The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-10 00:00:00

DR. LAYARD AND NINEVEH.

(From Bentley's Niscellany for January.)
When " Nineveh and its Remains" was published two
years ago, the very title of the work was certain to
excite the utmost curiosity, but the disclosures con-
tained in it far exceeded all the imagination could
have conceived. That a city, originally built, as we
are informed in the Scriptures (Genesis v., 11 and
12 verses), by one of the early descendants of Noah
—a city, which for countless, or at least unknown,
ages, had vanished from the face of the earth, so that
not one memorial or authentic record of the manners
and customs of its inhabitants had been preserved—
that ancient Nineveh should have been, as it were,
called up to pass before the eyes of mortals of the
niueteeth century, was an event calculated to beget
the utmost interest and astonishment. That so mar-
vellous a work should have been performed by the
enterprise, perseverance, and genius of a single un-
assisted man, was not the least surprising circum-
' stance in the matter.
The city of Nineveh was the metropolis of the great
Assyrian empire, and there is abundant evidence to
prove that it was once the largest and most populous
city in the world. Whether Ninus, the builder or
restorer of that vast city, completed it before or after
the overthrow of Zoroaster, is uncertain. It is agreed
by all profane writers, and confirmed by the Scrip-
tures, that it exceeded all others in circuit and mag-
nificence ; for it was in circumference four hundred
and eighty stadia or furlongs (sixty miles), the walls
being a hundred feet high, and so broad that three
chariots might be driven abreast on the ramparts.
These walls were adorned with fifteen hundred towers,
each two hundred feet high.
But this city, built in the plains of Assyria, on the
banks of the river Tigris, and in the region of Eden,
was founded long before the time of Ninus, and as
ancient historians report, was called Campsor, Until
Ninus amplified it and gave it the name of Nineveh.
Campsor, then, must have been founded by
Asshur, who, as we learn from Genesis, went forth
from the land of Sbinar, and built Nineveh. Nothing
more concerning it, however, is told in the sacred
writings till the time of the prophet Jonah, who de-
scribes it as an " exceeding great city of three day:,'
journey. lle. also indicates its immense population,
saying that it contained " more than six score thou-
sand persons that could not discern between their
right hand and their left hand. " Supposing one_
sixth of the inhabitants of Nineveh to have been in
this deplorable state of ignorance, we have a popula-
tion
mopreretahcahn
than
seven
of the
hun dre
prophet Jonah in
hundred thousand
caused number.
The the
people of Nineveh to repent, and accordingly the city
was spared for a time : yet shortly afterwards Nahum
was commanded to declare the burden of 1\ ineveh, to
proclaim the city's destruction, and to announce the

downfall of the Assyrian empire. This prophet
speaks of it as a city with many strongholds, and
many gates with bars; that had multiplied her mer-
chants above the stars of heaven ; whose inhabitants
and princes were numerous as the locusts and whose
store and glory of pleasant furniture was endless.
The destruction of the city, in the Tear B.C. 606,
by the combined armies of Cyaxares, King of Persia.
and Nabopolassar, who was, as Dr. Layard thinks, the
Assyrian governor of Babylon, fulfilled this predic-
tion to the very letter. Nineveh was laid waste ; she
was indeed " made a desolation, and dry like a wil-
derness."

We learn from Diodorus Siculus that the city was
destroyed partly by water and partly by fire, and that
many talents of gold and silver rescued from the
flames were carried to Ecbatan. Lucian of Samosata
who flourished about A. D. 180, informs us that Ni-
neveh had perished utterly—that not a vestige of the
city remained, and that even the place where it stood
was no longer known.
We take it for granted that all our readers, having
inspected the extraordinary sculptures now in the
British Museum, or seen drawings from them, and
having formed a due estimate of the obligations this
country lies under to the discoverer, will have been
anxious long since, to know something of that re-
markable person, and such information we are
happy to he enabled, in part at least, to communicate.
Since the time of Lucian nearly seventeen centu-
ries have elapsed, and the name of Nineveh, until
lately, alone remained. Its very ruins were no longer
on the face of the land, and in this age of science and
inquiry no antiquarian before Dr. Lay ard ever se-
riously bethought himself of seeking out the Nineveh
and Babylon of Holy Writ, and of searching for the
buried palaces of the Assyrian monarchy. True it
is, that the notice of travellers in Assyria had been
attracted long ago to huge mounds, apparently com-
posed of earth and rubbish, and that it was conjec-
tured that these were the remains of the stupendous
capitals—Nineveh and Babylon. A. mass of brick-
work, vitrified and rising out of the aggregated rub-
bish of centuries, was believed to be the remains of
the tower of Babel.

