The search, once commenced, soon brought to light || turies of dark repose. We only indicate, in a very those remains for which the traveller sought. faint manner, the character of those subjects that will "The bottom of the chamber was paved with smaller slabs be found in the volumes. They will be carefully than those employed in the construction of the walls. They studied by scholars-by a numerous class interested were covered with inscriptions on both sides, and on removing in the original biblical narrative-and by all who are one of them, I found that it had been placed upon a layer of bi-desirous of catching the scattered glimpses we can now tumen, which must have been in a liquid state, for it had retained, with remarkable distinctness and accuracy, an impression of the characters carved upon the stone. The inscriptions on the face of the upright slabs were about twenty lines in length, and all were precisely similar." attain of the state and position in which the patriarchs of the human race dwelt: "On each slab were two bas-reliefs, separated from one another by a band of inscriptions. The subject on the upper part of This process closely resembles in character the sys-No. 1 was a battle scene. Two chariots, drawn by horses richly tem of stereotyping pursued at the present day, al though adopted for an entirely different end. It shows that the carly Assyriaus bad attained not only proficiency in sculpture, but in the means of multiplying their designs. Every step taken amongst these old ruins, and every stone removed, only tended to confirm the idea that they were the tombs of a people who had made very remarkable advances in many of the arts connected with, and consequent on, the attainment of wealth: "In the rubbish near the bottom of the chamber I found several ivory ornaments, upon which were traces of gilding; amongst them was the figure of a man in long robes, carrying in one hand the Egyptian crux ansata, part of a crouching sphinx, and flowers designed with great taste and elegance. Awad, who had his own suspicions of the object of my search, which he could scarcely persuade himself was limited to mere stones, carefully collected all the scattered fragments of gold leaf he could find in the rubbish; and, calling me aside in a mysterious and confidential fashion, produced them wrapped up in a piece of dingy paper. O Bey,' said he, Wallah! your books are right, and the Franks know that which is hid from the true believer. Here is the gold, enough, and, please God, we shall find it all in a few days. caparisoned, were each occupied by a group of three warriors; the principal person in both groups was beardless, and evidently a eunuch. He was clothed in a complete suit of mail, and wore a pointed helmet on his head, from the sides of which fell lappets covering the ears, the lower part of the face, and the neck. The left hand, the arm being extended, grasped a bow at full stretch; whilst the right, drawing the string to the ear, held an arrow ready to be discharged. A second warrior urged, with the reins and whip, to the utmost of their speed, three horses, which were galloping over the plain. A third, without helmet, and with flowing hair and beard, held a shield for the defence of the prin cipal figure. Under the horses' feet, and scattered about the relief, were the conquered, wounded by the arrows of the conthe ornaments, the faithful and delicate delineation of the limbs querors. I observed with surprise the elegance and richness of and muscles, both in the men and horses, and the knowledge and art displayed in the grouping of the figures, and the general composition. In all these respects, as well as in costume, this sculpture appeared to me not only to differ from, but to surpass, the bas-reliefs of Khorsabad." In all parts of the world, and upon all these old monuments, we meet the same melancholy characteristic in the frequency of battle scenes. In Assyria and in Egypt the same feature is predominant. Wherever Only don't say anything about it to those Arabs, for they are sculpture was employed in ancient ages to record transasses, and caunot hold their tongues. The matter will come to actions, the greatest part of the sculptured work is the ears of the Pasha.' The Sheikh was much surprised, and employed to delineate war. The religious forms of equally disappointed, when I generously presented him with the the ancient nations occupy the next place in the artist's treasures he had collected, and all such as he might hereafter labours. From their sculptures still can be gathered discover. He left me muttering, Yia Rubbi!' and other pious ejaculations, and lost in conjectures as to the meaning of these some knowledge of their mode of worship, and their strange proceedings." gradual descent in idolatry. The sculptures referred to in the following passage most probably belonged to a religious edifice : ༔ Im The Arabs had but one idea regarding their Frank visitors. They could not believe that they left their country and their homes for no other purpose than to search over old ruins, and examine old monuments. They believed that their visits originated only in the thirst for wealth, for power, or from some superstitious motive. And this is not remarkable. The men were without the knowledge of ancient history. Their traditions were, on the whole, tolerably accurate, and with these traditions they were well contented. mersed in a very narrow circle of the present, they had no desire to examine the past; and, when Mr. Layard freely offered all the gold that might be found to his servant, the astonishment of the latter must have been greatly excited; for he probably knew that the