industry of the men of old who could vanquish such gigantic
difficulties. At the same time it will not do to assume that the
Egyptian stone cutters were not artists. The great Sphinx of Giseh, huge
as it is, is far from being a primitive and vulgar creation. "The
portions of the head which have been preserved," says Mr. Charles Blanc,
"the brow, the eyebrows, the corners of the eyes, the passage from the
temples to the cheek-bones, and from the cheek-bones to the cheek, the
remains of the mouth and chin,--all this testifies to an extraordinary
fineness of chiselling. The entire face has a solemn serenity and a
sovereign goodness." Leaving aside all consideration of the artistic
merits of other Egyptian colossi,--those at Memphis, Thebes, Karnac and
Luxor, with the twin marvels of Amenophis-Memnon--we turn to the most
famous colossus of antiquity, that at Rhodes, only to find that we have
even less evidence on which to base an opinion as to its quality than is
available in the case of the numerous primitive works of Egypt and of
India. We know its approximate dimensions, the material of which it was
made, and that it was overthrown by an earthquake, but there seems to be
reason to doubt its traditional attitude, and nothing is known as to
what it amounted to as a work of art, though it may be presumed that,
being the creation of a Greek, it had the merits of its classic age and
school. Of the masterpieces of Phidias it may be said that they were
designed for the interiors of Temples and were adopted with consummate
art to the places they occupied; they have been reconstructed for us
from authentic descriptions, and we are enabled to judge concerning that
majestic and ponderous beauty which made them the fit presentments of
the greatest pagan deities. I need say nothing of the immortal statues
by Michael Angelo, and will therefore hasten to consider the modern
outdoor colossi which now exist in Europe--the St. Charles Borromeo at
Arona, Italy, the Bavaria at Munich, the Arminius in Westphalia, Our
Lady of Puy in France. The St. Charles Borromeo, near the shore of Lake