h they illustrate, and which are also now deposited
in the national collection, the most valuable cotemporary historical
record possessed by any museum in the world. They may be said to be
the actual manuscript, caused to be written or carved by the principal
actor in the events which it relates. Who would have believed it
probable or possible, before these discoveries were made, that beneath
the heap of earth and rubbish which marked the site of Nineveh, there
would be found the history of the wars between Hezekiah and
Sennacherib, written at the very time when they took place by
Sennacherib himself and confirming even in minute details the Biblical
record? He who would have ventured to predict such a discovery would
have been treated as a dreamer or an impostor. Had it been known that
such a monument really existed, what sum would have been considered
too great for the precious record?

A few remarks are necessary on the architecture and architectural
decorations, external and internal of the Assyrian palaces. The
inscriptions on their walls, especially on those of Kouyunjik and
Khorsabad, appear to contain important and even minute details not
only as to their general plan and mode of construction, but even as to
the materials employed for their different parts, and for the objects
of sculpture and ornaments placed in them. (Capt. Jones calculated
that the mound of Kouyunjik contains 14,500,000 tons of earth, and
that its construction would have taken 10,000 men for twelve years.)
This fact furnishes another remarkable analogy between the records of
the Jewish and Assyrian kings. To the history of their monarchs and of
their nation, the Hebrew chroniclers have added a full account of the
building and ornaments of the temple and palaces of Solomon. In both
cases, from the use of technical words, we can scarcely hope to
understand, with any degree of certainty, all the details. It is
impossible to comprehend, by the help of the description alone, the
plan or appearance of the temple of Solomon. This arises not only from
our being unacquainted with the exact meaning of various Hebrew
architectural terms, but also from the difficulty experienced even in
ordinary cases, of restoring from mere description an edifice of any
kind. In the Assyrian inscriptions we labor, of course, under still
greater disadvantages. The language in which they were written is as
yet but very imperfectly known, and although we may be able to exp