4. The only way to get any idea of the age of these ruins, is by comparison with the remains of other cities, of whose age we have some knowledge. Measuring their age by such a scale, the mind is startled at their probable antiquity. The Pyramids and Temples of Yucatan seem to have been old in the days of Pharaoh. Before the eye of imagination,

"Their lonely columns stand sublime,

Flinging their shadows from on high,
Like dials which the wizard Time

Had raised to count his ages by."

5. It will be remembered that there are walls now standing there, fifteen feet thick or more, built with an art and strength which defy both competition and decay; that there is one pyramid upward of a hundred feet in hight, with a building upon its summit, which supports trees, planted in a soil, deposited from the atmosphere for the last thousands of years.

6. Compare these ruins, in their present. condition, with the CLOACA MAXIMA of Rome. More than twenty-five hundred years have elapsed since this work was constructed to drain off the waters of the Forum and the adjacent hollows of the Tiber, and there it stands to this day without a stone displaced, still performing its destined service. How many years before it will present the ruinous aspect of the TEMPLE of Chi-Chen? Evidently the city of Chi Chen was an antiquity when the foundations of the Parthenon at Athens, and the Cloaca Maxima at Rome, were being laid.

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7. Compare with the ruins of Central America the conspicuous remains of Balbec,* of Antioch,' of Carthage, of Thebes, and of Memphis, their pyramids, their labyrinths, their obelisks, and sepulchers. Who shall say that while the servile workmen of Cheops were sacrificing the lives of countless multitudes of men, to prove that the gods alone were not immortal, and to rear for themselves imperishable burial-places, that, at the same time, on another continent, thousands of miles from the Egyptian house of bondage, a people of a different race, unknowing and unknown to history, were not laying the + See Note 1, page 98.

* See page 98, Note 3.

foundations of cities, of palaces, and of temples, less stupen dous, perhaps, but no less a wonder and a mystery to succeeding nations?

8. It is not for any man now to place a limit to the age of the American ruins. They belong to the remotest antiquity. Their age is not to be measured by hundreds, but by thousands of years.

LESSON CLVII.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.-1. BU SI' RIS was a king of Egypt, who sacrificed all foreigners to Jupiter with the greatest cruelty. Many Egyptian princes have borne the same name.

REFLECTIONS FROM THE SUMMIT OF AN EGYPTIAN

PYRAMID.

1. THRONED on the sepulcher of mighty kings,
Whose dust in solemn silence sleeps below,
Till that great day, when sublunary things
Shall pass away, e'en as the April bow
Fades from the gazer's eye, and leaves no trace
Of its bright colors, or its former place ;—

2. I gaze in sadness o'er the scenery wild,

On scattered groups of palms, and seas of sand,—
On the wide desert, and the desert's child,—

On ruins made by Time's destructive hand,
On temples, towers, and columns now laid low,-
A land of crime, of tyranny, and woe.

3. O Egypt! Egypt! how art thou debased!—
A Moslem slave upon Busiris" throne!
And all thy splendid monuments defaced!
Long, long beneath his iron rod shall groan
Thy hapless children; thou hast had thy day,
And all thy glories now have passed away.

4. O could thy princely dead rise from their graves,
And view with me the changes Time has wrought,

A land of ruins, and a race of slaves,

Where wisdom flourished, and where sages taught,

A scene of desolation, mental night !—

How would they shrink with horror from the sight!

5. Ancient of days! nurse of fair science, arts!
All that refines and elevates mankind!
Where are thy palaces, and where thy marts,
Thy glorious cities, and thy men of mind?
Forever gone!--the very names they bore,
The sites they occupied, are now no more.

6. But why lament, since such must ever be

The fate of human greatness, human pride?
E'en those who mourn the loudest over thee,

Are drifting headlong down the rapid tide
That sweeps, resistless, to the yawning grave,
All that is great and good, or wise and brave.
7. E'en thou, proud fabric! whence I now survey
Scenes so afflicting to the feeling heart,
Despite thy giant strength, must sink the prey
Of hoary age, and all thy fame depart;
In vain thy head, aspiring, scales the sky,—
Prostrate in dust that lofty head must lie.

