The Majesty Of Architecture.

now the building , named 'the stages of the seven spheres , ' which was the wonder of Borsippa , had been built hy a former king . He had completed forty-two cubits of height ; but he did not finish the head . From the lapse of time it had become ruined . They had not taken care of the exit of

the waters , so the rain and wet had penetrated into the brickwork . The casing of burnt brick lay scattered iu heaps . Then Merodach , my great lord , inclined my heart to repair the building . " " I did not change its site , nor did I destroy its foundation latform . Butin a fortunate month

p , , and upon an auspicious day , I undertook the building of the raw brick terraces , aud the burntbrick casing of the temple . I strengthened its foundation , and I placed a titular record on the part which I had rebuilt . I set my hand to build it up , and to exalt its summit . As it had been

in ancient times , so I built up its structure . As it had been in former days , thus I exalted its head . " Oppert , however , substitutes for the sentence " From the lapse of time it had become ruined , " " Since a remote time people had abandoned it , without order expressing their words ; " thus making the cylinder bear evidence of the identity of the building with that mentioned in the

Mosaic writings . We must see the incomparable value of ancient architectural testimony as opposed to that of early writings . In the latter case meagre outlines are filled up by different readers , according to their own measure of learning ; but in the former there is reality before us .

The superb remains uncovered by Mr . Layard in Assyria impress us more with the magnificence of that monarchy than any literary work could do .

. Nowhere is the majority of architecture more apparent than in our own land . What grandeur is shed upon the memory of the ancient Briton by Stonehenge and Abury ! In these examples of early effort we may recognise how potently architecture ennobles those who pay her tribute .

But for these stupendous monuments of organised labour we should view with scepticism the Triads of Dyvnwal Moelmud , imputing a hi gh degree of cultivation to the Cambrians 2 , 000 years ago . But with these temples before us Ave read them with light upon the page . Dyvnwal Moelmud

speaks always of a verdict of 800 men to decide disputed questions . All contests about land were decided by appeal to this large number of men . " The counter party shall stand by the person who purchased the land , upon taking possession , and bringing' forward unquestionable evidence of

heirship , shall repay a just counter price to the previous purchaser , and shall lay down the money upon the back-fire stone , horse-block , boundary-stone , or upon the nearest white stone that is found in the place , or into the hand of the judge of the Court of the Commot , or upon the area in the presence of the Court . Where this is done the country enacts that he is to have his land , and the

defendant the counter-price . " Can we not picture these assemblages of 300 jurymen with almost photographic precision , as we finger among their " stones , of convention \ " There is another triad we could , scarcely comprehend , but for some such assurance of power and skill as the disposition of these

mighty stones gives : " There are three . things , that preserve a record respecting land and family ,, and stand as decisive evidence , —a back fire-stone ,, a lime-kiln , and a horse-block , —because the arms of a family are cut upon them . " May some of the enigmatical figures now found in different parts of

the country incised on rocks be interpreted as . these " arms , " or distinguishing marks ? " There arethreeother stones , " says another triad , " which ,, if any man remove , he shall be indicted as a thief ,, —the boundary-stone , the white stone of convention , and the guide-stone ; and he that

destroysthem shall forfeit his life . " Mention is made of a , custom of writing the warning of the country upon . the king ' s posts or stones . But these have all . been lost sight of , as completely as we have lost all trace of the ship of Nwydd Nav Neivion , which , brought in it a male and female of all living things , when the lake of floods burst forth ; or of the large horned oxen of Hu the Mighty that drew the . crocodile from the lake to the land : or of the stone .

of Gwydclon Ganhebon , upon which all the arts and sciences in the world were engraven ; whilst Stonehenge and other specimens of their concentric monolithic architecture stand as a testimony of labour as organised as that which conveyed the winged bulls to their sites in the palace

at Kouyunjik , and as sufficient as that employed , by the ancient Egyptians in moving their colossal , figures from the quarries . So expressive , too , aa well as majestic , is architecture , that we may truly say show us a building or a pile and we will tell you who built it . Who conlcl have reared

Stonehenge but a race rejoicing in strength and might ,, scornful of ornament , regardless of colour , unimpressed by beauty of form , apparently conscious only of the dignity of simplicity ? And , as if to confirm this estimate of the taste of the ancient

Britons , we find their representatives , the Welsh ,, at the present day engaged in two undertakings , neither of which has colour , form , nor ornament ,, in its composition . The principal manufacture of the modern ancient Britons , if we may call them , so , is the colourless woollen textile known and

esteemed as Welsh flannel : the principal export is slate despatched from the Cambrian shores in . the same condition as that in which it is procured , from the quarries . The unextinguished cast of mind that put the huge blocks of Stonehenge into place and left them in their natural simplicity

is here apparent ; w e see no artistic feeling stirring , to find vent in a manipulation of the s ' ate ; no craving for colour satisfying itself in rich dyes of the staple manufacture . The huge blocks of slate tell again of confidence in strength , and mighty and admiration of masses , undisturbed by creations