Chai'.

II.
JEWISH. INDIAN. 25
clierubinis and palm trees, gilt. In tlie sanctuary two iigiires of clierubs were placed,
whose
wings touched each other in the centre, and extended outwards to the walls. TliesR
were 10 cubits high. In the front of the portico were two ])illars of brass, which were cast
by Hiram,
"
a widow's son of the tribe of Naiihtali," whose
"
father was a nian
of
Tyre"
and who
"
came to king Solomon and wrought all his work." 'I'hese two jjillars of
^
?
brass (1
Ktiii/s, vii. 14, 15.) were each IS cubits higii, and their circumference was
I'i cubits; hence their diameter was .S-82 cubits. The chapiters, or cajiitals, were
5 cubits high
;
and one of them was decorated with lilies upon a net-work ground,
and the other with pomegranates. From the representation
(^fi().
34.) here given,
tiie reader must be struck with their resemblance to the columns of Egypt with
their lotus leaves, and sometimes net-work. In short, the whole description would
almost as well ap))ly to a temple of Egyjit as to one at Jerusalem. And this tends,
though slightly it is true, to siiow that the Phanician workmen who were em])loyed
on the temple worked in the same style as those of Egypt.
.5:5. The house of the forest of Lebanon was larger than tlie temple, having been 100
cubits in length, by 50 in breadth
;
it also had a jiortico, and from the description seems to
have been similar in style.
54.
riuutiicidn Architt'clure.
That part of the great nation of Asia which settleil on the
coasts of
Palestine, called in scripture Canaanites, or merchants, were afterwar(is by the
Greeks called Phoenicians. Sidon was originally their cajiital, and Tyre, which after-
wards became greater than the parent itself, was at first only a colony. From what we
have said in a previous section on the walls of Mycene, it may be fairly presumed that their
architecture ])artook of the Cyclopean style ; but that it was much more highly decorated
is extremely probable from the wealth of a people whose merchants were princes, and whose
traffickers were the honourable of the earth. Besides the verses of Euripides, which ])oint
to the style of Phdenician architecture, we have the authority of Eucian for asserting tiiat
it was I'-gyptian in character. Unfortunately all is surmise
;
no moninnents of Phanician
iircliitectiue exist, and we therefore think it useless to dwell longer on the subject.
Sect. VI.
INDIAN ARCHITECTLIRE.
55. Whence the countries of India derived their architecture is a question that has occupied
abler pens than that which we wield, and a long period has not passed away since the im-
pression on our own mind was, that the monuments of India were not so old as those of
I'/gvpt. Upon maturer reflection, we are not sure that impression was false
;
but if the arts of
a country do not change, if the manners and habits of the people have not varied, the adinis-
sion of the want of high antiquity of the monuments actually in existence
will not settle the point. The capitals and columns about I'ersejjolis have
a remarkable similarity to some of the Hindoo exanqiles, and seem to
indicate a common origin
;
indeed, it is our o])inion, and one which we
have not adojjted without considerable hesitation, that though the existing
buildings of India be comparatively modern, they are in a style older than
that of the time of their erection. Sir William Jones, whose opinion seems
to have been that the Indian temples and edifices are not of the highest
anticjuity, says (3rd Discoiuse),
"
that they prove an early connection be-
tween India and Africa. The pyramids of Egy])t, the colossal statues de-
scribed by Pausanias and others, the Sphinx and the Hermes Canis (which
last bears a great resemblance to the Varahavatar, or the incarnation of
Vishnu in the form of a boar), indicate the style and mythology of the
same indefatigable workmen who formed the vast excavations of Canarah,
the various temjjles and images of Buddha, and the idols which are con-
tinually dug u]) at Gaya or in its vicinity. The letters on many of these
momnnents appear, as I have before intimated, partly of Indian and partly
of Abyssi.iian or Ethiopic origin
;
and all these indubitable facts may in-
duce no ill-grounded opinion that Ethiopia and Hindustan were peopled
FiKSO. A COLUMN Of
or colonised by the same extraordinary race." In a previous page
{Jig. 27.),
jiiK iMiRA suiiBA.
thc rcadcr wlll find a Persepolitan column and capital; we place before
him, in
fig. 35., an example from the Indra Subba which much resembles it in detail, and
nt the Nerta Chabei at Chillambaram are very similar examjiles. Between the styles of
Peisepolis and Egypt a resemblance will be hereafter traced, and to such an extent, that
there seems no reasonable doubt of a common origin. The monuments of India may
be divided into two classes, the excavated and coiiktructed ; the former being that wherein a
building has been hollowed, or, as it were, qiuirried out of the rock; the latter, that built
of separate and ditllrent sorts of materials, upon a regidar plan, as may be seen in those
buildings improperly called pagodas, which ornament the enclosmes t)f the sacred edifices, of