kindness, and who, from unlooked for vicissitudes, were placed in circumstances of need. She got a proper person to make her will, and took great care to see that her wishes were clearly expressed, and that no room was left for question or dispute. So far, so good; but she neglected to sign the document. Her death was so sudden as to afford no opportunity of giving force to her expressed wishes; she was considered as having died intestate; and her property came into the possession of the heir-at-law, a person who had never shown her a kindness, and who did not at all need an accession to his wealth; while the family to whom she was under obligations, whom she intended to assist, and to whom the assistance would have been really valuable, were left to struggle on with difficulties, from which, had she finished as well as she begun, they would have been effectually relieved.

EGYPT.-No. IV.

THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE.

C.

We have mentioned that Nebuchadnezzar founded the Babylonian empire on the ruins of the Assyrian. Like Babylon, Assyria was originally only a small country. It lay east of Mesopotamia, in the part now called Koordistan, and the river Tigris formed its natural boundary. In fertility, it almost equalled Mesopotamia, and, as the Assyrian general boasted, it was 66 a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of honey," 2 Kings xviii, 32. The capital of this country, Nineveh, ranked among the most ancient cities of the world. Assur built it soon after the dispersion at Babel; he was a descendant of the first tyrant Nimrod, who is described as the founder of the Babylonian monarchy. It rivalled Babylon in size, splendour, and wealth. One hundred and twenty thousand children, under six years old, will give us a total population of two millions. A circumference of three days' journey is not too much for such a city. Its ruins lie on the eastern side of the Tigris, opposite the city of Mosul. On a hill which rises from the banks of the river, is Nebi Junes, the spot where, according to the Mohammedan tradition, the prophet Jonah was buried. The destruction of this great city was averted, by their repenting at the preaching of that prophet. The kings of Assyria took Samaria, and

carried away the ten tribes into captivity. Yet the Lord also made use of them as a "burden upon Judah," and Nineveh was respited for above one hundred years. Then the prophets Nahum and Zephaniah received a commission to announce the final judgment on the Assyrian empire and its great metropolis. "The Lord will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations. Both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me. How is she become a desolation; a place for beasts to lie down in! Every one that passeth by shall hiss, and wag his head," Zeph. ii. 13-15. "Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven. The cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away. Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away," Nahum iii. 16, 17.

Of the six provinces into which Assyria proper was divided, we shall notice only the province Halah, near the river Habor, which is distinguished as the place to which the Israelites were transported in the Assyrian captivity. Habor is now called Chabur. It rises in the province of Wan-sees in Armenia, and falls above Mosul into the Tigris.

What has become of the ten tribes, is one of the most obscure questions in history. Only a small part of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, made use of the permission granted by king Cyrus, five hundred and fifty-six years before Christ, to return to their native land. The rest voluntarily remained in the land where they were settled, and have ever since vanished, as it were, from history.

There are traces, indeed, that at the time of the second destruction of Jerusalem, and even in the fifth century, they dwelt in the cities and on the mountains of Media. Hence it has been supposed, that their further dispersion was occasioned by the Mohammedan persecution. It has been thought that a remnant of them has been found in Buchary, Malabar, Affghanistan, and among the

small tribe of the Karemans on the western borders of Birmah. But every thing respecting them is as yet unproved, and belongs rather to the possibilities of conjecture than to the certainties of history. Some have pretended to find the remains of these lost Israelites among the wild Caffres of South Africa, and, more recently, among the tribes of North American Indians. Who can say what is possible or impossible in the history of the kingdom of God? So much at least is certain, that at some future period the words of promise to all Judah and Israel will be fulfilled, to the surprise of all nations, and the grateful joy of all believers. "If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee," Deut. xxx. 4. "And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth," Isa. xi. 12. "Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad," Psa. cxxvi. 2, 3.

THE MEDO-PERSIAN EMPIRE.

