Ex Libris C. K. OGDEN 10- WONDERFUL THINGS FIRST SERIES. LONDON HOULSTON AND WRIGHT 65, PATEBKOSTEB ROW. ACCURATE AND INTERESTING DESCRIPTIONS I WONDERS OF ALL NATIONS. "WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS OX WOOD. I J. ASft W. 14, Bartholomew Close. CONTENTS. Page IirraoDFCTioir. The Pyramids of Egypt 5 Ascending The Pinnacle of the Pyramid. The Interior The Purpose of the Pyramids. Sixty-nine other Pyramids. The Building of the Great Pyramid. The Church of the Holy Sepul- chre 12 The Mosque of Omar 14 The Mosque of St. Sophia 16 The Great Wall of China 17 The C rown of Empires at Agra ... 20 The Mogul Palace at Lahore 21 The Jumna Musjeed at Delhi 22 The Imperial Palace. Indian Pagodas 23 The Pagoda of Sidan 6 j-arn. The Pagoda of Tanjore. The Pagoda of Seringham. The Pagoda of Madura. The Temple of the Golden Supreme, in Birmah. The Escurial of Toledo 26 The \Valhalla 28 The Cathedral of St. Basil at Moscow 30 The Seraglio of the Sultan 31 The Alhambra 32 The Wonders of Thebes 37 Th Palace-Temple of Karnac. The Temple of Luxor. The Memnonium. The Tombs of Thebes. Edfou 46 Palmyra 47 The Temple of the Sun Potra... 53 Pompeii 67 The Coliseum 60 The Forum 65 The Vatican, the Palace of the Popes 63 Pace Peestnm 63 Ruins of Athens 69 The Parthenon. The Acropolis. The Areopagus. Ruins of Baalbec 73 The Palace of Persepolis 80 The Ruins of Babylon 83 The Tower of Babel Xineveh 87 The Ruins of GOUT 98 The Ancient Metropolis of Bengal. The Cave-Temples of India 102 The Cave of Elephanta The Cave-Temples of Kennery. TheCaveofCarlee. The Wonders of Elora. The Rock-Temples of Mavali- puram ; 113 The Palmyra of the Deccan 115 Ephesus 116 Alexandria 118 Tyre 119 The Acropolis of Ammon 120 Stonehenge ... 122 Ruins of Yucatan 125 The Pyramids of Mexico 135 St. Peter's 139 St. Paul's 144 Westminster Abbey 148 York Minster 151 The Cathedral at Milan 153 The Crystal Palace 155 The Royal Exchange 160 The Mosque of Cordova 161 The Monument 164 Trajan's Column 166 The Pillar of the Place Vendome, Paris 168 The York Column 169 Pompey's Pillar 170 The Arch of Titus 171 The Arch of Constantino. Nelson's Monument ... ... 173 <4 -* "i CONTEXTS. Page The BeH-Roek Lighthouse 173 Iron Lighthouse, Jamaica 175 The Holyhead Lighthouse 176 The Eddystone Lighthouse 177 Euston Square, Railway Station... 180 The Dee Railway Viaduct 181 The Stones of Venice 182 The Royal Palace at Amsterdam 182 Wonderful Towers 184 The Porcelain Towers of Nankin. The Tower of the Winds at Athens. The Leaning Tower of Pisa. The Leaning Tower of Saragossa. The Leaning Towers of Bologna. The Falling Tower at Caerphilly. The Falling Towers, Bridgenorth. The Great Eastern Steam Ship ... 188 Wonderful Bridges 191 Natural Bridges 192 The Natural Bridge, Virginia. Natural Bridges of Iconowzo. Natural Bridge of Angaraez. Wooden Bridges 197 Timber Bridge of Schaffhausen. Timber Bridge of Schuylhill. Bridges of the Danube. The Britannia Tubular Bridge ...203 The Palm 211 Wonderful Images 214 The Cedars of Lebanon 218 The Prairies 221 Diamonds 225 The Koh-i-noor, or Mountain of Light. The Point Cysylltan 231 The White Ants 232 The Pigeon and the Hawk 238 The Young Swans 239 The Rat and Gold Ring 239 An Odd Fish 240 Cotopaxi, the Great Volcano of the Alps 241 The Crocodile 245 Hypochondriacs 2-19 A Wonderful Continent 250 The Tomb of Cyrus . 251 Page Wonderful Springs .................. 253 A Man all Bone ........................ 259 Chemical Phenomena ............... 259 The Submarine Electric Tele- graph .................................... 260 Shooting Stars ........................... 268 Thunderstorms ........................ 271 A Storm in the Alps. Tornado in the Bahamas. Hurricanes. Wonderful Island Builders ......... 278 The Great Metropolis ............... 236 Triumphal Arches ..................... 291 Setting the Thames on Fire ......... 294 The Banian Trees ..................... 297 The Hippopotamus ..................... 300 Tbe Internal Fires of the Earth... 304 Earthquakes .............................. 309 Insect \Vonders ........................ 313 Wonderful Human Organs ......... 318 The Heart. Wonderful Rains ..................... 321 Peter Botte Mountain ............... 324 The Tower of Skulls .................. 323 Queer Stomachs ........................ 331 How Animal Food came first to be Eaten .............................. 333 Impudence of a Quack ............... 334 Iceb rgs 335 Links between Quadrupeds and Birds .................................... 341 TheTrilobite ........................... 344 Snakes .................................... 347 The Battle of the Snakes. How they Catch Snakes. Serpent Fascination. Imitative Insects ..................... 354 The Leaf Insect. The Sphyni. The Camel Cricket. The Giraffe Cricket. South American Spider. | The Wonderful Frost of 1814 358 ' Wonders of Aerostation, or Bal- I looning 364 1 Wonderful Flying Animals 373 The Flying Fish, &c. I ADVERTISEMENT. NOTHING awakens so much interest, or exercises such a deep and abiding influence upon old and young, as the Wonderful in Nature and Art with which the world is filled. It is in search of the wonderful, ot at least under the stimulus of the sentiment, that the traveller visits distant countries, and the man of science explores the hidden things of Nature. This sentiment is the pioneer of all progress of knowledge, in discovery, and, we might add, in religion, for the wonders of Nature expand our views of God, as the wonders of Art ennoble our views of the capacity and destiny of Man. The sentiment was powerful in the early ages of the world, else the wonders of Egypt and Nineveh never had come into being. It is still strong, though taking a different direction, amidst the bustle of trade and commerce, else the Crystal Palace had never risen in its magic splendour, and had never drawn its thousands and millions within its walls. In the minds of the young, the sentiment is ever fresh. To furnish it with food, which shall be both instructive and entertaining, as well as elevating in its moral tone, is the object of the following work. We propose to exhibit to our readers, by the help of the pencil and the pen, the most palpable IV INTRODUCTION. wonders of ancient and modern times. From the earliest ages, when the ears of childhood listened to the story of the Seven Wonders of the World, from the lips of sage or sire, down to the present time, similar collections of the marvels and miracles discovered or achieved by human genius ha^e been in constant demand. The work now about to be issued will differ from all its predecessors of the same class, in being more comprehensive, more sys- tematic, more carefully prepared, and better illustrated. It will be truly an Exhibition of the Wonders of all Nations ; and to our young readers, especially, we cannot doubt that it will be a welcome and prized addition to their juvenile libraries. THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT. WE open our world of wonders with the oldest and still the great- est wonder of the world, the Py- ramids of Egypt. There are sixty- nine of them altogether, now as- certained beyond all doubt to be royal tombs ; thus forming the most magnificent Necropolis ir the world. The largest and finest are those of Djizeh, Sakhara, and Dashour, in the neighbourhood of Cairo. \Ve cannot describe them all, nor is it necessary. Those of Djizeh are the most conspicuous, standing upon a bed of rock 150 feet above the desert, and 150 feet above the river. Of this group the GREAT PYRAMID will chiefly occupy our attention. We shall best describe it by taking the reader with us in an imaginary visit to this world-famed structure* (J THE PYRAMIDS. It is sin-nilar to notice the deception created by their great size on the one hand, and the clearness of the atmosphere on the other. At first they appear neither very high, nor very distant ; so that we expect to reach them soon after they appear in sight. But we travel on, and they appear no larger nor nearer. All large objects are deceptive in this .way. Large hills, large buildings, famous waterfalls even the Himalayas, St. Peter's, and Niagara, at first sight disap- point the traveller, especially when the atmosphere is clear, and there are no intervening objects to act as a set-off to ^the largest. But this primary disappointment invariably gives place to the full measure of wonder naturally inspired by the scene. It is so with the Pyramids. " They certainly," says one traveller, " have an awful look everlasting as it were compared to any other structure which you have either seen or can imagine." Dr. Clarke thus describes his first view of them at sun-rise from the Nile-boat. " We hastened from the cabin ; and never will the impression made by their appearance be obliterated. By reflecting the sun's rays, they appeared as white as snow, and of such surprising magnitude, that nothing we had pre- viously conceived in our imagination had prepared us for the spectacle we' beheld. The sight instantly convinced us that no power of description, no delineation can convey ideas ade- quate to the effect produced in viewing these stupendous monuments. The formality of tl.eir structure is lost in their prodigious magnitude ; the mind, elevated by wonder, feels at once the force of an axiom, which, however disputed, expe- rience confirms, that in vastness, whatsoever be its nature, there dwells sublimity !" Arrived at the confines of the great sand-heap which sur- rounds the rock upon which the Pyramids are built, we begin to ascend, our donkeys sinking in the sand at every step. At no great distance from the first Pyramid, in a deep sandy hollow, stands the world-famed Sphinx, which, however, we pass, as we are in a hurry to get to the Pyramid itself. Now we are at the foot of the stone mountain ! The first step is before us, but to step on to it, or rather to step up, or climb up that is the difficulty, for it is nearly as high as ourselves ! There we stand, gazing upward, the eye glancing along from step to step, and almost wearied with reaching the summit, until we seem as mere insects in the presence of such a stu- pendous mass of solid masonry. The ground covered by the great Pyramid is equal to the area of Lincoln's-inn Fields, and 50 feet over every way say including the square and tha THE PYRAMIDS. 7 rows of surrounding bouses. Its perpendicular height is 461 feet, being 24 feet higher than St. Peter's, and 117 feet higher than St. Pauls. The quantity of stone used in this Pyramid is estimated at six millions of tons, which is just three times that of the vast Breakwater thrown across Plymouth Sound. However, we must now try to get to the top, and here are some Arabs ready to help us. lu ASCENDING we have to pursue a zigzag course, looking towards the face of the Pyramid, seldom looking down the deep distance below, though tempted now and then to gaze upward at the tower- ing steps which seem to mount to the very clouds. It seems as if we had been a life-time on the journey, and as if it would never come to an end. But we toil on, and as we reached the bottom, so in due time we reached the top ! Now then, we are at THE PINNACLE OF THE PYRAMID ! There is room for standing, that is one comfort, and there is accommodation for sitting, that is a greater comfort, for by this time we are pretty well tired. The surface of the pin- nacle is thirty feet square, with a layer of stone blocks some- what raised in the centre, upon which we take our seats while surveying the wide and wonderful prospect around and below us. Stretching away to the north and east, the eye rests upon one of the most fertile spots in the world the valley of the Nile teeming with fruitfulness, while the wonderful river, the source of all this wealth, is winding away to the sea, leaving behind it innumerable shining lakes or canals glistening in the sunshine. On the opposite side of the river gleams the white houses, and the towers and minarets of Cairo, with the island of Ehoda ; while nearer still, between us and the city, are countless villages embosomed amid the palm-trees. At our feet lie the it-regular hillocks of yellow sand, and the mysterious monument of the Sphinx. The contrast on the west is wonderful enough ; for there the yellow sand hills of the Libyan desert, without one particle of vegetation, present the aspect of eternal nakedness. There is something awfully sublime, and almost fearful, in this intense desolation. Upon the south, the Pyramids of Sakhara, Abousier, and Dashour, seem spread out like so many tents, or like some great en- campment upon the edge of the desert. ^ As we stand upon this hoary summit, we seem, also, to look back into the night 8 TUE PYRAMIDS. of immeasurable antiquity. On the plain below was slowly developed that civilization, that "wisdom of the Egyptians,' which descended as a heritage to other nations. There is no spot on earth so venerable as the plain of Memphis, as there are no monuments like th Pyramids. Could we have stood on the same spot 3000 or 4000 years ago, what a scene would have spread out before us ! Stretching f jr miles and miles along the raised edge of the desert, we should have beheld these sixty mausolea of the Memphian sovereigns overlooking their magnificent capital with its gorgeous temples and palaces extending to the Nile. And now, when we make arrange- ments for descending, we look for the steps, but from the top down to the very bottom, it seems like a smooth surface of an immense inclined plane, threatening to make our descent more precipitate than would be comfortable. By the way we got up, however, we get down without damage, and through an opening about two-thirds from the top, we enter and take a peep into THE INTERIOR. At the entrance, two large blocks, resting against each other, form a sort of pointed arch, and serve to take off the top- weight from the roof of the passage. The Queen's Chamber is in the centre of the Pyramid. The stones in the side walls are so well fitted together that the joints can scarcely be traced ; and an incrustation of salt has tended still more to give them the appearance of having been hewn in the solid rock, which, however, is not the case. In the King's Chamber the roof is flat, and the side walls are of granite. It contains a sarcophagus of the same red granite, nearly seven and a half feet long, and only three inches narrower than the door by which it was admitted. It gives back, on being struck, a sound like a deep-toned bell. It has, however, been almost destroyed, not by Turks, but by travellers. There are small holes or tubes in the side walls for conducting air into the Pyramid. It is supposed to have been first opened about 1000 years ago, by one of the Caliphs, who expected to discover treasures inside, but found none save what he afterwards deposited on purpose himself, that he might not appear to have been befooled. THE PURPOSE OF THE PYRAMIDS Ts involved in obscurity. There was long a unanimous opi- nion that they were the gigantic tombs of the Egyptian kings. All the Greek and Roman writers who have mentioned them, have this opinion of them. An ingenious theory has been TTIE I'THA'SIIDS. JO THE PYRAMIDS. advanced by a modem French writer, Persigny, who supposes them to have been built in order to arrest the progress of the Bands from the desert, and thus to have had the patriotic purpose of preserving the cultivated fields of Egypt from de- struction. But the old opinion is still the most prevalent and best sustained. Along with one main design, however, colla- teral uses may have been intended and provided for in their construction. SIXTY-NINE OTHER PYRAMIDS Are scattered along the same side of the Nile, for more than a score of miles ; but they have proved such convenient quar- ries for building purposes, that not more than half would now attract the eye of the passer-by, and the process of demolition goes on apace. Had the materials of the great Pyramid been as small as the stones of Dashour, it might, like some of those, be standing up now in palace walls at Cairo. The tombs at Sakhara undergo an equally curious transformation, some- times into a government factory, sometimes into a pleasure- house for a pacha. The process of demolition, however, has not always been an easy one. Abdallatif relates of an Egyp- tian pacha that he was persuaded to overthrow the Red Pyramid, viz., that of Mycernius, and sent thither miners, sappers, and quarriers, who tried for eight months to execute their commission ; but their utmost efforts, with people raising with picks and levers above, and pulling with ropes and cables below, could not remove above one or two stones a day : and after the stone was down at the foot of the Pyramid, they were obliged to break it in pieces in order to remove it ; and one of the engineers is reported to have said, that although he were to get several thousand pieces of gold, he could not readjust one of these stones in its former place. If preserved from similar destructive efforts in future, they will last as long as the world ! "All things dread Time ; but Time dreads the Pyramids." At last they abandoned the at- tempt. The same writer remarks : " These Pyramids are constructed of great stones, from ten to twenty cubits long, and two or three cubits in the breadth and thickness. The most admirable particular of the whole is the extraordinary nicety with which these stones have been prepared and adjusted. Their adjustment is so precise, that not even a needle or a hair can be inserted between any two of them. They are joined by a cement, laid on to the thickness of a sheet of paper." The wonder only increases when we begin to imagine how these THE PYRAMIDS. 11 huge indestructible piles were originally formed. The oldest historical information on the subject is that furnished by Herodotus, who visited them as objects of antiquity even in his day ! His account of THE BUILDING OF THE GREAT PYRAMID states how Cheops closed the temples, stopped the sacrifices, and made everybody work for him : how some quarried the stone in the Arabian hills, and others conveyed it to the rivei', and over a bridge of boats ; and others drew it to the spot where it was wanted : and how it could be carried and mounted only by a causeway, which of itself took ten years to con- struct, and which was a fine work, with its polished stones and figures of animals engraved on them : how 100,000 men were employed at a time, and were relieved by the same number at the end of three months : how, besides the ten years occupied with the causeway, much was required for levelling the rock on which the edifice stands, and twenty years for the building of the Pyramid itself: how a machine, made of short pieces of wood, was placed on every step, as the work proceeded, to raise the stones for the step above ; and how the filling in of these gradations, forming the last smooth surface, was begun from the top: how this surface bore engraved (so that Herodotus himself saw it) an inscription which told the expense of the vegetables eaten by the labourers during the progress of the work ; and how confounded the traveller declares himself to be (judging from the sum spent in vegetables) at the thought of the expenditure further necessary for the rest of the food and clothes of the workmen, and their iron tools, during the long course of years required for the wholt series of works. " It is impossible (says Dr Clarke) to leave the Pyramids of Djizeh without some notice of the long list of philosophers, marshals, emperors, and princes, who, in so many ages, have been brought to view the most wonderful of the works of man. There has not been a conqueror pre-eminently dis- tinguished in the history of the world, from the days ot Cambyses down to the invasion of Napoleon Buonaparte, who withheld his tribute of admiration from the genius of the place. The vanity of Alexander the Great was so piqued by the overwhelming impression of their majesty, that no- thing less than being ranked among the gods of Egypt could elevate him sufficiently above the pride of the monarchs by whom they were erected. When Gemianicus had subdued the German empire, and seated " a Roman prefect upon the 12 THE CHURCH OF THE HOLT SEPULCHRE. splendid throne of the Ptolemies," being unmindful of repose or of triumph, the antiquities of the country engaged ail his attention. The humblest pilgrim, pacing the Libyan sands around them, while he is conscious that he walks iu _tne footsteps of so many mighty and renowned men, imagines himself for an instant to be admitted into their illustrious conclave. Persian satraps, Macedonian heroes, Grecian bards, sages, and historians ; Eoman warriors, all of every age, nation, and religion, have participated, in common with him, the same feelings, and have trodden the same ground. Every spot that he beholds, every stone on which he rests his weary limbs, have witnessed the coming of men who were the fathers o e law, of literature, and the arts. Orpheus, Thales, Homer, Lycurgus, Solon, Pythagoras, Plato, Plutarch, contributed by their presence to the dignity of the place. Desolate and melancholy as the scene appears, no traveller leaves it with- out regret, and many a retrospect of objects which call to mind such numerous examples of wisdom, of bravery, and of virtue ! THE CHUKCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. AMONG the chief objects of attraction to the traveller who visits Jerusalem, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has ever been the foremost. It is supposed to be built on the spot where Christ was buried ; but it is unnecessary to add that this is a mere tradition. It was originally erected by the mother of Constantine, and no cost was spared to render the building answerable to the wealth and piety of those by whom it was planned. It continued to be the admiration of Christians till the year 614, when the Persian conqueror, Chesres, amid other acts of barbarous ferocity, burnt the venerable edifice to the ground. It was rebuilt in 628 by the emperor Heraclius ; and when the caliph Omar became master of Jerusalem, he was so far from injuring the sacred pile, that he protected it by his commands, and honoured it by acts of personal piety. It remained till 1808, when it was utterly destroyed by fire, the flames sparing nothing in their ravages but the ornaments about the holy of holies. It has since risen again in all its ancient grandeur, and in the foim in which it had for so many ages inspired the veneration of devout pilgrims. Sandys, speaking of the old building, says, " The roof of the temple is of a high pitch, curiously arched, and supported with great pillars of marble; the outward aisles galleried above, the universal fabric, stately and sumptuous." The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is THE CHURCH OF THE HOLT SEPULCHRE. 13 contained within a cloistered circle, the lower portion of which is divided into several chapels, while that above affords a lodging for the numerous monks engaged in the service of the sanctuary. "This round (says the old tra- veller) is covered with a cupola, .sustained with rafters of cedar, each of one piece ; being open in the midst, like the Pantheon at Borne." Maundreil says, that it was so contrived as to contain under its roof twelve or thirteen sanctuaries, marking particular circumstances in the sufferings and resurrection of our Lord. These he mentions : first, the place where Jesus was derided by the soldiers \ secondly, where they cast lots for bis garments ; thirdly, where he was shut up, while they dng the hole in which to fix the cross ; fourthly, where he was nailed to the tree ; fifthly, where the cross was erected ; sixthly, where the soldier stood who pierced his side ; and so on ; each spot being surmounted by an altar, and regarded as a place for the exercise of some special act of devotion. The appearance of this remarkable place has been little changed by the fire of 1808. A traveller* whose descriptions are always lively and interest- ing, having spoken of the other remarkable places in the circuit of the church, thus describee the Chapel of the Cross : " Descending twenty-eight broad marble steps, the visitor comes to a large chamber, eighteen paces square, dimly lighted by a few distant lamps, the roof being supported by four short columns with enormous capitals. In front of the steps is the altar, and on the right a seat, on which the empress Helena, advised by a dream where the true cross was to be found, sat and watched the workmen who were digging below. Descending again fourteen steps, anothei chamber is reached, darker and more dimly lighted than the first, and hung with iaded red tapestry. A marble slab, bearing on it the figure of the cross, covers the mouth of the pit in which the true cross was found. The next chapel is over the spot where our Saviour was crowned with thorns , and under the altar, protected by an iron grating, is the very stone on which he sat. Then the visitor arrives at Mount Calvary. A narrow marble staircase, of eighteen steps, leads to a chapel/ about fifteen feet square, paved with marble in mosaic, and hung on all sides with silken tapestry, and lamps dimly burning, &c. Removing a covering of silk, our tra- veller saw, by the aid of a lamp, a fissure in the rock, .which, it is said, was rent asunder at the moment when, our Saviour * Stephens' " Incidents of Travel" B 14 " THE MOSQUE OF OMAR. expired. Descending to the floor of the church, he saw this rent still more distinctly, and opposite to it a monument, covering, marvellous to be said, the head of Adam ! Having accomplished the tour of the church, the visitor returned to the Holy Sepulchre itself. Taking off his shoes on the marble platform in front, he was admitted by a low door ; and in the centre of the first chamber beheld the very stone said to have been rolled away from the mouth of the sepulchre. Again, stooping lower, he entered the inner chamber, "the holiest of holy places." " The sepulchre, (he says) is a marble sarcophagus, somewhat resembling a common marble bathing tub, with a lid of the same material. Over it hang forty-three lamps, which burn without ceasing, night and day. The walls are of a greenish marble, usually called verd-antique." Many a decent pilgrim has expressed his wonder and delight, that in 1808, when all the rest of the edifice was like a raging furnace, even the stones and marble pillars crumbling into dust beneath the fury of the flames, the very curtains about the holy tomb remained unsinged ! This church still continues to be the great central object of attraction the idol-temple for all Christendom ; and the most disgraceful scenes of rioting and bloodshed may still be witnessed around and within the " sacred walls," so well was it said by Him whom they profess to worship, " Ye worship ye know not what : the true worshipper worships the father in spirit and in truth." THE MOSQUE OF OMAR. THE Mosque of Omar, occupying the site of Solomon's Temple, is, next to the Holy Sepulchre, though for different reasons, the most wonderful building in Jerusalem. This far - famed fabric is not so much a single mosque, as a collection or group of mosques. The Mussulmans, we are told, recognize only two temples as such ; viz., their celebrated Mosque at Mecca, and the Mosque of Omar at Jerusalem. Both these edifices have a peculiar sanctity in their eyes ; and both are closed, by the strictest laws^ against Jews, Chris- tuns, and all, in short, who do not profess the faith of the Koran. The Mosque of Omar forms a vast court or closed area, and is entered by a gate. It is composed of two macmificient masses of building, which might be regarded .as "separate temples, but for the contiguity, and symmetrical relation to each other. Of these grand divisions of the mosque, the one ia THE MOSQTJE OF OMAR. 15 called El-Aksa, and the other El-Sakhara. El-Aksa consists of seven naves, which are supported by pillars and columns. The centre nave is terminated by a splendid cupola. Two other naves open to the right and left of the main body of the building, which is approached by a portico of seven arcades in front, and one in depth, resting on massive square pillars. The cupola is supported by four grand arches, resting also on square pillars, decorated by fine columns of brown marble. The structure itself is spherical, with two lines of windows, and is ornamented with paintings and beautiful golden arabesques. Immediately in front of the principal gate of the Aksa, is a noble causeway 284 -feet long. In the middle is a beautiful marble basin, with a fountain in the form of a shell. At the end a magnificent flight of steps conducts to the Sakhara ; and the whole appearance of this part of the mosque is calculated to inspire admiration for its beauty and extent. But contrasted with all this grandeur, are several buildings of the most wretched description, raised against the left side of the Aksa, and intended as residences for the numerous olficers engaged in the service of the mosque. The other division of the temple, called El-Sakhara, 'derives its name from the rock in the centre, about which so many wonderful things have been told, and which is consequently an object of the profoundest veneration among the devout Mussulmans. The edifice rises from a vast platform of 460 feet in length, and 399 in width, being elevated sixteen feet above the general plane of the temple. It is ascended by eight flights of steps ; and in the middle of this marble platform stands the Sakhara, the form of which is octagonal. It is externally incrusted with different kinds of marble to half its height ; little square bricks of different colours forming a coating for the remainder. Each of the octagons is furnished with five large windows, of splendidly painted glass, in arabesques. The plane of the central circle of this remarkable edifice ia raised three feet above that of the surrounding naves ; and is enclosed by a lofty and magnificent railing of iron, gilt. Within this mysterious round stands the sacred rock, called JSl- Sakhara-Allah. According to the Mahommedan notion, this is the place whence, with the single exception of Mecca, the prayers of men ascend most acceptably to heaven. The space between the west side of the court El-Sakhara and El-Aksa is occupied by several square platforms, paved with beautiful marbie, for the Imauns, whose office it is to direct the prayers of the faithful. Between the platforms, jg THE MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA. and in other parts of the great courts of the temple, are several cisterns ornamented with marbles, columns, and cupolas, which serve as reservoirs for the rain-water, to be distributed among the people. According to common report, the entire area of the Aksa is undermined ; and a staircase is spoken of, near the principal gate, by which a descent is occasionally made to the vast vaults beneath. Of the few European travellers who have penetrated into the interior of the mosque, one of the most successful was Dr. Richardson, who was introduced by a patient out of gratitude for his professional services. His account confirms the universal report as to the general extent and magnificence of the edifice ; but it is too long and minute for extract, THE MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA Is the most celebrated of the mosques in Constantinople. Miss Pardoe thus describes it as seen by lamp light, at the time of prayer. "On passing the threshold, I involuntarily shrank back before the blaze of light that burst upon me. Far as the eye could reach upwards, circles of coloured fire, appearing as if suspended in mid-air, designed the form of the stupendous dome ; while beneath, devices of every shape and colour were formed by myriads of lamps of various hues : the imperial closet, situated opposite to the pulpit, was one blaze of re- fulgence, and its gilded lattices flashed back the brilliancy, till it looked like a gigantic meteor. As I stood a few paces within the doorway, I could not distinguish the limits of the edifice I looked forward, upward to the right hand, and to the left ; but I could only take in a given space, covered with human beings, kneeling in regular lines, and at a cer- tain signal bowing their turbaned heads to the earth ; while the shrill chanting of the choir pealed through the vast pile ! And this was St. Sophia ! To me it seemed like a crea- tion of enchantment the light the singing voices the mys- terious extent, which baffled the earnestness of my gaze the 10,000 Moslems the bright and varied colours of the dresses all contrived to form a scene of such unearthly magnifi- cence, that I felt as though there could be no reality in what I had looked on, but that, at some sudden signal, the towering columns would fail to support the vault of light above them, and all would become void." THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. THE Great Wall of China ranks next to the Great Pyramids of Egypt among the "Wonders of the World, being as remarkable for extent aa the latter is for solidity and size. Father Gerbillon, a Catholic Mis- sionary, who travelled along the chief part of it, says, " It is indeed one of the most surprising and ex- traordinary works in the world ; yet it cannot be denied that those tra- vellers who have mentioned it Lave over-magnified it, imagin- ing, no doubt, that it was in its whole extent the same as they saw in the parts nearest Pekin, or at certain of tha most im- portant passes, where it is indeed very strong and well built, as also very high and thick." He states that from the East- ern ocean to the frontiers of the province of Chan-si, or for the distance of 200 leagues, it is generally built of stone and brick, with strong square towers sufficiently near for mutual defence, and having besides at every important pass & formid- jg THS GREAT WALL OF CHINA. able and -well-built fortress. In many places in this part the wall is double and even triple. But toward the western ex- tremity, it is nothing but a terrace of earth. In many places it is carried over the tops of the highest and most rugged rocks as may be seen by the above illustration. Our mission- ary-traveller wonders how stones and bricks could be carried to such places, or how the Chinese could construct vast forts on spots where the boldest European architects would not attempt to raise the smallest building. It is made of two walls of brick and masonry, not above a foot and a half in thickness, and generally many feet apart : the interval be- tween them is filled up with earth, making the whole appear like solid masonry. For six or seven feet from the ground these encasing walls are built of large square stones : the rest is of brick, paved on the top with flag-stones. The mortar used is of excellent quality. The wall itself averages about twenty feet hi height, but the towers, which are distributed along it, are seldom less than forty feet high. At their base these towers are about fifteen feet square, but they gradually diminish as they ascend. Both walls and towers have battle- ments. There are stairs of brick and stone, as well as inclined- planes, to ascend to the platform on the top of the wall, along which six horsemen may ride abreast. Near all the gates may be found towns or large villages ; indeed, near one of the gates which opens on the road towards India, there is a large and populous city, where two Catholic missionaries stayed thirty days. They state that " the esplanade on the top of the wall is much frequented by the citizens of Siiiing-fu, both for the enjoyment of the air, which blows most wholesomely and pleasantly from the adjacent deserts, and for the per- formance of sundry games and exercises for the easing and re- creating of the mind ; for the walls are of that height that they readily invite the inhabitants unto them by the prospect they afford, and which is on every side most clear and open, and withal exceeding pleasant : and the stairs that give ascent unto the walls are broad and convenient." 'J hey give the length of a journey which may be performed along the top of the wall, as occupying eighteen days, starting from the gate by Sining-fu, and stopping by the gate at the city of Sucien, which opens upon the desert ; and state that many travellers, from motives of mere curiosity, having obtained permission from the governor of Sining-fu, and furnished themselves with provisions, have performed this mural journey. The contrast between the country within the walls and the wilds without, is described as being at cei-tain points very striking ; looking THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. 