Dr Hincks
Millburn tower Edinburgh<1>
Jany 20. 1862
Dr Sir
I am afraid the address “Caen” will hardly find M. Ménant. His correct address is, juge au Tribunal de Lisieux.
Rénan is a savant of Considerable reputation. It is a pity that he should remain so incredulous respecting the cuneiform discoveries. But I understand he also rejects Champollion’s discoveries in the hieroglyphics: and that Silvestre de Sacy did so, the eminent Arabic scholar.
Yet nothing can be more certain than the general soundness of Champollions system. I received the paper you sent me on Arioch and Belshazzar, for which I am obliged. I see nothing to prevent the identification of the proto Chaldean king Urukh with Arioch the cotemporary [sic] of Abraham, but further evidence is necessary. I should be glad to see his city Ellasar identified with a cuneiform name. I have endeavoured to convince Oppert that he is wrong in the passage of the Birs N. Insn which he translates “42 ages have elapsed”. but I have not succeeded in convincing him that he is in error. From his letters I find that he admits a great number of values of signs, which I reject, for want of evidence, though quite willing to admit them if evidence is produced.
Did you ever publish any supplement to the list of values which you gave in the Transns of the Royal Irish Academy? With respect to the meaning of the name of Nebuchadnezzar, I would refer to pl. 50 of the B. Musm volume, new series, col 4. l.10 where I think Kudur means a Crown. The king says, I placed the Kudur on my head. This I identify wh רחב of the book of Esther, the Persian King’s crown, κιταρις of the Greeks.
I remain Dr Sir 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 .