Books and writing must have been familiar to Moses, who was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians' (Acts vii. 22), for at the time of his birth that people had arrived at a high pitch of civilisation. Since the penetration of Dr. Young discovered the key by which the hitherto mysteri ous hieroglyphics can be deciphered, it has been found that from the earliest era Egypt possessed a knowledge of writing. Without crediting the very distant period given by some chronologists, which fixes the beginning of the first regal dynasty there 5867 years B.C., or as M. Plisse, the learned liFero glyphist says in his private accounts, unnumbered ages before the erection of the pyramids,' it is not presuming too much to think that the chronology adopted by Ussher is too short to include many Scriptural transactions. Chronology is a matter of opinion, founded on data supplied by various sources of information, and not an article offaith : it may therefore be altered and improved in con formity with well-ascertained facts and legitimate evidence.
Hales, agreeing with Josephus, says that Menes, the first king- of the first Egyptian dynasty, began his reign B.C. 2412 years [CHuoNoLoov] ; but pre vious to his assuming the royal dignity, Egypt had been long ruled by a succession of priests, and in their theocracy Thoth or Hermes, a god, was con sidered by them to be the inventor of letters (the Egyptians never acknowledged demi-gods) ; and in no instance is the discovery of the art of writing ever attributed to men (Wilkinson, Am-. .E,D,pt. v. 2).
There were three kinds of writing practised in Egypt The hieroglyphical, or sacred sculp tured characters ; 2d, The hieratic, or sacerdotal, which was abbreviated ; 3d, The demotic, or enchorial, which became the hand in general use. Lepsius, in The Annals of Archaological Corre !pondence, Rome 1837, maintains that the Egyptians had two colloquial dialects in use, which were very distinct; the classical or sacerdotal, and the po pular. The sacred, or hieroglyphic writing, as well as the hieratic of all ages, presents the former, whilst the demotic presents the common dialect. Wilkinson thinks the hieroglyphical was the sole mode of writing in the more ancient times, yet allows the hieratic to have been employed in re mote ages ; but if M. Prisse's discovery be true, of a papyrus said to be written in the reign of a hitherto unknown king in the first Memphite dynasty, and in the hieratic character, its extreme antiquity will be found coeval with the- hierogly phical.
If there be no enchorial writing found (for monuments or tombs which were sacred could not have common characters upon them) until about B.C. 600, that circumstance does not prove that
such a mode of writing, was unknown in the earliest times ; for from the account of the burial of Jacob (Gen. 1. 9), and from the Song of Noses (Exod. xv. 1, and xiv. 26), it is clear that horsemen were a part of the Egyptian army, and yet there is but one solitary specimen of a man on horseback amongst the infinite variety of sculptured representations ot their manners and customs (Wilkinson, vol. p. 289). The priestly rulers of Egypt had continued, like the framers of caste in India, to bind down by certain definite and established laws (even to the meagre delineation of the human body in painting) every mode of action, and from that circumstance it may be inferred that the manner in which trials before the judges were carried on was not an in novation of later times. There were royal and priestly scribes, but there must have been a dif ferent grade, employed by other classes, as in their law-courts the complainant always stated his case in writing, and the defendant also replied in writ ing ; from which circumstance (were there none other) it may be inferred that there was some com mon popular writing for such purposes, besides that of the sacred hieroglyphics, or sacerdotal mode. In the paintings which represent the judgment after death, Thoth, who is called the Secretary of Jus tice,' is always portrayed with his tablet and style, just beginning to write.
The Alemnonium is said to have been built about the time of Moses p.c. 1571) ; over the entrance gateway to the library was inscribed, Remedy, or Balsam for Souls.' Over the mouldering door which led to the bibliothetical repository, Cham pollion read, written over the heads of Thoth and Safkh (who were the male and female deities of arts, sciences, and literature), the remarkably ap propriate titles of President of the Library, and Lady of Letters,' In the Sanctuary at Luxor, erected 200 years before the birth of Moses, there is an inscription over Thoth, which begins, Dis course of the Lord of the Divine Writings.' The number of works ascribed to Thoth is stated to have been 36,525.
The great Pyramid is supposed to have been erected at least 2123 years B.C. ; in A.D. 1837, Col. Howard Vyse found in the low chamber the name of Suphis (Cheops) scored in red ochre on the rough stones behind the front facing of the room (see Ancient Egypt, by G. R. Gliddon, vice-consul at Cairo ; Boston, U.S. 144).