Turkish Pasha watched the diggings in Nineveh with all the zealous care that a speculative Yankee would feel towards an acre of California, which a clever neighbour had obtained permission to explore. "I continued to employ a few men to open trenches, by way of experiment, and was not long in discovering other sculptures. Near the western edge, we came upon the lower part of several gigautie Ahnied Pasha, materials were taken for rebuilding the tomb of figures, uninjured by fire. It was from this place that, in the time of Sultan Abd-Allah, and the slabs had been sawn in half, and otherwise injured. At the foot of the south-east corner was found a crouching lion rudely carved in basalt, which appeared to have fallen from the building above, and to have been exmound we uncovered part of a pair of gigantic winged balls, the posed for centuries to the atmosphere. In the centre of the head and half the wings of which had been destroyed. Ther length was fourteen feet, and their height must have been originally the same. On the backs of the slabs upon which these animals had been carved in high relief, were inscriptions in large and upper part destroyed, were also discovered. They appeared and well-cut characters. A pair of small winged lions, the heads to form an entrance into a chamber, were admirably designed, and very carefully executed. Finally, a bas-relief, representing a human figure, nine feet high, the right hand elevated, and car We do not pretend to follow Mr. Layard's account rying in the left a branch with three flowers, resembling the of his adventures and discoveries in the mounds of Poppy, was found in wall & (plan 2). I uncovered only the upper part of these sculptures, satisfied with proving their existence, Nineveh-of his journeying amongst the tribes scat-without exposing them to the risk of injury, should my labours tered in that part of Asia-of the vast importance at- at any time be interrupted." tached to the discoveries that he has effected—or of The original design of many of the figures, ultimately their influence in confirming the opinions, previously used as ideas by the Assyrians, was, Mr. Layard thinks, formed from deficient materials, concerning the nation noble in conception and pure in meaning. He assumes whose old homes he had laid bare, after so many cen-that the strange sculpture representing an animal with "The wonder of Abd-ur-rahman was certainly not without cause, and his reflections were natural enough. Whilst riding which he suddenly interrupted by these exclamations. Such at his side, I had been indulging in a reverie not unlike his own, thoughts crowded upon me day by day, as I looked upon every newly discovered sculpture. A stranger laying open monuments buried for more than twenty centuries, and thus proving to those who dwelt around them that much of the civilisation and knowwhen our ancestors were yet unborn' was, in a manner, an ledge of which we now boast existed amongst our forefathers, acknowledgment of the debt which the West owes to the East. It is, indeed, no small matter of wonder that far distant, and comparatively new, nations should have preserved the only records of a people once ruling over nearly half the globe; and should who have taken their place, where their cities and monuments now be able to teach the descendants of that people, or those once stood. the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle, and the head || the holy Noah-peace be with him! Perhaps they were under of a man, to form the most striking conception of the ground before the deluge. I have lived on these lands for attributes of Deity that the sculptor could figure out years. My father, and the father of my father, pitched their tents here before me; but they never heard of these figures. in stone. The body of the lion indicates strength, the For twelve hundred years have the true believers (and, praise be wings of the eagle infer swiftness, the head of the man to God! all true wisdom is with them alone) been settled in represents wisdom; together implying an existence this country, and none of them ever heard of a palace under characterised by extreme strength, rapidity, and bene- ground. Neither did they who went before them. But, lo! volence; and from such sources we cannot doubt that here comes a Frank from many days' journey off, and he walks up to the very place, and he takes a stick (illustrating the dethe idolatry of the ancients originated. A careful scription at the same time with the point of his spear), and study of mythology will detect a thread running up- makes a line here, and makes a line there. Here, says he, is wards from the grossest state of error to the regions the palace; there, says he, is the gate; and he shows us what of truth. The ambition of kings, and the still more has been all our lives beneath our feet, without our having Wonderful! dangerous ambition of priests, acting at a time when books, is it by magic, is it by your prophets, that you have known anything about it. Wonderful! Is it by men could read little and had little to read-when learned these things? Speak, O, Bey; tell me the secret of learning was conveyed by tradition-when the love of wisdom!' marvellous things was strong-when every inducement existed to force belief on one side, and to feign it on another, would account for the multitude and diversity of professed divinities that the heathen world ultimately recognised. This chief figure in all the Assyrian temples is understood by Mr. Layard to represent the Supreme Deity, to whom all others were subordinate, and to have meant at one period, perhaps, nothing more than a remembrancer of His power to whom the