ws of which do not extend beyond the space of their
construction. But who can any longer consider these as wonders, after
having seen so many in Rome? Those were famous because they preceded us;
it is natural that the new productions of the then barbarous ages should
be renowned. It may truly be said that all Rome is wonderful. We have
therefore selected a man clever in the arts, who, in seeing so many
ingenious things of antiquity, instead of remaining merely enchanted
with them, has set himself to work to investigate the reason, study
their books, and instruct himself, that he may become as learned as
those in the place of whom he is to consider himself appointed."

Milizia says of Theodoric, "Is this the language of a Gothic barbarian,
the destroyer of good taste? Pericles, Alexander, Adrian, or one of the
Medici could not have reasoned better." And again, "Can these Goths be
the inventors of that architecture vulgarly called Gothic? and are these
the barbarians said to have been the destroyers of the beautiful
monuments of antiquity? Ecclesiastical history gives to the good
Christians and the jealous ecclesiastics the honor of having dismantled
temples, and disfigured statues in Italy, Greece, Asia, and Egypt. * * *
It is clear that the Goths were not the authors of that architecture
called Gothic. The Goths and barbarians who overran Italy had not any
characteristic architecture, good or bad. They brought with them neither
architects, painters, nor poets. They were all soldiers, and when fixed
in Italy employed Italian artists; but as in that country, good taste
was much on the decline, it now became more debased, notwithstanding the
efforts made by the Goths to revive it."

ARCHIMEDES.

This wonderful genius was of royal descent, and born at Syracuse about
B.C. 287. He was a relative of king Hiero, who held him in the highest
esteem and favor, though he does not appear to have held any public
office, preferring to devote himself entirely to science. Such was his
enthusiasm, that he appears at times to have been so completely absorbed
in contemplation and calculations, as to be totally unconscious of what
was passing around him. We cannot fully estimate his services to
mathematics, for want of an acquaintance with the previous state of
science; still we know that he enriched it with discoveries of the
highest importance, upon which the moderns have founded their
admeasurements of curvilinear surfaces an