The Temple of Belus, according to Herodotus, and
some mounds in the neighbourhood, were supposed to
be the hanging gardens and marvellous structures
attributed to Semiramis, the wife of Ninus, who built
Babylon; but the difficulty of reaching those locali-
ties, while it excited the interest of the antiquarian,
prevented the traveller from visiting them.
Greater curiosity was awakened by the presumed
site of Nineveh than of Babylon. Several travellers
had noticed the numerous mounds on the left bank of
the Tigris, opposite the modern city of Mosul, and
what tradition had called the tomb of Jonah, on the
top of one of the mounds, gave a certain probability
to the conjecture that indiciated the site of Nineveh ;
but it is to Dr. Layard that we are indebted for a
knowledge of that important fact, confirmed as it is
by the extraordinary remains he has forwarded to this
country. _ _ _

Thelayards are descended from a distinguished
family, named Raymond, long settled in the south of
France, who claimed affinity with the Raymonds,
sovereign Counts of Toulouse; were among the earliest
supporters of the reformed religion in that country, and
espoused the cause of the persecuted Albigenses. The
Raymonds, nevertheless, continued to receive honours
and grant 3 from successive sovereigns of France, in-
termarrying with the noblest families, until the mas-
sacre of the Huguenots, in 1572, when two of the
brothers fell victims in that terrible slaughter, whilst a
third (the heir) succeeded in effecting his escape into
Holland.

The immediate ancestor of the existing branch of
the. Raymonds, or rather Layards, came over to this
country with William, Prince of Orangs, and held a
high ccAnmand under that Protestant prince at the
battle of the Boyne.
From that period the family definitively settled in
England. Having already embraced the Protestant
faith, Raymond was content for its sake to give up
his country, and relinquish his property in France;
but, warned by the revocation of the edict of Nantes,
he dropped his patrimonial name, and assumed that
of Layard, probably the name of an estate, as one of
the family was subsequently called Raymond de
Layarde ; destroying, at the same time, every docu-
ment which, preserved and transmitted to his descen-
dants, might
,tempt any one of them to return to
Catholicism, and enable him to recover the estates in
France.

This, the last of the Raymonds, was the grand-
father of Dr. Layard, the late Dean of Bristol, and
of bis two brothers, both generals in the English
army.

The second son of the Dean of Bristol, Henry Peter
John, held for many years a high civil appointment
in Ceylon, was a man of great abilities and varied
acquirements, and was the father of Austen Henry
Layard, the subject of our present memoir, who was
born at Paris, during a temporary visit of his parents
to that metropolis, on the sth of March, 1817.
The early youth of Layard was passed at Florence.
Familiar with the language of Italy, it is no wonder
that the glorious literature a that country subse-
quently solicited his attention ; or that, born with a
love of the fine arts, his taste should have been en-
nobled and purified by a contemplation of the glorious
models of sculpture and painting in which Florence
abounds. Was it here that he acquired that command
over his pencil, which he afterwards found infinitely
serviceable to him amid the ruins of Nimroud? This
faculty was afterwards fully excited "by the appall-
ing sight of slabs with the noblest sculptures and the
finest inscriptions, crumbling into dust before his
eyes. No draughtsman had been provided to help
him ; and had he not instantly determined to arrest
by the quickness of his eye and the magic of his pen-
cil these fleeting forms, which were about to dis-
appear for ever, many of the finest remains of ancient
art would have been irrecoverably lost."
Layard returned from Italy to his native country
for education. That being completed, he devoted
himself to the study of the law, which, however,
prOved little attractive to him. Pope, paying an ele-
gant compliment to the accomplished Murray, after-
wards Lord Mansfield, exclaims—

