Graham's Magazine, Vol. XLI, No. 6, December 1852
“I lost no time in copying the inscriptions, and drawing the bas-reliefs, upon this precious relic. It was then carefully packed, to be transported at once to Baghdad. A party of trustworthy Arabs were chosen to sleep near it at night; and I took every precaution that the superstitions and prejudices of the natives of the country, and the jealousy of rival antiquaries, could suggest.”
Among the numerous other sculptures which Mr. Layard, with great trouble and expense, succeeded in forwarding to England, was the figure of a king, one of the most carefully executed and best preserved in the palace. He is represented with one hand on the hilt of his sword, the other being supported by a long wand or sword. It was found in the north-west palace at Nimroud.
When Mr. Layard had expended the funds appropriated by the Trustees of the British Museum for the excavations, and sent a large number of sculptures down the Tigris to Busrah, to be shipped to England, he caused the excavations to be carefully filled up, and leaving for a season the scene of his labors, returned to England. Another expedition has since been sent to Nimroud, further excavations have been made, and Mr. Putnam will ere long publish their results. In the meantime, we feel that we cannot too cordially commend to the reading public, the first work of Mr. Layard, as affording the most interesting and important revelations concerning the actual state of the ancient world, which have been made public since the Egyptian discoveries of Champollion.
FRAGMENT OF A POEM
—BY WM. ALBERT SUTLIFFE— It was the twilight, and we sat alone. We sat alone beside the winter fire — My friend and I – a fire that crackled well, And sounded through the stillness as a flame Shoots through the dark. The embers of the sun Had died to ashes. While it sunk we talked Of Love, of Beauty, Poetry and Hope, Which are religion. For, is Beauty loved, Then God is loved, and in our loving we Do emulate his noblest attribute. But all our words had failed to silentness, And memories clustered in the heart’s twilight, As shadows in a wood; and all was still. But in the quietness there seemed to grow A sympathetic mood, and we to look, As through glass, into each other’s mind, Calm reading, while our thoughts and feelings verged In a soft sadness to one common point. Then low I spoke: – “Were it not sweet and well To die from out this chaos of a life Into the waiting dark, and leave our toil To stronger minds and hands? To spurn the clay, And mount the crystal air in spiral gyre, Glad-voiced, and angel-winged, like bird uncaged? I think it sweet! or so it seemeth now, When I look back, as down a charnel-vault, Into the retrospect, and see it all; — See every should-be that was never done, And every would-be that has died its death, And my hot dreams, and my distempered hopes,Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
1
It may not probably be known to ordinary readers that while a copperplate-engraving begins to fail after two or three thousand copies have been taken from it, and is worthless after six or eight thousand, fifty or sixty thousand can be taken from wood-blocks, and yet more from steel, without detriment.
2
History Wood Engraving. Jackson. London.
3
As an exemplication of the above statement, two wood-cuts are here submitted, with the view of proving the absolute necessity of a good artist-like drawing to enable the engraver to produce a handsome or even creditable wood-cut. Both the following cuts are from one sketch, by the great landscape-painter Morland – the one meagre, tame, unfilled, and presenting nothing beyond a bare, cold outline; the other a remarkably spirited and flowing sketch, not one of the extra or additional lines being supernumerary, but each tending to give both effect and support to the outline.
4
And here it is well to point out to those seeking to obtain good wood-engravings, for the illustration of works which they propose to write or publish, that there are two absurdities, about equally great, usually committed by persons in their position. The one of which is the ordering and paying liberally for the work of a clever artist and designer, and then mulcting the engraver one half the price he ought to receive, if he do his duty and spend the requisite time on the work, and wondering why the product is a wretched botch and not a fine work of art. The other is the converse of this, paying an engraver well to cut, and grudging the extra expense of a good artist. For it must be remembered, that in wood-engraving the artist and designer, where they are not one, as in the case of Bewick and a few others – and this is a rare case – must work in unity of intent, with a perfect comprehension of, and a full sympathy in, the meaning and genius each of the other.
5
Entrance of chamber B, plan 3.
6
Ezekiel, xxxi. 3, etc.; Zephaniah, ii. 13 and 14.
7
Chamber C.
8
Storms of this nature are frequent during the early part of summer throughout Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and Susiana. It is difficult to convey an idea of their violence. They appear suddenly and without any previous sign, and seldom last above an hour. It was during one of them that the Tigris steamer, under the command of Colonel Chesney, was wrecked in the Euphrates; and so darkened was the atmosphere, that, although the vessel was within a short distance of the bank of the river, several persons who were in her are supposed to have lost their lives from not knowing in what direction to swim.
9
Chamber B, plan 3.
10
This bas-relief will be placed in the British Museum.
11
Entrance A, chamber B, plan 3.
Вы ознакомились с фрагментом книги.
Для бесплатного чтения открыта только часть текста.
Приобретайте полный текст книги у нашего партнера:
Полная версия книги