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which they had never any scriptural claim, and that during a long lapse of time, instead of being the defenders of the Church, and of genuine Christianity, they were its most grievous enemies and oppressors;-that, instead of being its great moral physicians, they were its plague-spot and its stain; must, we feel confident, be the only conclusion that can be arrived at, by all who have candidly considered the facts adduced, even by those writers who have said the most that could be alleged on behalf of the Papacy. We may advance one step further in the general argument against the Papal church by this conclusion, and we say, that if the features of the "Man of Sin," as described by St. Paul, sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God-or what is the same, assuming the functions of God, and thus really exalting himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, have not already been made sufficiently clear in the character and history of the Papacy, there appears to us no certain clue in following the scriptural types, or the scriptural prophecies; for it is difficult, in our opinion, to conceive a more distinct counterpart to the apostolic picture, than that presented to us; and this unintentionally, as we believe, by the historian of Latin Christianity, and the Romish authors in general, from whose palette he has drawn his colours. There may indeed, we admit, be another, and a still bolder development of that Antichrist, so awfully adumbrated by the matchless pen of St. Paul; but, whatever form this may assume, we know when and where some of the darker phases of it have already appeared in the working of Satan with all power of signs and lying wonders-with unrighteousness fearfully deceiving itself, and strong delusions to believe a lie. To whatever page of the annals of the ascendant Papacy we turn, indelible marks of the resemblance are there, and so strongly depicted too, that we must shut our eyes not to behold them. And, indeed, there is good reason to think, notwithstanding the present apparently declining strength of the resemblance, which perhaps staggers some minds, that this is but a mere temporary waning of the same features. The period may yet be hastening onwards, when the lines of the prescient portrait, drawn by the hand of Omniscience, shall be seen more distinctly, throwing out their dark shadows in the reanimated aspect of the Papal physiognomy. Infidelity, in some of its most subtle forms, is, we fear, ready to ally itself with that power, which, by naturally disposing the mind of man to believe more than the truth, at length prepares him to

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believe less than the truth, or nothing of the truth. And thus it may be, that the Antichrist of the last days will arise, not to supplant Popery, but to enter into, and to inspire it with a new and still more fatal energy-in short, to make it in all respects the more finished pattern-the final revelation of that "Wicked one, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming."

ART. V.-1. The One Primeval Language. Part III. The Monuments of Assyria, Babylonia, and Persia; with Illustrative Plates, and harmonized Table of Alphabets, Glossaries, and Translations. By the Rev. CHARLES FORSTER, B.D. London: Bentley. 1854.

2. A Commentary on the Cuneiform Inscriptions of Babylonia and Assyria; including the reading of the Inscription on the Nimroud Obelisk: Read before the Royal Asiatic Society. By Major (Colonel) H. C. RAWLINSON. London: Parker. 1850.

THE genius of controversy never sleeps. The restless activity of the mind fastens upon every fresh discovery as affording food for new and animated discussion. When geology, for instance, was ushered into the world, the bantling was frowned upon by those who feared its future attack upon orthodox theology. But while this rival antagonist was growing with a giant's strength, the theologian consented to reconsider his interpretations of scripture, and has succeeded at last in reconciling the language of Moses with the history which the earth carries graven beneath her surface. every science grows by what it feeds on, its votaries discover many points of divergence which divide their opinions and mar their unanimity. The speculative geologist, for instance, is either a catastrophist or a uniformitarian; the speculative astronomer must take his side either for or against a plurality of worlds. Almost every literary and scientific question has two sides, and each side calls forth champions bataillous and bold." This truth is constantly illustrated by the disputes which arise between the cultivators of antiquarian lore. Let but a rusty dagger or a battered shield be turned up by some fortunate F.S. A. in one of the nooks and corners of Britain, and we are instantly called upon to decide whether it be Roman or British, Saxon or Celt. The con

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test at length waxes fierce, and oceans of wrath are poured forth by every combatant against the abettors of the opposite faction. And if archæology at home is thus pugnacious, what must we expect of archæology abroad! When the buried palaces of Assyria are for the first time submitted to our criticism, after resting quietly in their tombs for nearly twenty centuries, the curiosity which they necessarily excite must be intense. The genius of controversy must be expected to stir up inextinguishable strife between Greek and Trojan. It has been reserved for our times to behold this wonderful event. Dim traditions of the grandeur of Nineveh and Assyria had come down to us through the Hebrew records and the conflicting narrations of profane historians, but it was reserved for our age to collect from these monuments of marble and alabaster the traces of Assyrian life; to deduce from what is expressed, clear information about what is implied; to digest and arrange the information acquired, so as to form an intelligible portraiture of one of the most powerful empires that ever swayed the sceptre of the world.