" How sweet an Ovia waa in Murray lost!"
For our part, we should not greatly grieve if we
knew that even a second Mansfield was lost in the
Layard.
About the age of 18, Layard's travels in Italy, Rus-
sia, and other countries, excited in:him a strong passion
for still snore extended adventure, which, accom-
panied by an ardent desire for knowledge, and an
energy which " knew not what it was to intermit,"
decided him upon abandoning his profession, and
settling in the East, where he had family connexions.
In the summer of 1839, with a friend for a com-
panion, Dr. Layard left England. Traversing Ger-
many, they passed through Dalimitia, into Montene-
gro, where Dr. Layard was induced to stay for a
brief period, having engaged to aid a young and
energetic chief in civilising and otherwise improving
the condition of his brave but semi-barbarous
subjects. From Montenegro his friends made their
way as they best could through Albania and Roumelia,
au enterprise in which they encountered many adven-
tures, and finally, and at the end of the year, arrived
by Adrianople at Constantinople. 'We are informed
that Dr. Layard proceeded to Bagdad and into Syria
hut we have no means of following his footsteps with
accuracy or certainty during this period of his wan-
dering and eventful life. At this time his friend
quitted him, and now he was left to pursue his course.
We earnestly hope that some day—and that not a
distant one—Dr. Layard will give to the world an
account of the extraordinary adventures which befel
him, when the eager wish to acquire knowledge
which he desired to exercise for the profit and benefit
of his fellow-creatures, carried bins into strange and
many lands. If other men have acquired a larger
experience of diversified life, few have encountered
and surmounted greater difficulties , and none have
ever engaged themselves to the attainment of a nobler
object. Wandering in the Desert, he was frequently
attacked and plundered by wild Arabs, and was con-
stantly in peril. Now he might be found settling
disputed points of geography, or seeking historical
remains—now making his way as a Hakim over
wilds hitherto untrodden by the foot of Europeans, or
sojourning with the barbarous Bactyari in their moun-
tains, civilizing and teaching the people; and, having
some small knowledge of medicine, saving the life of
their chief's only son.
The foregoing are but brief and faint indications of
the varied life and adventures of Dr. Layard previous
to the happy accident which enabled him successfully
to prosecute that undertaking which resulted in the
extraordinary discoveries that have rendered his name
so famous. As early as 1 ii4l, Dr. Layard bad in-
spected the ruins on the east bank of the Tigris, which
have been generally believed to be the ruins of Nine-
veh. Let the Doctor himself describe the sensational
with which he viewed them :

" He (the spectator) has left the land where nature
is still lovely, where, in the mind's eye, he can re-
build the temple, or the theatre, half doubting whe•
ther they would have made a more grateful impres-
sion 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 thoughts and earnest reflections,
than the temple of Balbec and the theatre of lonia."
Shortly afterwards Dr. Layard had a second oppor-
tunity of viewing the ruins of Nimroud, and of ex-
amining them ; and it was upon this occasion that the
thought suggested itself to him, and impressed itself
upon his mind, of making excavations. He had, he

* Dr. Layard observes in his " Nineveh," " I need
scarcely remind the reader that it is to Sir S. Canning
we owe the marbles of Halicarnassus, now in the British
Museum. The difficulties which stood in the way of
the acquisition of these invaluabb relics, and the skill
which was required to obtain them are not generally
known. I can testify to the efforts and labour which
were necessary for nearly three years, before the re-
pugnance of the Ottoman Government could be over-
come, and permission obtained to extract the sculptures
from the walls of a castle, which was more jealously
guarded than any similar edifice in the empire. Their
removal, notwithstanding the almost insurmountable
difficulties raised by the authorities and inhabitants of
Budroon, was most successfully effected by Mr. Alison.
The Elgin marbles, and all other remains from Turkey
and Greece, now in Europe, were obtained with com•
parative ease."

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF BANKRUPTCY. Jail. 9.
(Before Mr. Commissioner FANS.)
IN RE E. SYRON&

The bankrupt was a pianoforte-maker, in John-
street, Tottenham-court-road, and also followed the
pursuit of a furniture-broker's assistant. This was an
audit meeting.
Mr. BICKNELL, solicitor to the assignees, wished to
have the opinion of the Court on the point of a crimi-
nal prosecution being instituted against the bankrupt
at the expense of his estate. The proceedings lying
before his Honour would show the fraudulent conduct
of the bankrupt.
The COMMISSIONER—I am quite willing that the
bankrupt should be prosecuted, provided the assignees
are desirous that he should be. The true interest of
creditors, in the long run, is to prosecute in cases of
fraud by a bankrupt, although the dividend may be
reduced by the costs of prosecution. There is a pro-
vision in the Bankruptcy Consolidation Act giving
power to the Court to direct the expenses of a prose.,
cution to be paid out of a particular fund. In this
case there is no such fund at my disposal. What may
be the amount of the bankrupt's debts and assets ?
Mr. CANNAN (official assignee)—The debts proved
are about 1,0001. or 1,2001.; the assets have rea-
lised 2961.

The COMMISSIONEU —What say the creditors to
the prosecution ?

Mr. BICKNELL—There is one present, a creditor for
1001., who is quite willing that a prosecution should
be instituted.

