Classical Theology.—Xxvii.

Philomela , although under strict watch and ward and no longer able to utter a word , contrived to inform her sister of the terrible villany of Tereus . She described in embroidery work the dreadful usage and cruelty to which she had been subjected , and so otherwise managed that it should reach - the hands

of the queen of Thrace , her ever beloi'ed sister , Avho no sooner unfolded it than she was struck dumb with horror and grief , whilst her blood boiled and her heart rose in fury , detestatation , and abhorrence .

¦ "She held her jieace ; 'tis strange ! grief struck her mute—No language could with , such a passion suit ; Nor had she time to weep ; right , wrong , wore mixed In her foil thoughts—hor soul on vengeance fixed . " Transported with rage , her thoughts were wholly taken up in developing a plan to avenge her own affront , and

her sister ' s dishonour and sufferings . She , first with all speed hastened to her Philomela , and without Tereus ' s knowledge , brought her to her own blighted home . While there , still meditating revenge—still contriving her plans—her little Itys , her cherished son , came to his mother , no longer in jiossession of her natural senses . Gazing with child-like concern on her abstracted looks , he embraced her .

"Et , mater , mater , c ' amantcm etcolla petentcm Enso ferit !" "He 'Mother , mother ! ' cries , and whilst he cries Ancl on her clings , he by her dagger dies . " As he hung about her neck she took him aside , and brought him to an unfrequented and remote chamber of

the house and slew him . Thereupon , with method in her madness , she hewed him into pieces , cooked and dressed the flesh into various dishes , and had it served up and set before Tereus at his supper . The demigod king was as dull at discovering the savour of his new dish , and fed heartily , we are told , on the "flesh of his

flesh . " After having so enjoyed his hist meal , he expressed bis parental wishes to see his son . Progne , instead , related to him what she had done , and presented him with Itys' head . Tereus thereupon , finding himself detected ancl overreached , incensed with direful rage , drew his sword and rushed upon both his wife and her

sister , but they fled , and it is fabled , that the spirit or goddess of Pear added wings to their flight , so that Progne was turned into a swallow and Philomela into a nightingale . NOT does tlie philological sense of these extraordinary adventures rest here . Fury gave Tereus himself the aid of wings , and changed him into an

vpupa or hoopoe , accounted to be one of the most filth y of all birds . Tlie victimised Itys the gods , out of compassion , transformed into a pheasant . The poetical Version of this association of theological , metaphysical , historical , and fabulous events , is , for the sake of the rhythm or some other consonances , made sometimes slightly to deviate from tho more prosaic records . Thus , for instance , Ovid .-

—"And his own flesh and Wood doth make his meat , ' Thou hast , ' said she , ' within thee thy desire , ' He looks about ; asks ' Whore ? ' And while again He asks , ancl calls—all bloody with tho slain Forth like a fury Philomela flew , And at his face tho head of It ys threw . " We cannot but accept what has been made so comletel

p y manifest . * otherwise we should again point out here the inconceivable anomal y of such moral and learned people as were the ancient Greeks ancl Romans , basing their religion upon a system of reverent worshi p and homage to many gods , and at the same time ever exhibiting those deities as examples of the most hideous vice , and of brutality cf the blackest dye .

Masterpieces Of The Architecture Of Different Nations.

MASTERPIECES OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF DIFFERENT NATIONS .

Br J . G . LEGEAND . THE AECHri'ECTTJKE 03 ? THE ETRUSCANS . I shall draw for this article from the Sixth Chapter on Architectureby Sfcieglitza German work filled with

, , research and erudition . It is believed that the Etruscans owed their first knowledge of the art of building to the Phoenicians , if they did not imagine it themselves ; for the Greeks , at the time when they sent away their first colonies , which settled in Etruria before the Trojan Avar , had not yet made in architecture the discoveries which

afterwards conferred upon them such celebrity . The Etruscians ivho possessed the whole country situated between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Adriatic , enriched themselves at an early age by navigation and commerce . They had twelve principal cities , among which that of Yeii was renowned as one of the most ancient and the

mostopulent . The Romans even hesitated after its conquest , according to liivy , whether they should not leave Rome , which was then by no means considerable , to establish themselves at Yeii . Tarquina , another city of Etruria , which was the birth-place of the Tarquins , was equally powerful , and long resisted tlie Romans . Falaria ,

Yitulania , Populonium , Carythus , Yolsinium , & c ., were also celebrated . Aqulla , Clusium , Tesula , Luca , ( now Lucca ) , Luna , or Luni , celebrated for its beautiful white marble ( noiv known as Carrara ) , are equally cited as the capitals of Etruria , colonies from which afterwards formed CapuaPameliaLariumAdriaPicenumancl

, , , , , gave birth to different nations , of which the most known in history from their sanguinary wars with the Romans , ivere the Rhetii , the Yolsei , the Samnites , & c . The Etruscans , from the first , encouraged arts and

honoured artists , among the number of whom their kings did not think it beneath them to take rank , and Icings had artists to reside with them in their palaces . The Romans invited them to found their capital and build the Temple of Jupiter and other edifices . However , although a favourable opinion is entertained of the monuments of the Etruscansthere can be cited

, only some ruins of theatres , some walls and gates of cities , ancl some tombs which do not convey a great idea of their kind of decoration . Their first temples were very small , and could scarcely hold the statuary columns which represented the God whom they worshipped , and sometimes , but rarely , an

altar . They afterwards enlarged their temples , and there is found a description of their structure in Vitruvius , although they were anterior to that writer by more than 450 years . Columns were employed in temples ; but this heavy Tuscan Order havingneither in the columns themselves

, , nor in their disposition , and their harmony with each other , the elegance and the grace , or the masculine and sturdy character of the Doric of the Greeks , never appears in comparison , but an imperfect composition or a degenerate copy . The size of the columns and the height of the pediment—if the text of the Latin

author is not corrupt in the proportions which he assigns to them—give but squat ' masses ancl base forms , which can be realized only in wood , and would be crushed beneath the wei ght of stone or of the most resisting marble . These species of temples were , however , decorated with figures , with quadriga ? in terra cotta and in bronze , placed on the roof or on the two acroteroe at the foot of the flight of steps , and gives to the facade a