession of the Pharaohs, likewise presented by him at the same time. From the evidence of history, and of other Egyptian monuments, compared with the votive elements of the record of Abydos, he proves that the two parallel lines of succession, which that Tablet presents, do not, as hitherto conjectured, form a single consecutive series, but are synchronous. He next shows, that the hieroglyphic Tablet of Thothmos III.†, the seventh predecessor of Ramses, discovered at Carnak, by Messrs. Wilkinson and Burton, in 1825, which has also been viewed, so far as it has been exa * See Society's Hieroglyphics, Fasciculus V. Plate 98, to which Mr. Cullimore's delineation of the restored fragment is accommodated. † Ibid. Plate 96. 628 Royal Society of Literature. mined, as exhibiting a single succession, is likewise constructed on similar principles; and seems indeed to have been in all respects the prototype of that of Abydos. The double succession of both records being established, and that of Carnak ascending into ages considerably higher than the record of Abydos, when complete; while the identity of the primary Pharaonic lines of both, as a continued succession, is made evident by means of several minor collateral lists; the connection and identity of the subordinate and more mutilated lines is inferred from analogy, supported by many coincident proofs. The result is, that the complement of the Tablet of Abydos appears to be completely supplied, as to the middle or primary line; and, with very little exception, as to the upper or subordinate succession. If the validity of this restoration be admitted, the Tablet of Abydos now presents a most valuable record, connecting the unknown ages with the brightest period of hieroglyphic history; and the solution of several of the most important problems in the Egyptian annals is pointed out by the writer, as clearly attainable by means of the study of these two connected monuments -Read February 2, 1831. XI.-"On the Moral Fame of Authors." By Prince Hoare, Esq. M.R.S.L. It is the opinion of the writer of this elegant Essay, that there exists in every case a connection between the durability of works of genius, and the sincerity and soundness of the moral and religious principles which are displayed in them. In support of this opinion he adduces, in the first part of his Memoir, the principal poets of both ancient and modern times, as instances of the advantages possessed in this respect by writers whose works have a preceptive value over those of a different description; and he thinks that Virgil failed in his attempt to rival his great model, chiefly by omitting to follow him in the noble path to fame, indicated in that reverence for the Supreme Powers that preside over the actions of mankind, which distinguishes the Iliad. In the second part of his paper, the writer enters, with the same view, into a particular examination of the moral character of Shakspeare's dramas. The play which he selects for observation, as exemplifying his views, is Macbeth; in which sublime composition he shows that the poet's powers are no less apparent in the way in which he attains his moral object, than in his surprising delineations of human passions. In conclusion, he infers from the facts adduced, that Literature is one among the principal means employed by Providence in promoting his great moral purposes in relation to mankind.-Read March 2, 1831. XII. "Illustrations of the Constitution of our Ancient Parliaments, before the time of Edward I." By the Rev. T. D. Fosbroke, [VOL. CI, M.R.S.L. The author's object is to controvert the following opinions advanced by Selden, and other writers after him,―that, from the conquest to the latter end of King John's reign, all who held lands of the King, had a right to be summoned to Parliament; and this right being then confined to the royal tenants, all Peers of Parliament sat by tenure and writ of summons, and that the subsequent division of the royal tenants into greater and less barons, eventually produced the lower house of Parliament. In the only paragraph of Magna Charta relative to our parliaments, the author discovers five distinct recognitions upon this subject, each of which, taken singly, shows that Selden was led to form erroneous conclusions from a misconstruction of the whole passage. The first of these recognitions, viz. that of a Common Council of the whole realm, or full Parliament, he coufirms by references to a record of Ina, King of Wessex, and to the Saxon Chronicle; the second, viz. that burgesses were included in a full Parliament, for the purpose of granting aids, by a passage from the annals of Wigorn: the third, viz. of the tenants in capite for the assessment of scutages, by writs of summons, issued by John, Henry II. and Edward II. for a general assemblage or Parliament, and military muster, to be held simultaneously at the same place: the fourth, viz. of the summonses being addressed to the barones majores singly, from Eadmer: the fifth recognition of Magna Charta regards summonses being addressed generally, through the sheriffs and bailiffs, to all other tenants in capite. From the premises thus laid down by the writer, he concludes-1. That no Peer claimed a right to be summoned to Parliament, except it was held for the assessment of scutages. 2. That the Lords attended the Court from custom at the festivals of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, and that theu parliamentary business was transacted. 3. That they were summoned upon emergencies. 4. That the inferior tenants in capite had a right to be summoned en masse, whenever a scutage was to be levied; and that when so summoned, they elected delegates from their own body to represent them in Parliamentwhence our knights of the shire. 5. That citizens and burgesses had a right to return members from their own body, when aids were to be granted. 