36 
polished ages of Greece^ interests the lovers of 
th€ arts by the severity of the style^ or by its 
finished execution^ although no legend or mono- 
gram connects these objects with any particular 
point of history. Such is the privilege of the 
marvels of genius^ which were produced in the 
climes of Asia Minor, and in part of the south of 
Europe. 
The monuments of those nations, on the con- 
trary, which have attained no high degree of in- 
tellectual cultivation, which either from religi- 
ous or political causes, or the nature of their or- 
ganization, have never been affected by the 
beauty of forms, can be considered only as me- 
morials of history. To this class belong the 
remains of sculpture, scattered over the vast 
countries which extend from the banks of the 
Euphrates to the eastern shores of Asia. The 
idols of Thibet and Hindostan, those which have 
been discovered on the central plains of Mon- 
golia, are calculated to throw light on the 
ancient communication of nations with each 
other, and on the common origin of their mytho- 
logical traditions. 
The rudest works, the most grotesque forms, 
those masses of sculptured rocks, wenerable only 
from their enormous magnitude, and their re- 
mote antiquity ; those lofty pyramids, which in- 
dicate the multitudes employed in their construe- 
