418 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 209. 



stone masonry, approved of the construction and 

 sliape of the arched roof, pointed out the absence 

 of all ornament excepting a simple moulding or 

 two as architectural lines, and then broke out 

 into enthusiastic admiration. " The most beautiful 

 building ! tlie greatest wonder of the world ! 

 Shame on the English government and English 

 gentlemen for secreting such a curiosity ! Here 

 is the cross ! the basilica carried out with more 

 correctness of order and symmetry than in Italy ! 

 The early Christians must have built it ! I will 

 take measurements and drawings to lay before the 

 cardinals ! " 



I was never more surprised, and assured the 

 Count that I was unacquainted with the cathedral 

 buildings of Europe, and I believed English gen- 

 tlemen generally to be as ignorant as myself. I 

 could not but acknowledge that the local govern- 

 ments had, as it seemed to him, evinced but little 

 sympathy with Hindooism ; and that whatever 

 might be European policy in respect to religion, 

 the East India Company might have participated 

 in the desire which prevails in Europe to develop 

 ancient customs, and the reasons of those customs. 

 It might be presumed that we should then have 

 contemplated this specimen of architecture with a 

 knowledge of its original purposes, and the history 

 of its events, had tlie Governor-General commu- 

 nicated his wish, and with due courtesy and dis- 

 interestedness invited the learned persons and 

 scholars at the colleges of Muttra and Benares to 

 assist such inquiries. It is but little the English 

 now know of the Hindoo organisation, and the 

 little they do know is derived from books not 

 tested nor acknowledged by such learned persons. 

 I assisted Count Venua as far as I was able, for 

 I rejoiced at his intention to draw the minds of 

 the literati of Italy to the subject. Sad to say, the 

 Count was some time after killed by falling into a 

 volcanic crater in the Eastern Isles ! 



I may here mention that I first saw the old 

 building in 1809, when a youthful assistant to the 

 secretary of a revenue commission. The party, 

 during the inclement month of September, resided 

 in one of the spacious houses at Muttra, which 

 pious Hindoos had in past times erected for the 

 use of pilgrims and the public. The old temple 

 (or whatever it might have been) was cleaned out 

 for our accommodation during the heat of the day, 

 as it then was cooler than the house. The elder 

 civilians were men of ability, classical scholars, 

 and first-rate Asiatic linguists. They descanted 

 on the mythological events" which renders "Brij," 

 or the country around Muttra, so holy with the 

 Hindoos, but not one of them knew nor remarked 

 the " cross and basilica." 



In youth, the language assigned to flowers ap- 

 peared to me captivating and elegant, as imparting 

 the finer feelings and sympathies of our nature. 

 In maturer age, and after the study of the history 



of the customs of mankind, symbols and emblems 

 seemed to me an universal language, which deli- 

 cately delineated the violent passions of our kind, 

 and transmitted from generation to generation 

 national predilections and pious emotions towards 

 the God of Creation. That mythology should so 

 generally be interpreted Theism, and that forms 

 or ceremonials of worship should be held to limit 

 and define belief in creed, may, in my apprehen- 

 sion, be partly traceable to the school-book Lam- 

 priere's Classical Dictionary. You or your corre- 

 spondents may attribute it to other and truer 

 causes. 



The rose, the thistle, the shamrock, the leek, 

 the lion, the unicorn, the harp, &c. are familiar 

 examples of national emblems. The ivy, the 

 holly, and the mistletoe are joined up with the 

 Christmas worship, though probably of Druidlcal 

 orio-in. The Assyrian sculptures present, under 

 the " Joronher," or effulgence, a sacred tree, which 

 may assimilate with the toolsu and the peepul tree, 

 held in almost equal veneration by the Hindoos. 

 The winged lions and bulls with the heads of men, 

 the angets and cherubim, recall to mind passages 

 of scriptural and pagan history. The sciences of 

 astronomy and mathematics have afforded myths 

 or symbols in the circle, the crescent, the bident, 

 the trident, the cross, &c. 



The translators of the cuneiform Inscriptions 

 represent crucifixion as the common punishment 

 for rebellion and treason. The Jews may have 

 imitated the Assyrians, as crucifixion may have 

 been adopted long before that of Christ and the 

 two thieves (Qy. robbers). The Mahomedans, 

 who have copied the Jews in many practices and 

 customs, executed gang robbers or daccorts by 

 suspending the criminals from a tree, their heads 

 and arms being tied to the branches, and then 

 ripping up the abdomen. I myself saw in Oude 

 an insrance of several bodies. It may be inferred, 

 then, that the position of the culprits under exe- 

 cution was designated by crucifixion. The Hin- 

 doos mildly say that when their system^ of govern- 

 ment existed in efficiency there was neither crime 

 nor punishment. 



To the examples mentioned by your corre- 

 spondent, I admit that the form of the cross, _ as 

 now received, may be derived from that of Christ, 

 discovered on Mount Calvary in 236 a.d. Con- 

 stantlne, in 306 a.d., adopted it as a standard in 

 Labarum. Other nations have attached staves to 

 eagles, dragons, fish, &c. as standards ; and there- 

 fore, construing "Crux ausata" literally, the en- 

 sign of Constantlne might be formed by attaching 

 a "staff" to the Divine Glory _ represented in the 

 Egyptian paintings and Assyrian sculptures. 



°I should be glad to learn the precise shape of 

 the cross on the Temple of Serapis. If it be the 

 emblem of life or the Creative Power, then the 

 mythology of the Nile agrees with that of the 