6. That a convocation of the Clergy accompanied such Parliaments of King, Lords, and Commons. From these deductions it follows, that whatever modifications may have subsequently ensued, the ancient constitution of Parliament was, in substantials, much the same as it now is➡ with this exception, that parliamentary business was transacted at the royal festival meetings, without apparently any convention of the Commons' House, although that was indispensable when taxes were to PART I.] Mr. Clarkson's Lectures on Political Science. be imposed, or a full Parliament was requisite, on account of the importance of the business. Read April 6, 1831. XIII.-Official Report of Yousouf Agah Effendi, Ambassador Extraordinary from the Sublime Porte, on his delivering the Imperial Credentials at the Court of St. James's, in January 1795. Translated into English by M. Joseph Von Hammer, Honorary Member of the R.S.L. In this document the Ambassador gives his government a very minute and characteristic account of the ceremonies attending his reception by the Sovereign of England, the presents of which he was the bearer, the speeches delivered upon the occasion, &c. "This curious piece of Turkish diplomacy," observes the learned translator, "though it has no great historical interest, has at least a local one for London, and a recent one, as the circumstances narrated took place only thirtysix years ago."-Read April 20, 1831. MR. CLARKSON'S LECTURES AT THE MECHANICS' INSTITUTION, ON THE "PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY." The following is a summary report of some of the more novel and remarkable passages of these Lectures. Mr. Clarkson began by saying that Political Science, which was barely admitted as a science in this country, was invested with the honours of the Professor's chair in Germany and France. Plato, Aristotle, Sir Thomas Moore, Hobbes, Harrington, Hume, Condorcet, and Rousseau, were referred to as the more eminent ancient and modern authors on this science-which is as capable of demonstration in its results as Political Economy. The latter is only a branch of the former, confining itself to the developement of the industry and resources of a state; the former comprehends a general analysis of social institutions from their first rough germ among savage tribes, to their refined developement at the present day. Mr. Clarkson, while admitting the immense antiquity of the earth, which may have rolled for myriads of ages throughout space, denied the exorbitant antiquity, sometimes claimed by philosophy and chronology for the human race; contending for a period of not more than some 5000 years, and supporting this view by a survey of the astrological, retrospective, and forged Chronologies of Egypt, China, and India; by the testimony of early history, as well as Geology. In examining Rousseau's theory of the origin of political institutions, as asserted in the "Contrat Social," Mr. Clarkson contended against the possibility of any original compact. Utility, as Aristotle urges, or what Mr. Bentham terms the "Greatest happiness principle," must alone have formed the object and basis of the first social union. Mr. Clarkson next demon 629 strated the fallacy of Rousseau's extraordinary assertion that the representative system was a "political nuisance of modern invention, unknown to the ancient Commonwealths" referring to numerous instances in Greece and Asia Minor, not only of representation by the election of Deputies. sent to a common diet or congress, but to elective representation with double stages, and again, to instances of elective representation, of which taxation and the control of the public purse were the basis. Rousseau had also asserted that the first political institutions were republican. Although he gave no proof of this, Mr. Clarkson said that he inclined on the score of presumptive evidence to adopt this view. The co-operative system that is to say, common lands, common labour (commercial or agricultural), common tables, common education, common store houses, and common distribution of earnings which is found in the framework of all the early republics in developed maturity-is also found, in its elementary rudiments, and was so found anciently, among savage tribes, who hunt, fish, or cultivate the ground, in common, and use common receptacles for storing and distributing the produce. This analogy would seem to lay bare the first link in the social chain, and tends to bear out the inference that the first social step was republican in its character. - Proceeding from theory to fact, the Lecturer then analyzed the earliest social institutions to be found on record, those of Egypt, which he argued exhibited a second stage in the social progress-the co-operative commonwealth of all freemen being overlaid, through conquest, by a feudal system, consisting of privileged freemen and disfranchised labourers. The land, instead of belonging to the whole community, and being laboured in common, was now divided in absolute property, between the three privileged castes, royal, sacerdotal, and military; and cultivated for them by the conquered co-operatives, now become serfs. After showing the stunting effect of this system on the arts and sciences, and the intellectual progress of the species when they had reached a certain point, Mr. Clarkson stated that this feudal system was broken through, first, by the growth of a commercial class, and finally by a colony of cotton spinners and weaving manufacturers from Sais, who, urged by the pressure of population on subsistence, emigrated to Athens, and there first founded the model of free political institutions, which by two steps through the Roman provincial municipal organization, borrowed from Athens, led to the formation of the English Constitution; and by three steps to its present meditated reform. Mr. Clarkson then analyzed the political institutions of Athens in their mature state, and remarked that three political elements, which always now excite great difference of |