Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/163

 Bk. I. Ch. IV. KINGDOM OF THE PHARAOHS. 131 equal taste to that displayed in the greater works. We know, also, from the tombs that remain to us, that, although the government of Egypt was a despotism of the strictest class, still the wealth of the land was pretty equally diffused among all classes, and that luxury and splendor were by no means confined either to the royal family or within the precincts of the palace. There is thus every reason to believe that the cities which have passed away were worthy of the temples that adorned them, and that the streets were as splendid and as tasteful as the public buildings themselves, and displayed, though in a more ephemeral form, the same wealtli and power which still astonish us in the great monuments that remain. No building can form a greater contrast Avith the tem]^le behind it than does the little pavilion erected at Medinet Habou by Rhamses, 32. Pavilion at Medinet Habou. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in. 33. View of ravilioii at Medinet Habou. the first king of the 19th dynasty. As will be seen by the annexed plan (Woodcut No. 32), it is singularly broken and varied in its out- line, surrounding a small court in the shape of a cross. It is 3 stories in height, and, propei-ly speaking, consists of only 3 rooms on each floor, connected together by long winding i^assages. There is reason, ho-wever, to believe that this is only a fragment of the building, and foundations exist which render it probable that the whole was originally a square of the width of the front, and had other cham- bers, probably only in wood or brick, besides those we now find. This would hardly detract from the playful character of the design, and when colored, as it originally was, and with its ^- ^^*'^*'" '^^p"ti"f^' ^^«"' ^'^ ^gyp"*'^ battlements or ornaments com- plete, it must have formed a composition as pleasing as it is unlike our usual conceptions of Egyptian art.