ed through Lord Aberdeen to the Royal Geographical Society. It
was during these various journeys that he prepared himself for the great
task to which his best and ripest powers were to be devoted. In his
wanderings through Asia Minor and Syria he had scarcely left a spot
untrodden which tradition hallowed, or a ruin unexamined which was
consecrated by history. His companion shared his feelings and his zeal.
Unmindful of danger, they rode along with no other protection than their
arms. They tended their own horses, and, mixing with the people, they
acquired their manners and their language. He himself says: "I had
traversed Asia Minor and Syria, visiting the ancient seats of
civilization, and the spots which religion had made holy. I now felt an
irresistible desire to penetrate to the regions beyond the Euphrates, to
which history and tradition point as the birthplace of the Wisdom of the
West."

With these feelings, he looked to the banks of the Tigris, and longed to
dispel the mysterious darkness which hung over Assyria and Babylonia.
He, accordingly, made preliminary visits to Mosul, inspected the ruins
of Nimroud and Kuyunjik, and, fortunately, obtained an interview with
Sir Stratford Canning at Constantinople, then on his way to England.
This distinguished man, who was formerly minister to the United States,
and is remembered with well-deserved gratitude by nearly every recent
traveller in the East, immediately discovered and appreciated the
character and talents of Mr. Layard. His knowledge of the East, and of
its manners and languages, recommended him in a peculiar manner to the
notice of the ambassador, who persuaded him to remain, and employed him
on many important public services. Sir Stratford Canning himself took a
deep interest in the researches which had been made by the French, and
he promptly aided his young countryman in carrying out the designs of
which we now have the histories in his books. In the summer of 1845 Mr.
Layard, Count Perpontier of the Prussian Embassy, and Mr. Kellogg,
quitted Constantinople together, and visited Brusa (where Layard was
some time dangerously ill from a _coup de soleil_), Mount Olympus, the
country of the Ourouks or Wandering Tartars, the valley of the
Rhyndacus, the Plain of Toushanloo, Kiutayah, the ruins of Azani, &c.
Shortly after he proceeded to Nimroud, and in December, 1847, he
returned to England with the fruits of his labors. He wrote to Mr.
Kellogg, who was now i