. 1 



METROPOLia 



MEXICAN ARCHITECTCKK 



III 



held to be one of the xesntiils of poetry ; imaginative thought being 

 the other. No rauon can be astigned for this o|iini.>n. the truth being 

 thai it U attributable only to our Datura M men, by which we feel 

 pleasure in rhythmic*! arrangement of words, and coniitntly with 

 which we cannot consider imaginative writing as perfect, unlest 

 couched in mrtre. 



A dutinction haa been drawn between ancient and modern metre*, 

 eo being laid to depend on quantity, the other on accent ; quantity 

 and accent being further supposed to differ in kind. A little reflection 

 however will tend to convince ua that delicacy of ear baa at much to 

 do with the difference between ancient and modern metre* as any 

 fancied change from quantity into accent. 



The aouthern nation* still retain thia delicacy of ear, aa we know 

 from the marked difference in Italian between the pronunciation of 

 double and tingle eooeonanU. a difference to which our language ia a 

 stranger a* far aa time U concerned. Though ire Me no distinction in 

 time between the aecond y liable of the worda labonrt and litxrare, 

 there ia no reason why the Komana ahould not ; and with that assump- 

 tion the whole difference between accent and quantity vanishes. It 

 would be uselea* to enumerate the names which have been given to 

 metres. The Greek and Koman metres differ from our own in 

 being more numerous, and in allowing collocation! of syllables 

 ( called feet ) such a* we could scarcely feel to be consonant with 

 rhythm. The cauae of this difference aeema to lie in the form of each 

 language. 



Another grand dutinction between ancient and modern metres U 

 that of rhyme, which occur* but seldom in the former, and which, 

 until the time of Shakspere, was nearly universal in the latter. Ancient 

 and modern languages both afford specimens of the alliterative 

 measure. ^ALLITERATION.] Those who seek for further information 

 on the subject of English metres, particularly on peculiarities which 

 have occasioned so much difficulty to the readers of Chaucer, will do 

 well to consult Mr. Quest's ' History of English Metres.' Some 

 observations by Coleridge, prefixed to ' Christabel,' are also worth 

 ntt. ntiun. 



METROXOME (from filrpor, a mnuHiY, and rif/tos, a diriiiun ; also, a 

 .'/), an ingenious instrument ; a pendulum, the point of suspension of 

 which U between the extremities, invented and introduced about the 

 year 1814 by John Maelzel (civil engineer, and mechanician to the 

 eiiijM.-n>r of Austria), for the purpose of determining the movement 

 that is, the quickness or slowness of inimical compositions. 



Of the utility of a lime-mtamrer, both to composers and performers, 

 and for some account of it* early use, see CHRONOHETKR. 



Of Maelzel's Metronome there are two kinds. The one is a pendulum 

 kept in motion by a spring and wheelwork, and which ticks the vibra- 

 tions : the other u also a pendulum, as above described, but without 

 any machinery, and acting so long as the force of the impulse given shall 

 last. The former, therefore, it will be obvious, is complicated and 

 expensive ; the Latter is simple and cheap. 



The inventor thus describes and explains the manner of using thin 

 instrument : 



" 1. A sliding weight is attached to the rod (which ia graduated) or 

 steel pendulum; the higher up this weight is shifted, the slower will 

 be the vibrations ; and vice vmA ; ao that when thn weight corre- 

 sponds with the number 50, the vibrations will be the slowest possible ; 

 .. 160 they will be the quickest. 



" 2. Theae numbers have all reference to a mi*te of time; that is. 



when the weight is placed at 60, fifty boats or tick* will occur in each 



minute ; when at 60, 60 beats, or seconds exactly, in a minute ; when 



I) best* in a minute, Ac.; any stopwatch, therefore, will 



show bow far the oorrectoea* of the metronome may be depended on. 



"3. The doubles of the number* of the scale answer to a precisely 

 rfotsifa degree of velocity. Thus, if SO be the proper number for a 

 ininini, KIJ will be the number for the crotchet in ike tame movement, 

 :tnbers omitted on the scale have been found practically 



" 4. The composer U bent able to judge, from the nature of his 

 movement, whether to mark its time by minims, crotchets, quavers, Ac. 

 lenerally speaking it will be found, that in adu :f ioi, it is mot con- 

 lient to mark the time on the Metronome by quavers ; in andantei by 

 ihU ; in alltyrot by minim*, and in j>rrttut by whole bars. As 

 n however as the case may admit, it in desirable that the pendulum 

 iouM be made to beat integral part* of a bar, just as a master would 

 beat or count the time." 



Much opposition was made to the use of this excellent instrument, 

 when first introduced; but no sensible composer or performer now 

 itntains a doubt of the uwf nines* of the Metronome, or of some kind 

 01 psnduliim answering tho same purpose. 



:: 'I'OLIS. [CouWT.l 

 MKTKOI [AmcMMOF.] 