19 down from the battlements and towers which frequently fringed the loftiest rocks, these travellers could see on one side a cultivated expanse covered with numberless inhabi- tants, and on the other all the wilduess of the desert, that seemed never to have been trod by human footsteps, but abounded with all kinds of wild beasts. The view of the wall itself must be equally imposing, as it traverses one vast plain after another, and strides over lofty mountains its nu- merous towers, here entire and there falling to ruins, the sides of the walls, here free and open there overgrown with creeping plants, and garlanded with hardy trees that shoot from their interstices, or that spring from their base ; the whole, to appeai'ance, stretching out as if it were to girdle the globe, or as if it had no end. The antiquity of the struc- ture must add to the vastness and solemnity of the im- pression. Mr. Barrow makes some curious calculations, which assist the conception of the magnitude of this wonderful wall. Ac- cording to him, the materials of all the dwelling-houses in England and Scotland, supposing them to amount to 1,800,000 (this was about half a century ago), and to average on the whole 2000 cubic feet of masonry or brickwork, are barely equivalent to the bulk or solid materials of the great wall of China ! Nor are the projecting massy towers of stone and brick included in this calculation. These alone are calculated to contain as much material as London. The mass of matter is more than sufficient to surround the globe, on two of its great circles, with two walls, each six feet high and two feet thick ! But in this calculation the earthy part in the middle of the wall is included. In its eastern branch, it has only two gaps, and they are where an inaccessible mountain and broad rivers supply its deficiency. The passages through the wall are arched, or run underground. The sally-ports for the troops are very numerous. Purchase says, in his " Pilgrims," that '' when any enemy appeareth, they kindle fires upon the towers, to give the people warning to come to their places where they are appointed upon the wall." Kircher, (a missionary,) says, " This work is so wondrous strong, that it ia for the greatest part of admiration to this day ; for through the many vicissi- tudes of the empire, changes of dynasties, batteries and assaults, not only of the enemy, but of violent tempests, deluges of rain, shaking winds and wearing weather, yet it discovers no signs of demolishment, nor is it cracked or grazed with age, but appears almost as in its first strength 20 THE CROWN OF EMPIRES AT AGRA. greatness, and beauty; and well it may be, for whose solidity whole mountains, by ripping up their rocky bowels for stones, were levelled, and vast deserts, buried with deep^ and swal- lowing sand, were swept clean to the firm ground." This wall was probably begun as early as two centuries and a half before the commencement of our era ; and it was finished according to Chinese authority, in five years, every third man in the empire, capable of such labour, being pressed into the service. When it is added that the greater number sunk under the pressure of such severe fatigue, the account is more credible ; but the whole is no doubt much exaggerated. It is more probable that the whole of this stupendous undertaking was the work of several generations than of one prince. THE CROWN OF EMPIRES AT AGRA. THE Taj Mahal, or Crown of Empires at Agra, is a mauso- leum built by the Emperor Shah Jehan, in honour of his em- press the Begum Narr Mahal. It is built of white marble, raised on a terrace, and in the form of a mosque, with min- arets. The Mosaic ornaments of the interior, including even the marble pavement, are extensive, rich, and elaborate, the flowers and arabesques being composed of no less than twelve different stones, such as agates, jaspers, and various coloured marbles, the numerous quotations from the Koran being in black marble. A garden, with fountains and highly orna- mented gateways, surrounds the mausoleum ; and the tout ensemble is supposed, whether for extent, symmetry, mate- rial, or execution, to surpass any thing in the world of the same description .' This is the uniform opinion, even of those who have seen the master pieces of Italian art. " It is possi- ble (says the celebrated Bernier) I may have imbibed an Indian taste ; but I decidedly think that this monument de- serves much more to be numbered among the wonders of the world than the Pyramids of Egypt." The architect was a Mahommedan, and the whole building is said to have cost 750,000. The tomb of the emperor Acbar, six miles from Agra, is also a wonderful building, and would be so regarded in any place which had not the Taj Mahal to boast of. There are other mausoleums of astonishing size and grandeur. There is also the Mosque of Acbar, a building superior to the famous Mosque of Soliman at Constantinople. Its red granite walls are encrusted with plates of gold, and a cornice runs along THE MOGUL PALACE AT LAHORE. 21 the foundation. The Mosque of Aurengzebe, on the river side, is supported by upwards of one hundred columns. In addition to all these, Agra boasts of the Palace of Acbar, one of the finest buildings in Asia. It stands on an eminence ; its walls of red granite present the appearance of a single block of stone, extending in a crescent shape along the river side, leaving between its walls and the water, a beach which is used as a harbour, where numerous trading vessels and pleasure-boats are continually calling. Three days in the week the great square of the palace, planted with several rows of oriental plane-trees is employed as a market-place. Round this square a fine gallery extends, and at regular dis- tances are six triumphal arches of entrance, leading from the same number of spacious streets. The middle of the square is ornamented with a stone statue of an elephant emitting a stream of water from his trunk. The palace has two immense galleries, adorned with twenty-four double columns of white marble, with pedestals of blue granite, and capitals of yellow mica. The mosque connected with the palace is entirely ot mica, and resembles a casket of precious pebble. In the in- terior of the apartments, sculptures executed in gold, marble, and red, yellow, and black stone, occur everywhere in the greatest profusion. Bound the great palace, seven smaL marble palaces, for the use of the princes, are arranged in symmetrical order. THE MOGUL PALACE AT LAHORE Is one of the finest and most sumptuous in the world. It was founded by Acbar, and enlarged by his successors. When beheld from the opposite side of the river, with its varied terraced gardens, it looks like a scene of enchantment, suited to the ideas formed of the palace of Semiramis, or of one of the fairies of the Arabian Tales. The terraced roofs are adorned from one end to the other with a thousand species of the finest flowers native to a country which is the abode of eternal spring. The interior of this magnificent building is ornamented with gold, porphyry, and fine-grained red granite. The hall, where the throne is placed, and its gallery, are most of all admired, the walls and ceiling being covered with fine rock crystal, and a trellice of massive gold running along, adorned with figures of grapes executed in pearls and precious stones, vying with one another in brilliance. The bathing-room contains a bath in the form of a boat, which U made of oriental agate, adorned with plates of gold, this used 22 THE JUMNA MUSJEED AT DELHI. to be fil-ed with eight hogsheads of rose-water ! Across the river is a mausoleum of great beauty, only second to the iaj Mahal at Ai^ra. It is (says Burnes) a quadrangular build- in" with a minaret at each comer, rising to the height of seventy feet. It is built chiefly of marble and red stone, which are alternately interlaid in all parts of the building. The sepulchre is of most chaste workmanship, with its in- scriptions and ornaments arranged in beautiful mosaic ; the shadincr of some roses and other flowers is even preserved by the different colours of the stone. Two lines of black letters on a ground of white marble, announce the name and title oi the 'Conqueror of the World,' Jehangire ; and about one hundred different words in Arabic and Persian, with a single signification of God, are distributed on different parts of the sepulchre. The floor of the building is also mosaic. ..t is probable that this beautiful monument will soon be washed into the Eavee, which is capricious in its course near Lahore, and has lately overwhelmed a portion of the garden wall that environs the tomb." The garden is another magnificent monument of Mogul grandeur. It has three terraces, each rising above the other. A canal brought from a great dis- tance, intersects it, and throws up numerous fountains to :ool the atmosphere. THE JUMNA MUSJEED AT DELHI. Is the largest and handsomest place of Mahommedan worship in India. It stands on a small rocky eminence scarped for the purpose. The ascent to it is by a flight of thirty-five stone steps, through a handsome gateway of red stone, the doors of which are covered with wrought brass. The terrace on which it is built is about 1400 yards square, and surrounded by an arched colonnade with octagon pavih'ons at convenient distances. In the centre is a large marble reservoir, supplied by machinery from the canal. On the west side is the mosque itself, an oblong form, 216 feet in length ; its whole front coated with large slabs of white marble, and compartments in the cornice inlaid with Arabic inscriptions in black. It is approached by another flight of steps, and entered by three Gothic arches, each surmounted by a marble dome. At the flanks are two minarets 130 feet high, of black marble and red stone alternately, each having three projecting galleries, and their summits crowned with light pavilions of white marble, the ascent to which is by a winding staircase of 180 teps of red stone. But the finest building in Delhi, or even 01 the empire, is INDIAN PAGODAS. 23 THE IMPERIAL PALACE. It is built of red granite, of a tasteful architecture, and is seen from a distance towering above the other buildings. Its length is 1000 yards, and its breath 600. It is said to have cost 10,500,000 rupees (1,050,000). The rooms glitter with gilding, azure, and all sorts of ornaments. The stables are capable of holding 10,000 horses. Even the kitchens were like drawing-rooms. The palace of the princesses commu- nicates with that of the emperor by a gallery. The walls of the great saloon are ornamented with crystal, and a lustre of black crystal of admirable workmanship hangs from the ceiling ; so that when lighted up, the whole presents the appearance of a conflagration. Here was the " peacock throne." Legonx says, " it is of an oval form, placed under a palm-tree which overshadows it with its foliage : a peacock, perched on one of the large palm leaves, stretches its wings to cover the personage who is seated on the throne. The palm-tree and peacock are of gold. So thin and delicate are the feathers and the leaves, that they seem to wave and tremble with the slightest breath of wind. The tail and wings of the peacock glitter with superb emeralds. The fruit of the palm is partly executed in Golconda diamonds, and is an exact imitation of nature. " The Shalimar gardens (so highly extolled in ' Lalla Rookh') are said to have cost a million sterling ! The prospect south of the gardens, far as the eye can reach, is covered with the ruined remains of magnificent gardens, pavilions, mosques, and sepulchres, ex- hibiting one of the most striking scenes of desolation any- where to be met with. Towering upwards amid the ruins is the celebrated Cuttub Minar, considered by Bishop Heber the finest tower he ever saw. It rises in live stages, the three lowest of which are of fine red granite, and the fourth of white marble. It is 242 feet high. INDIAN PAGODAS. AMONG the wonderful buildings of India, the pagodas are pre-eminent A few of them we shall now describe as specimens of a thousand others. THE PAGODA CF SIDAMBURAM, In the Carnatic, is esteemed a master-piece of architecture. It is encircled with a high wall of blue stone. Each of the 24 INDIAN PAGODAS. three gates is surmounted with a pyramid 120 feet high, built with larcre stones above forty feet long and more than five square, all covered with plates of copper and adorned with a variety of figures neatly executed. The whole struc- ture extends 1332 feet in one direction, and 936 in another. The circumference forms a vast gallery, divided into apart- ments, in which the Brahmins live. In the area of the temple there is a large pool, skirted on three of its sides with a beautiful gallery supported by columns. A broad stair of fine red granite leads down from each of these galleries to the pool. On the side opposite to the water there is a magnificent hall, ornamented with 999 columns of blue gra- nite, covered with sculptures representing the principal Hindu deities. One of the greatest curiosities of this pagoda is an immense granite chain of exquisite workmanship, extending from four points of the circumference of the cupola to the nave, and forming four festoons 137 feet long, with the ends held by four enormous wedge-shaped stones belonging to the arch. Each link is somewhat more than three feet in length, and the whole of a beautiful resplendent polish. THE PAGODA OF TANJORE, Is reckoned the finest specimen in India of a pyramidical temple. Its grand tower is 199 feet in height, rising from the ground by twelve successive stages. In a covered area is a bull carved in black granite, sixteen feet in length by twelve and at half feet inheight, esteemed one of the best works of Hindu art. THE PAGODA OF SERINGHAM, An island opposite Trichinopoly, is pre-eminent in magnitude and sanctity, being about FOUR MILES IN CIRCUMFERENCE ! There are seven successive inclosures or walls, twenty-five feet high and four feet thick, and 350 feet distant from each other. Some of the stones forming the columns of its gate- ways are thirty-three feet long, and five feet in diameter : those which form the roof are still larger. The innermost shrine has never been violated by any hostile power ; nor has any European ever been admitted. It is visited by crowds of pilgrims and penitents from all parts of India. The priests and their families once formed a population of 40,000 souls, maintained by the offerings of superstition. " Here, as in all the other great pagodas of India (says a traveller), the Brah- INDIAN PAGODAS. 25 ruins live in a subordination which knows no resistance, and slumber in a voluptuousness which knows no wants." THE PAGODA OF MADURA, Also, with its spacious areas, and four colossal porticos, each a pyramid of ten stories, covers an extent of ground almost sufficient for the site of a town ! THE TEMPLE OF THE GOLDEN SUPREME, IN B1RMAH, Is the most famous building in the Birman empire. It boasts of high antiquity, and is raised on successive terraces in a manner similar to the religious structures of the Mexicans. It stands on an apparently artificial hill, the sides of which are sloped into two terraces, and ascended by steps of hewn stone. On the second terrace is the pagoda, a pyramidal building of brick and mortar, without excavation or aperture of any sort! It is octagonal at the base, each side mea- suring 162 feet, aud diminishing in breadth abruptly till it becomes of a spiral form. Its entire height from the ground is 360 feet. It is surrounded by two rows of small spires, a great variety of mouldings, ornaments in stucco, &c. ; the whole being crowned with the tee, a sort of umbrella of open iron-work, gilt, fifty-six feet in circumference, surrounded by a number of small bells, and from the centre of which rises a rod with a gilded pennant. There are also smaller temples miniatures of the large, at all the angles of the upper terrace various saloons embellished with flowering and gilding, nume- rous sculptures, idols, flying pennants, bells, and dwellings for priests on the lower terrace. The erection of temples and images forms the grand operation to which the art and in- dustry of the Birmans is directed. Major Symes considers the grand Kioum, or monastery, the residence of the head of the Birman church, as perhaps the most magnificent structure in the universe ! The East, and especially India, is indeed full of wonderful buildings and more wonderful ruins. To the latter we shall direct attention in the Part which follows this ; and, in the meantime, we must describe some of the wonderful buildings in the West. THE ESCURIAL OF TOLEDO. THE ESCURIAL OF TOLEDO. THE grandest monument raised by the Spanish monarchs is the Escurial, or, more properly, the palace and monastery of San Lorenzo, near Madrid, and is regarded by the Spaniards as the eighth wonder of the world. But the title of palace belongs, in truth, more to the monastery than to that part of the building which is appropriated to the royal residence. It unites a regal costliness and design with religious gloom : it is an abode fit for a kingly monk, who wished to withdraw occasionally from the cares of the throne into the solitude of the cloister. Such a king was the founder of this royal monastery, Philip the Second. In the plan, that of a pantheon was included, in pursuance of the will of the emperor Charles Fifth, in which his remains and those of the empress were deposited, in order that frequent masses might be said over their tombs for the repose of their souls. The edifice was begun in 1563 and finished in 1584. It stands in an elevated situation, between the declivities of two mountains, and forms a rectangular parallelogram, measuring from north to south 754 feet, and from east to west 580. Its elevation is in due proportion. It is so large that it looks, not a waste upon Olympus, but even grand amid the mighty buttresses of nature. The ashy pile looms like the palace of Death, who hence sends forth his blasts of consumption, which descend from these peeled Sierras to sweep human and vegetable life from the desert of Madrid. Cold as the grey eye and granite heart of its founder, this monument of fear and superstition would have been out of keeping, amid the flowers and sunshine of a happy valley. It is built chiefly of granite. Its plan is an imitation of a gridiron, in reference to the torture suffered on that utensil by St. Lorenzo, the martyr, to whom it is dedicated. The royal re-idence forms the handle, and the feet are designated by the four towers in the corners of the edifice. In the principal front is the general entrance, and over the gate is a statue of St. Lorenzo, vested as a deacon, and holding a book in his left hand, and in his right a gridiron of gilt bronze. The whole building consists of three principal parts : the first comprehends the grand entrance, the square of the kings, and the temple ; the second is the convent : and the third is appropriated to the palace and two colleges. On entering by the great gate, the visitor finds hinself in the square of the kings, so called from six statues of scriptural kings which are THE ESCCJRIAL OF TOLEDO. 27 in front of the temple. They are at least twice as large as life ; and it is a curious circumstance, that the six statues, as well as that of St. Lorenzo, already mentioned, 'were cut out of the same block of stone. It is more curious still, that as much of the block still remains as would furnish materials for seven more statues equally large. Beneath these statues is the principal entrance to the temple. The interior is the triumph of architecture : it takes away the breath of the beholder from its majestic simplicity. The floor is formed of squares of white and grey marble, alternately arranged. The aspect of the great altar is extremely imposing. It is ascended by nineteen steps of red-veined jasper marble, which elevate it to a majestic height. The temple is de- corated with forty paintings by different masters. The pantheon, where the royal remains are deposited, is a circular vault formed of jasper and other marbles of fine polish, filled with ornaments of gilt bronze. In the sides of the pantheon, to which but a very feeble light is admitted, are twenty-six niches, in which are deposited as many sepulchral urns of black marble, in which only kings and the mothers of kings are interred ; for etiquette in Spain survives the grave. The other queens, together with the princes and princesses, are deposited in another vault, called the Pantheon of the Infantes. From the pantheon we pass to the library. The floor is of white and grey marble, and the ceiling is covered with paintings, corresponding to the nature of the place. In one compartment, Philosophy is showing the terraqueous globe to Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Seneca, all in colossal figures ; and below the cornice is the school of Athens, divided into the two sects of stoics and academics. In another, Grammar, enthroned on clouds, sur- rounded by children with books and papers in their hands, presents to them a wreath of flowers to excite emulation. Beneath the cornice, the sons of Noah are seen building the Tower of Babel. In a third compartment, assigned to Rhetoric, Cicero is pleading for Rabirius, accused of treason, and the painting represents the emotions which his eloquence kindles in the hearts of the judges, and the liberation of the prisoner. Arithmetic, dialectics, music, geometry, astronomy, and theology, have each their separate compartments, and the tout ensemble is magnificent. Along the middle of the room are ranged seven tables, two of porphyry, and the other five of marble, which sustain spheres, terrestrial 'and celestial globes, according to different systems. The books are mostly bound in parchment. Upon their edges, which are all gilt^ 28 THE WALHALLA. the titles are written; and for this reason they are placed with their edges outwards. The library is not extensive, but contains manuscripts, especially Arabic, that are ot great value The collectipn of paintings, it is probable yields only to that which covers the walls of the Vatican The grand kitchen is worthy of 200 monks, who had little else to do but eat ! From the kitchen to the royal residence the transition is easy, especially as it is placed in the handle of the gridiron. Here the catholic kings, whose life was one dull routine, spent six weeks every year, and thus became the real handle of the man of the cowl, who had access to the despot at his first rising and at his last folding of the arms to sleep. The gar- dens are among the finest in Spain. As everything is artificial the cost was enormous, reaching to forty-five million piastres : to form them, rocks were levelled and hollowed to admit pipes of fountain and roots of trees, whose soil was brought up from the plains. It requires to be constantly renewed, and even then the vegetation is dwarf-like ; but despots delight in en- riching favourites without merit, and their felicity contrasts with the people's misery. THE WALHALLA. THE Walhalla was, according to the ancient Scandinavian mythology, the celebrated temple of Odin, in which the demi-goddesses introduced to the gods all heroes who had fallen in battle from the beginning of the world. Walhalla was covered with shields ; and 540 doors, each of which admitted at once 800 heroes, opened into it. In the centre stood a mighty tree, whose leaves were cropped by a goat, from whose udder flowed daily a vessel-full of mead, the only nourishment of the heroes in this paradise. The Walhalla, however, which we are now about to de- scribe, is the magnificent temple erected by Lewis, the pre- sent king of Bavaria, on the bank of the Danube. His Majesty thus speaks of it himself: " It was in the days of Germany's deepest degradation, when there arose, in the beginning of the year 1807, in the mind of the Crown Prince, Lewis of Bavaria, the idea of having fifty likenesses of the most illustrious Germans executed in marble ; and he com- manded the undertaking to be commenced immediately. Afterwards the number was increased, limited only to dis- tinguished Germans." Walhalla is situated on a moderately steep eminence, over- looking a vast extent of country on the northern banks ot THE WALHALLA. 29 the Danube, and opposite the ruins of the caatle of .Staufs. The ascent to the building is by a magnificent flight of more than 250 marble steps, divided by landing-places and terraces. At the foot of the second terrace is an entrance into the interior of * e lower building, in which the arrangements for heating the hall now are, but which was intended for the Hall of Expectation, where the busts of the living were to have been placed until their death. This plan, however, was given up. The height of the whole building is very nearly 200 feet, the breadth of the lowest wall (which is of Cyclopean masonry, of polygonal blocks of dolomitic) 288 feet, and the length from north to south 438 feet, the terraces projecting 208 feet beyond the building. The height of the hill is 304 feet. The temple itself measures 330 feet in length, 108 feet in breadth, and 69 feet in height. The exterior is adorned by two pediments, with figures in high relief. The one refers, symbolically, to the restoration of Germany after the war against Napoleon. In the centre is seated Germania, on both sides of whom youthful warriors lead matrons (the different states of Germany) by the hand. The other represents the battle of Teutsberg, in which the Roman legions under Varus were destroyed by Herman. Augustus was so afflicted at this defeat, that he is said to have started from his sleep, exclaiming, "Eestore me my legions, Varus !" The figure of Herman, ten feet high, is represented in the German dress, as recorded by Tacitus, trampling on the Roman eagle and fasces. On the right, two Roman warriors press forward to protect Varus, who is falling in despair on his sword ; be- hind, a dying standard-bearer, by whose side a knight is kneeling, and trying to conceal his eagle in a morass in this, another knight is sinking, and behind him a fallen en- sign-bearer. Of the German figures on the left, the bard, with a tela,, or species of harp, represents Poetry ; the pro- phetess, Religion ; the dying Sigmar, Herman's father ; and Thusnedon, the conqueror's bride ; are intended to point out the glory of a victorious death, and the dignified station which the women held among the ancient Germans. This work is one of the finest compositions of Schwanthaler, and is said to have occupied him ten years. The material from which both figures are hewn is the white marble of Sclandus in Tyrol. The entrance is very fine. The gates are of gigantic di- mensions, covered on the exterior with bronze, and on the interior with panels of maple. The length of the interior is 168 feet, the breadth 48 feet, and the height 53 feet. c 30 THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. BASIL. The first pediment descending from the ceiling represents the Creation, according to the aboriginal mythology ; the se- cond, the period of completion ; and the third, the contest with Destruction for the preservation of the universe. The walls are divided into six compartments on each side, in the lower of which are placed the busts of those inmates of Wal- halla, of whom likenesses still exist : while the upper ones contain the names of those of whom no likenesses are to be found. The friezes also deserve notice. The first division over the entrance represents the immigration of the Germans into Germany, from the East and the Caucasus ; the second, the religious, scientific, and artistical life of the ancient Ger- mans and Druids ; the third, their political life and their commerce. Then follow the chief contests of the Germans with the Roman Empire, concluding with the taking of Rome by Alaric, the Goth. Opposite to the entrance is represented the introduction of Christianity into Germany by St. Boni- face, who is felling the sacred oak of heathenism. An in- scription on the marble mosaic floor, states that this great undertaking was resolved on hi 1807 ; begun Oct. 18, 1S30; and concluded Oct. 18, 1832, the anniversary of the great battle of Leipsic. THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. BASIL AT MOSCOW. " ONE might imagine (says Dr. Clarke) that all the states of Europe and Asia had sent a building by way of represen- tative to Moscow ; timber huts from the regions beyond the Arctic ; plastered palaces from Sweden and Denmark ; painted walls from the Tyrol ; mosques from Constantinople ; Tartar temples from Bukhara; pagodas, pavilions, and verandahs from China; cabarets from Spain; dungeons, prisons, and public offices from France ; architectural ruins from Rome ; terraces and trellises from Naples ; and warehouses from Wapping." But Moscow is gradually losing its Oriental appearance. In the great fire, in which the star of Napoleon set, the greater part of the city was consumed ; but happily for the lover of antiquity, the Kremlin, which suffered com- paratively little, retains unimpaired its ancient irregularity and grandeur. Amongst the edifices which display the greatest singularity must be mentioned the Cathedral of St. Basil. It is the most extraordinary mass of buildings in Moscow, and, perhaps, in all Christendom. It consists of two stories, and is divided into twenty chapels, or small churches, which are connected THE SERAGLIO OP THE SULTAN. 31 with each other, but are of different styles of architecture and have different names. It is said that Divine service can be performed, at the same time in them all, without one dis- turbing the other. The Czar was so enchanted with this idea, and the wonderful beauty of the building, that he deprived the architect of his eyesight, that he might not be able to raise another structure to rival the present one ! No sym- metry can be discovered in the different parts of this cathe- dral ; the sixteen larger and smaller towers and cupolas differ from each other in form, and in the colour of their ornaments ; and above them rises a profusely decorated pyramidical spire, with a bulb-shaped cupola, which, like the smaller ones, is surmounted with a, cross upon a crescent. The fol- lowing description, by the Marquis de Oustine, may amuse the reader : " Imagine a conglomeration of unequal small towers, composing together a bush a nosegay of flowers ; imagine rather, a species of irregular fruit, bristling with excrescences ; or, better still, a crystallization of a thousand colours, whose polished metal reflects from far the rays of the sun, like Bohemian or Venetian glass, or the best varnished China emamel ; there are scales of gilt fish, skins of serpents ex- tended on heaps of shapeless stones, heads of dragons, lizards of varying hues, altar ornaments, sacerdotal dresses ; the whole surmounted by spires, the painting of which resembles stuffs of shot-silk : in the narrow intervals of the belfries you see glittering roofs, painted in the glancing colours of pigeons' necks, rose-coloured or azure, and always highly varnished ; the flashing of this tapisserie dazzles the eye, and fascinates the imagination." THE SERAGLIO OF THE SULTAN. THE SERAGLIO occupies one of the seven hills on which Con- stantinople, like Rome, is erected. It is believed to be of the same extent as the ancient Byzantium, being about nine miles in circumference, and entirely surrounded with walls. Its whole surface is irregularly covered with detached suites of apartments, baths, mosques, kiosks, gardens, and groves of cypress. The palace consists of various parts built at dif- ferent times, and according to the taste of successive sultans. Outside are two courts, the first of which is entered by the Sublime Porte, the principal of the gates on the city side a ponderous structure covered with Arabic inscriptions, guarded by fifty porters, and having a niche on either side in front, in which the heads of state offenders are publicly exposed. 32 THE ALHAMBRA. That part of the building which is occupied by the females has been improperly called Seraglio, and hence the word has become synonymous with Harem, the Arabic word for temple, or sacred spot. Around the court runs a low gallery, co- vered with lead, and supported by columns of marble. At its further end is the tall Corinthian column, erected by Theo- dosius the Great, to commemorate his victory over the Goths. The throne-hall is built in great part of marble. The throne itself is a canopy of velvet fringed with jewels, supported by four columns covered with gold, pearls, and precious stones. The state apartments greatly resemble each other. The walls are wainscoted with jasper, mother-of-pearl, and veneered ivory, inlaid with mosaic flowers, landscapes, and sentences in Arabic. Baths of marble and porcelain, rich pavilions over- looking the sea, marble basins, and fountains, are sprinkled over the rest of the surface within the Seraglio. The number of inmates have been estimated at 10,000, all provided for by the Sultan. And Tournefort states, that when he visited the place, besides 40,000 oxen yearly, the purveyors furnished for the use of the Seraglio, daily 200 sheep, 100 lambs or goats, 10 calves, 200 hens, 200 pairs of pullets, 100 pairs of pigeons, and 50 green geese ! THE ALHAMBRA. " THE Alhambra ! O, immortal gods, what a palace is it ! unique, I believe, upon the face of the whole earth!" Such was the exclamation of Peter Martyr, who entered it in the train of the Spanish conquerors. The Alhambra (more properly, Alhamra) or the "Bed City," was the Alcazar, or royal palace of the kings of Granada ; but grew, by numerous additions, at last, " as it were, into another city." Some of the Arabian historians suppose it to have derived its name from the colour of its materials ; others from Alhamar, the name of the founder's tnbe. One of these historians thus describes its ancient appearance: "Here are seen lofty towers, very strono-ly- iortified citadels, superb palaces, and other splendid edifices the view of which fills the spectator's mind with admiration, inere a vast mass of water, whose loud murmuring noise is heard at a distance, flows from v rious springs, and irrigates both the fields and meadows. The outer walls of the city f a gallant but ill-fated race. It is regarded as one of the finest pieces of writing hi that author's works. 36 THE ALHAMBRA. " I fell into a course of musing upon the singular fortunes of the Arabian or Moresco-Spaniards, whose whole existence is as a tale that is told, and certainly forms one of the most anomalous, yet splendid episodes in history. A remote wave of the great Arabian inundation cast upon the shores of Europe, they seemed to have all the impetus of the first rush of the torrent. Their career of conquest, from the rock of Gibraltar to the cliffs of the Pyrenees, was as rapid and brilliant as the Moslem victories of Syria and Egypt ; nay, had they not been checked on the plains of Tours, all France, all Europe, might have been overrun with the same facility as the empires of the East, and the Crescent might at Ihis day have glittered on the fasces of Paris and of London. If the Moslem monuments in Spain, if the Mosque of Cordova, the Alcazar of Seville, and the Alhambra of Granada, still bear iuscriptions fondly boasting of the permanency of their dominion, can the boast be derided as arrogant and vain ? Generation after generation, century after century, had passed away, and still they maintained possession of the land. A period had elapsed, longer than that which has passed since England was subjugated by the Norman Con- queror, and the descendants of Musa and Taric might as little anticipate being driven into exile across the same straits traversed by their triumphant ancestors, as the descendants of Rollo and William, and their veteran peers, may dream of being driven to the shores of Normandy. Never was the annihilation of a people more complete than that of the Moresco-Spaniards. Where are they ? Ask the shores of Barbary and its desert places. The exiled remnant of their once powerful empire disappeared among the barbarians of Africa, and ceased to be a nation. They have not even left a distinct name behind them, though for nearly eight centuries they were a distinct people. A few broken monuments are all that remain to bear witness to their power and dominion, as solitary rocks, left far in the interior, bear testimony to the extent of some vasi inundation. Such is the Alhambra, a Moslem pile in the midst of a Christian land ; an oriental palace amidst the gothic edifices of the west ; an elegant memento of a brave, intelligent, and graceful people, wtiu conquered, ruled, and passed away." THE WONDERS OF THEBES. FOR "Wonderful Ruins" we re- turn at once to Egypt, and in Egypt to Thebes, the City of the Hundred Gates, that mighty capital, the foundation of which is unknown to history, and belongs only to the dim ages of traditionary poetry, whose report would have been rejected as fabulous, had not such mighty mo- numents survived to prove that it fell short of the reality. This work of the first age of the world almost eclipses, as to grandeur, all that art and power have since produced. The ancient city was twenty-three miles in circumference. The valley of the Nile was not large enough to contain it, and its extremities rested upon the bases of the mountains of Arabia and Africa. At first the observer sees only a confusion of portals, obelisks, and columns, all of gi- gantic size, towering above the palm-trees. Gradually he is able to distinguish, on the Eastern or Arabian side, the palaces of Karnac and Luxor ; on the Western or Lybian side, Ma- dinet Abu, the Memnonium, and the tombs cut in the mounts.^ 88 THE PALACE-TEMPLE OF KARNAC. behind There they are standing in the unwatered sands in Bolitude and silence. They are neither grey nor blackened ; there is no lichen, no moss, no rank grass or mantling ivy, to robe them and conceal their deformities. Like the bones of man they seem to whiten under the sands of the desert. 1 ne sand has blown upon them for more than 3000 years, and has buried the largest monuments, and, in some instances, almost entire temples. THE PALACE-TEMPLE OF KARNAC Surpasses in grandeur every other structure in Thebes, and in the world. The old Pharaohs brought their gods into their palaces, and also had apartments in the temples; so that the great buildings of this metropolis were appropriated to UCAKDM RUINED EGYPTIAN PORTICO. gods and kings jointly. The French engineers on horseback were an hour and a half in performing its circuit, which, they therefore conceive, cannot be less than three miles. The temple itself is 1200 feet long and 420 feet broad! On the north-east entrance the Egyptians appear to have lavished all their magnificence. The approach is by a long avenue ol THE PALACE 1EMPLE OF KARNAC. 