Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. That they in a certain sense possess this character cannot be denied. A monument bears witness of a fact more clearly and certainly than could be done by the statement of a writer. This fact is, that the people who erected this monument, had attained to a certain degree of civilization, without which they could not have erected it. But this degree of civilization we do not learn from a description; it is set forth in the monument, placed as it were before our eyes. It is true the monument does not display the whole of their civilization; but, if it be of any magnitude, it relates much respecting it, as it exhibits not merely a Specimen of mechanical skill, but also of the taste, of the manner of life, of religion, etc. It supplies us with a certain rule by which to judge of the civilization of the nation that erected it. A single monument may do all this. But where a series of them exists they do much more. We observe in them the progress and decline of art among the people, as well as of every thing connected with it; they may there fore, to a certain extent, become authorities for the history of the civilization of a nation. To what extent? This depends upon their differ ence at different periods, upon their number and nature.

That they in a certain sense possess this character cannot be denied. A monument bears witness of a fact more clearly and certainly than could be done by the statement of a writer. This fact is, that the people who erected this monument, had attained to a certain degree of civilization, without which they could not have erected it. But this degree of civilization we do not learn from a description; it is set forth in the monument, placed as it were before our eyes. It is true the monument does not display the whole of their civilization; but, if it be of any magnitude, it relates much respecting it, as it exhibits not merely a Specimen of mechanical skill, but also of the taste, of the manner of life, of religion, etc. It supplies us with a certain rule by which to judge of the civilization of the nation that erected it. A single monument may do all this. But where a series of them exists they do much more. We observe in them the progress and decline of art among the people, as well as of every thing connected with it; they may there fore, to a certain extent, become authorities for the history of the civilization of a nation. To what extent? This depends upon their differ ence at different periods, upon their number and nature.