sake, and for Israel mine elect, I have called thee by thy name-I have surnamed thee though thou hast not known me."

Cyrus was the son of Cambyses, Satrap, or king of Persia, and of Mandana the daughter of Astyages king of the Medes. He was born one year after his uncle Cyaxares, who was the brother of Mandana.

The Persians at this period inhabitated only a single province of that vast empire, which has since borne the name of Persia. With the conquests of Cyrus the name of Persia was extended, till it comprehended all that territory which reaches from the Indus to the Tigris, east and west; and from the Caspian sea to the ocean, north and south.

Cyrus, though of great personal attractions, was still more to be admired for the qualities of his mind, and for the gentleness and humanity of his disposition. He was educated according to the rules of the Persians, who sent their youth to school to learn virtue and justice, as we send ours

Isaiah xlv. 4.

to learn arts and sciences. There he learned also to draw the bow, and to throw the javelin; and was inured, with his companions, to endure toil and hardships, to engage in exercises which strengthened the body for the fatigues of war, and for suffering those privations to which a military life might expose him. And in these accomplishments Cyrus excelled all his young compatriots.

After he was twelve years old, he was sent for into Media by Astyages his grandfather, with whom he resided for five years. In this court Cyrus saw a style of life and manners in complete contrast to that of his father's in Persia. For the Medes delighted in luxury and magnificence-they affected effeminacy of mannersthey dressed in scarlet-ornamented themselves with bracelets and necklaces; while the habits of the Persians, to which he had been accustomed, were plain and simple in the extreme, and instead of a luxurious table, they ate merely to appease hunger, and bread and cresses was often their only fare. During his residence in Media, the young Cyrus gained the favour of all

who knew him by his gentle, affable, and generous behaviour; and when the young courtiers had any favour to solicit from Astyages, Cyrus was their ambassador; or if the king had felt displeasure towards them, Cyrus was their mediator.

When he was about sixteen years of age, the son of the king of Babylon, at a hunting match a little before his marriage-to display his courage-made an inroad into the country of the Medes, which brought Astyages into the field, to chastise his presumption. Here it was that Cyrus, who accompanied the king, first entered the lists of war, and acted with so much skill and bravery, that the victory which the Medes at this time gained over the Babylonians was principally attributed to his valour. *

Sir Robert Porter describes the Valley of Oujon, or Field of Heroes, in his Travels in Persia, and concludes it with a conjecture which bears upon the early history of Cyrus.

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The Valley of Oujon, once the magnificent royal chace of the greatest monarchs of Persia, and studded with their pavilions, is now a neglected, though a luxuriant plain and spotted over with the black tents of the Nomade peaceable tribes. Here we saw both antelopes and moun.

The following year Cambyses recalled his son into Persia, where he continued till he was forty years of age; at which time Astyages dying, his uncle Cyaxares sent for him to his aid against the forces of Neriglissar, whom he joined, as we have already related, with thirty thousand men, and was made general of the whole confederate army.

Neriglissar, hearing that Cyrus was approaching with so great an army to the assistance of the Medes, sent ambassadors to the Lydians,

tain goats scouring the valley in herds; partridges, and various kinds of water-fowl, were also numerous; with the hoborrah, a very beautiful bird, in size between the bustard and pheasant, covered with a brilliant silvery plumage, the tips of the wings alone being jet black. We took a farewell glance of the vale of Persian heroes. And why may it not have been the Field of Heroes far anterior to those of the Sassanian race? and originally been so named from the famous hunting expedition of Merodach, prince of Assyria and Babylon! Xenophon tells us it took place on some plain, celebrated for game, near the frontiers of the empire; and ending, like our Chevy Chace, in a fray between the Persian chivalry, and that of the invaders, first "flushed the maiden sword" of the young Cyrus in the breasts of his country's enemies."

Phrygians, Carians, Cappadocians, Cilicians, and other neighbouring nations, to solicit their aid in the war; representing the strength of the enemy, and the necessity of combining their forces for the sake of maintaining the balance of power in Asia against the common enemy; by which means he drew them all into a league with him for prosecuting the impending hostilities.

The king of Armenia, who had hitherto been a tributary of the Medes, conceiving that power as already annihilated by the prodigious strength of this Asiatic confederacy, thought fit to withdraw his allegiance from Cyaxares, and refused to send his quota of auxiliaries to the aid of his lord paramount. Cyrus instantly determined

to check this revolt, lest an example so daring should be followed by others: and under pretence of a hunting match, he entered Armenia before his intentions could be suspected-surprised the rebel king-and took him and all his family prisoners. But having seized the hills near Chaldea, planted forts on them, and garrisoned them

This is not the Chaldea in Mesopotamia.