fares of men-a spot too sacred for human habitation-became, to use a proverbial phrase, "a city of the gods." The citizen was every where to be reminded of the majesty of the STATE his patriotism was to be increased by the pride in her beauty-his taste to be elevated by the spectacle of her splendor.

2. Thus flocked to Athens all who, throughout Greece, were eminent in art. Sculptors and architects vied with each other in adorning the young empress of the seas; then rose the master-pieces of Phidias,' of Callicrates,2 of Mnesicles, which, either in their broken remains or in the feeble copies of imitators less inspired, still command so intense a wonder, and furnish models so immortal. And if, so to speak, their bones and relics excite our awe and envy, as testifying of a lovelier and grander race, which the deluge of time has swept away, what, in that day, must have been their brilliant effect-unmutilated in their fair proportions—fresh in all their lineaments and hues? For their beauty was not limited to the symmetry of arch and column, nor their materials confined to the marbles of Pentelicus1 and Paros.5 Even the exterior of the temples glowed with the richest harmony of colors, and was decorated with the purest gold; an atmosphere peculiarly favorable both to the display and the preservation of art, permitted to external pediments and friezes all the minuteness of ornament, all the brilliancy of colors, such as in the interior of Italian churches may yet be seen; vitiated, in the last, by a gaudy and barbarous taste.

3. Nor did the Athenians spare any cost upon the works that were, like the tombs and tripods of their heroes, to be the monuments of a nation to distant ages, and to transmit the most irrefragables proof "that the power of ancient Greece was not an idle legend." The whole democracy were animated with the passion of Pericles; and when Phidias recommended marble as a cheaper material than ivory for the great statue of Minerva, it was for that reason that ivory was preferred by the unanimous voice of the assembly. Thus, whether it were extravagance or magnificence, the blame in one case, the admiration in another, rests not more with the minister than the populace. It was, indeed, the great characteristic of those works that they were entirely the creation of the people without the people Pericles could not have built a temple or engaged a sculptor. The miracles of that day resulted from the enthusiasm of a population yet young-full of the first ardor for the beautiful-dedicating to the state, as

to a mistress, the trophies honorably won or the treasures injuriously extorted-and uniting the resources of a nation with the energy of an individual, because the toil, the cost, were borne by those who succeeded to the enjoyment and arrogated the glory.

1 PHID'-I-AS was a celebrated sculptor of Ath-
ens, whom Pericles appointed superintend-
ent of all the public works, both of archi-6
tecture and statuary.

'CAL-LIC'-RA-TES, in conjunction with Icti-
nus, built the Parthenon at Athens.
3 MNES'-I-CLES, a celebrated architect, born
a slave in the house of Pericles.
PEN-TEL-1-CUs, a mountain of Attica, con-8
taining quarries of beautiful marble.

5 PA-ROS, an island in the Grecian Archi

pelago, famous for the "Parian marble"
which the Greeks used for statuary.
PED'-I-MENT, an ornament that crowns the
front of buildings, and serves as a decora-
tion over gates, windows, etc.

7 FRIEZE (freez), that part of the EN-TAB'-
LA-TURE between the ARCH'-I-TRAVE and
COR'-NICE (kor'-nis). See p. 282.

IR-REF'-RA-GA-BLE, that can not be refuted; indisputable.

1.

LESSON III.-RUINS OF THE COLISEUM AT ROME.

ARCHES on arches! as it were that Rome,
Collecting the chief trophies of her line,
Would build up all her triumphs in one dome,
Her Coliseum stands; the moonbeams shine

As 'twere its natural torches, for divine
Should be the light which streams here, to illume
This long explored but still exhaustless mine

Of contemplation: and the azure gloom

Of an Italian night, where the deep skies assume
Hues which have words, and speak to ye of heaven,
Floats o'er this vast and wondrous monument,

And shadows forth its glory. There is given
Unto the things of earth, which Time hath bent,
A spirit's feeling; and where he hath leant
His hand, but broke his scythe, there is a power
And magic in the ruin'd battlement,

For which the palace of the present hour

Must yield its pomp, and wait till ages are its dower.-BYRON.

2. In the open space between the Esquiline and Palatine Hills are to be seen the ruins of the Colise'um, or Flavian Amphitheatre, as they are represented in the engraving at the head of this lesson. This gigantic edifice, the boast of Rome and of the world, which was begun by Vespasian and completed by Titus, is in form an ellipse, and covers an area of about five and a half acres. The external elevation consisted of four stories-each of the three lower stories having eighty arches supported by half columns, Doric in the first range, Ionic in the second, and Corinthian in the third. The wall of the fourth story was faced with Corinthian pilasters,1 and lighted by forty rectangular windows. The space surrounding the central arena within the walls was occupied with sloping galleries, rising one above another, resting on a huge mass of arches, and ascending toward the summit of the external wall. One hundred and sixty staircases led to the galleries, and an immense movable awning covered the whole.

