ARCHITECTURE. 
66 
vantage in any diredlion, as when it comes from above, in 
fnch.a regular, proportioned, and uninterrupted, manner. 
The Egyptian buildings were of marble, the Chinefe 
of wood. Yet the Chinefe wall is a ftupendous monument 
of the folid and durable. Compare the wall of China, or 
thofe of ancient .Babylon, with the pyramid of Geeza; 
the-greatnefs of the former is in the fcale and extenfion; 
of the latter, in the. fir It conception of a fublime idea. If 
this diftin&ion beobferved in our dccifions on works in 
architecture, there will be no difference of opinion, except 
between thofe who have taffe, and thofe,who have it not. 
There are fome modern authors, however, who call in 
queftion even the exiftence of thefe ftupendous works of 
the ancients, andafk “ how it is poffible to conceive that 
the walls of Babylon could have been 318 feet high and 
eighty-one in thicknefs, in a compafs of near ten leagues ?” 
To this we may eafily reply, that the pyramids of Egypt, 
and the immenfe wall which divides China from Tartary, 
Ihew us/, that even fuch a work as the. w all of ancient Ba¬ 
bylon is faid to have been is not altogether incredible. The 
lowed computation of the dimenfion of the Chinefe wall 
is, that it extends in length 1 200. miles,. is eighteen feet 
high at a medium, and as many thick; according to which 
computation, it muff: contain 9,504,000 folid fathoms ; 
and yet, if we may credit the Chinefe hiftorians, this im¬ 
menfe mafs of building was finifhed in five years. Jf 
therefore we can fuppofe Nebuchadnezzar, or whoever 
fortified the city of Babylon, to have been capable of em¬ 
ploying as many men for ten years as were employed in 
railing the Chinefe wall, we may fuppo « him able to have 
fortified the city of Babylon as ftrongly as it is faid to have 
been ; for the mafs of building is not quite double that of 
the Chinefe w all, tho’ nearly fo, amounting to 18,189,600 
folid fathoms. 
A great wall was built .by Sefoftris, to defend Egypt 
againll the Arabs ; and the railing of fuch walls was com¬ 
mon in early times to all civilized nations bounded by bar¬ 
barians. There were many in different parts of Afia 
ered'tcd againft the Tartars; and w e know of three built 
by the Romans in Britain, as a defence againft the Scots 
and Piets. According to the calculation of M. Pauw, 
were all the walls of this kind ftretched in a ftratght line, 
they would be found equal to the diameter of the earth. 
Obelifks and pyramids, the wonders of Egypt, are works 
totally unknown to the Chinefe, who had no conception of 
building for duration, except in the inftance of their great 
vyall. The fiat roofs of the temples and houfes of the 
Egyptians, derived, perhaps, from the primitive habit of 
abiding in caverns in the mountains of Ethiopia, make a 
flriking contrail with the airy and fantaftic architecture of 
the Chinefe. It Was probably the cuftora of dwelling and 
ftudying in thofe gloomy manfions, that gave birth to the 
Egyptian myfferies, and to the obfeure communications of 
their notions in religion and philofophy ; fo different from 
the Chinefe, as to preclude every idea of connection be¬ 
tween the two people, although the Chinefe monarchy is 
allowed to be one of the molt ancient upon the earth. 
It is fuppofed by. fome, that the trunk of the palm-tree 
was the. model of the Egyptian column ; the lateff and mod 
celebrated of which is thus deicribed by Savary : “ It is 
of red granite, the capital nine feet high, and nearly re- 
lernbling the Corinthian ; the fliaft and upper member of 
the bafe is of one piece, ninety fc-et long and nine in dia¬ 
meter; the whole column is i.r.4 feet high : the moll beau¬ 
tiful monument on the face of the earth.” The columns, 
however, which decorate and fupport their ancient religious 
buildings, are of a very different ftruclure, rudely formed, 
and covered with hieroglyphics, the remains of which are 
/fill to be. feen in the ruins of temples and fubterfaneous 
excavations throughout Egypt. From the perfpicucus 
pen of Mr. Orme, we derive many descriptions of fimilar 
works in India, coeval in point of antiquity, and fo alike 
in fly le and manner, as might induce us almofr to fancy 
vve w,ere travelling through diftant provinces of the fame 
empire. By this, and other flriking marks of refemblance, 
many writers have been led to conclude, that the Egyp¬ 
tians and Indians were originally one and the fame people. 
