Masterpieces Of The Architecture Of Different Nations.

and they succeeded in instilling into the Romans a taste foi the enjoyment of all their beauties . The lyre of Yirgil and that of Horace modulated sounds similar to those which the divine Homer and the joyous Anaoroou had immortalized . Tho age of Augustus became the rival of that of Pericles ; and tho marbles chiselled by those same Greeks , in the middle of the Forum of Trajan ,

made of the ancient Rome a new Athens , more sumptuous and more superb even than that of which tho cruel Sylla had ensanguined the wall and laid prostrate the temples . The magnificence of the Emperors collected in that capital all descriptions of architecture ; it magnified their masses , and developed them in colossal proportions ; it assembled all those pompous remnants in a now and imposing order ;

it robbed the Egyptians of their obelisks , and exalted them in the public squares ; eclipsed them in triumphal columns ; clothed afresh their pyramids with elegant peristyles in superb moles and in seplhones ; restored to the gods of , Greece temples not less rich than were those of Ephesus Corinth , and Athens ; surpassed in amphitheatres and in circuses all that had been done in that way of grand and noble ;

-created in triumphal arches monuments of a new class , to perpetuate the recollection of victories ; and finally imparted to the themce , or imperial baths , the idea not of palaces but ¦ of whole towns , where all kinds of luxury were gathered together to occupy for a moment the leisure hours of the masters of the universe . Magnificent in her her templesher palacesher

squares , , , tombs , impressing the character of her grandeur on her slightest edifices , Rome is still to this clay what she formerly was for architecture , the mistress of the world ; and her superb ruins , studied and measured since the revival of the arts , command the admiration of all travellers , and furnish models to all artists .

The ancient Romans knew how to make a now application ¦ of the riches of art , a knowledge of which they gained bit by bit by their conquests . They erected , for the games of a mere festival , eternal monuments . They covered the whole land with their roads , their bridges , their fortresses , and their aqueducts , the astonishing remains of which are still useful to us . Their thousands of columns , their altars , their

tombstones , and their elegant and laconic inscriptions , are found . and are read with interest in all the countries where thoy ¦ carried their arms and extended their dominion . If they had not the glory of invention , thoy cannot be denied that of appropriate application , and of having made great everything that they touched . If they do not exhibit in their monuments the plain grace and the simplicity of the Greeks ,

they have bold thoughts , masculine forms , lofty and extensive proportions , a pomp , a congregation of riches which the power of an ever-victorious people commanded , and the splendour of a Court where all the kings of the earth came as suppliants to lay down their crowns and their treasures , to preserve afterwards but an empty title . ( To be continued . )

Some Observations In Egypt.

SOME OBSERVATIONS IN EGYPT .

Tho subjects on which Prof . Donalclson addressed tho Institute of Architects last week were M . Mariotte ' s Excavations -at Ghizeh and Saccara ; the Domestic Architecture of tho Ancient Egyptians as existing among the present Arabs ; and the Catacombs at Alexandria , recently discovered . Ho ¦ commenced by stating that he would treat his subject in the liht of a traveller ' s sketchand describe as hicallas

g , grap y he was able a two days' excursion from Cairo to Ghizeh and Saccara , It would be necessary , however , that he should state at the outset that , having visited Egypt by direction of the Government upon a more serious subject , he had merely employed his few days of leisure to visit some of tho ancient monuments of whicli ho had read so muchwhich he had written and which he had

, upon , thought about for years . Many of those who heard him , who had not visited Egypt , were not perhaps aware that a donkey was a very useful animal in the East , and that the Egyptian donkeys upon whicli ho rode were very superior of their sort , inasmuch as thoy wore intelligent and docile and took care of their riders , which latter was no small recommendation . Thoy ambled array at the rate of five miles

an hour , and he had often been iu tho saddle upon one of thorn for ton hours without being weary ; which was more than he could have said had his quadruped been a horse . The mode of travelling in Egypt was to start at an early hour in the morning , between seven and eight o ' clock . Tho custom was to hire a dragoman , who ru-ovided food for a clay or two , according to the length of the excursion

proposed , and some wax candles to be used in exploring tho ruins . Equipped in this manner , he started for old Cairo , which lies about a league distant from the modern city of that name . Tho way led by an avenue of trees planted by the late Pasha . The present viceroy disapproves of trees , and cuts thorn down in all directions . Passing old Cairo the traveller reaches the lainand

crossp , ing the Nile , observes the hydrometer used for measuring the rise and fall of the river , and the village of Ghizeh . He then leaves the boat ( in which his donkey has been accommodated ) and passes through various Arab villages , groves of dates , and fragrant gardens . The Pyramids are then observed looming iu the distance , paramount over all other objects . As the traveller advances , their huge proportions

develop themselves at every seep , while other objects become , as it wore , dwarfed . The "P yramids stand upon a plateau or rising round , and in tho neighbourhood can be distinctly traced the limits to which the Nile is accustomed to rise and spread its fertilizing influence . To the left of the Pyramids was the Sphinx , half-buried in the sand of tho desert . The Pyramids ( the largest of which is 480 ft . in hei ght ) , can be seen , in tho clear pure air of the desert , at a distance of

fiveand-twenty miles . Once seen , the Pyramids never can be forgotten : one feels that an epoch has arrived hi life , and the time of the Pharaohs and the history of the Bible all rush to the mind . The travellers in the railway carriages ( for there is ' a railway in the desert ) all exclaim , " The Pyramids ! ' the Pyramids ! " and your heart flutters as you gaze upon tho monuments of an age long buried in " the

mists of obscurity , but around which there hangs an undying interest . At first two Pyramids alone are seen , but as you draw nearer the third becomes visible . The Arab villages are scattered to the right and left of the plateau , and when you reach the nearest of them the sheik , or chief , tells off a certain number of the men to act as your guides . For this service your dragoman pays him , and the guides

are supposed to charge nothing more . The delight of a stranger is , however , so great , his sensations are so completely new , and the Arabs pull him and lift him along so heartily , that he gets up to the top of the great Pyramid in a quarter of an hour , amid exhilarating cries of " A la , la , backshish—very good ; " and of course the money in his pocket melts away as if the sheik had not received anything

ou their behalf . The great Sphinx stands at a little distance . It is carved out of the solid rock ; and though its paws and binder legs are covered with sand , it is still a noble object , and one which the traveller cannot readily forget . Professor Donaldson then proceeded to give a description of the excavations carried on at Ghizeh , under the direction of M . Marictte , of which we are able to adopt his own words : —

M . Marietta , so well known for his researches among the antiquities of Egypt , has for some years conducted excavations for his Eminence Said Pasha , the viceroy , and has had the control of all the antiquities of this country . No diggings are allowed without a permission granted through him . None of the Fellahs can sell the smallest object under pain of a severe punishment , extending , it is said by the Bedouin

Arabs themselves , to death if any article be offered for sale without having been first brought to M . Mariette to buy it , if he choose , for the Pasha ' s collection . He is now carryingon excavations at the Ghizeh platform , Saccara , and Thebes , where gangs of Arabs are at work under the direction of their sheiks , with the slightest tool , and even with their hands , casting the sand , the dirt , and rubbish into small

baskets , carrying it out of the trench , and depositing it at a short distance clear of the spot . This is a forced labour , each village in turn being obliged , as for other public works , to furnish and maintain its contingent without remuneration from the government . I observed that there were few grown-up people , the mass consisting of young boys and girls , who appeared very merry at their work , one or two of them singing a kind of couplet , constantly repeating the