PART II.] Chronology of the Assyrian Empire. Sardanapalus was the 41st Monarch, and says, the Monarchy lasted 1460 years, ending (according to the same author) A. M. 4675. Syncellus (p. 133) quotes Cephalion, as saying that the descendants of Ninus reigned above 1000 years; and that no one of them reigned less than 20; and adding that Ctesias relates the names of 23. Justin says, the empire (lib. 1. c. 2) lasted 1300 years. Secondly. Not even 41 Monarchs (the greatest number any author mentions) could reign even 1000 years, the least number ascribed to them. In my former communication, I think I satisfactorily proved it impossible for any number of Kings to reign more than 18 years, one with another, Let us, however, ádmit for once that they might reign 20 years. Even in this case the 41 Monarchs could only fill up a period of about 820 years. Thirdly. If these Monarchs were so effeminate as described, how could they have retained so extensive an empire so long? If they were not effeminate and cowardly, it is plain the historians are fabulists, because they all agree in saying they were. Sardanapalus is said to have far exceeded all his predecessors in luxury and effeminacy; and yet he is said to have commanded four armies in as many battles, and afterwards to have destroyed himself and family on a funeral pile. Herodotus mentions Sardanapalus as very rich, and describes a successful attempt to rob his treasury: but as he either had written or was preparing to write a History of Assyria (see Clio. c. 106 and 184), he does not mention the destruction of Nineveh. As this history has not been preserved, we unfortunately are left very much in the dark on this subject, and can draw no conclusion from our author's silence here. Fourthly. Ctesias and his followers say that it was Arbaces a Median, and Belesis a Babylonian, who rebelled against Sardanapalus, and destroyed Nineveh the first time: and Herodotus says that Cyaxares, the Median Monarch, conquered Assyria (Clio. c. 106); and in the concluding verse of the apocryphal book of Tobit, Nabuchodonosor and Assuerus are said to have destroyed it. Newton, c. 6, 310, (and others I believe) thinks that He 599 rodotus has erred, in placing Cyaxares before Astyages, and that Astyages was son of Phraortes. Assuerus and Astyages are universally allowed to be the same King of Media. Nabuchodonosor was a name common to the Kings of Babylon. Although Herodotus does not say that the King of Babylon assisted the Medes, yet it is highly probable, as the King Labynetus (Clio, 74) was the mediator between Astyages (or Cyaxares) and Alyattes the Lydian, B. C. 585. Thus we find that it is agreed on all hands, that the Babylonians and Medes were the destroyers of Nineveh; but that it is supposed to have been twice destroyed, because chronologers ascribe each to a very different epoch. But we may remark that Justin and Paterculus only mention one destruction of the town; and that Herodotus and the Scripture also only mention one; but as some will have it, a quite different event. This destruction of Nineveh is variously dated. Sir Isaac Newton places it B. C. 609; Mr. Gibbon, &c. 606; Larcher, 603; Arnald, 613, or the 29th year of King Josiah. If Newton has rightly placed the Trojan war B. C. 904, Diodorus himself affords us a clue to the discovery of the truth; as he says the destruction of Nineveh followed that of Troy 306 years; consequently this would be dated about 600 B. C. Those who suppose that this town was twice destroyed, date it from Eusebius, B.C. 820, from Justin, B. C. 900. Blair, Gibbon, Paterculus, 740, Lavoisne, 747. From Chronology, therefore, arises the only objection which can be made to the supposition, that the different historians alike relate the same event. Of one thing we are certain, that Nineveh was destroyed about 600 B. C. as the Scriptures prove. Of the other we can have no certainty, as the relaters of the same fact disagree with one another, and place it in very dif ferent years. The artificial chronologers (as Newton calls them) do not here even agree; and upon their authority only do we deny that there was but one Nineveh; and weary ourselves in making useless conjectures, in order to explain a difficulty which we ourselves have created, and which is completely ideal. For the rest I refer my reader to Sir Isaac Newton's work. SEPTEMDECIMUS. Mr. 600 Mr. URBAN, Monument at Waterloo.