The artists repository and drawing magazine: exhibiting the principles of the polite arts in their various branches (3.1789)

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side of the inclosure being a furlong in length.
Near the entry was a high road, paved, con-
ducting to the public square, and bordered on
each side by lofty trees, aspiring to the sky.
The magnificence os the temple of Solo-
mon, I need not repeat, but if it was justly
pre-eminent among the wonders of the world, it
mult, no doubt, have greatly surpasied even
what I have related : and when we consider the
happy coincidence of riches, skill, and devo-
tional resolution, which distinguished the times
of its ereCtor, we need not doubt of the ex-
treme magnificence of Solomon’s sacred edi-
fice.
The temple of Solomon has long since
ceased ; the ploughshare of desolation has up-
rooted its foundations: of other moll superb
instances of human abilities scarce any traces
remain; the pyramids alone, firm by their
erection, and permanent by their form, continue
to demonstrate the veracity of those accounts
which describe contemporary or posterior erec-
tions.
A few temples in Greece, indeed, just serve
to excite the melancholy ressections of fallen
grandeur, and to relate the ravages of barba-
rism and ignorance ; if beside, the laborious and
venturesome architect can trace from pillar
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