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may, in the interest excited by this discovery, serve the purposes of popular comparison.

Mr. Schoolcraft then exhibits in a table the several characters in the Ancient Greek, Etruscan, Runic, Ancient Gallic, Old Erse, Phoenician, Old British and Celtiberic, which correspond with the American characters, showing that a majority is found in the Phoenician, Old British and Celtiberic. Mr. Rafn, in the paper referred to, inclines strongly in favor of the latter. "So striking," he observes, "is the similarity, that at first sight we are led to believe that we have a Celtiberic inscription lying before us." He also points out some striking analogy of form between this inscription and the Ancient Gallic; and also the Old Erse; but a still greater number of coincidences between it and the British or Anglo Saxon Runes.

In assigning the characters of this ancient tablet to one of the ancient alphabets used on the Mediteranean shores, Mr. Schoolcraft is supported by the opinion of the Secretary of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, at Copenhagen. He says, "perhaps it may be conjectured, with the greatest probability, that the inscription owes its origin to tribes from the Pyrenean Peninsula, who, in very remote ages, may be supposed to have visited the trans-Atlantic part of the world; or, to the inhabitants of the British Isles, sojourning in this remote country before the close of the 10th century. Accordingly, this may be considered as a result almost certain of the data before us; that this inscription is of European origin, and of a date anterior to the close of the 10th century."

The various ornaments and objects of antiquarian interest discovered within the mound, are also noticed by Mr. Schoolcraft, with engravings. The ruins of an ancient stone tower and traces of earth-works in the valleys of Grave Creek and the Ohio river, also attract the attention of the author, and are described at length. On the whole, this paper is an important contribution to our stock of Aboriginal Antiquities, particularly as it is written after a personal and careful examination, by one who has devoted more attention to the remains of the Aborigines, their manners and customs, than any one among

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The fourth article, is by Prof. W. W. Turner, "on the discoveries of Himyaritic inscriptions in Southern Arabia, and the attempts made to decypher them."

In order to put the reader at once in possession of all the facts necessary to a proper understanding of the subject, the writer commences with a brief sketch of the history of the Himyarites, or ancient inhabitants of south-western Arabia, tracing them down from their founder Himyar, sixth in descent from Shem, to the year 527, A. D., whence the country became a province of Abyssinia. The meager nature of these annals, has long caused scholars to look with expectation to the inscriptions in the ancient character and language, of which Arabian authors make frequent mention. Niebuhr visited Arabia in 962, and was followed by Seetzen, in 1810. Both these distinguished travellers made the inscriptions a special object of research, but without success.

"At length the period arrived when these doubts were to be put at rest, by the discoveries of the active and enterprising Lieut. Wellsted, in the years 1834 and 1835. The occasion of these discoveries, was as follows: in the year 1830, the British East India Company despatched two of their vessels, the Benares and the Palinurus, to complete the survey of the Red Sea, preparatory to establishing a steam communication between India and Europe. Towards the close of this arduous service, while the expedition was engaged in exploring the southern coast of Arabia, Lieut. J. R. Wellsted, of the Palinurus, made, in company with some of his brother officers, two excursions from different points of the coast into the interior of the country, in search of ancient remains; nor were their exertions unrewarded. They found about 70 miles to the westward of Makalla, in lat. 13° 59′ 20′′ N. and long 48° 24′ 30" E. from Greenwich, a steep rocky promontory, near 500 feet high, which is joined to the main land by a low sandy isthmus, and is called from its black appearance, Hisn Ghoráb, or Raven Castle. At the back of this hill, lie the ruins of numerous houses, walls, and towers;' and from these a path cut in the face of the cliff, in a zig-zag direction, leads to the ruins of a city on the summit, which are discerna

ble far out at sea. As they ascended the rock, at about one third of its height from the top, the party were repaid for their toil, by discovering some inscriptions. They consisted of one of ten lines (the longest which has yet been made known), and another of two, cut in the smooth face of the cliff. Another, consisting of a few words, was found on a small detached rock, on the summit of the hill;' the characters are 2 inches in length, and executed with much care and regularity. To avoid the possibility of omission or error, three separate copies were taken by different individuals."

These investigations were followed up with ardor by Wellsted and his companions, Lieut. Cruttenden and Dr. Hulton, attached to the same expedition. They succeeded in discovering many other inscriptions (but none of equal importance with the first), in different parts of the country; which, as soon as possible, were forwarded to Europe for the inspection of the learned.

