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the series has a flowing beard and a miter- country to the north and to the east, over ed cap, like a son of Levi.

which the scourge from the great city of
Nineveh swept, must have been reduced
to a state of great confusion and distress.
Accordingly, we hear Isaiah-most likely
in reference to the embassadors whom
Hezekiah had sent to Sennacherib-ex-
claiming, “Behold, their valiant ones shall
cry without; the embassadors of peace
shall weep bitterly. The highways lie
waste; the wayfaring man ceaseth." So
"The tribes," says
is it still in the east.
Layard, "who had been attacked and
plundered, were retaliating upon caravans
and travelers, or laying waste the culti-
vated parts of the pashalic. The villages
were deserted, and the roads were little
A time

The kingdom of Judah survived that
of Israel more than one hundred and
Soon after the exploits
twenty years.
of Shalmaneser, the ambitious Sennache-
rib invaded Judea, in prosecution of his
plans against Egypt. The siege of La-
chish, and the wonderful judgment which
befell the great king of Assyria—as illus-
trated by the monuments of Nineveh-
have already been noticed. The proud
warrior did not take Jerusalem, as he
himself confesses; but the sacred histo-
rian, in the eighteenth chapter of the
second Book of Kings, states that he
came up against all the fenced cities of
Judah-those round about Jerusalem-frequented, and very insecure.”
and took them. This is in agreement
with his own account, as preserved in the
inscriptions at Kouyunjik; only that there
he speaks of having led the people away
captive-a circumstance very probable in
itself. "And because Hezekiah"-so
Rawlinson reads the inscription-" still
continued to refuse to pay me homage, I
attacked and carried off the whole popu-
lation, fixed and nomad, which dwelt
around Jerusalem, with thirty talents of
gold and eight hundred talents of silver,
the accumulated wealth of the nobles of
Hezekiah's court, and of their daughters,
with the officers of his palace, men slaves
and women slaves." Perhaps this may
be a very exaggerated account of the
number of the captives, but it may be
received so far as it points to the fact of
a captivity effected by Sennacherib from
among the people around Jerusalem. Pos-
sibly hostages also might have been given
by Hezekiah for the payment of tribute.
Not only at this period, if we are to be-
lieve the Kouyunjik inscription, were some
of the people of Judea taken captive to As-
syria, but we are certain from the divine
records that many were carried into exile
by the Syrians, the Edomites, and the
Philistines, and were even sold as slaves.
This went on in the reign of Ahaz, so that
when Hezekiah succeeded to the crown,
he poured out his lamentations, saying:
"Lo! our fathers have fallen by the sword,
and our sons and our daughters and our
wives are in captivity for this."

of great sorrow and perturbation was that, when the camp of Sennacherib stood not afar off from Jerusalem. While there was peril without, there was corresponding confusion within. The Book of Isaiah throws light on the internal politics and social agitations of the city at this mournful period. We there learn, that at the time when the faithful Eliakim and a minority were exhorting the people to trust in God, their true king, Shebna and a majority were counseling submission to Sennacherib; thus engendering a spirit of faction during a national emergency, when concert and unanimity were of the highest possible importance.

Though Jerusalem escaped the fury of the oppressor, there must have been many parts of Judea laid waste by the march of the imperious invader. Indeed, the

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We may here just add, in passing, that in the Book of Isaiah we read much of Babylon, but nothing of Nineveh—a circumstance which has considerably perBut the king of plexed commentators. Babylon," and "the king of Assyria," are used as convertible titles; and it is remarkable that Sargon, in the inscription of Nimroud, describes himself as king of Assyria and lord of Babylon. Here the remains lately discovered serve as in many other cases-to clear up a difficulty; and, moreover, it may be observed, that as Babylon was one of the cities from which inhabitants were supplied for the depopulated towns of Israel, and to which, in turn, some of the Israelites were taken to occupy their place, there was a special reason for speaking to Jews of that sister capital, even to the neglect of Nineveh, with which, at present, the people of Palestine had not been brought much in contact.

Manasseh, who succeeded Hezekiah,

was carried captive into Babylon in 675, twenty-two years after his father's death. This was a chastisement from the Almighty for the flagrant iniquities of which he was guilty; but during his exile his heart was softened, and he returned to his own dominions an altered man. This circumstance, however, though it is proper to be mentioned here, must not be reckoned among the deportations of the Jewish tribes, as it does not appear that any number of the people accompanied him into his exile.

