270 Architecture in the United States. 
feet, is more common: in both, however, an upright marble slab 
at the head and feet, is in most general use. I fear a century 
from this will see most of them scattered on the ground. We 
want something more substantial, something that will bear the 
shock or the slow decay of years, unless we mean to build only for 
the contemporaries of the dead. A monument should be of solid 
material and of small elevation, or of such a shape as not to be easi- 
ly overthrown. It should also be in good taste, but simple and plain. 
I should prefer generally a marble slab, thick and strong, and eleva- 
ted on solid masonry, only about ten or twelve inches from the 
ground. This would seem at first thought, plain and simple, toa 
fault: but one of the handsomest, and I may add, one of the richest 
burying grounds any where to be seen, is throughout of this charac- 
ter. It is that of the Armenians of Pera and Galata, suburbs of 
Constantinople. It occupies about an acre of ground, and is cover- 
ed with white marbles in the shape and character I have designated. 
The graves are about eighteen inches from each other: there are 
wider alleys where needed, and the whole is planted thickly with mul- 
berry trees, and is kept neat and clean. Some of its beauty may be 
owing to its situation, for itis on the brow of a steep hill, and looksim- 
mediately down on the glorious Bosphorus, with its changeful pageants. 
But close by and on the same height, is the cemetery of the Franks, 
whom commerce or diplomacy gathers about that proud capital. 
The monuments in this are rich and gorgeous, but going fast to ruin; the 
ground is neglected ; not a tree or shrub is seen on it ; the sun’s rays 
are thrown with a sickening glare from the tombs, and the dust 
sweeps in eddies among them: the visitor throws a glance at the 
gilded desolation, and hurries on to the simple, yet beautiful and well 
-d cemetry of the Armenians, where he seldom fails to meet 
some of that people on a visit to the graves of their friends. The 
Armenians have also a handsome grave-yard in Smyrna, planted 
with orange and lemon trees: the flags there, however, are flat 
on the ground, and have too much the appearance of a pavement: 
but still the spot is an interesting one. Simplicity is no where more 
suitable than in a burying ground: the solemn, silent abode of the 
dead is no place for ostentation and display. ‘These may flatter the 
= ing, but are out of character with the place, and are a poor com 
Se pliment to the dead. As well might we dress the corpse for its bu- 
oe Se se et, and lace, and brocade. A grave yard should be # 
nourish fond remembrances of a friend, and to turn ou 
