DOI Heft:
August 16, 1856
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16618#0069
August 16, 1856.]
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
61
PUNCH AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE.
No. I.—THE NINEVEH COURT.
Court ought to
be removed from
the Crystal Pal-
ace. Under the
flimsy pretext of!
illustrating the |
history and man-
ners of an an-
cient people,
Mb.. Layard,
Mb. Eebgus-
s0n,and their ac-|
complice0, have
contrived to in-
sert into the
building an ela-
borate squio
upon our glo-
rious constitu-
tion, and several other of our glories aod social advantages.
The account of the Ninnyvites which Mb. Lai akd gives in his Hand-
book, is artfully framed to insinuate what it niigtit oe imprudent to
express more openly. He goes into their history, and says that their
first King was Pull. This is a treasonable hint that sovereignty had the
pull over them, as it has had, traitors would allege, over other people
besides Ninnyvites. Their public recotds are upon slabs engraven with
the arrow-headed character, evidently implying that public men were
capable of drawing the long bow. He asserts that their priests gave
themselves extraordinary airs, and used to disguise themselves in fancy
little time, a^d being skilful at giving a good dig (he retains the accom-
plishment) soon made his way into the mound, and found a waU,
panelhd with inscribed slabs. This was not the first visit of the
Member for Nineveh to his constituents, hut his canvass had, on his
previous journey in 1840, been objected to by the Tuiks, who, in fact,
would not let him put up a tent at all. Flis researches wtre soon
rewarded, and ere long he dug out the Great Head.
This apparition frightened the Arabs aw'ully, and with i>o great, courtesy
towards their religious teacheis, they declared it to be either one Oi
their prophets or an evil spirit. Clearly the Arabs must consider their
vaccinators to be no better tbaD our racing prcphets ; in other words-
costumes, and, on the strength of these, exact, an obedience to which their | subterranean untruthtellers. However, the head turned out to be
superior virtues did not entitle them. He says that their people of big
rank dressed themselves effeminately, wore gold and precious stones,
dyed and curled their hair, and even put on wigs, as if persons of real
distinction would stoop to such pettiness, and he hints that their ladies
were nasty enough to paint themselves. He represents their magis-
trates as influenced by base consider
ations, aud on the external wall facin
the transept actually shows a Beaktakiti
a sop. In face, setting aside the malicious r^S^J^wF'^^^ I uiously. The real articles discovered were sent off to the British
intent of the satire, the libels upon the
defunct Assyrians are quite enough to
rouse the Nineveh Lion.
Could we lose sight of this much to be
deprecated design on the part of the con-
trivers of the Nineveh Court, we admit
that there is a good deal to see in it. The
Court is not a complete restoration—which
is well, for the complete Restoration of a
Court, as we saw in the time of Chablks
the Second, is not always desirable.
But to the height of about seventeen feet
from the ground it has been copied from
an emblematic figure, like one that had been found in Kbdrsabad,
but as the body was that of a lion instead of tnat of a bull, there was
some difference in the tails and details.
Digging away—playing spades like trumps—the excavators, in a fe<*
months, found five-and-twenty halls, each a splendid haul where all wa>
fish that came to the net. Here they discovered all kinds of secrets
Like a mob of Oriental Boys Jones, they broke into every part of the
Palace—which it seems the place »as—and they ransacked unce'emo-
Museum, and copies of them, much cleaner and brighter and better
than the originals, are in this Court. King Nimrotjd's- crown and
sceptre had disappeared, but they found his spectacles, toothbrush, and
umbrella, and many things belonging to his Queens, especially a peram
bulator, in which the maids-of-honour nsed to wheel about the little
Prince of Nineveh. If these things are not discovered on the walls
of the Court, it will be because the spectator does not look in the place
where they are.
The Member for Nineveh again visited his constituents in 1849, and
reversed the ordinary proceedings in such cases. He got a great deal
out of them. He obtained plates, the real Babylon willow pattern,
bow's, whether for rolling or for making the head go round he does not
explain, cauldrons, thrones, enamelled bricks, vases, and other elegan-
existing remains; and as the majority of _Ujli^---, r~^-^ j cies, aud when his Arab workmen asked—having packed these articles
the visitors to the Crystal Palace are | of vertu, " Tare to ? " he nobly replied, '' To the British Museum."