temple was dedicated. The Assyrians do not seem to have degenerated into the vast multitude of mean corruptions of Deity, by which, above all other nations, the Egyptians were characterised. In the temples of Assyria are found often those poetical or imaginative figures, that, borrowed from animal existence, combine together types of different attributes to form the character greater than any single existence seen on earth could pourtray. The winged figure of a man, almost invariably offering pacific emblems, suggests the remark that, at a period far removed from our day, approaching very nearly to the fountain of tradition, amongst a people who had no written revelation, so far as we can believe-who had written records-who therefore might have had written traditions; but who had no other revelation; the idea of attaching wings to the conceptions formed of celestial beings, appears to have been universal. From the sculptured records it appears that the form of a bull, or a cow, as amongst the Egyptians, amongst the Israelites, and undoubtedly amongst other eastern nations, became the means of gratifying a gross superstition. We may presume that this conception was subsequent to some others implied in the Assyrian sculptures-that it was adopted in the great and rapid descent of the human race, and not, indeed, until several wide steps had been taken on the downward path. The discovery and removal of a huge bull originated the moral reflections of an Arab chief in the subjoined extract: There was more than enough to excite the astonishment of Abd-ur-rahman, and I seized this opportunity to give him a short lecture upon the advantages of civilisation and of knowledge. I will not pledge myself, however, that my endeavours were attended with as much success as those of some may be who boast of their missions to the east. All I could accomplish was, to give to the Arab sheikh an exalted idea of the wisdom and power of the Franks; which was so far useful to me that, through his means, the impression was spread about the country, and was not one of the least effective guarantees for the safety of my property and person." We know not if the great change amongst the followers of Mahomet has been sufficiently observed. At one period, idol-worship covered the whole of Asia. Nothing more degraded than the religious state of Egypt in the days of its greatest political power can than that which has been effected by "the prophet," possibly be conceived, and no change more complete amongst whose followers the opposition to idols and idolatry is a leading feature of their religious faith. A corresponding change has been accomplished wherever the creed of Mecca prevails. The second volume opens with the death of Tahyar Pasha, who dealt in the most friendly manner with the foreign excavator. The author bears testimony to the honesty of heart and purpose by which Tahyar was actuated. It is so pleasing to have a favourable acthe tribute to his memory :-count of one of these Turkish governors, that we quote "The Arab sheikh, his enthusiasm once cooled down, gave way to moral reflections. 'Wonderful, wonderful! There is sarely no God, but God, and Mohammed is his Prophet,' ex- "I was much grieved at the sudden death of Tahyar; for he elaimed he, after a long pause. In the name of the Most was a man of gentle and kindly manner, just and considerate in High, tell me, ✪ Bey, what you are going to do with those his government, and of considerable information and learning for stones. So many thousands of purses spent upon those things! a Turk. I felt a kind of affection for him. The cause of his Can it be, as you say, that your people learn wisdom from death showed his integrity. His troops had plundered a friendly them; or is it, as his reverence the Cadi declares, that they are tribe, falsely represented to him as rebellious by his principal to go to the palace of your queen, who, with the rest of the officers, who were anxious to have an opportunity of enriching unbelievers, worship these idols? As for wisdom, these figures themselves with the spoil. When he learnt the particulars of will not teach you to make any better knives, or scissors, or the affair, and that the tribe, so far from being hostile, were chintzes; and it is in the making of those things that the Eng-peaceably pasturing their flocks on the banks of the Khabour, he lish show their wisdom. But God is great! God is great! exclaimed, 'You have destroyed my house,' (viz., its honour,) and, Here are stones that have been buried ever since the time of without speaking again, died of a broken heart. He was Curied in the court-yard of the principal mosque at Mardin. A simple but elegant tomb, surrounded by flowers and evergreens, was raised over his remains; and an Arabic inscription records the virtues and probable reward of one of the most honest and amiable men that it has been my lot, in a life of some experience amongst men of various kinds, to meet. I visited his monument on my return to Constantinople. From the lofty terrace, where it stands, the eye wanders over the vast plains of Mesopotamia, stretching to the Euphrates one great meadow covered with the tents and flocks of innumerable tribes." surprised to find, about fire feet beneath them, the remains of a building. Walls of unbaked bricks could still be traced; but the slabs with which they had been cased were no longer in their places, being scattered about without order, and lying mostly with their faces on the flooring of baked bricks. Upon them were bota sculptures and inscriptions. Slab succeeded to slab; and when I had removed nearly twenty tombs, and cleared away the earth from a space