Masterpieces Oe The Akchitecture Of Diffekent Nations.

tivo artists at two different periods : the last time in 11171-. Corneille le Bruyn drew these same ruins in 170-1 ; and finally they were again drawn by Niebuhr , whose scrupulous exactness is known to the public . Le Bruyn , who knew drawing best , seems to have preserved better than any one else the character of the figures and objects to which he devoted his attention . But as he had no notion of- the antiquities and reliion of the ancient

Perg sians , he did not see them as he should have done in order to give a good representation of them . It is therefore necessary , in order to form a just judgment of things from his drawings , to correct his negligences and omissions from the observations made hy Nielmhr and dun-din .

After three journeys successively made to Persepolis , of ivhich he had , so to speak , examined every stone , Cliardin remained in the firm conviction that he saw everywhere , in those vast ruins , the remains of an immense temple , of a construction entirel y different from that of the Egyptians , tiie Greeks and thc Romans . In the Kilst page of his second volume , he says , 'The thing the most incomprehensible is , how those buildings which

wc have called chambers , were covered , for no remains are seen in all those ruins either of roof or ceiling , and we may reasonably ¦ doubt , if there ever was any , and if those little edifices , almost infinite in number , were not left uncovered like the choir of the temple . ' Examining things as they are , we must see like this author ; but those ivho have fancied they have found in these ruins the remains of the palace of the kings of Persiahave been

, forced to suppose and maintain that it was covered , else it could not have been inhabited . " Diodorus Siculus has left us some details of the palace of Persepolis , burnt by Alexander the Great . Three centuries before the age in which lie wrote , the most accurate knowledge could then have been obtained as to the situation of that edifice ,

its iorm , and everything that distinguished it from others : I ' m these details existed in books written in the time of Alexander , by people who had seen Persepolis before and after its destruction . That author tells us , no doubt from these authorities , that the palace of Persepolis ivas surrounded by three enclosures : the walls of the first rose to an elevation of about thirty feet , and those of the last , which was square , were one hundred and twenty

feet hi gh . Towards the eastern portion of that enclosure was Mount Boyal , distant about four plethra , or four hundred feet . ( Dioil . Sicul . Biblioth . lib . xvii ., p . 215 . ) On this mountain were the burial places of the kings . There are still seen to thc castward of fhe ruins of Persepolis , on the mountain called Kachmed , monuments , which , on account of their vicinity to these ruins arc taken for tombs ; but their very proximity ht to cause the

oug rejection of such an idea ; for , so far from being four hundred feet distant , as Mount lioyal was from the palace of the kings of Persia , thc mount on which the presumed tombs of these princes are seen , abuts on the wall even of the ancient edifice ; some of the parts of these * supposed tombs , arc not even so far removed as twenty-five geometrical yards .

"As not a trace is here seen of the enclosures of which Diodorus Siculus speaks , and as he says expressly the fire reduced the whole palace to ashes ( Idem , p . 2 W ) , it is certain that it must have been in a different position from that in which the ruins of Persepolis arc seen , and Mount llachmeil is assuredly not that ivhich was called Mount lioyal . As to the monuments made out of the rocks of Mount Bachmed , their bas-reliefs represent the

symbols of a reli gion different from that of all the kings of Persia , the successors of Feridomi ; and from the religion of these kings forbidding such to be erected , it is certain thoy cannot be the tombs of any of them . Thc constructions of which we see the irnins at Persepolis are of the most extreme solidity ; everywhere the workmanshi p consists of blocks of marble ' of excessive hardness and incredible size . Nowhere else have more precautions

wen employed to secure the duration of an edifice ; and if they had wanted to cover them , no doubt they would have preferred vaulting * to every other kind of roofing . " Nevertheless , there exists no trace capable of making one suspect that these buildings were covered ; this manner of construction , then , is altogether contrary to that which was resorted to iii the palace of Persepolis . ' Almost all of it , ' says Quintns Cnrtius , - ) - ' was of cedar wood , and the moment it was set on fire

