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Letters to Sir William Gell from Henry Salt, [Sir] J. G. Wilkinson, and Baron von Bunsen

1915; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 2; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/3853826

2514-0582

H. R. Hall, Henry Stephens Salt, J. G. Wilkinson, Baron von Bunsen,

Clinical Laboratory Practices and Quality Control

THE letter from Salt with whioh we begin the second instalment of Sir William Gell's Egyptological correspondence is not of very great interest.One might say that it would be difficult for the Consul-General to be very interesting, if he tried.His contemporaries would undoubtedly have applauded this unkind judgment.For Salt was not loved by them.He undoubtedly got it into his self-important head that he was a valuable contributor to nascent Egyptological science.It is true that he obtained valuable collections of Egyptian antiquities for the nation, but his contributions to Egyptology were valueless, as valueless as his poetry.He loved the East, and Egypt, and his enthusiasm burst forth into song: Egypt, renowned of old, demands my song.High favor'd Land, where Nilus sweeps along His course majestick, with full flowing stream, And back reflects to-day the Sun's bright beam; Sweep on in triumph, noble River, sweep Thy welcome waters to the thirsty deep, While Tegla's distant mountains, cold and high, From their vast fountains a fresh stream supply; Oh !how I love along thy banks to stray, And watch the fish that on thy bosom play, Mark, from thy bed, the scaly crocodile Steal his slow pace and turn his head, erewhile, In cautious fear, while screams the pelican, With flapping wings that heavy seeks to rise; Or, in extended phalanx, mounts the crane, And dins the welkin with its shrill hoarse cries1.Vastly elegant, Mr Salt; and the phrase of fifty years before suits his verse, which was more characteristic of 1774 than of 1824.However, so sang the Consul-General, thrumming his tuneful though old-fashioned lyre.And the Poet had also to be the Decipherer: the mystic lore of Canopus and of Orus must unveil itself to him.True, he approved of the work of Dr Young, who, he conceived, was undoubtedly the first discoverer of the numerals; and he approved of the young but meritorious Mr Wilkinson 1 Egypt, a descriptive Poem, with notes; Alexandria, 1824.