and near Mosul.  Convinced that under these hillocks lay precious relics of antiquity, he procured an official letter to the Pasha of Mosul, and in 1845 repaired to Nimroud, and hired Arabs to make excavations in the mounds there.  Even the first day’s search disclosed valuable slabs ornamented with bas-reliefs and inscriptions in the cuneiform character, of the remotest antiquity, dating so far back as nineteen centuries before our era, and conjectured to be part of the ruins of the chief palace of Nimroud, destroyed about twelve centuries before our era.  If so, this point was the original centre of the great city of Nineveh—­that part said to have been built by Asshur; while the surrounding mounds of Mosul, Khorsabad, and Kouyunjik, cover ruins of a later date.  Of Mr. Layard’s discoveries in Assyria, that room, which the visitor should now enter (called the Nimroud room), is full.  The room, as the visitor will at once perceive, is divided into eleven compartments—­the first being that to the left on entering.  Here he will begin his inspection of

Ancient Assyrian sculpture.

The first slabs to which the visitor will direct his attention in the compartment (1), are from the north-west edifice, excavated from the Nimroud Mound, which Mr. Layard conjectures to be the most ancient of all the Assyrian ruins, dating, as we have stated, so far back as nineteen centuries before our era.  On one slab the visitor will notice two standing draped figures, divided by the sacred tree, or tree of life, generally worshipped in the East, and adhered to in the religious systems of the Persians, here more like trellice-work than a tree, holding chaplets in their hands; on two other slabs figures with the sacred tree; and on a fourth we recognise the symbol of royalty among the ancient nations of Asia Minor, the umbrella borne by an eunuch over a monarch, who is represented returning from the chase, to the airs played by two musicians.  Five figures are respectfully meeting him, and a dead animal lies at his feet.  These specimens of the state of art in Asia, twenty-seven centuries ago, may well excite the curiosity of all classes of spectators.  Proceeding to the second compartment, the visitor will find eight more slabs, the first of which from the north-west edifice, represents a battle-piece.  Here warriors are discharging their arrows, the king with the winged symbol of divinity in a circle above him is proceeding at full gallop, and a dead figure lies near him pierced with arrows.  This scene is continued on the second slab, where there are two chariots, each containing two figures, and one decorated with the ferouher, or divine symbol.  A siege is represented upon the third slab.  Here the besiegers are applying the battering ram; figures are falling from the walls, while from the three tiers of battlements the besieged are vigorously discharging arrows.  The visitor will notice the figures of two bow-men on the fourth slab, before a lake, with part of a tower in the distance, and the next three slabs have representations of the fall of the city, picturesquely indicated.  The deserted battering rams stand near the walls; female prisoners are leaving the town, drawn by three oxen; eunuchs are driving away the cattle of the vanquished, and conducting prisoners with their hands bound.