with winged lions; even in the hunting scenes, which are less simply
ludicrous, there seems to be an occasional striving after strange and
laughable attitudes, as when a stricken bull tumbles upon his head, with
his tail tossed straight in the air [PLATE LXV., Fig. 31], or when a
lion receives his death-wound with arms outspread, and mouth wildly
agape. [PLATE LXVI., Fig. 2.]

[Illustration: PLATE 66]

The second period of Assyrian mimetic art extends from the latter part
of the eighth to nearly the middle of the seventh century before our
era; or, more exactly, from about B.C. 721 to B.C. 667. It belongs to
the reigns of the three consecutive kings--Sargon, Sennacherib, and
Esar-haddon, who were contemporary with Hezekiah and Manasseh in Judaea,
and with the Sabacos (Shebeks) and Tirhakah (Tehiak) in Egypt. The
sources which chiefly illustrate this period are the magnificent series
of engravings published by MM. Flandin and Botta, together with the
originals of a certain portion of them in the Louvre; the engravings in
Mr. Layard's first folio work, from plate 68 to 83; those in his second
folio work from plate 7 to 44, and from plate 50 to 56; the originals of
many of these in the British Museum; several monuments procured for the
British Museum by Mr. Loftus; and a series of unpublished drawings by
Mr. Boutcher in the same great national collection.

The most obvious characteristic of this period, when we compare it with
the preceding one, is the advance which the artists have made in their
vegetable forms, and the pre-Raphaelite accuracy which they affect in
all the accessories of their representations. In the bas-reliefs of the
first period we have for the most part no backgrounds. Figures alone
occupy the slabs, or figures and buildings. In some few instances water
is represented in a very rude fashion; and once or twice only do we meet
with trees, which, when they occur, are of the poorest and strangest
character. (See [PLATE LXVI., Fig. 1.]) In the second period, on the
contrary, backgrounds are the rule, and slabs without them form the
exception. The vegetable forms are abundant and varied, though still
somewhat too conventional. Date-palms, firs, and vines are delineated
with skill and spirit; other varieties are more difficult to recognize.
[PLATE LXVI., Fig. 3.] The character of the countries through which
armies march is almost always given--their streams, lakes, and rivers,
their hills and mountains, the