s degenerate successor,
who has grown too grand to admire anything but himself, and takes a
cynical pride in his stolid indifference to everything worth reverencing
or honoring."

After calling my companion's attention to the wheel, and discoursing upon
it until I thought he was getting sleepy, we jogged along until we came
to a running stream. It was crossed by a stone bridge of a single arch.
There are very few stone arches over the streams in New England country
towns, and I always delighted in this one. It was built in the last
century, amidst the doubting predictions of staring rustics, and stands
to-day as strong as ever, and seemingly good for centuries to come.

"See there!" said I,--"there is another of my 'Eyes and No Eyes' subjects
to meditate upon. Next to the wheel, the arch is the noblest of those
elementary mechanical composites, corresponding to the proximate
principles of chemistry. The beauty of the arch consists first in its
curve, commonly a part of the circle, of the perfection of which I have
spoken. But the mind derives another distinct pleasure from the
admirable manner in which the several parts, each different from all the
others, contribute to a single harmonious effect. It is a typical
example of the piu nel uno. An arch cut out or a single stone would not
be so beautiful as one of which each individual stone was shaped for its
exact position. Its completion by the locking of the keystone is a
delight to witness and to contemplate. And how the arch endures, when
its lateral thrust is met by solid masses of resistance! In one of the
great temples of Baalbec a keystone has slipped, but how rare is that
occurrence! One will hardly find another such example among all the
ruins of antiquity. Yes, I never get tired of arches. They are noble
when shaped of solid marble blocks, each carefully beveled for its
position. They are beautiful when constructed with the large thin tiles
the Romans were so fond of using. I noticed some arches built in this
way in the wall of one of the grand houses just going up on the bank of
the river. They were over the capstones of the windows,--to take off the
pressure from them, no doubt, for now and then a capstone will crack
under the weight of the superincumbent mass. How close they fit, and how
striking the effect of their long radiations!"

The company listened very well up to this point. When he began the
strain of thoughts which follows, a curious look went rou