Hebrew architecture.-The Temple of Jerusalem.

edifice, there is a column now standing upon its base; and near it are the bases of eight others, at seven and eight paces distant from each other: the height of the base is three feet six inches. At the sides of the two bases towards the south, are two fragments of camels which may have been on the columns. Six hundred and fifty paces to the north is another portico, not inferior to that already described. Le Brun found about 1,300 figures of men and animals sculptured on the tombs; the men were from 7 feet 5 inches to 10 feet 7 inchcs high; some had parasols or umbrellas over them, and many were armed with lances, and combating lions.

Such are the splendid ruins of Persepolis-they bear incontrovertible evidence of antiquity; and although in some things they resemble Egyptian, and in others Indian edifices, they, especially in the palace, possess leading features sufficiently distinct to entitle them to be considered as a separate school.

Bebrem Architecture.

NOTHING is known of Hebrew architecture but what is recorded in Scripture, and by Josephus, with occasional allusions in classic authors.

Of all the temples of antiquity, the Temple at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, regarded even in an architectural point of view, and waiving all consideration of its Divine origin, deep and powerful interest, and scriptural associations, must have been one of the most striking and magnificent.

Account of the Temple.-Probable style.

We learn from Scripture and Josephus, that besides the Temple, or House, strictly so called, (comprising the Holy of Holies, the portico, and sanctuary,) the sacred edifice included numerous other spacious courts and chambers, each of which had its respective degree of holiness. The whole, including the piazzas, cloisters, towers, walls, and the palace of Herod, answered the double purpose of a sanctuary and a fortress. This superb palace became afterwards the residence of the Roman procurators. The towers and walls were half a mile in circuit, and of a stupendous height. The Temple, the magnificent portico of which rose to the height of one hundred and twenty cubits, was entered by nine gates, thickly coated with silver and gold. One of them of Corinthian brass, was of surpassing beauty, not only much larger, but more richly ornamented than the others. It is supposed to have been the "gate called the Beautiful."-Acts iii. 2. The front, or outer court of the Gentiles, was surrounded by a range of porticoes, above twenty-five cubits in height. One of these porticoes was called Solomon's porch or piazza, or the royal portico, because it was the only work of Solomon that remained in the second Temple. Magnificent as the outer and surrounding structures were, they were infinitely surpassed by the inner sanctuary. Josephus describes it as covered on all sides with plates of gold, and possessing every requisite that could strike the mind and astonish the sight; that when the sun rose upon it, the effulgence was so dazzling, that the eye could no more sustain its radiance, than the splendor of the sun itself.

Various attempts have been made to ascertain the plans and style of architecture of the temple and its courts, but they are all at variance with each other, and unsatisfactory. It seems probable, that the first and second temples were some mixture of the Egyptian and Phoenician, and that the subsequent modifications

Specimens of Hebrew architecture.-Grecian architecture.

and additions by Herod and the Jews, partook of the Grecian and Roman.

It does not appear that the Jews ever had a national style of architecture. Their synagogues and prosenchæ, which were very numerous-the former in towns, the latter in rural situations-seem to have been plain, and often temporary erections of no architectural pretensions, but merely calculated for the convenience of prayer and public worship. We hear, it is true, of numerous instances of altars and images, in groves and high places, raised to Baal and other pagan deities, in defiance of the express commands of the Almighty; but there is no instance recorded of temples being constructed in imitation of those of Egypt and Phoenicia, or, in later times, of Greece and Rome.

Only three specimens of ancient Jewish art can be produced, after the most scrutinizing search: the piece of money called the shekel, bearing a cup on one side, and an almond branch on the other; the candlestick with seven branches; and the table of shewbread, on a bas-relief, under the arch of Titus.

Grecian Architecture.

IT has been said that the architecture of the Greeks was formed on the model of the wooden cabin, this may have modified their style, but that they were acquainted with the works of the Egyptians, Persians, and Hindoos, is beyond doubt. And the commencement of the rapid progress of the art in Greece corresponds with the time of their connexion with Egypt, in the reign

Cyclopean walls.-Orders of the Greeks and Romans.

of Psammetacus.

But such was their skill, and so refined their taste, that they soon surpassed every other nation then existing, nor have they since been excelled.

The most ancient specimens of architecture in Greece consist of massive walls, termed Cyclopean. These remains are generally attributed to the Pelasgi. In the earlier walls the blocks are of various sizes, having smaller stones in the interstices, those of later date are constructed more regularly.

The orders of the Greeks were the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. The Romans modified these, producing the Tuscan and Composite. These are called the five orders. By an order, we are to understand those forms with which the Greeks composed the façades of their temples.

The principal members of an order are, a platform, perpendicular supports, and a lintelling or covering connecting the tops of these supports and crowning the edifice. The proportioning these parts to the building and to each other, and adapting characteristic decorations, constitutes an order, canon, or rule.

DORIC ORDER.

The Doric is the most ancient of these orders, so called from Doris, where it originated. It is the most massive of the Greek orders, its proportions little differing from those of Egyptian edifices. For simplicity and majesty, its effects have not been exceeded. The temples of the Greeks, of whatever order, were of an oblong form; in some the porticoes were at the ends only, in others they were on all sides. Some had a single range of columns, others more. In the infancy of the order the diamete. of the column was very great in proportion to the length, being

Doric order.-Ionic order.

only about five diameters in height; but the proportions became afterwards more delicate.

In this order the shaft of the column is raised upon a stylobate with three steps, the shaft is fluted and without a pedestal. The upper member of the column is a square abacus, under which is a large and elegantly formed ovolo; immediately beneath which are three annulets or rings with recessed spaces between them. The architrave is plain, except that at the top is a fillet, to the under side of which, beneath regular projections in the frieze, are six small conical drops called guttæ. The frieze consists of alternate projections and recesses; two vertical channels are cut in each projection, and two half ones at the edges, from which fact these tablets are called triglyphs. The recesses between the triglyphs, called metopes, are square or nearly so, and often contain sculptures. Above the frieze comes the cornice, which in this order consists of a few large mouldings, having on their under side a series of squares, sloping projections, resembling the ends of rafters, and called mutules. These are placed over both triglyphs and metopes, and are ornamented on their under side with circular guttæ. The best specimens of the Doric order are found in the Parthenon, the Propylæa, and the temple of Theseus, at Athens. The pediment is formed by the sloping of the roof, and is surmounted by a cornice. The enclosed triangle is called the tympanum. This chaste and majestic style, was almost the only one employed in Greece, until after the Macedonian conquest.

IONIC ORDER.

The Greek colonies which settled Ionia, on the coast of Asia, reached, perhaps, a higher degree of refinement than their