Holland, England, and the Season of Waiting, in Germany
In July, 1838, Lepsius was obliged to take leave of Rome with an unwilling heart, in order to attend to business of importance for the Institute, first at Paris and afterwards at London. He had to enroll new and active members for it, and to organize its connection with the English literati. Afterwards, by his own wish, he returned to his native land, released from editorial labors for the Institute, although he still continued to work for it as a member of the board of directors.
On the way from Paris to London he turned aside to Holland, in order to study the celebrated collection of Egyptian antiquities at Leyden, which since 1835 had an excellent director in C. Leemans. Here Lepsius found an unexpected wealth of the most valuable monuments and papyri, and on September 12th, 1838, he wrote to Bunsen: “I was going to leave to-day, but now I shall be glad to stay for a few days more, as I can not return again, and so must finish here once for always.38 Besides, Leemans, with whom I am staying, is a charming man; admirable alike in head and heart, and full of ability in every direction. He helps me wherever he can, and has already made Leyden a city of delight to me.”
In England he was most cordially received by Bunsen, who had resigned his post at Rome, and left that city before our friend. The reason of this was that he had not succeeded in making an amicable adjustment of the ecclesiastical complications in Prussia (the quarrel at Cologne and the imprisonment of the Bishop of Droste-Vischering). Lepsius had long been adopted as a beloved comrade by the Bunsen family, and his letters show what a hearty interest he felt in every member of it, especially in the lad George, who was afterwards to become a prominent member of the German National Assembly.
It was an easy thing for Bunsen, whose admirable wife was descended from an English family of distinction, to smooth the way for Lepsius, not only in London but throughout Great Britain, and to open to him the doors of the best houses and of the collections most difficult of access. In this way the young German scholar not only learned to know English life on all sides, but also obtained admission to all the collections of Egyptian antiquities, whether they belonged to the government or to private individuals. He knew how to turn these favorable opportunities to good account, and in all England there were few hieroglyphic inscriptions which Lepsius did not carry away with him, either in impressions or copies, when he quitted hospitable Albion. His intercourse with Bunsen was especially delightful when he visited him at beautiful Llanover, the country place of his mother-in-law, Mrs. Waddington. Speaking of this subject, Hare says in his biography of the Baroness von Bunsen, “The friends were accustomed to wander over the hills for hours together in enthusiastic conversation about Egypt and its antiquarian writings, or to sit in profound conversation in the churchyard of Llanffoist under an oak tree a thousand years old.” They had much to say of the affairs of the Roman Institute, which Lepsius found to be very badly managed in England. The subscribers there had received none of the publications for years, many of them not since 1830, and on this account had stopped paying their dues. Others had supposed that the Institute had been dissolved, and the difficult task of correcting these errors and determining and collecting the arrears fell to Lepsius. His plan of publishing a separate volume of annals in London was not adopted, but he had the good fortune to secure S. Birch as an assistant in the management, and the latter was now entrusted with the affairs of the English section, in place of Millingen.
The conservative subject of the absolute monarch, Frederick William III., also learned in Great Britain to know the advantages of civil freedom and of parliamentary life.
He had much to settle with Bunsen himself regarding the work of which they were to be the joint authors, and he wrote from London to his faithful patron: “I have never labored with such love and devotion as now at our, that is, at your work. For it is you who have conceived the idea, and at the same time pointed out and assured its place in European science; you have spun the thread of its life and given the framework for the whole. Finally, you have provided the means for carrying it on, and everything that I accomplish and record I only do according to your ideas and for you, and as I work I naturally think of no other reader than yourself. I see that I must visit you to get you to give me a few quiet days in which we can come to a definitive understanding and agreement about the impending publication.”