Masterpieces Oe The Akchitecture Of Diffekent Nations.

the conflagration spread in all directions . The city itself waconsumed by fire ; if afterwards there was another citv of the same name , it was built from the remains of the first one . The materials of this were so dispersed , that about four hundred year .-after its destruction , the inhabitants of the country ' believed , rather than knew , that the ancient Persepolis was situated at the distance of twenty stadia from fhcAraxes , and were it not for the

position of this river , they would not . have known of even a single vestige of it . ' ( Quintns Cnrtius . ) The immense ruins still visible having certainly existed at the time when Quintns Cnrtius wrote what has just been read here , the inhabitants in their immediate vicinity did not then know them as those of the palace nor of thc city of Persepolis , otherwise they would not have been embarrassed in searching for them ; they would have

been in no uncertainty as to their position . "These edifices , then , which are now taken for thc ruins of Persepolis , must have been , at least , at some distance from them ; they seem to have been in a solitary place , like that where Stonehenge ( in England , of ivbich hereafter ) , is p laced ; and , moreover , like Stonelieiigc , from being in the midst of sacred woods where gods were worshipped before temples were erected to their

honour . There has not been found among the supposititious ruins of the ancient edifices of Persepolis , any stone calcined by fire ; no traveller has said that he has found these traces of a conflagration ; it has even always been impossible to burn these edifices , for buildings cannot catch fire that are entirely constructed of marble . Cliardiii then has great reason to doubt whether these edifices have ever been covered ; and if , in the part marked

G-, upon the plan as well as upon the elevation of that city , Niebnhr has fancied that he has detected traces where pillars of singular form have been placed as if for the suspension of doors and windows , it is because formerly the Arabs established a mosque there , which , though uncovered , was shut in liy doom like that which is to be seen at Malta . " ( To be con-tinned . )

Masonic Funerals.

MASONIC FUNERALS .

TO Till- EDITOR OP 'CUE FKEEllASOXS JIAOAZH ** " AND MASONIC MIRHOH , DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I send you tbe following correspondence , with which you can deal ns you think proper . If you think it can be interesting to your readers , it is at your service . I did not choose to enter on what I felt must be a fruitless controversy with one who is uninitiated , and with whom ,

therefore the advantage is not equal . I desire now to remark on the objection , that in the address spoken at the grave " a prayer is ostensibly offered to the Almi ghty , on behalf of the deceased , " . the words referred to are the following : — " May Almi ghty God , of his infinite goodness , extend his mercy towards him and all of ns . "

It appears to me that there is but little , if . any , difference between this and the following , taken from a prayer in the Church of England Burial Service : — "That Ave , with all those that are departed in the true faith of th y holy name , may have our perfect consummation and bliss , both in body and soulin thy eternal and

ever-, lasting glory . " Yours faithfully aud fraternally , Jersey , March 17 th , 18 GO . HEXBV . HOPKIN * . .

. Tcrsey , March Gth , 1 SC 0 . B-KVi-iREXn Sri ; , —I have been informed by several persons , that on Sunday last you took occasion , from the pulpit , to refer to the proceedings of Monday , Pebruary 27 th , in St . tidier , and to deprecate the society under whose auspices the funeral ivas conducted . I cannot but hope that you were induced to take this course under a mistaken impression of our views and objects ,

especially as so large a number of the prelates and clergy of the Church of England not only belong to the Order , but do not hesitate to become its advocates in their clerical capacity . ft is not my desire or intention to open a discussion on the subject , indeed there are several circumstances ivhich entirely forbid it , so far as . 1 am concerned ; but I venture to oiler you a copy of a little publication on Freemasonry * and to request a

* Tins pamphlet was Three Lecture * on Freemasonry , by HEJJP . V HOPKIXS , LL . " D . ; for a notice of which our readers are referred to Vol , vi . of the Magazine , pp . 16-20 , ' ' '