about fifty feet square, the ruins which had been thus uncovered presented a very singular appearance. Above one hundred slabs were exposed to view, packed in rows over against the other, as slabs in a stone-cutter's yard, or as the leaves of a gigantic book. Every slab was sculptured, and as they were placed in a regular series according to the subjects upon them, it was evident that they had been moved, in the order in which they stood, from their original positions against the walls of removal elsewhere. That they were not thus arranged before being used in the building for which they had been originally sculptured, was evident from the fact, proved beyond a doubt by repeated observation, that the Assyrians carved their slabs after, and not before they were placed. Subjects were continued on adjoining slabs, figures and chariots being divided in the cenThere were places for the iron brackets, or dove-tails. They had evidently been once filled, for I could still trace marks and stains left by the metal. To the south of the centre bulls were two gigantic figures, similar to those discovered to the north. Mr. Layard details the leading facts as they occurred in his search amongst the ruins, without minutely describing the daily progress made by his Arabs and himself. His firman from the Porte enabled him to proceed regularly without the slightest interruption.sun-dried brick, and had been left as found, preparatory to their He had now reached the interior of one palace. Each new excavation opened out new treasures. The chambers were entirely covered with sculptures remarkable for the "variety and elegance of the ornaments." Sometimes the figures were in groups, and sometimes "winged figures before the sacred tree; religious animals, and elaborate scroll-work, all furnishing not only beautiful designs, but important illus trations of the religion of the Assyrians." A singular and touching discovery was made in one of the chambers. Mr. Layard describes its position on the plan; but without this plan we are incompetent to convey an accurate idea of the room: It was "In the centre of the mound, to the north of the great winged bulls, I had in vain endeavoured to find traces of building. Except the obelisk, two winged figures, and a few fragments of yellow limestone, which appeared to have formed part of a gigantic bull, or lion, no remains of sculpture had yet been discovered. On excavating to the south, I found a well-formed tomb, built of bricks, and covered with a slab of alabaster. about five feet in length, and scarcely more than eighteen inches in breadth in the interior. On removing the lid, parts of a skeleton were exposed to view. The skull, and some of the larger bones, were still entire; but on an attempt being made to move them, they crumbled into dust. With them were three earthen vessels. A vase of reddish clay, with a long, narrow neck, stood in a dish of such delicate fabric, that I had great difficulty in removing it entire. Over the mouth of the vase was placed a bowl, or cup, also of red clay. This pottery appears to have stood near the right shoulder of the body. In the dust which had accumulated round the skeleton, were found beads and small ornaments belonging to a necklace. The beads are of opaque-coloured glass, agate, cornelian, and amethyst. A small crouching lion of lapis lazuli, pierced on the back, had been attached to the end of the necklace. The vases and ornaments are Egyptian in their character, being identical with similar remains found in the tombs of Egypt, and preserved in collections of antiquities from that country. With the beads was a cylinder, on which is represented the king, in his chariot, hunting the wild bull, as in the bas-relief from the north-west palace. The surface of the cylinder has been so much worn and injured, that it is difficult to distinguish the figures upon it. A copper ornament, resembling a modern seal, two bracelets of silver, and a pin for the hair, were also discovered. I carefully collected and preserved these interesting remains, which seemed to prove that the body had been that of a female. “On digging beyond this tomb, I found a second, similarly constructed, and of the same size. In it were two vases of highly glazed green pottery, elegant in shape, and in perfect preservation. Near them was a copper mirror, and a copper lustral spoon, all Egyptian in form. tre. "These sculptures resembled, in many respects, some of the bas-reliefs found in the south-west palace, in which the sculp tured face of the slab was turned, it will be remembered, towards the walls of unbaked bricks. It appeared, therefore, that the centre building had been destroyed, to supply materials for the construction of this edifice. But here were tombs over the ruins. The edifice had perished; and, in the earth and rubbish accumulating above its remains, a people, whose funereal vases and ornaments were identical in form and material with these found in the catacombs of Egypt, had buried their dead. What race, then, occupied the country after the destruction of the Assyrian palaces? At what period were these tombs made? What antiquity did their presence assign to the buildings beneath them? These are questions which I am yet unable to answer, and which must be left undecided until the origin and age of the contents of the tombs can be satisfactorily determined." The singularity of these tombs is, that they were formed apparently above the ruins of palaces that may have been built a thousand years previously. Many of the small articles, found in these old chambers, were of most minute and beautiful workmanship: "The chamber V is remarkable for the discovery, near