270 Architecture in the United States. 



feet, is more common : in both, however, an upright marble slab 

 at the head and feet, is in most general use. I fear a century 

 from this will see most of them scattered on the ground. We 

 want something more substantial, something that will bear the 

 shock or the slow decay of years, unless we mean to build only for 

 the contemporaries of the dead. A monument should be of solid 

 material and of small elevation, or of such a shape as not to be easi- 

 ly overthrown. It should also be in good taste, but simple and plain. 

 I should prefer generally a marble slab, thick and strong, and eleva- 

 ted on solid masonry, only about ten or twelve inches from the 

 ground. This would seem at first thought, plain and simple, to a 

 fault: but one of the handsomest, and I may add, one of the richest 

 burying grounds any where to be seen, is throughout of this charac- 

 ter. It is that of the Armenians of Pera and Galata, suburbs of 

 Constantinople. It occupies about an acre of ground, and is cover- 

 ed with white marbles in the shape and character I have designated. 

 The graves are about eighteen inches from each other : there are 

 wider alleys where needed, and the whole is planted thickly with mul- 

 berry trees, and is kept neat and clean. Some of its beauty may be 

 owing to its situation, for it is on the brow of a steep hill, and looks im- 

 mediately down on the glorious Bosphorus, with its changeful pageants. 

 But close by and on the same height, is the cemetery of the Franks, 

 whom commerce or diplomacy gathers about that proud capital. 

 The monuments in this are rich and gorgeous, but going fast to ruin ; the 

 ground is neglected ; not a tree or shrub is seen on it ; the sun's rays 

 are thrown with a sickening glare from the tombs, and the dust 

 sweeps in eddies among them : the visitor throws a glance at the 

 gilded desolation, and hurries on to the simple, yet beautiful and well 

 ordered cemetry of the Armenians, where he seldom fails to meet 

 some of that people on a visit to the graves of their friends. The 

 Armenians have also a handsome grave-yard in Smyrna, planted 

 with orange and lemon trees : the flags there, however, are flat 

 on the ground, and have loo much the appearance of a pavement : 

 but still the spot is an interesting one. Simplicity is no where more 

 suitable than in a burying ground : the solemn, silent abode of the 

 dead is no place for ostentation and display. These may flatter the 

 living, but are out of character with the place, and are a poor com- 

 pliment to the dead. As well might we dress the corpse for its bu- 

 rial in scarlet, and lace, and brocade. ^A grave yard should be a 

 spot to nourish fond remembrances of a friend, and to turn our 



