ever, that they are not by centuries so old as the Egyptian monuments,-the date of the oldest, perhaps, is not earlier than 300 B.C. The island, you know, has its name from a figure of an elephant cut out of the solid rock on the acclivity of a hill, and which is itself a very curious monument. The form of the earliest Indian temples was pyramidal. Pagodas of an early date are found in different parts of Hindostan, covered with sculpture to such an extent, that the general form is lost in the ornaments which decompose it. As Gwilt remarks, quoting the Encyclopédie Méthodique,-“ In the Egyptian architecture, even the smallest edifices are grand; in that of India, the infinite subdivision into parts gives an air of littleness to the largest buildings. In Egypt solidity is carried to the extreme; in India there is not the slightest appearance of it." There are inclosures in India which very closely resemble Stonehenge, so much so, that some writers conceive the latter to be a Buddhist structure. And if it be that the Woden of the Scandinavians, from whom our Wednesday takes its name, is the Buddha of the Indians, the connection does not seem impossible. The course of my rapid narrative now leads us to GREECE, "Immortal, tho' no more; though fallen, great!" To that extraordinary country, which has afforded models to the whole world, and is made holy by great names and wonderful events. All our earliest and noblest emotions are associated with its history, -by that has patriotism been warmed, emulation excited, high thoughts induced. The words of her orators and the writings of her sages yet hang over the nations and influence mankind: the works of her artists, the most perfect productions of human intellect of which we have any knowledge,-yet remain to extort universal admiration, instruct the world, and defy rivalry. The present state of this country affords a sad contrast to its former greatness. "And yet," as your favourite "Childe Harold" sings, "And yet how lovely in thine age of woe, Land of lost gods and god-like men, art thou! So perish all in turn, save well recorded worth." I may not begin to talk of Greek work, however, at the end of a letter. Adieu! LETTER VI. SIT down to commence this my sixth communication to you in an old cathedral town, and in face of one of the most exquisite productions of our mediæval artists. The sun, which tips with light, pinnacle and panelling and gargoyl, has also filled with rich shadow the holes and recesses cunningly formed to receive it: the whole surface is full of life and motion; thought and intention are visible everywhere; the mind of the old workers peeps out at every corner, and the mind of the looker-on is filled and satisfied. Had our review reached the period of the erection of structures of this character, the glorious object before me, blackened and battered and decaying as it is, would prompt to a more forcible depiction of its principles, peculiarities, and beauty, than I could otherwise produce. This, however, must be deferred: we are but on "the margin of the inky flood," and must not over-sail our subject. Where were we? We have spoken of "The Eternal Pyramids, Memphis and Thebes, and whatsoe'er of strange, GREECE. Sculptured on alabaster obelisk, and have now to talk of GREECE. 73 "Greek art," He says Kugler, "sprang from Greek religion. It was art which gave the gods form, character, and reality. The statue of Jupiter Olympius brought the Father of the Gods himself before the eyes of men. was deemed unfortunate who died without beholding that statue. Art, among the Greeks, was an occupation of a priestly character: as it belonged to her to lift the veil of mystery which concealed the gods, so was it also her office to exalt and consecrate the human forms under which they could alone be represented. The image of the god was no mere copy from common and variable life;-it was stamped with a supernatural grandeur, which raised the mind to a higher world." But her arts had an infancy, and to this let us look, confining ourselves to architecture. Amongst the earliest constructions of masonry which remain to us, are those which have been termed indifferently by writers, Cyclopean and Pelasgic. The characteristics of this mode of construction are, that the walls are formed in some cases of enormous masses of irregularly-shaped stones, piled together without mortar, and having the interstices filled in with smaller stones; and in others, that the stones are polygonal, with their various angles carefully hewn, so as to correspond, without mortar, with those which are contiguous, and not admit smaller stones to fill up. Sir William Gell, who diligently investigated the subject, maintains that only the first-described method should be called Cyclopean- the second, Pelasgic; and, moreover, asserts, that this latter mode, although evidently the more artificial and scientific of the two, was practised several hundred years before the Cyclopean manner. Thus, he says that the Pelasgi built and walled Lycosura 1800 years B.C.; that Argos was founded about fifty-six years earlier even, and was decidedly a Pelasgian city; and that Tiryns was fortified by foreign artists from Lycia, called Cyclopes, above 400 years later. The question is surrounded by difficulties, and must be left unsettled; but this will not distress you. One of the most noted examples of the Cyclopean construction is the Gate of the Lions, at Mycena. The doorcase there is formed of two massive upright blocks of stone, covered with another, which is 15 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 6 feet 7 inches high. Upon this stands a triangular stone, 12 feet long, 10 feet high, and 2 feet thick; on the face of which two lions, with their fore-legs resting on a round pillar or altar, are sculptured in low relief. The jambs (as the sides of a doorway are called) slope inwardly toward the top, coinciding with the Egyptian mode. Mycena .is unquestionably of most remote antiquity. |