THE FALL OF NINEVEH.

"WOE to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; the noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses. And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee*." It

is the fulfilment of this remarkable prophecy that the artist has here endeavoured to represent ;-a prophecy singularly accomplished in all its particulars, not long after it was delivered. The infamous life of Sardanapalus, the king, had so disgusted his subjects, that a conspiracy was formed against him, at the head of which were Arbaces, the Mede, and Beleses, a Babylonian priest, who seduced from his fealty Rabsaris, the bosom friend of the sovereign, and father of his chief concubine. The conspirators were defeated in three pitched battles, when they prevailed upon the Bactrians, who had marched to the king's aid, to join them. With this reinforcement the rebels twice defeated the troops of Sardanapalus, who shut himself up in the city, which sustained a vigorous siege of three years. The effeminate monarch at length, dreading to fall into the hands of his rebellious subjects, ordered a vast pile of wood to be raised in the court of his palace, upon which the whole of his immense treasures were heaped. When this was done, all his concubines and eunuchs were dragged to the pyre, and enclosed within a space formed to receive them. The wretched king then mounted the pile, and, ordering it to be fired, perished, with a host of unwilling victims, in the flames. In the front of the picture he appears pointing to the pyre, surrounded by his favourite women. Behind is the splendid capital of the Assyrian empire, the grandeur of which Babylon is supposed scarcely to have eclipsed, its wall broken down, and the enemy rushing into the breach, at the moment the king is about to expiate his dissolute career by a voluntary death.

THE VISION OF THE FOUR CHARIOTS.

"AND I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass." Horses and chariots are the usual emblems of conquerors in this prophecy. The four chariots denote "the four great empires," which subdued the greatest part of the known world; and they are represented as coming from between two mountains, because mountains are the natural barriers which divide kingdoms, which are here, though they be strong as brass, supposed to be broken through by those who invade and conquer their neighbours. And it is observable that some of the mighty conquerors owed the beginning of their greatness to their successful passage through the straits of mountains, where a small force might have maintained the passes against a powerful army. So the beginning of Alexander's success against the Persians was his passing through the Porta Cilicia without any opposition; and a like success the Roman emperor Severus had against Pescenninus Niger at the same place. Also the great incursion the Turks made through the Portæ Caspiæ, was the first step towards making them appear formidable in the world. "In the first chariot were red horses; to signify the bloody persecutions of the Babylonian empire, especially towards the Jews. "And in the second chariot were black horses;" this denotes the mournful state of the Jews, under the successors of Cyrus in the Persian empire, when the whole nation was in danger of being destroyed by the interest of Haman at the Persian court. "And in the third chariot were white horses;" signifying the victories of Alexander, the third great monarch, and his kindness to the Jews in confirming their religion, laws, and liberties. Conquerors used to ride on white horses in the day of triumph. "And in the fourth chariot were grisled and bay horses." These may denote the various forms of the Roman governments, the fourth great empire. (See Louth on the Prophecies, ad loc.)