Masterpieces Oe The Akchitecture Of Diffekent Nations.

Those to whom the German is familiar may also consult the fourth chapiter of the History of Architecture , by Stieglitz and may refer constantly to an historical , geographical , and political essay on the commerce of India , by a man of genius—Lieutenant-Colonel Legoux de Flaix . They will be convinced , by examination , of the difference of this kind of

architecture with that of the Egyptians , and of a certain analogy with that of the Arabians and Persians , whieh might induce one to believe that those people , in some of their constructions , had in their minds the monuments of India ¦ if an opinion may be thus formed from a more modern architecture of what was the ancient architecture of the Indians

, transmitted through the medium of that kind of tradition which obtains in the art of building . They will remark that the tombs of the Indian kings , engraved at London in the collection of Hodges , are very much in the form of the mosques at Cairo , and bear much affinity to the style of the Arabians .

Thc tomb of the Emjieror Akbar , who was born at Amicat , on the frontiers of Persia , in 1-541 , the 948 th year of the Hegira , is one of the most beautiful productions of the revival of Indian architecture . This prince encouraged the arts and the whole ofthe sciences during a reign of fifty-one years , and surpassed the glory and renown of all the princes of the house of Timourhe was son of the . Emperor

; Humaioun ; under his reign Moorish architecture then acquired all the perfection which is brilliantly conspicuous in thc superb monuments of India . The entrance to the tomb of this priuce , and the tomb itself , occupied twenty-two years in building . It is constructed , as far as regards the body of the edifice , of red granite and marble ; but the

minarets , soaring above its mass , are entirely of marble . The tomb of his father Humaioun , at Delhi , dates also from the reign of this emperor ; it is very celebrated for its grandeur and the beauty of the style of its architecture . The immense fortress of Agra , named Akbarahabad , as well as the palace ancl the mosque of Futtipoor-Sieriwere erected

, by this same emperor . These buildings seem to have fixed the style and the taste of Moorish architecture in Hindostan , - for the other modern edifices appear to bo a more or less close imitation of them .

Though the Taj Mehal , built by Shah Jehan , the grandson of Akbar , may be more perfect in the execution of the details , it is not superior to them for tastefulness of design , oi- for originality in the distribution of masses . Thc tomb of the Emperor Shore Shah , at Sasoram , in the kingdom of Eahar , near Patua , the capital of the country , is a dome

which in diameter is but sixteen feet less than St . Paul's in Loudon ; the Emperor Shore Shah had it built , and was buried in it in the year 95 :. of the Hegira , or 15-1-5 . It is situated in the midst of a great lake or reservoir , called in the country tanc , and with which there is a communication by a stone bridge , now iu ruins , but which was very elegant

in construction . Shore Shah , originally named Eoricl , and who was honoured , on account of his valour , by the title of Sheve Khan , which means "the Khan of Lions , " was the son of Hassin , of thc ancient race of the Patans or Aflghans , who came from G ' oor , in thc north-west of Hindostan ; he usurped thc fchroi ic of young J ' ellal Kanand drove Malm loud

, Lodi out of Bengal , of which he effected the entire conquest . Mention may also be made ofthe grottoes of Ambola and of Canara , one of which is situated seven , and the other forty miles , from Tainia .

THE AllCHITECTUUE OF THE PERSIANS . The kind of architecture of those ancient people—the inhabitants of Persia—is perhaps still more difficult to settle or to characterize than that of the Hindoos . It is known that they did not build temples , monuments which the solidity of their construction and reli gious respect transmit more surely and better preserved to generations that look back to the ruins of more ancient generations .

Masterpieces Oe The Akchitecture Of Diffekent Nations.

The Persians worshipped the sun ; they regarded the universe as its temple , ancl the highest mountains as the only altars where they could offer it sacrifices ; because , in ascending to the lofty summits of mountains they could see sooner and longer the beneficent beams of that star to which they addressed their invocations and their incense . The foundation ofthe empire of the Persians ( orig inally called Elamites

, and whose first kings , according to Persian authors , are the Pischdadians ) , as well as the foundation of Persepolis , dates from the year 3209 before the birth of Christ . Djemschid , who built that city , made his entry into it and established ' his empire there , as we are told in the History of Ancient Astronomy , on the very day when the sun piasses into the

constellation of the ram . They began the year on that day , and it became the epoch of the period that takes the solar year at three hundred and sixty-five clays aud a quarter . This Djemschid , a contemporary of Noah , must have been , as Bailly says , in his Letters on the Allantides , the chief of a colony that emigrated from an ancient ancl already well

informed people . The Persians had months of fourteen days , in common with the Hindoos ; their week was likewise seven days , a number equal to that oftlie planets ; and this same division of time is to be found among the Indians , the Chinese , and the Egyptians . The knowledge of these divisionswhich at

, the first glance seems to have no connection with architecture , is nevertheless far from useless to the artist and the dilettante of that art . It serves to make him understand , and often to explain to him the reason of certain divisions of masses and columns , and of the decorations with which their

edifices were adorned , such as symbols relating to astronomy , agriculture , and national history . It would bo therefore impossible clearly to understand aud form a just notion of the architecture of a nation , or to take any interest in it , without liaving some slight acquaintance with its religious creed , its history , and its usages . We learn from Eusebius , in . his " Commentaries on Zoroaster" that the ancient god of "

, the Magi of Persia , whose religious ceremonies took the name of macjia , was designated by the head of a sparrow ; they worshi-rped him by preserving a perpetual fire for sacrifices on au altar , in the midst of a round place , environed by u fosse ; they had no temple there ; they rendered no worshi p to the dead and to images . Ultimately they abandoned the

worship of this eternal and invisible god , to pay adoration to the sun , lire , the dead , and images , as had been done before them by the Egyptians , the Pho-iiiciaus , and the Chaldeans . Nothing is less demonstrated than that the ruins of a vast edifice , which may still be seen in Persia , at Tchilminar , in a jiosition in which the situation of Persepolis is believed to be recognized , are the remains of the ancient palace of the kings . It would require a very long dissertation to clear up this

problem , in which geography , history , and thc knowledge oftlie antiquary in architecture , must coincide to give positive proofs ; and tho limits of a mere descriptive notice do notallow entering into such a discussion . But in order that tho reader may see at a glance thc whole extent of the question , I will lay before him a short extract of what is to be found on the matter in the Supplement lo Bescarches on the Origin ,

Spirit , and Progress of the Arts of Greece ; mi the Ancient Monuments of India , Persia , etc ., by D'Haucarville , a work full of immense erudition . I make thc extract the more willingly from this source , because it reminds me every moment of thc brilliant and amiable qualities which distinguished this learned author , to whom we are also indebted

for an explanation of the Hamilton Vases . "All that noiv remains of the so much vaunted magnificence ot the ancient Persians , consists in the ruins of Ijut-Cane , about twenty miles from those ol Persepolis , and in the monuments of Nak-Schi-ltustan , situated two or three leagues from the latter . These are the most considerable and the most important of all to know , and the knowledge of them gives the whole information that can be acquired of the antiquity of this people . The Chevalier Chardin had the ruins of Tchilminar , at Persepolis , drawn by