The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-10-30 00:00:00

A RUINED CITY OF ANCIENT (I) AMERICA

an, yet buried, too, 'mid trees,
Upspringing, there for sumless centuries,
Behold a royal city ! vast and lone,
Lost to each race—to all the world unknown ;
Like famed Pompeii, 'neath her lava bed,
Till chance unveiled the City of the Dead.'
Palenque !—dark seat of kings!—as, o'er the plain,
Clothed with thick copse, the traveller toils with pain
Climbs the rude mound the shadowy scene to trace,
He views in mute surnr,-
At every stp,-

Unlike Co

thy desert grace,

ome temple courts the sky

Some figure frowns,
It seems as if that hour the verdurous earth,
By genii struck, had giv'n these fabrics birth,
Save that old Time had flung his darkening pall
On each tree-shaded tower and pictured wall.
" The royal palace decks its stately mound,
Girt by wild shrubs, by waving thistles crowned ;
But strength still breathes throughout the lordly pile,
And lingering beauty sheds a mournful smile.
We walk the rooms where kings and princes met,
Frown on the walls their sculptured portraits yet :
Strange their costume—ye see no native face,
Lip, brow, and hue bespeak an Ethiop race.
The square stone portals, smooth and glittering floors,
The spacious courts, and sounding corridors,
The picture-writing earliest races learn,
The g►ant figures, mournful, calm, and stern,—
All point to climes beyond the Eastern sea,
Egypt's old shores, or, far Cathay ! to thee :
How the bold ancients crossed the watery way,
By star or needle, 'tis not ours to say ;
•Enough we meet their gorgeous buildings here.
- Their-picture-art; and creeds of gluom and fear."
The author's note on the concluding line of the firs
stanza is very interesting, and will afford to many reader:
a novel subject of historical and antiquarian inquiry :

" The ruins discovered in 1750 in the forests of the Mexican
state of Chiapa, and since called the ruined city of Palenquc
from the neighbouring village, are perhaps the most important

and spiendio or aii
in Central America. Many vague and incorrect accounts o
Palenone had reached Europe prior to this century.
travellers asserted that it was sixty miles in circumference, or
twice the magnitude of London. Captain Del Rio surveyed the
ruins in 1787, and Dupaix, in 1835, published a work respecting
them. They extend, there can be no doubt, over a tract many
miles in length; but owing to the trees and underwood not a
tenth part of the monuments, it is supposed, has yet been dis-
covered. These monuments consist chiefly of pyramids, the
remains of temples, baths, and stone buildings, the palaces of
the old Caciques. The houses, as regards their flat roofs and
low massy walls, are built in the Egyptian style ; but in the
arrangement and number of the apartments and courts they
rather resemble, strange to say, Greek and Roman dwellings.
One peculiarity attaches to nearly all the ruined stone palaces
yet discovered in Central America; they are constructed on ar-
tificial platforms, that vary in height from twenty to fifty feet;
the fronts are stuccoed and richly ornamented, and the floors
are of a hard cement. Apertures in the walls, of the form of
the well-known Egyptian Tau, have been found in the palace at
Palenque, giving rise to many speculations amongst the
learned. Though square pillars may be occasionally met with
here, the cylindrical have never been discovered. Sculptured
figures in relief occur everywhere; some of them are rudely
done, but others are executed with considerable taste. The
features of the persons pourtrayed are usually in profile; the
forehead recedes (the head being compressed and lengthened),
the nose is remarkably large and prominent, and the whole
physiognomy bears no resemblance to that of any race or peo-
ple at present occupying the country. Of the so-called Pa-
lenque, no history, no tradition, not even a name exists; and
in the time of Cortes, three centuries ago, the city was as deso-
late as it appears at the present hour."

