24 REY. J. LESLIE PORTER, D.D. 
to trace the origin of art and architecture, and to ascertain 
to what race or nation we are mainly indebted for the first 
designs, and for the earliest principles, of art; and in what 
way, and by what agency, the knowledge was propagated 
and art developed. I had another object in view—to throw 
some additional light, if possible, upon the accounts given by 
the sacred writers of the building and decoration of Solomon’s 
Temple and Palace in Jerusalem. 
I must here confess that itis with extreme diffidence I venture 
to express my views on this subject before a London audience. 
In prosecuting my studies I have laboured under great disad- 
vantages. Though I have visited so many of the ancient 
sites, and explored so many of the old ruins, I have not had 
any special training for such work. I was a mere amateur. 
And when in my library at home I have not had access to 
those vast and invaluable stores of antiquities laid up in the 
British Museum, nor have I enjoyed the incalculable advantage 
of intercourse with those savants in this great metropolis 
who have devoted their special attainments and learning to 
classical and Oriental archeology. I have simply investigated, 
read, and thought for myself. My aim now is to give the 
results in a short, popular form, and thus to try at least to 
direct the attention of others, better qualified than I can 
pretend to be, to matters which, in my opinion, are of no 
_ smallimportance, especially for Biblical students. 
ARCHITECTURE. 
During my wanderings over Bible lands and along the 
classic shores of the Levant, I was often struck with the close 
resemblance, in many respects, between the most ancient | 
architectural remains of the Jews, the Phoenicians, and the 
Greeks, both in their own country and in their colonies in 
Asia Minor. I read with renewed interest and attention the 
accounts given by the sacred writers of the building of 
Solomon’s Temple and Palace in Jerusalem—how the founda- 
tions and massive walls were built “ of costly stones, even of 
hewn stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, within 
and without, even from the foundation unto the coping, and 
so on the outside unto the great court. And the foundation 
was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits 
and stones of eight cubits” (1 Kings vii. 9,10). Josephus 
makes the size of the stones greater still, some being forty 
cubits long (Ant., xv. 11). Many of the stones of the 
encircling wall of the Temple platform are in their places. I 