Forty-five years after this event, Judea was again assailed by its old eastern enemies; but a great change had taken place in their condition by that time. In 606 B. C. Nineveh fell, and the Assyrian supremacy was transferred to Babylon. From that city came Nebuchadnezzar to besiege and take Jerusalem. He had rebuilt his capital, though not, perhaps, on the old site; and the ruins of that magnificent center of ancient civilization-so very different, as yet explored, from those of Nineveh-have been recently visited by Mr. Layard. Enough exists to identify the spot where once stood this wonder of the world, in its power and pride. There is an isolated mass of masonry, described by that enterprising traveler, which he considers to be a portion of some magnificent terrace connected with those famous hanging gardens which we have at times been ready to banish from belief, and consign to the region of oriental fables. Nor are testimonies wanting, in the remains brought to light, to prove that Nebuchadnezzar was the builder of the new city, as represented in the Book of Daniel. The Babylonian inscribed bricks long excited the curiosity of the learned, and gave rise to a variety of ingenious speculations as to their use and meaning. By some, they were believed to be public documents; others saw in the writings, dedications to the gods, or registers of gifts to temples. The question has now been entirely set at rest by Dr. Hincks, that almost every brick hitherto obtained from the ruins bears the same inscription, with the exception of one or two unimportant words, and that they record the building of the city by Nebuchadnezzar. The city succeeded to the position occupied by Nineveh, and soon almost equaled her old rival. The bounds were extended; buildings of extraordinary size and mag

nificence were erected; her victorious armies conquered Syria and Palestine, and penetrated into Egypt. Her commerce, too, spread far and wide from the east to the west, and she became a land of traffic and a city of merchants.

The kingdom of Judah was brought to an end by Nebuchadnezzar. There were three deportations of captives effected by him and his army. The first was in 605 B. C., just after the overthrow of Nineveh, and when Babylon was beginning to rise into its brightest glory. Amid the shifting alliances of Jerusalem, in which she appeared in a position of abject dependence—for she had lost the spirit of courage because she had lost her reliance upon God-Jehoiakim and his court just then, in a moment of revolt against Assyria, were leaning upon the broken reed of Egypt. Soldiers from Chaldea, from Syria, and from Moab, came into Judea under the banners of the mighty oriental prince, and ravaged the country and chastised Jehoiakin, who, however, was left upon his throne a humbled vassal of the Assyrian crown. The sons of some of the most distinguished families in the city were among the captives led away on this occasion, and they were intended, most likely, to serve as hostages for the future submission of the conquered state. It was at this time, probably, that Daniel and his three companions were removed from the land of their fathers, to be placed in positions, and to undergo trials, in the scene of their exile, which have rendered them, to all subsequent ages, illustrious and animating examples of faith and virtue. According to the account we have in our copies of the Book of Jeremiah, three thousand and twenty-three Jews were taken to Babylon in this first captivity.

The second deportation was in the reign of Jehoiachin, seven years afterward, B. C. 598. The immediate political cause of this calamity is not apparent; the moral cause, however, is plainly stated. The king "did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord." Nebuchadnezzar came against the city and besieged it; and what a stroke of pathos there is in the record of the second Book of Kings, xxiv, 12, in connection with this assault on the city of Jerusalem: "And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and

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his servants, and his princes, and his officers." The historian thus makes the melancholy train pass before us, in which we specially single out for pity the venerable old Jewess, weeping over her son decrowned and doomed to exile. We fancy it is some alleviation to her that she is to accompany him. Warriors too, in large numbers, (there were seven thousand of them,) according to the Book of Chronicles, swelled the procession of captives; craftsmen and smiths also, on the same authority, amounting to a thousand, ac

companied their brethren; perhaps specially included by Nebuchadnezzar, with an eye to the progress of the works going on in his new city. Zedekiah, the uncle of Jehoiachin, was placed on the throne by the conqueror, to serve him, of course, as his liege lord. But he rebelled-encouraged to do so by the king of Egypt. This was in the year 588. Nebuchadnezzar, accordingly, again marched against Jerusalem and besieged it. An Egyptian army came to its succor. These allies, however, were repelled by the hosts of

SIEGE OF JERUSALEM BY THE ASSYRIANS.

Babylon, who, immediately after chastising them, returned to the siege.

Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire; and the army brake down the walls." All who remained of any account, after these sanguinary measures, were carried off by the conquerors; and only a few poor vinedressers and husbandmen were left scattered over the land, to sit and mourn over the desolations, and to gather a scanty subsistence from the fields and vineyards which war had spared. Such was the third grand deportation, signalized, too, by the abundance of spoil which was conveyed to Babylon; for it was on this occasion that the golden vessels of the temple, and the pillars and ornaments of brass, and even the great brazen laver itself, were piled up and carried off.

