mes. There is one on
the road to Persia, about one day's journey inland from Trebizond, which
is built half way up the side of a perpendicular precipice; it is
ensconced in several fissures of the rock, and various little gardens
adjoining the buildings display the industry of the monks; these are
laid out on shelves or terraces wherever the nature of the spot affords
a ledge of sufficient width to support the soil; the different parts of
the monastery are approached by stairs and flights of steps cut in the
face of the precipice, leading from one cranny to another; the whole has
the appearance of a bas-relief stuck against a wall; this monastery
partakes of the nature of a large swallow's nest. But it is for their
architecture that the monasteries of the Levant are more particularly
deserving of study; for, after the remains of the private houses of the
Romans at Pompeii, they are the most ancient specimens extant of
domestic architecture. The refectories, kitchens, and the cells of the
monks exceed in point of antiquity anything of the kind in Europe. The
monastery of St. Katherine at Mount Sinai has hardly been altered since
the sixth century, and still contains ornaments presented to it by the
Emperor Justinian. The White Monastery and the monastery at Old Cairo,
both in Egypt, are still more ancient. The monastery of Kuzzul Vank,
near the sources of the Euphrates, is, I believe, as old as the fifth
century. The greater number in all the countries where the Greek faith
prevails, were built before the year 1000. Most monasteries possess
crosses, candlesticks, and reliquaries, many of splendid workmanship,
and of the era of the foundation of the buildings which contain them,
while their mosaics and fresco paintings display the state of the arts
from the most early periods.

It has struck me as remarkable that the architecture of the churches in
these most ancient monasteries is hardly ever fine; they are usually
small, being calculated only for the monks, and not for the reception of
any other congregation. The Greek churches, even those which are not
monastic, are far inferior both in size and interest to the Latin
basilicas of Rome. With the single exception of the church (now mosque)
of St. Sophia, there is no Byzantine church of any magnitude. The
student of ecclesiastical antiquities need not extend his architectural
researches beyond the shores of Italy: there is nothing in the East so
curious as the church of S