would be appropriate in a leader of revolution in France, would be fantastically dramatic, serio-comic, in such a leader among the severely practical people of this country. Washington would have died unknown had he been a Frenchman. Paris has hitherto been France; and the sans culottes are Paris, in the time of revolution. Washington was not the man to lead sans culottes. His own army was indeed sans culottes sometimes, but they were still the enlightened yeomen, the self-respecting proprietors, or sons of the proprietors of the soil. The French recognize Washington in the grandeur of his renown; but they would never have recognized him as the man of a national epoch, when as yet no very signal event had marked his career, nor any trait of éclat his character. Their great man must shine and dazzle; impetuosity, a bold or oracular speech, thoroughly positive traits, are indications of greatness to them. Lamartine has the moral integrity of Washington, without his equanimity and wisdom; his enthusiasm gives a sympathetic power to his virtue; and his genius, his courage in speech and conduct, together with his literary fame, throw around him a lustre without which he would have been powerless among his countrymen.

We would not claim for him a high rank as a practical statesman, but affirm our respect for his political principles, and our conviction that he sustained himself, throughout his administration of the Provisional Government, with integrity and ability. Other men might have more successfully availed themselves of his position for their personal aggrandizement; few, we believe, would have used it more advantageously for the public interest.

Finally, Lamartine may be pronounced the first of living poets in France, and among the best of her statesmen,—with the qualifying admission, however, that no statesman, really of the first class, is found among her present political counsellors; and that she has not, and indeed never has had, a poet of the highest rank; such a one as can be classed with the Shakspeares or Miltons, the Dantes or Goethes, of other lands. Her greatest, though far from her best statesman, pines over his fallen fortunes at Charlemont. Among her present political characters, there are those who excel Lamartine in the practical shrewdness and chicanery of the profession; but there is none who transcends him in eloquence, in readiness and variety of capacity, or in that moral power which pertains to a pure and patriotic character, and which is indispensable to the highest public influence among even a degenerate people.

ART. IV.-NINEVEH AND ITS REMAINS.

Nineveh and its Remains: with an Account of a Visit to the Chaldæan Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezidis, or Devil- Worshippers; and an Inquiry into the Manners and Arts of the Ancient Assyrians. By AUSTEN HENRY LAYARD, Esq., D. C. L. In two volumes, pp. 326, 373. New-York: George P. Putnam. 1849.

THE announcement of this interesting work must have excited, with many readers, a feeling of mingled reluctance and curiosity, something like what is experienced in the effort to prolong a mysterious dream. There was, as the author has remarked in his introduction, a peculiar awfulness connected with the idea of the ruins of ancient Assyria, which made it seem almost sacrilegious to attempt to explore them. All that was known respecting them was, that somewhere north of Bagdad, on the borders of the Tigris, there existed vast desert wildernesses, haunted by unclean beasts and birds, and brooded over by noxious airs, in which were huge mounds, formless and silent, which were conjectured to be the remains of Babylon and Nineveh. Travellers could not venture into this region without a sense of incurring the displeasure of Heaven, which had condemned it to utter desolation; and when they had done so, no relics had been found which could compensate for the dangers of the journey.

With imaginative readers it is perhaps rather a matter of congratulation, that Mr. Layard's book, though it contains enough to warrant Dr. Robinson's opinion, in his introductory note, that it narrates "the crowning historical discovery of the nineteenth century," does not dispel the early impression so completely as they may have anticipated it would. The Assyrian palaces and temples do not yet stand before us, to contradict the stupendous architectural fancies of Mr. Martin; nor need we, for all that is here brought to light, forego the old belief respecting the Tower of Belus and the Hanging Gardens. To judge from the difficulties attending the explorations, we are not likely to be too rudely startled from the repose of these cherished fancies of youth; probably none of us will live to hear of the completion of a railroad from Aleppo to the banks of the Tigris, bridging Euphrates, and tunnelling the tombs of Nitocris and Nebuchadnezzar. The awful denunciations of the angel in the Apocalypse, however they are understood, may still remain associated in our minds as harmonizing with all that we are likely to know of the Babylonish ruins.*