Bunsen labored at the part of the work which fell to his share, as Lepsius at his, and the day seemed not far distant when the two would compare, combine, and publish their manuscripts. But there had already arisen many differences of opinion between the collaborators, and these seemed particularly important in the department of chronology, where Lepsius was to execute the lion’s share of the labor. While Bunsen, as was afterwards proved, reposed far too much confidence in the list of Eratosthenes, Lepsius had so high an estimate of Manetho as to place the greatest confidence in those lists of the series of kings which he considered the genuine work of that priest. He also made freer use of the historical inscriptions and the data of ancient Egyptian origin, (with which he had a much more intimate acquaintance than Bunsen), and attributed to them far greater importance, than seemed justifiable to the latter. The materials for his “Book of Kings” and his Chronology developed, and took the form of independent works, and although both were intended as a part of the book to be published in common by him and Bunsen, they yet contained, as we perceive from the letters of that period, a number of details which were in direct opposition to Bunsen’s views. At the end of the year 1839 it was already difficult to comprehend what path the fellow-workmen could pursue in order to arrive at a practicable agreement.
The confidence which Lepsius inspired in the highest circles of English society is shown by the circumstance that the Duke of Sutherland wished to take him into his household as mentor and tutor to his son. But the young scholar declined this flattering offer, which was associated with great material advantages, and wrote to Bunsen: “My one-sided talent in the dissection of organic structures has never been united with any readiness for presenting things broadly, as is necessary in teaching, and especially in teaching the young. Besides, I am not qualified for an instructor, because I perceive every day that I myself have not yet passed the season of education.”
These words sound somewhat strange on the lips of so thoughtful and able a young man; he was then twenty-nine years old. But at that time he was still striving after the ideal of life which hovered before him, and such expressions were partly dictated by modesty, partly by the disinclination which he had previously expressed for the vocation of a pedagogue, and partly also by a longing for Egypt. During his stay in England (1839) this became stronger and stronger.
After he had declined the offer of the Duke of Sutherland, he took serious council with himself as to how his future should be spent, and wrote to Bunsen: “A decision as to my immediate future is constantly becoming more imperative. But no matter in what direction I send forth my thoughts, not one of them brings me back the olive branch. I cut myself off from Italy,” (by giving up his situation in the Institute at Rome, although he was still to work for it in Germany), “I cannot stay in England.” Bunsen had been appointed Prussian Ambassador to Bern, and while in England Lepsius’ affections had become engaged, although he would not yield to the impulse of his heart, as his uncertain future did not permit him to woo a maiden who was apparently as poor as himself. “I have nothing to do in France, and it would be too soon for me to go to Germany. So Egypt is all that remains to me, and that is still the pole-star in all my deliberations. Some day or other Egypt must be devoured; this is my time, there is no war there now, etc. An Egyptian journey would be a great recommendation for me afterwards in Germany. In any case this would be the most natural course for my affairs to take. Ought it not be possible to attain this goal in some way? The first and most agreeable thought always leads to Berlin. Therefore, I ask you if an extraordinary effort might not be made there. An urgent application from you to the Crown Prince would be the main thing. I would appeal especially to Humboldt. Gerhard would certainly be willing to undertake the personal conduct of the affair. If this course seems to you entirely impracticable, or if it miscarries, I must try to start from here.... If the worst comes to the worst, I will raise the necessary money somewhere or other in Germany, and go to Cairo at my own risk.”
In this letter, he gives open expression to the desire of his heart for the first time. Bunsen thought him right, promised his young friend to do everything possible in the affair, and in conjunction with Humboldt to interest the Crown Prince, (soon afterwards Frederick William IV.), in his Nile journey. But he begged his protégé not to be over-hasty, and represented to him how detrimental it would be to break up their common enterprise, as well as the undertakings begun by Lepsius alone. His Umbrian and Oscan inscriptions finished at Rome, as well as two treatises, were still to be printed; and the edition of his “Book of the Dead,” besides several other things, was not yet concluded. Yet more, previous to his departure the Egyptian chronology and lists of kings, for which Bunsen was impatiently waiting, must be set in order, and the German translation of Gaily Knight’s “Development of Architecture,” also awaited its completion. This had been prepared by Lepsius’ father, and he had himself undertaken to revise and provide it with an introduction.