Mr. Bryant, however, (truck with the antiquity and mag¬ 
nitude of the immenfe buildings found throughout Hin- 
doflan, attributes the introduction of them to the Cuffiites 
or Babylonians, who from various accounts formed one of 
the earlieit diftinif nations in the world, arid in a manner 
extended their fovereignty over tire greateft part of Ana. 
The mod affooifhing of thefe works are the images and 
temple in the iff and of Elephanta ; the rocking-flones of 
immenfe weight, yet fo nicely balanced, that a man can 
move them with his hand ; the obfervatory at Benares, 
u(ed by the ancient Branrins for-aftronorr.ical and myftical 
purpofes; the magnificent pagodas or temples, with their 
choultres ; and the ftupendous ruins of other noble ftruc- 
tures, which have only in part withflood the ravages of 
war, and the mouldering hand of time. Thefe fabrics in 
genera! are of immemorial antiquity, and of fuch immenfe 
labour, that they are fuppofed by the p re font race of Br'a- 
mins, who prefide over them, to have been originally 
built by the divinities orgods to whom they are confecrated. 
T. he Indian pagoda is a temple of very eonliderable mag¬ 
nitude and elegance ; and one of the mod eonliderable now 
exifting, in Hindoftan, is fuppofed to be that of Seringham, 
a final! ifland on the coaft of Coromandel. This temple is 
compofed of feven fquare inclofurcs, one within the other, 
the walls of which are twenty-five feet high andfour thick. 
1 hefe inclofures are 350 feet diftant from one another, and 
each has four large gates, with a lofty tower; thefe are 
placed, one in the middleof each fide of the inclofure, and 
oppofite to the four cardinal points, in imitation of the py¬ 
ramids of Egypt; each tower is fuppofed to be an hifto- 
rical monument of the propitious interpofition and,attri¬ 
butes of fome god, fince the fourfides of them are thickly 
fculptured with reprefentations and hieroglyphjcal fym- 
bols of thefe divinities. The outward wall is near four 
miles in circumference, and its gateway to the fouth is or¬ 
namented with pillars, feveral of which are fingle ftones 
thirty-three feet long, and nearly five in diameter; and 
thofe which form the roof are Hill larger. In the inmoft 
inclofure are placed the chapels, where the rites and rnyf- 
teries of the Hindoo manner of worfhip are performed. 
Annexed to, or at a (mail diflance'from, thefe temples, 
choultries are generally eredled, as an appendage'to the 
pagoda; which fupply the place of inns, where travellers 
of every defeription are received without exception. Thefe 
buildings are ufuaily covered and inclofed on three Tides 
witli walls, but are open in front, where, inftead of a wall, 
the roof is fupported by pillars. A tank, for the further 
refrefhment of travellers and their cattle, is likewife dug 
near it; and, in regions where the convenience of inns is 
unknown, and where the wayfaring man would be in per¬ 
petual danger of perifhing through fatigue and want of 
fuftenance, thefe charitable foundations, though in a pagan 
country, manifeft no inconsiderable proof of the general 
benevolence of the people. And, though the Indians ap¬ 
pear to have loft all memory of the ages in-which thefe 
temples and choultries were firft inflitivted, they are ne- 
verthelefs fedulous to keep them in the higltefl repair, and 
to refpedl them with the utmoft veneration, throughout the 
whole extent of Hindoftan. To furnifh the reader with 
fome idea of the fuperftitious eflimation in which thefe 
temples are held, and of .the rigour of the religious difei- 
p'tine of the Hindoos, we need only mention, that an an¬ 
nual feaft is conftantly obferved in each, in memory of the 
god to whom it is. confecrated ; upon which occafion the 
worfhippers of-him are obliged to attend in the humble 
character of pilgrims, There is a feflival of this deferip¬ 
tion annually celebrated in the month of September, at 
the temple of Tripetti, about fiftv miles north-eaft of 
Arcot, at which the offerings made by the vaft concourfe 
of pilgrims who arrive from all parts to affift at it, amount 
to lo great a fum, that the Bramins, belide what they re- 
ferve to themfelves, pay the government an annual reve¬ 
nue of 60,000 pagodas, or 24,000!. fterling ! The revenue 
