PREFAC E. IT is with considerable diffidence that I venture to submit the following narrative to the reader. The opinions of friends, and a desire on my part to communicate the little information that opportunities may have enabled me to acquire, with regard to a country and city so little known as Assyria and Nineveh, have alone induced me to undertake a work of this nature under the united disadvantages of incapacity, literary inexperience, ill-health, and a very short residence in England. When I add that I have at the same time been engaged in preparing for the press an illustrated work on the monuments of Nineveh, and in superintending the publication, for the Trustees of the British Museum, of the Cuneiform inscriptions brought by me from Assyria, occupations which have demanded considerable time and care, I may perhaps appeal with more confidence to the kind indulgence of my readers, and particularly of those who are far more competent than myself to enter into the enquiries I have ventured to add to my personal narrative. A general dissertation, such as that contained in the second volume, requires a very extensive acquaintance with those ancient and modern authors who have written or casually touched upon similar subjects. The necessity of a residence in the country, and the consequent absence of books, have prevented me from consulting many works which might have afforded valuable information, and have rendered difficult the verification of quotations obtained, in many instances, during hurried visits to London. With more time and opportunities at my command, this dissertation might have been rendered more entertaining and useful. I should not have added it to the narrative, had I not felt that there were many observations which could only have occurred to one engaged, like myself, in a very close examination of the ruins of Assyria, and which, right or wrong, should be recorded, if recorded at all, whilst still fresh in my memory. may perhaps venture to hope that, although these general remarks may be of little value, they will at least afford some assistance to others who may engage in similar enquiries. I Being anxious to avoid entering upon debateable |