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height of it is nine feet six inches. It is supposed to represent Amunoph III., or Memnon, a sovereign of Egypt, 1430 B. C. Considering the early period at which it was executed, it is not without merit as a work of art. In the British Museum may also be seen a colossal Egyptian head which was found at Karnak. It is of red granite polished to a degree of smoothness, and is perfect, except the left ear and part of the chin, which are broken off. It is surmounted by a sort of miter, and the entire height of head and miter is ten feet. There is also a colossal arm, which, doubtless, originally belonged to this figure; and judging from the appearance of the arm we may conclude they formed part of a standing statue of the height of twenty-six feet. In front of the cap appears the serpent,-the Egyptian emblem of royalty.

But all these colossi are dwarfs compared with the great sphinx at Jizeh. By Pliny we are told: "The sphinx is in front of the Pyramids—an object more wonderful than they-and a kind of rural deity to the neighboring people. They think King Amasis was buried in it, and that it was conveyed to the spot; but it is made of the natural rock, and polished smooth." The size from the chin to the top of the head is said to be twenty-eight feet, and the body is above one hundred feet long. This figure, which for ages has been buried in the sand, was by Caviglia, after great labor, laid bare to the foundation. The paws, which are about fifty feet long, are constructed of masonry, but the rest of the body is cut out of the rock. On the stone pavement, in front of the sphinx, and between his paws, there was found a block of granite fourteen feet high, seven

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broad, and two thick: the face of which is adorned with sculptures in bass-relief, and long inscriptions well executed.

In the British Museum there is a colossal statue, the head of which is gone. This figure was formerly placed upon the summit of a monument situate on the south side of the Acropolis of Athens. This edifice, known as the Choragic Monument of Thrasyllus, was constructed 320 B. C.; and, by an inscription remaining on it, we learn that it was raised by Thrasyllus to perpetuate the memory of a victory obtained by his tribe at the festival of Bacchus, while Thrasyllus was leader of the chorus. The figure is, by artists and connoisseurs, decided to represent Bacchus, the god of joy.

In the British Museum may also be seen a colossal head, which probably belonged to a copy of the famous statue of Hercules, by Glycon, which was found in the baths of Caracala at Rome. The head is of the finest class of Greek sculpture, and was dug up at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, where it had been buried by the lava; it was obtained by Sir W. Hamilton, and by him was presented to the Museum. The bust measures two feet six inches in height.

In the interior of the Island of Java there are remains of very large temples, with marble statues of their gods eight feet high. At Chandisevu are most splendid remains of a temple, the entrance to which is guarded by eighteen gigantic watchmen.

The great statue at Sumnat in Hindoostan, twentysix feet high, was made of marble, inlaid with gold and precious stones, as were also the fifty-six monstrous pillars of the hall in which it stood.

Among the Greeks colossal statues were not uncommon. Pausanias mentions several that were thirty feet high. The people of Elis set up a bronze statue of Jupiter, twenty-seven feet high, in the sacred grove near Olympia. The colossus which Nebuchadnezzar set up in the plains of Dura was "an image of gold, [probably gilt,] whose height was three-score cubits." And the colossal statue of Belus, which Herodotus mentions as having once existed at Babylon, was of solid gold, and twelve cubits high.

Among the colossal statues of modern times, we may notice the very remarkable and spirited group of Peter the Great at St. Petersburgh, by Falconet, a French sculptor. The emperor is on horseback, his steed is in the act of charging, and is on his hind legs; the figure of the emperor is over eleven feet in height, that of the horse is seventeen feet. The group is in bronze, and was cast at a single jet; the weight of it is thirty-six thousand six hundred and thirty-six pounds. It stands upon a rock of granite, weighing fifteen hundred tons, which was conveyed a distance of four miles.

Within the last two years the world has seen, in the production of Schwanthaler's colossal statue of Bavaria, a specimen of contribution of our own day to gigantic form. This stupendous work of art-awful in its Titanic proportions, and its calm majestic beauty-the result of ten years' constant anxietystands on a broad meadow to the west of Munich, a portion of the great plain that stretches away to the feet of the Alps. It rests on the edge of what appears at first to be an artificial terrace,—but it is in fact a huge step, where the plain suddenly de

scends into that lower plain on which stands the city of Munich. The figure of this colossal virgin of the German world—with her majestic lion by her side-is fifty-four feet high, and is placed on a granite pedestal, thirty feet in height; so that the beautiful Doric temple of the Ruhmeshalle, or Hall of Fame, of white marble,-before which the statue is placed, seems dwarfed into insignificance.

At the end of the long walk in Windsor Park, there is placed on the top of a hill an artificial group of massy stone, so placed as to represent a rock,-a colossal equestrian statue of George the Third, by Wyatt: the horse and rider are twenty-six feet in height; the total elevation, including the rock, is fifty feet. The approach from the castle is through a vista of lofty trees, so that the spectator does not realize the colossal dimensions of the statue till he close unto it.

With the conclusion of his labors, the compiler of this volume congratulates his readers on the improved spirit of an age in which the constant developments of human progress compare with the seven wonders of ancient times as does reality with fancy; as does a substantial utility with showy ornament.

Indeed, the present age, at least in enlightened countries, rises above the past as does a heaveninspired Christianity above a groveling heathenism, -so that now, instead of honoring the pagan custom of heaping up huge piles to incumber the earth, we only accord our admiration to achievements which benefit our race and confer real blessings on mankind.

The age

of pyramids and colossal statues is past;

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but now we have steamboats, railroads, and the magnetic telegraph. Instead of wondering now at a single watch-tower, with fires fitfully burning on its top, we may find the coasts of all oceans nightly illuminated with light-houses, scientifically constructed, and made to reflect their rays upon the sea for the benefit of passing and approaching mariners.

What is still better, instead of a blind and degrading idolatry to paralyze the moral feelings of men and nations, the best capacities of our natures are now cultivated and developed by those enterprises of benevolence which seek to enlighten and bless the world by diffusing everywhere abroad the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind.

THE END.

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