39 ephynxes, the largest of any in Egjpt, leading to a succession of portals with colossal statues in frort. These structures are distinguished, not only by the grandeur of their dimen- sions, but by the variety of the materials. A calcareous stone, compact as marble, a variegated silicious limestone, beautiful rose-coloured and black marbles of Syene, have been severally used. Most points of view present only the image of a general overthrow, rendering it difficult to distinguish Karnac as a series of regular edifices. Across these vast ruins appear only fragments of architecture ; trunks of broken columns ; mutilated colossal statues ; obelisks some fallen^ others majestically erect ; immense halls, whose roofs are sup- ported by a forest of columns, portals, and propylea, surpass- ing in magnitude all similar structures. From the west, this chaos assumes an orderly appearance ; and the almost endless series of portals, gates, and halls, appear ranged in regular succession, and harmonising with each other. When the plan is thoroughly understood, its symmetry appears wonderful ; and the highest admiration is excited by the arrangement and symmetry of all the parts of this vast edifice. Not only the general extent, but all the particular features, of this extra- ordinary structure are distinguished by a magnitude else- where unparalleled. There are two obelisks of sixty-nine feet, and one of ninety-one feet, high : this, the loftiest of any in Egypt, is adorned with sculptures of perfect exe- cution. The principal Hall is 318 feet long and 159 broad, having the roof still supported by 134 columns. These are about seventy feet high, and eleven feet in diameter ; and a long avenue of others have all, except one, fallen down entire, and lie on the ground, still ranged in their primitive order. All the sculptures are adorned with colours, which, though most liable, it might be supposed, to suffer from the ravages of time, shine still with the brightest lustre. Of the large sphynxes fifty are still remaining, and there are traces which show that the whole avenue once con- tained 600. The palace itself is entered with great difficulty- and its interior, being dark and filled with rubbish, presents few objects to attract the attention ; but on reaching the roof, the spectator enjoys a distinct and most magnificent view 01 the whole range of surrounding ruins. All who have visited this scene describe the impression made by it as almost supe- rior to that caused by any other earthly object. According to Denon, the whole French army, on coming in sight, stood still, struck as it were with an electri-; shock. The scene appears tc be rather the produce of an imagination surrounding itself THE PALACE-TEMPLE OF KAENAC. KNTRA.XOR TO L0XO3. 41 - ~ LUXOR (RKSTORED). with images of fantastic grandeur, than anything belonging to real existence. Belzoni declares that the most sublime ideas which can be formed from the most magnificent specimens of our present architecture, would give a very inadequate picture of these ruins. It appeared to him that he was entering a city of departed giants. He seemed alone in the midst of all 42 THE TEMPLE OF LUXOR. that was most sacred in the world. The forest of enormous columns, adorned all round with beautiful figures and various ornaments : the high portals seen at a distance from the open- in^ to this vast labyrinth of edifices ; the various groups of ruins in the other temples ; these, altogether, had such an effect upon his mind, as to separate him in imagination from the rest of mortals. For some time he seemed unconscious whether he was on terrestrial ground, or on some other planet. If. however, Karnac is unrivalled in the grandeur and extent of its remains, THE TEMPLE OF LUXOR, As a single and beautiful object, seems superior to anything else in Egypt. The view from the river is peculiarly beau- tiful, when, across the verdant islands with which it is studded, appears a wide plain covered with palm-trees, over which these colossal masses throw their shadows ; while, be- hind, the Arabian mountain-chain forms the boundary of the landscape. The approach is through the village of Luxor, whose crowded and miserable huts form a strange contrast with these monuments of ancient splendour. At length the portico appears, by the sides of which stood the two most beautiful obelisks in the world, each rising to the height^ of eighty feet, yet composed of a single block of the finest granite, from the quarries of Syene. By what means such colossal masses were conveyed to so great a distance, and placed in their present position, surpasses the conception of modern art. Behind them are two colossal statues, now studiously defaced, and deep sunk in the sand, but which must have been forty feet high, and composed of a single block of the same granite. The propylon is 200 feet in height, rising fifty-seven feet above the present level of the soil. The stones of this outwork alone would build a cathedral. The interior is equally grand. It presents to the view upwards of 200 columns of different di- mensions, many of them 10 feet in diameter, and most in an entire state. But nothing is more remarkable in this edifice than the profusion of sculptures with which the obelisks, the walls, and all the apartments, are covered. These, indeed, are favourite ornaments on all the Egyptian edifices, and remarkably frequent in the palace of Karnac ; but they occur here in unexampled profusion, and executed with as much care arid delicacy as if they had been the work of the most skilful seal- engraver. They appear to represent the history and triumphs of an ancient Egyptian sovereign, pro- bably the founder of the edifice. One compartment, in par- THE TOMBS OF THEBES. 43 ticular, exhibits a great battle in which the Egyptians, armed with bows and arrows, gain a complete victory over their Asiatic enemies, armed with the spear and javelin. The forms of pursuit and retreat, the attitudes of the victors, the wounded, and the dying, are so varied and striking, that it is supposed to have furnished Homer with materials for many of the varied descriptions with which his narrative is filled. The Western or Lybian side of the Nile presents monuments of the grandeur of Thebes, which, though not of the same stupendous magnitude, are perhaps equally interesting. The Memnonium, and the Temple of Medinet Abu pi esent, though on a smaller scale, architecture and painted sculpture of the same character ; equally excellent, and hi many cases t till better preserved. This is particularly observable in regard to the brilliancy of the gold, ultramarine, and other colours. THE MEMNONIUM Is distinguished by three colossal statues, one of which is within the edifice, and the two others are in the plain adjoin- ing. The former is entirely broken into fragments, which, being dispersed through the court, cover a space of sixty feet square, giving it the resemblance of a quarry ! The form of the head, however, may still be traced, though the face is entirely mutilated A foot and a hand have been found among the fragments, the ear is three feet long ; the distance from shoulder to shoulder is twenty-two feet ; and the entire height of the statue appears to have been about fifty feet. It was composed of a single block, which must have weighed two Millions of pounds. The two statues placed on the plain are still standing, but mutilated to such a degree that it is impos- sible to judge of the merits of the sculpture. One of them, from the numerous inscriptions, appears evidently to have been the vocal statue of Memnon, celebrated by the ancients as emitting a musical sound at sunrise or when struck at par- ticular times of the day. No modern visitor, however, has been able to elicit more than the usual sound made by per- cussion upon granite ; and there seems no doubt that the mu- sical tones were produced by some contrivance of the Egyptian priests. THE TOMBS OF THREES Remain to be noticed. The rocks behind conceal in their excavated bosom these monuments, less vast, indeed, than those now described ; but of a still more striking and peculiar character. In all the Oriental countries? peculiar honours are THE TOMBS OF THEBES. THE TOMBS OF THEBES. 45 paid to the dead ; but no nation appears to have equalled the Egyptian in monumental works. Wherever the remains of a city have been investigated, the mountains behind hare been found excavated into sculptured tombs ; and those of Thebes, as might be expected, surpass all the others in number, ex- tent, and splendour. The Lybian chain, which presents for about six miles a perpendicular height of 300 or 400 feet of limestone rock, has appeared peculiarly suited for such ela- borate sepulchres. These subterranean works of the Egyp- tians almost rival the monuments which they raised on the surface of the earth. Entrance galleries lead into large apart- ments, in which are placed the sarcophagi, and which are pro- fusely decorated with that species of coloured sculpture with which they lavishly ornamented their walls. The deceased lies surrounded with representations of all the objects which formed his pride and occupation while living. A complete picture is thus exhibited of the domestic life of the ancient Egyptians ; and many of the customs there indicated are still characteristic of the people. They took the most jea- lous care to prevent any one from penetrating into these tombs. The entrances were closed with the greatest care by large stones, so united with the neighbouring rock as to pre- vent, if possible, any suspicion that they existed. Belzoni gives a very lively description of the difficulties attending the examination of these tombs and of the mummies which they contain. " You must creep through narrow passages, some- times not more than a foot wide, after which you come to a more commodious place, perhaps high enough to sit. But what a place of rest ! Surrounded by bodies, by heaps of mummies in all directions. After the exertion of entering into such a place, through a passage of 50, 100, 300, or per- haps 600 yards, I sought a resting-place, found one, and con- trived to sit ; but when my weight bore on the body of an Egyptian, it crushed it like a band-box. I naturally had recourse to my hands to sustain my weight, but they found no better support ; so that I sank altogether among the broken mummies, with a crash of bones, rags, and wooden cases, which raised such a dust as kept me motionless for a quarter of an hour, waiting till it subsided again." These pri- vate tombs, however, are far surpassed by the tombs of the kings, At &, temple called El Ebek, a narrow gorge or ravine leads by a winding track into the heart of the Lybian mountains. A the end of two miles, a narrow chasm between roc'ks opens into " the Valley of the Tombs," a gloomy solitude, presenting the arid and desolate aspect of the most frightful desert. 45 EDFOtT. High mountains with rocky summits bound the horizon on all sides, and allow only part of the sky to appear. In this awful solitude, the ancient Egyptians sought to seclude from every human eye the magnificent monuments of the kings or Thebes. Avarice and curiosity, however, have triumphed over every precaution. All had been done to secure the entrance. The huge mass of stone, which bars it, opens, when penetrated, into a narrow and intricate passage, closed by successive gate after gate. At length entrance is found iuto spacious chambers, in the middle of which is the sarco- fl.agus, commonly empty, while the walls are adorned with painted sculpture, in the highest style of Egyptian magni- ficence. Their high preservation is the more remarkable, as they are in general executed not on the solid rock, which is here too hard to be susceptible of such ornaments, but on a soft plaster or stucco, which, however, has preserved them unaltered during several thousand years. But these are not half of the ruins of Thebes. Volumes have been written upon them, and volumes may yet be written ; and he who reads all will still have but an imperfect idea of the Wonders of Thebes. EDFOU. Further up the Nile, towards the extremity of habitable Egypt is found another monument, which for the happy con- ception of the plan, the majesty of the composition, the execution and richness of the ornaments, may be compared to whatever is most magnificent in architecture. It is the best preserved of all the Egyptian temples of the same dimensions. We have, for this reason, got a drawing of it prepared, in aid, or rather hi lieu of our description ; for we must now ] ass on to the other wonderful ruins which lie scattered, not over Egypt only, but over the world. The temple at Edfou is 484 feet in length, 212 in breadth. Still passing up the Nile, we come into Nubian territory, and find temples so similar to the Egyptian as to lead to the conjecture that civilization and the arts descended the Nile from Ethiopia to Memphis. At Kalabshe there is a temple, the propylon of which is 120 feet long, and fifty feet high. At Gyrshe there is an excavated temple, the entrance to which is adorned with large columns, and three colossal statues, eighteen feet high, the workmanship of which appeared to Belzoni to display the mere infancy of the art. The figures are such as barely to indicate that men are meant to PALMYRA. 47 be represented, and their faces are caricatures of that of the negro. The grandest monument of Nubia is Ibsambul, whose excavated chambers rival the proudest boasts of Thebes. This temple is cut out of the solid rock, rising perpendicularly about 600 feet from the Nile. The entrance, however, when first visited by Burckhardt was choked up with sand ; but Belzoni, by unexampled exertion and perseverance, succeeded in clearing away the obstacles, and found the interior truly magnificent. Hieroglyphics, painted sculptures, colossal statues, and all the ornaments which characterize Egyptian temples, are profusedly employed. Battles, storming of castles, triumphs, particularly over the Ethiopians, with captive groups of that race, are the subjects chiefly repre- sented. The exterior of the temple is 117 feet wide, and eighty-six feet high ; but the most remarkable feature con- sists of four colossi, which, with the exception of the Sphynx, are the largest sculptured figures in Egypt or Nubia. Burck- hardt, who saw only the shoulder of one of them above the sand, conjectured, from its dimensions, that the whole would be sixty-five or seventy feet. Belzoni, after removing the sand, found it fifty-one feet, not including the cap which was fourteen feet, so accurate was Burckhardt 's conjecture. Some days' sail further up, majestic ruins are to be found scattered along the bank, among which pre-eminent beauty is displayed by the temple of Soleb. The remains consist only of a range of solitary columns ; but these are of such peculiar lightness and elegance, that they may come into competition with any along the whole course of the river. PALMYRA. "As patience ia the greatest of friends to the unfortunate, so is Time the greatest of friends to the lovers of landscape. Tt resolves the noblest works of art "into the most affecting ornaments of created things. The fall of empires, with which the death of great characters is so immediately associated, possesses a prescriptive title, as it were, to all our sympathy, forming at once a magnificent, yet melancholy spectacle ; and awakening in the mind all the grandeur of solitude. Who would not be delighted to make a pilgrimage to the East to see the columns of Persepolis, and the still more mag- nificent ruins of Palmyra ? Where awe springs, as it were personified, from the fragments, and proclaims instructive lessons from the vicissitudes of fortune. Palmyra, once a paradise in the centre of inhospitable deserts, the pride of PAL.MYRA. PALMYRA. 4y Solomon, the capital of Zenobia, and the * onder and admira- tion of all the East, now lies 'majestic though in ruins!' Its glory withered, time has cast over it a sacred grandeur, softened into grace. History by its silence, mourns its melan- choly destiny, while immense masses and stupendous columns denote the spot, where once the splendid city of the desert reared her proud and matchless towers."* The astonishment that takes hold of the mind at the strange position of this magnificent city, at one time the capital of the East, on the edge of the Great Desert, and surrounded, for several days' journey, on* all sides by naked solitary wilds, is removed by marking well the peculiarity of its geographical position. The great caravans coming to Europe laden with the rich merchandize of India, would naturally come along the Per- sian gulf, through the south of Persia, to the Euphrates, the direct line ; their object then would be to strike across the great Syrian Desert as early as possible, to reach the large markets and ports of Syria. With more than 600 miles of desert without water, between the mouth of the Euphrates and Syria, they would naturally be obliged to keep along the banks of that river, until the extent of desert country became diminished. They would then find the copious springs of Tadmor the nearest and most convenient to make for. These springs would then become very important, and would natu- rally attract the attention of a wise prince like Solomon, who would "fence them with strong walls." Here the caravans would rest and take in water ; here would congre- gate the merchants from adjacent countries and from Europe; and from hence the great caravan would be divided into numerous branches, to the north, south, and west. A large mart for the exchange of commodities would be established and an important city would quickly arise. The choice of this spot by Solomon we may naturally consider founded on a policy of enriching himself by drawing the commerce of India through his dominions, from which commerce, probably he derived the wealth for which he is so celebrated. But Pal- myra is as celebrated for its last monarch as for its first founder. It is the city of Solomon. It is also the city of Zenobia. All that is known of the origin of this celebrated woman is, that she was descended from the Ptolemies of Egypt, and that she boasted of having Cleopatra for an ancestress. Her beauty and enterprise all have heard of. Her complexion was a dark brown ; she had black sparkling * Harmonies of Nature. 50 PALMYRA. eyes, of uncommon fire ; her countenance was divinely ani- mated ; her person graceful ; her teeth white as pearls, and her voice clear and strong. If you add to this an uncommon strength, and consider her excessive military fatigues (for she used no carriage, generally rode, and often marched on foot three or four miles with her army) ; and if you, at the same time, suppose her haranguing her troops, which she used to do in her helmet, and often with her arms bare, you have a figure of masculine beauty which combines in one the divinest glories of Minerva and Venus. " Her manly understanding (says Gibbon) was strengthened and adorned by study. She was not ignorant of the Latin tongue, but pos- sessed, in equal perfection, the Greek, the Syriac, and the Egyptian languages. She had drawn up for her own use, an epitome of Oriental history, and familiarly compared the beauties of Homer and Plato, under the tuition of the sublime Longinus." This heroine conquered Syria and Mesopotamia, subdued Egypt, and added the greater part of Asia Minor to her dominions. At last she was herself subdued by all-con- quering Rome. The first view of the ruins is described by all travellers as extremely magnificent. " When (says Bruce) we arrived at the top of the hill, there opened before vis the most aston- ishing, stupendous sight that, perhaps, ever was presented to mortal eyes. The whole plain below, which was very ex- tensive, was covered so thick with magnificent ruins, that the one seemed to touch the other ; all of fine proportions, all of agreeable forms, all composed of white stone, which, at that distance, appeared like marble." At the end of the sandy plain, the eye rests upon the lofty columns of the Temple of the Sun ; and beyond all around and right and left towards the Euphrates, as far as the eye can reach, ex- tends the vast naked level flat of the Great Desert, over which the eye runs in every direction, piercing the boundless horizon, without discovering a human being. Naked, solitary, unlim- ited space extends around, where man never breathes un- der the shade, or rests his limbs under the cover of a dwell- ing. A deep blue tint spreads along its surface, here and there shaded with a cast of brown. There is something grand and awe-inspiring in its boundless immensity. Like the first view of the ocean, it inspires emotions never before experienced, unearthly in appearance, and out of character with the general face of nature.* " I have stood (says an American) before the Parthenon, and have almost worshipped * AdiUsoa. PALMYRA. 51 that divine achievement of the immortal Phidias. I have been at Milan, at Ephesus, at Alexandria, at Antioch ; but in none of these renowned cities have I beheld anything that 1 can allow to approach, in united extent, grandeur, and most consummate beauty, this almost more than work of man. On each side of this, the central point, there* rose upward slender pyramids pointed obelisks domes of the most graceful proportions, columns, arches, and lofty towers for number and for form, beyond my power to describe. These buildings, as well as the walls of the city, being all either of white marble, or of some stone as white ; and, being every- where interspersed with multitudes of overshadowing palm- trees, perfectly filled and satisfied my sense of beauty, and made me feel, for the moment, as if in such a scene I should love to dwell and there end my days." THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN Is by far the most extensive ruin in Palmyra. The grand en- trance (see engraving, page 53,) was supported by four fluted Ionic pillars, and adorned with rich carvings of vine leaves and clusters of grapes, in bold and spirited relief, beautifully chis- elled. Within the court are the remains of two rows of very no- ble marble pillars, 37 feet high. The temple was encompassed with another row of pillars, 50 feet high. On the eastern side of the area of the temple, there is a curious doorway of one solid block of stone, which commands a fine view of the desert. " As we looked out of this narrow gateway (says Addison), we fancied that Zenobia herself might have often stood at the same spot, anxiously surveying the operations of Aurelian and his blockading army. From hence the eye wanders over the level waste, across which the unfortunate queen fled on her swift dromedary to the Euphrates ; and here, the morning after her departure, doubtless, congregated her anxious friends, to see if she was pursued in her flight ; and from hence she was probably first descried, being brought back a captive and a prisoner, in the hands of the Roman horsemen." Next to the temple, the most remarkable structure is the long portico, which extends for nearly 4000 feet. There is also a piazza 40 feet brotd, and more than half a mile in length, inclosed with two rows of marble pillars 26 feet high, and eight or nine feet hi compass. Of these there still remain 129 ; and, by a moderate computation, tlnre could not origi- nally have been less than 560. A little to the left, are the 52 PALMYRA. GATE OF THE SUN. ruins of a stately building, which appears to have been a banquetting-house. It is built of better marble, and is fin- ished with greater elegance than the piazza. The pillar;? that supported it were entire stones. One of them which has fallen down has received no injury ! It measures 22 feet in length, and in compass, eight feet nine inches. " We sometimes find a palace (says Volney) of which nothing re- mains but the courts and walls ; sometimes a temple, wiose peristyle is half thrown down ; and now a portico, a gallery, or a triumphant arch. Here stand groups of columns, whose PETRA. 53 symmetry is destroyed by the fall of many of them ; these we see ranged in rows of such length, that, similar to rows of trees, they deceive the sight, and assume the appearance of continued walls. On which side soever we look, the earth is strewed with vast stones, half buried, with broken entabla- tures, damaged capitals, mutilated friezes, disfigured reliefs, effaced sculptures, violated tombs, and altars defiled with mud." Lo ! where PALMYRA, 'mid her wasted plains, Her scattered aqueducts, and prostrate fanes, As the bright orb of breezy midnight pours, Long threads of silver through her gaping towers, O'er mould' ring tombs, and tott'ring columns gleams, And frosts her desert with diffusive beams, Sad o'er the mighty wreck in silence bends, Lifts her wet eyes, her tremulous hand extends.* PETRA. PETRA, the excavated city, the long lost capital of Edom signifies a rock ; and through the shadows of its early history we learn that its inhabitants lived in the "clefts of the rock." Desolate as it now is, we have reason to believe that it goes back to the time of Esau, "the father of Edom;" and we recognize it, from the earliest ages, as the central point to which came the caravans from the interior of Arabia, Persia, and India, laden with all the precious commodities of the East, and from which those commodities were distributed through Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, and all the countries bordering on the Mediterranean. Eight hundred years before Christ, Amaziah, the king of Judah, "slew of Edom in the Valley of Salt 10,000, and took Salah" (the Hebrew name of Petra.) In the beginning of the second century, though its independence was lost, Petra was still the capital of a Roman province. After that time it rapidly declined ; its history became more and more obscure ; for more than a thousand years its existence was completely lost to the civilized world ; and until its discovery by Burckhardt in 1812, except to the wandering Bedouins, its very site was unknown. This an- cient and extraordinary city is situated within a natural amphitheatre of two or three miles in circumference, encom- passed on all sides by rugged mountains 500 or 600 feet in height. The whole area is now a waste of ruins, dwelling- houses, palaces, and triumphal arches, being all prostrate * Darwin. 54 PETRA. together in indistinguishable confusion. The sides of the mountain are cut smooth, in a perpendicular direction, and filled with long and continued ranges of dwelling-houses, temples, and tombs, excavated with vast labour out of the solid rock ; and whilst their summits present Nature in her wildest and most savage form, their bases are adorned with all the beauty of architecture and art, with columns, and porticos, and pediments, and ranges of corridors, enduring as the mountains out of which they are hewn, and fresh as if the work of yesterday. Nothing can be finer than the immense rocky rampart which encloses the city. Strong, firm, and immovable as Nature itself, it seems to deride the walls of cities, and the puny fortifications of skilful engineers. The only access is by clambering over this wall of stone, practicable only in one place, or by an entrance the most extraordinary that Nature, in her wildest freaks, has ever framed. The loftiest portals ever raised by the hands of man, the proudest monuments of architectural skill and daring, sink into insig nificance by the comparison. It is impossible to conceive any thing more awful and sublime than the Eastern approach to Petra. For about two miles it lies between high and pre- cipitous ranges of rocks from 500 to 1000 feet in height, standing as if torn asunder by some great convulsion, and barely wide enough for two horsemen to pass abreast. A swelling stream rushes between them ; the summits are wild and broken; in some places overhanging the opposite sides, casting the darkness of night upon the narrow defile ; then receding and forming an opening above, through which a strong ray of light is thrown down, and illuminates with the blaze of day the frightful chasm below. Wild fig-trees, oleanders, and ivy, are growing out of the rocky sides of the cliffs hundreds of feet upward ; the eagle is screaming over- head ; all along are the open doors of tombs, forming the great Necropolis of the city; and at the extreme end is a large open space, with a powerful body of light thrown down upon it, and exhibiting in one full view the fafade of a beautiful temple, hewn out of the rock, with rows of Corin- thian columns and ornaments standing out fresh and clear as if newly from the hands of the sculptor. "Though coming (says Mr. Stephens) directly from the banks of the Nile, where the preservation of the temples excites the admiration and astonishment of eyery traveller, we were roused and excited by the extraordinary beauty and excellent condition of the great temple at Petra. Even now that I have returned to the pursuit and thought-engrossing incidents PETRA. 55 of a life in the busiest city in the world, I see before me the fajade of that temple ; neither the Coliseum at Rome, grand and interesting as it is, nor the ruins of the Acropolis at Athens, nor the Pyramids, nor the mighty temples of the Nile, are so often present to my memory." The whole temple, its columns, ornaments, porticos, and porches, are cut out from, and form part of, the solid rock ; and this rock, at the foot of which the temple stands like a mere point, towers several hundred feet above, its face cut smooth to the very summit, and the top remaining wild and misshapen as Nature made it. The whole area before the temple is perhaps an acre in extent, enclosed on all sides except at the narrow entrance, and an opening to the left of the temple, which leads into the area of the city by a pass through perpendicular rocks, 500 or 600 feet in height. RUINS OF PETKA. Leaving the temple, and following the stream, we enter another defile much broader than the first, on each side of which are ranges of tombs, with sculptured doors and columns ; and on the left, in the bosom of the mountain, hewn out of the solid rock, is a large theatre, circular in form, the pillars in front fallen, and containing thirty-three rows of seats, capable of containing more than 3000 persons. Above the corridor is a range of doors, opening to chambers in the rocks, the seats of the princes and aristocracy of Petra, and not unlike a row of private boxes in a modern theatre ! The whole is at this day in such a state of preservation, that if the tenants of the tombs around could once more rise into life, they might take their old places on its seats, and listen to the 56 PETilA. declamation of their favourite player. To me the stillness of a ruined city is nowhere so impressive as when sitting on the steps of its theatre ; once thronged with the gay and pleasiire-seeking, but now given up to solitude and desolation, Day after day, these seats had been filled ; and the now silent rocks had echoed to the applauding shout of thousands ! Whert are ye now, inhabitants of this desolate city ? Ye who once sat on the seats of this theatre, the young, the high- born, the beautiful and brave ? Where are ye now 1 Even the very tombs, whose open doors are stretching away in long ranges before the eyes of the wondering traveller, cannot reveal the mystery of your doom : your dry-bones are gone ; the robber has invaded your graves, and your very ashes have RUISS OF PETRA. been swept away to make room for the wandering Arab of the desert." Every deserted place is mournful enough ; a grass-grown farm-house in Ireland ; a city buried under mounds in Egypt ; but nowhere else is there desolation like that of Petra, where these rock door- ways stand wide, still fit for the habitation of a multitude, but all empty and silent, except for the multiplied echo of the cry of the eagle, or the bleat of the kid. In the morning the sons of Esau were wont to come out in the first sunshine to worship at their doors, before going forth, proud as their neighbour eagles, to the chase ; and at night, the yellow fires lighted up from within, tier above tier, the face of the precipice. But it was said of old, " Edom shall be a desolation ; every one that goeth by it shall be astonished ;" and so is it now ! POMPEII. (i THE inhabitants (says a French writer) were asleep, when suddenly an impetuous wind arose, and detaching a poHion of the cinders which covered the summit of Vesuvius, hurried them in whirlwinds through the air, and within a quarter of an hour entirely overwhelmed Herculaneum, Sorento, Pompeii, and the elder Pliny ! Imprudent men ! Why did you build Pompeii at the foot of Vesuvius, on its lava, and on its ashes 1 The roofs of the city became fields and orchards ; and one day, while the peasants were digging, something was found to resist. It was a city ! It was Pompeii ! " The first indications of its site were observed so early as 1689, but it was not till 1755 that any effectual attempts were made to explore its remains. Few works are more exciting than this disinterment of a buried city. The upper stories of the houses, which appear to have consisted chiefly of wood, were either burned by the red-hot stones ejected from Vesuvius, or broken down by the weight of matter collected on their roofs and floors. With this exception, we see a flourishing city in the very state in which it existed nearly eighteen centuries ago; the buildings as they were originally designed ; the paintings undimmed by the leaden torch of Time ; household furniture left in the confusion of use ; articles, even of intrinsic value, abandoned in the hurry of escape ; and, in some instances, the bones of the inhabi- tants, bearing sad testimony to the suddenness and complete- ness of the calamity which overwhelmed them. One interesting instance of this suddenness is thus pointed out : " I noticed a striking memorial of this mighty inter- ruption in the Forum, opposite to the Temple of Jupiter. A new altar of white marble, exquisitely beautiful, and appa- rently just out of the hands of the sculptor, had been erected there ; an enclosure was building all round ; the mortar, just dashed against the side of the wall, was but half spread out ; you saw the long sliding stroke of the trowel about to return and obliterate its own track but it never did return : the hand of the workman was suddenly arrested ; and after the lapse of eighteen hundred years, the whole looks so fresh and new, that you would almost swear the mason was only gone to his dinner, and about to come back immediately to smooth the roughness." Pompeii was not completely buried by a single eruption. Eight successive layers have been traced above ite ruins. In 58 POMPEII. the intervals the inhabitants must have returned to secure their more valuable property. Sir William Gell mentions that a skeleton of a Pompeian was found, " who apparently for the sake of sixty coins, a small plate, and a saucepan of silver, had remained in his house till the street was already naif filled with volcanic matter." The position of the skeleton indicated that he had perished apparently in the act of escap- ing from his window. Other incidents of like character are no less striking. The skeletons of the Eoman sentries were found, in more than one instance, at their posts, furnishing I remarkable proof of the stern military discipline of imperial Rome. The skeleton of a priest was found in one of the rooms of the Temple of Isis. Near his remains lay an axe, with which he had been trying to break through the door. " The ruins of Pompeii (says Mr. Eustace) possess a secret power, that captivates and melts the soul ! In other times, and in other places, one single edifice, a temple, a theatre, a tomb, that had escaped the wreck of ages, would have enchanted us ; nay, an arch, the remnant of a wall, even one solitary column, was beheld with veneration ; but to discover a single ancient house, the abode of a Eoman in his privacy, the scene of his domestic hours, was an object of fond, but hopeless longing. Here, not a temple, nor a theatre, nor a house, but a whole city rises before us, untouched, unaltered the very same as it was 1800 years ago, when inhabited by Romans. We range through the same street, tread the very same pavement ; behold the same walls ; enter the same doors ; and repose in the same apartments. We ai*e sur- rounded by the same objects ; and out of the same windows we contemplate the same scenery. In the midst of all this, not a voice is heard to disturb the loneliness of the place. Perhaps the whole world does not exhibit so awful a spectacle as Pompeii ; and when it was first discovered, when skeletons were found heaped together in the streets and houses, when all the utensils, and even the very bread of the poor suffocated inhabitants were discernible, what a spectacle must this ill- fated city have furnished to a thinking mind ! To visit it even now is absolutely to live with the ancient Romans ; and when we see houses, shops, furniture, fountains, streets, carriages, and implements of husbandry, exactly similar to those of the present day, we are apt to conclude, that customs and manners have undergone but little alteration for the last 2000 years." " I entered, (says Dupaty) several of the rooms, and found in one of them a mill, with which the soldiers ground their POMPEII. 