In connection with this fresh calamity, we have graphic details in the biblical annals. "The city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden : (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain. And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho and all his army were scattered from him. So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah." What a series of stirring pictures pass before us as we ponder these few strong graphic words! Famine in the city—no bread—men, women, and children pinched with hunger-their countenances thin and pallid, and their bodies wasting away with disease and want. Anxious inquiries are heard in the streets : "How long will the siege last?" while despair, and tears, and death lurk within doors. The child is breathing its last in its mother's bony arms, or she is lifeless with her little one on her cold breast. Then there is the hurried night escape; the old gate; the walls by the king's garden; palace-like houses; trees mapped in shadow under the bright stars; and the monarch and his men creeping stealthily along, and going round to avoid being seen by the sentinels of the Assyrian camp. And then we have the surprise, perhaps in the morning, the fugitives pursued, and, fleeing from the face of the brave soldiers of Babylon, hiding in clefts of the rocks and concealing themselves among trees on the Mount of Olives; the poor miserable monarch in the mean time captured and dragged in chains to Riblah, to receive upon his neck the foot of his enraged master. And then, to finish the military drama, his eyes are put out, and his sons are slain. We think, involuntarily, while all this is going on, of one holy man within the walls, who weeps day and night for the slain of the daughter of his people. The destruction of the temple and city speedily followed. Nebuzar-adan, the Bab- | captives. ylonish general, "burnt the house of the

As to the siege of Jerusalem, we may gather illustrations of it from Ninevitish sculptures, Babylonish coins, and Egyptian monuments, in which we have abundantly represented the common oriental methods of fortification and modes of attack prevalent in those days. We see battlemented walls and towers, with parapets, crowded with men, bow and spear and shield in hand, while a banner crowns the lofty keep. We have barred gates and fosses both without and within the walls, filled with water and crossed by bridges. Then we notice the assailants placing their scaling ladders against the fortifications, and some swimming over the ditch, to be met by a party sallying from the gates. The besiegers are provided with large shields to ward off the missiles shot from the walls. There are also testudos-large frames to cover and protect the advancing soldiers. Battering rams are also employed. Men may be seen climbing up rocks by the aid of metal spikes; doors are being hewn down with axes; while heralds are seen coming out to treat with the enemy. The brief notice in the Bible of the fall of Jerusalem, under the army of Nebuchadnezzar, when read in the light of these curious military antiquities, suggests to us some such picture of engineering tactics, of strife and violence, of battle and death, as must really have constituted the scene of misery and desolation at that awful period in Jewish history. In our next we shall notice the location and condition of the

(To be continued.)

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LUNATIC ASYLUM, BLACKWELL'S ISLAND.

MONG the many public buildings | located at the extremity of the western testifying to the greatness and bene- wing. It is in contemplation to erect a volence of the city of New-York, there is separate building adjacent to the main one, none to which she can point with a juster to be devoted especially to these objects. pride than to her Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island, a representation of which is given above.

This noble edifice, commenced in 1835, was completed in July, 1839, at a cost of about half a million of dollars. The material is of the common blue building stone taken from the quarries of the island. The plan, as may be seen above, is that of a main octagonal building, eighty feet in diameter, with two wings two hundred and forty-five feet each in length running from it at right angles westerly and southerly. The height of the octagon and cupola is seventy-two feet, and that of the wings forty-three feet-the latter are occupied by lunatics, the former mostly by the officers of the institution.

In each wing upon each of the three floors is a corridor, ten feet wide, running the entire length of the wing, opening into which, on either side, are the rooms for the patients, bathing, dining-rooms, &c. Croton water is distributed to all parts of the building, being carried from the main shore by means of a gutta percha pipe laid in the bed of the river. The heating, washing, and culinary arrangements are

The substitution lately effected of hired and responsible persons, instead of prisoners transferred from the penitentiary and workhouse, to do the necessary in and out door labor of the institution, and to attend to the patients, as had previously been the system, is one, the good effects of which are already strongly marked in the better order, better care, and higher moral tone that now obtain throughout the institution. At the distance of about one hundred and fifty feet from the main building stands "the Lodge," a building fifty-nine by ninety feet, with a veranda on either side of ten by eighty-seven feet, inclosed by glass. In this building are placed all patients of a noisy, violent, or unmanageable character, who, as they improve, are transferred to the different halls in the main building, regard being had to a proper classification.

The asylum, a branch of the alms-house department, under the control of the "ten governors," has been for the last nine years under the immediate medical superintendence of Dr. M. H. Ranney, who is aided in his duties by two assistant-physicians, Drs. Lansing and Smith. About

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