arise in the times which are now approaching, whom all the world shall worship, save those whose names are written in the book of life. From this idolatry neither intellect nor benevolence shall save a man, any more than Sir T. More and Fenelon were saved from Popery, or Plato and Pythagoras shook off the absurdities of heathenism. What began in error becomes infatuation, and issues in strong delusion, to believe a lie; from which perhaps recovery is impossible, and against which the only safety is faith in the true God.

The first three symbols being thus excluded from those used by the Babylonians in their calendar, the other seven were those of the sun, moon, and five planets, in the order now retained in the names of our days of the week. The signs, and an explanation of them, we must defer till another Number, when we hope to give figures, without which it would be incomprehensible, and for which there is not time at present. The flat bricks stamped on one side, found so plentifully at Babylon, were certainly monthly calendars. These, when out of date, were just as useless for their primary purpose as old almanacks; but they would answer quite as well the purposes of building, and were turned to that service when useless for the first. This is quite demonstrable to a careful examiner, who considers both the order in which the bricks are found, and the internal evidence derived from the inscriptions themselves. In the same portion of building, bricks of precisely the same description are found, and in the same state of preservation, impressed with the same stamp. From this Dr. Hager has inferred that the characters were only the maker's name-a supposition perfectly ludicrous and absurd. But calendars, being of their very nature uniform, and consequently all becoming obsolete together, would all be used up together in the building then going on.

The bricks hitherto found are of five classes; and in each of these classes marks of difference of age are observable, and some of the classes are manifestly altogether older than the rest. The classes depend upon the number of lines imprinted; these are, ten, seven, six, four, and three. Those of ten lines are most rare, and appear to be the oldest; and the most fresh, sharp, and abundant impressions are those of seven columns, but without lines of division between the columns. The inscriptions of three lines are the most simple in these it is evident that there are thirty characters, arranged in three lines of ten, with occasionally a redundant character at the end of the first and last lines. On comparing these with the six-lined and ten-lined inscriptions, we find that they correspond in number of characters, and also in the form of most of the characters; and that the characters which agree in form uniformly occupy the same place in the series of thirty, whether arranged

in three, six, or ten lines. The inscriptions in four lines contain, in the first, second, and fourth lines, nearly the same series of characters as the three-lined inscriptions; but the third line contains four, and sometimes five, intercalary characters: and, in the seven-line inscriptions, the fifth line is generally intercalary, containing five characters.

These few data lead to the obvious conclusion that the thirty characters denote the ordinary month of thirty days; and the thirty-five characters the month with five additional days intercalated, in order to keep their reckoning of time in accordance with the seasons of the year. And, as it is probable that the people would not be at the trouble of bringing back their ponderous almanacks every month to be rectified or exchanged, the calendar was so constructed as to serve for the intercalated months of thirty-five days, as well as the ordinary months of thirty days, and even to answer this purpose for many years, till a change in the zodiacal signs rendered a change in the calendar necessary. In the bricks of Babylon we have only traced two, or at most three, of these changes; and in going back to the inscriptions from Nineveh, which are older than any that have been yet found at Babylon, only four changes therefore these changes must mark very long periods or cycles.

The proof of the bricks being calendars, is corroborated by the fact already mentioned,-that there are properly but seven characters in these inscriptions; the first character recurring again as the eighth, fifteenth, twenty-second, and twenty-ninth. But each character has one, and sometimes two, substitutes or equivalents; and these at first appear to swell the number of characters beyond what is really the case and two characters occasionally are condensed into one, which then at first sight appears a new and distinct character.

The character used for recording the astronomical observations at Babylon was, in its origin and elementary form, precisely similar to that used for the calendar upon bricks. It began with the same series of seven characters, with the first recurring as the eighth. But though the uniform purposes of a calendar could be as well, nay better, answered by this simple series; the complicated motions of the heavenly bodies, their observations of which they desired to record, obliged the Babylonian astronomers to complicate the character in order to record them. There are many fragments and short inscriptions of this kind; but incomparably the finest, and one which is in fact perfect in its kind, is in the Museum of the East-India Company-who, with that munificence which characterises all their proceedings, have spared no expense in having it most accurately engraved, of the size of the original stone. This stone was pro

cured by Sir Harford Jones, when resident at Bagdad, and presented by Sir Hugh Inglis to the East-India Museum. It is very perfect, not a single character being wholly obliterated, but those which have been slightly injured still capable of restoration. This inscription contains nearly 600 lines, and more than 280 varieties of character, most of which are resolvable into the seven primary characters found on the bricks. Believing this to be a record of some portion at least, if not the whole, of that series of observations which Alexander found at Babylon and sent into Greece to Aristotle; and seeing how many points both of sacred and profane history, at present disputed by chronologists, the discovery of such a record would decide; and believing that we have the right clue for deciphering, not only the simple calendars, but this complicated record; we shall spare no pains in endeavouring to explain those characters.

But truth is what we seek for, and not self-gratification or applause; and if, therefore, it should happen that any of our readers have already made advances in such an undertaking, we would not seek to press before them, but gladly forward their researches. And if, on the other hand, any persons, into whose hands these pages may fall, should have collected materials for such an investigation which they do not mean to use, or have made detached observations which they have not the opportunity of putting together, we shall gladly receive, and would thankfully acknowledge, such communications, if made to our publisher, and bring them as speedily as possible before the public. Many seals are in existence, with Babylonian characters, which have not been published in Tassie's or any other collection: impressions of these would be very acceptable, and are most useful in such an inquiry.

