Records Of The Past.

on the sea-coast , like a bird he fleAv . " He , no doubt , was one of those " birds " AAdiich considered itself safer in the bushes of Babylon than the cages of of Nineveh . The style of this history is " high falutin , " to use a

Transatlantic phrase , and the failures of policy are not recorded , but prudently omitted from the description of the tide of fortune and universal success Avhich engaged the pen of the Eoyal Historiographer . The EeA . A . H . Sayce , one of the translators , has given in the

same volume the oldest will in the Avorld—the private testament of Sennacherib , AVIIO , in lines eiwiably short ancl precise , bequeaths all his personal property to Esarhaddon , his son , Avho reigned in his stead . The annals of

Assurbanipal , translated by Mr . G . Smith , are not less interesting for their account of the Conquest of Egypt and the light they throw on a hitherto dark passage of Egyptian history . Conquered by the Assyrians ancl Avrested

from the Ethiopians , who advanced up the Valley of the Nile and subdued the Aveak , priestly soA ereigns and their successors of the 23 rd dynasty , the Assyrians divided the Kingdom of the Nile into 20 petty principalities , on

the principle of divide and rule , so that a jealous rivalry should compel their Egyptian vassals to place their dependence on the support of the Court of NineA eh and its garrisons stationed in Egypt . Too weak to expel the

enemy , a powerful party in Egypt intrigued Avith the Ethiopian Kings , and facilitated the conquest of Egypt by Sabaco . Shabattik , and their successor Tirhakah , This last Ethiopin ejected the 20 princes , and Assurbanipal marched on

Egypt , defeated Tirhakah near Memphis , regained the country , and restored the old princes , including Necho , the father of Psainmetichus , the King of Memphis and Sais . Assurbanipal , indeed , Avas more Avarlike than his grandfather , Sennacherib , and the annals of

Cylinder A SIIOAV him constantl y in the field contending with the Kings of Elam and Tyre , Avho onlypiwisionall y

submitted to the Assyrian SAvay , and Avere ready to avail themselves of fortunate conjunctures to combine against him Avith other revolters , or positively abjure dependence on Assyria . Besides his foreign difficulties and

internal revolts , Assurbanipal had to contend Avith domestic troubles . The revolt of his younger brother , Saulmugina , convulsed the Empire ; he allied himself Avith the open enemies of Assyria and discontented dependents

of Assurbanipal . Eich in the annals of Assyria , the collections are poor in those of Babylon , ancl their discovery is a problem for the future . It is only those Avho have pursued a special path of study

who can appreciate the difficulty of stringing the " Orient pearls " of Assyrian students flung at random into the transactions of learned societies , pages of magazines , and sheets of the daily journals . To the general inquirer the

uncouth names Avhich appear regulated by no one rule of transcription , and the appearance of quaint characters , more like gridirons than letters , is not more inviting than the chase after the real

Nimrod or the exact Sardanapalus . The series Avhich has just been started will obviate this unnecessary labour . It offers the results of 30 years of research , and presents to the eye , in an unadorned and useful form , translations

otherwise found Avith difficulty , if not almost inaccessible . The effects of these Assyrian discoveries have not yet been generally realised , for while not a scratch remains of the age even of Solomonand the peculiar habit of the

, JBAVS of burying and so destroying their ancient rolls has scarcely left a scrap of leather of the HebreAV version of the Scriptures older than the Norman conquest of England , the clay books of Assyria go up to 20 centuries

before Christ , ancl are contemporary records of the period they describe . Nineteen centuries after Christ are brought face to face with 19 centuries before , and the middlemen of history are sent to the rear . The history of