here the ponderous strength of the Egyptian, and the chastened elegance of the Grecian school, are both most happily combined."

Mr. Addison appears to have entertained a different opinion: "Those ruins," says he," though so striking and magnificent, are yet, however, quite second rate when compared with the Athenian ruins, and display in their decorations none of the bold conceptions and the genius which characterize the Athenian architecture. There is a peculiar sameness in the decorations of the figures, entablatures, and cornices. The ornaments are all alike; and the festoons of grapes and vine-leaves hung on goats' and horses' heads, the pendent bunches of grapes and Cupids, however rich in appearance and beautifully chiselled, can never excite such feelings as one small portion of the Panathenian frieze of the Parthenon, or one of the Metopes representing a battle between a Centaur and a Lapithæ. There is a genius in these latter, a combination of talent, a soul, fire, and spirit, which are looked for in vain in the Balbec remains. The great Panathenian frieze of the Parthenon, which extended all around that temple, with its hundreds of horses and warriors, its spirited grouping, and faithful delineation of forms and attitudes, and above it the wars of the Centaurs and Lapithæ, possessed a most exciting interest. The vine-branches and wheat-ears of the temple of Balbec, although unquestionably very beautiful, yet appear tame in comparison; and cannot certainly be put in competition with these masterpieces of architectural decoration."

We again quote from the page of M. de la Martine: "Round this platform is ranged a series of chapels, decorated with niches, admirably sculptured, friezes, cornices, and vaulted arches; all displaying the most finished workmanship, but evidently belonging to a degenerate period of art. But this impression can only be felt by those whose eyes

have been previously exercised by the contemplation of the pure monuments of Athens and Rome. Every other eye would be fascinated by the splendour of the forms and the finish of the ornaments. The only fault is too much richness; the stone groans beneath the weight of its own luxuriance, and the walls are overspread with a lacework of marble."; The town is at present so ruined, that there are not counted more than fifty habitable dwellings in it, though the whole number within the walls may be estimated at five hundred.

Its state, indeed, is truly deplorable. The emirs of the house of Harfoushe had already greatly impaired it, when an earthquake, in 1759, completed its destruction; insomuch that though in 1751 there were 5000 inhabitants, not 200 are remaining; and all these poor, without industry or commerce, and cultivating nothing but a little cotton, some maize, and a few watermelons.

Even the ruins are altering every day. Dawkins and Wood found nine large columns standing; but Volney, in 1784, found only six. They reckoned twenty-nine at the lesser temple; but now there are only twenty. There were originally thirty-four: eight in front, and thirteen along each of the sides. The others were overthrown by an earthquake. Nature alone, however, has not effected this devastation. The Turks have had their share in the destruction of the columns, the motive for which was merely to procure the iron cramps which served to join the several blocks of which each column is composed.

The hands of the natives, too, have no doubt committed many ravages. Faccardine, prince of the Druses, destroyed or injured several parts of these ruins; but when he afterward visited Italy, and contracted a taste for its architecture, he is said to have bitterly lamented the sacrilege he had committed at Balbec. "It is in fact man, not nature," says an

elegant writer, "that has wrought this change. No blight has seared the soil or poisoned the air, but a degrading despotism has as effectually dried up the sources of social prosperity as if some elementary convulsion had suddenly turned the clime of beauty cold and dark, and struck the teeming earth with hopeless barrenness. Indeed, Turkish oppression has done what no unkindness of nature could have effected. The splendours of Palmyra rose under the breath of a free commerce, in the midst of a sandy desert; but nothing has been able to preserve that and many other great cities from crumbling into heaps of ruins at the death-touch of the gloomy tyranny that now hangs like a pall over the land." We conclude with the following account of the Bishop of Balbec by La Martine: "We proceeded very little farther that day. The road diverged from these ruins, and led us to others. We passed over some vaults, and arrived at a small house. This was the palace of the Bishop of Balbec, who, clothed in his violet-coloured pelisse, and attended by some Arab peasants, advanced to meet us, and conducted us to his humble door. The poorest peasant's cottage in Burgundy or Auvergne possesses greater luxury and elegance than the palace of the Bishop of Balbec. It was an ill-built hut, without either window or door, and through the decayed roof the rain worked its way, and dropped on the mud floor. This was the bishop's dwelling! But at the farther end of the yard which adjoined the house, a neat wall, newly built of blocks of stone, and a door and window in ogives of Moorish architecture, each ogive being constructed of finely-sculptured stones, attracted my attention. This was the church of Balbec, the cathedral of that town, in which other gods have had splendid temples; the chapel in which the few Arab Christians, who live here amid the wrecks of so many different faiths, worship, under a purer form, the universal Creator."

