346 [Assembly 



among the Egyptians. The pyramids erected before the memory of 

 man, or at a time unknown to the most ancient historian and annalist, 

 have remained monuments of persevering and gigantic effortj to call 

 forth the astonishment and admiration of every successive age. Nor 

 are these the only objects of wonder of what human art and energy have 

 effected, in that once celebrated, but now degraded, portion of the 

 world. Look, too, on what Greece and Rome accomplished in the 

 mechanical and useful arts, as well as those of Music and Sculpture 

 and Painting, to which the fastidious usages of Society have given a 

 different name seeking, of human efforts to elevate the ornamental 

 and pleasing, above those which are enduring and substantial, distin- 

 guishing them as the fine arts! Behold the ancient Temples, Capitols, 

 Statues, Obelisks of these once renowned and powerful Nations! See 

 emerging lately from the darkness and ruins in which they had been 

 buried for centuries, the wonders of art that have been taken from the 

 cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Go, wander through the streets 

 of those places of the resort and residence of the learned and luxurious 

 of a by-gone age, and you will find abundant and accumulated evidence 

 of the high degree of perfection, both of science and art, to which the 

 ancients had attained. 



It is mortifying, indeed, after having commenced with so much ex- 

 cellence, the early history of man, and followed him through different 

 and widely distant portions of the world, for a long succession of 

 years, and the lapse of many generations, tracing at each step, as we 

 proceed, some indication of exalted genius, and progressive improve- 

 ment, that we should be called to view him afterwards sunken aad 

 degraded, and reduced to the lowest and most abject condition. 

 Europe, by the incursions of her hordes of Northern barbarians, be- 

 come, in Southern Italy and Greece, and throughout her whole extent, 

 the scene of moral and intellectual debasement. For centuries inter- 

 vening between the overturning and destruction of the ancient Roman 

 Empire, and the discovery of the art of Printing, and the more recent 

 inventions in Mechanics, she lay, in complete .subjection at the feet of 

 her savage conquerors, and of that system of feudal and ecclesiastical 

 tyranny, which was, through their instrumentality, introduced. Brute 

 force, muscular power and physical courage, took the place, and bore 

 absolute sway over cultivated taste, scientic attainments and strength 