"The finding of these inscriptions, forms an epoch in the history of this investigation. Here at last, documents were brought to light of sufficient length, and copied with sufficient exactness, to settle at once several interesting questions connected with Himyaritic inscriptions, and to render their future complete elucidation, with the aid of such additional discoveries of a like character as they gave reason to hope for, little less than certain. Copies of them were sent to Gesenius, in Halle, and came to hand in the year 1837. That distinguished paleographer at once, and without any further help than what the inscriptions themselves afforded him, succeeded in determining a portion of the alphabet, and, also in reading several words of the large inscription, and among them, in the ninth line, the phrase, King of the Himyarites." "These inscriptions," he continues, were communicated by Gesenius to his friend and colleague, Prof. E. Ródiger, who immediately entered upon a laborious examination of the subject." Indeed, the zeal and diligence of Ródiger were such, that Gesenius at last resigned the investigation wholly into his hands. It is on the publications of these two eminent scholars that Mr. Turner's account of the inscriptions is chiefly based. After the finding of

these has been described, there next follows an elaborate dissertation on the Himyaritic alphabet. This is accompanied by a comparative table of Himyaritic alphabets, taken from manuscripts, and others from the inscriptions, together with the ancient and modern forms of the Ethiopic alphabet. His comparison establishes with the greatest clearness, a fact which had been suspected before, viz., that the Himyaritic is the parent of the Ethiopic character. Plates of the most important inscriptions accompany the article, together with translations of them, by Prof. Ródiger. The large one, first discovered by Wellsted, bears the date of 604; and another from Mareb, the ancient capital of the country, is dated 537; but it seems it is impossible to say to which of the numerous Arabian eras they refer. The last mentioned inscription, also bears the name Abd. Kulal, which is that of a sovereign, who ascended the throne of Himyar, A. D., 273; and another has on it, the name of his son. If these are really the personages referred to, and not others of the same name, the monuments in question, must be about 1500 years old."

Mr. Turner points out a curious circumstance, which has not been noticed by any previous writer on the subject. Two short inscriptions of a few words each, were recently found in a village of Abyssinia, by the Rev. Mr. Isenberg, missionary to that country. They were regarded with much interest, as furnishing the desired connecting link between the written character of Southern Arabia and that of Abyssinia. But Mr. T. has shown that one of these very inscriptions, was copied along with some others, and more correctly copied, by Salt, as long ago as the year 1810. So that while the learned were eagerly seeking after the lost writing of Himyar, they already possessed a good portion of the alphabet, without being aware of the fact.

After a short disquisition on the ancient, and another on the modern language of Hadramaut, the results of the investigation are summed up, which are briefly these: 1st, that the Himyaritic writing is a descendant of the Phoenician, and that the modern Ethiopic is formed from it, by certain changes affected by the Greek monks, who introduced Christianity into Abyssinia; 2d, that the ancient Himyaritic was a

Shemitish tongue, approaching nearer to the Hebrew than the northern Arabia does, while the modern dialect shows a strong affinity to the Arabianic spoken in Abyssinia; and 3d, that the Abyssinians are actually descended from the ancient inhabitants of southern Arabia, as ancient writers positively testify."

The fifth and concluding article in the volume is by our friend Mr. Catherwood, giving an account of the PunicoLybian monument at Dugga, and the remains of an ancient structure at Bless, near the site of ancient Carthage.

The Dugga monument is one of great interest. It is in the Beylic of Tunis, and in the vicinity of the ruins of Carthage. What renders this edifice of so much importance is, that it differs entirely from the remains still existing of ancient Carthage. The latter, including the magnificent aqueduct which formerly supplied Carthage with water, are wholly of Roman workmanship, and present Latin inscriptions. The Dugga monument "is the only exception to be met with. It presents a type of architecture totally different from all others in the country, and is of much greater simplicity and elegance of form.". "The crowning cornice is evidently Egyptian, of grand and massive proportions.' The Phoenician inscription has been deciphered; from which we learn that it was a tomb. The names and genealogy of the occupants are contained in the inscription; also, the names of the builders. Mr. Catherwood has given a view and ground-plan of the monument and copy of the inscription, taken by himself. He also submits a Hebrew and an English translation of the latter. After a critical examination of the translation of Gesenius, in his Monumenta Punica, Mr. Catherwood very judiciously prefers the version of

De Saulcy, who, by a more rigid investigation of the Phoenician, has arrived at a different conclusion from Gesenius. De Saulcy's version is very recent, having appeared only in 1843, in the Journal Asiatique.

