LAYARD'S LAST DISCOVERIES. [From the Times.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 864, 12 November 1853, Page 3

LAYARD'S LAST DISCOVERIES. [From the Times.]

When Mr. Layard returned to the scene of operations in 1848 he lost lid time in proceeding with bis excavations. During his absence a small number of men had been employed at Konyunjik by Mr. Rassam, the English Vice-Consul, who* as the agent of the British Museum, had carried on the works suspended by Mr. Layard, though rather with the view of preventing interference ort the patt of others than of prosecuting excavations to any great extent. Mr. Rassam's labours, limited as they were, had not been fruitless. He had dug his way to new chambers, and had exposed additional sculptures-. The latter were of great interest, and portrayed more completely than any yet discovered the history of an Assyrian conquest, from the going .out of th<? monarch to battle to his triumphal return after a complete victory. The opinion formerly entertained by Mr. Layard with respect to this palace was now confirmed. He was convinced that the ruins at Konyunjik and Khorsabad Were contemporary structures, and that the north-west palace at Nimroud bad a much higher antiquity than either. Having given orders 10 a hundred workmen to remove as rapidly as they might the earth and rubbish a* Konyunjik, the active explorer made his way to the old ruins at Nimroud. The northwest palace, which had yielded so many valuable remains, had still much to give up. Moreover, at the extreme north-west corner of Nimroud there existed a high conical mound, into which no opening as yet had been made, and from which the most interesting monuments might be expected. Into this Inound Layard at once dipped ; and, having once fairly Set his bands to work, he himself passed ibe months of October and November in superintending the operations both at Nimroud and Konyunjik, and in examination of the precious acquisitions of which, from day to day, his indefatigable labourers at both places put him in possession. By the end of November several entire chambers were excavated at Konyunjik "; and from one of these chambers was collected one of the most remarkable series of bas-reliels yet obtained from the mounds. The sculptures were for the most part nearly whole, though much cracked and affected by fire, and represented the process — from fint to last — of transporting the great humanheaded bulls from the quarry to the palaces which they were designed to ornament. It is impossible to exaggerate the singular interest of these remains. Nothing is wanting to te*l the tale. W* may remark that it is the peculiar character of the Assyrian bas-reliefs to bring whatever subjects they illustrate directly and completely before the eye. The prime object of the artist would seem to have been not to charm the fancy by cunning effects, but to instruct the understanding by the communication of plain facts. The absence of all idea of perspective indicates at the first glance the infancy of the art ; but the admirable composition of some of the groups and the perfect execution of many of the details dissipate at once the notion that we are contemplating the works of a rude and uncultivated people; The Assyrian sculptors composed histories on the basreliefs, and took the shortest way to the reader's mind. Hence, in the very smallest space we learn that a King warred with his enemies in a marshy country, and that his army bad to reach the foe through forests ahd rivers. Not one incident is omitted in the narrative. There is the King — there the river well supplied with fish — there the soldiery floating on skins — there the castle to be attacked — there the instruments of warfare to be employed — there the foe to be conquered and the spoil to be gained— all presented in one view, and with a minuteness that leaves nothing for the imagination to supply. Had the been more* obedient to the laws of. perspective they would have been less faithfulchroniclers of their time ; and we,, regarding theic handiwork after an interval of 3000 years, might have had the pleasure of applauding their plastic skill without the more lasting satisfaction of learning their habits and customs. The value ol this exactness in dealing with details is strikingly manifest in the case of the bas-reliefs, which illustrate the moving of the bulls into their appropriate sites in the palaces. In one of these basreliefs a man is sculptured giving instructions to his workmen through a speaking trumpet, a mode ot conveying sound supposed to be of modern invention, now ascertained to Le familiar to the subjects of Sennacherib. In another stone wefind the Assyrian workmerr as well acquainted with the use of the lever and the roller as ourselves ; in truth, so very little have we advanced in our knowledge of these instruments, that it appears from Mr. Layard's account of his removal of the bulls and' lions from the shores of the Tigris to the British Museum that he actually employed the very same means to effect their transmission as the Assyrians used themselves, ages upon ages since, when "they first deposited, the beasts before the palace gates. The King of A.s* syria himself is represented superintending the building of the mounds upon which the palace with its bulls is to be built. This King, as the cuneiform inscription shows, is Sennacherib ; and the sculptures, as Rawlinson and the initiated are permitted to read, celebrate the building at Ni* neveh of the great palace and its adjacent ternpies—the work of this great King. The inscriptions on the bulls at Konyunjik record most minutely the manner in which the edifice was built^ its general plan, and the various materials employed in decorating the halls, chambers, and roofs. Some of the inscriptions have a thrilling, interest. They indicate that the Jews, taken in captivity by the Assyrian King, were compelled to assist in the erection of the palaces of their conquerors, and that wood for the building was brought from Mount Lebanon, precisely, as. Solo-* mon had conveyed its cedars for the- choice woodwork'of the temple ol the Lord. There is an.. awful strangeness, in being thus brought face to, as it wee*, "with the solemn mysteries ot thet Bible and with our owo. earliest sacred lecollecn. tirins. Daring the month of Deceihher the treasure., seeders wece rewarded with a rare harvest* A • ja£ade of the s,outh-ea%t side of the palace a.t &Q*.

