My dear friend Schliemann, — In complying most readily with your wish to do justice to the above title from the point of view of Egyptian antiquity, I am troubled with certain scruples, which I cannot withhold from you in the very beginning of my letter. As I have the accidental merit, by favour only of good fortune, of having moved for a long number of years amidst the world of Egyptian monuments as among old acquaintances, you will perhaps demand from me, as from an initiated priest, disclosures on the relations between Troy and Egypt. You may expect from me the solution of obscure historical enigmas, and rejoice by anticipation at having found at the right hour the right man, who has in this respect succeeded in evoking, as if by enchantment, old life from the ruins of dead monuments. Nothing have I to bring of all that you expect and that I should like to lay at your feet, as the most eloquent testimony of my friendship and high esteem. Is it my fault, is it the fault of the monuments, if I appear before you with a poor gift? I fear the fault lies with both, and, with this frank confession, I transport myself into the midst of the monuments and their inscriptions.