Nineveh, the great city 'of
three days' journey,' that was 'laid waste, and there was none to bemoan
her,' whose greatness sank when that of Rome had just begun to rise, now
stands forth again to testify to her own splendor, and to the
civilization, and power, and magnificence of the Assyrian Empire. This
may be said, thus far, to be the crowning historical discovery of the
nineteenth century. But the century as yet, is only half elapsed.

"Nineveh was destroyed in the year 606 before Christ; less than 150
years after Rome was founded. Her latest monuments, therefore, date back
not less than five-and-twenty centuries; while the foundation of her
earliest is lost in an unknown antiquity. When the ten thousand Greeks
marched over this plain in their celebrated retreat, (404 B.C.) they
found in one part, a ruined city called Larissa; and in connection with
it, Xenophon, their leader and historian, describes what is now the
pyramid of Nimroud. But he heard not the name of Nineveh; it was already
forgotten in its site; though it appears again in the later Greek and
Roman writers. Even at that time, the widely extended walls and ramparts
of Nineveh had perished, and mounds, covering magnificent palaces, alone
remained at the extremities of the ancient city, or in its vicinity,
much as at the present day.

"Of the site of Nineveh, there is scarcely a further mention, beyond the
brief notices by Benjamin of Tudela and Abulfeda, until Niebuhr saw it
and described its mounds nearly a century ago. In 1820, Mr. Rich visited
the spot; he obtained a few square sun-dried bricks with inscriptions,
and some other slight remains; and we can all remember the profound
impression made upon the public mind, even by these cursory memorials of
Nineveh and Babylon."

DESCRIPTION OF A PALACE EXHUMED AT NIMROUD.

"During the winter, Mr. Longworth, and two other English travelers,
visited me at Nimroud. As they were the only Europeans, (except Mr.
Ross) who saw the palace when uncovered, it may be interesting to the
reader to learn the impression which the ruins were calculated to make
upon those who beheld them for the first time, and to whom the scene was
consequently new. Mr. Longworth, in a letter, thus graphically describes
his visit:--

"'I took the opportunity, whilst at Mosul, of visiting the
excavations of Nimroud. But before I attempt to give a short
account of them, I may as well say a few words as to the general