nyunjik, forming apparently the chief entrance to the building was discovered. It was 180 feet j long, and presented no fewer than ten colossa bulls, with six human figures of gigantic proportions. The bulls were more or less injured ; some of them were even shatiered to pieces, but fortunately the lower parts of all remained urlouched, and consequently the inscriptions were preserved. Two of these inscriptions contained the annals of six years of the reign of Sennacherib, " besides numerous particulars connected with the religion of the Assyrians, their gods, their temples, and the erection of their palaces." There can be no reasonable doubt of the accuracy of the translation made of these writings, and now given in Mr. Layard's volume. The very differences and variations that occur when the cuneiform characier is submitted to more than one translator attest to the correctness of the general interpretation. Colonel-Rawlinson has translated into English the particular inscriptions of which we speak; aud Dr. Hincks, an equally competent scholar, has done the same — both independently of each other ; and there is no material discrepancy in their views. The inscription informs us that in the first year of his reign Sennacherib defeated Merodach Baladan, King of Kar Duniyas, a city and country frequently mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions. It is not for the first time that the reader hears of this King, for he will remember how, when Hezekiah was sick, " at that time Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, King of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiuh," who boastfully showed to the messenger all the treasures of his house. The Assyrian monument and holy writ thus begin to reflect light upon each other. But this is only a gleam of the illumination that follows. In the third year of his reign, according to the inscription, Sennacherib overran with his armies the whole of Syria. " Hezekiah," so runs the cuneiform writing, " King of Judah, who bad not submitted to my authority, 46 of his principal cities, and fortresses and villages depending upon them of which I took no account, I captuied, and carried away their spoil. I shut himself up vithin Jerusalem, his capital city." The next passage says Mr. Layard, is somewhat defaced, but enough remains to show that he took from Hezekiah the treasure he had collected in Jerusalem — 30 talents of gold and 800 talents of silver, besides his sons, his daughters, and his slaves. The reader his not waited for us to remind him that in the 2nd Book of Kings it is written how "in the fourteenth year of King Hezeldah did Sennacherib, King of Assyria, come up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them And the King of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah, King of Judah, three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the King's house." It is something to' have won from the earth such testimony on behalf of inspired Scripture. It is something to have obtained from Holy Writ such evidence in favour of the monumental records of long-buried -Nineveh. At a later period a chamber was discovered in which th.c sculptures were in better preservation that any before found at Konyunjik. The slabs were almost complete, and the inscription was complete. The bas-reliefs represented the siege and capture, by the Assyrians, of a city of great extent and importance. "In no other sculptures were so many armed warriors seen drawn up in array before a besieged city." The sculptures occupied 13 slabs, and told the whole narrative of the attack, the conquest and destruction of the enemy. The captives, as they appear in the bas-reliefs, have been stripped of their ornaments and five raiment, are barefooted, and halfclothed. But it is impossible to mistake the lace to which they belong. They are Jews ; for the stamp is on the countenance as it is impressed upon the features of their descendants at 'hi* very hour. The Assyrian sculptor has noted the characteristic lines and drawn them with surprising truth. To what city they belong we li] c wise know, for, above the figure of the King, who commands in person, it is declared, that "Sennacherib, the mighty king, king of the country of Assyria, sitting on the throne of judgment before the city of Lachish, gives permission fcr its slaughter." That it was slaughtered we Lave good reason to believe, for, is it not written in the Bible that Sennacherib had quitted Lachisb, having vanquished it, before bis generals returned with the tribute extorted from Hezekiah ? Ifeviience were still wanting to prove the identity of the king who built Konyunjik with the Sennacherib of the Old Testament, it would be sufficient to call attention to one other most remarkable discovery that has been made in these mysterious mounds. In a passage in the