-Singular Epitaph. Nov. 12. W the Field of Waterloo, must be extremely interesting to the world in general, and to Englishmen in particufar, who bore so distinguished a part in a battle, which in its consequences put an end to a bloody and protracted war, which for more than a quarter of a century had deluged the Continent with blood, and to a system of sanguinary and unprincipled ambition, by which one individual had brought incalculable misery on the civilized part of the human race, and had shed the blood of millions in the pursuit of his lawless and tyrannical system of aggrandizement. HATEVER has a reference to Without further preface, permit me to extract from the perishable pages of a daily newspaper the following description of a "Monument at Waterloo," from the pen of Mr. J. Deville, a visitant of the spot: "This Monument is an earthern mound or hill of immense size, being upwards of 700 feet diameter at the base, and 2160 feet in circumference. It is 200 feet high, and 100 feet in diameter at the top. There is a double carriage road winding round it in a spiral form, and supplying an easy method of ascent for carriages to the very top; and by this road the materials have been and are conveyed to complete the work. In the centre is a shaft of brick, which is carried up from the bottom, and is still going on. It is to be 60 feet higher than the top of the Eastern mount, making the whole height 200 feet. It is intended for a pedestal to receive a lion, the crest of Belgium, which will be 21 feet long, and 12 feet high, and which is ready to be put up when the work is completed. The mound has been 18 months in hand, and is to be finished within six more. For the first six months, 2000 men, 600 horses, and as many carts as could be kept at work, were employed upon it, and the number has been only diminished as the termination of the work approached. It is of the conical form, with the top cut off, and out of it the shaft or pedestal for the lion rises. At present it has a pleasing appearance, from the great number of horses, carts, and people, ascending and descending by the winding road." Not doubting but that the insertion of this extract will be means of further inquiry and elucidation as the work proceeds, I remain, Yours, &c. INVESTIGATOR. Mr. URBAN, [xcv. Dec. 23. sion, entitled " Variorum in Europâ THE inclosed Epitaph is from a THE very scarce book in my possesItinerum Delicia; seu, ex variis Manuscriptis selectiora tantum inscriptionum maximè recentium Monu menta. Germanica, Helvetia et Bohemia, Dania et Cimbria, Belgio et Galliâ, Angliâ et Polonia, &c. Templa, Aræ, Scholæ, Bibliothecæ, Musea, Arces, Palatia, Tribunalia, Poeta, Arcus Nosodochia, Armamentaria PropugTriumphales, Obelisci, Pyramides, nacula, Portus Asyla, Edes, Conacula, Horologia, Pontes, Horti, Villa, Agriaria, Therma, Fontes, Monetæ, Statuæ, Tabulæ, Emblemata Cippi Sepulchra, &c. conspicua sunt. Pramissis in clariores urbes Epigrammatibus, Julii Cæs. Scaligeri. Omnia nuper collecta et hoc modo digesta à Nathane Chrytæo. Editio Secunda. Apud Christophorum Corvinum, 1599." Quibus passim in Italiâ et The book is dedicated to Christian, third King of Denmark, Norway, &c. If you think it worthy a place in your valuable Miscellany, it will be flattering to an old Correspondent. The following Epitaph is from the Church of S. Spiritus in Sienna. PART 11.] [ 601 ] REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 07. A Manual of Classical Bibliography, comprising a copious Detail of the various Editions, Commentaries, and Works critical and illustrative, and Translations from the English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, and occasionally other Languages of the Greek and Latin Classics. By Joseph William Moss, B.A. of Magdalen Hall, Oxford. 8vo. 2 vols. OUR natural reflection at sight of works of this kind is, why have we not a standard edition of each writer got up on the same principle as an authorized Version of the Bible, and illustrated in the same manner as the Delphin editions? We say the Delphin editions, not that we conceive them the best, but think that the form of the notes conveys to us the most knowledge of the meaning of the author, and the manners of the times. It is evidently useful under present circumstances, that we should know the character of the goods which we mean to purchase, but it is certainly not very pleasant to find various opinions in the Bibliographers, because it is utterly impossible for those not engaged in the very identical line of research, to tell which of these Bibliographers is right, and to ascertain this point would require a great deal of time and labour. For instance, under Ammianus Marcellinus, in the present work, I. 38, we have LUGD. BAT. 12mo, 1632, Boxhornii. Dr: Harwood calls this edition beautiful and very correct. The Bibliographical Dict. I. p. 37, says that it is "very beautiful, and very incorrect." We have some excellent editions of the Classicks, and we venture to say that the verbal corrections of numerous editors are in several places perfectly childish. In Burman's edition of Petronius (who by the way is utterly omitted by Mr. Moss, because perhaps deemed by him a factitious Classick, of later æra), numerous instances occur of this mischievous emendation. Works of the kind before us may warn those who are in the possession of good editions not to part with them hastily. We had an edition of Cicero's Orations by Freigius, 3 vols. 12mo, which we gave away to a person whom ano-, GENT. MAG. Suppl. XCV. PART II. D ther edition would have equally served; and as no such edition is mentioned in this work, perhaps it is very rare and valuable. We think it too of the first importance, that in books of this kind we should have an account of the lost under Livy, has given us some account works of