The COMMISSIONER—The best policy, in the long
run, is, I repeat, for creditors to prosecute in cases of
this kind. If they will not help themselves, the
power of thin Court is limited. I suppose there will
be 2001. in hand v, herewith to defray the expenses of
a prosecution.
A Creditor—And a verdict was yesterday obtained
in the County Court, by which some property that
had been smuggled away by the bankrupt's means
was recovered.

The Commusioszu—ls the bankrupt to be found ?

Mr. BICKNBLL—We have traces of women who have
been with him, and we believe his whereabouts may
be ascertained.

The Creditor—The expenditure of a five -pound
note will procure his apprehension.
Mr. CANNAN, who was partially inaudible, informed
the Court that a book had been found on the premises
of the bankrupt that belonged to one of the offices
of the Secretary of State. Upon being examined,
there was found within it a notice that a reward of
201. would be paid to any one who should return it to
the Secretary of State.
After an observation had been made that there could
be little doubt but the Secretary of State would assist
in a prosecution,
The Learned COMMISSIONER said he should sanction
a prosecution at the cost of the estate.
(Before Mr. Commissioner EVANS.)
IN RE H. SNELLING.

The bankrupt was a grocer at Brighton. His
debts are 1,500/., his assets about 2001.

Mr. Duncan opposed, Mr. Lawrance supported the
application for the certificate.
It appeared from the examination Gf the bankrupt
that he had long been in difficulties, and the Court
held that he had not been warranted in carrying on
so long as he had without keeping accounts that
would vouch for the truth of his statements respect •
ing property, The certificate (second class) would
be suspended one year, and protection withheld for
the present.
Mr. DUNCAN asked for a certificate from the Court,
admitting a creditor who had proved his debt to be
put in the position of a judgment creditor.
Mr. LAWRANCE objected on the ground that the
bankrupt had not been guilty of any of the penal
offences specified in the Bankruptcy Consolidation
Acts.

His HONOUR, said it appeared to him that he ought
to grant the certificate asked. As, however, it had
been stated that three of his brother Commissioners
entertained a different opinion, he should reserve his
decision.

IN RE R. DEVER.

The bankrupt was a confectioner at Cornhill. It
appeared that, having commenced with a capital of
about 6001., his debts are now 6,5001., and his assets
about 5,500 c.
The bankrupt passed his examination without op-
position.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, Jan. 9.
(Before Mr. Sergeant An As, Assistant-Judge, and

a Bench of Magistrates.)
INDECENT ASSAULTS IN TIIE PARK.--. W. Sharp,
a respectably dressed old man, was indicted, charged
with having committed an indecent assault upon one
Henry Whayman.
Mr. Parry appeared for the defendant.
The prosecutor, who is a young man about 26 years
of age, stated the particulars of the case, which are
of too disgusting a nature for publication. The offence
was alleged to have been committed in Hyde-park,
near the Albert-gate. _ _

The prosecutor gave his evidence in so unsatis-
factory a manner that

The Learned JUDGE, at the conclusion of his exa-
minatiou in chief, said he did not think it necessary
that the case should go on any further, inasmuch as
that it was manifest that no jury could place sufficient
reliance on the statements of such a fellow as the man
in the box to convict upon it.
Mr. PARRY, on behalf of the defendant, said, he
felt it necessary to put a few questions to the prose..
cutor in order to show who and what he really was,
and from which it would be found that he was one of
the most abandoned and disgusting fellows who are
prowling about London. In the first place, however,
be would state that the defendant was a highly respect-
able man, and had been a householder in the parish of
Marylebone for upwards of 20 years.
The prosecutor then, in his cross-examination, said
that he had made a charge similar to the present
against other persons upon former occasions, and that
he had also been convicted of felony.
A policeman of the B division, of the name of
Wright, next stated that he had for some time known
the prosecutor as a constant frequenter of the parks,
and that he had been convicted of felony at the
Central Criminal Court.
The Learned JUDGE desired Wright not to lose
sight of this fellow, but to keep a close watch upon
him, for he did not entertain the smallest doubt,
looking at his dress, and the way in which he was
evidcntly " got up," together with his general ap-
pearance and demeanour, but that he was one of
those filthy fellows who are in the habit of prowling
about the parks for the purpose of pouncing upon
victims, from whom, under the threat of making a
charge of an indecent assault against them, they
might extort money. Such fellows well knew that
there were few persons, however innocent, who
would not rather give a sum of money than have
their names paraded before the world in connexion
with such an accusation. He could not doubt but
that the jury had some time since formed their opi-
nion of this disgusting man. Let them merely look.
at his attitude, his dress, his singularly effeminate '

manner, the peculiarity of his style of head-dress, and
his general bearing, all of which were quite suffi-
cient to indicate the sort of person he was. Ad-
dressing the prosecutor, the Learned Judge said,
" Go away you filthy fellow—leave the court."
The prosecutor gladly made his way out of the
court amid such a general demonstration of expres-
sions of detestation that an experience of thirty years
fails to recal its equal to the memory of the writer.]