The impatient young Egyptologist yielded to these monitions of his experienced and benevolent patron, and in November, 1839, we see him again among his family at Naumburg. The ensuing months he spent partly in his native town, partly in Berlin, working indefatigably, while Bunsen (who had meanwhile arrived at Bern as Prussian Ambassador), and A. v. Humboldt exerted themselves to promote his Egyptian journey. The great influence of the latter had only increased, since the Crown Prince of Prussia, on June seventh, 1840, had ascended the throne as Frederick William IV. Lepsius was permitted to enter into closer relations with the famous friend of the King, as he satisfied Humboldt’s desire to possess a list of the stones and metals mentioned in the hieroglyphic texts. This he did in a fashion which surprised the natural philosopher, who was ever hungry for knowledge, and filled him with gratitude. Instead of a catalogue, Lepsius presented to him a treatise, of which he says himself that the style in which it was written gave him great pleasure. “These researches concerning stones,” he writes, “have brought to light many a jewel for myself, which I have deposited in my hieroglyphic store-chamber.” All that he then acquired remained lying there until, in 1871, it celebrated its resurrection in his model dissertation on the metals in Egyptian inscriptions.
The proposition made to him at this time to enter the Foreign Office, and devote himself to a diplomatic career, he declined positively and without long consideration.
In Naumburg was completed the printing of Gally Knight’s work,39 and of the introduction by Lepsius. This fills forty-six pages, and treats of the extensive employment of the pointed arch in Germany as early as the tenth and eleventh century. His observations begin with the Naumburg cathedral, which his father had studied with special thoroughness, and where he had actually found pointed arches of the eleventh century.
This introduction raised a great deal of dust, and when, thirteen years afterwards, Lepsius wished to carry through an affair of importance with the King, the royal adviser on art matters at that time, was not well disposed towards him, because in the views of Lepsius on the early application of the pointed arch in Germany, he saw an attack upon his own opinions. For the rest, the note-books of the Egyptologist, full of architectural drawings, and his letters to his father, show that in all his subsequent journeys he paid the keenest attention to all the edifices which he met, and when he was in a position to construct a house for himself, he built it in the English-Gothic style, and placed his beloved pointed arch over the doors and windows.
Meanwhile, he also published two smaller academical treatises.
In the winter of 1841, he undertook a new journey to Italy across the Alps, which were covered with snow and ice. The exclusive object of this was to complete the editing of the “Book of the Dead,” which had been already prepared, and which was mentioned above on page 95. As a well-known scholar and member of the board of directors of the Archaeological Institute at Rome he was now received at Turin with particular consideration, and had freely placed at his disposal a new copy of the great Turin “Book of the Dead,” which had been brought thither by Barucchi, the manager of the museum. But this was not sufficient for him, and there was still much for him to do before his own copy gained that accuracy which distinguishes it.
“I ought to leave here to-morrow in order to keep to the time fixed upon,” he writes to Bunsen, on February 18, 1841; “but it is not possible for me to finish yet. I need at least two days more to complete all that is of most importance. I go to the museum at half-past eight; they are not up there before that; I stay there the whole day, except from four till quarter of five, my meal-time; from the table I go back again and work until ten or half-past ten o’clock. I cannot work at the great papyrus by candlelight, for fear of injuring something, but then, I have the finest things to look over to select for copying, all of which I had not found when I was here first.” Altogether, he now perceived that during his former visit much had been intentionally withheld from him; this time everything was entrusted to him, and he made the most profitable use, for his chronological purposes especially, of the large “Papyrus of the Kings.” He had busts cast in plaster, from the finest images of the Pharaohs, for the Berlin museum, and amongst the treasures of Turin the idea occurred to him of publishing the most important records of the time of the Pharaohs as a separate work. This accordingly appeared in 1842.40
He employed the draughtsmen Weidenbach before mentioned, on this work and on the edition of the “Book of the Dead,” and he expressed to Bunsen his delight over the great progress made by these artists on the path which he had indicated to them.
