the richly carved cornice or capital half-hidden by the luxuriant herbage; are replaced by the stern shapeless mound rising from the scorched plain, the fragments of pottery, and the stupendous mass of brickwork occasionally laid bare by the winter rains. He has left the land where nature is still lovely -where, in his mind's eye, he can rebuild the temple or the theatre, half doubting whether they would have made a more grateful impression upon the senses than the ruin before him. He is now at a loss to give any form to the rude heaps upon which he is gazing. Those, of whose works they are the remains, unlike the Roman and the Greek, have left no visible traces of their civilisation or of their arts: their influence has long since passed away. The more he conjectures, the more vague the results appear. The scene around is worthy of the ruin he is contemplating; desolation meets desolation; a feeling of awe succeeds to wonder; for there is nothing to relieve the mind, or to tell of what has gone by. These huge mounds of Assyria made a deeper impression upon me, gave rise to more serious thoughts and more earnest reflection, than the temples of Balbec and the theatres of Iona. In the middle of April I left Mosul for Baghdad. As I descended the Tigris on a raft, I again saw the ruins of Nimroud, and had a better opportunity of examining them. It was evening as we approached the spot. The spring rains had clothed the mound with the richest verdure, and the fertile meadows, which stretched around it, were covered with flowers of every hue. Amidst this luxuriant vegetation were partly concealed a few fragments of bricks, pottery, and alabaster, upon which might be traced the well-defined wedges of the cuneiform character. Did not these remains mark the nature of the ruin, it might have been confounded with a natural eminence. A long line of consecutive narrow mounds, still retaining the appearance of walls or ramparts, stretched from its base, and formed a vast quadrangle. The river flowed at some distance from them: its waters, swollen by the melting of the snows on the Armenian hills, were broken into a thousand foaming whirlpools by an artificial barrier, built across the stream. On the eastern bank the soil had been washed away by the current; but a solid mass of masonry still withstood its impetuosity. The Arab who guided my small raft gave himself up to religious ejaculations as we approached this formidable cataract, over which we were carried with some violence. Once safely through the danger, he explained to me that the unusual change in the quiet face of the river was caused by a great dam which had been built by Nimrod, and that in the autumn, before the winter rains, the huge stones with which it was constructed, squared, and united by cramps of iron, were frequently visible above the surface of the stream. It was, in fact, one of those monuments of a great people, to be found in all the rivers in Mesopotamia, which were undertaken to ensure a constant supply of water to the innumerable canals, spreading like network over the surrounding country, and which, even in the days of Alexander, were looked upon as the works of an ancient nation. No wonder that the traditions of the present inhabitants of the land should assign them to one of the founders of the human race! The Arab explained the connection between the dam and the city, built by Athur, the lieutenant of Nimrod, the vast ruins of which were then before us, and of its purpose as a causeway for the mighty hunter to cross to the opposite palace, now represented by the mound of Hammum Ali. He was telling me of the histories and fate of the kings of a primitive race, still the favourite theme of the inhabitants of the plain of Shinar, when the last glow of twilight faded away, and I fell asleep as we glided onward to Baghdad. MENSURATION. From the diameter of a circle to find the circumference:(1) What is the circumference of a circle whose diameter is 15 ft.? The diameter of a circle is 20 ft.; what is its circumference? The diameter of the earth is 7958 miles; what is its circumference? (4) The circumference of a circular grass-plat is 100 ft.; what is its diameter? (5) What will be the weight of iron in the felloe of a wheel 4 ft. in diameter, the iron of which the felloe is made weighing 6 lbs. per foot run? (6) The circumference of a circle is 760 ft.; find its diameter. THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE. (From the Comprehensive History of England,' by C. Macfarlane and Rev. T. Thomson.) pro-ro-ga'-tion, continuance; the continuance of Parliament from one Session to another tem'-po-ra-ry, lasting only for a time ap-prise, to inform, to give notice re-con-noi'-tre (Fr.), to survey, to ex- en ri-co-chet' (Fr.), slantingly [In consequence of the despotic conduct of James II., and his attempts to establish Popery, the leading men opened correspondence with William, Prince of Orange, husband of the Princess Mary, the daughter of James. William landed at Torbay, December 10th, 1688. James left England for France, December 23rd. The Houses of Parliament declared that, by this act, he had abdicated, and they elected William and Mary to the vacant throne, February 12th, 1689. Ireland still owned the authority of James, who, having interested Louis XIV. of France in his favour, collected an army and landed in that country. The result of the battle of the Boyne was the final blow to his hopes of re-establishing his power.] TWELVE days after the prorogation, William left London for Ireland; and on the 14th of June he landed at Belfast with a force not very considerable in point of numbers, but perfect in discipline, appointment, spirit, and devotion to his cause. It included English, Scots, Dutch, Danes, and French; and, when it was joined to Schomberg's forces and the Protestant volunteers that flocked in from various parts of Ireland, it made up an army of 30,000 men. In the ten months that Schomberg had held the chief command, little had been done towards the reduction of that unhappy island. On his first landing he took Belfast, Carrickfergus, Newry, and Dundalk; but at the latter place he was brought to a stand by De Rosen, and about the middle of September, King James came up in person with the remainder of his army, and obliged the old marshal to intrench himself at and round about Dundalk. The Jacobites endeavoured to force him to a battle, but they failed in their attempts. On the 27th of September, Schomberg wrote to William, that the best thing he could do was to lie there on the defensive. On the other side, De Rosen would not venture an attack upon Schomberg's positions and intrenchments, and, as the bad weather set in, King James retired to Ardee and fortified himself there. Schomberg's forces lay, for the most part, out upon cold wet ground, and suffered severely. In the beginning of February, James's natural son, the