eminent classics. Mr. Moss, of the lost Decades. We shall add some curious anecdotes on Bibliography. The Editio Princeps of Martial is dated in 1471, and yet Bishop Jewel says (Reply to Harding, p. 8, fol. 1609), "Martialis was lately found in France in the cittie of Sennovica, in an arch and defaced, that in many places it of stone under the ground, so corrupt could not be read, and was never seen in the world at any time before, so little did the best scholars of that day know about Bibliography." Menage tells us (Menagiana, i. 96), that Leonard Arctin found a Greek MS. of Procopius, and passed it for his own, but was detected by other copies being found; and that Machiavel did the like with the Apothegms of Plutarch in his Life of Castruccio, into whose mouth he put the best of the good things that Plutarch said.-Our Thomson in his "Seasons" has paraphrased whole lines of Lucretius, which have passed unnoticed. Cicero de Republicâ is quoted by Augustine de Civitate Dei, 1. q. L. 2, and Ludovicus Vives, in his notes on this chapter, p. 335, says of these six books De Republicâ,-"Audio apud quosdam tanquam aurea mala asservari.' It is certain that this work is quoted by Bishop Hooper in his "Declaration of the Third Commandment," fol. 35, p.2, and was once, therefore, in England. Mr. Mosse takes no notice of Ennius; but Ludovicus Vives quotes fragments, which he had a mind to collect into one body. Justin is known to have abridged Trogus, yet Ludovicus mentions that there were persons who affirmed that they had seen Trogus's work in Italy. (p. 348.) Jerom quotes some lost books of Seneca, as those De Superstitionibus et de Matrimonio (adversus Jovinianum). Sallust's books of the Historia de Bellis Civilibus are lost 602 REVIEW.-Dr. Highmore's Arguments, &c. Part of Varro's works are lost.-To some of the editions of Tibullus are annexed Elegies, imputed to Cornelius Gallus, which Grainger says are a modern composition, the work of one Longinus Maximian, a physician (Notes on El. i. v. 3.) We do not find this noticed by Mr. Moss, i. 260. -We here stop, because Mr. Roscoe, in his Life of Lorenzo de Medici, abounds with bibliographical information, see i. pp. 30, 33, &c. &c. 3d ed. 4to, 1797.-In p. 38 he informs us, that Nicciolo Niccoli, who died in 1438, was the father of that species of criticism which corrects the defects and arranges the texts of MSS. We think that a diligent search for lost Classics ought to be made in private foreign libraries, by means of correspondence with the Literati abroad, and that lists of the lost books would be useful adjuncts to the works on Bibliography. They are commonly mentioned in the prefaces to the authors. Mr. Moss is very ample in his quotations, and has certainly taken much pains with his subject. It is not from injustice to Mr. Moss that we say no ⚫ more. A gentleman who has lately published a History of Chivalry, a Mr. Mills, has thought proper to attack Dr. Meyrick's admirable work on Armour. Now we do not think a man's opinion worth a straw upon such a subject, in comparison with those of Dr. M. if he has never pos sessed, like Dr. M. a collection of armour. In the same manner, we should think ourselves as unreasonable as Mr. Mills, if we gave opinions in praise or reprobation of Bibliographers, without having seen the editions upon which the remarks are made. 108. Arguments for L.C. J. Mansfield's Doc IN the first Pamphlet we are informed that the author having taken the degree of LL. D. at an English University, applied for permission to ! ૧૬, ૧૨ દસ practise in Doctors' Commons, but was rejected on account of having taken deacon's orders (see p. 47), the appointment solicited being for that reason contrary to the Canons. The applicants for civilian advocacy must have, it also seems, the approbation of the Archbishop of Canterbury before they receive their diploma (if it may be so called), and hence the concern of his Grace in the affair,-a concern which we lament, because the ineligibility of Clergymen for the office should have been expressed in the Act of Parliament; but if it be the fact (and it is not denied) that the complainant, Dr. Highmore, had taken Deacon's orders (see p. 47), he must of course have sworn obedience to the Canons, and whether his postulate, that advocacy in the Commons ought not to be limited to laymen, be well founded or not, he cannot justly complain of the operation of Canons, to which he has sworn allegiance, or load the Archbishop of Canterbury with censure, because his Grace did not choose to infringe those Canons which it was his duty to support. Had Dr. Highmore thought proper to acquaint himself with the customary proceedings in these matters before he took the degree of LL. D. nothing of this would have happened. In the second Pamphlet Dr. Highmore calls himself a Commissioned Advocate, because, we presume, from pp. 67, 68, that a commission had been made out, but was revoked or not executed. The substance of this second pamphlet is "a heavy fire of grape, round, and canister," against the Bishops and Clergy (who had no manner of concern with the transaction), and we are sorry to say, that, considering the change of times, Dr. Highmore's warfare is that of a pirate, and the modes, those incompatible with He has taken up all the austerities of the usages of civilized Belligerents. ancient times, and applied them to the present. He has required that the Clergy and the Bishops should live in rags and upon vegetables only, and de vote the remainder of their incomes to the poor. Strange is it, that a man in the nineteenth century, an LL.D. and of high education, can utter such nonsense! Providence has ordained, that whatever be the wealth of a nation, that wealth must be spent upon the population. Suppose A, a dissipated PART 11.] REVIEW.