On his way home he visited Bunsen in Bern, spent several happy days in the circle of the ambassador’s family, and then tarried for some time in Munich, where v. Zech was his “cicerone,” and where he established relations with Cornelius and other men of celebrity. He enjoyed the most frequent and agreeable intercourse with Schelling, of whom he says “his nature is as great as it is lovely.” The latter had just accepted a call to Berlin, (at first for one year only) and Lepsius says he was going thither with great hopes of success and of exercising a salutary influence. “He is convinced beforehand of the victory of his good cause, since it is not a question of bare negation and opposition, such as he reproaches Stahl with, (who only filched from him), but he has something to advance which is new and positive, and will make a place for itself. He must either be refuted, or he must convince and prevail. As, according to his firm conviction, he cannot be refuted, the latter must take place. Besides the foregoing alternatives, it is true that another occurred to me, but about that I naturally kept silence. Good fortune to him!”
Refreshed and satisfied with the results of this journey he devoted himself at home with all his energy to the editing of the Umbrian and Oscan inscriptions41 which he had collected in Rome.
In the following year two more of the fruits of his Italian labors came to maturity,42 and were received with universal commendation.
One sees with what bee-like industry he made use of this time of waiting. This was duly recognized, for before he set out on the Egyptian journey, he was appointed Professor Extraordinary at the University of Berlin, and thus the first chair of Egyptology was founded at that university. There was already a similar one at Leipsic, but the improper course adopted by Seyffarth, for whom it had been founded, gave little encouragement to other universities to extend support to Egyptologic studies. In this way it had happened that Lepsius’ proposition, that a professorship in the Berlin University should be conferred upon him, had been rejected; but Humboldt had recognized the qualifications of the applicant, and in 1841, as soon as he returned home from a protracted stay in Paris, he interested himself in the matter. As usual, he carried through what he desired, and on the twenty-sixth of January, 1842, Lepsius received the appointment as Professor Extraordinary of Egyptology, and in addition, the grant of a small salary. It is true that the newly appointed Professor could not begin to lecture; for the completion and publication of the works mentioned above claimed much of his time, and the preparations for the Egyptian journey still more.
Frederick William IV., of Prussia, was a monarch whose unpractical, romantic disposition took the greatest delight, not only in the luxuriant, many-colored, fragrant bloom of Indian civilization, but also in the mysterious and immemorial magic of the Egyptian. He had given willing audience to Humboldt and to Bunsen. The ambassador had been exchanged from Bern to London in 1841, especially in order that he might carry out the wishes of his master regarding the evangelical episcopate in Jerusalem. Both these men were in particularly close relation with the king, and on this account they were more likely than any others to succeed in winning the monarch over to Lepsius’ project of travelling.
Already, as Crown Prince, the King had acquired the Passalacqua collection of Egyptian antiquities, as well as negotiated for the purchase of other similar collections.43 He had taken pains to place this treasure in the Monbijou palace at Berlin, and entrusted the care of it to Passalacqua. In his youth the scientific event of the deciphering of hieroglyphics had excited his special attention, and Bunsen, who had long been in close relations with him, both as a man and as his most eminent statesman, had been assiduous in preserving his interest in Egyptian antiquity. He had kept the monarch informed as to the progress of Egyptology, before his own protégé had even thought of undertaking a voyage on the Nile.
Humboldt now joined with Bunsen to induce the king to bestow his powerful support upon the young Prussian, who, even at that time, might be considered the most worthy of Champollion’s successors.
Lepsius had his plans to make; Humboldt talked over each separate point with him in the most careful manner, and thus there ripened in them both the wish, to transform the journey of a single scholar into a scientific expedition. Lepsius must of course keep the leadership, and there was also committed to him the choice of those persons to be especially employed in carrying out his own purposes. But he had to consult with Humboldt on the greater or less fitness and necessity for the appointment of the corps of assistants who were to be taken, as well as on the capabilities of each single member of the expedition. He had to submit to him exact estimates, both in writing and by word of mouth, in regard to the prospective expenses and the time to be consumed, as well as of all that he hoped to gain, and the collections which he expected to make on the way, before Humboldt would undertake to present to the king the “memorial” which had been drawn up for the purpose, and to influence him to the final decision.