Duke of Berwick, who had most of the qualities of a good soldier, made an attack upon the advanced position of Schomberg at Belturbet; but he was worsted and nearly killed in the action, having his horse shot under him. In the month of May, Charlemont, which had been bravely defended by Sir Teague O'Regan, was forced by famine to surrender to the Protestants. And by this time the English fleet scoured St. George's Channel, carried provisions to Schomberg's half-famished troops, and took the only man-of-war James had, out of the very roadside of Dublin, where it lay at anchor. His absolute dependency upon France showed the hopelessness of James's cause, and prevented many from joining it that were otherwise well disposed towards him. Louis was, as we have seen, in the greatest difficulties himself, and to him the war in Ireland was, and could be, nothing but a temporary diversion. Yet he now sent over 6,000 men, some money, and some clothes for James's army. De Rosen having retired in despair or disgust, these French troops were entrusted to the Count de Lauzun, who, on his arrival in Ireland, assumed the chief command of the whole army. But Lauzun was incompetent and arrogant; he was constantly quarrelling with the Irish, and he found the French officers weary of the hard service in Ireland, and completely disheartened. Even in this situation were James's affairs when he was apprised that William had landed, and would soon be upon him. After various consultations and conflicting opinions, he resolved to advance as far as Dundalk, to eat up the forage thereabout, and preserve his own country behind him; and in pursuance of this plan he left Dublin on the 16th of June. Upon that day King William was at Belfast, attended by Prince George of Denmark, the Duke of Ormond, the Earls of Oxford, Scarborough, and Manchester, Mr. Boyle, and many other persons of note, civilians as well as military, Irish as well as English. The preceding day, being Sunday, Dr. Rouse had preached before him on the text, 'Through faith they have subdued kingdoms,' upon which occasion William had said, 'My chaplain has begun the campaign bravely.' Two or three days after, he told his officers that he did not come there to let grass grow under his feet; and moving forward to Loughbrickland, he reviewed his whole army, and found it to consist of about 36,000 men, all in good order. From that point he marched towards Newry, and was so well pleased with the prospect of the country, that he said to those about him, 'It is worth fighting for.' In the meanwhile James had encamped behind the small river which runs into the sea at Dundalk, where he lay till June 23, when he fell back upon Ardee. William, making a compass, crossed the hills between Newry and Dundalk; and on his approach on the 27th, James retired from Ardee to Dumlane, and on the 28th, to the left bank of the river Boyne. On the 29th James crossed the Boyne and took up an excellent position on the right bank. On the 30th, William reached the Boyne, and found his enemies encamped along the river in two strong lines. He, however, resolved to force the passage on the morrow, and rode along the left bank to reconnoitre. While engaged in this service, the enemy brought two field-pieces to bear upon him, and at the first shot they killed a man and two horses that were very near him. This ball was presently followed by another, that had like to put a period to William's own life; for this second ball, having first grazed on the bank of the river, rising en ricochet, slanted on the king's right shoulder, took out a piece of his coat and tore the skin and flesh, and afterwards broke the head of a gentleman's pistol. Lord Coningsby rode up to his Majesty and clapped his handkerchief on the wound; but William said, coolly, that it needed not-that the ball should have come nearer to do him harm. But the enemy on the opposite side of the river, seeing that he stooped in his saddle, and that there was come disorder among those who attended him, joyfully concluded that he was killed, and this false report was conveyed with wonderful rapidity to Dublin, from Dublin to Paris, and from Paris to every capital in Europe. The rapturous joy felt by his enemies, and the grief and despair of his friends, were alike tributes to the merits of William, or proofs of how much was considered to depend upon his person. In the meantime, having got his flesh-wound dressed, he continued on horseback nearly the whole of that day. About nine at night he called his officers together, and declared that he would pass the river on the morrow. That day of slaughter soon dawned: it was the 1st of July, and the weather was beautifully clear. The générale was beat in the camp before day, and as soon as the sun was up, Schomberg and General Douglas moved with the right wing towards Slane. The Irish, by a corresponding movement, brought their left wing to Slane, but the English dashed into the river and forded it there. The wretched James had already sent off his baggage and all his cannon but six towards Dublin; and his left wing, after a smart fight, retreated before the horse, foot, and artillery of Douglas, who, with little loss, got a firm footing on the right bank of the Boyne. Nearly at the same time William made an attack on the pass at Old Bridge, and the Dutch blue guards, beating a march till they got to the water's edge, went in eight or ten abreast, and waded across with the water above their girdles. When they got into the middle of the stream they were saluted with a terrible peal by the Irish, who had lined the houses, hedges, and breast works on the other side; but the Dutchmen went on, got a footing on the bank, formed in two lines, and soon drove the Irish from their intrenchments. The blue guards then advancing into the open fields, were set upon furiously by the Irish horse; but they stood close and firm, and, as other regiments came up to their assistance, the Irish retired. At another point the Irish horse, who behaved very gallantly, drove a body of Danes and of French Protestants back into the river. Old Schomberg, perceiving this disorder, and that the French Protestants were left much exposed and without a commander, passed the river himself, in order to lead them. Pointing to the French Papists in James's ranks, he exclaimed to the Huguenots, 'Allons, messieurs, voilà vos persécuteurs;' but he had scarcely said the word when he was slain, being shot through the neck by a fleeing party of James's horseguards, or, through a fatal mistake," by some of his own men. When James was already edging off to the Dublin road, William crossed the river, and drawing his sword, not without pain, his arm being stiff from the wound he had received the day before, he marched at the head of the Enniskilleners and Dutch guards rapidly towards the enemy's centre, which, 6 *Come on, gentlemen, these are your persecutors.' |