LESSONS IN ARCHITECTURE.-IV. PROGRESS OF ARCHITECTURE IN EGYPT AND INDIA-THE

COLUMN.

AFTER the rude style of building practised in early times had
'spread itself in various forms over the ancient world, true art
at last made its appearance. The great nations of
antiquity, as they advanced in civilisation, created a
national architecture, each with a feeling and expres-
sidh peculiarly its own. As soon as the stones used
in buildings began to assume a cubical, prismatic, or
cylindrical form, and the square and compasses gave a
new direction to stone-cutting, architects gave wing
to their imagination, because they now had the
means of realising its creations. Symmetry was

studied in the ground-plan of their edifices; their
architraves were raised upon pillars and columns;
and experience ere long taught them the strength
of every stone, and the proper height of every
part of a building. Hence arose that harmony and
proportion which
elevated architeo-
ture into an art.
We shall not at-
tempt to decide the

question whether pillars and
columns were first formed in ex-
cavations, or in separate construc-
tions; but it is evident that they
were the first elements of a regular
architecture-that is to say, of
the orders which constituted the
first basis of architectural har-
mony. To the pyramidal con-
structions of Egypt and of Asia
speedily succeeded the erection
of palaces and other edifices, in
which square and cylindrical pil-
lars formed

a most essential

part: the great weight of the materials employed requiring that they should be supported at short distances for the formation of internal and external galleries. These single pillars could only be connected at the top by architraves of such dimensions as combined the ratio of their breadth with the proportions of the supporting power of the columns. Upon these architraves were placed platforms or ceilings of flat stones, which, by their thickness, formed a new dimension above the former; and upon these platforms were formed terraces or flat roofs, which were surrounded by another row of stones forming a border, and having an outward projection which preserved the façade from the effects of the rain. These were the origin of cornices and entablatures. The column, in preference to the square pillar, became the type of architectural proportion. Simple at first, it presented nothing but a cylindrical shaft, without ornament, and only expressing the purpose for which it was originally intended. The oldest

The most ancient monuments of Egypt ornamented with columns are situated in the Heptanomis, an old division of the country which corresponded pretty nearly with the district called Middle Egypt by modern geographers, and which was situated between the Delta and the Thebaid, extending from 24° N. lat. to 30° N. lat. These monuments exhibit speci

mens of the greatest simplicity, and strongly analogous to those of the Doric order. The monuments of India excavated in the rock present the same principles of these primitive orders. In these two countries, which are the cradles of architecture, artists at first decorated their columns and their capitals with ornaments of which the ideas were taken from the local vegetation, to which were sometimes added others borrowed from animal nature. Thus in Egypt, after having set up the simple cylindrical shaft for their column, they sculptured upon it branches of the lotus, meeting each other and fastened together by fillets. The capital which crowned the column was at first composed

specimens in Egypt are of this description; Asia presents similar specimens; and Greece, with the whole of the West, follows the same track: thus proving that everywhere there is an invariable similarity in the origin of the arts. The simplicity, elegance, and utility of the column engaged the attention of architects, and concentrated all the efforts of their imagination. Thus it became their architectural type or model, and formed the nucleus of the different characteristic styles of building that were adopted by the great nations of antiquity.

of the bud of the same flower. This first idea was afterwards developed in the application of

vegetation of every kind to the ornamentation of the columns of the temples and of the great public edifices. Among the six examples of Egyptian capitals given in this page there is one composed of the leaves of the palm-tree.

Egypt, thus adorned with orders of architecture, had its national style. The numerous works upon the history and antiquities of Egypt published during the last half-century have made us acquainted with its archæological treasures, such as the temples and palaces of Thebes, the Isle of Philæ, Karnac, Abousambul, Edfou, Memphis, and others; and large public buildings, decorated with numerous columns, immense pillars, obelisks, and sphinxes, which give to this style a peculiar character of antiquity and grandeur, of which mere verbal description would fail

to convey any idea to the reader.