*"And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily

It is chiefly for its personal narrative that Mr. Layard's work will interest the general reader. Without a previous familiarity with such studies, it will not be found easy or profitable to attempt to follow him in his speculations upon his discoveries; indeed, except with the assistance of plates, it is not possible to write intelligibly respecting them. In reviewing his work, therefore, we will treat it simply as a book of travels, reserving for a few concluding paragraphs our estimate of what he has accomplished.

Our author first introduces himself to us in 1840; he had then, in company with a companion as adventurous as himself, traversed Asia Minor and Syria, journeying in as free and self-dependent a style as if they had been rovers of the desert. They left Aleppo on the 18th of March in that year, to visit the remains of Babylon and Nineveh; on the 10th of April they reached Mosul, on the Tigris, in the vicinity of the ruins. The first impression of them is thus given:

"Were the traveller to cross the Euphrates to seek for such ruins in Mesopotamia and Chaldea as he had left behind him in Asia Minor or Syria, his search would be vain. The graceful column rising above the thick foliage of the myrtle, the ilex, and the oleander; the gradines of the amphitheatre covering the gentle slope, and overlooking the dark blue waters of a lakelike bay; the richly carved cornice or capital half hidden by the luxuriant herbage; are replaced by the stern, shapeless mound rising like a hill from the scorched plain, the fragments of pottery, and the stupendous mass of brickwork occasionally laid bare by the winter rains. He has left the land where nature is still lovely, where, in his mind's eye, he can rebuild the temple or the theatre, half doubting whether they would have made a more grateful impression upon the senses than the ruin before him. He is now at a loss to give any form to the rude heaps upon which he is gazing. Those of whose works they are the remains, unlike the Roman and the Greek, have left no visible traces of their civilization, or of their arts: their influence has long since passed away. The more he conjectures, the more vague the results appear. The scene around is worthy of the ruin he is contemplating; desolation meets desolation; a feeling of awe succeeds to wonder; for there is nothing to relieve the mind, to lead to hope, or to tell of what has gone by. These huge mounds of Assyria made a deeper impression upon me, gave rise to more serious thought and more earnest reflection, than the temples of Balbec or the theatres of Ionia.”— Pp. 28, 29.

From Mosul Mr. Layard descended the Tigris to Bagdad. His view of the ruins had excited his curiosity, and he formed the design of examining them, whenever it might be in his power.

In 1842 he again passed Mosul, on his way to Constantinople. He found, that after his former visit M. Botta, who had been appointed French Consul at Mosul, had discovered some remarkable remains in the mounds near that city. Arrived at Constantinople, M. Botta's success increased his anxiety to return and explore the with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." Rev. xviii, 1, 2.

ruins himself. "My thoughts," he says, with true antiquarian enthusiasm, "still went back to the ruin of Nimroud, and to the traditions which attached to it. I spoke to others, but received little encouragement. At last, in the autumn of 1845, Sir Stratford Canning* mentioned to me his readiness to incur, for a limited period, the expenses of excavations in Assyria, in the hope that, should success attend the attempt, means would be found to carry it out on an adequate scale. I received with joy the offer of commencing and carrying on these excavations."

Leaving Constantinople in the middle of October, he travelled fast, and reached Mosul in twelve days; and after various delays and difficulties, he at length embarked, with implements, attendants, &c., on a raft on the Tigris, for the ruins at Nimroud, which lie near the river, some eighteen miles below Mosul. Arriving at the scene of his labours in the evening, his attendants engaged Arabs to assist in excavating, and they prepared to commence operations on the morrow, Nov. 9th, 1846.