the entrance a, of a number of ivory ornaments, of considerable beauty aud interest. These ivories, when uncovered, adhered so firmly to the soil, and were in so forward a state of decomposition, that I had the greatest difficulty in extricating them, even in fragments, I spent hours lying on the ground, separating them with a pen knife, from the rubbish by which they were surrounded. Those who saw them when they first reached this country will be aware of the difficulty of relieving them from the hardened mass in which they were imbedded. The ivory separated itself in flakes. Even the falling away of the earth was sufficient to reduce it almost to powder. This will account for the condition of the specimens which have been placed in the British Museum. With all the care that I could devote to the collection of the fragments, many were lost, or remained unperceived, in the immense heap of rubbish under which they were buried. Since they have been in England they have been admirably restored and cleaned. The gelatinous matter, by which the particles forming the ivory are kept together, had, from the decay of centuries, been completely exhausted. By an ingenious process it has been restored, and the ornaments, which on their discovery fell to pieces, almost upon mere exposure to the air, have regained the appearance and consistency of recent ivery, and may be handled without risk of injury. "The forms and style of art have a purely Egyptian character; although there are certain peculiarities in the execution and mode of treatment that would seem to mark the work of a foreign, perhaps an Assyrian, artist. The same peculiaritiesthe same anomalies-characterised all the other objects discovered. Several small heads in frames, supported by pillars or pedes. tals, most elegant in design, and elaborate in execution, show not only a considerable acquaintance with art, but an intimate knowledge of the method of working in ivory. Found with them were oblong tablets, upon which are sculptured, with great delicacy, standing figures, with one hand elevated, and holding in the other a stem, or staff, surmounted by a flower, or ornament, resembling the Egyptian lotus. Scattered about were fragments of winged sphinxes, the head of a lion, of singular beauty, but which, unfortunately, fell to pieces; human heads, hands, legs, and feet; bulls, flowers, and scroll-work. In all these specimens the spirit of the design and the delicacy of the workmanship are equally to be admired." Did the Assyrians borrow from the Egyptians, or the Egyptians from the Assyrians? We believe that the Nile was indebted to the Tigris, and not the Tigris to the Nile. The question admits of doubt, from the circumstance elicited by Mr. Layard in his examination of the mound of Nimrod, that it contains the ruins of palaces and temples built at distant periods-at dates so distant, that the slabs and decorations of the oldest temples have been used in the more modern erections. From the position of the tombs already mentioned, it may be inferred that there were two destructions of Nineveh, or that two cities in nearly the same locality had been at different dates entirely destroyed. We know that the latest Nineveh was destroyed by the Persians seven centuries before the commencement of the Christian era; and the oldest must necessarily have been founded, its palaces erected, its sculptures devised and executed, and its records inscribed, at a period not much posterior to that assigned in Scripture for the erection of a city by Nimrod. These views explain fully the essential difference apparent in the religious emblems. The earliest sculptures would bear simpler and more sublime references to religion than those executed at a later date, when the corruptions of ages had crept deeper into the original traditions received from the fathers, and when Egypt had probably returned the knowledge she borrowed, intermingled with most fantastic and pernicious errors. The "mystic tree," which mingles in many of the sculptures of the Assy rians connected with religion, is not improbably a type of the tradition respecting the original state of mankind, in a locality forming part of the Assyrian territory; and may have been symbolical of the tree of knowledge, that exercised so fatal influences over the inhabitants of Eden. On these topics many speculations might be raised; but until the inscriptions of the monuments can be fully translated, we continue ignorant of much that they would disclose. The summary of information afforded by Mr. Layard is the most concise representation of our knowledge respecting the Assyrians that can be given. It is in the following terms: "1st. That there are buildings in Assyria which so far differ in their sculptures, in their mythological and sacred symbols, and in the character and language of their inscriptions, as to lead to inference that there were, at least, two distinct periods of Assyrian history. We may moreover conclude that either the people inhabiting the country at those distinct periods were of different races, or of different branches of the same race, or that, by intermixture with foreigners, perhaps Egyptian, great changes had taken place in their language, religion, and customs, between the building of the first palace of Nimrod and that of the edifices of Khorsabad and Konyunjik. "2d. That the names of the kings on the monuments show a lapse of even some centuries between the foundation of the most ancient and most recent of those edifices. ་་ 3d. That from the symbols introduced into the sculptures of the second Assyrian period, and from the Egyptian character of the small objects found in the earth