59 e~>rn for bread ; in another an oil-mill, in which they crushed the olives. The first resembles our coffee-mills ; the second is formed of two mill-stones, which were moved by the hand, in a vast mortar, round an iron centre. In another of these rooms I saw chains still fastened to the leg of a criminal ; in a second, heaps of human bones ; and in a third, a golden necklace. What is become of all the inhabitants ? We see nobody in the streets ! All the houses are open ! Let us begin by visiting the houses on the right. This is not a STREET IN POMPEII. private house ; that prodigious number of surgical instru- ments, shows that it must have been a surgery. These houses are very small ; they are exceedingly ill-contrived ; all the apartments are detached ; but then what neatness, what elegance ! In each of them is an inner portico, a mosaic pavement, a square colonnade, and in the middle a cistern, to collect the water falling from the roof. In each of them are hot-baths, and stoves, and everywhere paintings in fresco, in gO THE COLISEUM. the best taste, and on the most pleasing grounds. Has Eaffaelle been here to copy his arabesques ? Suppose we take a step into this temple for a moment, since it is left open. What deity do I perceive in the bottom of that niche 1 It is the god of Silence, who makes a sign with his finger to command silence, and points to the goddess Isis, in the further recess of the sanctuary. In the front of the porch there are three altars. Here the victims were slaughtered, and the blood, flowing along this gutter into the middle of that basin, fell from thence upon the heads of the priests. This little chamber, near the altar, was undoubtedly the sacristy. The priests purified themselves in this bathing- place. Here is a monument erected to the memory of those who have been benefactors to Isis, that is to say, to her priests. I cannot be far from the country-house of Aufidius ; for there are the gates of the city. Here is the tomb of the family of Diomedes. Let us rest a moment under these porticos, where the philosophers used to sit. I am not mistaken. The country-house of Aufidius is charming ; the paintings in fresco are delicious. What an excellent effect have those blue grounds ! with what propriety, and conse- quently with what taste are the figures distributed in the panels ! Flora herself has woven that garland. But who has painted this Venus? this Adonis? this youthful Narcissus, in that bath ? And here again, this charming Mercury ? It is surely not a week since they were painted. I like this portico round the garden ; and this square covered cellar round the portico. Do these amphorae contain the true Falernian ? How many consulates has this wine been kept? But it is late. It was about this time the play began. Let us go to the covered theatre ; it is shut. Let us go to the uncovered theatre ; that too is shut. I know not how far I have succeeded in this attempt to give you an idea of Pompeii." Excellently, we think ! THE COLISEUM. THE far-famed amphitheatre of Vespasian, or, as it is more generally called, the Coliseum, " Which, in its public days, unpeopled Rome, And held uncrowded nations in its womb." in one of the most massive works ever raised in Borne, or in THE COLISEUM. 61 the world. In whatever way it is viewed, whether as regards its immense size, the solidity of its structure, the simplicity and harmony of its architecture, the grace and beauty of its proportion, or its internal arrangement and convenience, it equally strikes the mind with wonder and admiration. Placed at some distance from the gorgeous churches, extensive pal- aces, and busy streets of modern Borne, it stands alone in EXTER10K OF THE COLISEUM. solitary dignity and gloomy contrast ; elevating its stupendous masses from above the surrounding ruins of the imperial city; a striking image of Rome itself in its present state, erect on the one side, and fallen on the other ; half grey, half green, deserted and decaying ; a splendid and melancholy monument of past greatness : and no monument of human power, no memorial of departed ages, ever spoke more forcibly to the heart, or awakened feelings so powerful and unutterable. The Coliseum was commenced in the year 72, by Fla- E 62 THE COL1SKUM. vius Vespasian, as a triumphant memorial of his victories in Judea. Twelve thousand Jewish prisoners, reduced to slavery, were employed on the work, which was finished by Titus, who, on its dedication, exhibited shows and games' for 100 days ! It is impossible to say at what period it was first suffered to decay. So late as 1632, bull-fights, and other games, v/erc INTERIOR OF THE COLISEUM. exhibited hi it. By sanction of the Popes it was used a* a quarry, so that " From its mass, Walls, palaces, half-cities, have been rear'd." Still, after a lapse of nearly eighteen centuries, having frequently suffered from earthquakes, storms, and fire ; having been several times battered as a fortress, during the civil THE COLISEUM. 6.3 contentions of the middle ages ; it remains a miracle of hu- man labour, and is, even in its present state, the most won- derful monument of Roman magnificence. Solitary and de- solate, it is still grand and imposing ; the rich hues with which time has overspread its venerable fragments, the luxuriant clusters of vegetation, and the graceful drapery of numerous beautiful creepers, festooning the rifled arches, and broken arcades, whilst assimilating with the general character, add an indescribable richness and variety to the whole, that has a powerful effect on the mind of the spectator. When it was entire, a child might comprehend its design in a moment, and go direct to his place without straying in the porticos. The shape was oval, lined round with seats and galleries, sloping down toward the arena, which occupies the centre. The outward circumference when complete was about 1772 feet, covering a surface of about 246,660 feet, or something more than five acres and a half. When some pil- grims mentioned by Bede, beheld it, they are said to have exclaimed : " As long as the Coliseum stands, Rome shall stand ; when the Coliseum falls, Rome will fall ; and when Rome falls the world will fall." " I wandered long around it (says Dupaty) without ventur- ing to enter it : my eyes surveyed it with admiration and awe. At length I entered within its precincts. What an astonishing scene ! There was it then that gladiators, mar- tyrs, and slaves, who combatted on the Roman festivals, only to make the blood circulate a little quicker in the veins of a hundred thousand idle spectators. I thought I still heard the roaring of the lions, the sighs of the dying, and, what would strike my ears with still greater horror, the applauses of the Romans. But what a change has taken place in this arena ! In the middle stands a crucifix, and round it fourteen altars, consecrated to different saints. It was thus Benedict XIV, conceived the idea of saving this noble monument by conse- crating it. I walked through every part of the Coliseum ; I ascended into all its different stories ; and sat down in the box of the emperors. I shall long remember the silence and solitude that reigned through these galleries, along these ranges of seats, under these vaulted porticos. I stopped from time to time to listen to the echoes of my feet in walking. What pleasure did I not enjoy, too, in observing how the day gradually retired, and the night as gradually advanced over the arcades, spreading her lengthening sha- dows. At length I was obliged to retire ; with my mind, however, filled with a thousand ideas a thousand sensation*. .THE COLISEUM:. TUB FORUM. 65 which can only arise among these ruins, and which these ruins in some degree inspire." Another ruin of intense his- torical interest in Rome is THE FORUM. It was once, And long the centre of their universe, The Forum whence a mandate, eagle winged, Went to the ends of the earth. Let us descend Slowly. At every step much may be lost. The very dust we tread stirs as with life ; And not a breath but from the ground sends up Something of human grandeur. We are come : And now where once the mightiest spirits met In terrible conflict j this, while Rome was free, The noblest theatre on this side heaven. * The Forum was an entirely open space ; it had public buildings in it, as well as around it. Among -them were the Temple of the Penates, the Temple of Concord, the Temple of Jupiter Stator, the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the Temple of Pollux, the Temple of Vesta, the Temple of .Victory, the Temple of Julius Caesar, and the arches .of Fabian, Tiberius, and Severus. All these, however, and in most cases, even the traces of them, have disappeared. Now all is changed ! and here, as in the wild, The day is silent, weary as the night ; None stirring, save the herdsman and his herd, Savage alike ; or they that would explore, Discuss and learnedly ; or they that come (And there are many who have crossed the earth) That they may give the hours to meditation, And wander, often saying to themselves, 'This was the Roman Forum.' The glories of the Forum are now fled for ever. Its temples are fallen ; its sanctuaries are crumbled into dust ; its colonnades encumber pavements, now buried under their remains. The walls of the rostra, stripped of their orna- ments, a few shattered porticos, and here and there an in- sulated column standing in the midst of broken shafts, vast fragments of marble capitals and cornices heaped together in masses, are all that remain of its former greatness and gran deur. It is reduced, indeed, not to the pasture-ground for cattle, which Virgil has described, but to the market-place for pigs, sheep, and oxen, being now the Smithfield of Rome. * Rogers. 66 THE VATICAN. The hills, the nvers, the roads, the bridges in this mother of cities, mostly go by their ancient Latin names, slightly altered in Italian, but the Forum has not even retained its name : it is now called Campo Vaccino, or the Field of Cows ! This scene, though now so desolate and degraded, was once the great centre of all the business, power, and splendour of Home. Here, as long as the Komans were a free people, all the affairs of the state were debated in the most public manner ; and from the rostra, elevated in the midst of the square, and with their eyes fixed on the Capitol, which im- mediately faced them, and which tended to inspire them with patriotism, whilst the Tarpeian rock reminded them of the fate reserved for treason and corruption ; the noblest of orators "wielded 'at will" the fierce democracy, or filled the souls of gathered thousands with one object, one wish, one passion the glory of Home ! Yes ; in yon field below, A thousand years of silenced factions sleep- The Forum, where the immortal accents glow, And still the eloquent air breathes, burns of Cicero ! THE VATICAN, OR, THE PALACE OF THE POPES. EARLY in the decline of the empire, the Christian bishops established their residence on the Mons Vaticanus. Of the ancient condition of this episcopal palace, little or nothing is known. It was inhabited for a short time by Charlemagne ; and a long succession of popes enlarged and adorned it with the wealth poured into the pontifical coffers by all Christen- dom, until it became at length in many respects the most extraordinary edifice inhabited by man. It is said to cover a space about 1200 feet in length by 1000 in breadth, and to comprise above 4000 apartments. If placed in a continuous line, its suite of galleries would extend two miles in length ! It contains a countless multitude of inscriptions, statues, busts, urns, and vases, to say nothing of its literary treasures. It is the richest museum in Europe, and its treasures are magnifi- cently lodged. The library contains about 80,000 printed books, and 35,000 MSS. ; but, in point of fact, its literary riches are unknown, the catalogues having never been com- pleted. You enter by a large doorway in the colonnade of St. Peter's, and come immediately upon a magnificent flight of THE VATICAN. 07 steps which branches off to the right and left, conducting to different suites of apartments. To enhance the grandeur of this staircase, the natural laws of perspective have been artifi- cially interfered with, so that the eye imagines itself to be tra- versing an immense distance, though the real space it com- mands be comparatively limited. In the Sistine Chapel is Michael Angelo's famous picture of the " Last Judgment," which covers 900 square feet, and took the artist eight years to execute. On the left of the choir stands the pope's throne, and on the right the benches for the cardinals, above which is the musicians' gallery. Here during the performance of the ' Miserere,' are heard some of the finest singing and music in Italy. On such occasions the chapel is densely crowded, and a red light is cast over the sea of heads by numerous flambeaux. The multitude is hushed ; and then instruments and voices, mingling together, roll intoxicating "floods of sound over the excited worshippers. In the arcades, known by the name of Eaphael's Loggie, the genius of the greatest of modern artists has displayed all his prolific powers of creation. Tier above tier the pictures rise to the ceiling, displaying the utmost perfection of form and colour. The series of domes of which the roof consists, is painted with architectural ornaments, trellis- work covered with lines relieved against a light-blue sky, and filled here and there with birds of Oriental plumage in the gayest hues of summer. No language can convey an idea of the blaze of colours and va- riety of forms which meet the eye in the innumerable frescos. The Corridor of Inscriptions, containing sarcophagi, statues, pedestals, and pagan altars, is a single apartment 993 feet in length ! Parallel with this runs another corridor of equal length. The corridor of the Library is connected with that of Inscriptions by a magnificent apartment about 180 feet in length by 51 feet in breadth. The painted ceiling terminates in a cornice of white and gold, extending round the whole room. In the spaces between the pillars is a profusion of vases and candelabra, -with a curious column of Oriental alabaster. The books are locked up. In the vesti- bule at the end of the Library is a finely- preserved specimen of the asbestos winding-sheet, in which the bodies of the dead used to be consumed on the funeral pile. This cloth, which is incombustible, preserved the ashes of the body from mingling with those of the pile itself. We shall not attempt to take the reader through the different parts of the building. Gal- leries, corridors, halls, courts, vestibules, and suites of apart- ments, follow in interminable succession, till the eye and the gg PJESTITM. imagination droop from sheer satiety. Had the Vatican been built from a regular design, or on any intelligible plan, it would have seemed less wonderful in appearance, for the mind, in that case, could have more easily grasped the whole. As it is, it appears like one of the enchanted palaces of the East, in which you might wander for ever without emerging from the labyrinth. You mount, you descend, you turn to the right, you turn to the left, and eveiywhere you find yourself in a blaze of grandeur. Taken altogether, it ought to suggest to its occupiers ideas of humanity and of profound veneration for human genius, which has created that universe of beauty and grandeur by which they are surrounded. One of the appendages, however, of the Vatican is the Inquisition, which suggests that the splendour of the one was based on the wick- edness of the other. The description of St. Peter's will be given elsewhere-. P^ESTUM. " IF (says Dr. Clarke) there be upon earth any buildings, which may be fairly brought into a comparison with the Par- thenon, they are the temples of Psestum." " It is impossible (says Dupaty) to visit the place without emotion. I proceed across desert fields, along a frightful road, far from all human traces, at the foot of rugged mountains, on shores where there is nothing but the sea ; and suddenly I behold a temple, then a second, then a third : I make my way through grass and weeds ; I mount on the socle of a column, or on the rums of a pediment : a cloud of ravens take their flight ; cows are lowing in the bottom of a sanctuary ; the adder, basking be- tween the column and the weeds, hisses, and makes his escape ; a young shepherd, however, carelessly leaning on an ancient cornice, stands serenading with his reedy pipe the vast silence of this desert." Peestum was a Grecian colony in Italy ; and the ruins are supposed to exhibit the oldest specimens of Greek architecture now in existence. " In beholding them, (says Eustace) and contemplating their solidity, bordering iipon heaviness, we are tempted to consider them as an inter- mediate link between the Egyptian and Grecian monuments ; and the first attempt to pass from the immense masses of the former to the graceful proportions of the latter." Taking these wonderful objects into view, their immemorial antiquity, their astonishing preservation, their grandeur, their bold co- lumnar elevation, at once massive and open, their severe sim- plicity of design, that simplicity in which art gradually RUINS OF ATHENS. 69 begins, and to which, after a thousand revolutions of orna- ment it again returns, taking (says Mr. Forsyth) all into one view, " I do not hesitate to call these the most impressive monuments I ever beheld on earth." Majestic fanes of deities unknown ! Ages have roll'd since here ye stood alone ; Since your walls echoed to the sacred choir, . Or blazed your altars sacrificial fire. And now the wandering classic pilgrim sees The wild bird nestling in the sculptured frieze Each fluted shaft by desert weeds embraced, Triglyphs obscured, entablatures defaced ; Sees ill-timed verdure clothe each awful pile, While Nature lends her melancholy smile j And misplaced garniture of flowers that shed Their sweets, as if in mockery of the dead.*- RUINS OF ATHENS. THE PARTHENON. " AT first sight (says one traveller) it rather disappointed my expectations, and appeared less than its fame. The eye, how- ever, soon became filled with the magnitude of its dimensions, the beauty of its materials, the exquisite perfection of its symmetry, and the harmonious analogy of its proportions. It is the most unrivalled triumph of sculpture and architecture that the world ever saw. The delight which it inspires on a superficial view is heightened in proportion as it is attentively surveyed. If we admire the whole of the gorgeous fabric, that admiration will be augmented by a minute investigation of all the ramified details. Every part has been finished with such exquisite taste, that not the smallest instance of negli- gence can be discovered in the execution of those particulars which are the least exposed to observation ; the most con- cealed minutiae of the structure having been perfected with a sort of pious scrupulosity." Another traveller, the famous Lamartine, says : " I pass delicious hours recumbent beneath the shade of the Propylaea ; my eyes fixed on the falling pedi- ment of the Parthenon. Its aspect displays better than his- tory the colossal grandeur of a people. Pericles ought not to die. What superhuman civilization was that which supplied a great man to command, an architect to conceive, a sculptor to decorate, statuaries to execute, workmen to cut, a people to pay, and eyes to comprehend and admire such an edifice ! Let us, in idea, rebuild the Parthenon ; it is easily done it * Rogers. 70 RUINS OF ATHENS. has only lost its frieze, and its internal compartments. The external walls, chiselled by Phidias, the columns, and frag- ments of columns remain. The Parthenon was entirely built of Pentalic marble, so called from the neighbouring mountain of that name whence it was taken. It consists of a parallelo- gram, surrounded by a peristyle of forty-six Doric columns, each column is six feet diameter at the base, and thirty-four feet high. The columns are placed on the pavement of the temple itself, and have no bases. At each extremity of the temple there is a portico of six columns. The total length of the edifice is 228 feet, its width 200 feet, its height 66 feet. It only presents to the eye the majestic simplicity of its architectural lines. It was, in fact, one single idea expressed in stone, and intelligible at a glance like the thoughts of the ancients." . " The Parthenon (says Plutarch) was constructed with such admirable judgment, such solidity of workmanship, and such a profound knowledge of the architectural art, that it would have indefinitely defied the ravages of time, if they had not been assisted by the operations of external violence. It is an edifice that seems to Lave been constructed for eternity. The structures which Pericles raised are the more admirable, as being completed in so short a time, they yet had such a lasting beauty ; for, as they had, when new, the venerable aspect of antiquity, so, now they are old, they have the fresh- ness of a modern work. They seem to be preserved from the injuries of time by a kind of vital principle, which produces a vigour that cannot be impaired, and a bloom that will never fade." These words of Plutarch were applicable to the Par- thenon till little more than a century ago, and would still have been so if it had not found enemies in the bigotry of contending religionists, in war, and the robberies of artists and amateurs. The high preservation of those parts which are still suffered to remain is truly astonishing. The columns are so little broken, that were it not for the venerable reality of age, they would almost appear of recent construction. The western front is rich in golden hues, and seems as if it had absorbed the evening beams. Little white appears, but the brightest orange colour, and grey, and sulphury hues, com- bine in sweetest harmony. The noble shafts of the huge columns are uniformly lined with yellow, of a brownish cast, admitting here and there a little grey. The multitude of grand objects in Athens and its Acropolis, is too great for our limits to allow us to enter into more than a mere enumeration. Among the foremost may be named a RUINS OF ATHENS. 71 range of sixteen superb columns, believed to be the remains of 116 which belonged to the Temple of Olympian Jove. In 1676 there were seventeen, but a few years before Chandler's visit, the pacha had, with incredible labour, levelled one to the ground, for the purpose of raising a mosque out of the materials ! The others are still standing, sixty feet high, and about six feet in diameter, a splendid specimen of the Corin- thian order, and built of the very finest marble. The Temple of Theseus somewhat resembles the Parthenon, and is perhaps, as to its general outline, the most entire of all the Grecian edifices. There are other structures of less magnitude, the Propylcea, or columnar entrance of the Acropolis ; the Lantern of Demosthenes, the marble Tower of the Winds, &c. Besides the edifices of Athens, there are some spots which the visitor cannot contemplate without emotion. Among them is THE ACROPOLIS. THE old city of Athens was situated on the top of a rock in the midst of a pleasant plain, and as the inhabitants increased, became full of buildings, and gave birth to a new city the one called the Acropolis or upper, and the other the Catopolis or lower city. They were thus related to each other like the old and new town of Edinburgh. The flat space on the rock of the Acropolis is not more than 800 feet in length, and about 400 feet in breadth, (smaller than the site of some of the Egyptian temples), but containing not a single structure which might not be denominated a masterpiece of art, " In its pride and glory (says Chandler), it appeared as one entire offering to the Deity, surpassing in excellence, and astonishing in rich- ness." " To a person who has seen the ruins of Eome (says Dr. Clarke) the first suggestion made by a sight of the build- ings in the Acropolis, is that of the infinite superiority of the Athenian architecture. It possesses the greatness and majesty of the Egyptian, or of the ancient Etruscan style, with all the elegant proportion, the rich ornaments, and the discriminating taste of the most splendid era of the arts." THE AREOPAGUS, WHICH is situated a few hundred feet west of the Acropolis, consists of an insulated rock, precipitous, and broken to- wards the south ; on the north side it slopes gently down towards the temple of Theseus, and is rather lower than the Acropolis. " Ascending a hill (says Lamartine) covered with thistles and red pebbles, you arrive at the scene of the stormy 72 RUINS OF ATHENS. THE ACROPOLIS. assemblies of the people of Athens, and of the fluctuating triumphs of its orators or its favourites ; enormous masses of black stone, some of which measure twelve or thirteen cubic feet, lie upon one another, and support the terrace upon which the people collected. Still higher up, we perceive a huge square block, wherein steps have been cut, which probably served for the orator to mount his tribunal, which then over- looked the people, the city, and the sea. Demosthenes spoke from thence, and roused or calmed that popular sea, more stormy than the ^Egean, which he could also hear roll behind him." Next, says Dr. Clarke, " we went to the Areopagus, wishing to place our feet upon a spot where it is so decidedly known that St. Paul had himself stood ; and to view with our own eyes the same scene which he beheld, when he declared unto the Athenians the nature of the Unknown God, whom they so ignorantly worshipped. Before him there was spread a RUINS OF BAALBEC. 73 glorious prospect of mountains, islands, seas, and skies ; be- hind him towered the lofty Acropolis, crowned with all its marble temples. This very object, whether in the face of Nature, or among the works of art, conspired to elevate the mind, and to fill it with reverence toward that Being, ' who made the world and all things therein.' " It is melancholy to reflect that the monuments of Athens have become ruins only in comparatively recent times. The Propylaea and the Parthenon were converted by the Turks into powder-magazines ; and, in 1656, during the siege of the city by the Venetians, these dangerous stores exploded, making dreadful havoc of these beautiful buildings. The Parthenon was finally spoiled of its remaining sculptures by Lord Elgin, under the plea that there was no protection for them in their original position. But protection might have been sought for them where they were, and where alone they had a right to be, as well as in the British Museum. In allusion to this spoliation, Lord Byron has the following lines Here let me sit upon this massy stone, The marble column's yet unshaken base ; Here, son of Saturn ! was thy fav'rite throne : Mightiest of many such ! Hence let me trace The latent grandeur of thy dwelling-place. It may not be : nor even can fancy's eye Restore what Time hath labour'd to deface. Yet, these proud pillars claim no passing sigh ; Unmov'd the Moslem sits, the light Greek carols by. But who, of all the plunderers of yon fane On high, where Pallas linger'd, both to flee The latest relic of her ancient reign ; The last, the worst, dull spoiler, who was he ? Blush, Caledonia ! such thy son could be ! England ! I joy no child he was of thine : Thy free-born men should spare what once was free ; Yet they could violate each saddening shrine, And bear these altars o'er the long-reluctant brine. RUINS OF BAALBEC. " AMONG the traces of a great nation's former glory (says Sir John Malcolm) there is none upon which the mind dwells with more serious thought than on the magnificent ruins of its ancient palaces. How forcibly are we reminded of our condition, when told that an edifice, in .the erection of which a nation's wealth had been exhausted ; which was adorned 74 RUINS OF BAALBEC. with every ornament that the art of the world can supply, and whose history was engraven on the imperishable rocks on which it was constructed, was not only fallen to decay, but that its founder was unknown, and the language in which its history was inscribed was no longer numbered among the tongues of man ! " These observations are peculiarly appli- cable to the present state of Baalbec. This city stood in the road between Tyre and Palmyra ; its history is, nevertheless, so lost in obscurity, that, considering the splendour and magnificence of its remains, we are as- tonished. Scarcely anything of its history is known ; and even its existence appears to have been unknown for many centuries to the Eomans. Tradition states that it was built by Solomon ; and for the truth of this the Jews quote the following passage from the book of Chronicles : " Also he (Solomon) built Beth-horon and Baal-ath." It is thought also that Baalbec is meant when Solomon says " the tower of Lebanon looking toward Damascus." The Arabs go even so far as to assert, that this city was built by the king as a residence for the Queen of Sheba ; and Sir William Ouseley quotes a Persian tradition that Solomon often passed the day at Baalbec, and the night at Istakr. Baalbec is also called Heliopolis, both words having nearly the same signification. Heliopolis means the city of the sun ; and the sun was worshipped by the ancient inhabitants of the country under the name of Baal. When we consider the extraordinary magnificence of the Temple of Baalbec, we are surprised at the silence of the Greek and Roman writers in regard to it. The only mention of it is in a fragment of John of Antioch, who attributes the building of it to Antoninus Pius. His words are : " Alius Antoninus Pius built a great temple at Heliopolis, near Libanus, in Phsenicia, which was one of the wonders of the world" Gibbon thus speaks of Baalbec and Emesa : "Among the cities which are indicated by Greek and oriental names in the geography and conquest of Syria, we may distinguish Emesa and Heliopolis ; the former as a metropolis of the plain, and the latter as a metro- polis of the valley. Under the last of the Caesars they were strong and populous; the turrets glittered from afar ; an" ample space was covered with public and private buildings ; and the citizens were illustrious by their spirit, or at least by their pride ; by their riches, or at least by their luxury. In the days of Paganism, both Emesa and Heliopolis were addicted to the worship of Baal or the sun ; but the decline of their superstition or splendour has been marked by a singular variety BUINS OP BAALBEC. 75 76 EUINS OF BAALBZC. RUINS OF BAALBEC. 77 of fortune. Not a vestige remains of the temple of Emesa, which was equalled in poetic style to the summits of Mount Libanus ; while the ruins of Baalbec, invisible to the writers of antiquity, excite the curiosity and wonder of European travellers." The ruins, as they now exist, are thus described by Lamar- tine : " On reaching the summit of the breach, we knew not where to fix our eyes. On every side we beheld marble doors of prodigious dimensions, windows and niches, bordered with exquisite sculpture, richly ornamented arches, fragments of cornices, entablatures, and capitals. The master- works of art, the wrecks of ages, lay scattered as thickly as the grains of dust beneath our feet. All was mystery, confusion, inex- tricable wonder. No sooner had we cast an admiring glance on one side, than some new prodigy attracted us on the other. Every attempt we made to interpret the religious meaning of the monuments was defeated by some newly-discerned object. We frequently groped about in this labyrinth of conjecture. One cannot restrict, in one's fancy, the sacred edifices of our age, or a people of whose religion or manners nothing certain can be known. Time carries his secrets away with him, and leaves his enigmas as sports for human knowledge. We speedily renounced all our attempts to build any system out of these rums ; we were content to gaze and admire, without comprehending anything beyond the colossal power of human genius ; and the strength of religious feeling which had moved such masses of stone, and wrought so many master- pieces." The ruins of Baalbec do not present a crowd of fallen edifices, spread over a large extent, like those of Palmyra ; they consist only of three distinct buildings, which stand not far from each other, in a plain at a short distance from the inhabited part of the town. The most remarkable of these is the Great Temple of the Sun, which occupies a circuit of more than half a mile, and originally consisted of a portico, an exagonal court, and a quadrangle, besides the peristyles of the temple itself. Of this last six gigantic and highly-polished pillars, 71 feet 6 inches in height, and 23 feet hi circumference, with their cornice and entablature, remain to attest the stupendous magnitude and beauty of the structure of which they made a part. They are formed out of two or three blocks, which are so perfectly fitted together, without cement or mortar, that the junction lines are scarcely discernible. They are composed of light yellow stone, presenting a sort of medium between the polish of marble and the deadness 78 RUINS OK BAALBEC. of turf. The subjoined cut [page 80] gives a beautiful view of the richly ornamented doorway. " Here is another curiosity of this place (says Maundrell) Which a man need be well assured of his credit, before he ventures to relate, lest he should be thought to strain the privilege of his credit too far. That which I mean is, the large piece of an old wall which encompasses all these struc- ture slast described. A wall made of such monstrous great stones, that the natives hereabouts (as it is usual in works of this strange nature) ascribe it to the architecture of the devil. Three of the stones, which were larger than the rest, we took the pains to measure. We found them to extend 61 yards in length ; one 21, and the other two each 20 yards ; and in the breadth of the same dimensions ! These three stones lay in one and the same row to the end ; the rest of the wall was made also of great stones, but none I think so great as these. That which added to the wonder was, that these stones were lifted up into the wall more than twenty feet from the ground ! ! " The stone of which the temple is built was brought from the neighbouring quarry, at the bottom of which there is a sinyte stone lying 70 feet in length, 14 in breadth, and 14 feet 6 inches in thick- ness ! Its weight, according to these dimensions, must be above 1130 tons! ! It would require, we believe, the united strength of 60,000 MEN OF OUR TIME TO RAISE THIS SINGLE STONE ! ! ! In fact, the stones used at Baalbec are the largest that have ever been moved by human power. The largest in the Pyramids of Egypt do not exceed 18 feet. But here, of those that com- pose the sloping wall, which surrounds the temple on the west and north, three occupy a space of 175 feet and-a-half ; viz., the first 58 feet 7 inches ; the second, 58 feet 11 inches ; and the third, exactly 58 feet long ; each of them being 12 feet thick. "When it is considered (says Lamaiiine) that some of these blocks of hewn granite are raised one above another to the height of 20 or 30 feet from the ground ; that they have been brought from distant quarries, and raised to so vast a height to form the pavement of the temple the mind is overwhelmed by such an example of human power. The science of modern times cannot help us to explain it, and we cannot be surprised therefore that it should be referred to the supernatural. The shades of evening which slowly descended the mountains of Baalbec, and obscured, one by one, the columns and the ruins, imparted an additional air of mystery to the picturesque and magical effect of these won- RUINS OP BAALBEC. 79 derful works of man and time. We feel the full insignificance of human nature ; and while contemplating the mass and eternity of these monuments, we compared man to the swal- lows, which build their nests for a season in the interstices of these stones, without knowing for whom, or by whom, or for what purpose, they were collected together. The power which moved these masses, and accumulated these blocks, is unknown to us. The dust of the marble which we trod under our feet knows more than we do, but can tells us nothing ; and in a few centuries to come, the generations who may, in their turn, visit the wrecks of our monuments now existing, will ask, without being able to answer, why we laboured without being able to build and carve. The works of man are more durable than his thoughts ; movement is the law of the human mind ; the definite is the dream of man's vanity and ignorance ; God is an object which incessantly recedes from us as we endeavour to approach him. We are continually advancing but we never arrive. The Deity whose divine figure man seems to embody in his imagination, and to enshrine in his temples, continually enlarges, ^and exceeds the narrow boundaries of our minds and our edifices ; leaves the temples and the altars to crumble into dust ; and summons man to seek him, where he is most plainly mani- fested, viz., in intelligence, in virtue, in nature, and in eternity." To return to the rums, " The enormity of the scale (says Buckingham) and the magnificence of design, seen throughout the whole of the architecture, with the boldness of the draw- ing, and the exquisite finish of the sculpture, impressed me with an idea of a labour more than human. I should conceive that in no country was to be found so superb a monument of the inimitable perfection of ancient architecture. The temples and the tombs of Egypt were here equalled in the enormity of the masses that composed them ; and the chamber of the Pyramids rivalled in the closeness of the masonry ; while the monuments of Athens itself, in the age of Pericles and Praxiteles, were at least equalled hi the richness and beauty of the sculptured ornaments that adorned them. It appeared to me, that the temples of Edfou, Tentyris, and Thebes, fell .far short of this, as a whole ; for here the ponderous strength of the Egyptian, and the chastened elegance of the Grecian school, are ooth most happily combined. The ruins are constantly becoming more ruinous. Dawkins and Wood found 9 large columns standing ; but Vojney, in 1784, found only 6. They reckoned 29 at the smaller temple ; THE PALACE OF PERSEPOL.1S. GATE OF BAALBEC. but now there are only 20. There were originally 34 ; the others were overthrown by an earthquake. Nature alone, however, has not effected this devastation. The Turks have had their share in the destruction of the columns ; the motive for which was merely that of procuring the iron cramps, which served to join the several blocks of which each column is composed. The splendours of Palmyra rose, under the breath of a free commerce, in the midst of a sandy desert ; but nothing has been able to preserve that and many other great cities from crumbling into heaps of ruins at the death- touch of that gloomy despotism that hangs like a pall over the East. THE PALACE OF PERSEPOLIS. " I know The wealth," she cries, " of every urn, In which unnumbered rubies burn, Beneath the pillars of Chiminar." Ldtta Rookh. ".JEMSHEAD (says an old Persian author) built a fortified palace at the foot of a hill which bounds the fine plain of Murdasht to the north-west. The platform on which it ia built has three faces to the plain and one to the mountain. It THE PALACE OF PERSEPOLJS. 