and it is astonishing to observe to how great a perfection the arts were carried at this period, only about two hundred years after the flood. CHAPTER II. Egyptian Architecture-Its Characteristics-Origin of Temples and the Orders-Temples of Memnon, Cnuphis, and Jupiter-Thebes-Its Extent and Grandeur-Ruins of the Temple of Luxor-Egyptian Columns-Temple of Carnac-The Libyan Mountains and their Tombs-Portico of HeliopolisTemple of Tentyra-The Pyramids-Obelisks-Sphynx of Ghiza-Hindoo Architecture-Temples of Elephanta and Ellora-Excavations at Salsette-Mosque of Dacca-Palace of Feeroz Shah-Column of Allahabad-Temple of Shoe-madoo. From Assyria, where architecture was so successfully practised, it passed into Egypt where it assumed that wonderful and colossal style which awes and overwhelms every beholder with admiration. No nation of antiquity cultivated sacred. architecture with more splendor and true devotion, than did the Egyptians, especially the inhabitants of Thebais or Upper Egypt. Everything that human ingenuity could invent or human labour could perform, was an object of Egyptian skill. Thebes was the central point where the most magnificent of these works were erected, and now, though decay and desolation have made it their dwelling-place for more than two thousand years, its mighty temples, tombs, ༢ sphynxes, and obelisks, stand up in an attitude of defiance to the powerful operations of time, or the puny malice of men. But before entering upon a description of the various architectural monuments of Egypt, we will briefly describe the character of their style. Mr. James Elmes says: "The characteristics or elementary principles of Egyptian architecture, are walls of great thickness, roofs generally of a single block of stone, which reaches from wall to wall, a multitude of columns of various forms, proportions, and ornaments, seldom with bases, and when with that addition they are mostly simple plinths. The capitals vary considerably, as may be seen in the works of Denon, Pococke, Belzoni, and other travellers. In some instances they are ornamented with foliage, in others they resemble a vase, and again in others a bell reversed." The engraving upon the opposite page represents the bell shaped capital, ornamented with the lotus. The flutes of the column are cameo or raised, instead of being sunken as they are in Greek col umns. Another characteristic of Egyptian architecture, and which is also seen in that of the Hindoos, is a peculiar narrowness of intercolumniation, the columns being often not more than three feet and a half apart. The absence of arches, which are supplied by epistyla or stone beams or lintels, is also another and peculiar characteristic of this original and singular style. Belzoni found specimens of the arch at Thebes and Gournon, and Mr. Catherwood, who, in 1834, visited the tombs of the kings in the Libyan mountains, saw in one tomb of the family of Amenophis, an arch made of sunburnt bricks, erected fifteen centuries before Christ. But it is clearly evident that this important feature of the art was not adopted by the Egyptians, even if it was generally known to them. The Egyptians, grand in all their conceptions, reared the vast pyramid in imitation of the humbler pillars of their ancestors, and temples of colossal proportions received the thousands of the worshippers of Isis and Osiris. But to the attainment of such magnificence, either in Assyria or Babylon, the progress was gradual. "The first temples," says Sir Christopher Wren, 66 were, in all probability, in the ruder times, only little cells to enclose the idol within, with no other light than a large door to discover it to the people when the priest saw proper, and when he went in alone to offer incense, the people paying adoration without doors, for all sacrifices were performed in the open air before the front of the temple; but in the southern climates a grove was necessary, not only to shade the devout, but, from the darkness of the place, to strike some terror in their approaches; therefore trees, being always an adjunct to the cells, the Israelites were commanded to destroy not only the idols, but also to cut down the groves which surrounded them but trees decaying with time, or not equally growing, (although planted at first in good order,) or possibly not having room, when the temples were brought into cities, the like walks were represented with stone columns, supporting the more durable shade of a roof, instead of the arbor of spreading boughs; and still in the ornaments of stone-work was imitated, (as well as the materials would admit,) both in the capital, friezes, and mouldings, a foliage, or sort of work composed of leaves, which remains to this age." This, in the opinion of that great architect, Wren, was the true origin of colonnades, apart from the sacrificial altar; and it is supposed by some, that such too was the origin of the orders, as they respectively bear more resemblance to the trunk of a tree with its foliage, than to the human figure. Of the orders we shall speak more fully hereafter. We will now return to descriptions of specimens of Egyptian architec ture. Among the most ancient and magnicent buildings of Thebais, was the palace and temple of Memnon, which stood in the city of Abydos, the second city of Thebes. It stood about seven miles west of the Nile, and near it was a temple dedicated to Osiris. Strabo mentions the fact that in this latter temple was a deep wel1 or pool, with steps all around it, and beautifully ornamented with good sculpture. Ptolemais was another large city, in which stood the palace of the first of the Ptolemies. It was decorated by that prince with many costly, sacred edifices. During the reign of the successive kings bearing the name of Ptolemy, architecture was much improved. The refined taste of the Greeks, a people then rising rapidly into notice, had added beauty to the grand style of the Egyptian art, and artists from among them were invited by the Ptolemies to erect and adorn their temples and palaces. As a proof that such was the case, travellers assert that they have seen in Egypt buildings according to the Grecian orders. Granger asserts that he saw pillars of the Corinthian order, and in the ruins of a Theban palace, The observed a Composite capital. At Cnuphis, a city so called after a god of that name, was a magnificent temple dedicated to that idol. A superb temple of Jupiter may also be seen there, and is one of the most perfect specimens extant of all the edifices of that part of Egypt. Its portals or propylons are sixty feet in height, all covered from base to summit with thousands of hieroglyphics, apparently as perfect as they were in the first age of their formation. At Apollonopolis was a temple of Apollo, one |