south-west corner of the Konyunjik palace Mr. Layard stumbled upon a large number of pieces of fine clay, bearing the impressions of seals, which there can be no doubt had been affixed, like modern official seals of wax, to documents written on leather or parchment. The writings themselves have, of course decayed, but curiously -enough, the holes for the string Jay which the seal was fastened are still visible ; and in some instances tbe ashes of the string itself may be seen, together with the unmistakeable marks of the finger and thumb. Four of these seals are purely Egyptian. Two of them are impressions of a Royal signet. "It is," says Mr. Layard, one well-known to Egyptian scholars, as that of the second Sabaco, the of the 25th dynasty* On the same piece of clay is impressed an Assyrian seal, with a device representing a priest ministering before the King, probably a Royal signet." We entreat tbe reader's attention lo what ' follows. Sabaco reigned in Egypt at the end of the seventh century before Christ, the very time at which Sennacherib ascended the throne. "He is probably the So mentioned in the second book of Kings (xvn,. 4), as having received ambassadors from Hosbea, King of Israel, who, by entering into a league with the Egyptians, called down the vengeance of Shalmaneser, whose tributary he was, which led to the first great captivity of the people of Samaria, Shalmaneser, we know to have been an immediate predecessor of Sennacherib, and Tirakhah, the Egyptian king, who was defeated by the Assyrians, near Lachisb, was the immediate successor of Sabaco 11. It would seem, that a peace having besn concluded between the Egyptians and one of the Assyrian' monarebs, probably Sennacherib, the royal signets of the two kings, thus found together, were'"attached to

tbe treaty, Which was deposited with the archives of the kingdom." Tbe document itself has petished, but the proof of tbe alliance between the two kings remains, and is actually reproduced from the ar-chive-chamber of the old Assyrian King. The illus radon of Scripture-history is corapl- te, and tbe testimony in favor of the correct interpretation of the cuneiform character perfect. A new chamber, opened in the north-west palace at Nimroud, hid, in the meanwhile, exhibited remains of a totally different character. Here were discovered bronzes of various kiuds, caldrons, bells, rods, cups, and dishes, besides several hundred studs and buttons in mother-of-pearl and ivory, with many small rosettes in metal. The caldrons were full of the smaller relics, which had, no doubt, served as ornaments of horse and chariot furniture — the caldrons themselves being constantly represented as par' of the spoil and tribute obtained from conquered nations in tbe bas-reliefs of Nimroud and Konyunjik. Some of the cups and bowls are elaborately ornamented with the figures of men and animals, and the execution as well as the design of the subjects argue well for the taste and skill of the ancient artist. The execution, it may be remarked, is purely Assyrian ; the inside, and not the- outside of these vessels is ornamented, and the embossed figuies "have been raised in tbe metal by a blunt instrument, three or four strokes of which, in many instances, very ingeniously produce the image of an animal." Many of tuese bronzes are already in tbe British Museum, uodergoing the process of restoration. When first obtained by Mr. Layard their embossed designs could not be made out through the rotting crust with which the lapse of ages had covered them. By dint of the greatest ingenuity and skill on the part of the workmen at the Museum the restoration is in many instances complete ; but, in too many cases, no possible effort can prevent destruction. Bronze specimensfsealed up, and jealously excluded from tbe atmosphere, daily decay and rot, The relics which, for thousands of years, resisted the influences of time in the Assyrian mounds, perish in tbe course of a few months, in spite of every care, under our English sky. Mr. Layard indulges in a pleasing fancy when contemplating these bronze remains. The tin used in their formation was probably obtained from Phoenicia. The seamen of the Syrian coast sought this metal on the distant shores of the Atlantic, and disposed of it to the Babylonians and Assyrians. " Who shall say," he asks, " that the bronzes now brought from Nineveh to the British Museum were not exported nearly three thousand years ago from tbe British isles ? We regret that our limits do not permit us to follow Mr. Layard step by step in his fascinating pursuit — that we caanot linger with him at the rock sculptures at Bavian, which were executed, as be ascertained beyond a doubt, either at the end of the first or &t tbe beginning of the second year of tbe reign of Sennacherib, and where he was enabled to prove that at that remote period