156 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Mav, 



pendous works of antiquity, and however our taste may be grati- 

 fied by tlie enchanting- powers of art, notbinjr really interests, 

 either in history or description, but that whioh was founded for 

 the benefit of mankind, and carried on through ages by the virtue 

 of benevolence. Time is said by our poet to be a beautitier of the 

 dead; but he has not traced a line of loveliness upon the ashes 

 of the selfish emperor, who reared this tomb for his own vanity. 

 'I'ime is said to be tlie adorner of the ruin; but time has but added 

 deformity to the splendid mausoleum. It is some consolation to 

 know that "glory, built on selfish principles, is shame and guilt;" 

 and it may be a moral lesson not unworthy of the artist and of him 

 who builds for ]iosterity, to learn that whatever in the way of 

 monumental grandeur is not associated w ith virtuous sentiments, 

 or, as I should say, with morality and religion, will hand down no 

 name to posterity « ith the reverence and respect, which the archi- 

 tect and the artist, not less than the statesman and philosopher, 

 may lawfully seek to deserve. 



The Chairman (Mr. Sydney Smirke, V.P.) said, we have been so often 

 charmed, instructed, and elevated by our reverend friend's eloquence, that I 

 really am at a loss to sljape into a new form the expression of our thanks. 

 Our heartiest gratitude is indeed due to him for the great treat he has given 

 us this evening. It is quite clear that Mr. Burgess's treasures of rcsearcli, 

 as well as of memory, are inexhaustible; for I had hoped that he had not 

 heard of the illustration which the bronze door of St. Peter's offers of this 

 monument. That, however, has not es««ped him. I am happy in being 

 able to show a slisht memorandum of that has relief, a copy of a hasty sketch 

 which I made when I was in Rome. 1 do not remember whether the date 

 Mr. Uurgess mentioned is perfectly authenticated ; I should have thought, 

 from the very barbarous character of this relief, that it was of an earlier 

 date. I dare say, however that he is right; but one would have thought, 

 that in Home a work upon an imperishable material, on the principal door 

 of the greatest building in Christendom, would have been better drawn. 



rnTnTf 



The very hasly sketch I made will verify nearly all my reverend fiiend's 

 attempts to realise this remaikable edifice. The great peristyle culuuiiis, 

 however, look more like Corinthian than Ionic; and there seems to be an 

 attic over the peristyle, which does not appear in our friend's drawings, ap- 

 parently enriched with a second hand of hull's heads and festoons. The las 

 relief exhibits at the top, not a pine apple but a figure, which looks like a 

 cupid rather than an emperor. It no where indicates the peacocks and bulls 

 to which our reverend friend has alluded. 



Mr. TiTE seconded the motion for the vote of thanks, which after some 

 observations hy Mr. Donaldson, secretary, and Mr. Roberts, fellow, as also 

 by Mr. Lloyd, visitor, was carried by acclamation. 



Mr. Burgess returned thanks and promised to communicate a paper nest 

 session, if spared another year, upon the Via; Romanoe, as conjpared with 

 modern railroads, and with reference to the vastness and magnificence of 

 each. 



Stoney Stratford. — A Roman villa has been discovered in the parish of 

 Peuler's Pury, near Stoney Stratford, on the property of the Duke of (iraf- 

 ton, and near the course of the Roman road, Stratford being the Lacto- 

 dorum of the Romans. Already a fine tesselated pavement has been brought 

 to light. 



SCULPTURES AND ARCHITECTURE OF ASSYRIA. 



Sinne Remarks on the Sltjk of Ornumeiitiition prevalent in the As- 

 xi/riiin Seitlptures reeently (Uncovered by Dr. Lavard, and on some 

 Peculiarities of Assyrian Architecture, as exhibited thereon. Bv 

 SvnNKY Smihke, Esq., V.P. — (Pa])er read at the Royal Institute 

 of British Architects, March isth.) 



In submitting for the examination of the meeting some casts 

 which 1 liave, through the kindness of the Trustees of the British 

 Museum, been permitted to have made of some small portions of 

 the Assyrian sculpture recently deposited in the British Museum, 

 I beg to detain you, for a few minutes only, with some remarks 

 upon the st)le of ornamentation which appears to prevail in these 

 very curious works of ancient art. 



