The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1874-01-17

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he oarrieth forked tongue in his head i,
which, whom he openeth his mouth, BE-
trayeth him.
When thou seekest q favor, send not
the companion Of thieves on thine
errand-lest, per adventure, tho good
man Of the house close his door against
him, and thereby thou lose thy suit
SELAH.
432, 900 YEARS BEFonE TIE DELUGE.
Mr.. George Smith, notwithstanding his
name. deserves to be called the most
distinguished historian whr ever lived
Who was Herodotne, compared with
the man who can go back in time some
1872, 600 years and tx in The most exact
manner possible the schedule of dynas-
tic chronology as the kings came to and
fell from the throne of Assyria? We
fear very much that Herodotus and his
contemporaries will have to take sback
seats" after this neat historical triumph
OF Mr. Smith; for it shows the value OF
critical antiquarian knowledge as COM
pared with the clumsy manner in which
the historians of the Christian era have
been wont to cloud and mystify even
suoh modern epochs as those marked
by the deeds OF King Arthur and the
knights of the Round Table, the Iron
Mask, or the question of "uave we
Bourbon among us?" Berosus, it seems,
with due regard for the arohp ological
cravings of the nineteenth century,
compiled from tho tablets sculptured
nearly half II million years ago an exact
and suooinct account of the reiens of
our Assyrian forofathers. There we're
ten of these dynasties, and so little did
the modern element of strife between
families representing such principles as
"Divine Right" s.Bonapartism, or
1.-The Republic" enter into the polity
of the period, that each dynasty held
the rains Of power during 43, 900 years
that is, the ten dynastiss. according to
our Mr.. Smith, did not become defnnot
until they had occupied 432, 900 years
in the pages of history. The FIRST king
In the list-and the earliest on earth, 80
far as we know-was called Alorus: Ger.
tainIy very respectable and pronounce.
able name. The head OF the fifth
dynasty. though not so closely allied to
euphon,y, re]oioes in the appellation Of
Amegalarous, according to Berosus; but
Mr.. Smith prefers to believe that
slight error has been made in orthogra-
ply after the lapse of such brief pc
riod, and he assumes that his Mujesty
was none othE than Amid-urgal,
(meaning man of Urgal.) After dispos-
ing OF -elghty.six reigns under the
second dynasty, covering period of
34, OoO years, the months and days are
not given,) Mr.. Smith goes into the
etymology of the names themselves,
and afterwards introduces us to Kudur.
n a n In md ft,p -
BAbylonia in the twenty. third century
B. q. But this is coming too near the
year 1873 A. d. to be pleasant reading,
and hence we will not weary the reader
with any further summary Of cunciform
history according to Mr.. Smith. But
the facts we have taken tho liberty of
recording are taken from an elaborate
paper read before the British Biblical
Archaeological Society by Mr.. Smith,
Sir Henry Rawlinson in the chair. They
exhibit the character of Mr.. Smiths
labors in Assyrin in the service of the
London Daily Telegraph; and if we are
not prepared to believe all that Mr..
Smith dcduccs from the tablets, We nro
ut least bound to commend the enter
prise and generosity of our contempt.
rary in sending the leading arcEwolo-
gist of Britain to the East. l.. Smith
ls about to proceed to Asia Minor again
IN the aervice of tho British Museum.
| We cannot doubt that he will return
ugain with information that will render
his accounts of Alorus and his descend.
ants, and his dispatches on the Daluge,
as insignificant as reporters record of
yesterdays events.
Speaking of marriage, how inevitably
| widows and widowers marry! Is it
owing to the inurcmonts OF habit, or is
matrimony good per Sc? Possibly
something Of both. a decent mourning
over, and tho widow ''sets her cap" for
new husband-tho widower dies his
whiskere, dons flowing whig, and
sprnces up generally. There is great
deal OF human nature in widows and
widowers, by-the.way. Neither arc