unite to record the celebrity of the temple of the great Diana of the Ephesians; that temple, whose majestic pillars, and massy marble walls the thunder of Paul's eloquence shook to their deep foundations, and made the hireling fabricators of her silver shrines tremble lest her magnificence should be destroyed; the magnificence of that goddess whom all Asia and the world worshipped.*

Of the temple of Olympian Jove, as well as of all the more famous Greek temples, Pausanias, in that description of Greece which his travels through the country enabled him to give with such accuracy, has bequeathed posterity a most curious, interesting, and particular account. This temple, reputed likewise one of the wonders of the world, according to the system adopted by the ancients, and intimated before, of erecting the building in a style corresponding with the qualities, sex, and function, of the deity, was of the Doric order, an order the most ancient and strong of all the three, and of that peculiar fashion called peristyle, from περί, circum, and σTUλos a column, in which the edifice was surrounded with only a single row of columns. It was of dimensions greatly inferior to the former, being only, according to this author, 68 feet in

* Acts xix. 27.

height, 95 in breadth, and 230 in length; but within its proud walls were displayed the sculptures of Phidias, and the paintings of Pananus. From each extremity of the marble roof was suspended a large vase richly gilded and burnished; and from the centre of that roof, hung a gilded statue of Victory, and a shield of beaten gold, on which was engraved a Medusa's head, with an inscription, intimating that the temple was erected to Jupiter after a victory. Along the cornish, above the columns that surrounded the temple, hung twenty-one gilt bucklers, consecrated to Jupiter by Mummius, after the sacking of Corinth. Upon the pediment, in the front, was a colossal Jupiter, and on each side of the god were sculptured, with exquisite skill, exact and animated representations of the chariot-races in the Olympic games, with various other symbolical figures, allusive to the Greek mythology. The entrance into the temple was through gates of brass, where two ranges of columns, supporting, on each side, two lofty galleries, led to the throne and statue of Jupiter, the master-piece of Phidias. Nothing in ancient or modern times, if we except the famous peacock throne of India, could equal this beautiful and splendid pageant. Inimitable for its workmanship, this superb piece of statuary was

entirely composed of gold and ivory, artificially blended, and represented the KING OF GODS AND MEN, with a splendid crown upon his head, in which the victorious olive was imitated to perfection, sitting upon a throne, whence a profusion of gold and gems shed a dazzling radiance, and where ivory and ebony, intermixed, united to form a striking and elegant contrast. In his right hand Jupiter held a Victory composed likewise of gold and ivory; his left hand grasped a sceptre, most curiously wrought, and refulgent with all kinds of precious metals, on the top of which reposed an eagle, bearing, in his talons, the thunder-bolt of the omnipotent. The shoes and rich pallium, or mantle, of the god were of burnished gold; and, in the flowing folds of the latter, a variety of animals and flowers were richly engraved. At the four extremities of the throne were as many Victories, who were sculptured in the attitude of dancing, and each of their feet trod upon a prostrate Victory. The throne was erected upon pillars of gold, upon which, and the gorgeous pedestal, were carved all the greater divinities of Greece; and particularly Apollo, guiding the fiery chariot of day, on which Phidias had exerted the utmost powers of his wonderful art; while Panænus, in a rich assemblage of the liveliest colours, to heighten

the effect of the most glowing imagery, had displayed all the energy of the painter's genius. A rich canopy expanding above the head of Jupiter, and over his magnificent throne, was adorned by the hand of the former with representations of the HOURS and the GRACES: and on the great ballustrade that encircled the base of the whole, and guarded it from the too near approach of the numerous strangers who came to admire and adore at this sumptuous shrine, the pencil of the latter was visible in two picturesque and noble portraits, which strikingly attracted the notice of the beholder. The one, was that of Atlas, bearing on his shoulders the incumbent heavens; the other, that of Hercules, in the attitude of stooping to relieve him of the oppressive burthen. The labours of Hercules were likewise painted in a masterly manner upon the walls and roof of this temple, and those labours, as I shall hereafter demonstrate, being only allegorical histories of the progressive power of the SUN, toiling through the several signs of the zodiac, are a proof how much the Greeks also, as well as the Indians and Egyptians, were accustomed to decorate their temples with astronomical symbols.

I have been thus prolix in my account of the internal decorations of this grand temple, for

the purpose of proving in what particular line of excellence the Grecians shone superior to those nations; and that, if they did not always rival them in the grandeur of their designs, they never failed to exceed them in the elegance of execution. The two instances last cited, however, bear sufficient testimony that the Greeks upon some occasions could plan as magnificently as they could finish with taste and spirit; and the union of these is the perfection of the science.

Of the temple of Apollo, at Delphi, of which no particular description has reached posterity, it is sufficient for my purpose to remark that it was originally nothing but a cavern, from. which, certain bland exhalations rising, were supposed to inspire those who approached it with a certain vivacity of spirits or enthusiastic ardour. This circumstance, in time, procured it the reputation of something divine; the inhabitants of all the neighbouring countries flocked thither to witness, or experience, the pretended miracle; and an oracular chapel was erected on the spot, which, according to Pausanias, in Phocicis, at first consisted of a but formed of laurel-boughs, but which, in time, gave place to a temple the most famed for its riches and offerings, though not for magnitude, of any