The love of ornament which distinguishes all eastern nations at 

 the present day seems to have equally prevailed among the ancient 

 people of whcmi representations are now, for the first time, brought 

 before us in these interesting remains. Very few female figures 

 occur, but scarcely a male figure is represented, whether priest or 

 warrior, without large ear-rings, and most of them have necklaces, 

 bracelets, and armlets. It is to be remarked, however, that not a 

 single case occurs, amidst all this display of personal jewellery, of 

 a finger-ring; the entire absence of this ornament in sculpture, 

 wherein details of this nature are so elaborately and carefully at- 

 tended to, leads to the unavoidable conclusion that the finger-ring 

 was an ornament unknown to the Assyrians. I am not about to 

 digress into any question of the antiquity of finger-rings, an en- 

 quiry for which I am not competent and which would be here 

 inappropriate I will only take occasion to say, that much of 

 learned disquisition as there has been on this subject, the question 

 remains to be answered. I think there has been much confusion 

 produced by the vague use of the word ring, and the too ready 

 assumption that when rings are named, finyer-Tings are intended. 

 Signet-rings may have been, and were, worn suspended from the 

 neck, or attached to a chain. There are in the Book of Esther, 

 and in Jeremiah, very clear allusions to finger-rings, but the 

 earliest classical authority that I am at present aware of (and for 

 this I am indebted to my friend. Mr. Birch), is Pausanias, who 

 says that he saw on the walls of a temple at Delphi a painting by 

 Polygnotus of Phocis, represented with a ring on his left band. 

 Polygnotus flourished about ■I'^i years before Christ. It is, how- 

 ever, very remarkable, if it be true, that there is no example known 

 of a Greek statue with a ring on the hand. 



Reverting to the sculpture under consideration, I find their ap- 

 parel almost always richly fringed; with wide borders ornamented 

 with figures of men, animals, and foliage. The caparison of their 

 horses is most gorgeous; every strap of their head and body hous- 

 ings is enriched; to the chariot horses there is usually seen at- 

 tached, apparently either to the extremity of the pole, or to the 

 trappings of the neck, and to the front of the chariot itself, a 

 long fish-shaped piece of drapery, fringed and embroidered. Dr. 

 Layard is at a loss to designate this object. Perhaps, "the 

 ])recious clothes for chariots," alluded to by Ezekiel as being ob- 

 tained by the people of Tyre from Dedan, may have reference 

 to this singular piece of horse-furniture. 



The same love of ornament above alluded to is apparent in their 

 pavilions, of which there are specimens in this sculpture; also in 

 the fashion of their armour; the hilts, handles, and sheath-ends of 

 the swords; their knife handles, their slings, and their quivers. 

 There are in the British Museum some lions' feet of bronze, ap- 

 parently belonging to furniture, which formed part of Dr. Layard's 

 collection at Nimrood, and are equal to Greek workmanship in 

 execution. 



The style of art which characterises all these ornaments offers 

 us a subject of curious enquiry. What relation does it bear to 

 other styles.'' To what extent is it original? And to what extent 

 does it appear to have influenced other succeeding styles known to 

 us? Major Rawlinson, who has fortunately succeeded in mastering 

 to a great extent the difficulties that have hitherto hidden from us 

 the knowledge handed don n in the strange characters that cover 

 these and other remains, entertains no doubt that the earlier ruins 

 from whence these sculptures have been derived, bear the extra- 

 ordinary date of twelve or thirteen centuries before the Christian 

 era. This sculpture, therefore, is probably as old as most of the 

 Egyptian antiquities we possess; yet the style of the ornaments, 

 although certainly partaking somewhat of Egyptian character, is 

 in many respects widely different from it. 'i'he borders of the 

 linen wrouglit in successive stripes, and those stripes subdivided 

 into a succession of squares, is certainly an Egyptian peculiarity, 

 prevalent in this Assyrian costume. Indeed the people of the two 



