the middle one was in the enchorial or popular character, and the lower one in Greek. The hieroglyphic text was partly broken away and lost, but the other two were nearly complete. The Greek text showed that the monument was designed by the priests of Memphis, in honour of the Pharaohs, and particularly of Ptolemy Epiphanes, who was reigning at the time when the decree was made (198 B.C.). The monument stood originally in the temple of Tum, the god of the setting sun; and there were to be copies of it in other places.
Among other things, the priests say of Ptolemy that "he was pious towards the gods, he ameliorated the life of man, he was full of generous piety, he showed forth with all his might his sentiments of humanity." He lightened taxation, so that the people might have plenty; he released prisoners and the defendants in law suits; he ordered that the revenues of the temples, whether in provisions or money, should remain what they had been. As to the priests, he commanded that they should pay no new promotion fees, that those who had been obliged to make an annual voyage to Alexandria should be free from the obligation; and that what had been neglected in temple services should be re-established. Naturally the priests were grateful, and they ordered this testimonial of recognition to be engraved upon stone, in the sacred characters of Egypt, in the vernacular, and in Greek.
All this was speedily made out from the Greek text, and it was thus clear that the other two forms of the inscription must be of the same purport. Here then at last was a key to the long-lost language of the hieroglyphs. The value of the monument was at once perceived, and after having been copied it was set apart and packed up. The victory of the English at Alexandria, and the surrender of the city in 1801, placed the Rosetta Stone in the hands of Mr. W. R. Hamilton, the British