CXK'AX AKCHITKUTURK. The ancient architectural remains 



alley of Mexico, and in the adjacent countries, have never yet 



rith sufficient care and patience by a comjwtcnt archi- 



wlogist, to enable us to speak with any approach to 



beir relative antiquity, or to characterue distinctly their 



ilSrT J* T * n<l " tyle - Thote who ' vuiitod and 



m have been for the most part, chiefly interested in dia- 

 I resemblance or dissimilitude with other ancient 



edifices, aa those of Egypt, India, Greece, or even, as in tho case of 

 Lord Kingsborough, Jerusalem. Mexican architecture is that of two 

 distinct people : the Tolteks, who occupied Mexico prior to the 7th 

 century of our era ; and the Azteks, with whom may be associated the 

 Chichemacas, who inhabited the country at the Spanish conquest early 

 in the 10th century. Tli.it which is believed to belong to the earlier 

 race is also the most remarkable ; the later would seem to have been 

 derived from it. Architecture in its essential features similar to that 

 of the Tolteks exist* in various parts of Central America, and may be 

 associated with it. As far as our present knowledge extends, the 

 architecture of Mexico in to be regarded as, in the main, self-developed, 

 rather than burrowed from that of any other country. The buildings 

 display vast labour, and often considerable skill ; but, whether regarded as 

 constructive work* or a* work* of art, they are at best the productions 

 of a barbarous people. Yet, in their way, they are works of singular 

 interest, and will repay a far more thorough investigation than thny 

 have yet received. 



As in alinoet every other national architecture, the most important 

 edifices are those devoted to the purposes of religion. These are known 

 as Teocallis, and appear, like the Egyptian temples, to have contained 

 apartments for the priests ; they also contained sepulchral chambers, 

 and had descending galleries leading down into carerned recesses or 

 halls, which are variously conjectured to have been used for religious 

 mysteries, or as places for the concealment of treasures, but may pro- 

 bably have been used for both purposes. In plan, these buildings are 

 square ; in form pyramidal, generally rising in successive storeys or 

 stages, like a series of truncated pysamida placed one above another, 

 each successive one being smaller than the one on which it immediately 

 rests, so that it stands upon a platform or terrace ; the holy place, or 

 temple proper, being built on the summit, and subordinate in effect to 

 the pyramid. The sides of the pyramids face the cardinal points ; 

 their angle of inclination is seldom less than 70 degrees, which differs 

 little from that of the pyramids of Egypt. 



The largest, most sacred, and best known of these Teocallis is that 

 of Cholula, for which a fancied prototype has been found in the Temple 

 of Belus, as described by Herodotus. This pyramid-temple of Cholula 

 is now in appearance little more than a vast mound of earth covered 

 with vegetation, and crowned with a small church. But on near in- 

 spection its architectural features are sufficiently distinguishable. The 

 base of this huge structure measures 1440 feet each way (some autho- 

 rities say 1488 feet) ; its height is 177 feet : the Hides of the base of 

 the great pyramid of Gizeh are only 763 feet, so that the area of the 

 Mexican pyramid is nearly four times that of the greatest of those of 

 Egypt, but it is not a third of the height. The body of the pyramid 

 is formed of clay and sun-dried bricks. It consists of four terraces ; 

 and on the summit is a small church dedicated to the Virgin, which 

 occupies a temple of the Toltek god of the air. From the perishable 

 material of which it was constructed, its decorative features have all 

 disappeared, and but a very imperfect notion can be formed of ita 

 original appearance. It contains spacious sepulchral cavities; and a 

 square chamber formed of stone and supported by beams of cypress 

 wood was some years back discovered in it. Within this chamber were 

 two skeletons and several painted vases. 



The buildings outside the limits of the valley of Mexico, and espe- 

 cially those in Central America, are in far better preservation. One of 

 the most stupendous monuments of this style of architecture occurs 

 at Palenque, near the eastern extremity of the present republic of 

 Mexico. The great Teocalli at Palenque (built, according to the 

 startling assumption of Lord Kingsborough, aftrr tin; model of the 

 temple of Solomon) comprised within its extensive precincts various 

 sanctuaries and sepulchres, courts and cloisters, subterraneous galleries, 

 and cells for the habitation of the priests. The whole rests on a plat- 

 form, composed of three graduated terraces, and forms a spacious quad- 

 rangle inclosed by porticoes. On each side of the exterior is an ascent 

 or Might of stairs, and on the east a second flight leading clown, after 

 the first is ascended, into the cloistered court Beneath the cloisters 

 are what are conjectured to have been initiatory galleries ; and in the 

 centre of the quadrangle is what appears to be the ruins of an altar 

 or " high place." The temple itself is oblong in plan. 78 feet wide 

 by 26 feet deep, and is decorated with sculpture and hieroglyphics 

 executed in stucco. The roof is formed by graduated courses of stone, 

 which meet at the summit, and boa nix ornamental projections, placed 

 above the openings formed by the supporting piers, which were pro- 

 bably intended to support small idols or ornamental figures. The city 

 <>f p:],-n.|ue itself exhibits a variety of buildings, temples, palaces, baths, 

 and private houses, all manifesting excellence of workmanship combined 

 with considerable skill in design. 



Tli.- |ialaces, or houses of the kings, appear .to have resembled the 

 temples in being based on pyramidal substructures ; but these are 

 gem-rally oblong instead of square in plan, and much lower than the 

 U-mple-pyramids. Their substructure is usually of stone, and very 

 massive, elaborately sculptured with figures of idols and masks of 

 monstrous proportions, scrolls, mat-work, &c., often executed with 

 great skill. The upju-r |>irt appears to have been of wood, but has 



1 1 -lied. One of the most characteristic of these is the ; 

 at Mitla, the remains of which show that it must have bee; 

 of great extent and grandeur. It appears to have originally comprised 

 live distinct portions, which have been regarded as places of retirement 



