Page:Discovery and Decipherment of the Trilingual Cuneiform Inscriptions.djvu/270

Rh in following the march of Alexander through Bactria, and in studying the history and literature of Buddhism. Jacquet's life was inspired by two passions, devoted attachment to his widowed mother and a boundless love of knowledge. To the one he was ready to forego his hopes of fame; to the other he sacrificed his health. There can be no doubt that his incessant and feverish labours induced the fatal disease that first showed itself in the autumn of 1835, when he was but twenty-four. The last three years of his life were ennobled by an heroic struggle against increasing weakness. In the face of much suffering, he continued his labours to the end; and he died as a scholar might wish to die, seated at his desk, pen in hand, alone among his books and manuscripts, his mind filled to the last moment of consciousness with the work that had occupied his life. Thus passed away one of the most promising scholars of the age. It is possible that the multitude of his acquirements was incompatible with profound knowledge in each of the many subjects he treated. M. Julien contested the accuracy of his Chinese translations; and De Sacy seemed to doubt some other of his qualifications; but he received the enthusiastic applause of many other scholars—of the two Humboldts, of Ritter, Lassen, Burnouf, and Prinsep, each in their several departments.

His essay on Cuneiform Decipherment was among the works he left incomplete. It was in the form of a review of Lassen's recent Memoir, and three papers on the subject appeared during his lifetime in the 'Journal Asiatique,' and a fourth was published shortly after his death. It can scarcely be said that he has gone beyond