[ 401 
LXXXIII. Some Account of the Monuments of Thebes in Egypt. 
[Continued from p. $85.] 
O; all the portions of the edifices of Medynat-Abou, the peri- 
style in the midst of which we are is indisputably that which 
strikes most, by its imposing mass and character of grandeur: 
We are convinced that its founders wished to render it indestruc- 
tible, and that the Egyptian architects charged with its con- 
struction have’strained every nerve to make this monument pass 
down to the most distant posterity. The elegance of its co- 
lumns cannot, it is true, be boasted of, but they are colossal; they 
-are nearly seven feet and a half in diameter, and do not appear 
to be too bulky to carry the enormous stones which form the 
architraves and the roofs. When we wish to give an account 
of the sentiment of admiration which we experience at the sight 
of this edifice, we find that we are particularly led away by the 
grandeur of those lines which throughout a long space present 
wo interruption, and the perfect execution of which answers to 
the magnificent manner in which they have been conceived. If 
our architects had not already returned to sound principles, they 
would find here a proof that irregular or tormented lines and pro- 
jecting bodies can never be in architecture the source of anyspecies 
of grandeur and beauty. But what adds much to the effect 
produced by the peristyle are the caryatid pilasters which de- 
-corate it. * How, in fact, can we refrain from being seized with 
a religious and profound respect at the sight of that council of 
gods united, in some measure, to dictate the laws of wisdom and 
philanthropy which we see every where written on the walls of 
the palace! The Egyptian artists, in throwing these statues 
of the gods against pillars which support rich roofs decorated 
with stars of a golden yellow colour scattered over a blue ground, 
seem to have wished to represent to us the supreme Being under 
the azure vault which he fills with his immensity! How pro- 
found must have been the impression produced by the sight of 
this place on the ancient Egyptians, with whom every thing had 
a mystical and religious meaning, if we who are strangers to 
their manners, customs and worship, cannot penetrate without 
emotion into the midst of these galleries, every supporter of 
which is a god! How nobly monumental is the simplicity of 
the attitudes and the form of the statues, and how greatly does 
the rigid immoyeability add to the imposing aspect of the whole 
edifice! What a superficial examination mightinduce us to re- 
gard as the infancy of the art, seems on the contrary to be the 
result of a foreseen and ealculated perfection.” 
Vol. 47, No, 218. June 1816, Ce I have 
