e gods.
On the walls of others were portrayed the winged priests, or presiding
divinities, standing before the sacred trees.

"The ceilings above him were divided into square compartments, painted
with flowers, or with the figures of animals. Some were inlaid with
ivory, each compartment being surrounded by elegant borders and
mouldings. The beams as well as the sides of the chambers, may have been
gilded, or even plated, with gold and silver; and the rarest woods, in
which the cedar was conspicuous, were used for the wood work. Square
openings in the ceilings of the chambers admitted the light of day. A
pleasing shadow was thrown over the sculptured walls, and gave a
majestic expression to the human features of the colossal figures which
guarded the entrances. Through these apertures was seen the bright blue
of an eastern sky, enclosed in a frame on which were painted, in varied
colors, the winged circle, in the midst of elegant ornaments, and the
graceful forms of ideal animals.

"These edifices, as it has been shown, were great national monuments,
upon the walls of which were represented in sculpture, or inscribed in
alphabetic characters, the chronicles of the empire. He who entered them
might thus read the history, and learn the glory and triumphs of the
nation. They served at the same time to bring continually to the
remembrance of those who assembled within them on festive occasions, or
for the celebration of religious ceremonies, the deeds of their
ancestors, and the power and majesty of their gods."--_Layard's Nineveh
and its Remains_, vol. II. p 262.

ORIGIN AND ANTIQUITY OF THE ARCH.

The origin of the Arch is very uncertain. It was unknown to the
Egyptians, for their chambers were roofed with long flat stones, and
sometimes the upper layers of stones form projections, so as to diminish
the roof surface. It is also supposed that it was unknown to the
Greeks, when they constructed their most beautiful temples, in the 5th,
4th, and 3d centuries B. C., as no structure answering to the true
character of the Arch has been found in any of these works. Minutoli has
given specimens of arches at Thebes; circular, and formed of four
courses of bricks, and it is maintained that these belonged to a very
ancient period, long before the Greek occupancy of that country. The
Macedonians were a civilized people long before the rest of the Greeks,
and were, in fact, their instructors; but the Greeks afterwards so far
ex