On the eastern border of Assyria lies the country of Media, which, for a considerable time, made a part of the Assyrian empire. But a king of the Medes, supported by Nabopolasser, the father of Nebuchadnezzar, besieged Nineveh, took it, and brought the whole Assyrian empire under the Median dominion. Persia was at that time a tributary to the Medes, and was regarded as an inconsiderable kingdom, which yet was governed by its own line of kings under the Median supremacy. But the Persians were resolved to wear the Median yoke no longer, and the government of the whole Median empire was transferred to the Persian king. This Persian king was the great Cyrus. Thus the Medo-Persian empire arose, and hence, in the later books of the Old Testament, we read of "the law of the Medes and Persians." After several successful wars, Cyrus took the city of Babylon, by which the Persian kingdom acquired an amazing extent.

ago was annexed to the Russian empire. The country of Media stretches from the southern coast of the Caspian Sea to the border of Farsistan, or Persia Proper; and embraces the provinces which are now called Shirwan, Aserbedshan, Ghilan, Masanderan, and Irak Adshemi.

This extent of country, which embraces about nine thousand square miles, was divided into Greater and Lesser Media, two countries which are very different in climate from one another. Greater Media, or the modern Irak, which lies in the south, is a mountainous district, intersected by spacious, fruitful, and verdant vallies. The climate is temperate, the atmosphere healthy, and the sky almost uninterruptedly clear; for from May to September it is not obscured by a single cloud. This clearness of the sky and purity of the air, spread a splendour over the whole landscape, and contribute greatly to the preservation and duration of all the works of nature and art. The heat of the summer is moderated by cooling winds, which rise towards evening, and continue till after sunrise. From November to March the cold is often severe, and much snow falls on the mountains. Very different is the climate of that part of Media which borders on the Caspian Sea. These provinces are very fruitful, but at the same time very unhealthy. The mountains are covered with noble forests of oak, beech, and chestnut. The hills and plains are adorned with groves of pomegranates, olive trees, and a number of most beautiful citron and orange trees, besides peaches and apricots which here grow wild. The gardens and fields bring forth all kinds of vegetables and corn in great abundance, so that all Ghilan and Masanderan resembles a beautiful garden. But all these advantages of the soil are counterbalanced by a great evil, namely, the sad unhealthiness of the climate, the atmosphere being loaded with hot vapours. On a clear airy eminence in the province of Shirwan is situated the castle of Shusha, on which, in looking at the map of Media, our eye is directed with interest, while our devout aspirations ascend to Heaven; for there are the servants of Christ, who have undertaken to revive the ancient Armenian church, and to make known the gospel to the surrounding Mo

capital of Media

inhabitants; but the streets are dirty, and the market place a very poor one. In its citadel, Achmeta, the Persian archives were kept. Here the parchment was deposited on which Cyrus registered the command for the rebuilding of Jerusalem, of which we may read a copy in the book of Ezra, i. 2-4. Hence this spot has always been held in affectionate veneration by the Jews, and so much the more because it is believed to contain the graves of Esther and Mordecai.-Dr. Barth.

ACTIVITY OF THE MIND IN SLEEP.

THE mind is sometimes capable, during dreams, of successful effort. Dr. Gregory says, that thoughts which occurred to him while asleep, and even the particular expressions in which they were conveyed, appeared to him sometimes, when awake, so just in reasoning and illustration, and so good in point of language, that he has used them in his college lectures and in his published works. It is related by Condorcet, that, when engaged in some profound and obscure calculations, he was often obliged to leave them incomplete, and retire to rest, and that the remaining steps and the conclusion of his calculations had, more than once, presented themselves in his dreams.

