The morning call., 1894-07-07
The LATE SIR Il ENRY LAYARD.

just half century has elapsed since
Austin Henry Layard. then young man
of 27, found the Frenchman Botta indus
triously engaged in digging into mound
near the site Of Nineveh, and pointing the
way to the most important archaeological
discovery of this OF any other age. Four
years afterward. Mr.. Layard published
the first part of his own work on Nineve
and its remains, and followed it up with
accounts of other discoveries at the same
spot The publications were a revelation
TO the historian, the ge0grapher aud the
Biblical scholar. For $500 years the ruins
of Niueveh and Babylon had lain buried
under the drifting sands Of the desert.
The sole inhabitants Of these sites were
the jackal. the antelope and the snake.
The very existence of cities which had
dominated the civilized world had become
a dim tradition, and even saVantS were not
quite certain where they had stood. All
at once, as if by miracle, young English
man lifted the veil from the sepulchre. and
it was found that the sand of the desert
had preserved the memorials Of the dead
with all their original clearness and sharp
ness Of outline. Layard became the hero
of the day.
He was the Columbus of MesOpotamian
archaeology. Others followed in the path
he had traced. After silent rest Of $500
years Babylon and Nineveh suddenly be-
came scenes of surprising activity, and
every museum in Europe filled up with
statues and sculptures, tablets, cylinders
and inscriptions from the buried cities.
The site and remains of the Tower of
Babel were identified. The palaces of
Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar were
thrown open. The daily life of these
ancient Assyrians became as we'll known
as the doingS of modern Asiatics. The
Interpretation of Chaldean writings be-
came regular branch of study. Year by
year new mounds were opened and found
to cover the ruins Of ancient palaces and
castles. Englishmen, Germans, French
men and Italians We'd with each other
in adding to the store Of discovery.
Order was introduced in to the business
by Sir Henry RawlinsOn, who reduced the
BabylOnian and Assyran inscriptions to
a connected history. IL was early in the
eighties that he determined the date of
Naramsin as $3.50 B. C.-the oldest date
fixed in the historical record up to that
date. NJ. Rassam followed with his dis
coveries of the ancient Assyrian Libraries,
showing how letters had t1Ourished on the
bank Of the Euphrates. 1t was be who
brought TO light the inscriptions of Nebu-
chadnezZar which are now familiar. His
collection was put in order by the British
Museum, and shows that long before
Greece had a literature the Chaldeans
possessed books of history, poetry, myth
ology, astrolOgy, astronomy, mathematics,
commerce and even schoOl-books In
order that this country should not be
wholly unrepresented in so noble a work
the Wolfe expedition was outfitted. mainly
at tho charges of Miss Catherine Wolfe, and
il spent the year 1885 in exploration, with
out however, adding much to the worlds
knowledge. It's attempts TO identify mod
ern names with places named in Genesis
have not commanded general reliance.
Since then the stock of inscriptions and
sculptures from dggings already opened
has been large enough to engross atten-
ton and new explorations have been neg
leeted. 1t is evident. however, that. as at
Pompeii, only small part of the buried
treasures of antiquity have been un-
earthed.
His fame secure, Mr.. Layaru abandoned
archaeology for politics and served as a
member of several successive Govern
ments in England. His favorite branch
was diplomacy. He represented England
in many courts, and at last. in 1877, be
achieved the goal of his ambition by win
ming the post which had been filled by his
sometime friend and sometime foe, Sir
Stratford Canning, the embassa orship
to ConstautiDople. The two men were
alike in sposi,ion-haughiy. unbending,
arbitrary. 1t was their demeanor which
gave rise to the adage that when the Brit
ish Embassador sneezed at Con stantinople
the whole Turkish empire shook. Layard
was Tory, brought up in the Canning
school. With Disraeli he got on we'll. but
Gladstone never fraternized with him. In
$780, when the latter took office, Layard
retired from nstantinople into private
life.
He thought himself that his diplomatic
career was his best claim to glory. But
long after his services as Embassador are
forgotten he will be remembered as the
man who resurrected Nineveh.
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