the Assyrians kept an exact computation of time. We are still more sorry that we cannot dwell for a season with him among tbe Arab tribes with whom be is so familiar, and who ever welcome his approach with signs of heartiest rejoicing. Happier moments can hardly be spent than in bis good company, whether he be inciting his labourers to their unaccustomed work at tbe mounds, or standing at the entrance of his own tent about to slay the sheep in honor of some wandering guest. We must simply indicate the uature of his successes and proceed rapidly to the end. On the 10th of May, after a rapid journey, most graphically described, to the Khabour, Mr. Layard returned once more to Mosul. During bis absence the excavations at Konyunjik, as usual, had been proceeded with, and fresh discoveiies, as usual also, had rewarded the treasureseekers. The mounds were now like productive rivers. The fishermen had but to cast their nets to be certain of a haul. Another chamber bad been explored 96 feet long, and panelled with sculptured slabs ib^ut six feet high. On the north side of this ciamber were found two colossal bas-reliefs of DagoD, or tbe fish-god — he may be seen at ihe British Museum — and the doorway, guarded by these deities, led into small chambers opening into each other, and once panelled with bas-reliefs, tbe greater part of which had been destroyed. These small chambers were nothing less than the chambers of records of the Assyrian kings. The public documents of tbe Assyrians were kept on :ab!ets or cylinders of baked clay. "Many specimens," writes Mr. Layard, " have been brought to this country. On a large hexagonal cyliuder presented by me to tbe British Museum are the chronicles of Esarhaddon ; on a similar cylinder discovered in tbe mound of Nebbi Yunus, opposite Mosul, and formerly in the possesion of tbe late Colonel Taylor, are eight years of the annals of Sennacherib ; and on a barrel-shaped cylinder, long since placed in the British Museum, and known as Bellino's, we have part of tbe records of the same king." The chambers in the palace of Nineveh were Hterallyfilled with these documents. They wereof different sizes ; the largest tablets were flat, and measured about 9 inches by 6 it inches ; the smaller were slightly convex, and some were not more than an inch long, with but one or two lines of writing. They were likewise of various kinds. Many are historical records of wars and expeditions ; some are Royal decrees, stamped with the name or a king, tbe son of Esarhaddon ; others contain lists of the gods, and a register of offerings made in tbe temples. One presents a table of the value of certain cuneiform letters, expressed by different alphabetical signs ; another gives a list of the sacred days in each month ; a third is a calendar. MaDy are sealed with seals, and will turn out to be, as Layard conjectures, legal contracts, or conveyances of land. Fortunately for the world, these most extraordinary relics have btea secured, and are already in the British Museum. Their value, as Mr. Layard justly asserts, cannot be overrated. They supply matarials for the complete decipherment of the cuneiform character, for restoring the language and history of Assyria, and for arriving at a satisfactory knowledge of the customs, sciences, and literature of the Assyrian people. Mr. Layard appeals to tbe authorities of the British Museum, and entrea's them to undertake, with- ' out delay, the publication of these important documents, We sincerely trust that his words may not be uttered in vain, although addressed, we lament to say, to the least public-spirited and , energetic body in the kingdom. Years must

elapse, as Mr. Layard freely admits, before, under tbe most advantageous circumstances, these inscriptions can be deciphered and thoroughly understood. But it is of the highest consequence that the materials should be placed, without one hour's unnecessary delay, iv the hands of all — and they number but a few — who, whether in England or elsewhere, are engaged in the difficult study of the cuneiform character. The guardians of our national museum may justly remember with some gratitude and pride that their country is indebted to the working men of this world, to the practical minds of a progressive age, for all that we see, read, and know, of ancient Nineveh. Rawlinson was a cadet in the East India Company's service, and when he first traced the cuneiform inscriptions upon the Behistun rock he sent his tracings home, that they might before publication, be submitted to the intelligent eye of — whom? The Professors of Oriental Literature in the great universities ? — Not at all ! A greater authority still was to be found in a ci-devant cleik of the East Indiahouse, London — a modest man of the • name of Norris, of whom nobody knew anything, yet whose great knowledge actually