quently at too great a height to allow me to measure them; but on referring to my notes, I find that Maundrell, who had been more successful than myself, had ascertained them "to extend sixty-one yards in length;-one twenty-one; the other two, each twenty yards. In deepness, they were four yards each, and in breadth of the same dimension, as far as the eye can judge." This accurate and truth-loving author, writing in an age when these ruins were little known (1697), and almost afraid to hazard an assertion, that was likely to startle the faith of his readers, thus preambles his relation of these wonderful monoliths, perhaps the largest that were ever sculptured by man. "Here is another curiosity in the place, which a man had need to be well assured of his credit, before he ventures to relate, lest he should be thought to strain the privilege of a traveller too far, etc." This would have been my feeling likewise, had not the confirmation given by successive travellers, of the correctness of the above estimate, rendered my testimony superfluous. The whole of this wall, which supports a terrace, is composed of blocks of very great size, but lying by the side of these monsters, their magnitude is overlooked.

The sun was fast sinking behind Lebanon,-for here hours flew like moments,-and the shadows of the mountain were gradually encroaching on the silent and desert plain, when a sort of consciousness of danger bade me either return into the enclosure, which is seldom visited by the natives, even by day, or retire to my quarters in the inhabited part of the town. I adopted the former course, the more so, as at that very moment a beautiful moon, so favourable to the contemplation of works of art, was just appearing over the hills to the eastward, and promised to assist me in the project. I was not disappointed. As I entered the grand court, in which are contained the principal ruins, a general silence prevailed throughout; even the shepherd's pipe, which but a few minutes before had caught my ear in the plain, had now ceased to be heard. But it was the silence of death, and of widowed greatness; for here, man once dwelt-here, space, material, and art, were all made subservient to his views of grandeur and magnificence. From hence I directed my steps to the more perfect temple, standing in the area below; but the masses of prostrate columns, and chiselled marbles, which obstructed its entrance, seemed