ved animal forms have a certain amount of merit. The figure
of a dog sitting, which is common on the "black stones," is drawn with
spirit; [PLATE XVIII., Fig. 1.] and a bird, sometimes regarded as a
cock, but more resembling a bustard, is touched with a delicate hand,
and may be pronounced superior to any Assyrian representation of the
feathered tribe. [PLATE XVIII., Fig. 3.] The hound on a bas-relief,
given in the first volume of this work, is also good; and the cylinders
exhibit figures of goats, cows, deer, and even monkeys, which are
truthful and meritorious. [PLATE XIX., Fig. 1.]

[Illustration: PLATE XIX.]

It has been observed that the main characteristic of the engravings
on gems and cylinders, considered as works of mimetic art, is their
quaintness and grotesqueness. A few specimens, taken almost at random
from the admirable collection of M. Felix Lajard, will sufficiently
illustrate this feature. In one the central position is occupied by
a human figure whose left arm has two elbow-joints, while towards the
right two sitting figures threaten one another with their fists, in the
upper quarter, and in the lower two nondescript animals do the same with
their jaws. [PLATE XVIII., Fig. 4.] The entire drawing of this design
seems to be intentionally rude. The faces of the main figures are
evidently intended to be ridiculous; and the heads of the two animals
are extravagantly grotesque. On another cylinder three nondescript
animals play the principal part. One of them is on the point of taking
into his mouth the head of a man who vainly tries to escape by flight.
Another, with the head of a pike, tries to devour the third, which has
the head of a bird and the body of a goat. This kind intention seems to
be disputed by a naked man with a long beard, who seizes the fish-headed
monster with his right hand, and at the same time administers from
behind a severe kick with his right foot. The heads of the three main
monsters, the tail and trousers of the principal one, and the whole of
the small figure in front of the flying man, are exceedingly quaint, and
remind one of the pencil of Fuseli. [PLATE XIX., Fig. 3.] The third of
the designs approaches nearly to the modern caricature. It is a drawing
in two portions. The upper line of figures represents a procession of
worshippers who bear in solemn state their offerings to a god. In the
lower line this occupation is turned to a jest. Nondescript animals
bring with a seri