that it was conquered about the time Rome was founded, and being again overcome, and subsequently rebuilt, was finally destroyed 606 years before Christ. This is substantially all that was known of Nineveh. Travellers had reported certain extensive mounds near the Tigris, in the vicinity of Mosul, but the learned were not agreed as to what these were.3

We would not overlook the valuable services of Messrs. Rich and Botta-the former resident at Baghdad, as agent of the East India Company, the latter at Mosul, as consular agent for the French. They have both rendered important aid in this department of literature, and to Mr. Rich is awarded the credit of having first called the seri ous attention of the public to the mounds of ancient Assyria. "But every romance must have its hero-and the chief hero of this romance of antiquarian discovery is Layard." His first visit to Assyria was in 1840; he was accompanied by a single companion with whom he had travelled through every portion of Syria. Mr. Layard was at once fully persuaded that these mounds contained hidden treasures, and before leaving the country he formed the purpose of thoroughly examining them whenever it might be in his power. The people inhabiting that neighborhood were entirely ignorant of the former history of the country; so completely was every trace of · its pride and power buried from view. The idea that they were dwelling above the ruins of a city that was eighteen leagues around it, surrounded by a wall an hundred feet high and so broad that three chariots could drive abreast upon it,-a city that contained, besides its gigantic palaces, fifteen hundred towers, each two hunfeet high, that six hundred thousand human beings ever dwelt upon that plain now occupied by a few scattered villages was to them a fabrication of the unbelievers, and a conception dishonorable to the memory of the Prophet.

3 "When the ten thousand Greeks marched over this plain in their celebrated retreat, (400 B. C.,) they found in one part a ruined city called Larissa; and in connection with it, Xenophon, their leader and historian, describes what is now the pyramid of Nimroud. But he heard not the name of Nineveh; it was already forgotten on its site though it appears again in the later Greek and Roman writers." [Robinson's Intro. to the Amer. Ed. of "Nineveh and its Remains."

4

Receiving at last the offer of extensive aid in funds from a generous countryman, Mr. Layard returned to Assyria in November, 1845, and entered upon the difficult task of excavating the mounds at Nimroud; he also made less extensive examinations at Kalah Sherghat and Kouyunjik. In April, 1847, he abandoned his efforts, and in 1848 gave to the world the result of his labors, in two volumes entitled "Nineveh and its Remains." This work thoroughly aroused the public interest in the subject. It was at once perceived that the information which it contained was of great importance in interpreting Scripture, and confirming prophecy, and full of fresh illustrations of history, sacred and profane. Col. Rawlinson and Dr. Hincks had made some progress in translating the cuneiform writing, but their interpretations appear to have been made more upon conjecture than any well established philological basis. But Mr. Layard's labors had been prematurely abandoned, and there was a general desire that he should be furnished with means to make a more thorough examination of the Assyrian ruins. Such an arrangement was finally effected with the Trustees of the British Museum, to which he had already contributed numerous and valuable materials. In the mean time Col. Rawlinson and Dr. Hincks pursued their studies, so that while Mr. Layard was uncovering the ruins of the long lost cities, Providence was raising up these men to confirm Mr. Layard's rendering of inscriptions found upon them, and to translate from copies those which a less methodical study did not enable him to understand. The triumphant success of this second expedition, which is recorded in the book before us, is considerably indebted to these eminent English scholars.

At Constantinople, Mr. Layard was joined by Mr. F. Cooper, a competent artist, and Mr. Hormuzd Rassam, who accompanied him upon his first tour. Passing through Armenia to the Lake Wan, they proceeded south to the valley of the Tigris, where they came upon the route of the celebrated retreat of the ten thousand Greeks. October 12, 1849, the party reached Mosul. This was selected as their head quarters, but detachments of workmen were stationed at several points of supposed interest in the neighborhood. In December following,

4 Sir Stratford Canning.

at Kouyunjik, a façade of an immense building was uncovered; it proved to be the grand entrance to the magnificent palace of Sennacherib.. Mr. Layard, in describing this valuable discovery, says: "Beyond this figure, in the same line, was a second bull. The façade then opened into a wide portal, guarded by a pair of winged bulls, twenty feet long, and probably, when entire, more than twenty feet high. Forming the angle between them and the other bulls, were gigantic winged figures in low relief,5 and flanking them were two smaller figures, one above the other. Beyond this entrance was a group similar to and corresponding with that on the opposite side, also leading to a smaller entrance into the palace, and to a wall of sculptured slabs; but here all traces of buildings and sculpture ceased, and we found ourselves near the edge of a water-worn ravine.

