ay see this stone in the British Museum. It is a great block of
black marble. On the smooth side, cut deeply in the stone, are a
number of lines of ancient writing. Many stones covered with ancient
writing had been found before, but this one is different from all the
rest.

The lines at the top of the stone are in the strange old Egyptian
picture-writing, which learned men have agreed to call 'Hieroglyphic';
that is, 'writing in pictures.' This was a very special kind of
writing in ancient Egypt, and generally kept for important occasions.
The lines in the middle give the same words, but in the ordinary
handwriting used for correspondence in ancient Egypt; and last of all
is found a translation of the Egyptian words written in ancient Greek.

This old kind of Greek is not spoken in daily life by any people
to-day, but many learned men can read and write it with ease; so that,
you see, by the help of the Greek translation, the Rosetta Stone became
a key for discovering the meaning of both kinds of ancient Egyptian
letters. Thus, by the help of the Rosetta Stone, and after years of
patient labour, the long-dead language could be read once more.

Egypt--the land into which Joseph was sold, where the Israelites became
a nation, and Moses was born and educated! How great a joy to read the
words carved on temple walls, or in palace halls; and to find with each
word read how exactly the Egypt of ancient days is described in the
Bible!

The dress the people wore, the food they ate, the way they spoke to
their kings, the description of their funerals, the very name of their
famous river, and the words they used to describe the plants, insects,
and cattle of Egypt--all these are found in the Bible and are proofs of
the care with which Moses wrote of the land of his birth.

But other nations besides the Egyptians are mentioned in the Bible; and
about them also grave doubts arose. Almost all the Old Testament
prophets cried out against the wickedness of Assyria and Babylon, and
foretold the awful punishment which God would bring upon them for their
pride and cruelty, unless they repented.

They did not repent; destruction came upon them; their very names were
forgotten, and their cities as utterly lost to the world as though they
had never existed.

'Nineveh, Babylon? There _were_ such cities once, perhaps; but as for
the kings of whom the Bible speaks--Sennacherib, who came up against
Jerusalem, and was driven back