81 is formed of hard, black granite. The elevation from the plain is ninety feet ; and every stone used in this building is from nine to twelve feet long, and broad in proportion. There are two great flights of stairs to this palace, and so easy of ascent, that a man can ride up on horseback. Each pillar is formed of a carved stone, is sixty feet high, and is ornamented in a manner so delicate, that it would seem to rival upon hard granite the sculpture of a carving upon the softest wood. There is no granite like that, of which these pillars are made, to be found now in Persia ; and it is unknown from whence it was brought. Some most beautiful and extraordinary figures ornament this palace ; and all the pillars which once sup- ported the roof (for that has fallen) are composed of three pieces of stone, and joined in so exquisite a manner, as to make the beholder believe that the whole shaft is one piece." Another Persian historian says that king Jemshead, " having taken in a spot of ground, of twelve furlongs in length, (forty- eight English miles) there erected such a palace, that in the seven kingdoms of the world there was nothing that could equal it. The remains of that palace, and many of the pillars of it, are visible to this day ; and he caused the palace to be called, Chehul Minhar ; or the Palace of the Forty Pillars." To this account it is added that queen Homaie, who flou- rished about 800 years after Jemshead, added a thousand columns! Diodorus gives another account of it. " Cambyses the son of Cyrus (says he) conquered Egypt, and led the workmen and architects into Persia, and caused them to build the palace of Persepolis and other cities." This statement is the most pro- bable, and accounts for the Egyptian appearance of the ruins. The materials of which the palace is composed, are chiefly hard blue stone ; but the doors and windows are of black marble, and so beautifully polished that they reflect objects like a mirror. This was amusingly shown on one occasion by a mastiff, who, seeing his own figure reflected on the walls, was worked up to fury, which was always increased by the view of the corresponding gestures in the reflected image ; till the scene being repeated at every step, his owners were obliged to send him off. In some places, the number of sculptures is so great that they bewilder the eye. Le Brun counted 1300 figures of men and animals, the half of which were as large as life, without including those on the tombs ; and he counted the fragments of no less than 205 columns. The Hall of Pil- lars appears to have been detached from the rest of the 82 THE PALACE OF PKRSEPOLIS. palace, and to have ha'd a communication with the other parts by hollow galleries of stone. It is strikingly grand, and conveys to the beholder the idea of a hall of audience of a powerful and warlike monarch. The palace was the favourite residence of the kings. The front is entirely open to the garden, and it is sustained by a double range of columns, upwards of forty feet high, shooting up from the united backs of four lions of white marble. The exhaustless profusion of the splendid materials which reflect their own golden or crystal lights on each other, give the appearance of an entire surface, formed of polished silver and mother-of- pearl set with precious stones ; a scene well fitted for an Eastern poet's dream, or some magic vision in the tales of an Arabian night. " Though at first sight (says Sir B. Kerr Porter), I acknowledge that a general resemblance to the Egyptian contour strikes the mind ; yet the impression gra- dually wears away when the details are examined, the sym- metry of the parts, and the grace and truth of the bas-reliefs, every where proclaiming the refined taste and master-chisels of Greece when comparing the colossal proportions of the structure, and its gigantic sculptures, with the delicacy, beauty, and perfection of the execution of its ornaments, I might say, with the poet, ' Here the doves play on the bosom of Hercules!' Besides the admiration which the general elegance of their fornij and the exquisite workmanship of their parts excited, I never was made so sensible of the im- pression of perfect symmetry, comprising also in itself that of perfect beauty. On ascending the platform on which the palace once stood, nothing can be more striking than the view of its ruins : so vast and magnificent, so fallen, mutilated, and silent ; the court of Cyrus, and the scene of his bounties ; the pavilion of Alexander's triumph, and, alas ! the awful memorial of the wantonness of his power. But every object, when I saw it, was beautiful or desolate ; amidst the pleasing memories of the past, awakening poignant regret, that such noble works of ingenuity should be left to the desert alone ; that the pile of indefatigable labour should be destined, from the vicissitudes of revolution, and the caprice, ignorance, and fanaticism of succeeding tunes, to be left in total neglect ; or, when noticed, doomed to the predatory mallet, and every other attack of unreflecting destruction." The following spirited sketch is from the author of " Bough Notes of a Bough Bide from the East " : " We were in our saddles at the first break of day ; and ere the sun's rays had gilded the few surviving capitals of Ghehel Minor, its tall RUINS OF BABYLON. 83 white columns stood before us in naked majesty at the foot of the bare and dreary ridge of mountains which bounds the wide alluvial plain of Murdasht. No other work of man was visible, except a few tents of wandering tribes specks in the distant horizon. These stood in stately solitude, the pride of ages, which appear almost fabulous from their distance ; of empires nearer by five centuries, to the time of Noah than to ours, and of which no trace remains ; but here are sufficient to verify the narrations of their splendid existence, and to show, that, in some arts, and those among the noblest, our vaunted march of intellect is but an idle boast ; indeed, were it not for the models we imitate the more servilely the better tids ' march ' would certainly be a countermarch. As it is, where is the modern city which will have such a glorious wreck as this, after its ephemeral, though perhaps more utilitarian, existence has passed away." THE RUINS OF BABYLON. HAVING sketched the principal Euins of Baalbec and Per- sepolis, we turn to Babylon a city to which the tradi- tions of history give an almost unrivalled interest. Its site is occupied by the modern town of Hillah. Here, over a space extending five or six miles in every direction, are spread the undoubted remains of that ancient " glory of na- tions," whifch none of the proud capitals of the ancient world ever rivalled in magnitude and the grandeur of its structures ; and which is rendered still more imposing by the awful anti- quity to which its origin ascends. It owed its foundation, or at least, its splendour, to Semiramis. Large additions were subsequently made, especially by Nebuchadnezzar. Babylon was thus the work of successive ages. The magnitude as- signed to it by ancient writers is so immense, as to stagger belief. According to one account, the area within the walls was upwards of 72 square miles, or nearly three and a half times that of London with all its suburbs ! According to another calculation, it was 188^ square miles, OR NINE TIMES THAT OF LONDON ! ! The population has been proportionately estimated at 5,000,000, or nearly treble that of London : but this is upon the supposition that the two cities resembled each other in structure, as well as in size, which was not the case. Babylon was an inclosed district, rather than a re- gular citv. Perhaps, on the whole, we may estimate the population at from 1,000,000 to 1,200,000. This supposition 84 RtTIXS OF BABYLON. WALL OF BABYLON. (FROM AN ANCIENT COIN.) derives support from the fact that Seleucia, with a population of 600,000, is stated to have been about half the size oi Babylon, in the days of her greatest glory. But though a population at all commensurate to the mag- nitude of the city, calculated on a scale of European density, be thus improbable, it does not by any means follow, seeing the way in which the area was partially filled up, that the magnitude itself is to be disbelieved. Herodotus visited the city in person, and while it was still in a state of tolerable preservation ; and his account has been, with trivial excep- tions, amply corroborated by the testimony of all succeeding writers, as well as by the investigations of modern travellers. According to him, the city was built on both sides the Euphrates, and connected by a bridge. The streets were parallel, and the houses from three to four stories in height. It was surrounded by a deep and broad ditch, and by a wall of extraordinary dimensions, flanked with towers, and pierced by 100 gates of brass, 25 on each side. The walls were 365 feet high, and so broad, that six chariots might drive abreast along the top. RUINS OF BABYLON. 85 Among the structures, three were pre-eminent, and ranked among the Wonders of the Old World. One was the Palace, eight miles in circumference, enclosed within three successive walls ; the interior of which was covered with paintings. Near it was the second wonder, that of the Hanging Gar- dens : these were raised, it is said, by Nebuchadnezzar, to gratify a Median queen, accustomed to the bold scenery of her native country, and disgusted with the tame uniformity of the Babylonian plain. Having undertaken to transport thither the landscapes of her own land, he raised masses of huge extent, supported by arches upon arches, and covered with deep earth, which not only produced plants and flowers, but presented a range of wooded steeps similar to those in the mountains of Media .' Thirdly, the gigantic TOWEK OF BABEL, Or Balus, was a still more celebrated structure, respecting which, tradition, fable, and history, are strangely blended. It was adorned by colossal images and statues of solid gold, the value of which has been rated by Herodotus at 5000 talents, or 21,000,000/. sterling. This is doubtless too high ; and equally exaggerated has been its reputed height, which some Jewish authorities fix at twelve miles, and even Jerome quotes contemporary authority for its being four miles high. These ridiculous estimates give way before the sober testi- mony of Strabo, who states the height at 660 feet, exceeding only a little that of the highest pyramid. Herodotus describes it as a square tower, upon which, as & foundation, seven other towers rose in regular succession, the last tower having a large chapel, a magnificent couch, and a table of solid gold. The building was ascended from without by a winding stair. The space in which it was built was enclosed within walls, eight stadia in circumference, and consequently occupying above thirteen acres. The gates were of brass, and of extra- ordinary size. Herodotus saw them. Babylon is at present the scene of utter desolation : " The wild beasts of the forest lie there ; the dragons howl in her pleasant places." Yet even now, after so many ages of desolation, and after so many great capitals have been built out of its ruins, enough remains to attest the fidelity of those who described it as the greatest capital of the an- cient world "the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldee's excellency." Its mighty structures, indeed, are resolved nearly into their original elements ; instead of walls 86 RUINS OF BABYLON. and towers, we see only confused heaps of earth, bricks, and rubbish ; but these are piled almost in mountain masses ; and, seen afar along the Mesopotamian plain, proclaim still the wonders of a distant age. Mr. Eich has described four re- markable masses, which seem to be traceable. The first is a laro-e mound, 1100 yards in length, 800 in breadth, and from 50 to 60 feet in height. Its great extent and loose texture, seem to suggest the idea of its being the remains of the Hanging Gardens. Another pile forms a square of about 700 yards, evidently the site of a finer and more ela- BIRS NIMROUD, OR TOWER OF BABEL. borate structure. Several walls are entire, built of the finest brick, cemented with lime, ornamented with niches, and some remains of painting and sculpture. The natives call it the Kasr, or palace, and its appearance seems strongly to war- rant that appellation. The third mound is evidently a royal cemetery. The fourth mound, ten miles distant from tht preceding (and still in the same city !), is probably the Towei of Babel. It is of an oblong form, 762 yards in circuit, and rises to the height of 192 feet. The bricks are of the finest description, and cemented with lirne so closely, that it is nearly impossible to extract one entire! It has some ap- pearance of having being built in stages, and on its summit there is a solid pile of brick, 37 feet high, diminishing in thickness to the top. In short, it is, in all respects, the greatest monument of Babylon. It is called by the Arabs, NINEVEH. 87 Birs Nimroud, and is thus described by Mr. Rich : " I visited the Birs under circumstances peculiarly favourable to grandeur of effect. The morning was at first stormy, and threatened a severe fall of rain ; but, as we approached the object of our journey, the heavy clouds separating, dis- covered the Birs frowning on the plain, and presenting the appearance of a circular hill, crowned by a tower, with a high ridge extending along the foot of it. It being entirely concealed from our view during the first part of our ride, prevented our acquiring the gradual idea, in general so pre- judicial to effect, and so particularly lamented by those who visit the Pyramids. Just as we were within the proper dis- tance, it burst at once upon our sight, in the midst of rolling masses of thick, black clouds, partially obscured by that kind of haze, whose indistinctness is one great cause of sub- limity ; whilst a few strong catches of stormy light, thrown upon the desert in the background, served to give some idea of the immense extent, and dreary solitude, of the wastes in which these remarkable ruins stand." Struck by a thousand lightnings, still 'tis there, As proud in mien, as haughty in despair ; Oh ! oldest fabric reared by the hands of man, Built ere Art's dawn o'er Europe's shores began ! Rome's mouldering shrines, and Tadmor's columns grey, Beside yon mass, seem things of yesterday ! In breathless awe, in musing reverence bow, 'Tis hoary Babel looms before you now. NINEVEH. FAR away a thousand miles from the highways of mo- dern commerce, and the tracks of ordinary travel, lay a city buried in the sandy earth of a half-desert Turkish province, with no certain trace of its place of sepulchre. Vague tradi- tion said that it was hidden somewhere near the river Tigris ; but for above two-thousand years its known existence in the world was a mere name a word. That name suggested the idea of an ancient capital of fabulous splendour and magni- tude ; a congregation of palaces and other dwellings, encom- passed by walls and ramparts, vast but scarcely reaL More than two thousand years had it thus lain in its unknown grave, when a learned Frenchman and a wandering Englishman, urged by a noble inspiration, sought the seat of the once powerful empire, and searching till they found the dead city, threw off its shroud of sand and ruin, and revealed once more NINEVEH NOTEVEH. 89 to an astonished and curious world the temples, the palaces, and the idols ; the representations of war, and the triumphs of peaceful art of the ancient Assyrians. The Nineveh of Scripture, the Nineveh of the oldest historians ; the Nineveh twin sister of Babylon glorying in a civilization of pomp and power, all traces of which were believed to be gone ; the Nineveh, in which the captive tribes of Israel had laboured and wept, was, after a sleep of twenty centuries, again brought to light. The proofs of ancient splendour were again beheld by living eyes, and by the skill of the draftsman and the pen of antiquarian travellers, made known to the world. * Let the reader now at once fancy himself transported across the Desert, or up the Tigris, to the city of Mosul. He is in- vited thither, not to gaze on its old walls, which withstood the fierce Saladin's hosts, or its streets, which Genghis Khan once deluged with blood ; nor to watch the many caravans which enter and emerge by its eight gates ; nor to mark the manners of its large and motley population. Mosul is the starting point of Assyrian research ; we will therefore at once cross the Tigris, here four-hundred feet wide, by the ricketty bridge of boats, and thus gain the eastern side of the river. Arrived here, the first objects that strike us are two shapeless mounds, which contain traces of works bearing a striking resemblance to the Roman camps still extant in our own country. This is the scene of the most remarkable discoveries made by Layard. " In such a country as this (says Eich), it is not easy to say what are ruins, and what are not ; what is art, converted by the lapse of ages into a semblance of nature, what Is merely nature, broken by the hand of time into ruins, approaching in their appearance to those of art." " These colossal piles (says another traveller) are found domineering over the dreary waste, to the uniformity of which they offer a striking contrast, being visible at great distances ; and, al- though thrown by the mirage into strange and contorted shapes, yet they always appear, when seen upon the verge of the horizon, as if possessing colossal dimensions, and produce an effect in point of grandeur and magnificence which cannot be imagined in any other situation." Further, that enlight- ened scholar, to whose spirit of enterprise the learned world is so much indebted for the most wonderful and important discoveries in these regions. we refer to Dr. Layara says, " The traveller is at a loss to give any form to the wide heaps upon which he is gazing. The more he conjectures, the more vague the results appear. The scene around is worthy of the * Bonoiui. 30 NINEVEH. ruin he is contemplating, desolation meets desolation ; a feel- ing of awe succeeds to wonder, for there is nothing to relieve the mind, to lead to hope, or to tell of what has gone by. These huge mounds of Assyria made a deeper impression upon me, gave rise to more serious thought and more earnest reflection, than the temples of Baalbec, or the theatres of Ionia." Such was the mystery which hung over these mighty heaps when Layard first saw them. But he resolved to penetrate the mystery, and he has done it ! "I had traversed, continues this enterprising man, Asia Minor and Syria, visiting the ancient seats of civilization, and the spots which religion has made holy. I now felt an irre- sistible desire to penetrate to the regions beyond the Eu- phrates, to which history and tradition point as the birth-place of the wisdom of the west. Most travellers, after a journey through the usually frequented parts of the east, have the same longing to cross the great river, and to explore those lands which are separated on the map from the confines of Syria by a vast blank stretching from Aleppo to the banks of the Tigris. A deep mystery hangs over Assyria, Babylonia, and Chaldea. With these names are linked great nations and great cities, dimly shadowed forth in history ; mighty ruins in the midst of deserts, defying, by their very desolation and lack of definite form, the description of the traveller ; the remnants of mighty races still roving over the land ; the ful- filling and fulfilment of prophecies ; the plains to which the Jew and the Gentile alike look as the cradle of their race. After a journey to Syria the thoughts naturally turn east- ward ; and without treading on the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, our pilgrimage is incomplete. "As we journeyed thither we rested for the night at the small Arab village of Hamusum, all around which are still the vestiges of an ancient city. From the summit of an artifi- cial eminence we looked down upon a broad plain, separated from us by the river. A line of lofty mounds bounded it to the east, and one of a pyramidical form rose high above the rest. This was the pyramid which Xenophon had described, and near which the ten thousand had encamped, the ruins around it were those which the Greek general saw twenty- two centuries before, and which were even then the ruins oi an ancient city." Dr. Layard believed these mounds to be none other than the ruined heaps of the great city of Nineveh, though about the accuracy of this opinion there are disputes among the learned. NINEVEH. 91 One night, in the month of November, 1845, an old Arab and his family were seated in their hut, in the midst of a desert, close by the Tigris. As the evening had set in, a tra- veller and his party came to the door of the hut, and asked permission to lodge for the night. The head of the party sat down on a sack in a corner of the cottage, and began to speak to A wad (for that was the old man's name) about Assyria and Nineveh. The countenance of the bearded father of the desert brightened up. He began to tell many stories about Nimrod and other, and about their buried palaces, which he described as beiug below the very place where they were sitting. The traveller and his party listened with stirring interest. This stranger was Layard. He had come for the very purpose of trying to find out the ruins of buried Nineveh. This was not his first visit to these mounds round Mosul, nor was he the first who had the merit of making the discoveries, M. Botta, an able and enterprising Frenchman, consul at Mosul, had already dug up some interesting remains in the same neighbourhood. But Layard's discoveries are the latest, and most wonderful ; and have, therefore, made the most noise. Well, at the dawn of the morning after he arrived at Awad's hut, he found the old chief by the side of his sack, telling him that the sun was up, and that he had procured a number of Arab workmen, who were waiting outside ready to com- mence operations. They began to dig into the mound of Nimrod. He had the strongest hopes that by digging deep into this mound, he might come to some ancient and inter- esting ruins perhaps the very remains of the old Assyrian capital, whose foundations Nimrod had laid 4000 years ago ! How could he tell but that he might discover some of those splendid temples and palaces which Jonah and Ezekiel once saw, and in which proud Sennacherib once lived and wor- shipped ! We need not tell you of the difficulties this illus- trious traveller had to contend with. The people of the country were jealous of him. Some thought he came to dig for gold others that he had a plot against the government others said, that he would destroy the tombs of their prophets, and draw down the anger of God. In addition to this, the Arab workmen often quarrelled among themselves ; "but he overcame all obstacles. Strange and interesting must have been the sight of these workmen. The Chaldeans, in their striped dresses and curiously peaked caps, arc digging busily in the earth. Wild looking Arabs, with long hair and bare limbs, each with a basket in his hand, are working in the trenches and pits underground. When they came out from 92 ANOTHER VIEW OF NINEVEH. below to empty their baskets, they are seen jumping and shouting in the strangest manner. They immediately return, and are lost again from sight in the bowels of the earth, while now and then wild strains of kurdish music are heard ascending from different parts of the ruins. What was his success 1 He no sooner had begun to break into the earth than his hopes were fulfilled. At first he began by finding fragments of brick and pottery, with the curious arrow- headed characters or letters inscribed on them. Every suc- ceeding day brought the workmen to new wonders beautiful specimens of alabaster and marble carving figures of various kinds standing out from the stones (called bas-relief ) repre- senting kings and chariots, cities and sieges, captives, priests, and sacred trees. On other slabs were found hunting scenes, as if Nimrod's descendants shared in his love for the chase. There were also strange devices painted in bright colours on tiles. The horses on the sculptures are also wonderful. They are generally represented covered with rich trappings, and at full gallop, as if rushing on to battle, answering to the description of Habakkuk, " Their horses are swifter than the leopards, and more fierce than the evening wolves," while the horsemen, with graceful figures, and richly attired, remind us of Ezekiel's NINEVEH. 93 description: "Horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men, princes to look to." There are several striking representations of the siege of cities. The besieged on the top of the walls are seen discharging arrows and darts at the enemy. "Wounded soldiers are represented tumbling down from the towers ; women are depicted tearing their hair, which in the East was the sign of grief ; or stretching out their arms, imploring their foes to have mercy upon them. The enemy are represented, in others, planting their scaling- ladders against the walls to climb up upon them, or bringing war-engines, called battering-rams, to beat them down. If the battle or siege be over, we have the conqueror leading the captive soldiers behind his car of triumph, with the women and children, and other spoil ; or men bringing the heads of those slain in battle, and laying them at his feet. You will not be surprised at the mirnber of these figures and devices when you bear in mind that, in the early age of the world, not only the invention of printing, but even paper, and the art of writing, were unknown. How then were they to write the history of their nation 1 How could they hand down to future ages an account of their kings and warriors their battles and victories ? Their historians used the chisel instead of the pen. They carved rude pictures of every great event on stone and marble. Instead of having, like us, libraries and books, they had their houses and walls, and especially their palaces and temples, covered with stones on which were hewn the records of the empire. Thus are the events in Assyrian history, which happened 2000 years ago, strikingly brought to light again by the digging up of these stone libraries, The ancient worlds their mysteries yield, The Chaldean sages' secrets are unsealed ; The history of old time, that seem'd undone. Proves in the last of days hut yet hegun j And prophecy awaits the child of time, To give fresh beauty to its truths sublime ! Many of Layard's most remarkable discoveries were made in what he has styled the north-west palace, and it was there that gigantic head was exposed to view, so graphically de- picted in one of the illustrations to his interesting work, with the wondering Arabs grouped around it in wondering amaze- ment. "I rode (says the traveller) to the encampment of Sheikh Abdur-rahman, and was returning to the mound, when I saw two Arabs of his tribe urging their mares to the top of their speed. On approaching me they stopped. ' Hasten, o 94 NINEVEH. O Bey,' exclaimed one of them' hasten to the diggers, for they have found Nimrod himself. Wallah, it is wonderful, but" it is true ! We have seen him with our eyes. There is no God but God ;' and both joining in this pious exclamation, they gallopped off, without further words, in the direction of their tents. On reaching the ruins, I descended into the new trench, and the Arabs withdrew the screen they had hastily constructed, and disclosed an enormous human head sculp- tured hi full out of the alabaster of the country. They had uncovered the upper part of a figure, the remainder of which was still buried in the earth. I saw at once that the head must belong to a winged lion or bull, similar to those of Khorsabad and Persepolio. It was in admirable preservation. The expression was calm yet majestic, and the outline of the features showed a freedom of knowledge and art, scarcely to be looked for hi the works of so remote a period. I was not surprised that the Arabs had been amazed and terrified at this apparition. It required no sketch of imagination to conjure up the most strange fancies. This gigantic head blanched with age, thus rising from the bowels of the earth, might well have belonged to one of those fearful beings which are pictured in the traditions of the country, as appearing to mortals, slowly ascending from the regions below. While I was superintending the removal of the earth, a noise of horse- men was heard, and presently Abdur-rahman, followed by half his tribe, appeared on the edge of the trench. As soon as the two Arabs had reached the tents, and published the won- ders they had seen, every one mounted his mare and rode to the mound to satisfy himself of the truth of these incon- ceivable reports. When they beheld the head, they all cried together, ' There is no God but God, and Mahommed is his prophet ! ' It was some time before the sheik could be pre- vailed upon to descend into the pit, and convince himself that the image he saw was of stone, 'This is not the work of men's hands (exclaimed he) but of those infidel giants of whom the prophet, peace be with him ! has said, that they were higher than the tallest date tree ; this is one of the idols which Noah, peace be with him ! cursed before the flood ! In this opinion all the bystanders concurred. The report of the discovery filled Mosul with commotion. The cadi made this a new occasion for throwing impediments in the way, and the explorations were for some time arrested. By judicious management, however, these obstacles were overcome, and it was from the chambers of this palace that many of the most interesting relics now in the British Museum were NINETEH. 95 brought. Mr. Layard gives a most interesting account of the removal of this huge figure from the Nimroud mound to the banks of the Tigris. He directed some Arabs to go to the mountains to cut some mulberry-trees, in order to con- struct a strong waggon to place it upon. He purchased a pair of iron axles, which had formerly belonged to M. Botta and the mulberry wheels were bound with iron hoops. Across the axles were laid three beams, and above them several cross beams of the same wood. Large iron rings were also fastened in for ropes, to enable the Arabs as well as buffaloes to draw the cart. This singular waggon became an object of wonder to all in the town of Mosul, and crowds came to inspect it. At last it was brought into the deep trench cut in the mound, in order to receive the monster bull. The latter was lowered from its place by means of ropes and thick rollers well greased, which had been obtained from the mountains. It was a moment of great anxiety. The Chal- deans and Arabs were half frantic with excitement. The air resounded with their music and war cr.es. Great was the disappointment when, after advancing r, little, the cable and ropes all gave way, and the great bull rolled to the ground ! It escaped quite uninjured. Next morning it was ready to be dragged to the river. Buffalos were fast har- nessed, but they refused to pull. The Arabs, however, were not so unwilling ; and a procession was formed, headed by Layard himself on horseback. Immediately after him came a band of musicians, then followed 300 men dragging the cart. They were dragging it in capital style, when the wheels sunk into a pit and the ropes broke. Next morning it was at length dragged to the river side. After some difficulties they succeeded in getting it to the raft ; and Layard with honest pride watched it until it disappeared from his sight behind a projecting bank, the Pasha came to witness the wonderful exploit. " The Pasha was accompanied by a large body of regular and irregular troops, and three guns. He visited the ruins, and expressed no less wonder at the sculptures than the Arabs ; nor were his conjectures as to their origin and the nature of the subjects represented, much more rational than those of the sons of the desert. The gigantic human-headed lions terrified as well as amazed his followers. ' There is no God but God,' was echoed from all sides. 'These are the idols of the infidels,' said one more knowing than the rest. ' No, my lamb,' exclaimed a more aged and experienced Turk, ' I have seen the images of the infidels ; they are dressed n 96 NINEVEH. many colours ; and although some of them have wings, more have a dog's body and a tail ; these are the works of the Jin, whom the holy Solomon, peace be with him! reduced to obedience, and imprisoned under his seal. ' I have seen something like them in your apothecaries' and barbers' shops,' said I, alluding to the well-known figure, half woman and half lion, which is met so frequently in the bazaars of Constan- tinople. 'God forbid,' piously ejaculated the Pasha ; 'that is the sacred emblem of which true believers speak with reve- rence, and not the handiwork of infidels.' 'There is no infidel living,' exclaimed the engineer, who was looked up to as an authority upon these subjects, ' either in Frangistan. or in Yenghi Dunia (America) who could make anything like that ; they are the work of the Magi, and are to be sent to England to form the gateway to the palace of the Queen.' ' May God curse all infidels and their works ! ' observed the cadi's deputy ; ' what comes from their hands is of Satan ; it has pleased the Almighty God to let them be more powerful and ingenious than the true believers in this world, that their punishment and the reward of the faithful may be greater in the next.' " It is impossible to describe the various discoveries made in our limited space. But before leaving Nineveh as it is, let us glance at Nineveh as it Avas. To go round it is a jour- ney of 60 miles ; its walls are 100 feet high, and 1500 towers are built on the walls to defend it from its enemies. As we walk along the Tigris, which runs through it, we see lovely palaces and temples, surrounded with terraced gardens coming down to the river's bank. Towering above them all, with terrace upon terrace of baked clay, is the palace of the king. Sculptured lions in white alabaster, with wings like eagles, are on each side of the entrance ; and in the great halls we see bricks and tiles covered with various devices, glancing brilliantly in the Eastern sun. The floor we tread upon is paved with slabs of marble, covered with letters and figures. The roof above us is inlaid with ivory and precious woods, studded with plates of silver and gold, to support the cedar-beams. Priests and cup-bearers are hurrying past us. The sound of music falls now and then upon our ears. Delightful perfumes are wafted from the king's gardens. Chariots with warriors and prancing horses are rolling along the streets, while the hum of the great city is heard all around. Not that Nineveh or Babylon, or ancient cities generally, were crowded with houses, or contained an equal population with the same space as our modern cities, such as NINEVEH. 