(we are informed by the courteous ofllcials) less than seventeen feet in j Me. Layabd also found a deity partly human,
height, there is little danger of the people being misled by anything partly fish, which some think meant Justice, lor
that may come under their eyes. • no other reason, apparently, than its scales. It
To M. Botta, the French Consul at Mosul, Mr. Layabd was much j wears the turban usual on these figures, and is
indebted for assistance in discovering the Nineveh ruins ; but this aen-s in fact made up of turban and turbot. But his
tleman was not successful at first, because he was living at Khorsabad, great feat was finding the tomb of Sabdana-
which was of course-a-bad place for the purpose. However, Mr. palus. The dreadful row this ill-used aud
Layabd went down the Tigris on the 8th of November, 1845, after; entombed monarch made on perceiving that the
breakfast, and on a raft formed of inflated skins. The party, having intruder was an Englishman, who knew the
blown out their skins well, reached the ruins in a few hours, and must Princess's Theatre, frightem d Mb. La yard
have been greatly gratified at the prospect, inasmuch as no remains of almost as much as the Great Head had done
building, not even " a trace of masonry," were visible. We do not the Arabs. The volley of abuse which Sab-
quite understand this complaint of a want of any trace of Masonry, danapalus showered upon Mb. Charles Kean,
The brotherhood of Preemasons seldom haunt places where there is no and insisted on Mr. Latabd's conveying to
"refreshment" to be got after "labour." The amiable Covvper wished that gentleman, was perfectly shocking, and
tor " a Lodge in some vast wilderness," but we nt-ver heard a single showed that the deceased monarch was a true
P. M. or even a humble J. D. echo the wish. Did Mr. Layabd expect King of the Turvey-drop dynasty. Still the
to find the Royal Nimroud Lodge, Brother Boshkoku, W.M., and a indefatigable excavator went on digging, and
select bani with aprons and gridirons, waiting for him ? These effemi- found so many palaces, that thismemo'ial of
nate lamentations are unworthy of a hardy traveller. them might be called the Palace Court, if such
When he arrived, nobody seems to have been up, except the Tigris, a name would not terrify every one from entering. In the Palace
which, Mb. Layabd poetically says, h>>d deserted its ancient bed ; and of Snatchacbab, as the late Rtv. Sydney Smith calls the monarch
from the statement that the public edifices of Assyria were made of. who came down like a wolf on the fold, seventy-one halls were disco-
cLy, mixed with "chopped straw," the Tigris, in flowing over them,1 vered, all covered with inscriptions, which the eomewhat egotistic king
seems to have imitated the late Mrs. Margery Daw, who not only had written in praise of himself. The lengths he went may be judged
Bold her bed, but took to lying in the latter article. The traveller lost, from the fact, that nearly two miles of bas-reliefs were uncovered. The
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
61
PUNCH AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE.
No. I.—THE NINEVEH COURT.
Court ought to
be removed from
the Crystal Pal-
ace. Under the
flimsy pretext of!
illustrating the |
history and man-
ners of an an-
cient people,
Mb.. Layard,
Mb. Eebgus-
s0n,and their ac-|
complice0, have
contrived to in-
sert into the
building an ela-
borate squio
upon our glo-
rious constitu-
tion, and several other of our glories aod social advantages.
The account of the Ninnyvites which Mb. Lai akd gives in his Hand-
book, is artfully framed to insinuate what it niigtit oe imprudent to
express more openly. He goes into their history, and says that their
first King was Pull. This is a treasonable hint that sovereignty had the
pull over them, as it has had, traitors would allege, over other people
besides Ninnyvites. Their public recotds are upon slabs engraven with
the arrow-headed character, evidently implying that public men were
capable of drawing the long bow. He asserts that their priests gave
themselves extraordinary airs, and used to disguise themselves in fancy
little time, a^d being skilful at giving a good dig (he retains the accom-
plishment) soon made his way into the mound, and found a waU,
panelhd with inscribed slabs. This was not the first visit of the
Member for Nineveh to his constituents, hut his canvass had, on his
previous journey in 1840, been objected to by the Tuiks, who, in fact,
would not let him put up a tent at all. Flis researches wtre soon
rewarded, and ere long he dug out the Great Head.
This apparition frightened the Arabs aw'ully, and with i>o great, courtesy
towards their religious teacheis, they declared it to be either one Oi
their prophets or an evil spirit. Clearly the Arabs must consider their
vaccinators to be no better tbaD our racing prcphets ; in other words-
costumes, and, on the strength of these, exact, an obedience to which their | subterranean untruthtellers. However, the head turned out to be
superior virtues did not entitle them. He says that their people of big
rank dressed themselves effeminately, wore gold and precious stones,
dyed and curled their hair, and even put on wigs, as if persons of real
distinction would stoop to such pettiness, and he hints that their ladies
were nasty enough to paint themselves. He represents their magis-
trates as influenced by base consider
ations, aud on the external wall facin
the transept actually shows a Beaktakiti
a sop. In face, setting aside the malicious r^S^J^wF'^^^ I uiously. The real articles discovered were sent off to the British
intent of the satire, the libels upon the
defunct Assyrians are quite enough to
rouse the Nineveh Lion.
