THE ANALYST 



AUGUST, 1834. 



ON THE ARCH. 



To the Editor of the Analyst, 



Sir, — It has been remarked by Mr. Locke that the mind receives 

 more pleasure in the contemplation of things past than in 

 those which are present, and that the former, handed down by 

 the pages of history, reafch us through a medium mellowed by 

 the hand of time, and sanctified by the admiration of inter- 

 mediate ages. This study has not only its advantages in 

 delighting the imagination, but also in tranquillizing the mind 

 and improving the better faculties of humanity. We war not 

 with the past, for even if we dissent from the conclusions of those 

 who have gone before us, we at least venerate their authority, 

 and whether we contemplate the virtues of eminently good men 

 of former days — whether the deep researches of the philosopher 

 — the charmed voice of the poet — the luminous pages of the 

 historian, or the gigantic efforts of the scientific — we see them 

 unmixed with prejudice, unswayed by passion. We behold 

 through the mind's eye "the great of old" with wonder and 

 delight, nor is our astonishment less excited by the fruits of their 

 superior knowledge in those splendid remains, both in science 

 and in art, which at this day direct our judgment and induce 

 our imitation. To this subject my attention has been lately 

 more particularly called by looking over some splendid repre- 

 sentations of Greek architecture, the perfection of taste and 

 durability, and upon whose model almost all our public and 

 private buildings, pretending to distinction, have, since their 

 introduction by Inigo Jones, been erected. It is not, however, 

 with a view of dilating upon their excellence that I have intro- 

 duced these splendid remains to your notice, but I have done so 

 with the view of affording a few remarks upon a long disputed 

 point connected with one of these works of former days — the 

 arch of Adrian — but by some called the arch of ^geus. Were 



NO. I. . B 