We close this interesting work, which we can heartily
nd, with the following affecting description of

recomm

!ODERN JERUSALEM

" Time soothes the sharpest pang, and pitying throws
O'er harsh despair the softness of repose;
There reigns a quiet in this land of grief,
As if to Salem ages brought relief:
But ah ! still strong her injured children's woe,
Though noiseless all, deep. deep the currents flow.
Where are her hallowed ruins T—few remain,
'-‘n for her ancient walls ye search in vain,
-;lding,s crushed, o'erturned by barbarous hands,
..nged alone the hills on which she stands.
ee ! yon proud mosque, its courts and crescents shine,
Where stood great Solomon's far-blazing shrine!
The Turk on Zion, too, bath reared his pile,
Master and judge, who deems all others vile,
Scowls his disdain on Christian and on Jew,
And scoffs their zeal to mark, their tears to view,
Calls on his prophet, chants his Koran-prayer,
The creed of Mecca all triumphant here.

" Yet 'midst these scenes, a dark perplexing maze,
Some relics moulder -wrecks of other days.
Cross Hinnom's vale, good Hebrews view with shame,
Where once to Moloch burned the idol-flame ;
Wend o'er the waste where now no flowret springs,
But bloomed of yore the Garden of the Kings;'
Ye reach an opening pierced in Ophel's side,
While high beyond the huge mosque lifts its pride,—
'Tis cool Siloam's foßnt ; when palms grew round,
Here Jewish minstrels woke their harps' sweet sound,
And Hebrew sages, on these-rocks reclined,
Taught listening crowds, and scattered pearls of mind
This rugged path the bless'd Apostles trod,
Beneath yon arch once stood their king—their God;
And here the wretch whose eyes were sealed in night,
At Mercy's word, received the gift of sight.
Now, on these s'eps worn smooth by countless feet,
Young Arab maids at eve are wont to meet,
Their fair heads bearing pitchers, and their hands
Wreathing the wells dark sides with flowery bands
Thou blessed fount ! whose crystal waters still
Bubble unchanged beneath that holy hill,
Fire, War, and Ruin, wasting on each side,
Have left untouched thy pure and sparkling tide
A living coolness in that cell below,
Health in thy dew, and music in thy flow,

mire angels, while deserting Salem's towel s,
And Zion's Mount, and David's perished bowers,
Might hither come, and sorrowing vigil keep,
Glide through the shade, above those waters weep,
And fold their wings, resolving ne'er to flee,
The lingering guardians, hallowed fount ! of thee.
4, But bath the Hebrew, 'neath Oppression's reign
Resigned all feelings save the thirst of gain ?
No ;et those stones, down which green ivies fall—
The sole poor remnant left of Salem's wall—
Those stones attest how warmly Hebrews feel
For that loved home, whose woes they cannot heal.
'The Wailing-place'- -when Sabbath eve descends.
And to their slavish toils a respite lends,
Mark yon sad groups, who fix their mournful eyes
On those rude stones their hearts so dearly prize ;
Here, kneeling on the flints, to heaven they pray
To Mess their brethren, scattered far away;
'They ask Air strength their weight of ills to bear,
v,r;mhter hours, and wrestle_with despair :

rtope Ong!'lCJ 1.v...., ....." -,
Then through the chinks they sigh,.and pale lips keep
Pressed to the wall, and spread their hands and weep.
From broken hearts that wailing seems to rise,
And ask for help and pity of the skies:
No sound more plaintive ever heavenward stole,
Or woke the listener's tear, and touched his soul.

Raphael's Prophetic Almanac l5O. ondon : Wil-
liam Charlton Wright, Paternoster-row.
Tuts almanac, which has now been in existence and main-
tained its popularity for thirty years, has just been pub-
lished ; and in addition to the usual matter contained in
such works, treats us with a look into futurity, and con-
veys to those not disposed to place confidence in astrology
itself a large amount of astronomical information. We
observe that our own town of Liverpool has become not
too unimportant to be brought expressly within the reach
9f the " planetary influences." In February, Raphael
informs us that " commerce will have a check in Liver-
pool. Inflammatory meetings are held, and violent lan-
guage will prevail." In April he gives us more cheering
news—" Commerce flourishes in Lyons, Paris, and Ton.

louse; Liverpool derives benefit from the transit of Jupi-
ter." In August, we are told that " the magistrates, or
Town Council of Liverpool, fall into disrepute, or perform
some rash act; and in these events a female appears to
figure." The hieroglyphic for the year portents its prov-
ing an eventful one.