In India, as in Egypt, iso

lated columns and pillars appear to have had their origin in subterranean excavations for architectural purposes; of these numerous examples are seen at Ellora, in the palace or temple of Indra. These pillars are much shorter than those of Egypt, their bases and capitals occupying a considerable portion of the height of the column, and the entablature, or rather the corona, is less accurately traced. In cases where the Indians cut out the rock for the purposes of decoration, and sculptured it over with various ornaments, the column assumes a lighter appearance, and the principle of an order of architecture can be traced.

The excavated temples of India are numerous and extensive; the principal ones are those of Elephanta, Salsette, and Vellore, or Ellora. Elephanta is situated near Bombay, on a small island of the same name, which received this appellation from the figure of an elephant being cut out upon the rocks on the southern shore. The grand temple is 120 feet square, and is supported by four rows of pillars; along the side of the cavern are fifty colossal statues from twelve to fifteen feet

high. The face of the great bust is five feet long, and the breadth across the shoulders twenty feet. At the west end of this pagoda, or temple, is a dark recess twenty feet square, without ornament; the altar is in the centre, and there are two gigantic statues at each of the four doors by which it is entered. On entering Elephanta, there is a piazza extending sixty feet from east to west, and having a breadth of sixteen feet; indeed, the body of the cavern is surrounded on every side by similar piazzas. The caves of Kenneri, on the larger island of Salsette, in the same vicinity, and those of Carli, on the opposite shore of the continent, are equally remarkable. The mountain of Kenneri appears to have had a city hewn out of its rocky sides, capable of containing many thousand inhabitants. The front is hewn into four storeys or galleries, in which there are 300 apartments; these have generally an interior recess or sanctuary, and a small tank for ablution. The grand pagoda is forty feet high to the soffit of the arch or dome; it is eighty-four feet long, and forty-six broad. The columns of the portico are finely decorated with bases and capitals; and at the entrance are two colossal statues, each twenty-seven feet high. Thirty-five pillars of an octagonal form, about five feet in diameter, support the arched roof of the temple; their bases and capitals are composed of elephants, horses, and tigers, carved with great exact

ness.

Round the walls are placed two rows of cavities for receiving lamps. At the farther end is an altar of a convex shape, twenty-seven feet high, and twenty feet in diameter; round this are also cavities for lamps; and directly over it is a large concave dome cut out of the rock. It is said that about this grand pagoda there are ninety figures or idols, and not less than 600 of these figures within the precincts of the excavations. The cave-temple at Carli is even on a greater scale than now described. But the temples of Ellora, near Dowlatabad, are reckoned the most surprising and extensive monuments of ancient Hindoo architecture. They consist of an entire hill excavated into a range of highly-sculptured and ornamented temples. The number and magnificence of these subterranean edifices, the extent and the loftiness of some, the endless diversity of the sculpture of others, the variety of curious foliage of minute tracery, the highly-wrought pillars, rich mythological designs, sacred shrines and colossal statues, all both astonish and distract the mind of the beholder. It appears truly wonderful that such prodigious efforts of labour and skill should remain, from times certainly not barbarous, without a trace to tell us the hand by which they were designed, or the populous and powerful nation by which they were produced. The courts of Indra, of Juggernaut, of Parasu Rama, and the Doomar Leyna or nuptial palace, are the names given to several of these great excavations. The greatest admiration has been excited by the one called Keylas, or Paradise, consisting of a conical edifice, separated from the rest, and hewn out of the solid rock, 100 feet high, and upwards of 300 feet in circumference, entirely covered with mythological sculptures.

Besides the excavated temples of India, there are several others of different forms which may here be noticed. First, those composed of square or oblong enclosures; secondly, temples in the form of a cross; and thirdly, temples of a circular form.

Of temples of the first kind, the largest one remaining is that of Seringham, near Trinchinopoly. The circumference of the outward wall is said to extend nearly four miles. The whole edifice consists of seven square enclosures, the walls being 350 feet distant from each other. In the innermost spacious square are the chapels. In the middle of each side of each enclosure wall there is a gateway under a lofty tower; that in the outward wall, which faces the south, is ornamented with pillars of precious stones, thirty-three feet long, and five feet in diameter. Of temples of the second kind-namely, those in the form of a cross- -the most remarkable is the great temple in the city of Benares, on the banks of the Ganges, which has been devoted to the religion and science of the Hindoos from the earliest periods of their history. The form of the temple is that of a great cross with a cupola in the centre, which towards the top becomes pyramidal. At the extremity of each branch of the cross, all of which are of equal length, there is a tower with balconies, to which the access is on the outside.