3. Within the area of the Coliseum gladiators, martyrs, slaves, and wild beasts combated during the Roman festivals; and here the blood of both men and animals flowed in torrents to furnish amusement to the degenerate Romans. This famous structure is now partially in ruins: scarcely a half presents its original height; the uppermost gallery has disappeared; the second range is much broken; but the lowest is nearly perfect. From its enormous mass "walls, palaces, half cities have been reared;" but Benedict XIV. put a stop to its destruction by consecrating the whole to the martyrs whose blood had been spilled there. In the middle of the once bloody arena stands a crucifix, and around this, at equal distances, fourteen altars, consecrated to different saints, are erected on the dens once occupied by wild beasts.

4. Byron has described, in appropriate lines, "the Coliseum at midnight;" and an American writer has given a much-admired sketch of the same "by moonlight." The latter says, "It is the monarch, the majesty of all ruins; there is nothing like it. Though a mournful and desolate spectacle as seen from within-without, and especially on the side which is in best preservation, it is glorious."

1 PI-LAS'-TERS are square columns, usually set within walls, and projecting only one quarter of their diameter.

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.

LES. IV.-CASTLES AND ABBEYS OF FEUDAL TIMES.

1.

ENRAPTURED have I loved to roam,

A lingering votary, 'neath vaulted dome,

Where the tall shafts, that mount in massy pride,
Their mingling branches shoot from side to side;
Where elfin' sculptors, with fantastic clew,2
O'er the long roof their wild embroidery drew;
Where superstition, with capricious hand,
In many a maze the wreathed window plann'd,
With hues romantic tinged the gorgeous pane,
To fill with holy light the wondrous fane. 3
Long have I loved to catch the simple chime
Of minstrel harps, and spell the fabling rhyme;
To view the festive rites, the knightly play,
That deck'd heroic Albion's elder day;
To mark the mouldering halls of barons bold,
And the rough castles, cast in giant mould;
With Gothic manners Gothic arts explore,

And muse on the magnificence of yore.-WARTON.

3. The castles and abbeys of feudal times, which were chiefly of Gothic architecture, with either rounded or pointed arches, pointed spires, and massive walls, enter so much into the

N

modern history and literature of Europe, that every student must have connected with them, through his varied reading, associations of lively interest. It is true that their graver history-in the times "when might made right"-when turbulence and faction were in the ascendant-presents frequent scenes of tyranny and injustice; but with these, as a glad relief, are associated a thousand pleasing and faithful pictures of social life.

4. It was in the Gothic palaces, castles, abbeys, halls, and manor-houses of England especially, our mother country, that both religious festivals and feats of chivalry were celebrated in all their splendor. It was there that the noble host collected around him his friends and retainers; that the walls were hung with banners; that steel-clad warders paced the battlements; that the sound of the horn summoned the guests from the "joust" or the chase; and that the "wandering harper" sang those romantic and heroic ballads at which the young caught fire, and the old threw aside the weight of years. An English writer, who has prepared a richly-illustrated work on "The Castles and Abbeys of England," thus speaks of these "fixed landmarks in England's history:"

5. "We linger in the feudal court, and muse in the deserted sanctuary, with emotions which we can hardly define: in the one our patriotism gathers strength and decision; in the other, that piety, of which it is the outward evidence, sheds a warmer influence on the heart. We traverse the apartments that once contained the noble founders of our national freedom, the venerable and intrepid champions of our faith, the revered fathers of our literature, with a feeling which amounts to almost devotion. We turn aside to the mouldering gates of our ancestors as a pilgrim turns to some favorite shrine; to those ruins which were the cradles of liberty, the residence of men illustrious for their deeds, the strong-hold and sanctuary of their domestic virtues and affections.

6. "The mutilated altars of our religion, the crumbling sepulchres of our forefathers, are pregnant with an interest which no other source can afford. In these venerable remains, the visible stamp of sanctity still clings to the threshold; we tread the ground with a soft, silent step, overawed by the solemnity of the scene; we feel that-although the sacred fire is extinguished on the altar, the hallelujahs hushed in the choir, the priest and penitent gone forever-we feel that the presence of a divinity still hallows the spot; that the wings of the presiding cherubim are still extended over the altar.

66

6

7. But, turning from the cloistered abbey to the castellated fortress of antiquity, a new train of associations springs up. The vaulted gateway, the rudely sculptured shield, the heavy portcullis, and massive towers, all contrast forcibly with the scenes we have just left, but present to the mind's eye a no less faithful picture of feudal times. It was from these towers that the flower of English chivalry went forth under the banner of the Crosscarried the terror of their arms to the gates of Jerusalem, and earned those