enabled him to discover, though he had never seen the Behistun rock, that Rawlinson, who had been in constant communication with the monument had not copied the puzzling inscriptions with^ proper exactness. Rawlinson, at the instigation of the East Indiahouse clerk, compared his copy again with the original, and found that Mr. Norris was right. To make the learning of ihese two self-taught men of any avail, it was necessary that a third should supply material for the exercise of their ingenuity and persevering skill. A lawyer's clerk came to their help. Austen Layard, if he ever studied Oriental antiquities at all in his youth, must surely have pursued the knowledge under difficulties in the office of his uncle, a solicitor in the city of London. Shortly after Mr. Layard's return to Mosul, in May, he floated down the river on a raft to Nimroud. The workmen had been also very busy here in his absence. A pavement of large square bricks, bearing the usual superscription of the early Nimroud King, was uncovered, leading to a wall of sun-dried bricks coated with plaster, ] which proved to be part of a small temple. Outside the temple was discovered cne of the finest specimeus ot Assyrian sculpture yetproduced from the mounds. It represents the early Nimroud King in high relief, carved on a solid block of limestone. The monarch wears his sacrificial rob s ; above his head are the mythic symbols of Assyrian worship — the winged globe, the crescent, the star, the bident, and the horned cap ; and in front of him is on altar of stone, supported on lions' feet. The king and the altar are both at the British Museum with the other monuments. An inscription, as usual, accompanies the sculpture. It commences with an invocation to the god Ashur, then gives the name of the founder of the north-west palace, and proceeds to narrate his various campaigns and wars. Not far from this entrance to the temple the explorers came to a recess paved with one enormous alabaster slab, covered with cuneiform writing. When the slab was raised it was found that its very back was coveted in a similar manner, and that the latter not only gave tbe details which appeared on the other side, but added, in fact, the records of two or three additional years. It is worthy oi remark that the facts recorded on the two sides of the monolith correspond with those narrated on the sculpture of the king io bis sacrificial robes. The minuteness with which the Assyrian kings chronicled every event of their reign is as roteworthy as their anxiety to perpeiuate the memory of their deeds has been productive of good to ourselves. Standing one day on a distant part of the mound in which this monolith was found, Mr. Layard tells us that he smelt the sweet smell of burning cedar. His Arab workmen had dug out a beam, and had made a fire -of it to -warm themselves. The inscriptions spoke of cedars brought from the forests of Lebanon to build tbe palace by the^reat king who had erected it. After 3000 years the precious wood had retained its original fragrance. \Ve are warned by our limits to proceed more rapidly with our descriptions — but it is difficult to advance, so strewn with beautiful objects is the ground on which we tread. During the summer months new rooms were explored at Konyunjik. They exposed bas-reliefs of the most instructive description. One room, curiously enough, displayed bas-reliefs that had been carved by a later king, for the chamber itself, like the rest of the edifice, was built by Sennacherib, whose name and titles were inscribed at the back of each slab. The slabs would seem to have bten originally plain, and to have been decorated by the son of Esarhaddon and grandson of Sennacherib. These bas-reliefs, sculptured at a later period, have a surpassing interest, inasmuch as they show the progress and changes that had been made in the interval by the Assyrian people. The later sculptures have a more minute finish than the earlier specimens ; the outline is sharper, the animals are more correctly delineated. Mr. Layard warns us that we are now approaching the period of the fall of-the Assyrian empire, aod of-the rise of the kingdoms of Babylou and Persia. The arts passed from Assyria to the sister nations and to lonia. The later Assyrian bas reliefs already have a smack of early Greek art as it developed itself immediately after tbe Persian war. Winter drawing on, Mr. Layard made his way to Babyldn, but his excavations did not afford him a large return in this quarter. His' discoveries, he says, were less numerous than' he expected ; but he can never have forgotten that he had quitted a highly-favoured region for one that held out small prospect of reward to the excavator. Tbe ruins of Babylon yield nothing but dull and uninstructive bricks ; and those of Nineveh would have been as unfruitful but for the fortunate vicinity