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suth came into intimate relations with the comitats, and acquired skill in public affairs. He was soon himself made a member, and from the first was distinguished in the Diet as a speaker. Here he felt, and soon pointed out to his colleagues, how idle and powerless were their debates unless these were known to the public in some more efficient manner than by the private correspondence of the deputies. Influenced by his representations, the chief members of the Diet resolved to establish a journal for the publication of their discussions; and Kossuth was selected as one of those who were to preside over it; but the Archduke Palatine objected, of course, because the object was to curtail the reports and garble them. Kossuth, however, was enabled by the more liberal of his colleagues to publish the reports on his own account. He then extended the journal by the insertion of leading articles; and his counsels and criticisms on the instructions of the comitats to the deputies, so stirred the bile and counteracted the views of the Austrian authorities, that they interfered and suspended his newspaper by seizing his presses. But even this did not stop his pen, nor those of his many amanuenses; until, at last, Metternich,

exasperated by his obstinacy, caused him to be seized and condemned to three years' imprisonment in the citadel of Ofen. He was liberated in 1837; and during the years that elapsed between that epoch and 1848 the history of Hungary was that of Kossuth, who, amidst the many men of noble birth, wealth, high character, and singular talents, who surrounded him, still held his ground, and shone pre-eminent. In 1847 he was the acknowledged leader of the constitutional party, and member for the Hungarian capital. It is unnecessary to pursue this narrative. The events of 1848 and 1849 have passed too recently and vividly before us to need relation. The part that Kossuth played in those years was but the logical consequence of his previous life. The struggle was for the rights of Hungary, in all circumstances and against all foes. For these he fought along with the Hungarian aristocracy, as long as they had the courage to resist Austria; and when they wavered, he went on without them, appealing to the comitats and to the smaller landed proprietors in the absence of the greater, and to the squires instead of the nobles.

The result thus far we all know. The final result perhaps we in America are to decide.

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THE WIFE AND CHILDREN OF KOSSUTH-FROM A RECENT DAGUERREOTYPE.

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EVERY

J.W.ORR NY

THE ACROPOLIS.

THE ANCIENT MONUMENTS OF GREECE. | tively short a period the chief injuries have VERY one can understand the regret with which we behold the remains of ancient grandeur, and the capitals of buried empires. This feeling, so profound in Jerusalem and Rome, is even more so in Athens,

"the eye of Greece, mother of arts And eloquence, native to famous wits, Or hospitable-"

been inflicted on such buildings as the Parthenon, and the temple of Jupiter Olympus, and to remember how recent is the greater part of the rubbish by which these edifices have been choked up, mutilated, and concealed. Probably until within a very few centuries, time had been, simply and alone, the "beautifier of the dead," "adorner of the a city never so large as New-York, but whose ruin," and, but for the vandalism of a few inhabitants produced within the short space barbarians, we might have gazed on the reof two centuries, reckoning from the battle of mains of former greatness without an emoMarathon, as Landor says, a larger number tion except of admiration for the genius by of exquisite models, in war, philosophy, patri- which they were created. The salient feaotism, oratory and poetry-in the semi-me- ture (probably the only one) in the present chanical arts which accompany or follow them, rule at Athens is one which affords the highsculpture and painting-and in the first of est satisfaction to those interested in this subthe mechanical, architecture, than the re-ject. Slowly, indeed, and with an absence mainder of Europe in six thousand years. of all energy, is going on the restoration of The monuments of antiquity which still exist in Athens have been described by Chandler, Clarke, Gell, Stuart, Dodwell, Leake, and other travellers, the most recent and competent of whom perhaps is Mr. Henry Cook, of London, author of Illustrations of a Tour in the Ionian Islands, Greece, and Constantinople, who has just made, or rather is now making for the Art-Journal a series of drawings of those which are most important, representing them in their present condition. These drawings by Mr. Cook, so far as they have appeared, we reproduce in the International, making liberal use at the same time of his descriptions.