-Life of Abp. Sharp. man, spends 10,000l. per annum in his pleasures; his money is dispersed among the horse dealers, coach makers, wine merchants, &c. who purvey for those pleasures, and their journeymen and families. Suppose B to spend the same sum in charities; the donees lay it out also among the tradesmen, who supply their wants. We mean not to say, that a bad disposition of money does not encourage vice; we mean only to say that it is utterly impossible for a man, in spending money, to prevent its coming to the poor. If he takes upon himself the sole maintenance of them in idleness, he collects about him a mere retinue utterly useless to the public, because they contribute nothing to it. God forbid! that we should oppose JUDICIOUS charities. By Hospitals, by Infirmaries, by Grammar Schools, by University foundations, by EVERY MEANS THAT ASSISTS INDUSTRIOUS USEFUL MEN STRUGGLING WITH LARGE FAMILIES, Charity then acts like machinery in aid of manufactures. But let us suppose that from the King downwards every man lived on 50%. per annum, and gave the rest away weekly at his doors. An idle mob is collected round his house, ready to become robbers if the boon is withheld, and the bees, labourers and manufacturers, are starved!-The clergy are sportsmen, &c. &c. Men of liberal education have pleasurable inclinations, and we wish that the Clergy would not sport, but are the numbers in a game list of certificates those of all the clergymen in a diocese? not by a twentieth part. A rigid man orders a fowl to be killed for his dinner, another shoots it himself. A third man is a Justice of the Peace. He introduces humanity and feeling in the administration of the laws, and he very properly tempers the power of the laity who have property; power we say, for there are hundreds of country villages where there are only themselves and their tenants, and where in consequence, if they were cruel, the very lives of the poor might be put an end to by starvation and oppression.Dr. Highmore would also not have lay-proctors, "because when our Lord selected his Apostles, not a lawyer was found amongst them!" (p.8;) but surely that is the strongest reason why clergymen should not be Proctors, or Chancellors, or Registrars, because they must then be lawyers, and, according to Dr. 608 Highmore, they are as such (to indulge silly vulgar jokes) in a bad spiritual way. In short, Dr. Highmore in the bitterness of his disappointment rails at the innocent, the Bishops, Clergy, &c. all en masse, because men in holy orders cannot become Advocates in Doctors' Commons. He has exhausted, a large portion of learning and ability to insult and disparage those who never injured him, and, of course, made hosts of enemies, for which there was no reason whatever, because nothing but an Act of Parliament in his especial favour could have placed him in the situation desired. We should not be surprised if a disappointed lover were to publish that he lost his intended bride, because the Bishops and Clergy were not reformed according to his ideas. ment 110. Life of Archbishop Sharp. (Concluded from p. 450.) WE left Dr. Sharp at his preferto the see of York. We have now to consider his acts as an Archbishop, which his biographer divides into three heads, his ecclesiastical conduct, i. e. relating to his diocese ; his court, i. e. his proceedings at Court and in Parliament; and his domestic, i. e. the economy of his private life. Each of these (chronological arrangement being disregarded for the purpose of bringing the respective materials under one head) forms a distinct Part or large Chapter. We shall take, PART II. Ecclesiastical Conduct. One rule at his very entrance upon his charge, was to bestow prebends only upon Clergymen beneficed in his diocese, or the Chaplains retained in his family; and the other rule was never to concern himself in the elections of Members of Parliament. The first rule he chiefly exemplified by preferring those meritorious Clergymen who had small livings in towns; and to the second he steadily adhered, from considering that it would only entail upon him checks and difficulties in his episcopal capacity (p. 121); with the exception of the Borough of Rippon (where he had a temporal jurisdiction), and in which he put his own son. It was his opinion, that "it was almost impracticable for even a parochial Clergyman to engage openly in an election, without impairing his credit and autho |