of quarries, which enabled tbe best builders to perpetuate their art and to transmit their history to the latest posterity. What Babylon may have been we may conjecture from what we find Nineveh to be now. " He that is comely when old'and decrepit," says South, " surely was very beautiful when he was young." The present glory of Nineveh in its utter ruin and < decay may well inspire us at Babylon with awe and wonder, though we gaze upon rubbish, and are conscious of but the worjk of the destroying angel around us. South, of Mesopotamia there were important ruins tf inspect, and accordingly, on the 15th of January, 1850, the indefatigable traveller commenced his southward journey. We must refer the reader to Mr. Layord's volume for an ac-

count of this excursion, more profitable in its results than the visit to Babylon.. Excavations, as before, went on at Konyunjik during-his absence, and were prosecuted still further on his return. The same good fortune attended the labourers. Fresh rooms in the palace were dug out, additional sculptures, illustrative and explanatory of Assyrian history, were added to the already extended list. By the time Mr. Layard was prepared to return to England again he had opened in the magnificent palace of Sennacherib, no fewer than 71 halls, chambers, and passages, " the walls of which, almost without an exception, had been pannelled with slabs of sculptured alabaster, recording the wars, the triumphs, and the great deeds of the Assyrian King. By a rough calculation," Mr. Layard continues, " about two miles of bas-reliefs, with 27 portals, formed by colossal winged bulls and lion sphinxes were uncovered in that part alone of the building explored during ray* researches." To form an adequate conception of the work done, and the information communicated, the reader must turn to Mr. Layard's charming volume, — to the noble book of finely-executed illustrations that form the Second S&'ies of Layard's Monuments of Nineveh — and to the trophies of his great conquest, which will bear testimony for ever to the importance of his labours in tbe halls of the British Museum. Mr. Layard refers slightly in his volume to other discoveries that have been made at Konyunjik since his return to Europe. But since bis book has issued from the press, and since we ourselves commenced this notice, intelligence' of further restorations reaches us from France — restorations that certainly are not surpassed by any that have preceded them. M. Place, who has succeeded M. Botta as French Consul at Mosul, having received instructions from his Government to prosecute at Khorsabad the work suspended by his predecessor, has been for some time past diligently employed in excavating that ruin, and within these few weeks has transmitted to Paris a detailed account of his successes. This account, as we are informed, is accompanied by photographs of all the exhumed objects ; the photographs are jealously kept from the stranger's eye ; but an account of the discoveries has been already published. The reader will form some notion of the nature ot these last excavations, and of what may be expected hereafter from further diggings on the site of ancient Nineveh, when we tell him that in one of the chambers penetrated by M. Place that gentleman found a large quantity of jars about five feet high, all standing in rows, between each of which a passage was purposely left open. The jars were not resting upon the ground, but were placed upon stages constructed of lime, these stages being themselves attached with the greatest care to a floor of the same material. At first M. Place conceived that he had lighted upon an establishment hitherto hidden from every other explorer- — viz., a receptacle for the Assyrian dead ; for it is to be observed that up to this moment neither M. Layard nor any other traveller has the remotest idea of tbe method by which the inhabitants of Nineveh disposed ot each other's mortal remains. A closer investigation convinced M. Place that he had discovered something hardly less interesting. At the bottom of the jars, or upon the lime which supported them, a violet-coloured sediment was yet visible, indicating the nature of the liquid which the vessels once contained. He had actually dropped into the wine cellar of Sennacherib's father. Whatever the future may yield, Mr. Layard's share in the acquisitions ot the past is not to be mistaken. Ten years have scarcely elapsed since the first discovery of rums on the site of Nineveh was made, and already there lies before us an amount of information, having regard to tbe history of the old Assyrian people, of which we had previously not the most distant conception. When Mr. Layard published, in 1849, the account of tbe first Assyrian researches, tbe 'monuments recovered were comparatively scanty, and the inscripticns impressed