History

EVERYONE has heard of the case of Elizabeth Canning,' writes Mr. John Paget; and till recently I agreed with him. But five or six years ago the case of Elizabeth Canning repeated itself in a marvellous way, and then but few persons of my acquaintance had ever heard of that mysterious girl.

The book may not appeal to the orthodox religionist nor to the materialist; but may prove interesting, if not enlightening, to the agnostic and to the investigator of either psychic phenomena, or the phenomena of mental therapeutics.

Fifty years ago, the opinion was held by some that we could watch, in the tradition of the most ancient realms of the East, the first awkward steps in the childhood of the human race, while others believed that it was possible to discover there the remnants of an original wisdom, received by mankind at the beginning of their course immediately from the hand of heaven. The monuments of the East, subsequently discovered and investigated by the combined labour of English, German, and French scholars, have added an unexpected abundance of fresh information to the Hebrew Scriptures and the narratives of the Greeks, which, till then, were almost our only resource. No one can any longer be ignorant that Hither Asia at a very remote period was in possession of a rich and many-sided civilisation. The earliest stages of that civilisation in the valley of the Nile, of the Euphrates and the Tigris, on the coasts and in the interior of Syria are, it is true, entirely hidden from our knowledge; even the far more recent culture of the Aryan tribes we can only trace with the help of the Veda and the Avesta back to the point at which they were already acquainted with agriculture, and possessed considerable artistic skill.

There is little to charm the imagination in the first ages of Chivalry. No plumed steeds, no warrior bearing on his crested helm the favour of his lady bright, graced those early times. All was rudeness and gloom. But the subject is not altogether without interest, as it must ever be curious to mark the causes and the first appearances in conduct of any widely spread system of opinions.

THE language of Zosimus, according to the judgment of Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, in his BIBLIOTHECA, is concise, expressive, pure, and sweet; but, being a Heathen, he often reproaches the Christian Princes, and is upon that account reprehended by the same Photius, by Evagrius, Nicephorus, and others: it is, however, the opinion of Leunclavius, that Zosimus ought to be believed even in those relations, there being no doubt that the Christian Princes were guilty of many enormities, which could not be passed over by the faithful Historian.

Esarhaddon was the son and successor of Sennacherib. He rebuilt Babylon, which his father had destroyed, and conquered Egypt. Contents: The Genealogy and Accession of Esarhaddon, and Principal Events of His Reign; List of Texts; System of Transliteration of Assyrian Signs; List of Eponyms; Will of Sennacherib; Titles of Esarhaddon; Esarhaddon's Battle at Khanirabbat; The War Against Nabu-Zir-Napisti-Esir; Expedition Against Abdi-Milcutti, King of Tsidon; Expedition Against Cilicia; Arabian War of Esarhaddon; The Median War; The Buildings of Esarhaddon; The Building of the Palace; The Names of the Eight Kings; The Names of the Twenty-two Kings of The Country of the Hittites and the Sea-Coast; Esarhaddon's Egyptian Campaign; and Names of the Kings Appointed Over Egypt by Esarhaddon.