SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF THOMAS YOUNG, M. D., FELLOW AND FOREIGN SECRETARY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY, MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE; A MAN ALIKE EMINENT IN ALMOST EVERY DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN LEARNING. PATIENT OF UNINTERMITTED LABOUR, ENDOWED WITH THE FACULTY OF INTUITIVE PERCEPTION, WHO, BRINGING AN EQUAL MASTERY TO THE MOST ABSTRUSE INVESTIGATIONS OF LETTERS AND OF SCIENCE, FIRST ESTABLISHED THE UNDULATORY THEORY OF LIGHT, AND FIRST PENETRATED THE OBSCURITY WHICH HAD VEILED FOR AGES THE HIEROGLYPHICS OF EGYPT. ENDEARED TO HIS FRIENDS BY HIS DOMESTIC VIRTUES, HONOURED BY THE WORLD FOR HIS UNRIVALLED ACQUIREMENTS, HE DIED IN THE HOPES OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE JUST. BORN AT MILVERTON, IN SOMERSETSHIRE, JUNE 13TH, 1773, DIED IN PARK SQUARE, LONDON, MAY 10TH, 1829, IN THE 56TH YEAR OF HIS AGE. APPENDIX—A. HERCULANENSIA;" OR, ARCHEOLOGICAL AND PHILOLOGICAL DISSERTATIONS: CONTAINING A MANUSCRIPT FOUND AMONG THE RUINS OF HERCULANEUM. From the Quarterly Review for February, 1810. THE publication of this highly interesting volume must ever be considered as a memorable event in the history of classical literature. One only of the eight hundred manuscripts, found almost fifty years ago at Herculaneum, has hitherto been printed; the remainder has been lost to the world till the present day, when we are informed that no less than eighty volumes have been rendered legible, by persons employed a The article in the text, which was omitted in the selection made of Dr. Young's Philological Essays, is appended to this volume in consequence of the frequent references which are made to it in Chapter IX. It produced replies both from Mr. Hayter and Sir William Drummond. Upon the copies of these replies, found in a volume of Tracts belonging to him, Dr. Young has written a series of notes and criticisms, which are not less damaging to the character for scholarship and good sense, both of the editor of the Fragment and his commentator, than those which are contained in the Review. When I was engaged in writing the Chapter referred to, I was not aware that the Article which was there stated (page 237) to have been withdrawn from the Edinburgh Review had really made its appearance in the number for August, 1810. It is more discursive, but much less minute and critical, than that which is given in the text, but is not unworthy of the high reputation for scholarship and ability of the distinguished person to whose pen it was attributed. under the munificent patronage of the Prince of Wales. We are confident that every lover of elegant literature in these kingdoms must feel the exertions of His Royal Highness ou this occasion as a personal tie of gratitude, giving additional force to those sentiments of duty and respect which he is bound to entertain for the heir to the crown of the empire: and that so marked a demonstration of an enlightened zeal for the cultivation of learning, exhibited to the world under many difficulties, and in a distant country, cannot but add another ray of glory to the lustre of the British character. The Herculanensia are the joint production of the Right Honourable William Drummond and Mr. Robert Walpole. We most willingly bear testimony to the profound erudition and extensive knowledge which they have displayed in their dissertations; and we thank them most sincerely, Sir W. Drummond in particular, for their co-operation in promoting the great work of rescuing these remains from oblivion. We shall proceed to give some account of the steps which have been taken for this purpose at different times, in the words of our authors." 1. Of the ten dissertations contained in this work, the first relates to the size, population, and political state of the city of Herculaneum. Sir W. Drummond maintains that it was large, crowded with inhabitants, wealthy, and luxurious; and that it was rather a colonia than a municipium, though called occasionally by both names. 2. The second is an essay, by Mr. Walpole, on Campania in general, and that part of it called Felix; which last he limits to a breadth of 28 geographical miles, from the Mons Tifata to Misenum, and a length of 25 from the Pons Campanus to the Sarnus. 3. The etymology of Herculaneum Sir W. Drummond refers simply to Hercules, which he construes as a Hebrew or Phoenician compound, meaning universal fire, and alluding to the attributes of the There follows in the original a long extract from the Dedication to the Prince of Wales and from the Preface, containing statements respecting the circumstances which led to the publication which forms the subject of the Review, and of the various attempts to unroll the papyri, which have either lost their interest or have been otherwise sufficiently noticed in the article Herculaneum reprinted in the third volume of Dr. Young's Works. |