4 c 2

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF VAULTS.

and the buildings in Egypt are in the lowest in respectto the science. The Pantheon and the Temple ofPeace take a middle station. We admit the domeof St. Sophia, enthusiastically termed “ the earthlyheaven, the second firmament, the offspring of thecelestial inspirations of Justinian , worthy the gloryof his reign, and the salvation of his soulbut inthe enumeration of the marbles, the Carystian, thePhrygian, the Carian and Lydian, the porphyries andjaspers of Paul Silentiarius , we can discern the richvariegated picture congenial to the eyes of a Chris-tian of the sixth and a Mussulman of the fifteenthcentury. * If we proceed in the examination ofarchitecture to the twelfth and succeeding centuries,until the perfection of the science in the erection ofarches in the time of Henry VI. , we are still led toconclude, that as it advanced in science it declinedin art.

* It is manifest, that the Temple to Divine Wisdom served toMilton as a model for his Hall of all the Demons.

“ From the arched roof,

Pendent by subtle magic, many a rowOf starry lamps and blazing cressets, fedWith naptha and asphaltus, yielded lightAs from a sky,” &c.

The ages in which Justinian and Milton lived become an apologyfor an omission, which would have been unpardonable in Ovid .He could not complete the Temple of the Sun without adding

“ Materiem superabat opus; nam Mulcib'er illic

TEquora caslaret,” &c.

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Or, perhaps, as Milton thought fit to employ the same architectas Ovid , he judiciously omitted in the prior building, what in thesubsequent would shew the architect’s improvement.

Homer ’s description of the Palace of Alcinous shews a civiliza-tion surpassing either that to be derived from the buildings of Jus­ tinian or Milton. Odyss. Book VII.