"The following anecdote," says Dr. Abercrombie," has been preserved in a family of rank in Scotland, the descendants of a distinguished lawyer of the last age. This eminent person had been consulted respecting a case of great importance and much difficulty; and he had been studying it with intense anxiety and attention. After several days had been occupied in this manner, he was observed by his wife to rise from his bed in the night, and go to a writing desk which stood in the bed-room. He then sat down, and wrote a long paper, which he put carefully by in the desk, and returned to bed. The following morning, he told his wife that he had a most interesting dream; that he had dreamed of delivering a clear and luminous opinion respecting a case which had exceedingly perplexed him; and that he would give any thing to recover the train of thought which had passed before him in his dream. She then directed him to the writing desk, where he found the opinion clearly and fully written out and which was afterwards found to be perfectly con receno vo vode, boobiesdí tl sb

A remarkable account is also given by a most intelligent clergyman, in whose service the individual was. She was much addicted to talking in her sleep, and it was found that in doing so, she went over all the occurrences of the previous day; every thing, especially, that she had said, being distinctly repeated in the order of its utterance. Generally, she began directly after she had fallen asleep by repeating the first words she had spoken in the morning; and then went through the other transactions of the day, and adapting to them her tone and manner.

In repeating her conversations with others, she regularly left intervals corresponding to the period when the other party was supposed to reply; and they were also left between different conversations. In this manner, she generally required about two hours to rehearse what had occurred. She was scarcely ever known to repeat any thing she had read; but she sometimes repeated psalms, as if teaching them to a child; and much more correctly than she could when awake.

She also frequently rose in her sleep, pursued her ordinary occupations in the kitchen, and even out of doors. On one occasion, she awoke in the act of mounting a horse; and on another, by spraining her ancle while cutting grass in a ditch, at some distance from the house. These occupations were either a repetition of something she had done in the day, or an anticipation of what she was about to do.

At length she became unconscious of outward things for three days; but during this time she attended to all her usual business. This began on Sunday, and continued to the Wednesday. On that day, her master met her returning from an out-house, carrying a number of eggs, when he determined to attempt rousing her by shouting loudly in her ear. On his doing so, she awoke as from a sleep, and spoke to him sensibly; but could give no account of the eggs, and could scarcely be persuaded that it was not Sunday. In an hour, she relapsed into the unconscious state, and was again roused in the same manner; but after some farther experiments, this expedient failed, in consequence of which she was taken to the house of her parents, and did not recover entirely for several weeks. After this, her former peculiarities, ber game less remarkable and gradually. ceased. wat did betq9 2

9

CHINESE MANUFACTURES.

A VOLUME is just published by the RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, entitled, THE PEOPLE OF CHINA, from which the following is an extract:

One of the manufactures in which the Chinese most excel is silks. Their brilliant colours and exquisite texture, have constituted them the most splendid article of dress in China. All, from the noble to the peasant, are ambitious of wearing them, and they are used not only in robes and trowsers, but in boots, shoes, and caps. The silks most worn by the Chinese are plain, but they are manufactured in every colour, and with beautiful figures. So highly do the Chinese esteem the manufacture of silks, that the empress is its patroness, and goes annually, with her maids of honour, to worship the god of silk, whilst she encourages the rearing of the worm, and the weaving of the article amongst her women. The manufacture, beautiful as it is, is merely the work of human hands, woven in simple looms, like that produced among the an

cients.

The velvet of the Chinese is inferior to the European: but their damask, sarsnet, satin, crape, and shawls, are reckoned superior. The Chinese, also, display considerable skill in the manufacture of cotJULY, 1843.

ton goods, and in a variety of stuffs made of silk and cotton, which are very costly. Carpets are manufactured in the northern provinces, which are of the most elegant description: and in the same parts they imitate our woollens, though with little

success.

The Chinese are celebrated for the manufacture of artificial flowers, and the mats and various other articles made of bamboo, are remarkable for their neatness. Ivory is wrought with great elegance, and their manufacture of cut glass nearly equals that of England. In porcelain and lacquered ware they excel, though in the former, they are now outstripped by foreigners, and in the latter, for lustre and beauty, by the Japanese.