Until the sacrilegious hand of the late Lord Elgin despoiled Athens of "what Goth, and Turk, and Time had spared," the world could still see enough to render possible a just impression of her old and chaste magnificence. It is painful to reflect within how compara

some, the disinterment of others, and the conservation of all the existing monuments; and time will probably ere long give us back, so far as is possible, all that the vandalism or recklessness of modern ages has obscured or destroyed. On the Acropolis the results of these efforts at restoration are chiefly visible; day by day the debris of ruined fortifications, of Turkish batteries, mosques, and magazines, are disappearing; every thing which is not Pentelic marble finds its way over the steep sides of the fortress, and in due time nothing will be left but the scattered fragments which really belonged to the ancient temples. "The above sketch," says Mr. Cook, represents faithfully the present condition of this most sublime creation. The details of the partial destruction of this old fortress-founded 1556 years before the advent of the Saviour-under the fire of the Venetians, commanded by Morosini, are so well known, that I have

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thought it unnecessary to repeat them; but it is impossible to recall them without a shudder, as the reflection is forced on one, of what must have been their fate whose wickedness caused an explosion which could scatter, as a horse's hoof may the sands of the sea-shore, the giant masses which for ever bear witness to the power of that mighty agent we have evoked from the earth for our mutual destruction." At the west end of the Acropolis, by which alone it was accessible, stood the Propylea, its gate as well as its defence. Through this gate the periodical processions of the Panathenaic jubilee were wont to move, and the marks of chariot wheels are still visible on the stone floor of its entrance. It was of the Doric order, and its right wing was supported by six fluted columns, each five feet in diameter, twenty-nine in height, and seven in their intercolumniation. Of the Propylæa itself Mr. Cook gives no individual drawing, the only sketch he had opportunity of making, being in its relation to the Acropolis generally; it will, however," he says, "serve in some degree to show what has been done. Here perhaps the chief work has

been accomplished; all the now detached columns were built up with solid brickwork, batteries were erected on the spot occupied by the Temple of Victory without wings.' and on the square which answered to it on the opposite side of the flight of marble steps; the whole of which were deeply buried (not until they had severely suffered), beneath the ruins of the fortification which crumbled away under the Venetian guns. These walls have been removed, the batteries destroyed, and the material of which they were composed taken away; the steps exhumed, and the five grand entrances, by which the fortress was originally entered, opened, although not yet rendered passable. It would be, I imagine, impossible to conceive an approach more magnificent than this must have been. The whole is on such a superb scale, the design, in its union of simplicity and grandeur is so perfect, the material so exquisite, and the view which one has from it of the Parthenon and the Erechtheum so beautiful, that no interest less intense than that which belongs to these temples would be sufficient to entice the stranger from its contemplation."

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On the right wing of the Propylaea stood | Its height, from the base of the pediments, the temple of Victory, and on the left was was sixty-five feet, and the dimensions of the a building decorated with paintings by the area two hundred and thirty-three feet, by pencil of Polygnotus, of which Pausanias has one hundred and two. The eastern pedileft us an account. In a part of the wall still ment was adorned with two groups of sta remaining there are fragments of excellent tues, one of which represented the birth of designs in basso-relievo, representing the com- Minerva, the other the contest of Minerva bat of the Athenians with the Amazons; be- with Neptune for the government of Athens. sides six columns, white as snow, and of the On the metopes was sculptured the battle of finest architecture. Near the Propylica stood the Centaurs with the Lapitha; and the frieze the celebrated colossal statue of Minerva, ex- contained a representation of the Panatheecuted by Phidias after the battle of Mara-naic festivals. Ictinus, Callicrates, and Carthon, the height of which, including the ped-pion, were the architects of this temple; Phiestal, was sixty feet.

dias was the artist; and its entire cost has been

The chief glory of the Acropolis was the estimated at seven million and a half of dolParthenon, or temple of Minerva. It was a lars. Of this building, eight columns of the peripteral octostyle, of the Doric order, with seventeen columns on the sides, each six feet two inches in diameter at the base, and thirty-four feet in height, elevated on three steps.

eastern front and several of the lateral colonnades are still standing. Of the frontispiece, which represented the contest of Neptune and Minerva, nothing remains but the head

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of a sea-horse and the figures of two women without heads. The combat of the Centaurs and Lapithe is in better preservation; but of the numerous statues with which this temple was enriched, that of Adrian alone remains. The Parthenon, however, dilapidated as it is, still retains an air of inexpressible grandeur and sublimity; and it forms at once the highest point in Athens, and the centre of the Acropolis.

of the roof of this graceful portico fell during the siege of Athens, in 1827. Lately, much has been done in the way of excavation; the buried base of this tripartite temple has been cleared; the walls, which had been built to make it habitable, have been removed; the abducted Caryatid replaced by a modern copy, the gift of Lord Guildford, and the whole prepared for a projected restoration.

pavement, entirely a restoration; for nearly two centuries all trace of it was lost, all mention omitted. In removing one of the Turkish batteries, in order to clear the entrance to the Propylæa, some fragments were found which led to a more minute investigation; and, after a short time, the foundation, the pavement, and even the bases of some of the columns were disinterred, making its reconstruction not only very easy, but extremely satisfactory. It is small, but of exquisite proportions, and now perfect, with the exception of a portion of the frieze, which is in the British Museum. A peculiarity of this temple is, that it stands at an angle slightly dif fering from that of the Propyla itself,-a fact for which, as it clearly formed one of the chief ornaments to, and was certainly built after, this noble portico, it is difficult to assign any very good reason.