above the ruins of the buildings of the oldest period, there was a close connexion with Egypt, either by conquest or friendly intercourse, between the time of the creation of the earliest and latest palaces; and that the monuments of Egypt, the names of kings in certain Egyptian dynasties, the ivories from Nimroud, the introduction of several Assyrian divinities into the Egyptian pantheon, and other evidenée, point to the fourteenth century as the probable time of the commencement, and the ninth as the period of the termination of that intercourse. "4th. That the earlier palaces of Nimroud were already in ruins, and buried before the foundation of the latter; and that it is probable they may have been thus destroyed about the time of the 14th Egyptian dynasty. "5th. That the existence of two distinct dynasties in Assyria, and the foundation, about two thousand years before Christ, of an Assyrian monarchy, may be inferred from the testimony of the most ancient authors; and is in accordance with the evidence of Scripture, and of Egyptian monuments. I cannot pretend to draw any positive conclusions from the data that I have attempted to bring together. It has been my object to place before the reader the facts which have been afforded by the examination of the ruins-facts, which, it must be admitted, will go far towards enabling us ultimately to form some opinion as to the comparative, if not the positive date of these newly discovered monuments. I trust that I have at least succeeded in showing that there are grounds for admitting the possibility of the very early origin of some of these edifices; and that there is nothing in the discoveries hitherto made inconsistent with the early dates which the dynastic lists, and the statements of ancient authors, would assign to the foundation of Nineveh. The subject is new, and has not yet been illustrated by the remains of the people themselves. The vast ruins of Egypt-its written and sculptured recordshave enabled the antiquarian to enlarge and rectify the notices preserved to us through the Greeks and Romans; but hitherto Assyria has furnished no such materials. Their very absence has compelled us to neglect a branch of inquiry replete with interest, as connected with biblical study, and with the history of the human race. Further researches will probably lead to the great mass of materials which in the last three years has been discovery of additional monuments and inscriptions, adding to the placed in our possession. It would scarcely be reasonable or consistent, after what has already been done, to discard all evidence of the antiquity of the Assyrian empire, because there are discrepancies in the statements of such authors as Ctesias, Eusebius, against that antiquity upon an isolated and doubtful passage in and the Syncellus; and at the same time to found arguments Herodotus, or upon the absence of the mention of an earlier Assyrian king in the Scriptures." We have not attempted to present an abstract of the information contained in these two extraordinary volumes. The character of the work may have been indicated, and we have not endeavoured to exceed that point. The second volume contains very interesting statements regarding the Chaldean Christians. The author visited their villages after the late persecution by the fanatic Kurds, who slaughtered a vast number of the inhabitants, burned their churches, devastated their fields and orchards, and committed the most lamentable excesses. The persecution of the Nestorian Churches in recent years was a disgrace to Christian nations, whose ambassadors at Constantinople might have prevented or speedily closed the extreme persecution of that harmless people. The numthe statements in the newspapers at the time; but ber of persons killed was greater than appeared from even this was not equal to the abstraction of the young into captivity, and their compulsory conversion from the faith of their fathers; and this last crime occurred in numerous instances amongst the mountain villages of Chaldea, while we believe that the ambassador of no Christian power has ever moved in any way for their restoration. These Chaldeans form the most interesting community, in some respects, in the || They were amongst the earliest converts to Christiaworld. They have remained from the commencement of time near to the nativity of mankind, and near to the second birth-place of the race from a single family. They represent the nation that first introduced cities, civilities, letters, arts, and sciences into the world. They are the lineal descendants of the men who formed the largest and the longest-sustained empire of Asia. nity, and it seemed meet that the Gospel of forgiveness should be soon conveyed to the scene of the acts that first rendered it necessary. The Chaldeans, in profane history, are known to have been the earliest cultivators of many sciences; and the last fragments of a great people should not be left to perish without an effort. THE BIRTH OF DAY. RESTLESS, and tired of wooing sleep, I rose, Beneath me lay the sea, waveless and still; Ir is an old, yet golden dream, AN OLD TRUE THEME. That looking back to days gone by; The theme oft times, yet, scorning, hears And falsely masks its heart with sneers. Where, o'er Youth's heedless travell'd clime, Thus led, she wanders uncontroll'd Of music, to her hopes unfold The portals of those ways again; Deceits of Time those hopes endow— FREDERICK ENOCHI. POESY AND POETS. O, POESY! Sweet manna of the mind! Essence of thought most pure-Nature's sweet voice- In hope or joy, despondency or grief, For what is poesy? What can it be No man can be a poet by desire, ANDREW PARK, |