Dr Hincks
Millburn Tower Edinburgh<1>
Jany 9. 1862
Dr Sir
I have sent you per bookpost one of Ménant’s pamphlets and 4 of Oppert’s, directed against Rénan, Schoebel,<2> Gobineau and Rawlinson; they are rather amusing – I said to him that in my opinion M. Schoebel’s criticisms did not deserve an answer but he assures me in reply that an answer was very necessary, for that the professor of Hebrew at the Sorbonne at Paris, Monsr Bargès, had declared himself, fully convinced by M. Schoebel’s arguments of the entire futility of the pretended Cuneiform discoveries – He estimates that one-fifth of the French Academy admit the decypherment to a certain extent, while 4-5ths remain incredulous.
I find that Ménant’s principal work is gone to the Binder. I will send it at the future time. I am much obliged by your observations on the sign which represents rak. I think there can be no doubt that the system of polyphones must have been a source of embarrassment to the Assyrians themselves. In reading proper names, lists of cities &c. of which perhaps they had never heard before, how could they feel certain that they selected the right value of the polyphone?
I remain yours vy Truly
H. F. Talbot
Notes:
1. Millburn Tower, Gogar, just west of Edinburgh; the Talbot family made it their northern home from June 1861 to November 1863. It is particularly important because WHFT conducted many of his photoglyphic engraving experiments there. The house had a rich history. Built for Sir Robert Liston (1742-1836), an 1805 design by Benjamin Latrobe for a round building was contemplated but in 1806 a small house was built to the design of William Atkinson (1773-1839), best known for Sir Walter Scott’s Abbotsford. The distinctive Gothic exterior was raised in 1815 and an additional extension built in 1821. Liston had been ambassador to the United States and maintained a warm Anglo-American relationship in the years 1796-1800. His wife, the botanist Henrietta Liston, née Marchant (1751-1828) designed a lavish American garden, sadly largely gone by the time the Talbots rented the house.
2. Charles Schoebel (1813-1888), "Examen critique du dechiffrement des inscriptions cuneiformes assyriennes," Revue orientale et americaine, v. 5, 1861, pp. 174-220.