Although accounts of this inscription, together with copies of it have been published in Europe, we believe that no view of the building has yet appeared. Mr. Catherwood has therefore given us a valuable contribution. He adds the following remarks:

"That which most forcibly struck me as an architect, was the beauty and harmony of proportion which characterize this building; and a singular architectural anomaly, namely, a blending of Greek and Egyptian art."... "I think it will be conceded, from the architectural features of the building, that it is of high antiquity, and erected not very long after the settling of the country by the Phoenicians, when Grecian art first began to dawn. At any rate, all would fix its erection nearer the foundation of Carthage, about 900 years before Christ, than the decline and fall of that kingdom in the third century B. C."

The second paper of Mr. Catherwood's is an account of an ancient Cyclopean structure in the same region with the Dugga monument, accompanied with engravings. This closes the volume--which we do not hesitate to say, is one of the most valuable contributions our country has produced in works in this department of knowl edge. It will be well received in Europe, where archæology and philology are now more studied than in the United States. Still, we believe that the volume will be fully appreciated here, and that the Ethnological Society may be induced to per vere in its labors.

AMATEUR AUTHORS AND SMALL CRITICS.

AMONG the various divisions and subdivisions into which the trade of authorship is divided, we recognize two classes; authors by profession, and amateur writers: those who regard study and composition as the business of their lives, and those who look upon them merely as incidental occupations. Now we all know very well how absurd a

thing it would be for a client to ask the services of anamateur lawyer, with an air of confidence in the request, and in the expectation of his faithful attention to business; so too, with regard to the advice of an amateur physician; and, indeed, the analogy holds in every walk of life. Few do that well "for love" which can be better done for money.

If it be true in the common concerns of life, that the laborer is worthy of his hire, it is much more to be so considered when we ascend in the scale of labor, and come finally to that which most tasks the intellect and requires the greatest number of choice thoughts. Purely imaginative employment, invention in fiction, the highest class (and indeed all but the most inferior departments of poetry, the musa pedestris), must afford more of delight self-centered, and in a good degree independent of pecuniary reward or the glory of a noble fame. Yet even poets cannot live without bread and broadcloth; and so far as their imperishable and spiritual commodities can be paid for, should be remunerated in a princely manner. But in speaking of authors and men of letters in general, we shall except the few grand poets from our remarks, and include rather the mass of good, than the minority of great, writers. We do not intend to comprehend in our list either the barely respectable scribe, who abound now-a-day as thickly as Dogberry's whortleberries; although among amateur authors we must not forget that for one really clever man (not to say man of genius) there are at the least estimate ninety and nine stupid fellows, who assume the cloak of gravity wherewithal to hide the defects of dullness.

A merchant is respected for shrewdness in turning a penny, for the accumulation of a fortune, and yet we hear of the mercenary rewards of authorship, and the base equivalent for the productions of genius: as if the more a man gave the less he should ask; build a palace at less cost than a cottage. At this rate a sign painter would be entitled to higher pay than Raphael himself; and we might take our strongest arguments that men of genius should be nobly rewarded for their magnificent conceptions and labors, from the single class of painters. The great old masters lived like princes, and were paid as the great lawyer and surgeon of our own time are paid. Yet they did not become lazy or careless; nor did wealth stifle the fine images of their brains, or palsy the masterly skill of their hands.

Thoughts form the merchandise of the writer, as stuffs and wares of the trader. If the one can convert his stock into current coin as readily as the other, on the mere ground of husbandry he deserves no little credit for his skill.

Fame is a noble thing, it cannot be too highly eulogized; but fame alone cannot supply the necessities of physical existence, however it may conduce to the generous expansion of sentiment, the growth of the soul. Neither is the charm of letters as a pursuit, and as a labor that brings its own reward, allsufficient to sustain the scholar. If his intellectual and sensitive nature are excited and elevated by the trump of fame, or soothed into delight by study and meditation, yet he has another nature to take care of, to neglect which wilfully is to commit a scarcely justifiable suicide.

An amateur in almost every walk is regarded as much inferior to a working member of the craft. A man rarely puts his heart or invests the whole stock of his faculties in a pursuit which he takes up casually to while away an hour or two of an idle day. Such writers do not seem properly ever to become amenable to criticism. You are never sure whether they are doing their best or not; as a member of the fancy might say they do not appear to come up to the scratch. They fence with foils blunted at the end, and dread the naked weapon; or they are like shots who practice with powder only. "These paper pellets of the brain" are too much for them.