8. The soul alone,-the precious boon of Heaven,-
Can fearless brave of time and fate the rage,
When to thy deep foundations thou art riven;
Yea, Egypt! blotted from th' historic page,
She shall survive, shall ever, ever bloom,
In radiant youth, triumphant o'er the tomb.

LESSON CLVIII.

SUPERIORITY OF THE WORKS OF NATURE OVER THOSE OF ART.

1. To a mind which delights in the exercise of its reflective powers, the works of nature have ever presented the most

satisfying and delectable sources of investigation. Wherever we turn our eyes, some object of admiration presents itself,into whatever recess we penetrate, our attention is arrested by the charms of some natural curiosity; and the more extensively we examine, and the deeper we search, the richer will be the banquet spread out before us.

2. A more delicious feast can not be presented to the curious and contemplative mind, than to roam amidst all the luxuri ances of nature, and to view her sporting in a thousand blooming and fascinating charms, or sublimely moving amidst the stupendous and wonderful works of the universe. Above and around us, in the illimitable regions of space, roll millions of orbs which afford to us the blessing of light, and which display the sublimer glories of nature.

3. Scattered over the diversified surface of the earth, for various, useful, and important purposes, the innumerable tribes of animal and vegetable nature, exhibit amazing skill and contrivance, the depths of the ocean, and the regions of the air, -all unite to set forth the glorious and inimitable perfections of the works of nature, while all conspire, by the regular and harmonious performance of their respective functions, to send up a grateful song of praise to their wise and beneficent Author.

4. That the works of art assume to themselves the extensive and well-earned meed of approbation, will not be denied, -that they may well be held up to the observation of the wise and good, and that they should be generally patronized, as conducive to the comfort and pleasure of life, will be readily conceded. But that they fall infinitely short of the nice and inimitable perfection, the well-regulated utility, and the positive beauty, which characterize those of nature, is a fact which few can venture to disclaim, without sacrificing truth and judgment at the shrine of ignorance and impiety.

5. The works of nature are superior to those of art in their originality. They are all the sole productions of an All-wise Author, and all bear internal evidences of originality;-for, as they were called into being from nothing, they could not be

copied from any thing antecedently existing. To suppose that they were imitated from any models, except such as were in the mind of the great Original, is to entertain questionable and irreverent notions of his Omniscience. But with regard to the works of art, they are only copies from the master-pieces of nature, and few will deny, that many of the most splendid and elaborate works of art, became so, simply from their unequaled models.

6. Scarcely a performance is executed by man, which does not glory in being a transcript from nature. It is to her hidden sources that men look for the most brilliant trophies of their talent and research,-it is with delight they hail her appearance, upon which they may display their genius; and with no less ardor than pleasure, do they avail themselves of whatever she may present to their notice. Truly, "the works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein !"

7. The works of nature are superior to those of art in their workmanship and perfection. Examine any of the former with the most scrutinizing eye, and it will be found to be framed with the nicest skill and proportion,--every part exactly corresponds and harmonizes with one another,—all perform the respective parts assigned them by Eternal Wisdom, without the least deviations. There is not a single object in nature, that may not court the strictest investigation as it regards its perfection; and though many objects far exceed others in wonder and beauty, yet each, in itself, lays open an interesting view of consummate skill,-a pleasing exhibition of divine goodness.

8. The tints which adorn the petals of a flower, and the delicate wings and body of an insect, bear well the test of examination; and the finest and most delicate specimens of the pencil, in comparison with such, appear coarse and imperfect. The color, the frame, the texture, the diversity of covering for the brute creation, and the nice adaptation to their natures, are so exquisite as to outvie every attempt of art to rival them, -even the beautiful verdure which clothes our fields and

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