particular specimens, that impresses us as we contemplate the series.
Lions, wild asses, dogs, deer, wild goats, horses, are represented in
profusion: and we scarcely find a single form which is repeated. Some
specimens have been already given, as the hunted stag and hind [PLATE
XXVII.] and the startled wild ass [PLATE XXVI.] Others will occur among
the illustrations of the next chapter. For the present it may suffice to
draw attention to the spirit of the two falling asses in the
illustration [PLATE LXIX., Fig. 3], and of the crouching lion in the
illustration [PLATE LXIX., Fig. 2]; to the lifelike force of both ass and
hounds in the representation [PLATE LXX., Fig. 1], and here particularly
to the bold drawing of one of the dogs' heads in full, instead of in
profile--a novelty now first occurring in the bas-reliefs. As instances
of still bolder attempts at unusual attitudes, and at the same time of a
certain amount of foreshortening, two further illustrations are
appended. The sorely wounded lion in the first [PLATE LXX., Fig. 2]
turns his head piteously towards the cruel shaft, while he totters to
his fall, his limbs failing him, and his eyes beginning to close. The
more slightly stricken king of beasts in the second [PLATE LXXI.], urged
to fury by the smart of his wound, rushes at the chariot whence the
shaft was sped, and in his mad agony springs upon a wheel, clutches it
with his two fore-paws, and frantically grinds it between his teeth.
Assyrian art, so far as is yet known, has no finer specimen of animal
drawing than this head, which may challenge comparison with anything of
the kind that either classic or modern art has produced.

[Illustration: PLATE 71]

[Illustration: PLATE 72]

As a specimen at once of animal vigor and of the delicacy and finish of
the workmanship in the human forms of the time, a bas-relief of the king
receiving the spring of a lion, and shooting an arrow into his mouth,
while a second lion advances at a rapid pace a little behind the first,
may be adduced. (See [PLATE LXXII.]) The boldness of the composition,
which represents the first lion actually in mid-air, is remarkable; the
drawing of the brute's fore-paws, expanded to seize his intended prey,
is lifelike and very spirited, while the head is massive and full of
vigor. There is something noble in the calmness of the monarch
contrasted with the comparative eagerness of the attendant, who
stretches forward with shield and spear to p