The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
Volume XIV. The Victorian Age, Part Two.
§ 15. A. H. Layard
An eastern travel-book of equal interest though of quite a different stamp is A Popular account of discoveries at Nineveh (1851) by Austen Henry Layard, who, also, was a restlessly energetic eastern wanderer of cosmopolitan tastes and habits. More picturesque, even, than the description of the finding of the great sculptured man-lion is the account of the removal of the colossal man-bull by a crowd of yelling Arab workmen “half-frantic with excitement.” In his old age, after a varied diplomatic and parliamentary career, Sir Henry Layard wrote a charming account of Early Adventures in Persia, Susiana and Babylonia. Among literary works of eastern travel, William Hepworth Dixon’s two works on Palestine and on Cyprus also claim mention.