The bishop was a fine old man, with hair and beard of silver, a grave and benevolent cast of features, and a sweet and well-modulated voice. He was the perfect image of a priest of poetry or romance, says the traveller; and his aspect, which denoted peace, resignation, and charity, was well suited to the scene of ruins and meditation in which he lived.

The traveller shortly after describes a delightful scene. He and his friends were sitting by moonlight near the bishop's hut. "We were silent. Suddenly a soft, plaintive strain, a slow, modulated mur. mur, stole through the grotesque ogives of the ruined wall of the bishop's house. This vague and confused sound swelled higher and higher, until we distinguished it to be a chant from the united voices of choristers; a monotonous, melancholy strain, which rose, fell, and died away, and was alternately revived and re-echoed. This was the evening prayer, which the Arab bishop was chanting with his little flock, in the skeleton of that which once had been his church, viz., a heap of ruins piled up by a heap of idolaters. We were totally unprepared for music of this sort, where every note was, in fact, a sentiment or a sign from the human breast. How little did we expect it in this solitude, in the bosom of the desert, issuing, as it were, from mute stones, strewed about by the combined influence of earthquakes, barbarous ignorance, and time! A hallowed emotion inspired us, and we joined with religious fervour in the sacred hymn, until the last sighs of the pious voices had died away, and silence again reigned over the venerable ruins."

BYZANTIUM.

"ON which side soever," says an accomplished traveller, "you approach Constantinople, whether

ascending by the Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmora, or descending from the Black Sea by the Bosphorus; whether you arrive by crossing the plain of Thrace, or come in sight from the opposite hills of Asia, she presents herself, indeed, like the 'queen of cities.'

The history of this city being that of an empire, we shall confine ourselves to a few particulars, and then pass on to give some account of its monumental antiquities.

According to Ammianus, Byzantium was founded by the Athenians; according to Justin, by the Lacedæmonians; according to Paterculus, by the Milesians; and according to others, by a colony of Megara, under the conduct of Byzas, 658 B.C.

Byzantium received a great accession of inhabitants in consequence of a decree passed in gratitude to the Athenians, for having compelled Philip of Macedon to raise the siege of their city.*

* The substance of this decree was as follows: "Inasmuch as in times past the continual benevolence of the people of Athens towards the Byzantines and Perinthians, united by alliance and their common origin, has never failed upon any occasion; that this benevolence, so often signalized, has lately displayed itself, when Philip of Macedon, who had taken up arms to destroy Byzantium and Perinthus, battered our walls, burned our country, and cut down our forests that in a season of so great calamity, this beneficent people succoured us with a fleet of a hundred and twenty sail, furnished with provisions, arms, and forces; that they saved us from the greatest danger; in fine, that they restored us to the quiet possession of our government, our laws, and our tombs: the Byzantines grant, by decree, the Athenians to settle in the countries belonging to Byzantium; to marry in them, to purchase lands, and to enjoy all the prerogatives of citizens; they also grant them a distinguished place at public shows, and the right of sitting both in the senate and the assembly of the people, next to the pontiffs; and farther, that every Athenian who shall think proper to settle in either of the two cities above mentioned, shall be exempted from taxes of any kind; that in the harbours, three statues of sixteen cubits shall be set up, which statues shall represent the people of Athens crowned by those of Byzantium and Perinthus; and, be