RESOURCES OF THE BUILDERS. 435 



for making them ; and, more than this, to conceive the 

 immense time, skill, and labour required for carving 

 such a surface of stone, and the wealth, power, and cul- 

 tivation of the people who could command such skill 

 and labour for the mere decoration of their edifices. 

 Probably all these ornaments have a symbolical mean- 

 ing ; each stone is part of an allegory or fable, hidden 

 from us, inscrutable under the light of the feeble torch 

 we may burn before it, but which, if ever revealed, will 

 show that the history of the world yet remains to be 

 written. 



38 



