ATHENS. 227 
casts had been already made of all the sculpture 
which it was designed to remove. The author 
would gladly have avoided the introduction of 
this subject ; but as he was an eye-witness of 
these proceedings, it constitutes a part of the du- 
ties he has to fulfil in giving the narrative of his 
travels ; and if his work be destined to survive 
him, it shall not, by its taciturnity with regard 
to the spoliation of the Athenian temples, seem 
to indicate any thing like an approval of the 
measures which have tended so materially 
towards their destruction. 
To a person who has seen the ruins of Rome, Compari- 
son bo- 
th e first suggestion made by a sight of the build- tween the 
.1 ' .1 r> ji / Grecian 
ings in the Acropolis is that ot the infinite supe- and Roman 
riority of the Athenian architecture. It possesses 
the greatness and majesty of the Egyptian, or 
of the antient Etruscan style, with all the ele- 
gant proportions, the rich ornaments, and the 
discriminating taste of the most splendid aera 
of the Arts. " Accustomed as we were," said 
Stuart 1 , in speaking of the Parthenon, "to the 
antient and modern magnificence of Rome, and, 
by what we had heard and read, impressed 
(I) Antiquities tf Athens, vol. II. p. 9- Land. 1787. 
Q2 
