260 ' ^Architecture. 



nobleman's house, than a public building. I send you also a small vol- 

 ume of Grecian Ruins as illustrations of Mr. Hobhouse's Journey. 



I believe that all the elements of the Grecian, Roman, Moorish, 

 Saxon, and Gothic architecture, are to be found in the Egyptian, 

 Syrian, and Indian. In Denon's Travels, and in a colored drawing, 

 copied from Norden's Travels of a temple at Combo in upper Egypt, 

 both of which 1 can furnish you with, you will I presume find all the 

 great proportions, of the heavy Grecian, and even the foundations or 

 rather blocks, of many of its ornaments.* I have also noticed, in 

 views of the Ruins of Palmyra, beautiful specimens of the lighter 

 and more elegant columns, which we now call Greek and Roman. 

 In buildings in India, either remaining still perfect, or existing in 

 Ruins, are not only heavy Temples, much like those of Egypt, but 

 pointed or Gothic arches, some plain, and others richly ornamented, 

 supported on slender Pillars, and on arcades of these are raised 

 square columns, like what are called " antais," of the lighter Gre- 

 cian proportions, surmounted by a plain entablature, including its 

 flat projecting cornice, and a plain, closed Ballustrade, of the same 

 proportion, as those in modern use, but with no pediment. Pedi- 

 ments probably first arose in Greece, from the necessity of having 

 such a covering as would discharge the rain. There are also in In- 

 dia, Gothic pinnacles, and Turkish Domes, in abundance. And in 

 the Ruins of Dehli, especially, as well as in the more modern build- 

 ings, are many minute Gothic ornaments ; of all these I can show 

 you instances in a book of Indian Views. 



What is now called the Gothic, should, as an English writer has 

 declared, be stiled " English Architecture," for he claims that the 

 pointed stile, if not invented in England, was carried to its greatest 

 degree of elegance, in thai country, and arose long after the time of 

 the Goths. The same writer says, that if the word " English" is 

 not allowed, it should be called Norman, as it was carried to perfec- 

 tion, under the Norman Dynasty, although introduced under the 

 Saxon, and that the circular arch, with its short columns, if richly 

 decorated, may be called " Saxon Gothic," and the pointed arch, 

 and slender Pillar, " Norman Gothic." He asserts, that Gothic 

 Architecture, is never spoken of by the earlier Historians, and prob- 



* See Plate. — No. 1. Ruins of ancient Dehli.— No. 2. Part of Melrose Abby.— 

 No. 3. Temple at Combo, Upper Egypt. — No. 4. Paestum. — No. 5. United States 

 Bank.— No. 6, Pennsylvania Bank.— No. 7. Old United States Bank. 



