are well
known all over Europe by engravings. "The Post of the Desert," "The
Prayer in the Desert," "The Lion Hunt in the Desert," "Council of
Arabs," "Episode of the Pest of Barcelona," "The Breach of Constantine,"
"Mazeppa," and a host of others, together with landscapes, portraits,
&c., have served both to multiply his works in the galleries of every
country in Europe, and to make him one of the most popular of living
artists.

THE COLOSSEUM.

The Colosseum, or Coliseum, was commenced by Vespasian, and completed by
Titus, (A. D. 79.) This enormous building occupied only three years in
its erection. Cassiodorus affirms that this magnificent monument of
folly cost as much as would have been required to build a capital city.
We have the means of distinctly ascertaining its dimensions and its
accommodations from the great mass of wall that still remains entire;
and although the very clamps of iron and brass that held together the
ponderous stones of this wonderful edifice were removed by Gothic
plunderers, and succeeding generations have resorted to it as to a
quarry for their temples and their palaces--yet the "enormous skeleton"
still stands to show what prodigious works may be raised by the skill
and perseverance of man, and how vain are the mightiest displays of his
physical power when compared with those intellectual efforts which have
extended the empire of virtue and of science.

The Colosseum, which is of an oval form, occupies the space of nearly
six acres. It may justly be said to have been the most imposing
building, from its apparent magnitude, in the world; the Pyramids of
Egypt can only be compared with it in the extent of their plan, as they
each cover nearly the same surface. The greatest length, or major axis,
is 620 feet; the greatest breadth, or minor axis, is 513 feet. The outer
wall is 157 feet high in its whole extent. The exterior wall is divided
into four stories, each ornamented with one of the orders of
architecture. The cornice of the upper story is perforated for the
purpose of inserting wooden masts, which passed also through the
architrave and frieze, and descended to a row of corbels immediately
above the upper range of windows, on which are holes to receive the
masts. These masts were for the purpose of attaching cords to, for
sustaining the awning which defended the spectators from the sun or
rain. Two corridors ran all round the building, leading to staircases
which ascended to the