a.

"Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world."-Washington. b. "Let our object be our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country."-Webster. 2. South Tympanum: War and Navy Departments, indicated respectively by: A. Bunker Hill Monument and the Roman Standard (modified by the initials “U. S. A.”); B. The masts of the Battleship Indiana and Decatur's Rostral Column (at Annapolis). Inscriptions:

c. "The aggregate happiness of society is, or ought to be, the end of all government."-Washington. d. "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace."-Washington.

3. East Tympanum: Departments of Agriculture and the Interior, indicated respectively by: A. Landscape showing a farming region; B. An Indian Tree Sepulture. Inscriptions:

e. "The agricultural interest of the country is connected with every other, and superior in importance to them all."-Jackson. f. "Let us have peace."-Grant.

4. North Tympanum: Departments of Justice and the Post Office, indicated respectively by: A. The Scales of Justice; B. Bronze statue of Mercury, messenger of the gods. Inscription:

g. "Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations-entangling alliances with none."-Jefferson.

d. The Rotunda

Adjoining the Eastern Corridor of the Main Entrance Pavilion Gallery is the Stairway Vestibule, opening upon a branching marble stairway leading up to the Visitors Gallery of the Rotunda. The ceiling decorations in the vaulting of the Stairway Vestibule symbolize by a series of trophies the leading classic arts: I. (N. vault) Sculpture: a bas-relief female face with laurel wreath; 2. (Central vault) Literature: represented by a book, scroll and antique lamp; 3. (S. vault) Architecture: Ionic Capital and Square. Sculpture is further commemorated by the enrollment in the vaulting of four classic masterpieces, The Parthenon Pediment, Niobe, Laocoön and Farnese Bull; while in the adjacent stairway vault are inscribed the names of four divinities most frequently subject of the sculptor's art: Zeus, Hercules, Venus and Apollo. Architecture is similarly commemorated by the names of four ancient cities famous for their monuments: Gizeh, Athens, Rome and Agra; while in the adjacent stairway vault are inscribed one of the most famous structures respectively in these four cities: The Pyramids, Parthenon, Colosseum and Taj Mahal.

On E. wall of bays, to N. and S. of stairway, are two murals representing respectively Prescott, the Historian, and Audubon, the Naturalist, by W. B. Van Ingen.

Opposite the central landing where the stairs branch to R. and L., is a colossal glass mosaic 151⁄2 ft. high and 9 ft wide, representing *Minerva, Goddess of Wisdom, by Elihu Vedder. Her armor is partly laid aside; yet she still wears upon her breast the aegis, emblazoned with the Gorgon's head, and in her right hand holds a spear. In her left hand is a scroll inscribed with the chief branches of knowledge: Law, Statistics, Sociology, Philosophy and the Sciences. On L. and R. respectively are an owl, and a statuette of the Winged Victory bearing a victor's wreath and an olive branch. Note, beneath the owl, the artist's signature in mosaic.

Ascending by R. or L. branch of the stairway, we reach a door opening into the Visitors' Promenade, an octagonal gallery completely surrounding the Rotunda, and consisting of eight alcoves, connected by arched openings in the partitioned walls. This gallery, accessible to visitors at all times when the library is open, affords the best point from which to study the structure and decorations of the Rotunda (with the exception of Blashfield's paintings in the Crown of the Lantern, which can be seen only from near the centre of the main floor).

The ground plan of the Rotunda is a regular octagon, measuring 100 ft. from side to side. At each of the eight angles are massive clustered piers of dusky red Numidian marble, resting on a base of chocolate brown Tennessee marble, and supporting semi-circular arches, which in turn bear a massive circular entablature from which spring the eight ribs that sustain the weight of the dome. Between the piers are screens of yellow Sienna marble, in many tones, arcaded in two stories; and behind the piers are partitions extending to the outer walls and forming a series of eight bays. The main floor level of these bays is devoted to the shelves of reference books, open to the public; the first gallery is used for book stacks; while the second story forms the above mentioned Visitors' Promenade, which is lighted by large semicircular windows, filling in the whole of the wall space within the eight great arches, and containing the Seals of the several States of the Union, together with the respective dates of their ratification of the Constitution, admission into the Union, or Territorial organization.

These seals, designed by Herman T. Schladermundt (b. 1863), from designs by Edward P. Casey, find their chief interest in the freedom with which the originals have been adapted to the needs of decorative art. Many of the official seals were designed by persons having no knowledge of heraldic rules and conventions; nor was there any uniformity in size and proportion; while in a few cases there was no heraldic device at all (as in the case of the State of Washington, which consists simply of a portrait of Washington). Mr. Schladermundt, by altering proportions, adapting the devices to the fundamental rules of armorial bearings, and in some instances amplifying too bare a device (e. g., in the Washington seal, by adding the Washington family coat-of-arms), has achieved the happy result of unanimity, in form, spirit and colorscheme.

Above the entablature, the DOME rises to a height of 125 ft. above floor level, at the point where it converges upon the LANTERN. The surface of the dome is of stucco, ornamented with coffers and arabesques in relief. Above the centre of the dome the lantern rises an additional 35 ft., forming a total height of 160 ft. from floor to centre of the shallow lantern dome.

