384 BENGAZI.

compensate for the absence of this true test of genuine excellence ; and we cannot venture to commend the strange mixture of received orders, and the wayward fancy employed in the invention of new ones, which are conspicuous in several parts of Ptolemeta.

It has been observed by Signor Della Celia, that the remains of this city are purely Egyptian ; but we must confess that we were unable to discover the slightest resemblance of style in Ptolemeta to that which characterizes the architecture of Egypt. There is nothing at Ptolemeta (that we could perceive) which is not either Greek or Roman ; and the profusion of unnecessary ornament, which generally distinguished the later productions of both these nations, is very different from that which is observable in Egyptian remains. The style of Egypt, though highly ornamental, is founded on estabhshed principles ; and there is nothing incongruous or unmeaning in the most laboured decorations which are peculiar to it : proportion and simplicity are very rarely violated in the buildings either of Egypt or Nubia; and the great variety of ornament which appears in them never disturbs the general effect, or detracts from the imposing grandeur of the masses. Whenever the general form and larger parts of a building are simple and well proportioned, a great deal of ornament may be adopted in the detail, without injury to the effect of the whole ; and as this is particularly the case in Egyptian architecture, the mind is strongly impressed with the pleasing character of the general mass, before it has time to notice any other peculiarities.

The same may be observed with respect to Gothic architecture ; in which the almost infinite detail which it presents is not found to