Could we lose sight of this much to be
deprecated design on the part of the con-
trivers of the Nineveh Court, we admit
that there is a good deal to see in it. The
Court is not a complete restoration—which
is well, for the complete Restoration of a
Court, as we saw in the time of Chablks
the Second, is not always desirable.
But to the height of about seventeen feet
from the ground it has been copied from
an emblematic figure, like one that had been found in Kbdrsabad,
but as the body was that of a lion instead of tnat of a bull, there was
some difference in the tails and details.
Digging away—playing spades like trumps—the excavators, in a fe<*
months, found five-and-twenty halls, each a splendid haul where all wa>
fish that came to the net. Here they discovered all kinds of secrets
Like a mob of Oriental Boys Jones, they broke into every part of the
Palace—which it seems the place »as—and they ransacked unce'emo-
Museum, and copies of them, much cleaner and brighter and better
than the originals, are in this Court. King Nimrotjd's- crown and
sceptre had disappeared, but they found his spectacles, toothbrush, and
umbrella, and many things belonging to his Queens, especially a peram
bulator, in which the maids-of-honour nsed to wheel about the little
Prince of Nineveh. If these things are not discovered on the walls
of the Court, it will be because the spectator does not look in the place
where they are.
The Member for Nineveh again visited his constituents in 1849, and
reversed the ordinary proceedings in such cases. He got a great deal
out of them. He obtained plates, the real Babylon willow pattern,
bow's, whether for rolling or for making the head go round he does not
explain, cauldrons, thrones, enamelled bricks, vases, and other elegan-
existing remains; and as the majority of _Ujli^---, r~^-^ j cies, aud when his Arab workmen asked—having packed these articles
the visitors to the Crystal Palace are | of vertu, " Tare to ? " he nobly replied, '' To the British Museum."
(we are informed by the courteous ofllcials) less than seventeen feet in j Me. Layabd also found a deity partly human,
height, there is little danger of the people being misled by anything partly fish, which some think meant Justice, lor
that may come under their eyes. • no other reason, apparently, than its scales. It
To M. Botta, the French Consul at Mosul, Mr. Layabd was much j wears the turban usual on these figures, and is
indebted for assistance in discovering the Nineveh ruins ; but this aen-s in fact made up of turban and turbot. But his
tleman was not successful at first, because he was living at Khorsabad, great feat was finding the tomb of Sabdana-
which was of course-a-bad place for the purpose. However, Mr. palus. The dreadful row this ill-used aud
Layabd went down the Tigris on the 8th of November, 1845, after; entombed monarch made on perceiving that the
breakfast, and on a raft formed of inflated skins. The party, having intruder was an Englishman, who knew the
blown out their skins well, reached the ruins in a few hours, and must Princess's Theatre, frightem d Mb. La yard
have been greatly gratified at the prospect, inasmuch as no remains of almost as much as the Great Head had done
building, not even " a trace of masonry," were visible. We do not the Arabs. The volley of abuse which Sab-
quite understand this complaint of a want of any trace of Masonry, danapalus showered upon Mb. Charles Kean,
The brotherhood of Preemasons seldom haunt places where there is no and insisted on Mr. Latabd's conveying to
"refreshment" to be got after "labour." The amiable Covvper wished that gentleman, was perfectly shocking, and
tor " a Lodge in some vast wilderness," but we nt-ver heard a single showed that the deceased monarch was a true
P. M. or even a humble J. D. echo the wish. Did Mr. Layabd expect King of the Turvey-drop dynasty. Still the
to find the Royal Nimroud Lodge, Brother Boshkoku, W.M., and a indefatigable excavator went on digging, and
select bani with aprons and gridirons, waiting for him ? These effemi- found so many palaces, that thismemo'ial of
nate lamentations are unworthy of a hardy traveller. them might be called the Palace Court, if such
When he arrived, nobody seems to have been up, except the Tigris, a name would not terrify every one from entering. In the Palace
which, Mb. Layabd poetically says, h>>d deserted its ancient bed ; and of Snatchacbab, as the late Rtv. Sydney Smith calls the monarch
from the statement that the public edifices of Assyria were made of. who came down like a wolf on the fold, seventy-one halls were disco-
cLy, mixed with "chopped straw," the Tigris, in flowing over them,1 vered, all covered with inscriptions, which the eomewhat egotistic king
seems to have imitated the late Mrs. Margery Daw, who not only had written in praise of himself. The lengths he went may be judged
Bold her bed, but took to lying in the latter article. The traveller lost, from the fact, that nearly two miles of bas-reliefs were uncovered. The