Moments in Time

The History Channel

• On July 22, 1598, William Shakespeare’s play “The Merchant of Venice” is entered on the Stationers’ Register. By decree of Queen Elizabeth, the Stationers’ Register licensed printed works, giving the Crown tight control over all published material.

• On July 19, 1799, during Napoleon Bonaparte’s Egyptian campaign, a French soldier discovers a black basalt slab inscribed with ancient writing near the town of Rosetta, about 35 miles north of Alexandria. Called the Rosetta Stone, the artifact held the key to solving the riddle of hieroglyphics, a written language that had be...