The Temple of Victory without wings, alTo stand at the eastern wall of the Acro-ready mentioned is, with the exception of the polis, and gaze on the Parthenon, robed in the rich colors by which time has added an almost voluptuous beauty to its perfect proportions to behold between its columns the blue mountains of the Morea, and the bluer seas of Egina and Salamis, with acanthuscovered or icy-wedded fragments of majestic friezes, and mighty capitals at your feet-the sky of Greece, flooded by the gorgeous hues of sunset, above your head-Mr. Cook describes as one of the highest enjoyments the world can offer to a man of taste. He is opposed to the projects of its restoration, and says that, "to real lovers of the picturesque, the Parthenon as it now stands-a ruin in every sense of the term, its walls destroyed, its columns shivered, its friezes scattered, its capitals half-buried by their own weight, but clear of all else-is, if not a grander, assuredly a more impressive object than when, in the palmiest days of Athenian glory, its. marble, pure as the unfallen snow, first met the rays of the morning sun, and excited the reverential admiration of the assembled multitudes."

On the northeast side of the Parthenon stood the Erechtheum, a temple dedicated to the joint worship of Neptune and Minerva. There are considerable remains of this building, particularly those beautiful female figures called Caryatides, which support, instead of columns, three of the porticoes; besides three of the columns in the north hexastyle with the roof over these last columns. The rest

Such is an outline of the chief buildings of the Acropolis, which, in its best days, had four distinct characters; being at once the fortress, the sacred inclosure, the treasury, and the museum of art, of the Athenian nation. It was an entire offering to the deity, unrivalled in richness and splendor; it was the peerless gem of Greece, the glory and the pride of genius, the wonder and envy of the world.

Beneath the southern wall of the Acropolis, near its extremity, was situated the Athenian or Dionysiac theatre. Its seats, rising one above another, were cut of the sloping

rock. Of these, only the two highest rows are now visible, the rest being concealed by an accumulation of soil, the removal of which would probably bring to light the whole shell of the theatre. Plato affirms it was capable of containing thirty thousand persons. It contained statues of all the great tragic and comic poets, the most conspicuous of which were naturally those of Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, among the former, and those of Aristophanes and Menander among the latter. On the southwest side of the Acropolis is the site of the Odeum, or musical theatre of Herodes Atticus, named by him the theatre of Regilla, in honor of his wife. On the northeast side of the Acropolis stood the Prytaneum, where citizens who had rendered services to the state were maintained at the public expense. Extending southwards from the site of the Prytaneum, ran the street to which Pausanias gave the name of Tripods, from its containing a number of small temples or edifices crowned with tripods, to commemorate the triumphs gained by the Choragi in the theatre of Bacchus. Opposite to the west end of the Acropolis is the Areo-I

pagus, or hill of Mars, on the eastern extremity of which was situated the celebrated court of the Areopagus. This point is reached by means of sixteen stone steps cut in the rock, immediately above which is a bench of stone, forming three sides of a quadrangle, like a triclinium, generally supposed to have been the tribunal. The ruins of a small chapel consecrated to St. Dionysius the Areopagite, and commemorating his conversion by St. Paul, are here visible. About a quarter of a mile southwest from the centre of the Areopagus stands Pnyx, the place provided for the public assemblies at Athens in its palmy days. The steps by which the speaker mounted the rostrum, and a tier of three seats hewn in the solid rock for the audience, are still visible. This is perhaps the most interesting spot in Athens to the lovers of Grecian genius, being associated with the renown of Demosthenes, and the other famed Athenian orators,

"whose resistless eloquence

Wielded at will that fierce democratie,
Shook the arsenal, and fulmined over Greece,
To Macedon, and Artaxerxes' throne."

Descending the Acropolis, the eye is at

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once arrested by the magnificent remains of highly interesting monument, bearing unmisthe temple of Jupiter Olympus, and by the takable marks of the decline of art; yet disArch of Hadrian. Whether from its prox- tinguished for much of that quality of beauty imity to the gorgeous monument first named, which gives so peculiar a character to the or that it is intrinsically deficient in that spe- architecture of the Greeks. The inscriptions cies of merit which appeals directly to the on the sides of the entablature have given senses, the Arch of Hadrian attracts com- rise to much learned discussion, and have led paratively little notice. It is, however, a to a far more lucid arrangement of the city

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