The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-01-03

first lecture in her course at Union Hail. last
evening, to a very fine audience composed of
many of the most cultivated people among our
citizens. Mrs. Woolson has delightful adj
dress, is clear in utterance, and inaugurated
her lecture series very brilliantly.
Mrs. Woolson said that there was constants
ly increasing study of Engl sh literature, and
tnat students were going beyond the history
OF England for the Influences that have helped
10 shape ner language and her literature. A
reference was made o the effect which the
Roman invasion had upon the future history
OF Britain, the sources from which Rome drew
ner civilization, her art and her literature:
they came to her from the conquered Greeks,
who IN turn took them from Persia when thew
wrssteo tne power from the ancient kingdom,
ana they had won from Assyria, when that
country with its magnificent capital of Nineveh
went down before the united armies of Baby
ionia and Medea. Caesar brought with him to
britain all the glory of the ancient empires,
which Rome had absorbed into herself In
her present course she should try to trace the
various influences of the nations, and would
oegin with Assyria tracing its history through
the terra-cotto records of its rssurrected city,
winch for centuries lay buried and forgotten
out "hich since their excavation have brought
us face TO face, with magnificent ancient civ
llization which had herished and was forgotten
long before Rome had reached the height of
her power, Persia would be considered next
aud after that the GrecMn and Roman infiu-
ences on our literature. From that time there
was a long interval, and the next subject
would be the three great men of the middle
ages, Mahomet, Charlemagne and Alfred
with their influence on letters: that would
bring them down to the Renaissance in Italy
then would come consideration of Spain. and
her wars and discoveries as afft citing the Eliza
bethan literature: French supremacy in Eng.
land would be the next point, after which the
marked event would be the German reaction
n.pon English literature; female authorship in
the eighteenth century would be the promi-
nent feature of lecture, while the Eng
lish novel and the epic poems would be nat
ural termination to the course.
Europe then, said the lecturer, in treating of
ner special topic OF the evening, has received
rom ASIA civilization and religion, yet today
while that Eastern country gave birth to
Christianity, its own nations are idolaters For
fifty years the interest of Europe and America
has centered in the discoveries of buried CIV
ilization, and we know the past as we never
have known it before, and it comes to us as a
something real, startling and awning us by its
vividness and wonderful power.
uneven is IN Western Asia, in the meadow
lands which lie between the Tigris and Eu-
pirates. This reg on has many names; it has
been known as the plain of Shinah aud it
was somewhere about this place that the Gar
den of Eden was situated. In our approach To
il we pass other long-foryo,ten cities PALMYRA
The horne of the proud Queen Z4nobia, who,
conquered and captive, graced The procession
of the Roman Aureian- Raalbec whose ruins
ere visited now by modern tourists, but which
was for long time holly desolate and desert
ed.
v 9 hear of Assyria in the Old Testament
only as it affected the Jewish nations The
knowledge we have had of the country has
been, III the past, mainly from two sources:
the mention w ihs Old Testament of such As
syrian kings as came to Palestine exacting tri-
butte, and the accounts OF old Greek historians,
which are now found TO be incorrect as they
do not, in any point, agree W til the translated
accounts on the tablets taken from the palace
of the kings of Nineveh One of The first
kings mentioned is Minus, and TO his wife Sem
lramls is ascribed great power as ruler and sue
cess as woman. The first king mentioned is
Pul, and after him Tikhlathr ilsea, and he,
ike most OF his successors, went up to Pales-
tine to exact tribute. Salamanca was his
successor, and he was followed by Surgeon, and
he was the beginner of that line Of Assyrian
kings who made the last hundred years SO
brilliant. He was followed by Sennacherib,
he by Esarhaddon, and he by the spl. ndid Sar-
danapalus, in whose reign the felory and bril-
llancy OF the nation was at its height. That
hundred years saw the downfall of the Jewish
nation. and their carrying away to the long
captivity, and some of their nation preceding
them few years in their captivity NAV have
walked through the streets of the magnificent
city, soon to tall from its proud height, and
their eyes have gazed upon the very slabs and
columns and figures of alabaster aud terra cot
ia which modern eyes see in the museum, and
from which the story of the past is rewritten
Yet it was cruel civilizations; the captives
worked in chains, and kings were made
chained burden bearers. Little did Sardana-
palus think, as he had the history of his reign
portrayed on tablets.on the walls Of his palace,
with what horror modern nations would regard
them, and what tale of brutality and cruelty
they would convey. But the ccDquerors were.
to be the conquered, land in 625 b. q. the united
armies of the Babylonians and Medes over
came the city, which was fired by its inhabi-
tants, and was buried beneath its own ashes.
We have much to thank the AssyrIologiss for,
as they have opened up for us new world of
art, and have shown the old civilization SPLEEN
did, cruel, brilliant and snowy
Persia will be the subject of next Tuesday
evenings lecture.