Of temples of circular form, the temple of Juggernaut is

considered the most ancient in India; the Brahmins attribute its foundation to the first king on the coast of Orissa, who lived, according to their chronology, 4,800 years ago. The

image of Juggernaut, or Mahadeo, stands in the centre of the building, upon an elevated altar. The idol is described as being an irregular pyramidal black stone, and the temple lit up only with lamps. In the ancient Hindoo writings, another kind of temple is described, of which now no vestige is to be found. The Ayeen Akberry relates that near to Juggernaut is the temple of the sun, in the erection of which the whole revenue of the province of Orissa, for twelve years, was entirely expended; that the wall which surrounded the whole was 150 cabits high, and nineteen cubits thick; that there were three entrances: at the eastern gate were two elephants, each with a man on its trunk; on the west, two figures of horsemen completely armed; and over the northern gate, two tigers sitting over two dead elephants. In front of the gate was a pillar of black stone, of an octagonal form, fifty cubits high; and after ascending nine flights of steps, there was an extensive enclosure with a large cupola constructed of stone, and decorated with sculpture. Such are the ancient monuments of which India can boast, long before architecture had reached that proud eminence on which it stood in ancient Greece. In our next lesson we shall glance at those of Persia.

LESSONS IN GREEK.—III. GENERAL REMARKS ON THE NOUN, THE ADJECTIVE, AND

THE PREPOSITIONS.-THE DEFINITE ARTICLE.

GENDER.

NOUNS or Substantives are names of objects or things which exist in space or in the mind. There are, in Greek, three genders; the masculine, to denote the male sex; the feminine, to denote the female sex; and the neuter (Latin neuter, neither), to denote objects which are neither male nor female. The genders are distinguished partly by the sense and partly by the terminations of the nouns. There are terminations, for instance, which denote the feminine gender, as ; there are other terminations which denote the masculine gender, as as in the first declension; and, again, there are others which denote the neuter gender, as ov. This is a peculiarity to which we have nothing similar in English adjectives. Those who have studied Latin are already familiar with it. In regard to gender as denoted by the meaning, let the ensuing rules be committed to memory.

1. Of the masculine gender are the names of male beings, of winds, of months, and of most rivers, as :-ПaTwv, Plato; Zepupos, the west wind; Exaтоußaιwv, the month Hecatombæon; Eupwras, the river Eurotas.

2. Of the feminine gender are the names of female beings, of trees, of lands, of islands, and of most cities, as :-Kopn, a girl; Spus, an oak; Apkadia, Arcadia; Aerßos, Lesbos; Koλow, Colophon.

3. Of the neuter gender are the names of fruits, the diminutive in ov (except the female proper name AcovтLov), the names of the letters of the alphabet, the infinitives, all words not declinable in the singular and the plural, and every word used merely as the sign of a sound.

4. Of the common gender are personal nouns which, like our child, may be applied to male or female; thus, eos may be used of a male or female divinity, and so be rendered either god or goddess.

This " common gender is a grammatical phrase used to denote such nouns as are common to both males and females; that is, are sometimes masculine and sometimes feminine.

In Greek grammar it is usual to employ the definite article, in order to indicate the gender. The definite article, nominative singular, is 8, n, To, the; 8 is masculine, feminine, and o neuter; 3, therefore, put before a noun, intimates that the noun is of the masculine gender; , that the noun is of the feminine gender; and To, that it is of the neuter gender. If both d and are put before a noun, it is done to show that the noun is of the common gender: thus, & amp, the man; yuvn, the woman; To epyov, the work; 8, n, eos, the (male or female) divinity; 8, ǹ, rais, the child, whether boy or girl.

NUMBER.