Of the more common manufactures, or trades, Gutzlaff thus states: "For the working of iron and steel, the Chinese have never been celebrated; their instruments and utensils are very clumsy, their steel badly tempered, and their knives and razors indifferently polished. The finer toys and trinkets made of that substance, which eclipses the lustre of every other metal, are unknown in this country.

"It would be difficult to find a blacksmith in China able to make a large anchor, or a huge piece of machinery. Their needles, locks, etc., are all of a

U

similar description: they are not able to make good springs, or to temper the steel properly. Whatever they want in skill, however, they supply in economy and perseverance. Their bellows and instruments are adapted for saving every particle, and prove them to be a nation duly attentive to the minor points, and parsimonious with the very filings. They understand casting iron. Many of their kitchen utensils, which we make of copper, are here made of this metal. Their iron cannon-founderies are very numerous, and even the barrel of a match-lock is cast. "The Chinese work in tin with great neatness, of which they cast and beat a great variety of utensils. It often serves as a substitute for copper, the latter being more expensive. Chinese braziers and coppersmiths are not frequently met with, because the government prohibits the use of copper and brass, except for the casting of coin. Their work is therefore confined to a few unimportant things, which they make with great neatness. They are not able to manufacture tin-plates, and these are imported principally for the fabrication of lacquered ware. The work of gold and silver smiths and jewellers is exquisite, and can vie with that of any

other nation.

"Chinese artizans are in the habit of itinerating with their implements, and performing work as it may casually fall in their way. The cook may be seen in the market with all culinary utensils for the preparation of viands; whilst the fruiterer, fishmonger, and butcher, are near at hand to supply the materials. Even a smithy is carried about, and used at any convenient place in the open air where most customers may be expected. The streets swarm with tinkers of every description, and their occupations extend to the repairing of every article. The dexterity with which they put together broken glass, porcelain, and other fragile articles, is astonishing. Their earnings are so trifling, that the most industrious workman does not gain above one mace (about ninepence) per day."

THE ELM.-No. II.

AMIDST those extensive districts of park and ornamental plantations which give so peculiar and embellished a character to our island scenery, the elm has ever held a distinguished place. The stately cedar, the graceful acacia, the

glistering ilex, the shadowy plane, and many more of the numerous foreigners now naturalized among us, may appear superior in several respects, yet the associations they awaken are more suited to the shrubbery or pleasure ground. The park, being a scene in which art is supposed to embellish rather than supplant the wild scenery of nature, demands trees upon a grander scale, yet such as should also convey the idea of utility blended with those of shelter and ornament. And where do these particulars so equably blend as in this stately yet well-known tree? Being, as we have observed, rarely found but where the hand of man may be traced, and yet unequalled in size and majesty by few of our forest trees, its very aspect seems to convey the idea of simple refinement, and a close though artificial imitation of nature.

The palace homes of England!
How beautiful they stand
Amid their tall ancestral trees,
O'er all the pleasant land!

HEMANS.

"Loving society, yet averse from a crowd, delighting in fresh air and in room, to expand its roots, and affording its aid to all the weaker plants in its vicinity that may seek its support," to quote the words of Strutt, "the elm presents an emblem of the class of country gentlemen whose abode it is oftenest found to adorn and protect.' And whether it overhang the noble mansion as a guardian canopy, or in detached groups constitute a picturesque foreground to the distant view, or "ranged in corresponding lines" it forms a lengthened vista of approach, it alike harmonizes with the locality, and displays itself to advantage.

But like that true nobility of mind which assorts with every station, and renders its possessor, whether peer or peasant, a useful and happy member of society, the elm, which adorns and enriches the inclosures of the wealthy, is often found equally magnificent and beautiful by the high-way side, or on the village green; and shelters as kindly beneath its "leafy screen" the thatched cottages of the hamlet, as the lordly domes of their titled proprietors. Who that has traversed our more sequestered districts, has not often paused to gaze with interest on some stately specimen overhanging the way-side inn, the blacksmith's shed, the glassy pool, or some other spot of rural resort? Such a tree