97 98 THE RUINS OF GOUR. London and Paris. Nineveh was larger in extent than London, but not so populous. The number of its inhabitants is unknown, and conjectures vary from 600,000 to 2,000,000. Such was Nineveh" an exceeding great city," How like a star she fell and pass'd away ! THE RUINS OF GOUR, THE ANCIENT METROPOLIS OF BENGAL. " SEVEN hundred and thirty years B.C., Gour was the capital of Bengal, or Goura, as the country was then called. The .extent of its ruins is nearly fifteen miles in length, by three in breadth ; or rather, I should say, the extent of that space on which rums may yet be discovered, and the whole of which was once covered with buildings, and crowded with inha- bitants. But where, you ask, are these rums ? as, toiling through bush and long grass, now crossing a field which some ryot has formed, now wading through pools of water, or ferrying across them, you make your way from point to point, and find only the ruins of seven or eight mosques, the half-broken-down walls of a large Moorish fortress, and two strikingly grand and lofty gates of a citadel, evidently built by Mahommedans ; where are the traces of that city, the data of whose most flourishing existence can be followed back to a period of time so awfully remote a period thirteen cen- turies before the birth of the prophet Mahomet 1 "Why here ; enter this ruined mosque ; look at this block of marble, so curiously wrought ! Observe the Arabic characters so fairlv sculptured on it Now pass to the other side. You will see the Sanscrit inscription originally cut upon it, and the pagoda it long adorned was overthrown, to furnish materials for the erection of this mosque, styled by distinction, the Golden. The remains of it are, indeed, very noble. It is faced throughout with the most precious black marble. Many, however, of the inferior mosques are, upon the whole, in higher preservation ; their domes still perfect, and lined within by painted tiles, of the most vivid colours, highly glazed, and probably as bright as on the day they were laid. One of the smallest of these mosques has a tesselated pavement of great beauty. The gates of the citadel are very grand ; one especially is of a loftiness and span which forcibly recall the days of Humayom and Acbar ; as does more powerfully an imperial minar, the giant top of which lias THE RUINS OF GOUB. 99 fallen in shattered fragments at its feet. The proud monu- ment stands in the very~centre of these ruins ; and from ita dizzy and tottering head, your eye may command the whole of that desolate tract which the city once covered. The pro- cessions, the Moorish squadrons, with their crowded spears and glittering sabres, the elephants, matchlock-men in groups over the gateways, and on the city walls, and a turbaned throng covering the space below, rise and show you Jennet- abad (as it was then called) in the sixteenth century. The ruins of this city, and of Gour also, have furnished materials both for building and ornament, to Moorshedabad, Maldah, Rajemahl, Dacca, and many other places, during the last century, and at different periods long before. With some- thing like a feeling of disappointment that the traces of Gour should be so few, you would leave the spot, your eye yet lingering in its gaze, till the red soil adhering to your foot seems to say : " you are treading on the ruins of Gour." This soil is formed of bricks, now mouldered or crumbling beneath your tread, but fashioned by the hand of man long ages ago. Here, in the dust, lie the temples, the palaces, the dwellings, of the city whose memorial you seek. " I walked slowly towards my boat. It was late ; and from the ruins of a mosque and wall near some large tamarind- trees, I saw, springing witti many a fantastic gesture, several of those large-sized sacred monkeys : they fittingly repre- sented satyrs, dancing in wild mockery on this desolate spot. A marble tomb near me reminded me of the days of Acbar. Could I have broJken the slumber of its tenant, how had he grieved and wondered ! Before him, Jennetabad in ruins, and beyond, no sign of camp or arms, war-horses, or Moorish standards. And yet, how strange to think, that, could you raise at your bidding an inhabitant of Gour, who perished two thousand years before, and place him where those trees might be supposed to shelter and to shade your small ghaut, and show him that group of Brahmins, with their brazen vessels and flowers, performing their ablutions in the stream, he would not fancy more than one might have dreamed away, and, bathing himself, would prepare to re-enter the city 111 their company. So that, after all, we have ruins of Gour more striking to the mind than the half-standing columns of Babylon, or the more perfect temples of Egyptian Thebes. We have the helpless, blind, and feeble posterity of an erring and fallen race, clinging to the gods of their fathers, with a pertinacity at once to be admired and pitied."* * " Sketches of India." 100 THE RUINS OF GOUR. Exclusive of the suburbs, this city must have covered an area of full seventeen square miles ; and, with the suburbs, a space of nearly sixty square miles ; whereas Calcutta with its suburbs, can scarcely be computed at more than fifteen. Taking the population of Calcutta at only half a million, Gour, if equally populous, must have contained two millions. At all events, the number of its inhabitants must be supposed to have exceeded the population of any capital now existing, unless it be Pekin. In the midst of the city stood a fort nearly square, extending about a mile on every side. The ruins of this fort at the present moment sufficiently mark both its site and its extent. The ramparts now remaining are, in some places, full sixty feet high, and have widely branching trees growing on their very summit. "Within this fort, there is a wail now standing, nearly a quarter of a mile in extent, and in some places between seventy and eighty feet in height. Another traveller thus describes the remaining ruins > * We proceeded first to what is termed by the natives the Great Golden Mosque. This noble building appears to have stood nearly in the centre of this ancient capital. It was built of brick ; but it was ornamented on the outside with a kind of black porphyry, which almost covered the walls, of which only a small part now remains : this, with other ruins, having for ages formed the quarry whence every one near, who wished marble for a floor, or a chimney-piece, has fur- nished himself. Even the cathedral church of Calcutta was, at its erection, indebted to these venerable ruins, which have also originated many of the monuments in the cemeteries at Calcutta. Its internal structure presents a singular appear- ance. It evidently contained no one space of fifteen feet square : its breadth is divided into six ranges, somewhat resembling the aisles of an ancient Gothic church. The rows of columns closed over each aisle, and thus formed six semi- circular roofs, covering and extending the whole length of each aisle. The roof, when entire, rose in sixty lofty spires ; which gilt and ornamented as they are in other Mussul- man capitals, must have presented a most superb spectacle. The pointed mosque is the most entire of any structure now remaining. The outer walls, though nine feet in thickness, are formed of bricks extremely small, not exceeding four inches in length, and three in breadth, and an inch and a half in thickness ; but these bricks are so well made, and the cement is so firm, that the building has almost the solidity of stone. The surface of these bricks is painted yellow, white, THE RUINS OF OOTTR. 101 green, and blue, in alternate succession ; and the whole ap- pears to have been finished with a neatness approaching to finery. The east, the north, and the south sides have three doors, forming nine in the whole ; on the west side it is closed. The space within forms a beautiful room, the four walls closing above and forming a majestic dome, which, when illu- minated, must have had a most pleasing appearance. The building is so entire, that this room might now with ease be converted into a hall for the administration of justice, or Divine worship. So spacious and lofty a room without a pillar, beam, or rafter, none of us had ever seen ; and when the anti- quity of the building, the smallness of the bricks which com- pose it, and its present high state of preservation are con- sidered, it seems evident that the art of building, so far as durability is concerned, was far better understood in Bengal formerly than is indicated now by any modern edifice in the metropolis of India. " The south gate of the city has a majestic appearance. The arch of it is thirty feet wide, on each side is a piece of masonry sixty feet square, and in height nearly equal to the outside of the arch surmounting the gateway, which is some- what better than sixty feet. There is an ascent by which it is easy to get to the top of the gateway : some of us went as far as its ruinous state would permit, and enjoyed thence a fine view of the country round." Bats and owls take refuge in the mouldering ruins, which are the haunt also of wild beasts of the desert, as in Babylon. " Wild beasts of the desert shall lie there ; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures : and owls shall dwell there." THE CAVE-TEMPLES OF INDIA. THE CAVE OF ELEPHANTA. ' !> lately perusing (says a writer in the ' Edinburgh Keview,') the manuscript journal of one of the. most accomplished visitants of In- dia, we were struck with regret and surprise that the public have no description of the REGIOX OF WON- DERS which lies within a few miles **'* of the Godavery: the Aurungzebe's magnificence at Aurungabad. the un- paralleled fort of Dowlutabad, and the excavations of Ellora, which dispute with the Pyramids the first place among those works which are undertaken to display power and to embody feeling, without being subservient to any purpose of utility." THE CAVE-TEMPLES OF KENNERY, Which are formed out of a high knoll in. the middle of the range of hills which divides the island of Salsette, adjoining Bombay, into two nearly equal parts. They are scattered THE CAVE-TEMPLES OF INDIA. 103 over both sides of the hill at different elevations, and are of various sizes and forms. The largest and most remarkable is a Budhist temple of great beauty and majesty. It is entered through a fine lofty portico, on each side of which is a colossal statue of Boodh, with his hands raised in the attitude of bene- diction. Within, the apartment is ninety-one feet long, and thirty-eight feet broad. The length of the whole temple (portico and area leading to it) is 142 feet. It is surrounded on every side but that of the entrance with a colonnade of octagonal pillars ; the ceiling is arched semicircularly, and ornamented, in a very singular manner, with slender ribs of teak-wood, of the same curve as the roof, and disposed as if supporting it ; which, however, it does not require. The in- numerable caves formed in every part of the hill are square and flat-roofed. The whole appearance indicates it to have been a rock-hewn city, capable of containing many thousand in- habitants! The largest temple was doubtless their principal place of worship. The resemblance of all this to Petra, al- ready described, must strike every reader. And it is not only the numerous caves that give an idea of what the population of this barren rock must once have been, but the tanks, the terraces, and the flights of steps which led from one part to another. Yet now, not a human footstep is to be heard, ex- cept when the curiosity of a traveller leads him to pay a hasty visit to the ruined habitations of those whose very name has passed away, and whose cultivated fields are become an almost impassable jungle, the haunt of tigers, and the seat of pesti- lence and desolation. We shall now visit the celebrated cave temple of ELEPHANT A. This has been called the " IFonder of Asia" and has been often visited by travellers. It is situated on an island of the same name, near Bombay, and derives its name from contain- ing a stone elephant, about three times as large as life, rudely sculptured out of an insulated black rock. It is now much dilapidated ; and the animal on its back, supposed to be a tiger, has no longer any distinguishable shape. From the landing-place, a steep and narrow path winds up the hill, through woods, and on the brink of precipices. About half a mile further is the great cave, hi a magnificent situation, and deserving, Bishop Heber says, all the praise which has been lavished on it. It is 220 feet long by 150 broad, exceeding in these dimensions the largest work at Salsette, but of very hi- 104 THE CAVE-TEMPLES OF INDIA. ferior height. Notwithstanding its richer and more numerous decorations, the spectator is continually reminded of being in a cave. At Salsette, the lofty concave roof and noble columns have a majestic appearance ; yet the observer feels more sur- prise and admiration at the Elephanta. He beholds four rows of massive columns, cut out of the solid rock, so as to form three magnificent avenues to the grand idol, which ter- minates the middle vista ; the general effect being heightened by the blueness of the light, or rather gloom, peculiar to the situation. The central image is composed of three colossal heads, reaching nearly from the floor to the roof, a height of fifteen feet. The whole temple is full of images and sculp- tures, a description of which would be both tedious and dis- gusting. We pass on to other similar wonders of this district ; and on the way to Poonah, we come to THE CAVE OF CARLEE, Which is hewn on the face of a precipice about two thirds up the side of a steep hill, rising to the height of more than 800 feet above the plain. The excavations consist, besides the principal temple, of many smt^ er apartments and galleries in two stories, some of them ornamented with great beauty, and evidently intended, like those of Kennery, for hermits. The temple itself is on the same general plan as that of Ken- nery, but half us large again, and far finer and richer. It is approached by a steep and narrow path winding up the side of the hill, among trees and brushwood, and fragments of rock. " I asked (says Bishop Heber) some boys who offered their services to show its wonders, who was its founder, and they answered, ' King Pandoo ' ; who is, indeed, as Mr. El- phinstone afterwards told me, the reputed architect of all these cave-temples, and in general, like our Arthur, of all ancient monuments whose real history is unknown. The ap- proach to the temple, is like that at Kennery, under a noble arch, and within the portico are three colossal figures of ele phants. The internal screen is covered with male and female figures. I asked our young guides, what deities these repre- sented, and was surprised to hear from them in answer : ' These are not gods; one god is sufficient; these are viragees* (religious enthusiasts). In its dimensions and execution this temple is much nobler and more elaborate than Kennery The capitals of the columns are very singular and beautiful. Each consists of a large cap, like a bell, finely carved, and surmouiited by two elephants, with their trunks entwined, THE CAVE-TEMPLES OF INDIA. 105 and each carrying two male and one female figure, which our guides again told us were viragees. The interior is extremely clean and in good repair, and would be, in fact, a very noble temple for any religion." Proceeding onward, we come to THE WONDERS OF ELORA, As they are called by Captain Seeley, who devotes a whole volume to their description. The excavations are in a crescent- shaped hill, of moderate height. The first view of this rock- city is grand and striking, but melancholy. The number and magnificence of the subterranean temples, the extent and loftiness of some, the endless diversity of sculpture in others, the variety of curious foliage, of minute tracery, highly- wrought pillars, rich mythological designs, sacred shrines, and colossal statues, astonish but distract the mind. From their number and diversity, it is impossible to form any idea of the whole ; and the first impressions only give way to a wonder not less natural, that such prodigious efforts of labour and skill should remain, from times not certainly barbarous, without a trace to tell us the hand by which they were designed, or the populous and powerful nation by which they were completed. The empire, whose pride they must have been, has passed away, and left not a memorial behind it. We now quote from Captain Seeley : " About one P.M. my le arrived ; and I hurried them on to Elora, for, although tired and hungry, I could not resist proceeding at once to the glorious scene which awaited me at the eternal temples and houses in the mountain. No inducement could have pre- vailed upon me to stop another half-hour. Bruce's emotions were not more vivid or tumultuous on first beholding the springs of the Nile, than mine were on reaching the temples of Elora. I at once rushed into the wonders and glories of these immortal works ; but it is totally impossible to describe the feelings of admiration and awe excited on the mind upon first beholding these stupendous excavations. On a close approach to the temples, the eye and imagination are bewil- dered with the variety of interesting objects that present themselves on every side. The feelings are interested to a degree of awe, wonder, and delight, that at first is painful, and it is a long time before they become sufficiently sobered and calm to contemplate with any attention the surrounding wonders. The death-like stillness of the place, the solitude of the adjoining plains, the romantic beauty of the country, and the mountain itself, perforated in every part, all tend to 3 106 Tim CAVE-TEMPLES OF INDIA. impress the mind of the stranger with feelings quite new, aud far different from those felt in viewing magnihcont edifices amidst the busy haunts of man. Every thing here invites the mind to contemplation, and every surrounding object reminds it of a remote period, and a mighty people, who were in a state of high civilization, whilst the natives of our own land were barbarians living in woods and wilds. "Conceive the burst of surprise at suddenly coming upon a stupendous temple, within a large open court, hewn fut of the solid rock, with all its parts perfect and beautiful. Standing proudly alone upon its native bed, and detatched from the neighbouring mountain by a spacious area all round, nearly two hundred and fifty feet deep and one hundred and fifty feet broad : this unrivalled fane rearing its rocky head to a height of nearly one hundred feet in length about one hundred and forty-five feet, by sixty-two broad having well-formed door- ways, windows, staircases to its upper fl< or, containing fine large rooms of a smooth and polished surface, regularly divi- ded by rows of pillars ; the whole bulk of this immense block of isolated excavation being upwards of five hundred feet in cii'cumference, and, extraordinary as it may appear, having beyond its areas three handsome figure galleries or veran- dahs, supported by regular pillars, with compartments hewn out of the boundary scarp, containing forty-two curious gigan- tic figures of the Hindu mythology, the whole three galle- ries in continuity, enclosing the area, and occupying the almost incredible space of nearly four hundred and twenty feet of excavated rock ; being about thirteen feet broad all round and fourteen feet in height ; while, positively, above these again are excavated fine large rooms. Within the court, stands Keylas the Proud, wonderfully towering in hoary majesty a mighty fabric of rock, surjwssed by no relic of anti- quit// in the known ivorld. This brief outline will impart to the reader some idea of the Wonders of Elora; and if these temples do not excite in the mind emotions of astonishment and delight, I have quite mis- understood my own feelings. To build the Pantheon, the Par- thenon, St. Peter's, our own St. Paul's, or a Fonthill Abbey, is a task of science and labour ; but we understand how it is done, how it proceeds, and how.it is finished; but to conceive for a moment a body of men, however numerous, with a spirit how- ever invincible, and resourses however great, attack a solid mountain of rock, in most parts one hundred feet high, and ex- cavating, by the slow process of the chisel, a temple like the one I have faintly described, with its galleries ,or pantheon its vast 108 THE CAVE-TEMPLES OF INDIA area, and indescribable mass of sculpture and carving in endless profusion the work appears beyond belief, and the mind is be- wildered in amazement. I think the caverned temples of Elora* far surpass, in labour, design, &c. any of the ancient buildings that have impressed our minds with admiration. ' Fonthill Ab- bey (says a writer in an evening paper) is indeed the first in the kingdom. The architect who conceived, and the proprietor who consented to execute so extensive a design, must have had a mind of great comprehension, great imagination, and great vigour.' Now, what would this gentleman's sentiments be were he suddenly placed among the glories of Elora ? He would imagine himself in a land of enchantment, and placed among works that were not the offspring of human hands." (Captain Seeley then proceeds to describe with great minute- ness every part of the building. "We cannot, of course, follow him in all his details, but a few more extracts may prove not uninteresting.) " Few palaces can boast of a finer portico than this, and not one of similar materials ; and yet it is, com- paratively speaking, but a very inferior part of this grand structure. On ascending four steps we enter the great hall of the temple. Here a magnificent scene presents itself, that for some seconds rivets the beholder to the spot ; massive and elegantly sculptured pillars, placed in equi-distant ranges, supporting a well-cut and smooth roof of solid rock, ' By its own weight made stedfast and immovable,' having their bases in the primitive bed of rock, which forms the floor of the room, equally well- wrought with the other parts, and having a much finer polish : every part faithfully and accurately finished, and all cut into this form out of its native granite. These are the objects that arrest the ravished sight. Let us here imagine for a moment what a laborious undertaking it would appear to us, were fifty workmen placed here to excavate the roof, fifteen feet higher, the proportions and altitude of the walls and pillars to be carried on, and the number of sculptured figures to be increased in ratio with the increased height of the room. What an arduous and difficult undertaking would it appear to be thus obliged to excavate the solid rock, and fashion it, not simply into habitations and temples, but to ornament all its parts with pillars, devices, and emblems ! What must have been the labour and zeal of the workmen in thus attacking a mountain formed of the firm * It must be recollected that Keylas is but one out of about a dozen that are hewn out of this mountain. A range of distinct habitations and temples extend along the line, to the right and left, for more than a mile and a quarter. THE CAVE-TEMPLES OF TN1MA- 1Q9 primeval rock, and cutting hundreds of thousands of feet of that hard material by the aid of an iron instrument ! Surely it almost exceeds belief, that the ingenuity and industry of man could carry him through such stupendous and wonderful undertakings. ' Ruins that efface whate'er of finish'd modern pomp can boast.' " The great part of these excavations, however, are not ruins, but are in as perfect a state of preservation as when first formed, and will remain so for thousands of years, when our Stowes and Blenheims, or the holy fanes of York Minster and St. Paul's, are passed away. These temples are imperish- able, except by the action of water, or any concussion of Nature, which nothing can withstand. So far habitable, and even enticing, was the Great Hall of Keylas, that the gallant and enthusiastic captain intended to pass his first evening within its walls, and had his couch placed in it, with one of his Siphanees as sentry in the portico ; but his courage quailed before the spirit of superstition which seemed to haunt the place. " The gloomy silence that reigned all around after nightfall became oppressively heavy. It was not that pleasing pensive melancholy that steals over the mind when viewing these wonders by daylight; it was not fear nor dread, but the imagination wrought upon by the soli- tariness and grandeur of the place, and of the mighty race who formed ft, which led the mind back to an unknown age, with all its train of reflections on the mutability of human affairs. Surely the Brahmin could not have designed a fitter place of meditation. Nothing can be better adapted to estrange the soul from all mundane ideas than the deep gloom of these temples at the hour of midnight. Whilst thus in the pensive mood, restless, and the mind fatigued with think- ing, the lines of Pope came to my aid : ' The sage Chaldeans robed in white appear'd, And Brahmans deep in desert woods revered ; These stppp'd the moon, and called the embodied shade To midnight banquets in the glimmering glade j Made visionary fabrics round them rise, And airy spectres skim before their eyes. Of talisman and vigils knew the power, And careful watch'd the planetary hour.' This made matters worse, so that I thought upon beating a retreat to my tent. What must be the feelings of the igiio- t ant superstitious native who attributes all these temples to Divine origin ! The Hindu votary must have been sceptical H ,|Q THE CAVE-TEMPLES OF INDIA. and lethargic enough who was not impressed with religious awe and superstitious fear, while offering up his orisons at these sacred shrines, acted upon by the delusions of midnight music and lights, and the fierce-looking deities around ; and to crown the scene of worship, the glorious canopy of heaven, with its millions of lights constantly seen from the windows of nearly all the temples. How sublimely awful must Nature here appear clothed in the terrible garb of thunder, lightning, and storms, during night in the rainy season ; the lightning of the most vivid and luminous kind ; the rain falling in cas- cades, compared to the showers of Europe ; long, loud, and deep thunder, peculiar to tropical climates, reverberating through tue areas and excavations of the mountain, shaking these massy tenements to their base. How fearfully grand must the scene be here during such a night at the solemn hour of midnight, heightened by the show and shouts of the most enthusiastic worship, is better conceived than described. ' Auspicious midnight, hail ! The world excluded, every passion hush'd, And open'd a calm intercourse with heaven ; Here the soul sits in council ponders past, Predestines future actions ; sees not feels not Tumultuous life, and reasons with the storm.' " The captain " sneaked away " to his tent before morning, finding "the grandeur and gloom" of the place insupport- able. "We must now take our leave of him, although a " host of wonders " remain to be described in his wonderful book, from which we have taken this account of Keylas. As Seeley's enthusiam about Elora has been set down by some as mere extravagance, it may be proper to add the reports of other travellers. Colonel Fitzclarence says, "My eyes and mind are absolutely satiated with the wonders I have seen. The first are weary with objects so gigantic and extraor- dinary, and the latter has been so much on the stretch, being crowded and overwhelmed with ideas so overpowering and various, that I despair of ever forming any calm judgment upon them. The gross superstition, the cause of their forma- tion, becomes even respectable and venerable, from the admi- ration which I experienced of these early and stupendous vrorks of human genius of unremitting toil and perseverance. 1 felt a sensation of gratitude, and almost of esteem, towards the religion which had effected a labour so immense and re- markable. The Brahmins and the Hindu nations, in their original purity, who had here concentrated their religious THE CAVE-TEMPLES OF INDIA. Ill institutions and power, and made the very mountains sub- servient to their superstitions, and the various changes which had takeii taken place throughout India within the last two thousand years, all passed with the velocity of a vision ; and as I stood in Keylas, casting a rapid glance from those ages concealed in impenetrable darkness, in which the stupendous monuments of art before me had risen, down to the present moment, I sought in vain for any incident in the lapse of time which could convey an equal conception of the power of man over matter." Again, speaking of the temples, the colonel says, " Some of the sculptured decorations, and the taste in the ornaments, would do credit to the best period of the Grecian school." Sir Charles Mallet observes that, " whether we consider the design or contemplate the execu- tion of these extraordinary works, we are lost in wonder at the idea of forming a vast mountain into almost eternal mansions." And speaking of this part of the world in general, Colonel Call, chief engineer at Madras, observes, " It may be safely pronounced that no part of the world has more marks . of antiquity for arts, sciences, and civilization, than the Peninsula of India, from the Ganges to Cape Comorin. I think the carvings on some of the pagodas, as well as the grandeur of the work, exceed anything executed now-a-days, not only for the delicacy of the chisel, but the expense of construction, considering in many instances to what distances the component parts were carried, and to what heights raised." Before leaving this neighbourhood we may as well take a peep at the " unparalleled " Fort of Dowlatabad, .as it is termed by The Edinburgh Review. It stands upon an insu- lated mass of granite, rising to the height of about 500 feet above the plain. For nearly one-third of the height the rock has been scraped like a wall, and presents all round a per- pendicular cliff. Above this it assumes a pyramidical form, or that of a " compressed beehive." Four lines of walls and gates must be passed before reaching the ditch, over which is a very narrow causeway, that will not admit more than two persons abreast. " The scraped rock appearing to cut off all communication with those below, and the towers, buildings, and trees above, impressed me most forcibly (says Colonel Fitzclarence) with the idea of the flying island of Laputa, in Gulliver's Travels. Had I not been informed how I was to ascend the summit of the perpendicular cliff, I should have despaired of ever reaching it, as no visible means presents itself^ and all is alike steep and forbidding; though one may, with an attentive eye, discover a small window, about 112 THE CAVE-TKMPLES OF INDIA. half way up, in the face of the rock. The governor led the way through an excavation into the heart of the rock, so low- that I was obligad to drop nearly double. But after a few paces, a number of torches showed me I was in a high vault, and we began to ascend on a winding passage, cut through the interior of the body of the hill. This passage was about twelve feet high, and the same broad, and the rise regular. At certain distances from this dismal gallery are trap-doors, with flights of small steep steps, leading lo the ditch below, only wide enough to admit a man to pass, also cut through the solid rock to the water's edge. I suppose we were four or five minutes in reaching the window I had seen from below ; and after resting, we continued to climb. As I ob- served a passage leading off from the one in which we were I followed it, and, to my surprise, found that it led back, forming a retrogressive semicircle to our road ; and on the sides of it were many recesses, with shelves for depositing stores. We might have been hi all ten minutes mounting by torch-light, and came out in a sort of hollow in the rock, about twenty feet square. On one side, leaning against the cliff, was a large iron plate, nearly the same size as the bottom of the hollow, with an immense iron poker. On the besiegers having gained the subterranean passage, this iron is intended to be laid down over the outlet, and a fire placed upon it. I observed a hole about three feet in diameter per- forating the rock. This is meant to act as a bellows to the fire ; and the current of air which came through it was so strong that I could hardly stand against it, From its strength and these precautions it is deemed impregnable. On the peak of the rock, on a stone bed, not many feet broad, stands the flag-staff and a large brass twenty-four pounder. Now, at this point, the view is most extensive and beautiful. About 100 yards from the summit, we saw a tube cut out of the rock, containing, I should think, forty hogsheads of water." It in remarkble, however, that this was one of the first fortresses in the Deccan that fell into the hands of the .Mahommedans, about the close of the thirteenth century. 113 ROCK-TEMPLES OF MAYALIPtTRAM. PASSING over to the Madras coast, we meet with some more sculptured temples, which a glance at the ac- companying engraving will at once show the reader to be among the most wonderful things he ever saw or heard of. On that coast, the first object which presents itself, is a mere rock, very near the beach, rising abruptly out of a level plain of great extent, and having at a distance the appearance of some antique lofty edifice. On coming near to the foot of the rock, sculptured images crowd so thick upon the eye, as almost to suggest the idea of a fortified town. Adjoining this, there is a pagoda, covered with sculptures, heicn from a single mass of rock ! The top is arched like a roof, in a style of architecture dif- ferent from anything now to be seen in these parts. Opposite, there is an excavated chamber in the rock, the roof seemingly supported by pillars, not unlike those at Elephanta. A few paces onward is another more spacious excavation. The ascent of the rock, on the north, is at first, from ita natural shape, gradual and easy, and is in other parts rendered 114 THE ROCK-TEMPLES OF MAVALirURAM. more so by excellent steps. In the way up, a prodigious cir- cular stone is passed under, twenty-seven feet in diameter, so placed by nature on a smooth and sloping surface, that you are in dread of its crushing you before you clear it. The top of the rock is strewed with bricks, the remains, as you are informed, of an ancient palace. A large polished slab, having two or three steps up to it, and a lion couchant at the upper end of it, is shown as the couch of DhermaRajah. A short way further is a reservoir, excavated from the rock, with steps insidi;, which is called the bath of his queen Draputty. Descending thence, over the immense beds of stone, you arrive at a spa- cious excavated temple, filled with huge sculptures. The stone of which they are formed is a species of granite, ex- tremely hard. On the beach, the surf, according to the local tradition, rolls and roars over the submerged city of the Great Bali. " There are really (says Bishop Heber) some small remains of archi- tecture, which rise from amiu the waves, and give a proof that the sea has encroached on the land. There are also many rocks rising through the white breakers, which the fancy of the Brahmins points out as ruins ; and the noise of the surf, the dark shadow of the remaining building, the narrow slip of dark smooth sand, the sky just reddening into dawn, and lending its tints to the sea, together with the remarkable deso- lation of the surrounding scenery, were well calculated to make one remember with interest the description in Kahama, and to fancy that one saw the beautiful form of Kailyal, in her white mantle, pacing sadly along the shore, and watch- ing till her father and her lover should emerge from the breakers." About a mile to the southward of the hill, are two other pagodas cut out of the rock. One of them is about forty feet in height, and is covered with sculptures and inscriptions in an ancient unknown character. The other has a rent through the middle, from the top to the bottom, apparently caused by an earthquake. Here also is the lion, very large and well- executed ; arid near it, an elephant of stone, about nine feet in height. Some of the sculptures are unfinished ; and this, with the rent just referred to, and" the submerged ruins, seem to favour the idea that the work was interrupted by some violent convulsion. Of the high antiquity of these temples, there seems no reason to doubt. Several copper-plates have been dug up, dated above a thousand years ago, and which refer to these sculptured rocks as, at the time, of unknown origin ! THE PALMYRA OF THE DECCAN. 1J5 The rock-temples of Adjunta, Baug, and Worne, are also deserving of notice ; but it is impossible to describe the hun- dreds of such ancient marvels which are to be found in all parts of India. THE PALMYRA OF THE DECCAN Is the name given by Sir James Mackintosh to the rums of Bejapoor. To trace the limits of this city, we are told, would be a day's work, so immense is the mass of ruins ; but, from the innumerable tombs, mosques, and edifices of every descrip- tion which it exhibits, it must have been one of the great est cities in India. As the traveller approaches it from the north, the great dome of Mahomet Shah's tomb is discerned from the village of Kunnoor, fourteen miles distant. A nearer view gives the idea of a splendid and populous metropolis, from the innumerable domes and spires which meet the eye ; and though the road up to the wall leads through ruins, the illu- sion of a tolerably well-inhabited capital is still preserved by the state of the walls, the guns mounted on the works, and the guards stationed at the gates. On entering, the illusion vanishes, and the most melancholy contrast is exhibited between the number and admirable state of repair of the buildings to the memory of the dead, and the total destruc- tion of those formerly inhabited by a swarming population. Jungle has shot up and partly obliterated streets which were once thronged with a busy people in pursuit of their various avocations ; and the visitor may row lose himself in the solitude of ruins, where crowds were formerly the only impe- diments to a free passage. The most conspicuous object within the fort is the mauso- leum of Mahomet Shah, which was forty-two years building. It is a large quadrangular structure, 150 feet square and 150 feet high ; the dome is only ten feet less in diameter than the cupola of St. Peter's. The echo within, as in the whispering gallery of St. Paul's, is so perfect, that the visitor is ready to fancy it the voice of another person mimicking him. At the four corners of the tomb are octagonal minarets, about 140 feet in height. The general style of the tomb is grandeur and sunplity. Outside of the fort, the mausoleum of Ibrahim II. is the most conspicuous building. On the outside, the walls are carved into Arabic inscriptions, sculptured with great skill, and disposed in every variety of ornament. A person looking at the illuminated page of a beautiful oriental manuscript, magnifying this, and fancying it to be represented by sculpture, painting, and gilding on the face of a wall of 116 EPIIESUS. black granite, will have some conception of the labour, skill, and brilliancy of this work. The whole of the Koran is said to be carved on the four sides of this elegant structure, in which the utmost art and taste of the architect and the sculptor have combined to produce the richest effect.