In the "collar" between main dome and lantern is an encircling mural, THE PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION, by Edwin H. Blashfield, consisting of twelve seated figures, male and female, in alternative pairs, representing the twelve nations or epochs which have conspicuously contributed to the development of modern civilization. In several cases the faces are portraits. They are arranged in their historic sequence, as follows:

1. Egypt (Written Records): Male figure, holding tablet with hieroglyphics and Tau-cross, emblem of immortality. Other attributes are papyrus scrolls and the cartouche of Mena, first Egyptian King.

2. Judea (Religion) : Female figure, in attitude of prayer; she wears an Ephod or priestly vestment, inscribed with the names of the Twelve Tribes. Attributes: a scroll, censer and stone tablet inscribed "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," Levit. xix, 18.

3. Greece (Philosophy): Female figure in classic garb, with diadem. Attributes: ancient bronze lamp and scroll.

4. Rome (Administration): Male figure, armed as a Roman centurion. Attributes: a sword, the fasces and a marble column.

5. Islam (Physics): Male figure depicting an Arab; he holds a book of mathematics, and his foot rests upon a

retort.

6. Middle Ages (Modern Languages): Female figure, with sword, casque and cuirass, emblematic of the Age of

Chivalry. Other attributes are a cathedral, emblem of Gothic Architecture, and a Papal Tiara and St. Peter's Keys, representing the Power of the Church. The features are those of Mary Anderson.

7. Italy (Fine Arts): Female figure, with palette and brush (Painting), a capital (Architecture), reduced copy of Michelangelo's David (Sculpture) and a violin (Music).

8. Germany (Art of Printing): Male figure, garbed as a fifteenth century printer, reading proofs from the hand-press beside him. The face is a characterization of General Thomas L. Casey.

9. Spain (Discovery): Male figure, representing a Spanish adventurer, clad in a sailor's leather jerkin, and holding the tiller of a ship. Other attributes: a sword, a globe and model of a caravel.

10. England (Literature): Female figure in Elizabethan garb, holding a volume of Shakespeare's plays, open to show the title-page of "Midsummer Night's Dream." The features are those of the Shakespearean actress, Ellen Terry.

II. France (Emancipation): Female figure, clad in tricolor jacket and Liberty cap, characteristic of the First Republic. She is seated on a cannon and holds a copy of the "Déclaration des Droits de l'Homme." The face is a likeness of Mrs. E. H. Blashfield.

12. America (Science): Male figure, representing an electrical engineer, consulting a scientific work, with a dynamo before him. The face is an adaptation of the familiar features of Lincoln.

In the crown of the Lantern there is another allegoric painting, also by Blashfield, representing THE HUMAN UNDERSTANDING. Floating amid clouds is a female figure attended by two genii. She is lifting her veil, and has raised her gaze from Finite Achievement, as depicted in the frieze below, to gaze wraptly upward into Infinity.

THE ROTUNDA STATUES. In front of each of the eight piers, and equalling them in height, is an engaged column, also of Numidian marble, but of paler tone. Surmounting each column is a symbolic statue, colossal size (of plaster), representing some department of Human Thought and Development. In each of the pendentives above these statues is a plaster group consisting of a pair of winged childfigures (modeled by Martigny), supporting an oblong tablet bearing in gold letters an appropriate quotation. These in

scriptions were chosen by Dr. Charles W. Eliot. Between the columns and those surmounting the balustrade which guards the Visitors' Gallery is a series of bronze portrait statues, heroic size, grouped in pairs, each pair representing men who have achieved fame in the special department denoted by the symbolic statue immediately adjoining on the L. The symbolic statues, quotations and bronze portrait statues occupy the following order, beginning on the south side of the western or entrance alcove of the gallery, and continuing from L. to R. around the Rotunda :

I. RELIGION, by Theodore Baur; attribute, a flower, signifying God revealed in Nature. Portrait-statues: a. Moses, by Charles H. Niehaus (b. 1855); b. St. Paul, by John Donoghue. Inscription:

"What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"-Micah vi, 8.

2. COMMERCE, by John Flanagan (b. 1865); attributes, a schooner and a locomotive. Portrait-statues: c. Robert Fulton, by Edward C. Potter; d. Columbus, by Paul W. Bartlett. Inscription:

"We taste the spices of Arabia, yet never feel the scorching sun which brings them forth."-Consideration on East India Trade (Anonymous).

3. HISTORY, by Daniel C. French; attributes, a book and a mirror, reflecting the past. Portrait-statues: e. Gibbon, by Niehaus; f. Herodotus, by French. Inscription:

"One God, one law, one element,

And one far-off divine event,

To which the whole creation moves."-Tennyson.

4. ART, by Dossi of France, after designs by Augustus St. Gaudens; attributes, a laurel crown, a model of the Parthenon, a mallet, and brush and palette. Portrait-statues : g. Michelangelo, by Paul W. Bartlett; h. Beethoven, by Theodore Baur. Inscription:

"As one lamp lights another, nor grows less,

So nobleness enkindleth nobleness."-Lowell.

5. PHILOSOPHY, by Bela L. Pratt; attribute, a book. Portrait-statues: i. Lord Bacon, by John J. Boyle (b. 1852); j. Plato, by Boyle. Inscription:

"The inquiry, knowledge, and belief of truth is the sovereign good of human nature."-Bacon.

1.

6. POETRY, by J. Q. A. Ward; attribute, a scroll. Portrait-statues : k. Homer, by Augustus St. Gaudens; Shakespeare, by Frederick W. MacMonnies. Inscription: "Hither, as to their fountain, other stars

Repairing, in their golden urns draw light.”—Milton.