Every reader of our Review will be familiar with the leading facts respecting the Nineveh discoveries. The researches of MM. Botta and Layard have already acquired a worldwide renown. Khorsabad, Kouyunjik, and Nimroud, have become as household words to every visitor of the Louvre or the British Museum. Layard's "Nineveh and its Remains," his "Monuments of Nineveh," and his "Nineveh and Babylon," contain the fullest information respecting the sculptures, bas-reliefs, and objects of ornament and utility, discovered amidst these cities of ancient renown. But we pass by for the present these interesting remains of primæval art, and devote our attention to the inscriptions by which they are accompanied. We have here a very wide and important field of research, and shall find material enough to occupy our attention. The colossal statues of winged bulls and human-headed lions are ornamented by many thousand lines of arrow-headed writing; and it is confidently asserted that the key to these literary treasures has been found, and their meaning satisfactorily explained. Two systems of explanation have been presented to the world, for which the authors, whose names are placed at the head of this article, are responsible. Mr. Forster has been long known as a writer well versed in the language and literature of Arabia: his work on "The One Primeval Language" consists of three parts: the first part treats of the Sinaitic inscriptions: thesecond, those of Egypt: the third, being the volume before us, is entirely

devoted to the interpretation of the Assyrian records by means of the old Arabic or Hamyaritic. His results differ very widely from those obtained by Colonel Rawlinson, the author of "The Commentary on the Cuneiform Inscriptions." The results of the two systems of interpretation are wide as the poles asunder, and there is room enough here for as hot and as fierce a fray as ever raged since the days of Bentley and of Boyle.

The dispute is not merely one of literary gladiatorship. It concerns the illustration of Holy Scripture. It is asserted, that the names of the kings of Judah, Israel, and Assyria, as we find them in Holy Writ, occur on these monuments. The names also of well-known places in Palestine, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia, are asserted to be determined. This makes the inquiry one of the deepest import: it gives it a significance which surpasses every preceding discovery since that of the Rosetta Stone. This must be an apology for making but cursory allusion to the perseverance and skill of MM. Botta and Layard, and to the generous encouragement and pecuniary aid received from Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. We must leave the artist to admire the sharp and delicate traces of the chisel, which has detailed with such clearness and precision the manners and customs, the occupations and amusements, the arts and arms of a mighty nation, which was in its grave before the father of profane history was in his cradle.

These discoveries, then, are divisible into two parts: first, the successive finding of the things themselves: secondly, the determination of their significance. We shall touch but very slightly on the former point: we shall endeavour to throw the fullest possible light upon the latter.

The attention of the present generation was first attracted towards Mosul and Nimroud by Mr. Rich, in 1820. The antiquities which he collected and brought home were but few, and a case, scarcely three feet square, in the British Museum, contained all the antiquities in Europe from Nineveh and Babylon. In 1842, Mr. Layard made a few excavations at Mosul, but was stopped in his course by the order of the Pasha. The French Consul, in 1843, found the first Assyrian monument at Kouyunjik. He afterwards proceeded to Khorsabad, a village on the river Kharsser, 14 miles northeast of Mosul. He found the walls of many ancient palaces covered with arrow-headed inscriptions, which he copied with the greatest care. His first letter to M. Mohl, dated April 5th, 1843, created the greatest sensation among the literati of Paris. He continued to write letter after letter,

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communicating fresh discoveries, and sending copies of many hundred lines of inscriptions. His letters to M. Mohl have been published and translated, and form an octavo volume, with forty-nine plates. The French Government also published a noble work, containing engravings of all the monuments which have reached France, and of many others which were too much injured to be removed.

In 1845, Sir Stratford Canning having offered to incur the expense of excavation for a limited period, Mr. Layard entered upon his labours at Nimroud, and was soon rewarded by important discoveries. Colossal human-headed lions and bulls were discovered, forming the walls and porticoes of splendid palaces, and adorned with abundant specimens of the cuneiform character. Some of these singularly magnificent bas-reliefs reached England, and were presented by our ambassador at Constantinople to the nation whom he had served so long and so faithfully. Mr. Layard returned to England, and, by the assistance of the East India Company, published the narrative of his researches, as well as one hundred folio plates of the monuments of the cities of Assyria.

In 1849 he returned to the scene of his former labours; and, besides other objects of great interest, he discovered at Nimroud an obelisk of black basalt, which is now in the British Museum. It is six feet six inches in length, sculptured on the four sides with representations of kings, camels, captives, merchandise, and various treasures, the production of eastern climes. There are twenty bas-reliefs, and above, and below, and between them, there are inscriptions two hundred and ten lines long. The greatest possible interest attaches to this obelisk.

In 1850, Colonel (then Major) Rawlinson published the pamphlet at the head of this article, which explains his method of reading its "letter-press." He treats it as the record of the exploits of a king, Zemenbar II., son of Sardanapalus, from the first to the thirty-first year of his reign. These annals abound in dates,in military expeditions, and comprise the names of kings, deities, rivers, countries, cities and towns. The age of this obelisk is stated to be the twelfth century B.C. This king is also said to be the founder of the central palace at Nimroud, his name being read on the large human-headed bull from the same palace, and on the only sitting statue yet discovered at Kalah-Sherghat, a place about forty miles south of Nimroud. This son of Asur-adan-pal calls himself a servant of Bar, and relates the history of Assyria as far back as his ancestor, Hevenk, through a line of six continuous kings.