In our literary world in this country, there is no lack in point of numbers of amateur authors. They are generally either quite young men, sons of wealthy men, "who pen a stanza while they should engross;" or else men in the meridian of life, who affect the notoriety of fashionable authorship. They are young poets or middle-aged novelists; writers of essays in reviews, and of sketches for the magazines. Sometimes they translate tales or travels for the weekly extras. They deliver an occasional lecture, and contribute articles for the newspapers. Their names are often better known than their producductions; they live in cliques, herd in clubs and coteries, and puff each other inordinately. Their reputation is formed by an echo reverbrating their self-praise. When rich, they are the most desperate of critics, as above dependence and out of the reach of appeal and censure.

There are certain marks by which you may infallibly know the amateur author. He is always declaiming against the pecuniary profits of litera

ture; though we doubt whether he would venture to carry out the same doctrine in matters of business, or in his luxurious recreations of a less spiritual description. He lives on his own estate or income, but on other people's ideas. He gives for love, what he pilfers through mean ambition. He is the less conscientious on this point, as his labors bring him in no returns. Yet we have known those who pretend to write only for amusement, to come to that pass as to be not a little solicitous to procure remuneration. Such boasters we have known refused any assistance in their literary schemes, and not to be harsh, we think they deserve the humiliation at least of temporary neglect.

Amateur writers rarely undertake works of length or research; and yet they are very apt to take a writer to task, who devotes himself to literary occupation, in the minor classic forms of writing. Unable themselves to write good magazine papers, and reading (as they must) many inferior ones, they confuse good and bad together. They endeavor to catch the high tone of criticism, and while mispraising daubs of historical pieces, pass by with ignorant scorn, the most delicate miniature sketches of manners, or vivid portraits of character.

They injure the true author who unites a love for his profession, deep interest in his subject, and an honest independence, with the aim of procuring a sufficient livelihood. If writings are to be procured for nothing, nothing will be paid. Cheapness, not merit, will become the object of publishers, and the deterioration of literature must infallibly ensue. The value of a thing has been stated (somewhat sophistically) to be what it will bring. This has by no means been an universal or a just test in literary productions, for the flimsiest of which the highest prices are paid. What could Bacon get now a days, if he sent his essays to the magazines? His late (and successful) imitator doubtless would realize little more.

Few amateur authors feel any real sympathy for literary men. There is no fellow-feeling existing between the industrious and ardent scholar, and the lively voluptuary and genteel wit. Independence of literary profits causes indifference, and sometimes an ill-concealed contempt. Are the hard toil, the misappreciated aims, the uncertain

gains of a writer mentioned? they are heard with coolness, and answered by a shrug. Want of money appears want of moral principle or of respectability. They dread duns, poor authors, unpopu lar poets. Fame and a garret are the topics of their heartless ridicule. An amateur author, is, in a word, an amphibious sort of creature. Out of the pale of true writers, and yet classed by all with the mob of scribblers. They decry their own writings, with more of truth than they are aware of: and ironically pronounce their own eulogy in the censure of another. They are bitter bad judges of others; and the most ingenuous of egotists. They turn selftormentors to be idolized by the public: they offer themselves up, on the shrine of their egregious self-love, a willing sacrifice, and in order to propitiate popular regard. To the above sweeping charges certain exceptions are to be made. One in particular we must not neglect,-John Waters, the elegant contributor to the Knickerbocker, a gentleman of delicate fancy, neat humor, and crisped style, who every now and then delights the public with charming morceaux, frequently and closely reminding us of the quaint yet true touches of Elia's pencil. Such amateur writers are rare indeed amid a crowd of pretenders and assuming coxcombs. Most of the better description of amateur authors would translate better into friendly critics, liberal patrons and unpretending lovers of literature. In modern times an amateur author of genius is next to an anomaly. The labors of such a man cannot be repaid by mere popularity. Even the great poets of this century have obtained large sums for their MSS. Scott is a notable instance, but it were well for letters that few amass the fortune of the great novelist. Yet from Shakspere to Wordsworth the Poets have been at least comfortably provided for; being gifted with a reasonable share of prudence, an eye to the main chance.

From amateur authors we pass to small critics, a natural transition, as these form a division of the same general class. Like the first they are rarely writers by profession, though we have Dennises and Giffords in the craft. Generally the small critic is an unblushing pretender, without the slightest claims to respect. He is to the great critic, the original judge, what the mi

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