The genealogical character, used for recording the dynasties and succession of the kings of Babylon, was very different from the preceding. One elementary character-which has been sometimes called an arrow-head, sometimes a wedge, but which more nearly resembles a straight horn-was multiplied and combined in various ways, to form all the characters of the calendal and astronomical inscriptions. We think it to have been the horn used for calling the people together (kaλew), to announce the calendar, as forming the most obvious instrument for exemplifying and recording the periods to be remembered by the people. The genealogical character, except where dates are to be recorded, avoids the horn-shape, and is made up of combinations of two elementary characters; one of which is very narrow, the other very broad-one like a mace, or the handle of a lance; the other like a funnel; or a pyramid, hollowed out to make its point more taper. A series of such combinations runs along the top

of these inscriptions in regular order as long as a dynasty lasts; and bunches or clusters of like characters hang down, to indicate the descent, or passage to another dynasty; and indications of the date or period seem to occur at the bottom. But of this character and its application we cannot yet speak with any certainty, for the specimens hitherto brought to England are very few, and in very small fragments: they are on glazed tiles about an inch thick, of very pure clay, most carefully stamped, and so well burnt that they are perfectly fresh, not having undergone the slightest decomposition.

The talismanic or magical character is very uniform, though very abundant, and we think was never designed to have a meaning; being merely a confused medley of forms somewhat similar to those which were known, but so arranged as to be wholly unintelligible. The form of known characters was so far preserved as to have the appearance of meaning, in order to keep alive interest and induce the belief of hidden mystery; while the disorderly clustering and crowding of random forms, and the monotonous repetitions of the same form from the very same stamp, demonstrate the one purpose, to mystify and deceive by opposite means. The talismans or amulets themselves are found in great abundance, and are of two descriptions; one kind having indented characters, the other raised characters. The first description are the smallest, not exceeding three inches by two, and some of them not more than an inch long. They are not made in a mould, or with any exactness, but are square or heart-shaped lumps of clay, rounded at the edges, thickly stamped over with characters made from not more than four or five stamps, with no appearance of regularity in the lines, and no indication of beginning or ending; and they are only sundried. The second description, with raised characters, are somewhat larger, being about four inches by three, and though made by hand, and therefore mere lumps like the preceding, are more square at the edges and corners, being made by rolling them out with an indented cylinder, but are less sharp in their characters, as being raised on all sides, and therefore necessarily flattened in the points of those sides on which they rested to dry, or by which they were handled. Portions of the flat tablet on which the lumps of clay were placed to be rolled, and many of the indented cylinders used for rolling them, have been found; a comparison of which with the lumps of clay thus moulded can leave no doubt that they were designed to serve the purposes of superstition, mystery, and fraud; never designed to be understood by those who possessed them.

The flat tablets on which the lumps of clay were placed to be rolled have generally eight lines of closely arranged characters, and they were long enough to hold several lumps at the same

time; and the cylinders which rolled them have generally from sixty to seventy lines, and were rolled along the length of the tablet, over four or five lumps at the same time, each of which takes up the impression of the cylinder in succession, as it passes from one to the other; the outer rows of each lump being either whole characters or parts of characters, according as the edge of the lump happened to coincide or not with the division of two lines on the cylinder. The lines consequently follow the length of the lump on the under side, which rested on the tablet, but cross the lump on the upper side, over which the cylinder passed; and these upper characters are much sharper than the under ones, from the lumps being removed from the tablets and placed on a flat surface to dry; and they were handled with so little care that the finger-marks, imprinted while the clay was soft, are generally observable.

These obvious facts shew that these lumps of clay were designed for no higher purpose than taking advantage of the blind credulity of the vulgar; a manufactory and a merchandise for gain-exactly similar in its principle to that of the papal priesthood, with their crosses, their Agnus Deis, and their charms.

Characters similar to the talismanic are often found engraved on heads of granite or jasper of monstrous forms, and also on pieces of agate of small size; but in these instances they have a hole drilled through them, to hang about the neck as amulets, and must not be confounded with the seals, whether cylindrical or flat, as these last contain real characters, which throw light on the other inscriptions.

The characters thus kept distinct at Babylon serve to illustrate the various purposes to which hieroglyphics were applied in Egypt; and the study of hieroglyphics with this fresh light would, we doubt not, dispel all the remaining obscurity. In an inquiry which had been so long unsuccessful, as the investigation of hieroglyphics had proved, the first few rays of light were naturally hailed as harbingers of day; and because a few proper names were deciphered it was supposed that hieroglyphics were deciphered; and then, most unwarrantably, that hieroglyphics were primitive alphabets, and that the vulgar notion of the hieroglyphic origin of all alphabets was proved to be correct. But the modern discoveries prove no such thing: so far as we know, they only prove that names, which had been previously written in alphabetic characters, might be spelt in hieroglyphics in a very clumsy and roundabout away. And we shall not come to the radical meaning and various applications of hieroglyphics till we study them in connection with the characters of Babylon, Nineveh, and Persepolis, and take for our guidance in studying them all the scattered memorials of their cosmogony, theology, and his