POLICE IN TELLIGENCE.
MANSION-HOUSE.

John Davis, a cabman, was brought before the
Lord Mayor charged with having left his cab, and
having got drunk.
The cab was found by a policeman with ,a horse,
but without a driver, and the cabman was roused up
from a drunken sleep in a taproom, where he had
been spending his employer's money. The wretched
fellow appeared with a bruised nose and swelled eyes,
and cut a most melancholy figure.
The Loan MAYOR—Why. defendant, you might
have caused loss of life or broken limbs by this
drunken freak of yours. What have you to say about
the accusation ? Cabman—Please your Lordship, I
have been seventeen years upon the streets, and I
never was before a beak before in my life. Ido
assure your Lordship that neither me nor my cab
ever killed anybody or broke their limbs, to my
knowledge, though I have been so long about town ;
and I wish any other man belonging to this sort of
vehicle could say as much.—(Laughter.)
The Loan MAYOR—Why, you don't seem to be
sober yet. What's the matter with your face ? Cab-
man—Please your Lordship, I'm so sorry for what I
have done that I've been having a cry in private, and
that makes me look poorly. There's my master, your
Lordship, and he'll answer for my being a sober
party.
Here the cab owner stepped into the witness-box,
with a very bad pair of cold weather eyes and a wet
mouth.

The LORD MAYOR—What have you to say about
your driver ? Witness —l've nothing particular to
say about him, only that he ain't my driver now.
The LORD MAYOR—Is he a sober man ? Witness
—Yes, he's sober enough. I never seed him drunk.
The LORD MAYOR—How long has he been with
you ? Witness—Three days.—(Laughter.)
The LORD MAYOR—Don't you get drunk yourself
now and then ? Witness—No, my Lord, not often to
my knowledge.
The LORD MAYOR—Then I suppose you discharged
this defendant for taking too much ? Witness—Oh
dear no, my Lord. I discharged him for bringing
home too little. I believe he's sober enough, but he
don't drive no more for me. That's all.

The defendant said he had been driving a couple
about for some time, and as they gave him a glass or
two too much, and as he never would drive when he
had too much, he supposed he left the cab in their
care while he went to sleep it off.
The LORD MAYOR—If you had been here before I
would now send you to prison without giving you
the alternative of paying a fine; but as you have not,
and as you are punished with the loss of your place, I
shall be satisfied with a penalty of ss. His Lordship
then gave a hint to the master to take care how he
followed the example of his man.
A young fellow, in a most ragged condition, was
brought up. He was recognized by the crowd in the
justice-room as a steady customer in the streets in the
cold weather, and has a peculiar way of attracting
commiseration.

A policeman saw the defendant crouching up in a
corner where he was sure to attract the attention of
passengers, and desired him to move away, but the
request was not attended to, for the station was a pro-
fitable one, and the silent beggar knew that if any-
body attempted to pull him by the clothes he would
in an instant become as raked as when he was born.
Relying upon this mode of effecting impunity, he ge-
nerally disregarded the appeals of the police. One of
the force, however, who had been some time practising
with unruly beggars, contrived to carry him and all
his rags before the Lord Mayor.
The LORD MAYOR—Defendant, how long have you
been at this sort of work ?

The policeman—He won't answer a word, my Lord.
I'll do him the justice to say, that i never heard him
ask anybody for the value of a farthing.
The LORD MAYOR—No, he trusts to the superior
eloquence of his dress.—(Laughter.) I dare say the
colder the weather is the more ragged he becomes.
The policeman—Exactly so, my Lord. It is in the
bitter frost be appears in full character. He has then
scarcely a tatter upon him.
The LORD MAYOR—WeII, I shall take him out of
the misery he delights in for some time, however. He
shall have six weeks' hard labour in Bridewell.

The defendant cast a look upon the Lord Mayor
which would no doubt have had a powerful effect
upon an ordinary observer of street distress ; but his
Lordship was impenetrable, and the silent mendicant
was committed to prison,