"Thus, a façade of the southeast side of the palace, forming apparently the grand entrance to the edifice, had been discovered. Ten colossal bulls, with six human figures of gigantic proportions, were grouped together, and the length of the whole, without including the sculptured walls continued beyond the smaller entrances, was 180 feet. On the great bulls, forming the centre portal to the grand entrance, was one continuous inscription, injured in parts, but still so far preserved as to be legible throughout. It contained 152 lines. On the four bulls of the façade were two inscriptions, one inscription being carried over each pair, and the two being of precisely the same import. These two distinct records contain 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, all of the highest interest and importance." 6

It was not, however, until August, 1851, that the

5 These and other extraordinary figures, such as winged humanheaded lions and bulls, found among the ruins in Assyria, show very clearly from whence Ezekiel and Daniel obtained many of their remarkable illustrations, and are strong confirmations of the Biblical account of the Captivity, which represents them both to have been carried as captives to Babylon, where their prophecies were written. Babylon and Nineveh, pp. 136-8.

mention of any actual event recorded in the Bible, or even in profane history, was deciphered upon the monu ments. Since that period, many of the leading events chronicled in the Old Testament, have been confirmed by inscriptions found upon the walls of buildings and other objects which have been exhumed. There is no longer any doubt as to the king who reared these monuments. Mr. Layard has actually explored the ruins of the very palace of Sennacherib-a building, by the way, which not only justifies the references which are made in the Bible to the pride and dignity of the king for whom it was erected, but suggests some serious reflections as to the comparative skill of ancient and modern architecture."

Unable to superintend the works during the heat of the summer-all his companions having failed by intermittent fever Mr. Layard, sick and half delirious, left for the mountains of the North. Instead however of resting, as the state of his health seems to have required, we find him soon after entering upon a tour which he has thus outlined: "While necessarily absent, I determined to visit those parts of Central Kurdistan not yet explored by European travellers, to devote some days to the examination of the ruins and cuneiform inscriptions in and near the city of Wan, and then to return to Mosul through the unexplored uplands to the south of the lake of Wan, and by such of the Nestorian valleys as I had not seen during my former journey in the mountains. I should then spend the hottest part of the summer in the cool regions of Kurdistan, and be again at Nineveh by September, when the heats begin to decline." About the middle of October we find our persevering traveller floating down the Tigris upon a raft, accompanied by several of his

7 A view of the north eastern façade and grand entrance of Sennacherib's Palace forms the frontispiece of " Babylon and Nineveh." Vide Mr. Furgusson's Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis Restored, where he points out a remarkable analogy between the actual remains of the royal edifices of Nineveh and what is recorded of the temple and and palaces of Solomon. It appears that they not only possessed the same general architectural characteristics, but were constructed of substantially the same kind of materials, the king of Nineveh employed men, precisely as Solomon did, to cut cedar wood in Mount Lebanon, etc.

companions and some thirty of the best Arabs, whom he had employed in the excavations at Nineveh; having entrusted the works there to his faithful Toma Shisman, otherwise known as "the Fat." Unexpected difficulties presented themselves at Baghdad. The whole country was overrun with Bedouins and other tribes in open revolt against the government, so as to render it unsafe to leave the city. But there was "no such word as fail." Shovels and pickaxes were brought into requisition upon the spot, for the whole Mesopotamian plain is dotted with mounds. His labors were rewarded by discovering several hollow bronze balls, with the name of a king engraved upon them in Babylonian cuneiform characters; a few rude images of the Assyrian Venus, in baked clay, such as are found in most ruins of the same period; a pair of bronze ankle-rings, several terracotta vases and other relics of the same nature. The party reached Babylon early in December. We have not room here for any statement of their labors. Side journeys were made to villages in the Jezireh and the marshes of Niffir, which are described with great spirit. Greatly disturbed by the unsettled state of the country, Mr. Layard and his company returned to Mosul by the land route upon the western side of the Tigris; having been absent about three months. On the 28th of April he bade a final adieu to Nineveh.

Mr. Kenrick's work on Egypt under the Pharaohs, is of a different character. The materials for it were drawn from study, rather than observation. For this reason it is less interesting to the general reader, though hardly less valuable. It is a fitting companion to Mr. Layard's works, since it does in some respects for Egypt, what his books do for Assyria, Armenia and Mesopotamia. And if we rightly apprehend Mr. Kenrick's purpose, what is now published, though complete in itself, is only a portion of a contemplated work, comprehending the history of those countries of the East whose civilization preceded and influenced that of Greece. A volume upon Syria and Phoenicia we learn is in course of preparation. Whether that portion of the broad outline now presented is completely filled we are not competent to decide; at any rate,