Lepsius had designated, as one of the principal objects of his journey, the collection of beautiful and interesting monuments of the time of the Pharaohs, to be added as a new embellishment to the Egyptian museum in the palace of Monbijou at Berlin. This purpose of the expedition, which Humboldt knew how to dilate upon, won the entire approbation of the King, and accordingly he approved the contents of the “memorial” which had been presented to him, endowed the expedition with abundant pecuniary resources, and commended it, and especially its leader, by means of a warm autograph letter, to the great Muhamed ‘Ali, who at that time ruled over the valley of the Nile with a strong hand. He also bestowed upon the travellers superb vases, from the porcelain manufactory at Berlin, as a gift for Muhamed ‘Ali, in order to lay the viceroy himself under an obligation and to secure for the expedition the favor of that monarch.
Everything was now ready for the departure, but before Lepsius started he had to set his affairs in order. Several undertakings had been brought to a successful issue, and all the most important preparatory work was finished for the book which he and Bunsen were to publish in concert. Yet it was this very enterprise which filled him with the greatest solicitude. Frankly and honorably he disclosed to his revered patron everything that disturbed him, in the admirable letter in which he tried to induce Bunsen, to absolve him from co-operation in the work which they had planned. The differences of opinion between them had become more and more sharply defined, and the elder scholar had been as little able to convince the younger, as the younger to convince him. It seemed to Lepsius impossible to present side by side two different opinions in a work which must yet pretend to unity of thought. He justly attributed to Bunsen the most magnificent ability for the handling of great historical problems; but considering his wide command of this field, and that in chronology also he was able to pursue his way independently, Lepsius regarded his own intervention as a mistake, both practically and essentially. He was indeed most disturbed by the circumstance that no one would be in a position to distinguish between his and Bunsen’s work, whence they must both be subjected to erroneous criticisms. He, Lepsius, wished to reserve his manuscript till the completion of his travels; Bunsen would soon be able to send his work to press. He besought the latter not to wait till his own return from the journey, but to proceed independently without delay, and to use as entirely his own, all the material regarding which they had come to an agreement. To put it off would only be to renew the old doubts, and to begin afresh the conflict which had been once waged without result. He would be ready and glad (and this promise he fulfilled), to make an abstract for him of all the names of kings written in hieroglyphics, and prepare them for the press.
Thus, in the work entitled “Egypt’s Place in Universal History,” the first volume of which was published in 1845, before Lepsius’ return from Egypt, the whole historical statement, which takes the loftiest point of view and is rich in novel and suggestive ideas, is entirely Bunsen’s own work. His young friend only placed at his disposal much historical and chronological information, which he had happened upon in the course of his researches among the monuments.
It is unquestionable that if the fellow-laborers had adhered to their original plan, and had not separated, Bunsen’s work would have gained a more stable foundation and assumed a much calmer and more succinct shape than it actually had. The stream of Bunsen’s eloquence, which was often too glittering and too diffuse, would have been confined within bounds by the conciseness and severity of Lepsius. His aspirations after grandeur and breath, would have been kept down to earth by Lepsius’ fidelity and care for the smallest detail.
The candor of the letter in which Lepsius abandons the enterprise, and the manner in which Bunsen took the withdrawal of his protégé, do them both the highest honor, and this incident never in the least disturbed the friendly relation between them.44 Lepsius, when he could finally leave Berlin, went by way of London, was received there in the most affectionate manner by Bunsen, and accompanied by him to Southampton, where on the first of September, 1842, the young Egyptologist embarked for Alexandria. Together they had thoroughly talked over all that might be attained and all that might be gained, before the steamship weighed anchor.