IN a deep and dark recess, among the sepulchral chambers of Sidon, on a
splendid Sarcophagus in black stone, the delvers of the Palestine
Exploration Committee lately discovered an ancient Phoenician
inscription, which has been translated in a Beyrout newspaper as
follows:--
"I, TALNITE, Priest of Astarte, and King of Sidon, son of
ESHMUNAZAR, Priest of Astarte, and King of Sidon, lying in this
tomb, say:--Come not to open my tomb; there is here neither gold,
nor silver, nor treasure. He who will open this tomb shall have no
prosperity under the sun, and shall not find repose in the grave."
If the explorers who unearthed TALNITE'S epitaph had been able to read
it, they might have been fit to shake in their shoes; only that no
Archaeologist now makes any bones whatever of rifling an ancient tomb.
Hereafter, perhaps, the Australian emissary of a British Exploration
Fund will not be deterred by a commination similar to the foregoing from
opening the tomb of SHAKSPEARE, and perhaps removing both that
Sarcophagus and its contents, should he find any remaining, to a
Melbourne Museum.
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THE OTHER "G. O. M."--G. OSBOURNE MORGAN. ("Mr. G." must copyright the
initials.)
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