* EPHESUS. WE pay a visit to Ephesus, in search of one of the " Seven Wonders of the World" the Temple of Diana, celebrated both in sacred and secular story ; but its magnificence has de- parted. All that constituted the splendour of this edifice : its columus, of which 127 were the gifts of kings ; its works of art, comprising the master-pieces of Apelles and Praxiteles, have disappeared. It can now be identified only by the marshy spot on which it was erected, and by the prodigious extent and magnitude of the arches raised above as a founda- tion. The vaults formed by them compose a labyrinth, and pure water is knee-deep underneath. There is not an apart- ment entire ; but thick walls, shafts of columns, and fragments of every kind are confusedly scattered. As in the case of Solomon's Temple, the first temple was destroyed and replaced by a second still more magnificent. The original structure fell not by the rage of Xerxes, who spared it, but by the conceit of an Ephesian, who, to immor- talize his name, set fire to it ! The second temple was burnt by the Goths. Its destruction is thus described by Gibbon : " In the general calamities of mankind, the death of an indi- vidual, however exalted, the ruin of an edifice, however famous, are passed over with careless inattention. Yet, we cannot forget that the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, after having risen with increasing splendour from seven repeated misfortunes, was finally burnt by the Goths in their third naval invasion. The arts of Greece, and the wealth of Asia, had conspii-ed to erect that sacred and magnificent structure. It was admired as one of the wonders of the world. Suc- cessive empires, the Persian, Macedonian, and the Roman, had revered its sanctity, and enriched its splendour. But the rude savages of the Baltic were destitute of a taste for the elegant arts, and they despised the ideal terrors of a foreign superstition." Besides the temple, the Stadium, the Theatre, the Odeon, and the Gymnasium, may all be distinguished in outline. It * There is a brass gun in the fort, nearly 15 feet long. It would require an iron ball weighing upwards of 2500 pounds ! 1 EPHESTJ9 J18 ALEXANDRIA. THEATRE AT EPHESTIS. was this theatre, doubtless, into which the people rushed, shouting, " Great is Diana !" when St. Paul, by his preaching, produced a tumult at Ephesus. In both wings of this theatre are several architectural fragments ; and over an arch, once one of the avenues, is an inscription, enjoining the reader, " If he did not think proper to approach the festive scene, at least to be pleased with the skill of the architect, who had saved a vast circle of the theatre." The above engraving gives a view of this remnant of antiquity. ALEXANDRIA. ANOTHER of the old " Seven Wonders of the World," the Tower of Pharos, was at Alexandria. The ruins of it are buried in the sea, at the bottom of which, in a calm day, one may easily dis- tinguish large columns, and several vast pieces of marble, which give sufficient proofs of the magnificence of the building in which they were anciently employed. The harbour lay in the centre of the city, and at its entrance stood the tower. It was a large square structure, built of white marble, cu the top of TYRE, 119 which a fire was constantly kept burning, in order to guide ships by night. Ancient Alexandria was a magnificent city. There was one street two thousand feet wide, adorned with houses, temples, and public buildings. Throughout the whole extent, the eye was never satiated with admiring the marble, the porphyry, and the obelisks which were destined hereafter to adorn Rome and Constantinople. This street was indeed the finest the world ever saw. The palace occupied a quarter of the city. The Temple of Serapion, Ammianus Marcellinus assures us, surpassed all the temples then in the world for beauty and magnificence, with the sole exception of the Capitol at Rome. Here also was the famous library, containing 700,000 volumes, which was destroyed by the Saracens. Amron, who captured it, thus wrote to his master, the caliph of Omar : " I have taken the great city of the West. It is impossible for me to enumerate the variety of its riches and beauty ; 1 shall content myself with observing, that it contains 4000 palaces, 4000 baths, 460 theatres, 12,000 shops for the sale of vegetable food, and 40,000 Jews." The present state of Alexandria affords a scene of magnifi- cence and desolation. In the space of two leagues, inclosed by walls, nothing is seen but the remains of pilasters, of capitals, and of obelisks, and whole mountains of shattered columns and monuments of ancient art, heaped upon one another, and accu- mulated to a height even greater than that of the houses. According to Sonnini, " columns subverted and scattered about ; mutilated statues ; and fragments of every species overspread the ground. It ig the hideous theatre of destruc- tion the most horrible. The soul is saddened on contemplating those remains of grandeur and magnificence ; and it is raised into indignation against the barbarians who dared to apply a sacrilegious hand to monuments which time, the most pitiless of destroyers, would have respected." TYRE. HAVING included in our list of "Wonderful Cities now in ruins, Nineveh and Babylon, we cannot omit Tyre. According to Herodotus, it was founded about 2760 years before the Christian era, and was at one time the greatest maritime city in the worML The buildings were spacious and magnificent ; above all, the temples of Jupiter, Hercules, and Astarte. The walls were 150 feet high, proportionably broad, and firmly built with huge blocks of stone. Its munificence and wealth are described with great splendour of language by the prophet Ezekiel (chap, xxviii). 120 THE ACEOPOLIS OF AMMON. Tyre produced from Herinon, and the mountains near it, fir for planking, and from Libanus, cedars for masts j from Bashan, oaks for oars ; from Greece, ivory to adorn the benches of the galleys ; from Egypt, linen, ornamented with different colours, for sails, or flags, or ensigns ; from Pelopon- nesus, blue and purple cloths for awnings ; from Sidon and Aradus, mariners; from Gebal, caulkers; from Persia and Africa, mercenary troops ; from Tarshish, iron, tin, lead, and silver ; from Greece, and the countries bordering on Pontus, slaves and brass- ware ; from Armenia, horses, horsemen, and mules ; from the Gulf of Persia, ivory ; from Syria, emeralds, purple broidered work, fine linen, coral, and agate; from Judah and Israel, the finest honey, wheat, oil, and balsam ; from Damascus, wine and wool ; from Philistia, bright or wrought iron, cassia or cinnamon ; from the Gulf of Persia, rich cloth for the decoration of chariots or horsemen ; from Arabia, rams, and lambs, and goats ; from Sabea, the best of spices ; from India, gold and precious stones ; from Mesopotamia and Baby- lonia, the Assyrians brought all sorts of exquisite things. The luxury, vice, and destruction of this mighty city, which once had the entire controul of the trade with India, and into whose lap the treasures of the world were poured, are described by the Hebrew prophets ; and we are told by modern travellers that its desolation is now complete. Messrs. Fisk and Jowett, missionaries, were there in the autumn of 1823, and the former describes the town and harbour as environed by rocks, on the ledges of which are scattered in every direction the fragments of ancient columns. They counted not less than 100 columns in one place on the rocks, and some ten or fifteen under water, showing that the waves of the sea now roll where once stood the vast and magnificent palaces of Tyrian wealth and luxury. THE ACROPOLIS OF AMMON. THE " royal city" of the Ammonites was famous in the days of David, king of Israel, who captured it Its Acropolis, long its chief stronghold, is still conspicuous among its ruins. It stands, as described by Lord Claud Hamilton, " on an isolated hill to the north of the town. Its walls are high, very well built, and in many parts in good preservation. The chief ruins are those of a temple, which was once adorned with a portico and peristyle of grand Corinthian columns, all now prostrate; but their massive remains attest their former magnificence. The great theatre (there is another smaller) is a grand edifice; THE ACROPOLIS OF AMMOIf. 121 RUINS OF THE AMMON AMPHITHEATRE. it is scooped out of the side of the hill, being partly composed of the living rock, but chiefly of masonry. This theatre must have been intended for games and other exercises in the open air, and, instead of the enclosed passages and covered chambers behind the stage, there is only an open colonnade of handsome Corinthian columns, which extends from one extreme to the other of the rows of seats. Within the colonnade is an exten- sive arena of a horseshoe form, 128 feet from seat to seat. Forty-three rows of seats extend a great height, and are separated into three tiers by broad landing-places ; seven radii of smaller steps admitted the spectators to their several seats. The remains of one grand temple are sufficient to attest its former magnificence, surrounded as it was by lofty columns, gome of which are still entire. Adjoining is a little fane, di- vided into square apartments, each containing a variety of rich and elegant ornaments ; and an open arch, which forms the centre, has the most beautiful carved ceiling I ever saw." 122 STONEHENGK THIS is the name given to an as- semblage of upright and prostrate, stones on Salisbury Plain, supposed to be the remains of an ancient Druidical temple. Next to the Py- . ramids of Egypt, Stonehenge, and other remains of the same class, rank among the most remote and most wonderful monuments of antiquity. They are all anterior to history, and consequently involved in the deepest mystery. Hence, also they have occasioned much speculation, and many volumes have been written with a view of explaining the origin and uses of such structures. In this short sketch, it is intended to describe clearly and explicitly what Stonehenge is, and what it has been. No relic of antiquity in Great Britain has excited more surprise and curiosity. To behold this " wonder of the west," as it has been termed, with interest and satisfaction, it should be viewed with an artist's eye, and contemplated with a mind stored with antiquarian and historical knowledge. Dr. Stukeley remarks of it, writing in 1743, "Stonehenge Btands not upon the summit of a hill, but pretty neat it- ard BTONEHEUGK. 123 for mere thau three-quarters of the circuit you ascend to it very gently from the lower ground ; at half a mile distance its appearance is very stately, awful, and august ; as you ad- vance nearer, especially up the avenue, which is now most perfect, the greatness of its contour fills the eye in an astonish- ing manner. Stonehenge is enclosed within a circular ditch ; after passing which the visitor ascends thirty-five yards before he comes to the work itself. Upon entering the building, and casting the eye round upon the yawning ruins, the mind is impressed with a sense of wonder which none can describe, and they only can be sensible of, who have felt it. Other buildings fall by piece- meal, but here a single stone is a ruin, and lies like the haughty carcase of a Goliah. Yet there is as much of it undemolished as enables us sufficiently to recover its form in its perfect state. When we advance farther, the dark part of the ponderous imposts over our head, the chasm of sky between the joints of the cell, the singular construction of the whole, and the greatness of every part, excite renewed feelings of astonish- ment. All writers who allude to the remarkable temple on Salis- bury Plain speak of its gigantic and imposing effect as pro- ducing on their minds mingled impressions of surprise and awe. Yet it is hardly necessary to remind the reader that it is a mere wreck of what it once was, when its circles were complete, and its huge masses stood poised in air. Portions of it have fallen at a recent period, and slow as the work of destruction progresses, it is vain to hope that this has the elements of perpetual endurance in it more than any other work of man's hands. The following account of the sudden fall of two of the largest columns, towards the close of the last century, is contained in a letter from Dr. Manton : " On the 3rd of January, 1797, some people employed at plough, full half a mile distant from Stonehenge, suddenly felt a con- cussion or jarring of the ground, occasioned, as they afterwards perceived, by the fall of two of the largest atones and their impost. That the concussion should have been so sensible will not appear incredible, when I state the weight of these stones. A cubic inch of the substance of which the stones are com- posed, weighing one ounce six pennyweights, the ponderosity of the entire trilithon will be found to be nearly seventy tons. the impost alone is considerably more than eleven tons in weight. This stone, which was projected about two feet beyond the supporters, made an impression in the ground to the depth of seven inches or more." 224 STONEHENGE. When perfect, it had consisted of two outer concentric circles of stones, with two inner groups of stones. The outer circle appears to have consisted of thirty upright stones, seventeen of which are still standing ; their average height is fourteen feet, and their sides seven feet by three feet. The inner circle consists of smaller stones more irregularly shaped than those on the outer circle, and without imposts ; only eight stones ot this circle are now standing, but there are remains of twelve others on the ground. Within the inner circle are two groups ot stones having between them a large flat stone, called the altar. Some of these interior stones are of vast size, and have imposts similar to those of the outer circle. According to what appears to be the most accurate calculation, Stonehenge, when entire, must have comprised in all, 129 or 130 stones. They consist mostly of a fine, white, compact sandstone. Such is a brief notice of this stupendous monument. Similar remains are to be found at Avebury, in the vicinity, and in various places in Brittany, the Orkney Islands, &c. The general opinion is, that they were Druidical temples : but this is mere conjecture. On Stonehenge, Sir R. Hoare remarks, m his " History of Ancient Wiltshire,"" I cannot for a moment hesitate in declaring it neither Roman, Saxon, nor Danish. We learn from the Holy Scriptures that the earliest memorials were of stone ; and we find, to this day, single, double, and triple upright stones, as weii as numerous circles dispersed about our dominions : we thus find some attempts at archi- tecture in the Cromlech and Kistvaen, in both of which we see immense stones laid incumbent upon others that are upright : whether these gave the idea of the imposts at Stonehenge, or vice versa, will be a difficult matter to determine : at all events, I consider Stonehenge of a much more modern date than Avebury, where there are no imposts, and no marks of work- ing on the stones ; but in the former we perceive a regular plan, a great deal of symmetry, and great knowledge in ma- thematics. We know, also, that many stone monument exist on the continent, and in that part of it from whence our island probably received its earliest population, viz., Oallia-Celliea. The most remarkable of these monuments is situated in the Tillage of Carnac, on the western coast of Bretagne. Some de- tached stones on the hills and sand-banks announce the ap- proach to this grand theatre, which consists of an immense number of rude unhewn stones (amounting to 4000 or more) standing in an upright position, on a sandy plain, near the sea- coast. They are ranged in eleven straight lines, which lines are separated from each other by a space of thirty or thirty-five RUINS OF rUCATAW. 125 feet, and the distance from one stone to another varies from twelve to fifteen feet. The highest of these stones measure* twenty-two feet out of ground ; the width varies ; one of them is twenty-two feet high, twelve feet wide, and six feet thick ; and many of them are movable. These stones present the most singular aspect ; they stand alone on an extensive plain, attended only by the sand that supports them, and the vault of heaven that surrounds them ; not an inscription to explain, nor an analogy to inform. They recall to our me- mory those times which neither our calculation nor our history can ever attain. I have before stated my opinion, that our earliest inhabitants were Celts, who naturally introduced with them their own buildings, customs, rites, and religious ceremonies; and to them I attribute the erection of Stonehenge, and the greater part of the sepulchral memorials that still continue to render its en- virons so truly interesting to the antiquary and historian. This theory seems the most probable, though not the one most generally entertained. As Wordsworth says, Darkness surrounds us ; seeking, we are lost On Snowden's wilds, amid brigantine coves, Or where the solitary shepherd roves Along the plain of Sanim, by the ghost Of Time and shadows of Tradition crost; And where the boatman of the Western Isles Slackens his course to mark those holy piles Which yet survive on bleak lona's coast. Nor these, nor monuments of oldest fame, Nor Taliesin's unforgotten lays, Nor characters of Greek or Roman name, To an unquestionable Source have led. Enough if eyes that sought the fountain-head in vain. In vain upon the growing rill may gaze. RUINS OF YUCATAN. Ma. STEPHENS, the celebrated traveller, after exploring Cen- tral America, had his attention drawn to Yucatan, by accounts he received of ancient ruins of great extent which lay buried in the vast forests with which nearly the whole country is covered. In the interesting narrative of his travels he gives an account of visits made to forty-four ruined cities, many of them containing extensive remains of temples and palaces still covered with sculptures, and frequently adorned both with paintings and hieroglyphics. His work is adorned with numerous engravings of these gigantic memorials of an extinct 126 RUINS OP YUCATAN. race, large views of the ruined temples and palaces, curious representations of sculptures, hieroglyphic inscriptions, and many of the very singular national features peculiar to that remarkable country, to which the Spaniards of the fifteenth century were lead by Columbus, although he himself never reached the mainland of the New World. Columbus never doubted that he had discovered in the island of Cuba a land of ancient fame, which he believed to be that of Ophir, from whence Solomon obtained the store of gold with which he adorned the temple of Jerusalem. The natives still pointed toward the west, " and well would it have been (says Wash- ington Irving) had he followed their advice. Within a day or two he would have arrived at Yucatan ; the discovery of Mexico and the other opulent countries of New Spain would have necessarily followed. The Southern Ocean would have been disclosed to him, and a succession of splendid discoveries would have shed fresh glory on his declining age, instead of its sinking amid gloom, neglect, and disappointment." Yucatan was, however, duly discovered and conquered by the Spaniards. The inhabitants fought with extraordinary courage, but their resistance proved unavailing against the superior skill of European warfare ; and now the gigantic and mysterious ruins which w r e are about to describe alone attest their power and magnificence. One of the most remarkable groups of ruins explored by Mr. Stephens and his companions was that of Uxmal ; and the first of these singular relics which they examined is called by the present natives the Casa del Gubernador, or House of the Governor. " This building was constructed entirely of stone. Up to the cornice, which runs round it the whole length, and on all four of its sides, the fa9ade presents a smooth surface ; above is one solid mass of rich, complicated, and ela- borately-sculptured ornaments, forming a sort of arabesque. The grandest ornament, which imparts a richness to the whole fa9ade, is over the centre doorway. All the other doorways have over them striking, imposing, and even elegant decora- tions. The part immediately over the doorway shows the re- maining portion of a figure seated on a kind of throne. The head-dress is lofty, and from it proceeded enormous plumes of feathers, divided at the top, and falling symmetrically on each side, until they touch the ornament on which the feet of the statue rest. Each figure was perhaps the portrait of some cacique warrior, prophet, or priest, distinguished in the history of this unknown people. At this day the Indians believe these old buildings are haunted, and that all the ornaments are ani- KUINS OF YUCATAN. mated and walk at night. I have no doubt that all these orna- ments have a symbolical meaning ; that each stone is a part of an allegory, history, or fable, hidden from us, but which, if ever revealed, will show that the history of the world yet re- mains to be written." The rear elevation of the Casa del Gubernador is a solid wall, without any doorways or openings of any kind. Within are two parallel ranges of rooms, each range numbering as many rooms as there are doorways in the front wall, through which alone they receive the light, each back-room communicating with the corresponding front-room by a door immediately op- posite the outer one. The height of this, as of all the other ruined buildings, does not correspond with the imposing breadth of the facade, it being little more than twenty-four or twenty- live feet. Apparently, the lintels of the doors have all been of wood, and some were still in their places, and in good condi- tion, when examined by Mr. Stevens. This, however, is no proof against the antiquity of the buildings, as these beams are of a very hard wood, which, it is said, does not grow in the neighbouring forests, but must have been transported hither from the forests near the lake of Peten, a distance of about three hundred miles. From the manner in which the sculp- tured ornaments on the exterior of the buildings cover the stones the several parts of one design occupying several ad- joining stones it is evident that these must have been placed in the wall before they were sculptured. But though not of great height itself, this building, like all of the same sort among these ruins, occupies an elegant posi- tion, being the upper platform of an artificial sub-structure, which rises in three terraces from the level plain, and which, notwithstanding its great dimensions, bears evidence of being the work of man. The first terrace is 575 feet long, 3 feet high, and 15 feet broad ; the second is 545 feet long, 20 feet high, and 250 feet wide ; the third, on which stands the stately edi- fice, is 360 feet long, 19 high, and 30 broad. In the centre of the platform of the second terrace commences a flight of steps 130 feet wideband leading up to the third terrace immediately in front of the house, the fajade of which is 322 feet long. On the terrace below that on which stands the Casa del Gu- bernador is the Casa de las Tortugas, or House of the Tortoises, so called from the form of the stones with which the rectangu- lar court enclosed within its four wings was paved. These stones are described as being each six inches square, exquisitely cut in semi-relief with the full and accurate figure of a tortoise, and as being arranged in groups of four, with the heads of the 128 KUINS OF YUCATAN. tortoises together. The number required to cover the surface of the court is said to have been 43,660 feet. Another singular building is called the House of the Dwarf, and sometimes the House of the Diviner, from its overlooking the whole city, and enabling its occupant to be cognizant of all that was passing around him. The court-yard of this building is 135 feet by 85 feet. It is bounded by ranges of mounds from 25 feet to 3 feet thick. In the centre is a large circular stone, called the Whipping Post, similar to what are to be found elsewhere in these ruined cities. The base o.f the house is 235 feet long and 155 feet wide. Its height is 88 feet, and to the top of the building it is 105 feet. Though diminishing as it rises, its shape is not exactly pyramidal, but its ends are rounded. It is encased with stone, and apparently solid from the plain. At the height of 60 feet is a solid projecting plat- form, on which stands a building loaded with .ornaments more rich, elaborate, and carefully executed, than those of any other edifice in Uxmal. A great door-way opens upon the platform. The steps or other means of communication with this building are entirely gone, and at the time of our visit we were at a loss to know how it had been reached ; but from what we saw afterward, we are induced to believe that a grand staircase, upon a different plan from any yet met with, and supported by a triangular arch, led from the ground to the door of the building, which, if still in existence, would give extraordinary grandeur to this great mound. The front of the structure which crowns this mound is much ruined, but even in its decay pre- sents the most elegant and tasteful arrangement of ornaments to be seen in Uxmal. The emblems of life and death appear on the wall in close juxta-position, confirming the belief in the ex- istence of that worship practised by the Egyptians and all other Eastern nations." The peculiar characteristics of neai'ly all the remains of ancient sculpture and architecture in Yucatan are a barbarous magnificence, and indefinite grandeur, as if the ideas of the designer had been superior to his powers of execution ; yet mingled with these are many traces of skilful and artistic de- sign. At Kabah, for example, another very extensive group of ruins, Mr. Stephens was struck with some remarkably rich architectural details, which he thus describes : " In the centre of the platform is a range of stone steps 40 feet wide, and 20 in number, leading to an upper terrace, on which stands the building. This building is 151 feet in front, and the moment we saw it we were struck with the extraordinary richness and ornament of its facade. In all the buildings of Uxmal, with- RUINS OF YUCATAN. 129 out a single exception, up to the cornice which runs over the doorway, the fa9ades are of plain stone; but this was orna- mented from the very foundation, two layers under the lower cornice, to the top. The cornice running over the door-ways, tried by the severest rules of art recognised among us, would embellish the architecture of any known era ; and, amid a mass of barbarism, of rude and uncouth conceptions, it stands as an offering by American builders worthy of the acceptance of a polished people." Mr. Stephens also saw at Kabah a lonely arch. " It stands on a ruined mound, disconnected from any other structure, in solitary grandeur. Darkness rests upon its history, but in that desolation and solitude, among the ruins around, it stood like the proud memorial of a Roman triumph. Perhaps like the arch of Titus, which at this day spans the Sacred Way at Rome, it was erected to commemorate a victory over enemies." One of these ruined palaces represents a pyramidal mound, "Holding aloft (says Stephens) themostcuriousandextraordinary structure we had seen in the country. It put us on the alert the moment we saw it. We passed an entire day before it, and in looking back upon our journey among ruined cities, no subject of greater interest presents itself to my mind. With the full blaze of a vertical sun upon it, the white stone glared with an intensity dazzling and painful to the eyes, and almost realising the account by Bernal Dias in the expedition to Mexico, of the arrival of the Spaniards at Cempool. ' Our advanced guard having gone to the great square, the buildings of which had lately been whitewashed and plastered, in which art these people are very expert, one of our horsemen was so struck with the splendour of their appearance in the sun, that he came back at full speed to Cortez,-to tell him that the walls of the houses were of silver.' " Above the cornice of the building rises a gigantic perpen- dicular wall to the height of 30 feet, once ornamented from top to bottom, and from one side to the other, with colossal figures and other designs in stucco, now broken and in frag- ments, but still presenting a curious and extraordinary appear- ance, such as the art of no other people ever produced. In a few years it must fall. Human power cannot save it ; but in its ruins it gave a grand idea of the scenes of barbaric magni- ficence which this country must have presented when all her cities were entire. Tbe figures and ornaments on this wall were painted ; the remains of bright colours are still visible, defying the action 130 RUINS OF YUCATAN. of the elements. If a solitary traveller from the Old World could by some strange accident have visited this aboriginal city when it was yet perfect, his account would have seemed more fanciful than any in Eastern story." What is very wonderful in regard to all these cities is, the absence of all evidence of work-shops or commerce of any kind. And it seemed at first, too, as if they had been destitute even of wells, and such things as are absolutely necessary to the sustenance of life ; but, in this respect, art had triumphed over the deficiencies of nature in a singular manner. Deep cavernous wells were discovered in various places, one of which we shall now permit Mr. Stephens to describe : " Returning in the same direction, we entered a thick grove the finest we had seen in the country and within it was a great circular cavity, twenty or thirty feet deep, with trees and bushes growing out of the bottom and sides, and rising above the level of the plain. It was a wild-looking place, and had a fanciful, mysterious, and almost fearful appearance ; for while in the grove all was close and sultry, and without a breath of air, and every leaf was still, within this cavity the branches and leaves were violently agitated, as if shaken by an invisible hand. This cavity was the entrance to the well, and its appearance was wild enough to bear out the wildest accounts we had heard of it. We descended to the bottom. At one corner was a rude natural opening in a great mass of limestone rock, low and narrow, through which rushed constantly a powerful current of wind, agitating the branches and leaves in the area without. This was the mouth of the well, and on our first attempting to enter it, the rush of wind was so strong that it made us fall back gasping for breath. Our Indians had for torches long strips of the castor-oil plant, which the wind only ignited more thoroughly, and with these they led the way. The entrance was about three feet high, and four or five wide. It was so low that we were obliged to crawl on our hands and feet. The wind, collecting in the recesses of the cave, rushed through this passage with such force that we could scarcely breathe ; and as we all had in us the seeds of fever and ague, we very much doubted the propriety of going on, but curiosity was stronger than discretion, and we proceeded. In the floor of the passage was a single track, worn two or three inches deep by long-con- tinued treading of feet, and the roof was incrusted with a coat of smoke from the flaring torches. At. the distance of 150 or 200 feet, the passage enlarged to an irregular cavern, forty or fifty feet wide, and ten or fifteen high. We no longer felt the rush of cold wind, and the temperature was sensibly warmer. The sides RUINS OF YUCATAK. 131 and roof were of rough broken stone, and through the centre ran the same worn path. From this passage others branched off to the right and left, and in passing along it the Indians held down their torches to a block of sculptured stone. Beyond this we passed into a large circular opening. Here the Indians stopped and flared their torches. It was a geat vaulted chamber of stone, with a high roof supported by enormous stalactite pillars. The effect under the torch-light, and heightened by the wild figures of the Indians, was grand, and almost repaid us for all our trouble. Farther on we climbed up a high, broken piece of rock, and descended again by a low, narrow opening, through which we were obliged to crawl, and which, from its own closeness, and the heat and smoke of the torches, and the labour of crawling through it, was so hot that we were panting with exhaustion and thirst. This brought us to a rugged perpendicular hole, three or four feet in diameter, with steps, barely large enough for a foothold, worn in the rock. We descended with some difficulty, and at the foot came out upon a ledge of rock, which ran up on the right to a great height, while on the left was a deep, yawning chasm. A few rude logs were laid along the edge of this chasm, which with a pole for a railing served as a bridge, and with the torch- light thrown into the abyss below, made a wild crossing-place. The passage then contracted, and descended rapidly. We were again obliged to betake ourselves to crawling, and again the heat became insufferable. Indeed we went on with some apprehensions. To faint in one of those narrow passages, so far removed from a breath of air, would be almost to die there. This passage continued forty or fifty feet, when it doubled on itself, still contracted as before, and rapidly descending. It then enlarged to a rather spacious cavern, and took a south- west direction, after which there was another perpendicular hole leading, by means of a rude, ricketty ladder, to a steep, low, crooked, and crawling passage, descending, until it opened into a large broken chamber, at one end of which was a deep hole or BASIN OF WATER!" This account may not be perfectly accurate in all the details, but, it is not exaggerated. The truest and most faithful de- scription that could be given of it would be really the most extraordinary. The water was in a deep, stony basin, running under a shelf of overhanging rock, with a pole laid across on one side, over which the Indians leaned to dip it up with their calabashes ; and this alone, if we had wanted other proof, was confirmation that the place had been used as a well. But at the moment 132 RUINS OF YUCATAN. it was a matter of very little consequence to us whether any living being had ever drunk from it before ; the sight of it was more welcome to us than gold or silver. We were dripping with sweat, black with smoke, and perishing with thirst. It lay before us in its stony basin, clean and inviting, but it was completely out of reach ; the basin was so deep that we could not reach the water with our hands, and we had no vessel of any kind to dip it out with. In an hour and a half from the time of penetrating, we emerged into the outer air. As a mere cave, this was extraordinary ; but as a well or watering-place for an ancient city, it was past belief, except for the proofs under our own eyes. Around it were the ruins of a city without any other visible means of supply. And a strong circumstance to induce the belief that it was once used by the inhabitants of a populous city, is the deep track worn in the rock. For ages the region around has been desolate, or occu- pied only occasionally by a few Indians. Their straggling footsteps would never have made that deep track. It could only have been made by the constant and long-continued tread of thousands. It must have been made by the population of a city ' Another of these extraordinary wells will again be described by Mr. Stephens : " At the distance of half a league from the village, we turned off by a well-beaten path, and descending gradually, reached the foot of a rude, lofty, and abrupt opening, under a ledge of over- hanging rock, seeming a magnificent entrance to a great temple for the worship of the God of Nature. We disencumbered ourselves of superfluous apparel, and, following the Indian, each with a torch in hand, entered a wild cavern, which, as we advanced, became darker. At the distance of 60 paces the descent was precipitous, and we went down by a ladder about 20 feet. Here all light from the mouth of the cavern was lost, but we soon reached the brink of a great perpendicular descent, to the very bottom of which a strong body of light was thrown from a hole in the surface a perpendicular height of 210 feet. As we stood on the brink of this precipice, under the shelving of an immense mass of rock, seeming darker from the stream of light thrown down the hole, the gigantic stalactites of huge blocks of stone assumed all manner of fantastic shapes, and seemed like mon- strous animals or deities of a subterranean world. "From the brink on which we stood, an enormous ladder, of the rudest possible construction, led to the bottom of the hole. It was between 70 and 80 feet long, and about 12 feet wide, made of the rough trunks of saplings lashed together length- RUINS OF YUCATAN. 