5 %

OF GROINED RIBBED VAULTS.

swer has not yet been given. Lintels may be hollowedout into any shape, and the stones which project overone another, like steps, and covering a room, may bealso cut into any shape. The stone covering overthe Temple of Mylasa could not have been cut outinto the form of a pointed arch ; but might havebeen cut into an extremely flat ellipse or scheme arch.The whims and caprices of masons are not to be at-tended to. The vault of the Salon en forma detribunal of the Patio de los Leones of the Alhambra ,at Granada , is of the early construction by invertedoffsets, and is hollowed out into fantastical shapeswhich could have suggested themselves only to themind of an Arab architect. Sir Christopher Wren says, that the pointed arch was derived from theSaracens ; we must not apply to Granada or Cordoba -for confirmation, although we may see there the tre-foil and einqfoil arch.

Mr. Gell, in his Itinerary of Greece , 1810, says,4t Between Krabata and the Acropolis of Mycenae , isthe Treasury of Atreus: the apartment itself consistsof a circular dome, in shape like a bee-hive, 4<7 feet6 inches in diameter, and about 50 in height. [Tiehas given a section of it.3 This dome is not com-posed of stones, which form part of the radii of acircle, as in an arch, but is constructed with horizon-tal courses, the inside of each stone being curved insuch a manner, that the whole has the appearance ofa regular vault. Though a stone is now wantingnear the top, the roof seems to be in no danger offalling. Vaults of this construction are to be foundamong the ruins of the ancient cities of Sicily .About three miles from Noto, in the districts of Fal-conara, is a peninsula covered with ruins of the an-