"The lofty cone and broad mound of Nimroud broke like a distant mountain on the morning sky. But how changed was the scene since my former visit! The ruins were no longer clothed with verdure and many-coloured flowers; no signs of habitation, not even the black tent of the Arab, were seen upon the plain. The eye wandered over a parched and barren waste, across which occasionally swept the whirlwind, dragging with it a cloud of sand. About a mile from us was the small village of Nimroud, like Naifa, a heap of ruins.

"Twenty minutes' walk brought us to the principal mound. The absence of all vegetation enabled me to examine the remains with which it was covered. Broken pottery and fragments of bricks, both inscribed with the cuneiform character, were strewed on all sides. The Arabs watched my motions as I wandered to and fro, and observed with surprise the objects I had collected. They joined, however, in the search, and brought me handfuls of rubbish, amongst which I found with joy the fragment of a bas-relief. The material on which it was carved had been exposed to fire, and resembled, in every respect, the burnt gypsum of Khorsabad. Convinced from this discovery that sculptured remains must still exist in some part of the mound, I sought for a place where excavations might be commenced with a prospect of success. Awad led me to a piece of alabaster which appeared above the soil. We could not remove it, and, on digging downward, it proved to be the upper part of a large slab. I ordered all the men to work around it, and they shortly uncovered a second slab to which it had been united. Continuing in the same line, we came upon a third; and, in the course of the morning, laid bare ten more, the whole It was forming a square, with one stone missing at the north-west corner. evident that the top of a chamber had been discovered, and that the gap was its entrance."-P. 44.

From this time Mr. Layard continued to discover similar chambers in the mounds, lined with sculptured slabs and bas-reliefs in alabaster, and containing fragments of pottery and ivory ornaments.

*British Ambassador to the Sublime Porte.

FOURTH SERIES, VOL. I.-39

The plans of the chambers thus excavated are given in the volumes, together with wood engravings of many of the principal bas-reliefs and inscriptions,-for most of which we must refer the reader to the work itself; since, without making our article entirely pictorial, it would be a waste of space to attempt a description of them.

The work was not prosecuted, however, without many discouragements. The chief of these arose from the cupidity or stupidity of Mohammed Pasha, the governor of the province of Mosul, of whom we have a flattering portrait.

"The appearance of his excellency was not prepossessing, but it matched his temper and conduct. Nature had placed hypocrisy beyond his reach. He had one eye and one ear; he was short and fat, deeply marked by the smallpox, uncouth in gestures, and harsh in voice."-P. 39.

One of this functionary's expedients to prevent working at the mounds, was to cover them with false graves of true believers, which could not be disturbed. The hindrance from this cause was so great that our antiquarian was finally obliged, he says, to "come to an understanding" on the subject with Daoud Agha, the captain of the irregular troops, who was the chief executive officer in the vicinity.

At length, in the middle of December, the obnoxious Pasha was deposed, and Hafiz Pasha appointed in his stead,-Ismail Pasha, a popular general, acting as regent until he could reach his government. This change occasioned a commotion in the country, which interrupted Mr. Layard's researches. He went to Bagdad, and did not return till the beginning of January, when he found the new governor more friendly. Interruptions arose, however, from other quarters, so that he did not fairly commence operations at the ruins till the middle of February, though his agents continued at work, with considerable success, in his absence, bringing to light "fragments of sculpture and inscriptions, with much entire pottery and inscribed bricks."

But, soon after recommencing their labours, the party began to make more important discoveries, the account of which forms one of the most interesting parts of the book.

6

"On the morning following I rode to the encampment of Sheikh Abd-urrahman, and was returning to the mound, when I saw two Arabs of his tribe urging their mares to the top of their speed. On approaching me they stopped. Hasten, O Bey,' exclaimed one of them,-hasten to the diggers, for they have found Nimrod himself. Wallah, it is wonderful, but it is true! we have seen him with our eyes. There is no God but God;' and both joining in this pious exclamation, they galloped off, without further words, in the direction of their tents.

"On reaching the ruins I descended into the new trench, and found the workmen, who had already seen me, as I approached, standing near a heap