133 wise, and supported all the way down by horizontal trunks braced against the face of the precipitous rock. The ladder was double very steep seemed precarious and insecure, and confirmed the very worst accounts we had heard of the descent into this remarkable well. Our Indians began the descent, but the foremost had scarcely got his head below the surface, before one of the rounds slipped, and he only saved himself by clinging to another. With an occasional crash and slide, we all reached the foot of the ladder. Looking up, the view of its broken sides, with the light thrown down from the orifice above, was the wildest that can be conceived. As yet the reader is only at the mouth of this well ; but to explain to him briefly its extraordinary character, I give its name, which is Xtacumbi Xunau. The Indians understand by this La Senora escondida, or the ' Lady hidden away ;' and it is derived from a fanciful story that a lady stolen from her mother was concealed by her lover in this cave. At the foot of the ladder there is an opening in the rock, entering by which, we soon came to an abrupt descent, down which was another long and trying ladder. It was laid against the broken face of the rock, not so steep as the first, but in a much more ricketty condition ; the rounds were loose, and the upper ones gave way on the first attempt to descend. At the foot of this ladder was a large cavernous chamber, from which passages diverged. Moving on by a slight ascent over the rocks, at the distance of about 75 feet, we came to the foot of a third ladder, and so on to the seventh the length and general appearance of which induced us to pause and consider. It was laid on a narrow sloping face of rock, pro- tected on one side by a perpendicular wall, but at the other end open and precipitous. Holding by the side of the ladder next the rock, we descended, crashing and carrying down the loose rounds, so that when we got to the bottom, we had cut off all communication with Albino ; he could not descend, and what was quite as inconvenient, we could not get back. It was now too late to reflect, we told Albino to throw down our torches, and go back for Indians and ropes to haul us out. In the meantime we moved on by a broken, winding passage, and at the distance of about 200 feet, came to the top of a ladder eight feet long, at the foot of which we entered a low and stifling passage; and crawling along this on our hands and feet, at the distance of about 300 feet, we came to a rocky basin full of water ! " Before reaching it one of our torches went out, and the other was then expiring. We were then 1400 feet from the 134 RTJIN8 OF YUCATAN. mouth of the cave, and at a perpendicular depth of 450 feet. We were black with smoke, grimed with dirt, and dripping with perspiration. Water was the most pleasant spectacle that could greet our eyes ; but it did not satisfy us to drink it only, we wanted a more thorough benefit. Our expiring torch warned us to forbear, for in the dark we might never be able to find our way back to upper earth ; but, trusting that if we did not reappear in the course of the week, Mr. Catherwood would come to the rescue, we whipped off our scanty covering, and stepped into the pool.' It was just large enough to prevent us from interfering with each other, and we achieved a bath which, perhaps, no white man ever before took at that depth under ground. The Indians call this basin Chacka, which means red water ; but this we did not know at the time, and we did not discover it, for to economize our torch we avoided flaring it, and it lay on the rock like an expiring brand, admonishing us that it was better not to rely wholly upon our friends in the world above, and that it would be safe to look out for our- selves. Hurrying out, we made a rapid toilet, and, groping our way back, with our torch just bidding us farewell, we reached the foot of the broken ladder, and could go no further. Albino returned with Indians and ropes. We hauled ourselves up, and got back to the open chamber from which the passages diverged ; and here the Indians pointed out another, which we followed till it became lower than any we had yet explored; and, according to Dr. Cabot's measurement, at the distance of 401 paces, we came to another basin of water. This, as we afterwards learned, is called Pucuclha, meaning that it ebbs and fanvs like the sea. The Indians say that it recedes with the south wind, and increases with the north-west. In i-eturn- ing we turned off twice by branching passages, and reached two other basins of water ; and when we got back to the foot of the great staircase, exhausted and almost worn out, we had the satisfaction of learning that there were seven in all, and that we had missed three. All have names given to them by the Indians, two of which I have already mentioned. The third is called Sallab, which means a spring; the fourth Akahba, on account of its darkness ; the fifth Chocoha, from the circumstance of its being always warm ; the sixth Ociha, from being of a milky colour; and the seventh Chimaisha, besause it has insects called ais. "When the reservoirs in the piazza fail, the whole village still turns to this cave, and four or five months in the year derives from this source its only supply. It is the sole and only water- RUIW8 OF TtTCATAN. 135 ing-place of one of the most thriving villages in Yucatan, con- taining a population of 7000 souls; and perhaps even this is surpassed in wonder by the fact that, though for an unknown length of time, and through a great portion of the year, files of Indian men and women are going out every day with cantaros on their backs, and returning with water; and though the fame of the cave extends throughout Yucatan, from the best information we could procure, not a white man in the village had ever explored it." THE PYRAMIDS OF MEXICO. FEOM the Old World to the New, there to meet with monu- ments as old possibly as the oldest of any which we have yet anywhere encountered. Though the Pyramids of Egypt are generally spoken of in such a way as to give the impression that such structures were peculiar to Egypt, this is far from being the ca e. There are numerous pyramids of various sizes in Arabia. The Birs-Nimroud, or supposed Tower of Babel, was a pyramidal building. India, in like manner, furnishes examples of similar structures. But next to the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, those of Spanish America are most calculated to excite attention. Like those of Babylon, the Mexican pyramids are chiefly constructed of bricks. The Great Pyramid of Cholula covers an area more than three times the base of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh ; but it is built in the usual form of the Mexican pyramids, consisting of four receding platforms, each of which is subdivided into a number of small steps, and the top is left as a large open platform, so that the height is small compared with the base. Here, how- ever, nearly all resemblance to the pyramids of Egypt ceases, though internal chambers have been discovered in some of them, containing skeletons, and having perhaps a monumental character. The Pyramids of Cholula appear to have been chiefly designed by the ancient Mexicans as pedestals for the statues of their gods. "When (Jortez first beheld them, a colossal statue occupied the summit of each, 'covered with plates of gold, which, however, did not long retain its posi- tion. The lofty terrace of the great pyramid was chosen as the site of a church, and mass is now daily celebrated in it by an Indian priest. It is described by Humboldt as "the greatest, most ancient, and most celebrated of the whole of the pyramidal 136 PYRAMID OF CHOLULA monuments of this quarter. It is called the " Mountain made by the hand of Man." At a distance it has the appearance of a natural hill covered with vegetation. In the interior, there are considerable ca- vities which were used as sepul- chres. A particular circumstance led to this discovery. Seven or eight years ago, in tracing the road from Puebla to Mexico, the first storey was cut through, so that an eighth part remained isolated like a heap of bricks. In making this opening a square house was discovered in the interior of the pyramid, built of stone, and supported by beams made of the wood of the deciduous cypress. The house contained two skeletons, idols in basalt, and a great number of vases curiously var- nished and painted. No pains were taken to preserve these objects, but it is said to have been carefully ascertained that this house, covered with bricks and strata of clay, had 110 outlet. We examined the remains of this subterraneous house, and observed a particular arrangement of the bricks, tending to diminish the pressure made on the roof. The natives beiug ignorant of the manner of making arches, placed very la* ge THE PYRAMIDS OF MEXICO. 137 bricks horizontally, so that the upper course should pass be- yond the lower. The continuation of this kind of stepwork served in some measure as a substitute for the Gothic vault, and similar vestiges have been found in several Egyptian edifices. An adit dug through the pyramid to examine its internal structure, would be an interesting operation ; and it is singular, that the desire of discovering hidden treasure has not prompted the undertaking." The Indians preserved many strange traditions, some of which pointed to the Great Pyramid as a temple for a divine being, whom they regarded as the conductor of their race to that country, and their instructor in the metallurgic arts. Another very remarkable tradition still exists among the Indians, which Humboldt, after his return to Europe, found corroborated by the Mexican MS. in the Vatican at Rome. " Before the great inundation which took place 4800 years after the creation of the world, the country of Anahuac was inhabited by giants. All those who did not perish were trans- formed into fishes, save seven, who fled into caverns. When the waters subsided, one of these giants, Xelhua, surnamed the architect, went to Cholula, where, as a memorial of the mountain Tlaloc, which had served as an asylum for himself and his six brethren, he built an artificial hill in the form of a pyramid. He ordered bricks to be made at the foot of the Sierra of Cocotl, and to convey them to Cholula, he placed a file of men, who passed them from hand to hand. The gods beheld with wrath this edifice, the top of which was to reach the clouds. Irritated at the daring attempt of Xelhua, they hurled fire on the pyramid. Numbers of the workmen perished ; the work was discontinued, and the monument was afterwards dedicated to the god of the air. This tradition reminds us of those ancient traditions of the East, which the Hebrews have recorded in their sacred books. These pyra- mids were at once temple.* and tombs. The plain on which were built the houses of the Sun and of the Moon at Teohi- huaca, is called the Path of the Dead ; but the essential part of a pyramid was the chapel, the naos, at the top of the edi- fice. In the infancy of civilization, high places were chosen by the people to offer sacrifices to the gods. The first altars, the first temples, were erected on mountains, and when these mountains were isolated, the worshippers delighted in the toil of shaping them into regular forms, cutting them by stories, and making stories to reach the summit more easily. Both continents afford numerous examples of these hills, divided into 138 THE PYRAMIDS OF MEXICO. terraces, and supported by walls of brick or stone. The pyramids appear to me to be merely artificial hills, raised in the midst of a plain, and intended to serve as a basis to the altars. What is more sublime and awful than a sacrifice that is offered in the sight of an assembled nation ! " The Pyramid of Tapautla was by chance discovered some years ago by some Spanish hunters ; for the Indians carefully conceal f rom the whites whatever was an object of ancient veneration. The form of this pyramid, which had six, perhaps seven stories, is more tapering than any other monument of this kind It is built entirely with hewn stones of an extraor- dinary size, and very beautifully and regularly shaped. Three staircases lead to the top. The covering of its steps is deco- rated with hieroglyphical sculpture, and small niches, which are arranged with great symmetry. The number of these niches seems to allude to the 318 simple and compound signs of the days of the civil calendar of the Tolbecks. The researches of Humboldt gave, as might have been expected, a new impetus to the study of American antiquities. A mong travellers who have made explorations, Mark Beau- foy, a British officer, published, in 1828, a work entitled " Mexican Illustrations." He thus describes a visit to a group of pyramids much less noted than those of Cholula : " The most curious, and from various circumstances which connect them with the first colonization of America, by far the most interesting monuments in the Mexican territory are the Pyramids of Otumba. So little had I been led to expect from report, that these ancient edifices would be found more worthy of attention than the three ruinous pyramids of Cholula, that I had neglected to provide myself with the means of measuring them, or to make such arrangements as might have enabled me more thoroughly to investigate the extraordinary scene I was about to visit. " The two pyramids of Otumba have their sides and shape perfectly distinct, facing the four cardinal points of the com- pass, with an inclination to the summit of about 45 degrees, and those summits appearing at a short distance to end in a peak. They are placed at half a mile from each other. Each lias two stages about three feet wide, at regular distances up the sides, and running quite round the building. On the summit of each is a small platform, once apparently covered with cement, and probably surmounted by a temple ; but a few modern ruins show clearly that the Spanish conquerors had erected chapels on the sites of the Mexican edifices. In ST. PETER'S. 139 no point could I discover anything resembling an entrance ; but several large holes which had been dug ir:to the sides, either from curiosity or avarice, gave me the opportunity of ascertaining that neither layers of brick, or adobas (unburnt), were used in the construction : common volcanic stones, with which the surrounding plaiu is strewed, appear to have been first agglomerated into the pyramidal mass, by means of a cement composed of water, earth, and mortar ; and the faces of the four inclined planes afterwards smoothed and perfected as to their shape and proportions. The latter operation has been effected with so much care, and the fissures so well closed, that the small bushes now growing on them have scarcely proved injurious to the workmanship. The group of primitive remains which surround these remarkable struc- tures are no less wonderful. Between the two pyramids, arranged in regular order, and forming a kind of street, are a. vast number of small mounds or tumuli of volcanic stones ; varying in height from five to twenty and thirty feet : these did not seem to have had their sides smoothed, but wore the appearance of heaps raised to commemorate the dead. To the right hand of the Pyramid of the Moon, stands the head of an immense idol, carved in a hard species of porphyry ; and in another place a stone altar extreme!}' well fashioned, which I measured as well as I could with my pocket-handkerchief, and then compared with my own height : this rude mode gave eleven feet long (for it had been thrown down), four wide, and four thick. The ground further to the right, outside of the tumuli, was thickly scattered with small earthenware heads, and grotesque faces of men." ST. PETER'S. THE Basilica of St. Peter was the first and noblest religious edifice erected by Constantine. It stood om part of the circus of Nero, and was supposed to occupy a spot consecrated by the blood of numberless martyrs, exposed or slaughtered in that place of public amusement by order of the tyrant. But its principal and exclusive advantage was the possession of the body of St. Peter, which secured to it the first place in the affection and reverence of the Christian world. Every age, as it passed over the Vatican, seemed to add to it holiness and dignity ; and the coronation of an emperor, or the installation of a pope, gave it so many new claims to the veneration of 110 BT. PETEB 3. ST. PETER'S. 141 Christendom. At length, however, after centuries of glory, the walls of the ancient Basilica began to give way, and sym- toms of approaching ruin were become so visible about the year 1450, that Nicholas V. conceived the project of taking down the old church, and erecting in its stead a new and more extensive structure. Successive popes have endeavoured to acquire a share in its glory and duration by some decoration or improvement. On the whole it would not be exaggeration to assert that three hundred years elapsed from the commmence- ment to the termination of this stupendous fabric. To calculate the expense would be difficult ; but we may venture to state that it must have amounted at lease to twelve millions sterling; and when we consider that the marbles, bronze, and other valuable materials employed in its decoration, are not only uncommon, but scarcely known out of Rome, we may add that it would require three times as much to raise a similar edifice in any other capital. When the spectator approaches, he views* four rows of lofty pillars, sweeping off to the right and left in a bold semicircle. In the centre of the area formed by this immense colonnade, an Egyptian obelisk, of one solid piece of granite, ascends to the height of one hundred and thirty feet : two perpetual fountains, one on each side, play in the air. and fall in sheets round the basins of porphyry that receive them. Before him, raised on three successive flights of marble steps, extending four hundred feet in length, and towering to the elevation of one hundred and eighty, he beholds the majestic front of the Basilica itself. This front is supported by a single row of Corinthian pillars and pilasters, and adorned with an attic, a balustrade, and thirteen colossal statues. Far behind and above it rises tlw matchless .dome, the justly celebrated wonder of Rome and of the world. The colonnade of coupled pillars that surround and strengthen its vast base, the graceful attic that surmounts this colonnade, the bold and expansive swell of the dome itself, and the pyramid seated on a cluster of columns, and bearing the ball and cross to the skies, form the most magnificent and singular exhibition, that the human eye perhaps ever contemplated. Two smaller cupolas, one on each side, partake of the state, and add not a little to the majesty, of the principal dome. The interior corresponds perfectly with the grandeur of the exterior, and fully answers the expectations, however groat, which such an approach must naturally have raised. Five lofty portals open into the portico, a gallery in dimension and decorations equal to the most spacious cathedrals. It is four K 142 ST. PETER'S. hundred feet in length, seventy in height, and forty in breadth, : paved with variegated marble, covered with a gilt vault, adorned with pillars, and pilasters, and terminated at both ends by equestrian statues, one of Constantine, the other of Charlemagne. Opposite the five portals of the portico are the five doors of the church. As you enter, you behold the most extensive hall ever constructed by tuman art, expanded in magnificent perspective before you. Advancing up the nave, you are delighted with the beauty of the variegated marble under your feet, and with the splendour of the golden vault over your head. But how great your astonishment when you reach the foot of the altar, and standing in the centre of the church, contemplate the four superb vistas that open around you ; and then raise your eyes to the dome, at the prodigious elevation of four hundred feet, extended like a firmament aver your head, and presenting, in glowing mosaic, the companies . of the just, the choirs of celestial spirits, and the whole hier- archy of heaven arrayed in the presence of the Eternal, whose " throne high raised above all height" crowns the awful scene ! The high altar stands under the dome. In order to add to its relief, and give it all its majesty, a lofty canopy rises above it, and forms an intermediate break or repose for the eye be- tween it and the immensity of the dome above. The form, materials, and magnitude of this decoration are equally asto- nishing. Below the steps of the altar, rise four twisted pillars fifty feet in height, and support an entablature which bears the canopy itself topped with a cross. The whole soars to the , elevation of one hundred and thirty-two feet from the pave- ment, and, excepting the pedestals, is of Corinthian brass! the most massive work of that or of any other metal now known. The chair of St. Peter (St. Petei- never sat in it) is a lofty throne elevated to the height of seventy feet from the Eavement, a circular window fringed" with yellow throwing :om above a milder splendour around it. From the lower part of the Basilica, we pass to the roof by a well-lighted staircase, winding round with an ascent go gentle that beasts of .burden go up without inconvenience, When you reach the platform of the roof you are astonished with the number of cupolas, and domes, and pinnacles, that rise around you; with the galleries that spread on all sides, and the many apartments and staircases that appear in every quarter. Crowds of workmen are to be seen passing aud repassing in every direction, and the whole has rather the ST. PETER'S. 143 form of a town than that of the roof of an edifice. Here the traveller has an opportunity of examining closely and mi- nutely the wonderful construction of the dome, and of dis- covering the skill and precision with which every part has been planned and executed. The vast platform of stone on which it reposes as on a solid rock ; the lofty colonnade that rises on this platform, and by its resistance counteracts, as a continued buttress, the horizontal pressure of the dome, all of stone of such prodigious swell and circumference ; the lantern which like a lofty temple sits on its- towering summit; these are objects which must excite the astonishment of every spec- tator, but can be perfectly understoood and properly described by none but by a skilful architect thoroughly acquainted with the difficulties and the resources of his art. The dome of the Pantheon, had for many ages excited the wonder and admiration of mankind, and this Bramante, the first planner of St. Peter's, would have imitated. But the dome of the Pantheon rested on columns and attained no striking elevation. " A similar cupola," said Michael Angelo, with the confidence of genius, " will I raise in the air ! " And this was done by constructing walls sufficiently strong to sus- tain the enormous weight. In whatever direction the traveller approaches Rome, he sees the sublime dome towering into the blue heavens. It seems to invite him from afar, and increases the impatience which all must feel on a first visit, to arrive at the Eternal City. Like our own St. Paul's, but with the immense advan- tage of being almost constantly seen through the medium of a pure, transparent atmosphere, it forms a grand and conspi- cuous object in almost every distant view of the city of which it is the glorious crown. It may be seen from the hills of Baccans on the north ; from the Lower Apennines on the east ; from the volcanic ridges of the Alban Mount on the south ; and from the mast-head of a ship in the Tyrrhene gulf of the Mediterranean on the west ; and in all these views it rises up from the broad flat of the Campagna, in which the " Seven Hills," and other elevations in the neighbourhood of Rome, are of themselves ridges or breaks scarcely more per- ceptible than a distant wave at sea. It seems to reign in soli- tary majesty over the city ; and is, perhaps, never so impres- sive an object as when seen thence, particularly on the stated festivals,, on the evenings of which it is suddenly, nay almost instantaneously, covered with a flood of light. The reader may conceive this effect by fancying the dome of St. Paul's 144 ST. PAUL'S. lighted up by innumerable lamps and torches; but we must add, in the case of St. Peter's, " the deep blue sky of Rome," without a cloud, -without a vapour or a wreath of smoke. But thou, of temples old, or altars new, Standest alone with nothing like to thee Worthiest of God, the holy and the true. Since Zion's desolation, when that He Forsook his former city, what could be, Of earthly structures, in his honour piled, Of a sublimer aspect ? Majesty, Power, glory, strength, and beauty, all are aisled In this eternal ark of worship undented. Enter : its grandeur overwhelms thee not ; And why ? it is not lessen'd ; but thy mind, Expanded by the genius of the spot, Has grown colossal, and can only find A fit abode wherein appear enshrined Thy hopes of immortality ; and thou Shalt one day, if found worthy, so defined, See thy God, face to face, as thou dost now His Holy of Holies, nor be blasted by his bro\v. BYIION. ST. PAUL'S. FROM the earliest times the hill on the summit of which St. Paul's with its magnificent dome towers above the vast metro- polis, seems to have been consecrated by holy edifices. Ethel- oert, the first Christian king of Kent, erected a church here (6 1 0), and dedicated it to St. Paul. In 691 it was burnt down, but is said to have been rebuilt in the same year. This church like- wise became a prey to the flames about a century after. The succeeding edifice, known as Old St. Paul's, occupied one hun- dred and fifty years in erection, nor was it, in fact, completely finished until the reign of Edward II. in 1315. It was nearly seven hundred feet in length, one hundred and thirty in breadth, and the wooden spire attained the amazing height of five hundred and twenty feet. The spire was rebuilt in the year just specified, and the summit adorned by a ball and cross. In 1561 all the wood work of the cathedral was consumed by fire. It was indeed re-opened within five years, by the unre- mitting exertions of queen Elizabeth, but it remained a frag- ment, and gradually fell to decay, till, in 1663, under Charles I., er. PAUL'S. 146 the subscriptions having amounted to 100,000, the important task of restoring the building was entrusted to Inigo Jones. Great was the neglect to which it had been exposed. It was a common lounging-place for idlers; and the people walked about with their hats on during divine service. It is built in the form of a cross ; its whole length from east to west is five hundred feet, that of the transept two hundred and eighty-five ; the breadth is one hundred and seven feet, that of the transept nearly the same. The intersection of the nave and transept is surmounted by the dome, lantern, globe and cross. The height to the top of the cross is four hundred and four feet ; that of the two towers of the west front, two hundred and twenty feet ; of the walls about ninety feet. Within the iron railing (which cost 11,000) that incloses the burial ground of the cathedral stood formerly Paul's Cross, so frequently mentioned in English history. The sermons, some of which cost their authors so dear, were delivered in the open air. There still exist benefactions for their continuance, and though now preached in the choir, they are still distin- guished by the name of Paul's Cross sermons. 146 ST. PAUL'S. Such is a general outline of the external form of the Cathe- dral. But the vast pile, which would he imposing from its mere magnitude, had it little more to boast of, is invested with the highest degree of beauty and grandeur by the superb decorations with which almost every part of it is enriched. The west front is now generally admitted to be superior to any other in existence, not excepting that of St. Peter's. The grand portico in its centre consists of two parts; the lower formed by twelve columns of the Corinthian, and the upper by eight of the Composite order. Wren's original idea was to employ only one order, and a single series of pillars, ascending to the majestic height of nearly ninety feet. In simplicity and purity, this elevation would have been superior to the present ; and the effect would have been very noble. But the design was found impracticable, from the impossibility of finding blocks, in the Portland quarries, of the requisite dimensions. It may be safely said that the great architect, by the arrange- ment actually adopted, has made as much as it was possible to do of the materials to which he was confined, and more than was ever before made of the same space. To a spectator coming up Ludgate Hill, which must be regarded as the grand avenue to the metropolitan temple, this facade seen through the naiTow opening, presents a combination of majesty and beauty which cannot be contemplated by the intelligent eye without the deepest sense of the presence and the power of triumphant art. It sometimes happens that the rays of the afternoon or evening sun, coming through a clear atmosphere, are thrown strongly upon the columned and sculptured display, while a black cloud, veiling the opposite quarter of the heaven, forms a back-ground, from which the whole pile projects in full relief, and so as to produce the finest contrast of light and shade. Excepting the view of the west front from Ludgate Hill, there is scarcely a-good view to be had of any other part of the church. The towers and dome, indeed, are seen to great advantage from Blackfriars and Waterloo bridges ; but none of the under portion of the building is visible from these points. The glimpse afforded by the opening into Cheapside is ex- tremely limited, and the east end runs so close to the houses as scarcely to be visible except from their windows. The public are not admitted by the main door, but by the door of the north transept, the effect of which is that whatever of majesty and harmonious beauty there is in the. plan and disposition of the interior is lost to the visitor on his first advance. While, notwithstanding its inferior dimensions, the ST. PAUL'S. 147 external appearance of St. Paul's has been preferred by many to that of St. Peter's, it is admitted by all that the interior of the English cathedral will bear no comparison with that of the Roman. The upward view from under the dome of St. Peter's has been generally acknowledged to have no rival in the world The corresponding spot in St. Paul's is also that from which, the surrounding scene assumes its most imposing aspect. There is extent enough to convey an impression of extraor- dinary magnificence. The dome, though not so elevated as that of St. Peter's, is still very lofty, while the form of the concave in the former has been considered more beautiful than that of the latter. The objects in the interior, by which the attention of visitors is usually first attracted, and longest detained, are the monu- mental sculptures erected in honour of various distinguished men. The first statue introduced was that of Howard, the philanthropist, followed by one of Dr. Johnson. Sir William Jones, and Sir Joshua Reynolds, also are here honoured. But, in general, while civil eminence has been commemorated in Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's has been made a Pantheon for those who have immortalized themselves by their brilliant achievements in defence of their country. Here are, among others, Elliot, the heroic defender of Gibraltar, and Howe, and Jervis, and Duncan, the victors of Brest, and Cape St. Vincent, and Camperdown ; Nelson, and Collingwood, and Abercrombie, and Moore, too, are here. In the library the attention of visitors is directed to the curious floor, in which a great number of geometrical figures are formed by pieces of variously-coloured oak. In the model- room, there is a model of the Cathedral, according to what is said to have been the favourite design of Sir Christopher Wren. The whispering-gallery runs round the base of the dome. The view downwards into the body of the church from this gallery is very striking. The dial-plate of the clock is fifty-seven feet in circumference, or nearly twenty in diameter; and the minute-hand is eight feet long dimensions that would scarcely be conjectured by those who have only seen it from the street below. The great bell, on which the hours are struck, weighs between eleven and twelve thousand pounds. From the whispering-gallery, the visiter may ascend succes- sively to the first and second gallery around the outside of the dome, and even into the ball itself, which is capacious enough to hold perhaps half a dozen people at once. One of the wonderful things connected with St. Paul's is the wonderful sum of money charged for inspecting it! It is less a church 148 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. INTERIOR OF ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. than a show, and the dearest show, too, in London. Were it in the hands of any other class or corporation but the clergy, there would be no complaint on this head, or at least they would never have so long remained utterly unimpressed and apparently unimpressible, by the eternal complaint and con- tempt to which their avarice has given rise. WESTMINSTER ABBEY. WESTMINSTER ABBEY, is not only a most beautiful specimen of architecture, but is an historical monument in which every Englishman feels interested, and of which he feels proud. It is built in the form of nearly all ecclesiastical buildings of the same style that of a cross. The eastern part is surrounded by chapels of various forms and sizes that of Henry VII. being the most capacious and magnificent. It is to be re- gretted that, like every other building of ancient interest in the metropolis, it is unfavourably situated, or, at least, un- favourably surrounded. It is from the west entrance that the most striking and effective view of the interior is to be ob- tained. The view from this point is more extended and unbroken, and the architectural character of the building appears more complete, than from any other. The lights, too, are so judiciously introduced, and the arrangements and pro- WESTMINSTER ABBET. 149 portions of the columns so nicely adjusted to the forms and magnitude of the arches, and to the aerial loftiness of the vaulting, that the whole combines into one harmonious per- spective, and for a time the spectator feels a stronger inclina- tion to contemplate the picture than to examine the design ; and as almost every part displays an exuberance of monu- mental decoration, in which the art of sculpture has been carried to a very high degree of excellence, there is probably no structure in the kingdom from the examination of which the intelligent mind can derive a greater pleasure. On entering Henry the Seventh's Chapel, which is slightly elevated above the ground-floor of the Abbey, and is ap- proached by steps of black marble, the spectator pauses to gaze upon the extraordinary scene. The " dim religious light " which fills the place inspires him with a solemn feeling of devotion, and he is enchained by the potency of art. Nothing can be conceived more exquisite in proportion, or more har- monious in detail. The shafts of the arches spring with almost magical lightness towards the fretted roof, which Ls l.V) WESTMINSTER ABBET. KXTER1OR OF HENRT THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL. most gorgeously elaborated with an astonishing variety of figures. The walls contain upwards of one hundred and twenty statues of patriarchs, saints, martyrs, and confessors, besides angels and innumerable other smaller figures. But profuse as is the richness of ornament, there is no spoiling of the general effect by a crowding together of disproportioned carvings ; all is in perfect accordance with the purest taste. The building will thus ever be regarded as one of the most unique and splendid specimens of the pointed style of archi- tecture erected in Europe. In the Chapel of St. Edward the Confessor stands that celebrated monument of popular curiosity, the Coronation Chair. Inclosed within the frame-work is the far-famed Co- ronation Stone brought from Scone by Edward I., on which the Scottish kings were crowned. The coronation of the kings of England in this Abbey forms one of its peculiar features of interest. Some of them have been scenes of ex- traordinary magnificence. At Henry the Eighth's coronation, whatever could dazzle the eye in the rich barbaric pomp of the time was exhibited. Great part of Cheapside was covered with cloth of gold, and the fronts of houses were hung with tapestry, during the procession. We cannot describe the various monuments which have YORK MINSTER. 151 here been raised to departed genius and power. The famous " Poets' Corner " is a sacred spot. Here Chaucer, the Homer of England, has his memorial ; Milton, whose mind pierced into " the region of invisibles " ; Shakspeare, whose empire was man ; Butler, the quaint and witty ; rare Ben Jonson ; Dryden, Cowley, Spenser, Thomson, Goldsmith, Addison, and Watts, with Handel and Garrick. " I passed (says Washing- ton Irving) some time in Poets' Corner. The monuments are 'generally simple, for the lives of literary men afford no striking themes for the sculptor. Notwithstanding the sim- plicity of these memorials, I have always observed that the visiters to the Abbey remain longest about them. A kinder and fonder feeling takes place of that cold curiosity, or vague .admiration, with which they gaze on the splendid monuments of the great and the heroic. They linger about these as about the tombs of friends and companions." Again, on leaving the building, " I endeavoured to form some arrangement in my mind of the objects I had been contemplating, but found they were already falling into indistinctness and confusion. Names, inscriptions, trophies, all had become confounded in my recol- lection, though I had scarcely taken my foot off the threshold. What, thought I, is this vast assemblage of sepulchres, but a treasury of humiliation ; a huge pile of reiterated homilies on the emptiness of renown, and the certainty of oblivion ! What is to ensure this pile which now towers above me from sharing the fate of mightier mausoleums ? The time must come when its gilded vaults shall lie in rubbish beneath the feet ; when, instead of the sound of melody and praise, the wind shall whistle through It-he broken arches, and the owl hoot from the shattered tower ; when the garish sunbeam shall break into these gloomy mansions of death ; and the ivy twine round the fallen column, and the foxglove hang its blossoms about the nameless urn, as if in mockery of the dead." YORK MINSTER. AMONG Gothic structures, York Minster (a corruption of monastery) has generally been regarded as without a rival in England, or perhaps in the world. It is perhaps the most perfect example to be anywhere found of the embodied history and progress of gothic architecture, having occupied two cen- turiea in construction. It has not the advantage of standing upon a height ; yet its enormous mass mak