ts are of
opinion that church towers and steeples are mere survivals of the old
Egyptian obelisks, which furnished the original conception. The tower
corresponded to the shaft of the obelisk, and the steeple to the sharp
pyramidal part in which the summit of the obelisk terminated. And
though there is usually only one spire or tower now in connection with
our churches, there used to be two, as many old examples still extant
testify, one standing on each side of the principal entrance after the
manner of the Egyptian obelisks. The slender round towers of Brechin
and Abernethy, and of Devenish and other places in Ireland, capped by
a conical stone roof terminating in a single stone, which were for a
long time a puzzle to the antiquary, are now ascertained to be simply
steeples connected with Christian churches of the tenth and eleventh
centuries. And just as these towers are now left isolated and solitary
without a trace of the buildings with which they were associated, so
the Egyptian temples have passed away, and the obelisks are left alone
in the desert. But we can reconstruct in imagination the massive and
lofty buildings in front of which they stood, and where they showed to
the greatest advantage. Instead of being dwarfed by the enormous
masses of the propylons, their height gained by the near comparison.
The obelisks in our squares and vast open spaces have their effect
destroyed by the buildings being at a distance from them. There is no
scale near at hand to assist the eye in estimating the height;
consequently they seem much smaller than they really are. But when
seen in the narrow precincts of a temple court, from whose floor they
shot up into the blue sky overhead, surrounded by great columns and
lofty gates, breaking the monotony of the heavy masses of masonry of
which the Egyptian temples were composed, and acting the part which
campanili and spires perform in modern churches, a standard of
comparison was thus furnished which greatly enhanced their magnitude.

Nothing could be grander than the objects associated with the obelisks
where they stood. The temple was approached by an avenue of huge
sphinxes, in some cases a mile and a half long. Drawing nearer, the
worshipper saw two lofty obelisks towering up a hundred feet in
height, on the right and left. Behind these he would observe with awe
four or six gigantic statues seated with their hands on their knees.
And at the back of the statues he would gaze with