Number is a distinction of nouns founded on the circum.

stance whether they denote one or more. If a noun denotes

4. The Accusative, the case of the object, or whither; as, TATA TOY VOV Ayama, the father loves the son.

5. The Vocative, the case of invocation, or direct address; as, αγαπα, πάτερ, τον ύιον, father, love thy son.

In Greek there is no ablative case; the functions of the ablative case are discharged, partly by the dative, and partly by the genitive. The nominative and the vocative are called recti, direct; the other cases are called obliqui, indirect. Substantives and adjectives of the neuter gender have the nominative, the accusative, and the vocative alike, in the singular, the plural, and the dual.

The dual has only two case-endings; one for the nominative, accusative, and vocative, the other for the genitive and dative.

DECLENSION.

Declension is the classification of nouns and adjectives agreeably to the variations of their case-endings. There are, in Greek, three declensions; called severally, the first, the second, and the third declension. The learner will do well in regard to every noun and adjective, to ask himself, What is its nominative? What is its case ? What is its number? What is its gender? What is its declension ? For instance, тpareçais is from the nominative rрarea, a table, is in the plural number, dative case, feminine gender, and of the first declension. In order to practise and examine himself fully, he should also form or "go through" every noun, adjective, tense, mood, and indeed every word capable of declension or conjugation, according to the several models or paradigms given in the successive lessons.

THE ADJECTIVE.

An adjective denotes a quality. This quality may be considered as being connected with, or as being in an object, as "the red rose;" or as ascribed to an object, as "the rose is red. In both cases the adjective in Greek, as in Latin, is made to agree in form, as well as in sense, with its noun. A change takes place in the adjective, conformably to the change in the signification, thus, a good man is ayabos avnp, but a good woman is ayan yun. Observe the os of the masculine is for the feminine changed into n. Not only in gender, but in number and in case does the adjective in Greek, as in Latin, conform to its noun: e.g., 8 ayalos aveρwros, Latin, bonus homo, the good man; & arepamos cσtiv ayabos, homo bonus est, the man is good; kaλn Moura, pulchra Musa, the beautiful Muse; Movσa EσTI Kaλn, Musa pulchra est, the Muse is beautiful; To Kaλov cap, pulchrum ver, the beautiful spring; to eaρ eσti kaλov, ver pulchrum est, the spring is beautiful.

The adjective, then, like the substantive, has a threefold gender-the masculine, the feminine, and the neuter. But many adjectives, such as compound and derivative, have only two terminations; one for the masculine and feminine, and another for the neuter; e.g.:

Prepositions are words which go before nouns, and show the relation which the nouns bear to the affirmation or negation made in the sentence, or the member of the sentence in which they stand. Of prepositions I shall treat in full hereafter. At present some knowledge of them must be communicated, in order to prepare the beginner for the following instructions. In the words πορευομαι προς TOV πατέρα, I go ΤΟ the father,

the word mpos, to, is a preposition.

In Greek, prepositions govern either one case, two cases, or three cases, and may accordingly be classified thus:

---

Three Cases.

Aupi, about.

Eπi, upon.
Meta, with.
Пapa, from.

Пepi, concerning.
Пpos, with or from.
Υπο, by.

Aupi, around.

ETI, on.

Mera, amidst.

Пapa, by, near (of

rest).

Пeρi, around.

Пpos, at (of rest).

"Two, under (of rest).

Αμφι and Περι, about ETI, to. Mera, after. Пapa, by the side of. Пpos, to (of motion). 'Two, under (of motion).

A glance at this table will show that the case which in any example a preposition is connected with, has much to do in modifying its signification. Only by constant practice can the exact meaning and application of the several prepositions be known. The Latin student will, in this list, recognise words. with which he is familiar; thus ex is the Latin er; ev is the Latin in; po is the Latin pro; ano is the Latin ab; Tep is the Latin super; and uro is the Latin sub.

Before I treat of the declension of nouns, I must give the definite article, as it is so intimately connected with nouns that the latter cannot well be set forth without the former; and as the article is often used as indicative of the gender of the noun. THE DEFINITE ARTICLE, 8, ǹ, To, the.