upon them could not be deciphered. Now, a connected history can be traced in the sculptured remains, and the inscriptions may be followed with the same facility as the Greek or any other character, That they may be read with immense profit and instruction is evident from the startling facts which they have hitherto revealed. Some of these facts we venture briefly to place before the reader. We have previously hinted that the earliest king of whose reign we have any detailed account is the builder of the -north-west palace at Nimroud, the most ancient edifice yet beheld in Assyria. His records, howe\er, furnish the names of five, it not seven,, of his predecessors, some of whom it is believed founded palaces, afterwards erected by their successors. The son of this k ng, it is certain, built tbe centre palace of Nimroud, and raised the obelUk, vow in the British Museum, upon which the principal events of his reign are inscribed. Upon that obelisk are names corresponding to names that are found in the Old Testament. The fortunate coincidence furnishes at once ihe means of fixing specific dates, an 1 enables Mr. Layard to place the accession of the Assyrian monarch who built tbe oldest Nimroud palace at the latter part of ihe tenth century before Christ, The builder of Kborsabad is proved to have, been the Sargon mentioned by Isaiih. The ruins of his palace supply the most complete details of his re.ign ; and from tbe reign of Sargon a complete list has been obtained of all the kings down to tbe fall of tbe empire. The son of Sargon was Sennacherib, who ascended the throne in the year 703 B.C. We know from the Bible that Sennacherib was succeeded by his son Esarhaddon, and we now ascertain from the monuments that one of the palaces at Nimroud was the work of his reign. Tbe son of Esarhaddon built the south-east palace on the mound of Nimroud.; and, although ,no part of his history has been as yet discovered, there is good, reason for concluding him to have been the Sardanapalus who, conquered (B.C. 606) by the, Medes and Babylonians under Cyaxares, made one funeral pile of his palace, his wealth, and his wives., While it is certain / there is, no mention, of Nineveh before the 12th' century 8.C., Mr. Layard is still of opinion that the city and empire existed long before ithat period. Egyptian remains found at Karnak refer to a country ' called Assyria, and the enterprising explorer is not, without .hope that.further investigation will supply him with still more ancient records than he now possesses. The monuments of Ninever »

as far as they gp,' corroborate all extant history in describing- the monarch as a thorough Eastern despot, " unchecked by popular opinion, and having complete power over the lives and property of his subjects ; rather adored as a god than feared as a man, and yet himself claiming that aathority and general obedience of reverence for the national deities and the national religion." The dominion of the king, according to the inscriptions, extended -to the central provinces of AsiaMinor and Armenia northward ; to the western provinces of Persia eastward ; to the west as far as Lydia and Syria ; and to the south to Babylonia and the northern part of Arabia. " The empire appears to have been at all times a kind of confederation formed by many tributary States, whose kings were so far independent that they were only bound to furnish troops to the supreme lord in time of war, and to pay him yearly a certain tribute." The Jewish tribes, it is now proved, held their dependent position upon the Assyrian king from a very, eaily period ; and it is curious to observe that, vrberever an expedition against the Kings of Israel is mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions, it isinvariably staled to have been undertaken on the ground that they had not paid their customary tribute. At every step sacred history is illustrated, illuminated, and explained by the speaking stones of Nineveh ; and in this regard alone the Assyrian discoveries have a significance beyond any revelation that has been made in modern times. Even the architecture of the sacred people may be rendered visible to the eye by comparing it with that of the Assyrian structures ; and certainly not the least instructive result of all Mr, Layard's labours is the ingenious analogy Hrawn by Mr. Ferguson in his "Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis Restored*' between the Temple of Solomon and the palace of the Assyrian King, It is with the utmost interest that we await the issue of further excavations. We sincerely trust that men and means may not be wanting in this country in order to enable our constituted authorities to proceed, at least side by side with France, in the disinterment of the most glorious monuments hitherto vouchsafed to the enterprising skill and curiosity of man.